Last weekend of North v South

So who is up or down after the last three weeks?

New Zealand and South Africa up you'd think. Both have some question marks around the depth of their squad and fitting the newer players in to the mix. On that score I think the AB have an edge. Their big change around came last and against Wales - a weakened Wales but still a Wales with 7 Lions in it. They struggled, but won. South Africa really struggled against Italy, and whilst Italy are a far better team than 10 years ago, IN SA they should have handled it a lot better.

Scotland, although they didn't play this week, overjoyed. They beat Argentina twice IN Argentina, and the next week the Pumas stuffed France. Result.

In the "some positives" group you have England, Wales and Australia. England finally beat a big S. Hemisphere side away. Losing to the Maori will have taken the gloss off it though. Australia will be similarly upset by the loss to England despite the circumstance and a lacklustre performance against Ireland. Wales lost twice, but certainly improved and look to have gained valuable experience and comfort playing in New Zealand. Argentina just scrape in here. They were seriously looking a shadow of their former selves against Scotland, but looked great against France.

Those in trouble - France and Ireland. No wins on tour. Seriously not good at this remove from the world cup.

Today's results

Whose up, down, etc?

Well Graham Henry must be up, despite a couple of injuries. Wales looked good for half the match, threatening for parts of it, despite missing two first choice props, first and second choice open sides, first choice outside centre and one winger. The All Blacks coped with Wales whilst they looked good and as soon as they ceased looking good, they cut loose.

Warren Gatland is probably not that pissed off despite Wales getting hammered. Playing the All Blacks in New Zealand is always a big ask. He's found out things about his squad, including some positives and some negatives. And living with the All Blacks for half a match is not a disaster. Shaun Edwards will be more upset because the Welsh defence just went away in the second half and that is his bailiwick. But it's an angry in a "we can work on this and improve" way rather than a "you were useless" way. Lets hope they can improve by next week.

Deans will be disappointed... Johnson happy if not elated. Australia shouldn't have lost, but Giteau forgot how to kick. His front row stood up far better than last week and whilst his loose forwards looked... well were anonymous this week, he's got to know they won't all be anonymous at the same time each week. Johnson, however, produced a team that played some good attacking rugby and doing it won the game. Will they keep it up? Let's hope so.

PDV ought to be worried. Mallet, apart from shaving his head, happy. The second string Boks looked very second string. Worryingly so, if you look at the NZ Maori's performance over the last two weeks alongside the All Blacks. Italy were still thumped, but put up a performance.

But two entertaining matches... better than nothing, even if England did win.

First June tests

Everyone is announcing yesterday's tests as the unofficial start of the RWC campaign - which starts in 15 months or so, and fewer than 20 test matches time.

After the four matches, it's hard to guess who is happiest.

The Boks stuffed Les Bleus. That's been a bogie match for the Boks for a few years, so it must feel good for PDV et al. There's that little question of was it just a bad day for France that will linger but still a great result for South Africa.

Australia must be happy too. Their front row started with 2 caps, and it showed. England dominated the scrums completely and essentially scored all of their points via the scrum - a penalty kick and two penalty tries. Australia showed willing there but were completely outplayed. However, in every other aspect, the opposite was true. Even when Foden and Ashton combined to counter-attack, the next pass was to the only player supporting them... Simon Shaw who was promptly wrapped up, tackled and turned over. That's not to be critical of Shaw, he at least was doing the right thing but where were the other runners to keep pace on the move? Australia completely deserved their win, and as front row forwards come back their scrum will improve. No panic from Deans and a happy glow of satisfaction I think.

New Zealand will be happy too. The red card and sin binning in short order destroyed the game as a contest. Despite that, Dagg, Franks, Vito, Whitelock and Stanley all produced very accomplished looking performances. Crudden - a bit less accomplished but looking like he could grow into the replacement for Carter that the All Blacks have been lacking for some time. Muliaina in particular must be feeling a little worried about Dagg's performance. Franks, Franks, Woodcock and Tialata will make an awesome pool of 4 high quality props. Thorne and Williams are probably still the dominant locks, but Boric, Eaton and Whitelock in some order look good for stepping up to the plate. Thorne will probably go after the world cup, but New Zealand won't be lacking in replacement options.

And, of course, New Zealand have the Maori side too - playing Ireland next week, so a complete second 22 playing internationals gaining experience, match practise and the like.

And finally Andy Robinson must be happy and proud. Beating Argentina in Argentina is always hard. They'd never lost at that stadium until yesterday. He must have concerns too though - his side are still looking limited, albeit less limited than England.

It's also a toss-up for the angriest between Johnson and Kidney. Heaslip and ROG should both know better and they gave the game away. England just looked flat and clueless. It's hard to believe that even if Johnson was solely concentrating on the forwards he'd produce a team that clueless.

But apart from Scotland, it has that feel of business as usual. The Tri-Nations this year and next will sort out the pecking order and barring a miracle it will be a Southern Hemisphere side keeping the RWC on this week's showing. They're only going to build and improve after all.