Southern Hemisphere torture continues

And so we come to the final weekend of Northern Hemisphere v. Southern Hemisphere matches.

First up were a much changed England side after a week beset with controversy.You would have thought that the match would have been a good chance to put the distractions behind them but unfortunately things didn't go that way. They went behind to a penalty almost from the kick off and then lost a try when Dan Carter showed that the strengthened midfield defence still wasn't up to the job, creating a try for Richard Kahui on his debut. Carter converted this and then added a try of his own (also converted) and a penalty for a 20-0 half time lead.The second half was no better with two English tries being answered by three from the all Blacks which left the final score 44-12.

Italy later on took on South Africa with a much weakened side due to club commitments and managed to hold the defeat to 26-0.

Have we learned anything from the last three weeks. Certainly that the Southern Hemisphere is ahead in technique at the moment. The question has to be asked however if it is sensible to have these tours at the end of a long hard season when the opposition teams are a lot fresher.

To complete a dire weekend the New Zealand under 20 team have just beaten England Under 20 38-3 in the final of their age group world cup.