Southern Hemisphere Clean Sweep in First Weekend of Summer Tours

Ireland pushed New Zealand, but the All-Blacks pulled away late to deny Ireland their first ever win between the sides.

Wales never looked like challending South Africa as the Springboks crushed the visitors.

And finally, Scotland had a slim two-point lead over Argentina with under ten minutes remaining before spotting los Pumas a penalty goal, a final minute try, and the win.

There are plenty of summer tour tests left on the schedule, and we have to remember that the Northern Hemisphere sides are on the road, but the end result suggests a disparity in the geographical distribution of the best sides right now. We'll see how the rest of the summer test matches go. This weekend, Wales gets another crack at the Boks and Scotland tries Argentina out again, while New Zealand greets England and Australia hosts Ireland.

Although it's hard to extrapolate from club competitions to test matches, the weekend also casts doubt on claims by former All Black and current Ospreys halfback Justin Marshall that the Heineken Cup is a better competition than the Super 14. To be fair, a lot of what Marshall was talking about was diversity in competitors and schedules. Then again, Marshall does have a little bit of a flair for the dramatic: