Earlier in the month, Armchair Playmaker mentioned that the Southern Hemisphere had swept the opening weekend of this year's summer (for the Northern Hemisphere, at least) tour test matches. A few weeks later, it's been laregly more of the same. Here's how things look so far:
- 7 June: New Zealand 21, Ireland 11.
- 7 June: South Africa 43, Wales 17.
- 7 June: Argentina 21, Scotland 15.
- 14 June: New Zealand 37, England 20.
- 14 June: South Africa 37, Wales 21.
- 14 June: Australia 18, Ireland 12.
- 14 June: Scotland 26, Argentina 14.
- 21 June: New Zealand 44, England 12.
- 21 June: South Africa 26, Italy 0.
- 28 June: Australia 34, France 13.
- 28 June: Italy 13, Argentina 12.
So far, then, that's a 9-2 victory count in favor of the Southern Hemisphere. France takes one more chop at Australia this Saturday, but the trend is pretty well set. Keep in mind, though, that some of the traveling sides have been worn and depleted, and there have been some close finishes that could have easily gone the other way. All in all, though, the visitors have not fared well.
Southern hemisphere sides head north in November, where some of the same troubles tend to plague the visitors then as well.
The end result is at least one newspaper editorial calling for an end to the obligatory annual tours, perhaps to be replaced by less frequent visits of more substance and more June matches with smaller Southern Hemisphere sides. Armchair Playmaker is intrigued, but dares not comment. Do you?
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