Autumn relief for Lancaster and Gatland

ENGLAND restored some much-needed momentum to their Rugby World Cup build-up after a 26-17 win over Australia at Twickenham.

Forward Ben Morgan scored twice as Stuart Lancaster's men ended a worrying sequence of five successive defeats to Tier I countries.

And - while it was not pretty, running rugby from the backs - England sensibly played to their strengths with the Wallabies' pack struggling in the set-piece throughout.

By half-time, the hosts had carved open a 13-3 lead, Morgan barrelling over in the 29th minute after the Aussies had been run ragged in the ruck.

Straight after the break, though, the visitors responded as Bernard Foley slid under the posts having exchanged passes with Rob Horne to cut the home side apart.

Undeterred, England continued with their single-minded approach and they - and Morgan - were rewarded again after driving from a five-metre scrum.

But, still, the Wallabies would not lie down, man mountain Will Skelton powering over to finish another flowing move.

Thankfully, England were able then to settle the game down, and a couple of George Ford penalties finally took the contest out of the Aussies' reach. Lancaster could breathe again.

Of course, unlike next year, it would not have been the end of the world if England had failed to win this match.

Nevertheless, another defeat would have made it difficult for the England camp to demonstrate the kind of belief which will be needed 10 months on from now.

Meanwhile, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales were also victorious, beating South Africa 12-6 in a tense, attritional game for a first win against the Springboks since 1999.

All of the points came from the boot of half-back Leigh Halfpenny as Warren Gatland enjoyed only a second success against one of the southern hemisphere big three in 28 games.

That is still hardly a statistic to shout from the rooftops - but breaking that particular hoodoo has also surely ended a line of questioning on Gatland's record which had got stuck like a broken record.

Not that the questions had been unfair. Frankly, journalists would have been failing in their remit if they had ignored such a pattern and let Gatland get away scot-free.

If anything, the official Welsh response - to launch a complaint against the BBC and its reporter Sonja McLaughlan - made the whole situation worse, heaping more attention on it than ever.

It also came across as pretty churlish, especially as Gatland later admitted he would not have slept if he had lost again. Rest assured, he can sleep more easily now.

Unlikely to have to answer any awkward questions any time soon is Ireland coach Joe Schmidt.

Wins against South Africa and Australia either side of a thumping of Georgia has left the men in green in the best shape of all the northern hemisphere nations at this stage.

Indeed, the success against the Aussies was perhaps the best Test of the all of the autumn matches - and certainly the best half.

First, the Irish accumulated a 17-0 lead inside 17 minutes as Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe took advantage of some slack play by the visitors.

By half time, however, Ireland had somehow contrived to give all of their lead away.

Yes, at 20-20, it could have gone either way - but, with the Wallabies opting to run the ball at every opportunity, Ireland successfully shut the game down in the second period and edged home by three points. It was excellent Test match rugby.

Of course, Ireland do not actually have to face any of southern hemisphere giants in the pool stages next year, with France and Italy featuring alongside them instead.

Both of the continentals had mixed results in these end-of-year Tests. France beat Fiji and Australia but then lost at home to Argentina, while Italy also lost to the Pumas and went try-less again in defeat to South Africa.

Finally, of the four home nations, Scotland went somewhat under the radar to record confidence-boosting try-laden wins at Murrayfield against Argentina and Tonga.

However, those victories came either side of a defeat to an inexperienced New Zealand side - and, while the Scots should get out of their group next year, it remains to be seen if they can produce the goods against one of the major teams.

So, with less than 300 days to go until the start of the World Cup, this is where we stand: Ireland are confident and should be, Scotland are slowly getting there, while England and Wales are still scratching around.

Time is beginning to run out - but, before then, the northern hemisphere will reconvene for the annual Six Nations contest which begins on 6 February.

England face Wales in Cardiff in the opening set of matches in another World Cup dress rehearsal.

TIER ONE RESULTS

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
ENGLAND

08-Nov	NEW ZEALAND	21-24	Tries May, penalty
15-Nov	SOUTH AFRICA	28-31	Wilson, Morgan, Barritt
22-Nov	SAMOA	28-9	May (2), Brown
29-Nov	AUSTRALIA	26-17	Morgan (2)

IRELAND

08-Nov	SOUTH AFRICA	29-15	Tries Ruddock, Bowe
16-Nov	GEORGIA	49-7	Kilcoyne, Strauss, Zebo, Jones (2), Olding
22-Nov	AUSTRALIA	26-23	Zebo, Bowe

SCOTLAND

08-Nov	ARGENTINA	41-31	Tries R Gray, J Gray, Maitland, Hogg, Seymour
15-Nov	NEW ZEALAND	16-24	Seymour
22-Nov	TONGA	37-12	Cowan, Hogg, Dunbar, Cross, Seymour

WALES

08-Nov	AUSTRALIA	28-33	Tries Webb, Cuthbert, Wyn Jones, penalty
15-Nov	FIJI	17-13	North, Cuthbert, penalty
22-Nov	NEW ZEALAND	16-34	Webb
29-Nov	SOUTH AFRICA	12-6	none

FRANCE

08-Nov	FIJI	40-15	Tries Thomas (3), Pape, Fofana
15-Nov	AUSTRALIA	29-26	Tillous-Borde, Thomas
22-Nov	ARGENTINA	13-18	Fofana

ITALY

08-Nov	SAMOA	24-13	Tries Favaro, Parisse
14-Nov	ARGENTINA	18-20	none
22-Nov	SOUTH AFRICA	6-22	none

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
NEW ZEALAND

08-Nov	ENGLAND	24-21	Tries Cruden, McCaw, Faumuina
15-Nov	SCOTLAND	24-16	Vito, Thrush
22-Nov	WALES	34-16	Savea, Kaino, Barrett (2), Read

SOUTH AFRICA

08-Nov	IRELAND	15-29	Tries Coetzee, Pietersen
15-Nov	ENGLAND	31-28	Serfontein, Reinach, Burger
22-Nov	ITALY	22-6	Oosthuizen, Reinach, Habana
29-Nov	WALES	6-12	none

AUSTRALIA

08-Nov	WALES	33-28	Tries Folau (2), Kuridrani
15-Nov	FRANCE	26-29	Ashley-Cooper, Simmons
22-Nov	IRELAND	23-26	Phipps, Foley
29-Nov	ENGLAND	17-26	Foley, Skelton

ARGENTINA

08-Nov	SCOTLAND	31-41	Tries Ortego Desio, penalty, Cubelli
14-Nov	ITALY	20-18	Gonzalez Amorosino, De la Fuente
22-Nov	FRANCE	18-13	none