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2008 end-of-year rugby union internationals

2008 Results

The 2008 end of year rugby tests, also known as the Autumn internationals saw Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, the Pacific Islanders and Canada tour the northern hemisphere. The tour ended with the traditional 'final challenge' Barbarians match, against Australia, which was the first rugby union Test at the new Wembley Stadium. New Zealand and Australia also contested a Bledisloe Cup match outside of either country for the first time; the match was played in Hong Kong with the hope of raising rugby's profile in China.

The test matches took on added significance, with seedings for the 2011 Rugby World Cup draw to take place on 1 December at stake. For the first time in the history of the Rugby World Cup, the International Rugby Board used the IRB World Rankings to seed teams in the World Cup draw. Teams will be assigned to four-strong seeding pots based on their rankings; each team within a pot will be drawn into a different pool for the World Cup finals.

New Zealand recorded a second straight grand slam tour.

Overview

Team/Tour	Opponents
Argentina in Europe	(lost) – (won) – (lost)
Australia in Hong Kong and Europe	(lost) – (won) – (won) – (won) – (lost)
New Zealand in Hong Kong and Europe	(won) – (won) – (won) – (won) – (won)
South Africa in Great Britain	(won) – (won) – (won)
Pacific Islands in Europe	(lost) – (lost) – (won)
United States in Japan	(2 matches lost)
Canada in Europe	(won) – (lost) – (lost) – (lost)
Georgia in Scotland	(lost)

Week 1

McCaw 63' m

Pritchard

Week 2

Orquera (2) 53', 60' Cooper 73' c Giteau (5) 18', 39', 48', 51', 78'

Cipriani 37' c Kennedy 44' c Mears 68' c Bai 56'

Hook (4) 57', 59', 63', 73' De Villiers 52' c

Kearney (2) 13' c, 35' c Heaslip 30' c Bowe (2) 40' c, 80' m D. Wallace 68' c Quinlan 80' m P. Wallace

Weepu 26' m Kahui 41' c Boric 73' c Carter

Baby 32'

Kaplan, who went into the match sharing the record for most Tests as referee (46) with Paul Honiss of New Zealand, took sole possession of the record. He replaced the injured Steve Walsh as referee for this match.

Wyles 52' c DeBartolo 56' c Ngwenya 59' c Emerick 76' c Erskine 80+2' m Malifa

Week 3

Daily Record Evans McMillan Brown Dewey Webster Walker Henderson (2) Newlands Gregor (2)

Halfpenny (2) 39' m, 80' c Penalty try (2) 58' c, 70' c

Szarzewski 27' c Heymans 46' m Picamoles 70' c Médard 75' c

Mortlock 64'

Nonu 47' c Thorn 53' m

Endo 45' c Webb 59' Ngwenya 39' c Welch 69' m

Week 4

Going into Week 4, the main storyline was the battle for fourth place in the IRB World Rankings. New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia were entrenched in the top three. The team that stood in fourth place on 1 December would avoid being drawn into the same pool as one of the Tri Nations powers in 2011. Four teams could have ended the week in fourth place: Argentina, England, France, and Wales.

Tomioka 28' c Webb 31' c Kikutani 63' c Ngwenya 40+1' m Van der Giessen 50' c

Ma. Bergamasco 65' c Ratuvou 40' c

The Pacific Islanders defeated a Test team for the first time in nine attempts.

Pienaar 19' c Jacobs 51' c Fourie 77' c Habana 80' m F. Steyn

The missed conversion by Ronan O'Gara on Ireland's only try of the match proved decisive for Argentina. With the other results on the day, the Pumas would have dropped to fifth place, behind England, if O'Gara had converted, as it would have given Ireland a win by more than 15 points. As it turned out, Argentina retained fourth by a narrow margin.

Cairns 37' c Barclay 42' c Strokosch 56' c Lamont 73' m Parks

Kaino 80+1' c

Hynes 57' m

Week 5

The battle for fourth place in the IRB World Rankings finished this weekend, with Argentina remaining in fourth place without playing as England lost and Wales failed to achieve the 15-point winning margin required. Argentina therefore took top seeding for the following month's 2011 Rugby World Cup draw along with the three Tri-Nations teams.

The other major news of the week was New Zealand's win over England, completing a successful Grand Slam tour for the All Blacks. This was the All Blacks' third such successful tour, with the previous ones being in 1978 and 2005.

Armitage 49' Nonu 72' c

Byrne 32' c Ioane 79' m

Turner c

Effect on World Cup seeding

Following the 29 November tests, the 12 teams that qualified automatically for the 2011 Rugby World Cup were seeded thus:

Pot 1

Pot 2

Pot 3

References

(21 November 2008). "Four still in contention to claim fourth spot". International Rugby Board.
(22 November 2008). "Ireland End Series With Crucial Win Over Pumas". Irish Rugby Football Union.
(24 November 2008). "Wales climb one place on back of French loss". International Rugby Board.
(22 November 2008). "All Blacks secure Millennium Stadium win". Welsh Rugby Union.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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