New Zealand just can’t seem to avoid France at the Rugby World Cup. This time, though, with their meeting in Pool A not being a playoff match, the All Blacks will destroy them and progress to a Quarterfinal against either England or Argentina.

285-123. That’s the combined score of the matches that the three Southern Hemisphere nations – New Zealand, Australia and South Africa – competed in against their Northern Hemisphere rivals these past weeks.

The Wallabies have received the best draw imaginable for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. If results go according to seedings during the pool stages of the tournament, the Wallabies cannot run into the defending champion Springboks or the top-ranked All Blacks until the final.

If Robbie Deans and John O’Neill had said at the beginning of the season that they would record nine Test wins at season close, both men would have been content.

Robbie Deans has been the Wallabies coach for fourteen games now. In that time the Wallabies have won nine and lost three games, all by five or less points.

In an interview last week, Stirling Mortlock told journalists that the best way to defeat the rush defence of Wales was for him to smash through the first tackler and then for the Wallabies to re-cycle the ball quickly with the attack to take advantage of being behind the Welsh defence.

The 13th test win of their year marks the most calendar test victories achieved by any side in history – as New Zealand notched their third ever touring Grand Slam.

New Zealand will return home to their shores the best team in the world by some margin – and the conquered home nations should be better for it.

The performance of England (6) against the All Blacks (32) at Twickenham was one of the most disgraceful and cynical I’ve had the misfortune to watch.

British newspapers found few reasons for optimism after England ended rugby’s international season with a 32-6 loss to the All Blacks at Twickenham.

The inspired Welsh dealt the Wallabies a reality check at Millennium Stadium today, denying the spring tourists a rare northern hemisphere clean sweep with a gripping 21-18 Test victory.

Any request from Wallabies star Matt Giteau for a French “sabbatical” is likely to be refused, the Australian Rugby Union said on Saturday.

The All Blacks have scaled another mini-Everest, completing New Zealand’s third rugby grand slam by effectively negating England’s spoiling tactics at Twickenham today.

Eyeing a small slice of rugby history, Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock says defeat in Saturday’s season-ending Test against Wales doesn’t bear thinking about.

The Australian Rugby Union have played down the likelihood of a Bledisloe Cup Test staged in the United States despite American organisers talking up the clash. The Metro Denver Sports Commission said they were close to confirming the Wallabies-All Blacks clash to be played in Colorado at the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos late [...]

As they look to close out a third European Grand Slam against England on Saturday, the All Blacks form at the moment is unrivalled, and once again, they have made the Northern Hemisphere look ordinary, bar forty minutes against Wales last week.

All Black coach Graham Henry has warned England’s future success at international level is being harmed by the mass recruitment of New Zealand players into the elite Premiership club competition.

Graham Henry gave Wales the highest praise after the All Blacks defeated the Scarlets, going away in the second half after a tight opening forty minutes, by insisting that the Six Nations champions could easily be part of the Tri-Nations tournament with their expansive and skilful brand of rugby.

Returning No.8 Richard Brown says the Wallabies must outdo Wales in the enthusiasm stakes if they wish to complete an unbeaten spring tour of Europe on Saturday.

The Duke of Edinburgh has told the All Blacks to expect an easy ride against England at Twickenham on Saturday.