Determining which nation deserves to be on top of world rugby isn’t easy after some topsy-turvy international results this year.
England swung low, the wheels of the figurative chariot that carried it to a World Cup triumph last year hitting some ruts.
The Wallabies were wobbly at times and the All Blacks, while finishing 2004 at number one in the International Rugby Board (IRB) rankings after eight wins in 10 Tests, weren’t exactly all-conquering.
The Springboks leaped up to win the Tri-Nations title with back-to-back home wins over southern-hemisphere rivals Australia and New Zealand, then sullied their season with losses to Ireland and England and just scraped a win over Wales on their end-of-season tour.
France won the Six Nations title and then beat Australia in Paris for the first time in 21 years to register eight consecutive international wins. Then the French imploded in a shocking 24-14 loss to Argentina and were thumped 45-6 by New Zealand.
The inconsistent results prove one thing, said Australian coach Eddie Jones.
”Clearly there’s no number-one side in the world at the moment,” he told reporters when he returned last month from a four-match European tour that contained two wins over Scotland, the loss to France and a 21-19 win over England at Twickenham.
”There are four, five or probably six sides all competing at the same level, and on any given day the difference between one side and another is only about 1%.”
Jones’s Wallabies overtook England in second place on the IRB rankings, pushing the English back to third.
South Africa leapfrogged the French into fourth and the Irish, who needed an injury-time drop goal by Ronan O’Gara to edge Argentina in their last match, were ranked sixth.
After a dominating run in 2003, culminating with the World Cup final victory over Australia in Sydney, England lost six of their 11 games in 2004, coach Clive Woodward quit and a scrum of veterans retired.
The English slumped to third place in the Six Nations tournament and then had a disastrous return to the Antipodes.
Without former skipper Martin Johnson, veterans such as Neil Back and Jason Leonard, and injured flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, England had a humbling 51-15 loss to Australia in Brisbane followed by 36-12 and 36-3 losses to New Zealand in the southern winter.
Wilkinson hasn’t pulled on the England jersey since his World Cup-winning drop goal because of neck, shoulder and bicep injuries.
Woodward, who resigned following England’s tour of Australia and New Zealand and was replaced by Andy Robinson, later said Jones was the best-equipped coach to guide a winning team at the next World Cup.
Australia were 1-6 in away internationals leading into their November tour, and came home with three wins and a loss, including their first victory at Twickenham since 1998.
The Wallabies were 8-3 in 2004, but Jones conceded Matt Giteau’s late penalty goal for the narrow win at Twickenham meant there would be a dramatically different perception of the season than there otherwise would have been.
”Test rugby is unforgiving. We played England two years ago, led by 12 points and then got beaten 32-31 and the tour was a disaster,” said Jones. This time, ”it was great to beat one of the strongest teams in the world away from home”.
The southern-hemisphere nations regained a slight edge in 2004, with New Zealand undefeated against northern teams and Australia’s only loss to a European line-up coming against France.
Former Wales and British and Irish Lions coach Graham Henry was satisfied with his first year as New Zealand coach, despite criticism of his flatline attacking system that failed in the Tri-Nations.
Henry persisted with the style and said his line-up peaked with the triumph in France.
”The display against France was of the highest order,” he said. ”All of the things we wanted to achieve on tour have been done.”
The All Blacks led the Tri-Nations after two wins at home, then had to regroup after two away losses.
”We did a huge analysis of where we were at. It was a new management team dealing with a group of players who we haven’t dealt with before,” said Henry. ”We learned a lot, especially when we went to Australia and South Africa.
”We could have just meandered on with the same process but we put things in place, which has made a considerable improvement in what we’re doing. It’s brought the group much tighter.”
The so-called second-tier nations — Argentina at number seven, Wales at number eight and Scotland at number nine — demonstrated they could go close against the elite and outclass the third-tier teams.
Japan, Asia’s top-ranked team at number 18 in the IRB list, was demoralised in a 100-8 loss to Scotland and a 98-0 loss to Wales.
Canada, traditionally the top North American team, lost 70-0 to England and 51-6 to Six Nations struggler Italy.
While it’s tight at the top, the big losses by Japan and Canada highlighted there’s still a big gulf between the old guard and the new frontiers of rugby. — Sapa-AP