The 2010 end of season rugby exams, also known as the Autumn internationals in the northern hemisphere, saw

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in a competitive tour of the northern hemisphere. Test matches were also arranged with the various Pacific island teams and other non-Tier 1 international sides. This period also marked the conclusion of the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

qualifying process, as well as the beginning of the European Nations Cup. The series saw

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

play their first Test matches at the Aviva Stadium, which replaces Lansdowne Road as the side's long-term home and ends the temporary arrangement with the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

which allowed the team to play home matches at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

. The series also marked the first time that two Southern Hemisphere nations simultaneously attempted Grand Slam tours of all four Home Nations, with both New Zealand and South Africa playing all four countries. The Springboks went 3–1 against the Home Nations, losing to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and also lost to the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

, but the All Blacks were successful for the fourth time and third since 2005. New Zealand entered the series on a winning streak of 15 Tests. The current record for "Tier 1" nations is 17, which they hold jointly with South Africa; the absolute record is 18, held by

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. New Zealand's streak ended with a 26-24 loss to Australia in their opening game. In all, 24 of the top 25 sides in the IRB World Rankings (as of 30 September 2010) played in the end-of-year series.

Matches

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- * Following the match, Keven Mealamu was cited for headbutting Lewis Moody, an offence that did not draw a card from match referee Romain Poite. Mealamu was originally banned for four weeks, but the ban was reduced on appeal to two weeks. ---- a. Stephen Moore suffered a back spasm minutes before kick-off and was replaced in the starting line-up by Saia Fainga'a, so Fainga'a started the match wearing number 16. Huia Edmonds took Fainga'a's place on the bench and wore number 26. ---- * Victor Matfield drew level with Percy Montgomery and

John Smit John William Smit, OIS, (born 3 April 1978) is a former South African rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the South Africa national team, and led the team to win the 2007 Rugby Worl ...

as the most-capped Springboks, with 102. * Morné Steyn's streak of consecutive successful kicks at goal in Tests ended at 41, which is the longest such streak since records on kickers' success were first kept in the late 1980s. ---- ---- ---- ---- * Victor Matfield earned his 103rd cap, becoming the most-capped Springbok. ---- ---- ---- ---- * Two of the All Blacks squad—captain Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina—drew level with Sean Fitzpatrick as New Zealand's most-capped players, with 92 each. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- * New Zealand's Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina earned their 93rd caps, surpassing Sean Fitzpatrick as the most-capped All Blacks. ---- ---- * The traditionally uncapped player of the Barbarians' side was Brive's Benoît Cabello. * This match was Jean-Baptiste Élissalde's jubilee, as he came out of retirement for the game after having been named Toulouse's backs coach prior to the start of the 2010–11 season. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- * With a penalty in the 7th minute, Dan Carter surpassed England's Jonny Wilkinson, who sat out the November Tests due to injury, as the leading Test point scorer in history. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- * There are two uncapped players in the Barbarians' side: Waikato Chiefs' and New Zealand Māoris' Colin Bourke and

Stormers The Stormers (known for sponsorship reasons as the DHL Stormers) is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also ...

Anton van Zyl Anton van Zyl (born 23 February 1980) is a South African rugby union footballer. He currently plays for in the Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to Oc ...

, and five uncapped players in South Africa's side: Cheetahs' Coenie Oosthuizen,

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

' Elton Jantjies, Sharks' Charl McLeod and Andries Strauss and

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

' Werner Kruger. * The match does not have Test status. ---- ---- ---- * Dana Teagarden was scheduled to become the first woman to serve as referee in a senior men's international 15-man match. She is already the first (and to date only) woman to have refereed in the

IRB Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

. The match was cancelled due to snow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:End-of-year

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2010–11 in European rugby union 2010 in Oceanian rugby union 2010 in North American rugby union 2010 in South American rugby union 2010 in African rugby union

Matches

See also

References