TEST RUGBY RESULTS: Saturday 6 November

06.11.2010
New Zealand 26, England 16 at Twickenham
Australia 25, Wales 16 in Cardiff
Japan 75, Russia 3 in Tokyo
Canada 43, Belgium 12 in Brussels
Latvia 33, Malta 26 in La Valette (ENC 2A)
Sweden 26, Lithuania 22 in Trelleborg (ENC 2A)
Austria 15, Norway 9 in Vienna (ENC 2C)
Denmark 21, Hungary 20 in Odense (ENC 2C)
Bulgaria 25, Greece 22 in Pernik (ENC 2D)

Briefly
Firstly, my apologies for not covering all the rugby tests this weekend. I managed to get some of the dates muddled! November is one of my busiest months of the year. The huge international calendar clashes with my work commitments.

New Zealand and Australia cemented their places on the top of world rugby with their wins.

Japan trounced Russia in a surprising result. Russia looked way out of their depth and they will need to raise the standards or else face total humiliation at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Japan on the other are looking. John Kirwan must have got stuck into his Japanese players after their shocker against Samoa last weekend.

Canada got their European tour off with a predicted win against Belgium. Their clash with Georgia in two weeks will be an interesting encounter.

In the European Nations cup results Latvia won again against Malta away and has recovered from the loss to Croatia last weekend. Malta now rest at the bottom of the ladder. Lithuania missed their top players and went down to Sweden who now look favoured for promotion next season. Austria won at home against Norway as did Denmark over Hungary. The Danes look to be the form team at present but their is not a lot between the teams at this level. Finally Bulgaria won at home over Greece.