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Let’s leave England’s walloping of Canada to one side – it was a nice way to introduce some new caps to the side – and focus on the other big internationals from this weekend.<br /><br />Ireland have rightly grabbed the headlines with the excellent victory over South Africa, a win that really should put them up in the world-force category. No more should we talk of Ireland in that plucky-boys-like-a-beer-odd-victory-now-and-then patronising way. They are a big bet for the 6 Nations. <br /><br />But another match that sneaked in without much hullabaloo was France-Australia. Given the words before the Ire-SA game, fair enough. But France basically stuffed the Aussies. 27-14 is a big margin. Plus, France don’t have a good recent record against Australia. This is a big, big win. <br /><br />With the World Cup having gone North, the big Southern 3 like to claim that they are still the business. New Zealand, for one, are always bleating about being the best team in the world, but without the trophy to back it up. Well, with weekends like this, the balance of rubgy power seems to have shifted. England need to do their part next weekend.<br /><br />If only Italy had beaten New Zealand…