For the record: International Rugby

Wales 24, Australia 22

The Australian Rugby Union has launched an urgent review into the Wallabies' disastrous tour of Europe, while the pressure continues to mount on coach Eddie Jones and captain George Gregan.

Union managing director Gary Flowers said he had ordered an immediate review into what went wrong after the team lost three of their four tests in Europe, including their first defeat to Wales in 18 years in Cardiff yesterday.

Australian newspapers have already speculated that there would be mass sackings throughout the whole organisation but Flowers said the reports were not true.

"The results clearly don't measure up to the goals that were set before the tour," Flowers said.

Jones refused to discuss his future.

"I coached the side as well as I could today and I'm not interested in talking about my future," he said. "It was a pretty reasonable game and we weren't quite good enough to win it."

While criticised for a "robotic" multi-phase game which carries a high amount of risk, Jones can justifiably point to the developmental success of the year as injuries forced him to select many of the 14 new caps, the most debutants since 1962.

Wales coach Mike Ruddock paid tribute to the unsung work of the pack after his side's thrilling victory at the Millennium Stadium.

Ruddock's forwards ground down Australia in the second half and were awarded a penalty try which provided the springboard for victory.

"We know we have skill and flair in the team but today we knew it was a matter of turning the screw in the scrum a little bit and eventually we got the penalty try."

France 26, South Africa 20

South African coach Jake White's hopes of ending the year on a high ended disappointingly as the hosts ran in three tries to two to give the Northern Hemisphere a rare victory in the autumn tests.

"I am very disappointed, not just because we lost but because of the bad start to the match," said White, whose team conceded two tries in the first 11 minutes to Dimitri Szarzewski and Frederic Michalak.

"We committed too many stupid defensive errors that put us under pressure."

French coach Bernard Laporte said he was proud of his team and their consistency. "We had a good first half and performed bravely in the second period," he said.

"I am very proud of the team but we still have work to do. There is work to be done with the physical challenges, they took better ball than us. If we want to be world champions, then we will have to do better."

France caught the Springboks cold from the start as Szarzewski and then Michalak went over for tries.

Szarzewski was the beneficiary of a superb pass by Yannick Nyanga and scooted along the line to touch down.

Michalak, with his best predatory instincts, nicked the ball off Jaque Fourie and raced away to cross the line.

England 40, Samoa 3

Captain Martin Corry says England are "not the finished article" and must not "fall back" when the Six Nations Championship arrives after sloppy back play and Lewis Moody's sending-off took the gloss off their latest Twickenham victory.

England ran in five tries to round off their autumn series after beating Australia and losing to the All Blacks.

"It was a mixed one today," Corry said. "It's a great scoreline and our defence was a big plus but, are we the finished article? No, we're not. We're developing a good squad and team spirit and our performances are improving but it's important when the Six Nations start that we don't fall back."

Corry admitted that Moody's sending-off was unfortunate but had some sympathy for the Leicester flanker - the first England player to be shown the red card in a test at Twickenham.

The England coach, Andy Robinson, echoed Corry's views on the Moody dismissal. He said: "You can't condone it when punches are thrown."

The punch-up occurred five minutes from the end when Samoa winger Alesana Tuilagi sent England wing Mark Cueto crashing to the turf after he tackled him in mid-air.

Cueto got up and charged at Tuilagi.

Tuilagi threw a punch, turning Moody from unlikely peacemaker into puncher.

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