KEY POINTS:
Australia 25 Italy 18
Rome
Coach John Connolly said he would have to take up residence at the North Pole if the Wallabies lost to Italy.
And for a good hour or so, he must have had the sleigh on ice as the unfancied Italians threatened to pull
off a massive upset at Stadio Flaminio.
Just when he thought his team were starting to improve from last week's four-tries-to-two draw against Wales, Connolly conceded they "slipped back a few cogs" with their unconvincing win over the Italians.
Veteran playmaker Stephen Larkham (right) admitted the Wallabies were embarrassed heading to the sheds trailing 15-13 at halftime and it wasn't until barnstorming No 8 Wycliff Palu put skipper Stirling Mortlock over for a try in the 71st minute that Australia could feel truly safe from defeat.
Even then, another draw looked a possibility when vice-captain Lote Tuqiri was sin-binned for fighting, leaving the Wallabies a man short for the closing stages.
Despite it being Australia's first away win in 12 months, Connolly said the performance was still the Wallabies' most disappointing of the year.
Argentina 25 England 18
Twickenham
For the seventh time in succession England have lost a test.
Last week the easy brilliance of the All Blacks camouflaged England's frailties. Yesterday, they were glaringly exposed by Argentina, who won their first ever game at Twickenham.
It is difficult to know where to begin the catalogue of shame for England. There was no leadership, no pace for the first hour, no sense in the selection of a back row where Pat Sanderson and Shaun Perry got in a terrible tangle for a second time in a row, no off-loading out of the tackle, too many penalties given away in their own half, poor control of the ball in contact.
In fact, there was not one area where England could be said to have performed tolerably well.
There were boos at the end as England head coach Andy Robinson left the stadium a beaten man.
All this should not detract from a magnificent effort from Argentina, who are one of the wonders of world rugby.
Their union is virtually bankrupt, most of their players ply their trade overseas and they only met up for this match on Wednesday, yet they punched way above their weight.
Wales 38 Pacific Is. 20
Cardiff
This victory represented an important marker for Wales, demonstrating they now have real strength in depth. It was coach Gareth Jenkins' first win as coach after four games in charge.
The game as a contest was all over after half an hour with Wales up 24-0.
That they allowed a mini-revival from the Pacific Islanders was their only minor blot in the copybook.
Second-choice sides - as this effectively was - do not easily find a ruthless edge. And to be fair to the Islanders they improved as they went.
First-half converted tries from Mark Jones, James Hook, Kevin Morgan and Lee Byrne laid the foundations for the win. The visitors picked up after the break as Seilala Mapasua and Kameli Ratuvou added to a Justin Va'a try.
Ceri Sweeney scored Wales' only try in the second half, his fifth conversion taking his personal tally to 18 points.
As a match this lacked structure and continuity but was entertaining enough and played at a devilishly fast pace.
Wales were happy enough with their performance.
To add to that there were the regular updates of the score from Twickenham. The cacophony of noise when Argentina went ahead was louder than the cheers for any of the Wales tries.
Ireland 32 South Africa 15
Dublin
Ireland blew South Africa off the pitch with a stupendous first-half display of running rugby.
The experienced home side were able to counter anything and everything the rookie Springbok team could throw at them.
But after the interval, it looked as though the hosts had all but run out of puff and there were nowhere near as many exciting breaks as there had been in the first half.
But by then the job had been completed, and on this showing Ireland are a storm force in world rugby.
Tries from winger Andrew Trimble, flanker David Wallace and prop Marcus Horan helped to put Ireland deservedly up 22-3 at halftime. The rest of the points came from Munster first five-eighth Ronan O'Gara.
Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll said: "It was a big performance, and what pleased me most was the way we finished.
"This side matured an awful lot during the summer - people were patting us on the back, but we had three losses.
"Now this has reaffirmed our belief that we can go out and beat anyone in the world."
Scotland 48 Romania 6
Edinburgh
The foundations of world rugby are unlikely to be shaken by this result, but it was a satisfying workout for the Scots. Even if they did not take the 60-point victory some in their camp had said, perhaps a little rashly, was possible, Scotland coach Frank Hadden could be pleased that he had deepened his pool of test-hardened talent for next year's World Cup.
Among those who gained that valuable experience was James Hamilton, the Leicester lock, who became the 1000th player to be capped for Scotland when he appeared as a second-half replacement for Nathan Hines.
A cynic might raise the point that this milestone in Scottish sporting history involved an English bloke coming on for an Australian bloke, but Hamilton looked no less pleased as he ran on.
Scotland face difficult tests over the next two weekends, against the Pacific Islanders and Australia.
The team had one casualty - skipper Jason White injured his knee before halftime and will have a scan today.
