All Blacks, South Africa gain quick-fire revenge

• New Zealand routs Australia to retain Bledisloe Cup for 13th consecutive year
• South Africa beat Argentina in come back

New Zealand’s All Black’s captain Richie McCaw who made a record 142nd Test appearance hoists the trophy as he celebrates winning against Australia after their Bledisloe Cup rugby match at Eden Park in Auckland, 15 August – Reuters​

New Zealand’s All Black’s celebrate winning against Australia after their Bledisloe Cup rugby match at Eden Park in Auckland, 15 August – Reuters

South Africa’s Lwazi Mvovo (14) scores a try under pressure from Argentina’s Martin Landajo (9) and next to teammate Victor Matfield during their rugby union test match in Buenos Aires 15 August – Reuters

AFP: New Zealand routed Australia 41-13 while South Africa grabbed a revenge 26-12 triumph over Argentina in a packed program of World Cup dress rehearsals on Saturday.

Thirty-four days out from the start of the 2015 World Cup, the defending champions, the All Blacks, marked skipper Richie McCaw’s record 142nd Test appearance with a five-try demolition of Australia in Auckland.

New Zealand’s pride was wounded when they lost the Rugby Championship decider 27-19 to the Wallabies a week ago, and they were determined to make amends and retain the Bledisloe Cup for the 13th consecutive year.

The All Blacks scored five tries with Dane Coles, Ma’a Nonu (twice) and Conrad Smith crossing the line along with a penalty try, while Dan Carter booted all five conversions and two penalties.

Australia were limited to one late converted touchdown by Israel Folau and two Quade Cooper penalties.

“They came out and put us under a bit of pressure territory wise and possession wise and we stuck together and got turnovers when we needed to get them and slowly put our impression on the game,” said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

The All Blacks are in Pool C at the World Cup, which starts in England on September 18, along with Argentina, Tonga, Georgia and Namibia.

Australia are in Pool A with England, Wales, Fiji and Uruguay.

In Buenos Aires, South Africa avenged a humiliating Rugby Championship home loss to Argentina last weekend with a 26-12 warm-up triumph over the Pumas.

Wingers Bryan Habana and Lwazi Mvovo scored first-half tries during a five-minute purple patch to give the Springboks a 20-9 half-time lead they never looked like surrendering in a much improved display.

Argentina had recorded a stunning 37-25 win in Durban last Saturday -- the first against South Africa in 20 attempts spanning 23 years.

Such was the shock, South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer even apologised to the nation for the lacklustre performance.

At Twickenham, Anthony Watson’s two tries helped England to a deserved 19-14 victory over France.

The Bath wing flew over for a magnificent brace in the first half and Gloucester’s Jonny May added another try in the second period as Stuart Lancaster’s men produced some scintillating backs play.

France, defeated 55-35 in the Six Nations in the teams’ last meeting in March, got the better of England up front in the second half and they hit back from 19-9 down with Montpellier flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo bull-dozing his way over from a maul for a score.

England gave a debut at centre to rugby league convert Sam Burgess who unleashed a series of bone-crunching tackles before being sin-binned on the stroke of half-time.

“It’s good to start the three warm-up games with a win, especially at Twickenham,” said England skipper Tom Wood.

“We knew France would come looking to give us plenty of problems and it was as tough as I thought it would be.”

Ireland beat Scotland 28-22 in Dublin in a game which featured seven tries in all.

World number two side Ireland were level 7-7 with their visitors at the break after flanker Chris Henry and loose forward Blair Cowan had exchanged tries.

Scotland twice led in the second period but further tries from Sean Cronin, Simon Zebo and Luke Fitzgerald just proved decisive for Ireland.

The Scots could take heart from seeing skipper Henry Pyrgos and Peter Horne also cross after the interval.

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt made 14 changes to the team that beat Wales 35-21 in Cardiff last weekend.

“I thought it was a genuine test. The lungs were bursting at times,” said Schmidt.

Ireland are in Pool D at the World Cup alongside France, Italy, Romania and Canada while Scotland will play in Pool B with South Africa, Samoa, Japan and the United States.

In Tokyo, Fijian-born winger Taqele Naiyaravoro gave his hopes of a World Cup call-up by Australia a power of good by scoring a hat-trick of tries in a World XV 45-20 win over Japan.

New Zealand scrum-half Andy Ellis scored two more tries for the visitors.