The 2010 mid-year rugby union tests (also known as the Summer Internationals in the

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) refers to the

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Internationals that were played from late May to late June, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. For

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New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the tests constituted preparation for the 2010 Tri Nations. The first nation to announce its fixtures for this series was

, which unveiled its schedule on 21 September 2009. South Africa announced its fixtures on 8 October 2009, but delayed announcing the venues since it simultaneously hosted the

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regulations call for World Cup venues to be handed over to FIFA 15 days before the World Cup starts. FIFA also prohibits any other major sporting events from being held in host cities from 7 days before the opening of the World Cup and until 7 days after its end. An agreement was reached between the South African Rugby Union and the local World Cup organising committee to allow the match against France to be held at SARU's intended venue of Newlands in

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, a non-World Cup venue in a World Cup city.

Overview

Series

Other tours

Matches

Week 1

* As is typical for Barbarians matches, this was an uncapped match for England.

Week 2

* As is typical for Barbarians matches, this was an uncapped match for Ireland. ---- ----

Week 3

---- * Dan Carter became the fourth player in history to score 1,000 test points, after Jonny Wilkinson, Neil Jenkins and Diego Domínguez. He ended the day in third on the all-time list, surpassing Domínguez. * Sam Whitelock (New Zealand) made his international debut. ---- ---- ---- * Scotland become the first side to defeat Argentina in Tucumán.

Week 4

---- ---- * This was intended to be the last rugby test played at Carisbrook; however, the stadium would host the All Blacks' 2011 World Cup warm-up match against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. Carisbrook's replacement, Forsyth Barr Stadium, ultimately opened in August 2011. ---- * This was England's first victory in the Southern Hemisphere since the 2003 Rugby World Cup. ---- ---- * Scotland earn their first series win ever against Argentina.

Week 5

---- * This was referee Jonathan Kaplan's 17th game involving New Zealand, a new refereeing record for games involving any one country. ---- ---- * Springbok captain John Smit became the first rugby player to win 50 tests as captain. * Bryan Habana scored his 38th test try, equalling the South African record of Joost van der Westhuizen. ---- * This game was referee Stuart Dickinson's 50th test match. * Argentina score their biggest win ever over France. The Pumas' previous record win over ''Les Bleus'' was their 34–10 win in the third-place game of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. * Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi became the 18th player in history to amass 500 career test points.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mid-Year

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2010–11 in European rugby union 2009–10 in European rugby union 2010 in Oceanian rugby union 2010 in South American rugby union 2010 in South African rugby union 2010–11 in Scottish rugby union