The 2012 autumn internationals, also known as the autumn tests, November tests and, in the Southern Hemisphere, the end of year tests, were international rugby union matches. They were predominantly played between visiting Southern Hemisphere countries and European nations. The IRB introduced an International Rugby Series, to improve competitiveness ahead of the next

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, that included Tier 2 nations

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The first tournament was held at

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

's Eirias Stadium in North Wales. The tournament was in addition to those tests played between Tier 1 and Tier 2 nations.

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

hosted

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

hosted

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 ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

hosted

. Both

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

hosted

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, while

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

travelled to South America to play a two test tour, where they earn victories over

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

hosted a tournament including

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, with Spain winning both tests to clinch the tournament.

Matches

October

Notes: * James Hanson made his international debut for Australia in this match. *

Keven Mealamu Keven Filipo Mealamu (born 20 March 1979) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at hooker for the Blues in Super Rugby, Auckland in the National Provincial Championship, and the New Zealand national team. He was part of t ...

won his 100th cap for the All Blacks, he became the 22nd international player and 3rd All Black to reach the landmark. *

Piri Weepu Piri Awahou Tihou Weepu (born 7 September 1983) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Weepu played most recently for Wairarapa Bush in the Heartland Championship. Generally Weepu played as a half-back but also played at first five-eig ...

equalled the record held by Ollie le Roux for most international caps from the bench with his 43rd substitute appearance from his 66 caps. * Tony Woodcock equalled the All Black record held by Kees Meeuws for most yellow cards in a career with his third yellow card. * The draw ended New Zealand's 16-match winning streak, also ending their chances of surpassing Lithuania's record streak of 18 wins. * This match ended New Zealand's sequence of 105 consecutive matches of scoring a try in a match, it was the first match the All Blacks didn't score a try since 2004. The run of 105 consecutive matches of scoring a try in a match remains an international rugby record.

4 November

10/11 November

---- ---- ---- Notes: * Argentina's victory came exactly 11 years after their last win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium. ---- Notes: * Michael Bent,

Iain Henderson William Iain Henderson (born 21 February 1992) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for United Rugby Championship club Ulster and the Ireland national team, and has been selected for two tours with the British & Irish Lions ...

, Dave Kilcoyne and Richardt Strauss (all Ireland) made their full international debuts. * The starting hookers, Adriaan (South Africa) and Richardt Strauss (Ireland), are cousins, the latter qualifying on residency grounds. *

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara (born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland's third most-capped player and second highest points scorer. He i ...

(Ireland) earned his 127th international cap (125 with Ireland and 2 with the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

) and overtook

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside Centre (rugby union), centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster Rugby, Leinster and for Ireland national rugby union te ...

as the sole second most-capped player in rugby union history behind

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

George Gregan George Musarurwa Gregan AM (born 19 April 1973) is a former rugby union player who played as scrum-half. Born in Lusaka, Zambia, Gregan represented Australia at an international level, and is Australia's second most capped player. He played S ...

(139). ---- Notes: * Yannick Forestier, Jocelino Suta, Sébastien Vahaamahina (all France) and Paddy Ryan (Australia) made their international debuts. * This match ended Australia's seven-year winning streak against France, France's previous victory against Australia dating back to 5 November 2005 (26–16). * The French came within one point of their largest ever victory against Australia (34–6 in 1976). ---- Notes: * Henry Pyrgos (Scotland), Dane Coles and Tawera Kerr-Barlow (both New Zealand) made their international debuts. * Scotland became the first team to score three tries against New Zealand since New Zealand's loss to Australia in August 2011. ----

13 November

Notes: * The Tigers returned to using their traditional lettered-flocked jerseys for this non-test match. They last used this system when they hosted

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 ...

. ---- ----

16/17 November

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Notes: * This was a non-capped match for Ireland, but was a fully capped match for Fiji. The IRB gave this match a no-test status, which means rankings would not change regardless of the outcome but will be part of the new scheme to increase competitiveness in Tier 2 teams ahead of the next World Cup. ---- ----

21 November

23/24/25 November

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Notes: * This result was Tonga's first ever win over Scotland. * This defeat was Scotland's first at Aberdeen's

Pittodrie Stadium Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, from which the surrounding residential area has taken its name, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for Association football, football, it has been the home ground o ...

. ---- ---- ----

1 December

Notes: * Freddie Burns (England) made his international debut. * England claimed the Hillary Shield for the first time. * This was England's biggest win over New Zealand, the most points they have ever scored against them, and their first win against them in 10 years. * This was also New Zealand's joint second-largest defeat; at the time only Australia had beaten them by more. * This was New Zealand's first defeat since they became world champions, and their first in 22 matches. ---- Notes: * Australia captain

Nathan Sharpe Nathan Sharpe (born 26 February 1978) is a retired professional Australian rugby union player. He began his rugby career at the Queensland Reds in 1999 before joining the newly created Western Force in 2006, where he captained the club until hi ...

kicked for the conversion to end his career in the Australian squad. * No replacement was made when Halfpenny was taken off due to injury.

2012 International Rugby Series

''For more details on this topic, see:'' 2012 International Rugby Series ---- ---- ----

Effect on 2015 Rugby World Cup seeding

Much like the 2008 end of year series, the final IRB rankings at the end of the international window will play a massive part towards the seeding of the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. Like the 2011 tournament, the IRB rankings will play a pivotal role in proceedings with the top four placed sides at the end of the international window set to be kept apart in the draw. All 12 of the automatic qualifiers will be seeded based on their ranking and then split three bands of four teams. * Band 1 will be made up of the top 4 automatic qualifiers * Band 2 will be made up of the next 4 automatic qualifiers (5–8) * Band 3 will be made up of the next 4 automatic qualifiers (9–12) * Band 4 will be made up of the remaining due to qualify places (Oceania 1, Europe 1, Asia 1 and Americas 1) * Band 5 will include the remaining possible nations (Africa 1,Europe 2, Americas 2 and repechage Winner) Following the final matches on 1 December 2012, the 12 teams automatically qualified were seeded thus: :Pot 1 :Pot 2 :Pot 3 :Pot 4 *Americas 1 *Asia 1 *Europe 1 *Oceania 1 :Pot 5 *Africa 1 *Americas 2 *Europe 2 *Repechage Winner

References

External links

2012 end-of-year rugby union tests at ESPN
*
Welsh Rugby Union

Rugby Football Union

{{DEFAULTSORT:End-of-year

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2012–13 in European rugby union 2012 in Oceanian rugby union 2012 in North American rugby union 2012 in South American rugby union 2012 in South African rugby union 2012–13 in Japanese rugby union

Matches

October

4 November

10/11 November

13 November

16/17 November

21 November

23/24/25 November

1 December

2012 International Rugby Series

Effect on 2015 Rugby World Cup seeding

See also

References

External links