Nick Mallett, a candidate to coach England, did his chances of taking over from Martin Johnson no harm when he helped oversee a 36-22 win for a Southern Hemisphere XV against a Northern Hemisphere XV in the Heroes Rugby Challenge game at Twickenham.
The game may have been a charity match to raise money for wounded servicemen, but Mallett and his fellow coach, Wayne Smith of New Zealand, made sure their team had a competitive edge and outplayed the North in front of a crowd of 29,251. The match was a farewell for the English referee Chris White.
At least Scott Spurling, an 18-year-old hooker at Saracens academy, had an afternoon to remember, the teenager sidestepping the great Wallaby wing Joe Roff to run in the first try of the afternoon from deep inside his own half.
That was as good as it got, though, for a side coached by Dean Ryan and John Kirwan. The Southern Hemisphere replied immediately with the South African centre Andries Strauss slicing through the North defence to give Adam Thomson, the South captain and a recent World Cup winner, the chance to dive over.
The centre Jackson Willison, from New Zealand, scored a breathtaking second try for the South. Then their South African lock Inus Ras battered over just before the interval to put Mallett's side in control.
The South suffered a blow when their South African fly-half and kicker Sias Ebherson was taken off on a stretcher moments after the North introduced a couple of illustrious substitutes in another World Cup winner, Will Greenwood, and Sean Long, the former St Helens rugby player who has been playing union of late for Preston Grasshoppers.
Worcester's Josh Drauniniu gave the South a stranglehold on the match with a try following a run from the halfway line after the break, before Long and Greenwood combined to give the centre Tom Gleeson a try that removed the frown from Ryan's face. The impressive South African hooker Pieter Van Vuuren cancelled out the score by crashing over in the corner before the North full-back Ceri Cummings rounded off the scoring with a try in the last minute.
