It’s official! Northern Hemisphere rugby is not quite dead. Amid an onslaught of New Zealand, Australia and South African power, Wales have finally shown that the formidable Tri-Nations trio ARE still beatable. Well, one of them is, at least.

If someone had told me before today’s showdown at the Millennium Stadium that Wales would lose most of their own lineouts, I’d have predicted an Australian victory by at least 20 points. Yet the buzzing Welsh backs made up for that throwing-in shambles by producing some of the most fluid and exciting attacking play I have seen this year to record a memorable 21-18 victory.

It was certainly right up there with anything I’ve seen from the All Blacks or Springboks – and the two wonderful first-half tries from Shane Williams and Europe’s best fullback Lee Byrne were reminiscent of their legendary predecessors of the 70s golden era.

But for a remarkable interception try by Australia’s Mark Chisholm after an all-too-familiar line-out cock-up by Wales, Warren Gatland’s men could well have been out of sight by half-time. It was a score that highlighted just what incredible athletes the Wallabies are - a lock-forward racing 70 yards and leaving a string of speedy Welsh threequarters in his wake.

Digby Ioane’s late try made the final scoreline more respectable  from Australia’s point of view but had Wales’s No.1 kicker Stephen Jones brought his goalscoring boots with him and not missed three convertable kicks, Wales would almost certainly have won a lot more easily. Well, that’s how I saw it anyway.

Aussie coach Robbie Deans, probably the only losing Kiwi on a day when Graham Henry’s All Blacks predictably walloped England at Twickenham to complete their own Grand Slam, reckoned the Cardiff game wasn’t a great spectacle.

Really, Robbie? I thought it was one of the best matches I’ve seen for a long time – and so did the entire BBC TV commentary team.

OK, I know most of them were Welsh, and that the Northern Hemisphere has had little to shout about for a long time, but how Deans could say there was nothing special about this game beats me. The words ‘bad’ and ‘loser’ come to mind…what do other Sportingo readers think?

Anyway, while England boss Martin Johnson and his misery men can only go one way after humiliating home defeats by all three Tri-Nations giants, and both Scotland and Ireland have little to shout about at present, Ryan Jones and his Six-Nations champions look in good shape to challenge for back-to-back Grand Slams in the New Year.

Their confidence is back, despite losing three times to South Africa this year as well as last week’s defeat by the All Blacks. And with new world-class talents like No.8 Andy Powell and man-of-the-match Byrne emerging to join World Player of the Year Shane Williams, the future is looking rosy red for Gatland’s charges.

They can point to the fact that the defeat by South Africa at the Millennium Stadium came when they were somewhat stale, while the Boks came to Cardiff battle-hardened by a fierce Tri-Nations campaign. And for the first 40 minutes last week, Wales looked a better side than the All Blacks.

But it’s all about winning – and now that the dragons have seen off one of the big three, and deservedly so, they could well be the team that leads the Northern Hemisphere charge towards the  2011 World Cup

It’s a nice change for the North to have ANYTHING to bleat about rugby-wise. It was bad enough for Britain that the Rugby League World Cup shambles ended with a Special K infight between the Kiwis and  Kangaroos as England proved almost as out of their depth as joke qualifiers Scotland and Ireland.

The only consolation for the 13-a-side game in general was that New Zealand, not pre-tournament certs Australia, grabbed the ultimate glory.

It’s nice to see New Zealand ruling the world in something other than rugby union, where the All Blacks are arguably the greatest sporting phenomenon on the planet.

Throughout my life – and my memories go back more than half a century – the All Blacks, with the odd all-too-brief blip, have always been the best team on earth. Others come and go, but I have only been able to marvel at their amazing consistency.

Even in the days when my own beloved Wales were right up with them, our wonder team were never able to beat New Zealand – even with all-time legends like Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett, JPR Williams and Gerald Davies in our ranks.

We went 14 years unbeaten at Cardiff Arms Park by every other team on the planet but when New Zealand came to town in 1978, they still had enough to pip us 13-12. Mind you, I still reckon Andy Haden dived out of the lineout illegally to win the clinching penalty!

Anyway, England shouldn’t be too downhearted at their latest 32-6 thumping. It’s no disgrace to lose to the greatest sporting phenomenon on earth…