Six Nations champions Ireland shrugged off injury concerns to dish out a stunning 29-15 defeat to South Africa at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
It was only Ireland’s fifth win over the Springboks in more than a century.
Ireland, who received a blow before kick off with the last-minute withdrawal of virus-hit flanker Chris Henry, wrote a notable page in their history with tries from Rhys Ruddock and Tommy Bowe, four penalties from Johnny Sexton and one from Ian Madigan.
Wales captain Sam Warburton lamented his team’s nail-biting 33-28 defeat by Australia, but said it was just a question of when, and not if, they beat a leading southern hemisphere side.
Wales outscored the Wallabies by four tries to three, but fly-half Bernard Foley kicked 18 points to guide Australia to a 10th consecutive victory over the Welsh, in coach Michael Cheika’s first Test in charge.
Since taking the reins at Wales in 2007, coach Warren Gatland has won only one of 26 matches against the three southern hemisphere giants, a 21-18 victory over Australia in 2008.
Warburton was keen to focus on the positives after a ninth successive single-figure loss to the Wallabies. “It’s the best game we’ve started in November internationals or Six Nations in quite a long while,” Warburton said.
“We managed to match the intensity of Australia. Everyone knows in the squad and the management that we’ve got the ability to beat these teams. They’re not going to be consistently this close the next nine or 10 matches and not go our way once, it’s a just a matter of when.”
Game winner Foley told the BBC: “It was a squad effort today. The guys were relentless in their efforts and it was a true team effort.”
In London, New Zealand started the European leg of their November tour with a hard-fought 24-21 win over England at Twickenham.
In a match billed by some as a potential World Cup final between the reigning champions and the 2015 tournament hosts, the All Blacks recorded their fifth straight win over England following a 3-0 home series victory in June.
England were 14-11 up at half-time but New Zealand, with captain Richie McCaw scoring a try, hit back in the rain-lashed second half before a last-minute penalty try for the hosts narrowed the score.
“We are just happy that our last visit to Twickenham of the season is a win,” man-of-the-match McCaw told Sky Sports. “Ten months is a long time in rugby though, we will have to see if it has any effect at the World Cup.”
Scotland came out on top of an expansive clash with Argentina, despite a late fightback from the visitors, winning 41-31.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
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