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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Robert Kitson in Sydney

Northern clean sweep means it’s all up for grabs in third round of matches

All Blacks Jordie Barrett and Dalton Papalii with Ireland's James Ryan James Lowe and Tadhg Beirne during the 2nd Test in Dunedin
The All Blacks were not so much beaten in Dunedin as psychologically unzipped. Photograph: Inpho/Shutterstock

One weekend of eye-raising rugby results does not necessarily change the world. Equally there has never been a day to compare with Saturday. A clean sweep of wins for Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland against the southern hemisphere’s top four teams is unique in the game’s history, despite the south hosting all four of the fixtures.

No Irish or Welsh team had previously won in, respectively, New Zealand and South Africa. Now here they both are, just one final push away from winning a best-of-three series. The same is true of England and Scotland, who also bounced back from first Test disappointment to defeat, in turn, Australia and Argentina and complete the quadrella.

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