World Cup aspirants seek final seal of approval

IT’S an understandable source of pride among the oval ball brigade that there is no such thing as a mere friendly in international rugby.

All games are Tests. Summer tours and autumn internationals are invested with the same level of intensity and focus as run outs in the Six Nations or the World Cup. Not for them the pedestrian and pallid facsimiles so often seen in soccer.

Yet, if ever the result was immaterial it is at times like these, in the run-up to the global get-together when national coaches are mixing and matching players like debutantes would try dresses and accessories before prom night.