The Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan was critical of the South African referee Tappe Henning after the second Test defeat at the hands of the All Blacks in Auckland. New Zealand won 40-8 to clinch the series after their narrow win in Dunedin the previous weekend.

O'Sullivan said: "We spoke to him [Henning] before the game and he told us he was absolutely happy with our game last week. We didn't do anything different tonight and we were penalised very heavily. It had a major impact on our game. I think the All Blacks played well enough to win but the technical contrast of the interpretations were totally different this week."

Scotland's coach Ian McGeechan was happier, declaring his side's North American tour a success after thumping the United States 65-23 in San Francisco. A week after an embarrassing first-ever loss to Canada, the Scots ran in 10 tries and could afford to play the entire second half with 14 men after their lock Nathan Hines was sent off for punching Dan Anderson.

"To play like that with 14 men is a massive performance," said McGeechan. "Everybody stepped up, they knew they were going to have to work for themselves and a missing player as well."

Australia's hooker Jeremy Paul has been ruled out for two to four weeks with rib cartilage damage and will miss the second Test against France next Saturday.

Paul was injured late in the first half of Australia's 29-17 opening win against the Six Nations champions at Melbourne's Colonial Stadium on Saturday. His deputy Brendan Cannon is expected to be the new starting hooker in Sydney.