England routed Australia 35-18 in a rare moment of cheer for northern hemisphere rugby, while New Zealand and South Africa moved halfway to Grand Slams on their European tours on Saturday.

The All Blacks racked up their biggest win over Scotland at Murrayfield, 49-3, and the Springboks came behind to break Wales hearts 29-25 at Millennium Stadium.

Argentina beat Italy on Italian turf for a fifth straight time 22-16, France stayed unbeaten against Fiji 34-12, and Ireland ended a six-game losing streak to scrape home 20-10 over Samoa 20-10.

Chris Ashton touched down twice and Toby Flood kicked 25 points as England's backs outgunned Australia's vaunted line for a first victory over a Tri-Nations side at Twickenham in four years.

Flood, man-of-the-match Ben Youngs and Ben Foden constantly looked to attack - a tactic which produced the highlight of the match.

In the 47th-minute, a turnover on England's tryline saw Courtney Lawes feed Ashton who sprinted 90 metres and accelerated past Australian winger Drew Mitchell near halfway give England a match-winning 26-6 lead.

"We got on top of them and subdued them," England manager Martin Johnson said.

"Maybe they weren't expecting us to play how we did. We did it better than last week (26-16 loss to New Zealand)."

England's first home win over a southern hemisphere powerhouse since a 23-21 triumph over South Africa in November 2006 also matched its 17-point wins over Australia in 1973 and '76.

"I am not surprised by England at all," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said.

"We came second in the game. We are disappointed about that.

"The game was two tries apiece but clearly England deserved their win."

The All Blacks scored at a point-a-minute pace in the first half of their seven-try rout of Scotland with rugby league convert Sonny Bill Williams setting up two tries to extend New Zealand's unbeaten record against the Scots to 105 years.

Captain Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina, who crossed twice, celebrated their 92nd caps, tying Sean Fitzpatrick's record for New Zealand.

The Springboks are chasing their first Grand Slam since 1961, and are doing it the hard way.

Wales led 17-9 and had high hopes of only a second win over the Boks, but the visitors scored 17 straight points to start the second half and stayed ahead on penalties.

"When we came over, there were a lot of people who said we'd be lucky to win one game on tour so we are taking it week by week," said Boks skipper Victor Matfield, who marked his record 103rd cap with a try.

Dimitri Yachvili tallied 19 points to help France bounce back from heavy defeats to South Africa and Argentina in the summer by rolling past Fiji in Nantes.

Argentina produced a brilliant try from nothing for fullback Martin Rodriguez to break open a 6-6 deadlock, before captain and flyhalf Felipe Contepomi sealed the game with accurate goalkicking.

Also, Uruguay and Romania finished 21-21 in Montevideo in their bid for the 20th and last berth in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the United States edged Portugal 22-17 in Lisbon, and Canada beat Spain 60-22 in their first meeting.

They will have a playoff in Bucharest in two weeks, where the winner will join Argentina, England, Scotland and Georgia in Pool B.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP