Australia 92 defeated Spain 10
@ City University, Madrid on Thurs 1st November 2001

Well, a massacre it was. A cake walk. A thrashing. A bollocksing. A spanking of epic proportions and historical note. A Wallaby record score against all opposition, and a record margin of victory, thereby (sadly) erasing from the record books our 76-nil drubbing of England in '98.

But the Spaniards played gloriously in defeat. They tried their hearts out right until the final whistle, when other teams of lesser character (like England, I hear you say) would have long before given up and switched off. They consistently tackled their man, but simply ran out of numbers out wide, the superior speed and fitness of the Wallabies a telling difference.

And even I, who hates seeing the Wallabies' tryline crossed, raised my glass to the Spaniards as they scored a well-deserved and well-engineered try. Their sustained attack forced the Wallabies to repeatedly infringe to defuse the situation, with Nick Stiles ultimately sent to the bin for his blatant efforts to disrupt play. And you could see it in the urgent directions from Gregan, the frantic regrouping of the forwards, and the way every Wallaby was sucking in some big ones whenever play stopped - the Wallabies were working very hard, and you simply have to applaud the Spanish team of amateurs (and poorly paid professionals) for giving it their all.

But the result was, nevertheless, inevitable. Too fast. Too fit. Too many options. Chris Latham was outstanding, as was Nathan Grey. Matt Burke's kicking was exceptional (10 conversions in one match - another Wallaby record). Finegan played strongly, as always, and Justin Harrison once again proved himself a worthy successor to Eales.

And, beyond that, there's really not too much to say. Given the score, this match really was nothing more than a glorified training run. The upcoming Test against England will tell us so much more - and lets hope that the news is good.

- Dan Fowell