GERRY THORNLEY ON RUGBY: You can only improve by playing your betters, however painful that process may be, so Ireland should play all their autumn tests against Tri-Nations rivals

A SOBERING November, eh? Perhaps even a tad depressing if there wasn't so much else in the world sadly worthier of the description. But dispiriting anyway, for The Gap, as it's been known throughout much of the professional era, suddenly seems as big as ever.

The Gap, of course, refers to the yawning one that exists between the Tri-Nations teams and those from the Six Nations. Wales at least averted a Tri-Nations whitewash by eventually holding their nerve to beat Australia 21-18 on Saturday. Otherwise it would have constituted an 11-0 win-loss tally over the course of the month in meetings between the Tri and Six Nations. Taken in tandem with last summer's end-of-season tours by the Six Nations, it would have been 21-0. Dear Lord.

Of course, these things can change swiftly. It was only just over a year ago, after all, that England beat South Africa and France downed the almighty All Blacks on the same day in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. That day perhaps underlines that when it comes to the demands of knock-out cup rugby, the Europeans - honed by their domestic and Heineken Cup competitions - can rise to the demands of specific one-off challenges.

Just over a year before the World Cup, South Africa were beaten 46-0 by Australia. It's also worth recalling that only last June the All Blacks were losing 34-19 to the Wallabies in Sydney, a second successive Tri-Nations defeat that had the clarion call for the friendless Graham Henry's head rising to a crescendo.

Eight successive wins later, they have a Grand Slam to go with their Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup successes. Given the post-World Cup flight of over a dozen first-team squad members, it is a remarkable turnaround and a testimony to their unparalleled conveyor belt of playing talent, the All Blacks culture and Henry's coaching ticket.

Given it is a largely remodelled team, their third Grand Slam tour is perhaps a finer achievement than the second one in 2005. Then, the team had been together for a couple of years and came to Europe buoyed by their Lions' blackwash and the Tri-Nations.

Amid much of the dross that has passed for rugby this season, thanks to the ELVs and the utter inconsistency in applying the diktat regarding players staying on their feet and not sealing the ball, the All Blacks have been the one team consistently worth watching. They are prepared to have a go and have illuminated a dreary month with some stunning tries. Yet they are not as exciting to watch as the '05 vintage, which is far more damning of modern-day rugby than of the All Blacks themselves.

Their rediscovered hegemony has been founded on a quite stunningly ruthless and efficient swarming defence, where the onus in the tackle is to take man and ball. Ireland actually put together some of their best moves against the All Blacks, but no sooner had David Wallace or Luke Fitzgerald pierced the initial black line than the All Blacks' outside three or Richie McCaw were making swift intercepts or ball-and-all tackles.

The Springboks, especially against an English side whose handling and offloading skills on the day were an embarrassment to the red rose fraternity, also underlined how much more aggressively the Southern Hemisphere sides defend and how much more effective they are in attacking off turnover ball.

The Tri-Nations teams have also been noticeably fitter. What fitness coaches in Europe would give for a similar, post-Six Nations, mid-season break to refresh and recharge their frontliners in mid-season, à la their southern counterparts.

Perhaps the Tri-Nations teams have benefited from being further down the track with the vexed ELVs and by dint of playing under the full raft of them. The ball is in play significantly longer in the Tri-Nations, Super 14s and their domestic competitions, and it was remarkable how often they finished games stronger.

Delon Armitage's 46th-minute penalty at Twickenham was the only second-half score conceded by the All Blacks in their entire six-game tour, and the Tri-Nations teams enjoyed a marked post-interval supremacy in the 11 head-to-heads against Six Nations sides, winning the first halves by a cumulative 125-87, and the second periods 160-36.

In terms of winning possession, the Europeans weren't so bad, but the most marked gulf in standards was the ball-carrying into contact of the Tri-Nations players, their offloading skills, their lower error count and their all-round intensity of effort. And as for converting chances into scores, this was perhaps the biggest gulf of all.

It may be no coincidence that the closest in type and playing style to the Southern Hemisphere big three are Wales, honed as they are by a Kiwi. As with Wasps, Waikato or any side coached by Warren Gatland, they play with a huge emphasis on the collisions and train accordingly, with a greater emphasis on weights' training, right up to and including match weeks. Most of all though, from the moment Wales began life under the Gatland-Shaun Edwards ticket, they were prepared to keep the ball on the pitch and play with a relative degree of abandon and imagination, or at any rate trust their skills.

That said, they begin the defence of their Six Nations away to Scotland, who had a pretty encouraging November themselves. They had a real go against the All Blacks, and an even better one against the Springboks. If only they had an outhalf.

Marc Lievremont's France continue to be in a state of flux; England looked utterly hapless but, presumably, can only get better; and Nick Mallett's Azzurri beat on against the tide. What of Ireland? It's hard to get a handle on how fruitful their November was. The All Blacks result doesn't look so bad now, although a similar scoreline at the Millennium Stadium cannot disguise the feeling that Wales inconvenienced McCaw's team a good deal more.

Perhaps November 2008 was not the time, but henceforth Ireland have to shed the innate IRFU-founded conservatism/fear in choosing opponents, and start taking a leaf out of Clive Woodward's and Gatland's manual by playing all three Tri-Nations teams every November.

Games against the likes of Canada and for that matter, Argentina, pale by comparison. And, as in any sport, you can only improve by playing your betters, however painful that process might be.

• gthornley@irish-times.ie