It was a mixed weekend for former Waikato flatmates Warren Gatland and John Mitchell. Gatland was discarded by the IRFU, his position as Ireland team coach brought to an end as the union decided that Eddie O'Sullivan and Declan Kidney as coach and assistant coach was the way forward for Irish rugby.

Mitchell, on the other hand, must have used up all of the good fortune available when the fledgling New Zealand coach watched his side scrape past Argentina 24-20 in Buenos Aires. It took a try by number eight Scott Robertson one minute and 50 seconds into injury time at the end of the match, to rescue the All Blacks.

Up until that point, the Argentinians, revelling in the support of the 57,000 crowd in the River Plate (soccer) stadium, seemed certain to better their previous best result against New Zealand, a 25-25 draw. The home side led 17-14 and with a few minutes remaining were awarded a penalty that the proverbial grandmother would have kicked. Unfortunately for the home side, Felipe Contepomi and not grandmother took the kick, from point-blank range, and pulled it wide.

He then compounded that error by missing touch deep into injury time which allowed rookie fullback Ben Blair to beat the first line of defence and send Robertson over unopposed. In mitigation, New Zealand had gifted Argentina their two tries with appalling errors but it will rankle with the home side that this was an opportunity lost.