Saturday 28 June 2003

United States 6 England XV (non-cap) 43

England confirmed their standing as the top side in the world as their A-side romped to glory in the Churchill Cup Final, beating the USA Eagles by 43-6 at the Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver.

First-half tries from powerful centre Ben Johnston and skipper and No.8 Hugh Vyvyan, all of which were converted by fly-half Dave Walder, put England into a useful 17-6 half-time lead, with the visitors scoring another four tries in the second half.

Back rower Pete Anglesea, inside back Henry Paul, mobile hooker Phil Greening and starting fullback Iain Balshaw scored England's second-half tries, with Walder kicking another two conversions and Olly Barkley adding one conversion.

However, it wasn't plain sailing early on, with flanker Kort Schubert signalling USA's ambition in an early charge to the posts.  That resulted in a Link Wilfley penalty and Johnston finally put England on the scoresheet in the 24th minute.  The Saracens centre was first to Walder's chip over the Eagles' defence for an easy run-in.

Walder converted and then traded penalties with Wilfley for a 10-6 lead before Vyvyan picked up the ball from Paul's long pass and galloped in.

Pete Anglesea scored England's third try in the second half when he crashed over next to the flag from James Simpson-Daniel's pass and Walder's extras gave them some daylight at 24-6.

The Newcastle Falcon, relishing some game time after missing most of the season with a broken leg, created Paul's try with a dribbled drop-out on his own 22, Vyvyan provided the link and the Gloucester centre beat David Fee to the corner.

There was still time for Phil Greening and Martyn Wood to employ a one-two at the front of the line-out for the hooker to go over, while Iain Balshaw had the last word with a try from Simpson-Daniel's feed.

"English rugby is on a real high at the moment," said Paul after the match.  "It doesn't matter whether you're in New Zealand and Australia or over here -- it's all about playing well as a squad.

"We have done a job here and hopefully we will be good enough if we have to step up.  It's good that England has a pool of around 60 players to chose from rather than just 20 or so."

Paul also saluted Mallinder and assistant Steve Diamond, saying:  "The coaching staff have really fired us.  We have learnt a lot from Jim and Steve and they have done a good job of keeping everyone tight."

England now travel to Tokyo for two games against a Japan Select XV (Thursday, July 3) and Japan (Sunday, July 6) and for Mallinder the job is only half done.

"Three from three -- you can't ask for anything more than that but we set out our goals from the outset and that's winning all five games; that is our No.1 priority.  We have got two tough games in difficult humid conditions; we don't know much about Japan so the challenge is there for us."

The Teams:

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Brian Surgener, 6 Conrad Hodgson, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kimball Kjar, 10 Matt Sherman, 11 David Fee, 12 Kain Cross, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Link Wilfley
Reserves:  Jason Keyter, Mark Griffin, Kevin Dalzell, Olo Fifita, Jurie Gouws, John Tarpoff, Mose Timoteo

Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

United States
Pen K.:  Wilfley L.M. 2

South Africa 26 Argentina 25

Louis Koen's boot once again saved some blushes for the Springboks as they recorded a lucky 26-25 win over Argentina at the Eastern Province Rugby Football Union (EPRFU) Stadium in Port Elizabeth.

Koen struck a penalty goal from just outside the Puma 22 only seconds before the final whistle was sounded by Welsh referee Nigel Williams to secure a win that could very easily have gone the other way after the visitors led by 25-16 going into the final five minutes.

A try from replacement back Brent Russell -- and Koen's conversion from in front of the uprights -- put the Boks within striking distance before Koen's final penalty burgled the win for South Africa after a Pedrie Wannenburg dash down the right-hand side touchline had won the favourable field position for the home side.

After South Africa's less-than-convincing two-Test triumph over Scotland earlier this month, more questions remain unanswered despite the Boks' unbeaten record this year.

Despite his 100 percent kicking record, is Koen the right man for the fly-half spot given his hesitancy on attack?  Why were the Puma forwards so efficient at hitting rucks and mauls, with the Bok pack lumbering around the park?

And lastly, why was Russell given just seven minutes to weave his magic, when, clearly, he is the only back in South Africa with the pace and vision to test opposition defences?

The Pumas preyed on the Boks' poor hands and option-taking at crucial moments, with the visitors scoring three wonderfully-constructed tries from long-range, with the hapless home team managing one try off a Puma error in the first period and Russell's effort after finally taking the ball through enough phases to tire the Puma defence.

Before Russell's score, Argentina were well in control at 25-16, but they would be kicking themselves for trying to protect their lead at that stage instead of trying to build on it.

A sensational try from young fullback Juan Martín Hernández -- and Gonzalo Quesada's conversion -- had given them a nine-point lead, but they could well have enjoyed a bigger advantage at that stage had an earlier try not been disallowed.

Argentina inside centre Felipe Contepomi scored what looked to be a legitimate intercept try in the 64th minute, only for referee Williams to disallow it on the advice of one of his touch judges.

Lock Rimas Álvarez, who was yellow-carded in the first half, was the man fingered for punching, although the Pumas did not have to wait too long for their third try, with Hernández's effort coming less than five minutes later.

It all began when Puma right-wing José Maria Núñez Piossek got past his marker Pieter Rossouw, replacement lock Patricio Albacete took the ball further and Hernández's pace saw him over the tryline.

Rossouw seemed set to make up for his defensive lapse from the re-start when he chased and re-gathered his own kick-ahead, only to go for the tryline himself, despite having the necessary support on his outside.

The Pumas did well to snuff out any of SA's try-scoring chances in those final frantic minutes, but Russell's fresh legs and try-scoring appetite eventually foiled them.

Earlier, the visitors went into the dressing-room with a slender 15-13 half-time lead after South Africa had run into an early 10-nil lead.

A try from hooker Danie Coetzee, after scrum-half Craig Davidson charged down his opposite number's clearance kick, together with the conversion and a penalty goal from Koen seemingly put the home side in control.

But the visitors were merely waiting for their chance and when Bok lock Quinton Davids coughed up possession in the Puma 22, they counter-attacked, with Contepomi eventually emerging from a maul on the SA line with ball in hand.

Surprisingly, Quesada missed the conversion, but he was on song less than five minutes later when the Pumas worked an innocent looking line-out ball down the short-side through back rowers Lucas Ostiglia and Rolando Martin -- right-wing Núñez Piossek having enough pace to go all the way.

Koen also kicked a penalty at the end of the first half, with the Bok fly-half also having the final say at the end of the second period as the Boks rounded off preparations for the Tri-Nations.

It could be a long few months for Bok supporters ...

Man of the match:  Not many contenders from the home side, although Pedrie Wannenburg should be commended for his non-stop display, despite some unforced errors at the back of the Springbok scrum.  Brent Russell was a handful in his seven-minute cameo, while Jaco van der Westhuyzen was good under the high ball.  For Argentina, captain and No.8 Gonzalo Longo, scrum-half Nicolás Fernández Miranda and inside centre Felipe Contepomi all impressed, with the latter eventually winning Planet Rugby's vote.  His forwards laid the platform, but his decisive play from the No.12 position -- on attack and defence -- very nearly gave his side the edge at the end of the day.

Moment of the match:  One moment stands out -- Contepomi's disallowed try in the 64th minute, which was cancelled out when second rower Rimas Álvarez was spotted landing a few punches on Boks Corné Krige and hooker Danie Coetzee.  Fullback Hernández scored his team's third try shortly afterwards, but if the visitors had scored two tries in that short space of time the home team would have battled to fight back from that deficit.

Villain of the match:  Most of the Springboks' discipline was poor, and their ball-retention in the tackle-situation was once again way below-par.  But they won, and the man that could quite easily be blamed for Argentina's loss is Álvarez, who spent 10 minutes in the sin bin in the first half and had Contepomi's second-half try disallowed for punching.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Robbie Kempson, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Cobus Visagie, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Quinton Davids, 6 A.J. Venter, 7 Corne Krige (c), 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Craig Davidson, 10 Louis Koen, 11 Pieter Rossouw, 12 Gcobani Bobo, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves:  Richard Bands, Selborne Boome, Brent Russell, Bobby Skinstad
Unused:  Trevor Halstead, Lawrence Sephaka, Joost Van Der Westhuizen

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Lucas Ostiglia, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia (c), 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Jose Nunez Piossek, 15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Reserves:  Patricio Albacete, Santiago Gonzalez Bonorino, Federico Mendez, Santiago Phelan, Hernan Senillosa
Unused:  Matias Albina, Bernardo Stortoni

Attendance:  34000
Referee:  Williams n.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Coetzee D. 1, Russell R.B. 1
Conv:  Koen L.J. 2
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 4

Argentina
Tries:  Hernandez J.M. 1, Nunez Piossek J.M. 1, Contepomi F. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 2
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 2

New Zealand 31 France 23

The All Blacks managed to hold on for a narrow eight-point 31-23 win against a resurgent French team in their one-off Test at the Jade Stadium in Christchurch.

It was a match full of excitement and some really high quality rugby, which produced five sparkling tries.  In the end it was a hat-trick by winger Joe Rokocoko that sealed the win for the Kiwis.

But it will be the French, far more so than the All Blacks, who will take most of the positives out of this match, with the Kiwis made to work very hard for the win.

In the end they showed good character to hold on, especially in the last 10 minutes, when they were reduced to 14 men after captain Reuben Thorne was yellow-carded for punching an opponent.

But the French showed that they should not be written off as World Cup prospects, after producing a spirited and sometimes very entertaining display against the highly-rated All Blacks.

What makes the French performance so noteworthy is that it follows their two-match series whitewash against Argentina, which ended in a heart-breaking 33-32 defeat in Buenos Aires last week.

But in Christchurch on Saturday they resembled the French one had come to expect over the years -- efficient and almost dominant up front, and very creative in the backline.

In fact they showed up some serious flaws in the Kiwi pack, often putting them under pressure in the scrums and stealing more than just a handful of line-outs on the All Blacks' throw.

As for the New Zealanders, they showed just how dangerous they can be when they get quick ball out wide.  With flyers like fullback Mils Muliaina, wing Doug Howlett and in particular Rokocoko, they have one of fastest back threes in the world.

Unfortunately, and this was particularly true in the second half, the Kiwis did not always managed to get the ball out wide quickly enough.  Maybe the French defenders also deserve some credit here, even if they did give away a number of goalable penalties after the break.

The game opened at a frenetic pace, with the first passage of play lasting all of three minutes as referee André Watson played advantage on several occasions.  It ended with a penalty to the French, from an All Black hand in the ruck.  But fly-half Frédérick Michalak fluffed his penalty shot from 25 metres out.

The next passage of play also last well over two minutes, with the Kiwis eventually getting their hands on the ball and taking the ball to within three metres of the French tryline -- through 11 phases -- before they lost control.

The first points came in the seventh minute, when the French worked their way up-field and Michalak made amends for his earlier miss by slotting a well-timed drop-goal.

The Kiwis, despite not seeing much of the ball in the early stages, kept their composure and managed to start putting some phases together again.

Their first points came after 15 minutes, when winger Joe Rokocoko went over in the left corner.  It started with a break in the midfield, at a ruck, by No.8 Jerry Collins.  At the next ruck the ball came quickly, with Carlos Spencer off-loading brilliantly to Rokocoko.  Daniel Carter added the conversion for a 7-3 lead.

It was another seven minutes before the All Blacks scored again, with Rokocoko there to finish off another fine move.  It started at a line-out, with first five-eighth Carlos Spencer timing his inside pass to Rokocoko brilliantly.  The French cover defence could not get to the All Blacks' flying Fijian and he scored his second five-pointer.

Carter's conversion made it 14-3.

Rokocoko completed his hat-trick in the 27th minute, at a time when it seemed the All Blacks would run away with the game.  Carter made the initial midfield break, the Kiwis took it through a number of phases and then it went wide quickly where Rokocoko went over.  Carter missed the conversion, but the score had moved to 19-3.

The French slowly started to fight their way back into the game, with Michalak kicking a penalty in the 31st minute, before Sylvain Marconnet went over for France's first try in the 38th minute.

It proved to be a crucial score, as the French won a line-out deep inside All Black territory, took it to the midfield where the ball went quickly through the hands, before a well-timed inside pass to Marconnet saw the prop going over under the posts.  Michalak added the conversion to narrow the gap to 19-13 at the break.

Some of the most interesting statistics that came out of the first half is the low penalty-count, with referee André Watson needing to award only six penalties (two against France and four against the All Blacks).  The referee's control of the match seemed far superior to some other performances by match officials in internationals this year.

Also the All Blacks had conceded their first try of the year, despite dominating possession -- a great compliment to the French.

The second half was probably not as exciting as the first, with mistakes starting to creep in as the players tired.  Also, the French conceded a few more penalties -- five in this half -- which allowed Carter to slot penalties in the 56th, 60th, 64th and 79th minutes.

The last of those was very crucial, with the French having narrowed the gap to just five points -- 28-23.

Following the first three of Carter's second-half penalties, it was French centre Yannick Jauzion who scored his team's second try in the 70th minute.  It came from a scrum and a midfield break.  Gérald Merceron, who had come on as replacement for Michalak, added the conversion.

A long-range Damien Traille penalty in the 76th minute narrowed the gap to just five points, before Carter's final strike.

Man of the match:  There is only one candidate, and a runaway winner.  Joe Rokocoko's hat-trick seals it for him.

Moment of the match:  Obviously anyone of Rokocoko's three tries would qualify, they were certainly of a high enough quality.  But French prop Sylvain Marconnet's try in the 38th minute gets our award.  Not only was it a crucial score, which brought the French back into striking-distance, but it showed how forwards should play -- not trying to be centres or wings, but taking the ball up hard at close quarters from great passes by backline players who can create.

Villain of the match:  Just one candidate and the winner -- All Black captain Reuben Thorne, who was shown a yellow card in the 69th minute for a silly punch when his team was on the attack.  It almost cost his team the game, with the French scoring 10 points and almost stealing a win.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Rokocoko 3
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 4

For France:
Tries:  Jauzion, Marconnet
Cons:  Michalak, Merceron
Pens:  Traille, Michalak
Drop:  Michalak

The teams:

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Tana Umaga, 12 Daniel Carter, 11 Doug Howlett, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Steve Devine, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 6 Richie McCaw, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 David Hewett
Reserves:  Keven Mealamu, Marty Holah, Brad Thorn, Byron Kelleher, Kees Meeuws
Unused:  Aaron Mauger, Caleb Ralph

France:  15 Clement Poitreneaud, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 13 Damien Traille, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Patrick Tabacco, 6 Imanol Harinordoquy, 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Yannick Bru, 1 Sylvain Marconnet
Reserves:  David Auradou, Pieter De Villiers, Gerald Merceron, Sebastien Chabal, Christian Labit
Unused:  Jean-Baptiste Rue, Pepito Elhorga

Attendance:  36500
Referee:  Watson a.

Saturday 21 June 2003

New Zealand 55 Wales 3

New Zealand recorded their biggest-ever win over Wales in their one-off Test at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, with the All Blacks winning by 55-3.  The victory was every bit as compelling as the scoreline suggests, with the Kiwis outscoring the opposition by eight tries to none.

The previous biggest defeat suffered by Wales against the All Blacks was in Christchurch back in 1988, when they lost 52-3.  The 55 points scored by the All Blacks are also more than the 54 they conceded in their 54-9 defeat in Auckland two weeks after the 49-point hammering in Christchurch.

But back to the present and Hamilton on Saturday.

Statistics can sometimes be misleading, but this is one occasion where the match stats tell a story all of its own.  The All Blacks had 70 percent of the possession at the Waikato Stadium and enjoyed a territorial advantage of 76 percent.

Another interesting fact is that New Zealand have not conceded a try in 160 minutes of rugby ... or if you really want to be intricate you can say they have not conceded a try in any of their Test matches all year.

But what is more notable is the way in which the Kiwis overcame a slow start to shut the Welsh out altogether.

The early stages of the game certainly belonged to the Welsh, who managed to get some good possession and also launched a couple of brave counter attacks.

They were rewarded for their bravery and effort with a seventh-minute penalty, which fly-half Stephen Jones duly slotted to give them the lead.

They managed to hold onto that lead for another 13 minutes, despite the All Blacks slowly starting to take control.

By the 20th minute the All Blacks scored their first points, a Doug Howlett try, which saw them move into the lead -- a lead they never conceded.

It came from a scrum inside the Welsh 22-metre area, from where they set up a ruck and then took it wide where they had superior numbers.  Carter added the conversion for a 7-3 lead.

Carter landed a penalty seven minutes later to make it 10-3 as the Kiwis started taking total control of proceedings.

While the Welsh continued to put up brave resistance, with some stern defence, the overwhelming feeling was that the figurative dam wall was about to burst.

It did not happen in the first half, with the All Blacks adding just one more try before the break.  It came in the 33rd minute, when Carlos Spencer slipped over after a movement, which he himself started with a blinding midfield break.  The forwards came into play very quickly and with good quick ball Spencer was able to find a gap to squeeze through.

Carter added the conversion to make it 17-3, which was also the score at the break.

It took the All Blacks just five minutes after the break to start the flood of second-half tries, with Carter going over for his first Test try.  It came after a drive by the Kiwi forwards, some hard running by Tana Umaga to create the gap, a ruck and quick ball to the left where Carter scored after a great hand-off on Mark Taylor.

Carter added the conversion for a 24-3 lead and it was clear that Wales were now reduced to damage control.

The next 10 minutes belonged to the forwards, with prop Kees Meeuws and hooker Kevin Mealamu scoring tries.

Meeuws went over in the 50th minute after a scrum five metres out, with the forwards driving, driving and driving again till Meeuws flopped over.  Mealamu's try came from a line-out five metres out, when they also drove the Welsh defenders back over their own line.

The backs got back into the scoring fray in the 63rd minute, when Umaga went over after a scrum, from which Carter created the half-gap.  Carter converted two of these three tries as the score moved to 43-3.

The 50-points came up in the 67th minute, when Joe Rokocoko scored his first Test try, after a turnover and a counter-attack by the Kiwis.  Rokocoko scored New Zealand's eighth try in the 71st minute, when he charged down an attempted clearance and pounced on the ball.

Man of the match:  There are many candidates, with Kees Meeuws, Keven Mealamu, Jerry Collins, Marty Holah among the forwards all doing well.  Add to that the names of backs like debutant Daniel Carter and wing Joe Rokocoko.  But our vote goes to prop forward Kees Meeuws, who scored one try and came close to another couple.  But it was his overall work-rate which earned him this award.

Moment of the Match:  From an entertainment point of view it is not the best moment, but it was a defining moment when Wales No.8 Colin Charvis was stretchered off with concussion in the 23rd minute -- after a very heavy tackle by Jerry Collins.  It was as if the fight had been knocked out of the entire Welsh team.

Villain(s) of the match:  Our vote goes unanimously to the All Blacks' new tight-fitting jerseys, which just do not seem to be up to international standards.  In fact, it was so bad that at one stage Joe Rokocoko was playing with No.31 (a replacement jersey) and Daniel Carter with a No.26 jumper.  Later on Steve Devine was playing with No.24 as the jumpers kept being ripped apart.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Carl Hoeft, 2 Keven Mealamu, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Marty Holah, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Jerry Collins, 9 Steve Devine, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Daniel Carter, 13 Tana Umaga, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 15 Mils Muliaina
Reserves:  Brad Thorn
Unused:  David Hewett, Aaron Mauger, Richie McCaw, Byron Kelleher, Anton Oliver, Caleb Ralph

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Robert Sidoli, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Dafydd Jones, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 8 Colin Charvis, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Jamie Robinson, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Tom Shanklin, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Mefin Davies, Gavin Henson, Dwayne Peel, Ceri Sweeney, Jonathan Thomas, Chris Wyatt
Unused:  Ben Evans

Attendance:  25200
Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Howlett D.C. 1, Umaga J.F. 1, Carter D.W. 1, Rokocoko J. 2, Spencer C.J. 1, Mealamu K.F. 1, Meeuws K.J. 1
Conv:  Carter D.W. 6
Pen K.:  Carter D.W. 1

Wales
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 1

Australia 14 England 25

England threw down a World Cup gauntlet to the southern hemisphere superpowers as they claimed their first-ever victory on Australian soil, outscoring the Wallabies by three tries to one in a 25-14 win at Melbourne's Telstra Dome.

Having beaten the All Blacks only seven days earlier, coach Clive Woodward's men delivered a timely slap in the face to those who have accused them of "boring" rugby, with all of their tries coming from the backs against a resilient Wallaby side, who gave their all without a host of their recognised stars.

But it is the powerful display of this England team that is the story of world rugby at the moment, with their reputation further strengthened after a performance which saw tries for centres Will Greenwood and Mike Tindall, as well as a second-half effort from wing Ben Cohen.

Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson dictated play with his usual authorativeness, adding two penalties as well as converting all but one of the tries -- only the width of an upright preventing him from a perfect day with the boot as his touchline effort rattled the left post following Tindall's try.

Despite the obvious plus points for the visitors, the match was not a totally wasted exercise for the Wallabies, with wing Wendell Sailor continuing his ascent in standards with a spectacular late consolation try, while makeshift fly-half Nathan Grey gave a gritty demonstration of his skills, playing within his obvious limitations but never being the point of weakness that had been suggested by some pre-match pundits.

Joe Roff kicked three penalties, while openside Phil Waugh was again outstanding for the hosts, but their opponents will go away the happier, having firmly stamped their authority as the team to beat.

The "Red Rose" brigade had heroes all over the park, hooker Steve Thompson being everywhere, captain Martin Johnson again being a huge physical presence, while Jason Robinson, Ben Cohen and Josh Lewsey in the backs never relinquished their duties.

If any criticism is to come following this historic match, then discipline may well be the area, with Irish referee David McHugh letting a host of offences go unpunished, as well as blowing the English continually for off-side and infringements in contact.

Also, the dominance of tigerish Wallaby Waugh at the breakdown showed just how much the English are missing the injured Lewis Moody -- his Leicester team-mate Neil Back having many plus points in his general game, but lacking the extra yard to beat the energetic Waugh to the breakdown.

Right from the off, both teams directly attacked at each other, with tactical subtleties on the backburner as Sailor found himself on the end of a Gregan up-and-under in the corner, being bundled into touch by Cohen.

Dallaglio stole an early Wallaby line-out, and while some of the capacity crowd were still getting to their seats, the visitors scored their first try -- phase after phase of English pressure finally grinding down the home resistance.

It was Greenwood who was the man to touch the ball down, but this try was created by a relentless recycling of the ball at pace, sucking the defenders in before it was finally flung wide -- Greenwood bursting through the tackle of centre Steve Kefu before planting the ball down near the posts for Wilkinson to convert.

England were on the front foot, but suffered a bout of over-confidence when trying to run the ball out of their own 22, the Wallabies forcing a penalty after the attempted move went wrong.

Roff had no trouble from right in front of the posts, bringing the deficit down to four points, but with scrum-half Kyran Bracken and hooker Thompson snapping at the heels of the Wallabies, they were being denied clean ball in open play.

Waugh dominated the English singe-handedly at the breakdown, and with the Wallabies restricted to counter-attacks, a break from Roff down the left-wing nearly saw their first try -- the Brumbies star's pass going to ground as a three-on-two beckoned.

England, for all their pressure, were getting impatient, and Wilkinson kicked the ball away in attack when perhaps more phases in the hands were required, but after a few sloppy handling errors, they were finally rewarded for their persistence.

Centre Tindall was the beneficiary, but the try was created in the 22 after some quick hands from Wilkinson, Thompson and Greenwood, who all released the ball before being tackled to make the space for Tindall's burst for the left corner flag.

Wilkinson hit the post with the conversion, with further breaks from Robinson and Lewsey testing the home defence to the full -- some sound tackling from that man Waugh again saving the day.

Some fairly cynical play from Cohen in defence after a kick and chase nearly saw the Wallabies rein in the visitors after a fleeting run down the left -- Cohen hanging on in the ruck and being penalised while the Australians had a considerable numerical advantage.  But Roff missed the resulting penalty from left of the posts, and his side went into the interval at 12-3 down.

The second half was an altogether messier affair, with off-sides by the England defence earning the wrath of referee McHugh, while some slap-dash handling by the Wallabies when the tryline beckoned showed their lack of composure.

A penalty from Roff just after the interval from near the posts got the Australians to within six points, and when the visitors were yet again whistled for offside in midfield, Roff narrowed the deficit to three.

But with Jeremy Paul caught on the wrong side of a ruck, Wilkinson nudged England ahead again with a penalty, as the superb continuity of the first half was not matched, understandable with so many exhausted bodies on the field after a frantic opening.

Sailor began to play an increasing role with some powerful runs out of defence, but just when it looked that a period of dominance in possession terms might give the Wallabies ammunition to challenge the lead, England wing Cohen stormed through the three-quarter line at break-neck speed for the third try of the game.

The Northampton powerhouse hit the line on a straightening angle, Greenwood's decoy run having taken Turinui out of his immediate running line, and then the small matter of turning on the turbo and stepping his way past last man Latham before going for the line from all of 30 metres-plus not proving to big an obstacle.

Wilkinson converted, and the 13-point lead never looked like being caught.  Late impetus however came with the arrival of Mat Rogers and Lote Tuqiri on to the field, Rogers probing the midfield at fly-half while Tuqiri and Sailor provided ample problems for the England defence.

Rogers nearly scored after a marvellous diagonal break for the left corner -- Robinson tackling his former League opponent just short of the line.

With the clock running down and victory almost guaranteed for England, the last few moments were made all the more anxious when Sailor -- who had threatened to do so all game -- cut through the defence like the proverbial hot knife through butter, turning Matt Dawson inside out before powering past Cohen down the right-wing to slam the ball down.

Roff's conversion could have brought them to within a converted try, but he erred from out wide, and a Wilkinson penalty right on the final hooter brought the game to a close, capping a historic tour for England, while the Wallabies themselves can have gleaned at least some hope from the gutsy spirit of their depleted side.

So, what are the implications for the World Cup?  Who knows?  But one thing is for sure, the odds will have shortened on an England win, while those who have dared to question the adventure of the men in white were well and truly shot down.

Man of the Match:  The influence of England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson was -- as ever -- immense on this game, but for a physically dominant showing we can look no further then England hooker Steve Thompson.  He likes the rough stuff, but can handle a ball, and played a key role in Mike Tindall's try.  For the Wallabies, openside Phil Waugh was the obvious standout, while stand-in fly-half Nathan Grey tested his game to its full limits.  Wing Wendell Sailor drifted in and out of play, but when he's good, boy is he good!

Moment of the Match:  Wendell Sailor's late try runs this mightily close, but for both its importance and its clinical execution, our award goes to England wing Ben Cohen's try.  At six points up in a key stage of the game, Jonny Wilkinson gave a show of the ball to the Wallaby defence, sucked in Morgan Turinui and then unleashed a short pop to Cohen, who straightened his running line magnificently before outgunning fullback Chris Latham with a side-step and a fiercely accelerating run.

Villain of the Match:  In a bits-and-pieces match with a fair bit of niggle, there was never any real villainy of the dastardly sort.  Mat Rogers landed a punch on Josh Lewsey, but the holding antics of Lewsey cancelled out that, before Lewsey wreaked revenge with a bone-crunching but perfectly legitimate tackle.  Persistent off-sides blighted the flow of the second half, but to single out one sole culprit would not be telling the full story of a game generally played in good spirit.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 David Giffin, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Nathan Grey, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Steve Kefu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Mat Rogers, Ben Darwin, Daniel Vickerman, Lote Tuqiri
Unused:  Daniel Heenan, Chris Whitaker

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Kyran Bracken, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Jason Robinson, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves:  Matt Dawson, Joe Worsley, Steve Borthwick
Unused:  Alex King, Jason Leonard, Dan Luger, Mark Regan

Attendance:  54868
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Sailor W.J. 1
Pen K.:  Roff J.W.C. 3

England
Tries:  Greenwood W.J.H. 1, Tindall M.J. 1, Cohen B.C. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 2
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

Friday 20 June 2003

Samoa 14 Ireland 40

Ireland ended their 2003 tour of Australia and the Pacific with a 40-12 win over Manu Samoa at Apia Park, Munster fly-half Ronan O'Gara starring with an impressive 32-point haul.

The win brought down the curtain on their tour and indeed their current season, with a trip that included a 45-16 defeat at the hands of Australia and a 40-19 victory over Tonga.

On Friday, despite being at the end of a long international season, the players managed to keep their minds very sharply focused against Samoa in this their only home game before the World Cup.

Ireland had got off to a slow start, and despite a trio of early O'Gara penalties, it was Samoa wing Ron Fanuatanu who touched down the game's first try, restricting Ireland's half-time lead to 9-7.

Fly-half Earl Va'a converted, but it was to be Irish dominance all the way from there, as captain Reggie Corrigan's men wrapped the game up, thanks in no small part to O'Gara, who was in for Ulster's David Humphreys at fly-half, and gave coach Eddie O'Sullivan a real selection headache ahead of the World Cup.

O'Gara nailed his fourth penalty after the break, before dazzling the crowd with a well-taken dummy to go under the posts for the tourists' opening try.

After another penalty from the Munsterman, back rower Eric Miller charged down a kick and scored their second try, before O'Gara showed great support from a Gordon D'Arcy run to pop up for his own second try of the match.

There was just time for a spectacular drop-goal before the fly-half was replaced by Harlequins' Paul Burke, who kicked a penalty to wrap up the Irish scoring.

Samoa fly-half Va'a grabbed a late consolation try for his side, but the home side had been completely outplayed by the Irish, especially in the latter stages.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan told Britain's Press Association after the match:  "For me we've had some very good performances this year, but this was right up there with the very good ones, Murrayfield and Australia in Dublin.

"Conditions were appalling, we had two players with heat stroke and to win that game showed tremendous character.

"The defence again was excellent, the first try they got was the first mistake we made in the match, a loose kick over the top and they're the best in the world at that."

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Kitiona Viliamu, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Denning Tyrell, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Brian Lima, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 14 Ron Fanuatanu, 15 Fa'atonu Fili
Reserves:  Des Tuiali'i, Gaolo Elisara, Tamato Leupolu, Jonathan Meredith, Steven So'oialo
Unused:  Dominic Feaunati, Ponali Tapelu

Ireland:  1 Reggie Corrigan (c), 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Leo Cullen, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Aidan McCullen, 8 Eric Miller, 9 Guy Easterby, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Anthony Horgan, 12 Jonathan Bell, 13 Mike Mullins, 14 John Kelly, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Paul Burke, Gordon D'Arcy, Brian O'Meara, David Wallace, Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul Shields
Unused:  Emmet Byrne

Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Fanuatanu R.  1, Va'a E.V. 1
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 1

Ireland
Tries:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2, Miller E.R.P. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 5, Burke P.A. 1
Drop G.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 1

Ireland smash Samoans in Apia

Winning end to Irish tour

Ireland ended their tour of Australia and the Pacific with a 40-12 win over Manu Samoa at Apia Park on Friday, Munster fly-half Ronan O'Gara starring with an impressive 32-point haul.

The win brought down the curtain on their tour and indeed their current season, with a trip that included a 45-16 defeat at the hands of Australia and a 40-19 victory over Tonga.

On Friday, despite being at the end of a long international season, the players managed to keep their minds very sharply focused against Samoa in this their only home game before the World Cup.

Ireland had got off to a slow start, and despite a trio of early O'Gara penalties, it was Samoa wing Ron Fanuatanu who touched down the game's first try, restricting Ireland's half-time lead to 9-7.

Fly-half Earl Va'a converted, but it was to be Irish dominance all the way from there, as captain Reggie Corrigan's men wrapped the game up, thanks in no small part to O'Gara, who was in for Ulster's David Humphreys at fly-half, and gave coach Eddie O'Sullivan a real selection headache ahead of the World Cup.

O'Gara nailed his fourth penalty after the break, before dazzling the crowd with a well-taken dummy to go under the posts for the tourists' opening try.

After another penalty from the Munsterman, back rower Eric Miller charged down a kick and scored their second try, before O'Gara showed great support from a Gordon D'Arcy run to pop up for his own second try of the match.

There was just time for a spectacular drop-goal before the fly-half was replaced by Harlequins' Paul Burke, who kicked a penalty to wrap up the Irish scoring.

Samoa fly-half Va'a grabbed a late consolation try for his side, but the home side had been completely outplayed by the Irish, especially in the latter stages.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan told Britain's Press Association after the match:  "For me we've had some very good performances this year, but this was right up there with the very good ones, Murrayfield and Australia in Dublin.

"Conditions were appalling, we had two players with heat stroke and to win that game showed tremendous character.

"The defence again was excellent, the first try they got was the first mistake we made in the match, a loose kick over the top and they're the best in the world at that."

The scorers:

For Samoa:
Tries:  Fanuatanu, Va'a
Con:  Va'a

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Gara 2, Miller
Cons:  O'Gara 2
Pens:  O'Gara 5, Burke
DG:  O'Gara

The teams:

Samoa:  15 Fa'atonu Fili, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Dale Rasmussen, 12 Brian Lima, 11 Ron Fanuatanu, 10 Earl Va'a, 9 Denning Tyrell, 8 Semo Sititi (captain), 7 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 6 Kitiona Viliamu, 5 Leo Lafaialii, 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Trevor Leota, 1 Kas Lealamanua.

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 John Kelly, 13 Mike Mullins, 12 Jonathan Bell, 11 Anthony Horgan, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Guy Easterby, 8 Eric Miller, 7 Alan Quinlan, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 Reggie Corrigan (captain), 2 Shane Byrne, 1 Marcus Horan.

Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand, Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Television Match Official:  Sandy MacNeill (Australia)

France 32 Argentina 33

History was made at Estádio de Vélez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires when for the first time ever Argentina won a series against France.  They have shared series in the past but this won they won.  The winning could not have been closer as it took a last-minute drop-goal by Gonzalo Quesada to win them the match 33-32.

Argentina had won a drab first Test 10-6.  This one was not drab -- certainly not the action of injury-time.  First Quesada put Argentina up 30-29.  Then France's replacement fly-half Frédéric Michalak goaled and made it 32-30.

Back came the Pumas and Quesada was well short with his third failed drop-goal attempt.  Pepito Elhorga cleared.  The Pumas just won a shoddy line-out and then they threw everybody into a frantic attack on the French who held their line.

Then came the drama of the end when the light changed and everything seemed to go into slow motion as Quesada lined up for a drop-goal -- at an awkward angle and seeming to face the wrong way, but over it went.

The French raced up, kicked off quickly but the Argentinians kicked the ball into touch and the match into history.

Joy unbounded in Buenos Aires!

Each side scored two tries.  In the end a drop-goal beat a conversion and won the match.

The first half was much better than either half of the first Test -- more structured and constructive.  The second half had a scruffy bit but not much can compensate for that ending.

As in the first Test, the Pumas were the first to score.  This time it took a minute longer for it to happen -- after two and a half minutes!

The half's scoring promised to go with kick-off.  Argentina kicked off and scored first.

After the initial kick-about Argentina won a line-out and drove.  The ball came back sweetly and Gonzalo Quesada gave to centre José Orengo who popped it up in the tackle to fullback -- Juan Martín Hernández, the glamourboy of Argentinian rugby.

Hernández easily beat a tottering Pepito Elhorga with a swerve and went over as Yannick Jauzion and Aurélien Rougerie tried to tackle him.  Surprisingly the matter was refereed to the Television Match Official who took surprisingly long in awarding the try.  Quesada converted, 7-0.

France kicked off and the Puma backs were penalised for being off-side.  Yann Delaigue goaled from in front.  Argentina kicked off and Sébastien Chabal, playing No.8, was penalised for using his hands in a tackle/ruck.  Quesada goaled.

France kicked off, but the score did not come immediately.  They forced a scrum in the middle of the Puma 22 and attacked right and left and right again.  Then the penalty came and Delaigue made it 10-6.

Inevitably in this match, the Pumas scored next.  Hernández countered well.  The ball was chipped ahead.  Elhorga made a rickety clearance, which Nicolás Fernández Miranda ran back from just inside the French half.  Lisandro Arbizu got himself into a good position to break and fed fellow-centre José Orengo with a flat pass and the strong young player surged over for a try.  Quesada missed the conversion, but it was 15-6 after 15 minutes.

France kicked off and should have scored, but Delaigue hit the upright from straight in front.  That was his last act of significance as Damien Traille took over the kicking till Michalak replaced Delaigue.  Traille's penalty goal was from about three metres inside the Argentinian half and he goaled it to keep France in touch at 15-9.

Now it was the Pumas' turn, though France had the first opportunity when they worked an overlap for flank Imanol Harinordoquy, but Hernán Senillosa mowed him down and in fact Argentina scored.  They attacked with a will.  Quesada missed a drop.  They attacked again and Arbizu goaled a drop -- 18-9.

That meant that France would score next and they did for two bits of Pumas silliness.  In the same bit of play prop Martín Scelzo hit -- in retaliation to be fair to him -- Fabien Galthié and was sent to the sin bin and fullback Hernández obstructed Elhorga late.  From an awkward angle Michalak goaled.  That made it 18-12 after two minutes of injury time.

There was still time for Argentina to kick off and score.  They duly did so when France were penalised at a tackle and Quesada goaled from in front.

That made the half-time score 21-12.

France looked as if they would run away with it in the second half as they started working many short passes and hard bursts.  They scored their first try in two hours of rugby against Argentina after 45 seconds of the second half.  First big Yannick Jauzion broke clean through.  Sébastien Labit carried it on.  Back the ball came and Michalak going right swivelled a pass infield to Jauzion who burst over.  The game was on at 21-19.

After young Hernández had hurt his leg and been replaced, Traille burst through and France went over in a heap.  The Television Match Official could not decide on a try and it became a five-metre scrum to France.  Scelzo was penalised at the scrum and Michalak lobbed the penalty over.

The Pumas kicked off, the touch judge reported David Auradou for obstruction and Quesada made it 24-22.

The pattern of scoring changed at this stage as the Pumas scored next -- again a penalty by Quesada -- 27-22 with 16 minutes left to play.

France attacked.  Michalak hit the upright with a penalty and lock Rimas Álvarez carried over.  From the five-metre scrum France did the 8-9-15 and 15 scored.  In fact Elhorga went through with consummate ease and round to the posts.  So France led by 29-27 with time exhausting itself.

Then came that frantic finish as the Pumas grabbed back the lead.  Then France grabbed back the lead.  Then -- for the last time -- the Pumas grabbed the lead -- and won!

Man of the match:  It's just not easy as team-work ruled.  Juan Martín Hernández was wonderful but was not around for long enough.  Diego Albanese was brave and energetic.  Gonzalo Quesada proved he could be as balanced as the next fly-half.  Nicolás Fernández Miranda and Fabien Galthié both did well even when the ball was untidy.  Damien Traille was a steadying influence, but for Planet Rugby it was the man who played with every bit of strength and energy he had and won that untidy ball to set up that historic drop -- indestructible veteran Rolando Martín.

Moment of the match:  There was that sweet pass from Frédéric Michalak for Yannick Jauzion's try.  There was Lisandro Arbizu's pass for José Orengo's try and Orengo's pop to Juan Martín Hernández.  But there was no moment to equal that dropped goal, that historic dropped goal when the world stood still and Gonzalo Quesada won the match for the Pumas.

Villain of the match:  Sadly it was Martín Scelzo.  All right, he was hit first, but he retaliated.  Any player who retaliates in this day of many watching eyes is silly.  It deprived his side of his services for 10 minutes.

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Yannick Bru, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 David Auradou, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Yann Delaigue, 11 Vincent Clerc, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 15 Pepito Elhorga
Reserves:  Jean-Baptiste Rue, Frederic Michalak
Unused:  Thomas Castaignede, Olivier Milloud, Lionel Nallet, Clement Poitreneaud, Elvis Vermeulen

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Lucas Ostiglia, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Hernan Senillosa, 15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Reserves:  Felipe Contepomi, Bernardo Stortoni
Unused:  Matias Albina, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Santiago Phelan, Mauricio Reggiardo, Pedro Sporleder

Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Elhorga P. 1, Jauzion Y. 1
Conv:  Michalak F. 2
Pen K.:  Traille D. 1, Delaigue Y. 2, Michalak F. 3

Argentina
Tries:  Hernandez J.M. 1, Orengo J.R. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 1
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 5
Drop G.:  Arbizu L. 1, Quesada G. 1

Wednesday 18 June 2003

Canada 11 United States 16

The USA Eagles beat Canada by 16-11 in an ill-tempered Churchill Cup clash in Vancouver, to claim only their third win in 20 matches on Canadian soil and their first win over their higher ranked North American rivals in three years.

The Eagles had Link Wilfley to thank with 11 points coming off his boot, the USA fullback kicking three penalties and a conversion of centre Phil Eloff's try in a game which saw five yellow cards, three for Canada and two for the USA as well as a late, disallowed Canadian try from referee Roy Maybank.

Canada were first out of the blocks when fullback Quentin Fyffe rounded off a neat backline movement to score his first Test try after just four minutes but fly-half Bob Ross was unable to convert.

The veteran Canadian fly-half did, however, manage a penalty just before half-time to send the home side into the break 8-3 in the lead but Wilfley narrowed the deficit to just two points soon after the break.

The USA then took the lead on 64 minutes thanks to Eloff's try and although Canada pulled a penalty back and pressed hard late on, it was the staunch defence of the Eagles which prevented the Canadians from driving over in the last few minutes when their lock James Cudmore was judged to have been held up at the try-line.

Eagles coach Tom Billups was ecstatic with his team's performance, saying:  "We studied hard and prepared well as a team, and it showed."

The win will also ring well with the USA's decision to continue with Billups as head coach of the Eagles for the next two years.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Garth Cooke, 2 Mark Lawson, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 5 Colin Yukes, 6 Ryan Banks (c), 7 Adam Van Staveren, 8 Phil Murphy, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 Marco Di Girolomo, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Quentin Fyffe
Reserves:  Aaron Abrams, John Cannon, Kevin Wirachowski
Unused:  Leif Carlson, Ed Fairhurst, Ed Knaggs

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Dave Hodges (c), 5 Alec Parker, 6 Conrad Hodgson, 7 lanker Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Cayo Nicolau, 11 David Fee, 12 Kain Cross, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Link Wilfley
Reserves:  Jason Keyter, Luke Gross, John Tarpoff
Unused:  Mark Griffin, John Buchholz, Kimball Kjar, Mose Timoteo

Attendance:  3200
Referee:  Maybank r.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Fyffe Q. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 2

United States
Tries:  Eloff P. 1
Conv:  Wilfley L.M. 1
Pen K.:  Wilfley L.M. 3

Saturday 14 June 2003

Argentina 10 France 6

Argentina got the better of the Latin dog-fight at the Vélez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires, battling their way to a 10-6 win over a weakened France side in a game littered by stoppages and errors.

The only try of the game went the way of the Pumas in the first minute, wing José María Nunez Piossek working a good angle to breach the French defence, while coach Bernard Laporte's tourists were left scratching their heads after an incohesive and stop-start display, in this first of two Tests ahead of next weekend's re-match.

Toulouse fly-half Yann Delaigue blew two crucial but easy first-half penalty attempts on his comeback, while their largely untested pack sorely missed the big names who had been spared the trip, with Fabien Pelous, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Raphael Ibanez, Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen all possessing the class which Saturday's eight sadly did not.

In fairness, Toulouse openside Christian Labit made a decent fist of his comeback opportunity with some good breaks and all-round endeavour, and lock David Auradou battled well, but the lightweight front row struggled against the seasoned snarlers in the Pumas pack, who were at their destructive and devious best as they slowed down attack after attack by both foul and fair means.

New Leinster fly-half Felipe Contepomi slotted a penalty and a conversion for his side to guarantee the win, with hooker Mario Ledesma, scrum-half Nicolás Fernández Miranda and wing Diego Albanese all taking the game by the scruff of the neck.

Despite Les Bleus being without a number of their stars up front, their make-up behind the scrum was not light years away from their best mix, the likes of centres Thomas Castaignède and Damien Traille attempting in vain to breach the gainline time and again, while fullback Clément Poitrenaud's attacking pace was not given sufficent exposure.

English referee Steve Lander exerted a big influence on the match with a whole string of penalties to both teams, although the players did little to help with their almost constant offending, as well as the archetypal Latin temperaments boiling over on occasion.

In an unspectacular first half it was the Pumas who had the most of the scoring chances, Piossek making the most of his as early as the first minute to send his side into an early lead with a well-taken try.

It was created by fly-half Felipe Contepomi -- whose brother Manuel was in the centres -- with a miss pass to the right, but it was very much Piossek's timely and clinical execution of a side-step from his right foot at pace which made the gap, Castaignède being wrong-footed as Piossek straightened the angle and dived under the posts spectacularly.

Contepomi converted, but only a minute later the French had a chance to get themselves back in the match with a penalty to the left of the posts, although Delaigue's composure deserted him at the vital moment as he missed to the right.

Some good clearing punts from fullback Ignacio Corleto and the odd break from backs Lisandro Arbizu and Albanese were the bright spots for Los Pumas early on, although messy scrums and a series of penalties from both sides marred the match.

Castaignède and Traille attempted to make forays into Pumas' territory, but their best chance of points was again spurned when Delaigue missed an even easier penalty attempt than his first, from right in front of the posts near the 22.

Just when it looked like Piossek's try would be the only score of the half, Contepomi added a penalty to make the half-time score 10-0 to the hosts, coming back for advantage after narrowly failing to put Piossek in the corner with a grubber kick, fullback Poitrenaud getting in the way at the vital moment.  But Contepomi made no mistake with the penalty from wide on the right wing.

What the first half had lacked in incident, the second also did, with some bruising forward play allowing clear chances in the backs, the French knocking on time and again when the line beckoned, memorably through lock Auradou near the end after a flowing move, Auradou cursing himself for spilling an easy chance right near the line.

But Les Bleus did get on the scoreboard earlier in the second half, with centre Traille taking over the kicking mantle after Delaigue's previous two blunders, striking a firm penalty high and true through the uprights to get his side to within seven points of the hosts.

And they could have drawn level some moments later were it nor for Scottish TMO Iain Ramage, who controversially ruled that wing Aurélien Rugerie had knocked on when touching down his hack ahead in the Pumas' try area after a 50-metre chase down the right flank.

When Les Bleus were handed a penalty in front of the posts soon after, it was back to Delaigue to do the kicking honours, and in his third attempt he finally made a decent connection and sent the simple kick over for three points.

With the clock working against them, France frantically went for the try, although a wonky line-out throw from Jean-Baptiste Rué in the dying minutes right near the Argentine line did not help their cause, to the audible delight of the sizable Buenos Aires crowd.

Contepomi had previously missed a penalty from right of the posts by the slimmest of margins as his own team mounted a foray into French territory, but referee Lander finally brought an end to a tight and unentertaining encounter, leaving many questions unanswered about this weakened French team, while the Pumas again proved that they are a seriously tough not to crack on home soil.

Man of the match:  It might seem odd to choose a back in a game which was so massively influenced by the forwards, so combative Argentina wing Diego Albanese is just beaten to our award by a tough performance by hooker Mario Ledesma, who was all over the field in loose play, solid in the line-outs and huge in the scrums.  On the French side, tighthead Pieter de Villiers made a solid return after his suspension, while Damien Traille was a handful in the centres.

Moment of the match:  In a game short of noteworthy moments, José María Nunez Piossek's splendid try in the opening seconds of the match showed that the Pumas do possess dangerous backs -- if only they could get the ball to them more.

Villain of the match:  Despite the odd bout of Latin fisticuffs there was no real nastiness in the game, leaving French fly-half Yann Delaigue as our villain for his two early shocking penalty misses, which cost his side dear in the end.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Mauricio Reggiardo, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Patricio Albacete, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Lucas Ostiglia, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Manuel Contepomi, 14 Jose Nunez Piossek, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves:  Santiago Bonnorino, Juan Martin Hernandez, Federico Mendez, Pedro Sporleder
Unused:  Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Matias Albina, Gonzalo Quesada

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Jean-Baptiste Rue, 3 Olivier Milloud, 4 David Auradou, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Christian Labit, 7 Patrick Tabacco, 8 Jean Bouilhou, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Yann Delaigue, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Thomas Castaignede, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves:  Imanol Harinordoquy, Sylvain Marconnet
Unused:  Yannick Bru, Pepito Elhorga, Yannick Jauzion, Frederic Michalak, Lionel Nallet

Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Nunez Piossek J.M. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 1

France
Pen K.:  Traille D. 1, Delaigue Y. 1

South Africa 28 Scotland 19

South Africa duly wrapped up a series triumph over Scotland courtesy of a 28-19 victory in the second Test at Johannesburg's Ellis Park on Saturday.  Both sides scored one try each in a bruising contest at altitude.

Unlike last week, the Springboks flew out of the starting blocks, running at their opponents from the word go, and, more importantly, they mixed up their play well.

Fly-half Louis Koen, who weighed in with 23 points, ran the ball well, making an early break, but taking the wrong option -- as he did in the first Test -- at the moment critique.

Koen did, however, set up a try just a few minutes later, but sadly for him it was for the wrong side as an attempted long ball to his outside backs found Scotland No.13 Andy Craig in the bread-basket.

The Orrell three-quarter put on the after-burners and he safely negotiated his dash across the field, with Bok wing Ashwin Willemse too late to stop him.

Right-wing Chris Paterson slotted the simple conversion, and a penalty goal less than five minutes, and suddenly the visitors, who had just been into SA's half on two separate occasions, held a commanding 10-0 lead.

Koen soon began chipping away at Scotland's lead, slotting a penalty from the re-start after Paterson's first three-pointer, while a Koen drop-goal saw the scoreline reduced even more.

At 10-6 the Boks allowed Scotland to add to their lead, with a host of penalties from Koen and Paterson leaving the half-time score at 16-12 in the visitors' favour.

The Boks began the second stanza in exactly the same fashion as the first, except this time they managed to breach Scotland's defence, scoring their opening -- and ultimately only -- try after a wonderful bit of work from fullback Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Firstly Van der Westhuyzen did well to collect a tricky high ball, before turning it into a counter-attack, with Ashwin Willemse and Joost van der Westhuizen both handling en route to Stefan Terblanché's finish.

Terblanché's try put SA in the lead for the first time, with Koen's conversion putting them ahead by three points at 19-16.

Another Koen penalty stretched the Boks' lead to 22-16, but, typically, the brave Scottish side managed to stay in touch through Paterson's boot and some poor Bok discipline.

The home side conceded silly penalties, all of which were well within Paterson's range, but Koen, who ended up kicking six penalties -- equalling the South African record for penalty goals in a match -- kept his side ahead when it mattered most.

The Springboks enjoyed some great attacking moments in the latter stages of the match, and although Koen had stretched his side's lead to 28-19 just as the final quarter began, that second try eluded the South Africans.

Curiously, Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli left game-breaker Brent Russell on the bench, despite rushing him back into his match-day squad once the little Shark had proved his fitness at the start of the week.

A converted try would have put Scotland right back into the game at that stage, but, and more importantly, a converted try would have put the Boks out of reach.  Russell, who does not need a second invitation to the tryline, could just have been the man to unlock Scotland's tiring defence.

So where does this match leave the two teams in a World Cup year?

Well, Scotland again deserve praise for their approach to the game -- Ian McGeechan's side doing their basics right and minimising contact against their bigger forwards.

For them this tour certainly was an improvement on their dismal RBS Six Nations campaign.  But one just gets the feeling that it won't be enough come World Cup time.

South Africa.

Well, the hosts won again -- as their coach was quick to point out -- but their finishing was poor and they relied on the boot of Koen, whose all-round performance did not convince enough to suggest that he will be the custodian of the No.10 jersey come November this year.

Man of the match:  Not many contenders in this department, but the likes of Victor Matfield, Ashwin Willemse and Jaco van der Westhuyzen stood out for South Africa, with Simon Taylor, Scott Murray, Bryan Redpath and Chris Paterson -- all of whom did well last week -- impressing for the visitors.  In the end, Planet Rugby's vote goes to Jaco van der Westhuyzen for his enterprising play from the fullback position.  Not a first-choice player this year, but given the chance through injury, the Bulls back looked dangerous with ball in hand and he showed wonderful composure under the high ball.  He probably should have made more of his breaks count, but it was his run that set-up his side's only try of the day.

Moment of the match:  The lead-up to Stefan Terblanché's try, the Boks' only score of the day.  Van der Westhuyzen won a high ball before setting off on a strong run, finding support in the shape of young Lions winger Ashwin Willemse, who, in turn, found his captain Joost van der Westhuizen, who did just enough to put Terblanché away.  It was simple, but, yet effective rugby.

Villain of the match:  Springbok front rower Robbie Kempson wins our vote here for his late shoulder charge on Scotland replacement Brendan Laney in the dying moments of the match.  It earned him a yellow card, the first, and only, of the match, although there was not too much in it from the Ulster forward.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Hendrik Gerber, 7 Wikus Van Heerden, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen (c), 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 Trevor Halstead, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves:  Juan Smith, Gcobani Bobo, Selborne Boome, Robbie Kempson, Cobus Visagie
Unused:  Craig Davidson, Brent Russell

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Craig, 13 Andrew Henderson, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Brendan Laney, Gordon McIlwham, Jon Petrie, Gordon Ross, Martin Leslie, Robbie Russell

Attendance:  55000
Referee:  Young s.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Terblanche C.S. 1
Conv:  Koen L.J. 1
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 6
Drop G.:  Koen L.J. 1

Scotland
Tries:  Craig A. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 4

New Zealand 13 England 15

England finally laid to rest their Antipodean travel sickness as they beat the All Blacks in their own back yard in Wellington, the boot of fly-half Jonny Wilkinson being the difference in a 15-13 victory which saw them bolster their status as the top-ranked team in the world.

A host of missed penalties from All Black first five-eighth Carlos Spencer cost his side dear in the Westpac Stadium wind, while the reliable Wilkinson mastered the elements to send over all but one of his five penalty attempts from far and wide.

It was the spectacle that rugby fans the world over had been waiting for, and while the heavy-handed approach of Australian referee Stuart Dickinson may have sucked much flow out of the game, lovers of forward play and sporting endeavour will have lapped up the fiery feast on show.

Four penalties and a drop-goal from Wilkinson saw the English home, although the critics may well make much of the fact that the tourists again relied on the boot of their youthful talisman, while the All Blacks crafted the only try of a tight and nervy game.

It was fullback Doug Howlett who scored it midway through the second half, but the dye had been cast by then after Spencer's horror show with the boot, the Blues No.10 hitting over two penalties and a conversion, but sending a series of vital penalties wide of the uprights.

Whether or not All Black coach John Mitchell can afford to persist with the supremely-talented ball-player in such a tight match must surely now be up for discussion, although despite drifting in and out of the match, he did weave his magic on occasion with ball in hand.

But the story of this match will be the steely English defence, which survived a 10-minute period in the second half with only 13 men on the field after the sin-binnings of back rowers Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio for killing the ball.  Despite coming under siege on their own line, the rearguard did not buckle, as the hosts failed to score a single point during that key spell.

New Zealand dominated the line-outs and made some sound breaks, but their speedy backline were starved of ball, debutants Ma'a Nonu and especially Joe Rokocoko consigned to mere bystanders for much of the game, as lock Chris Jack and openside Richie McCaw came to the fore.

In a keen English pack they had able adversaries, with Martin Johnson and Steve Thompson putting in massive performances, while Dallaglio and wing Ben Cohen were also among the standouts.

In the swirling wind, England pressured right from the kick-off, with Spencer having his clearance charged down by Ben Kay near his own line, but that was as near as the English were to come to the whitewash in the opening 40 minutes, as the hosts set up camp in the England half.

An early English foray into All Black territory down the left reaped rewards however when Wilkinson kicked his first penalty from out wide, negotiating the wind well to give his side the lead.

Opposite number Spencer erred from his first attempt moments later in a tense atmosphere, before composing himself to strike his second one over -- this after the ball had fallen over twice, eating into his allotted 60 seconds.

In a half littered with penalties -- mainly against the defending visitors -- the All Blacks hogged the ball in an attempt to strangle the English resolve, but some stout defending, especially in the backs, kept the hosts at bay, despite Ralph and Howlett both coming close down the left and right wings respectively.

A striking facet was the ease with which Chris Jack and Ali Williams got the better of Martin Johnson and Ben Kay in the early line-outs, with some wayward throwing by England's powerful hooker Steve Thompson not helping his side's cause as they searched for some degree of equilibrium in the possession stakes.

Despite New Zealand dominating territorially, England did have one or two breaks into the opposing half, and after Reuben Thorne was judged to have held Kyran Bracken after a tackle, Wilkinson beat the elements and drilled a massive penalty over from the right touchline, claiming a 6-3 lead despite his side being almost entirely on the back foot.

A last-ditch clearance from wing Jason Robinson again saved England as Spencer broke down the right after a Justin Marshall pick-and-go from the base of the scrum, but with five minutes left in the opening half Spencer levelled the scores with a penalty after Neil Back crossed the off-side line on the 22, right in front of his own posts.

And the hosts would have gone into the interval with a 9-6 advantage had Spencer not fired wildly right of the posts with a late penalty after Bracken failed to roll away from the tackle, but he missed, sending the teams in at 6-6.

But where Spencer had failed, Wilkinson succeeded, sending over his third penalty in the opening exchanges of the second half to take the lead for his side after Jack had not released the ball in a tackle, a booming penalty bissecting the posts as punishment for his indiscretion.

Jack was again in the thick of things as he spectacularly charged down a Wilkinson clearance in the England 22, but the covering Mike Tindall defused the ball in the dead ball area.

And just when the game looked like it might be developing as a contest, referee Dickinson reduced the English to 13 men with the sin-binnings of Back and Dallaglio in quick succession for killing the ball -- Back's offence in the New Zealand 22, while Dallaglio's was an altogether more cynical effort right under his own posts, after a quick All Black counter-attack which should have developed into a try.

Despite the constant barrage of attacks, the English defence miraculously held firm with two men down, No.8 Rodney So'oialo going closest as he crossed the line but was judged by TMO Peter Marshall to have made a double movement.

Back to their full compliment of players, the English pressured up front, and Wilkinson nudged them six points clear with a superbly-taken penalty into the wind from the right touchline, judging the gale to perfection.

Moments later, after some serious pressure and a series of rucks in the New Zealand 22, he dropped back into the pocket and struck a drop-goal with his right foot, as his side played an advantage from an earlier penalty.

Just when it looked like the Jonny Wilkinson show might send England further away from the home side, the All Blacks registered the only try of the match, Spencer showing brilliant vision from halfway to spot that England did not have a fullback.

His long and high kick was chased by fullback Howlett, who -- despite possibly being in an off-side position at the time of the kick -- was always the favourite to beat the retreating Dallaglio to the loose ball, Caleb Ralph also in close attendance.

Spencer converted, and the tension was palpable for the remaining 20 minutes as England hung on by three points, refere Dickinson struggling to exert authority at the contact area as he awarded a string of penalties against both sides, sapping the match of flow as the respective forwards battled for their cause.

But with 10 minutes left on the clock, Spencer was presented with a golden chance to seal the game, his penalty being bludgeoned heavily to the left of the posts in a passage of play which told the story of this match.

Wilkinson too finally showed that he is human with a late miss from the halfway line, but having survived a nervy last few moments, England held on for a historic win.

Does this now mean that the world rugby tide is changing?  Does the north now rule the roost?

While that might still be a bone of contention after such a tight see-saw match, one thing is for sure, the English have proved that they have grit aplenty, while the All Blacks' skill out wide still poses a definite danger to any side on the planet.

Bring on the World Cup!

Man of the match:  Despite Jonny Wilkinson's masterclass with the boot, this -- like the Grand Slam win in Dublin in March -- was one for the forwards, and there was no more exemplary a leader than captain Martin Johnson, with the Leicester lock's massive defence being vital during their spell with 13 men.  Steve Thompson and Lawrence Dallaglio also battled well, but Johnson gets our vote.  On the All Black side, Richie McCaw exerted his usual big influence, while lock Chris Jack was magnificent in the line-outs, stealing English ball on a number of occasions.

Moment of the Match:  The 10-minute spell of solid defence when England were down to 13-man was the segment on which ths game hinged.  They held out, and the rest is history.

Villain of the Match:  A blatantly cynical killing of the ball at a ruck under his own posts from England No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio saw him rightly binned for the professional foul.  Some whistle-happy play from referee Stuart Dickinson also sees him as a contender, but Dallaglio's deliberate intent was plain for all to see, so he gets the vote.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Doug Howlett, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Richard McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Caleb Ralph, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 13 Tana Umaga, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 15 Doug Howlett
Reserves:  Keven Mealamu, Jerry Collins, Steve Devine, Mils Muliaina
Unused:  Daniel Carter, Brad Thorn, Carl Hoeft

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Graham Rowntree, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Kyran Bracken, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Jason Robinson, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves:  Phil Vickery, Joe Worsley
Unused:  Andy Gomarsall, Paul Grayson, Dorian West, Steve Borthwick

Attendance:  37500
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Howlett D.C. 1
Conv:  Spencer C.J. 1
Pen K.:  Spencer C.J. 2

England
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Drop G.:  Wilkinson J.P. 1

Australia 30 Wales 10

There is a maxim that says "a good big one will always beat a good little one".  It is certainly what happened at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney, when the Wallabies beat Wales by 30-10, outscoring them by five tries to one in the process.

Let us give credit where credit is due.  The Welsh valiantly tried to stay in touch and even though their execution was poor, they played some really good rugby at times.  There is hope for the Six Nations Wooden Spoonists at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

But on the day, Australia were simply too quick, too strong and far too efficient for the Welsh tourists.

Wales created chances, but they often failed to put the last touches to promising moves.  The Wallabies, on the other hand, showed that they can create points out of almost nothing.

Wales made all the early play in the match and strung together some very impressive phases.  But their execution let them down badly and they wasted a number of chances.

In fact, in the first 15 minutes Australia were forced to make 30 tackles, whereas the Welsh needed to make only 17 tackles -- showing the dominance, in terms of possession, that the tourists enjoyed up till then.

And the first two tries of the match -- both going to Rugby League convert Wendell Sailor -- were totally against the run of play.

In the ninth minute Sailor picked up a loose ball inside his own in-goal area, after the Welsh were hot on the attack and then turned the ball over.  Sailor darted passed two very meek attempted tackles and then sprinted the full length of the field to score.

The next try also came from turnover ball, with fullback Chris Latham darting down the right-hand touchline, beating the defence with pure pace.  When the cross-cover eventually caught up with him, he put a kick ahead, while Sailor arriving just ahead of captain George Gregan to collect the ball and flop over for his second try.

Fly-half Elton Flatley, who missed both earlier conversions, then landed a penalty in the 17th minute to make it 13-0 in favour of the Wallabies.

The Welsh finally got some reward for their efforts on the quarter mark when fly-half Stephen Jones, who generally had a good game, landed a penalty to narrow the gap to 13-3.

But Latham's pace made the Welsh defenders look very pedestrian when he sprinted over in the left-hand corner in the 24th minute, with a brilliant run rounding off some great Australian phase-play.  Flatley missed his third kick (out of four attempts on the night) and the 18-3 margin was the lead the Wallabies took into the break.

Flatley had an early attempt to stretch his team's lead after the break, but his penalty from 25 metres out and almost right in front, bounced off the upright and the Welsh were able to clear their line.

Amazingly, it was the Welsh who opened the scoring in the second half.

It came from a line-out close to the Wallaby line, with the Welsh forwards driving and then setting up a ruck.  Some efficient phase-play then sucked in the defenders and the space opened out wide where centre Jamie Robinson went over for Wales's first try.

Jones added the conversion to narrow the gap to 18-10 after 54 minutes.

But the Wallabies hit back almost immediately and it was hooker Jeremy Paul who went over for Australia's fourth try.  It came from a line-out, with Toutai Kefu running at the Welsh defence to set up a ruck.  Quick ball to Gregan saw him off-load to Paul, who drove over.

Joe Roff took over the goal-kicking, but he too hit the upright as the Wallaby lead moved to 23-10.

The final nail in the Welsh coffin came with just 10 minutes to go, when replacement inside centre Nathan Grey went over after some more efficient Wallaby play.  From a scrum the Wallabies went right, where they set up a ruck and Gregan got some quick ball to the backs.  When Grey got his hands on the ball he beat some tired tacklers with good stepping and scored the fifth try.

This time Roff slotted the conversion and the score moved to 30-10 -- which was also the final scoreline.

Man of the Match:  This is a close call between Wallaby winger Wendell Sailor, who finally showed why he was so highly-rated in league, and Australia's fullback Chris Latham, who often carved up the Welsh defence with his quick bursts on the outside.  But we give it to Sailor for his two tries and a much improved all-round work rate.

Moment of the Match:  Australia certainly scored some fine tries and even Wales's solitary try was a well-constructed effort, but our vote goes to the opening score of the match -- Wendell Sailor's first try in the ninth minute.  Picking up a loose ball inside his own in-goal area, he raced the length of the field the break the Welsh hearts.  It showed just how dangerous he can be with ball in hand.

Villain of the Match:  No yellow or red cards and nothing serious to report.  No candidates.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 David Giffin, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Elton Flatley, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Steve Kefu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Nathan Grey, Daniel Heenan, Chris Whitaker, Ben Darwin, Daniel Vickerman, Lote Tuqiri

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Robert Sidoli, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 8 Colin Charvis, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Jamie Robinson, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Tom Shanklin, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Mefin Davies, Alix Popham, Chris Wyatt
Unused:  Gavin Henson, Dwayne Peel, Ceri Sweeney, Ben Evans

Attendance:  63688
Referee:  Lawrence m.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 1, Sailor W.J. 2, Paul J.A. 1, Grey N.P. 1
Conv:  Roff J.W.C. 1
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 1

Wales
Tries:  Robinson J. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 1

Saturday 7 June 2003

South Africa 29 Scotland 25

The Springboks managed a hollow 29-25 victory over Scotland at Durban's ABSA Stadium, but it could have been so different had the home team not launched a spirited fightback in the final quarter of the match against the adventurous Scots.

Scotland dominated the first 60 minutes of the match and will be kicking themselves all the way to Johannesburg for throwing away a match they deserved to win.

As was the case at Murrayfield last year it was more a case of the Boks making their opponents look like world-beaters on the day, but credit must go to Bryan Redpath and his men for taking their try-scoring chances.

The visitors had at one stage outscored their hosts by three tries to nothing as they gave the South Africans a lesson in playing as a unit on attack, with their blanket-like defence also giving the Boks no room to move in.

The Boks, on the other hand, seemed incapable of tackling, allowing the Scottish runners oodles of space on attack.  To add to their woes they were unable to hold onto the ball as they made a huge amount of handling errors in the first 60 minutes.  And, when they did hold onto the ball, their awkward body positions made them easy-pickings for the fired-up Scotland defenders.

With just 20 minutes remaining, Scotland held a 25-12 lead, with all SA's points having come from the boot of their fly-half Louis Koen.  Scotland's points, on the other hand, had come from two converted tries, one unconverted try and two penalties, silencing the moderate SA-heavy crowd at the ABSA Stadium.

But a try from experienced winger Stefan Terblanché in the 61st minute saw the Boks begin a comeback, with Koen's conversion narrowing the scoreline to 25-19.

Another Koen penalty took the scoreline to 25-22 as the Boks began to hold onto the ball, forcing Scotland to commit more defenders and just a few minutes later the home team forced another penalty, giving Koen the chance to level the scores.

Amazingly, the usually clinical Koen missed the relatively simple kick at goal, with the ball hitting the left-hand upright and falling into debutant Hendrik Gerber's hands.

Gerber went to ground and although his support was slow to get there, he had done enough to secure possession.  Koen was the first man there, he fired the ball out to acting fly-half Victor Matfield, who in turn threw out a long ball to Trevor Halstead, thumping a would-be tackler Glenn Metcalfe out of the way en route to the tryline.

Koen nailed the tricky conversion and at 29-25 the Scots had to score a try to regain the lead they had held since the 14th minute of the match.

In the end it was not to be for Scotland as they launched a massive raid on the Bok goalline, only for the SA defence to hold up well around the fringes under trying circumstances.

Scotland forced a string of penalties from close-in, with the Boks also having to survive the last 30 seconds of the game without their skipper Joost van der Westhuizen, who was yellow-carded for a professional foul.

Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli was disappointed with his overall team's showing, but was at pains to stress that the win -- after three successive losses in November last year -- was all that mattered.

Perhaps somebody should point out that this same Scotland team suffered huge losses to England, Ireland and France during the 2003 Six Nations, with eight-point home wins over Wales and Italy their only success.

Man of the match:  From the Springbok side Louis Koen gets a mention here, simply because of his 19-point haul, with the rest of our contenders all coming from the Scottish side.  Locks Scott Murray and Nathan Hines were superb, No.8 Simon Taylor showed why he is a British and Irish Lion, Redpath led his side well and wing Chris Paterson showed plenty of skill on attack and composure when kicking at goal.  In the end, Planet Rugby's vote goes to Nathan Hines, for a commanding line-out showing and a rousing performance in the loose, just edging out his second row partner Scott Murray.

Moment of the match:  Paterson's try in the 47th minute was a beauty, with wing Kenny Logan and centre Andy Craig doing excellent work in the build-up.  But our moment was Koen's penalty miss in the 72nd minute, which saw the ball rebound into Hendrik Gerber's hands before eventually ending up over the tryline and in Trevor Halstead's hands.  Before Halstead's try the score was at 25-22 in Scotland's favour.  The penalty would have tied the scores and given Scotland the chance of kicking a penalty to win.  Instead the converted try had the Scots playing catch-up for the final few heart-stopping moments.

Villain of the match:  The entire Springbok team until the 60th minute.  They played like a bunch of amateurs until they finally got their act together thanks to tries from Terblanché and Halstead, and, of course, two conversions from Koen.  There would have been hell to play had they lost to Scotland ...

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Hendrik Gerber, 7 Wikus Van Heerden, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen (c), 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 Trevor Halstead, 13 Andre Snyman, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Ricardo Loubscher
Reserves:  Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen, Juan Smith, Selborne Boome, Robbie Kempson, Cobus Visagie
Unused:  Craig Davidson, Gcobani Bobo

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Craig, 13 Andrew Henderson, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Jon Petrie, Martin Leslie, James McLaren, Robbie Russell
Unused:  Michael Blair, Gordon McIlwham, Gordon Ross

Attendance:  37528
Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Terblanche C.S. 1, Halstead T.M. 1
Conv:  Koen L.J. 2
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 5

Scotland
Tries:  Paterson C.D. 1, Craig A. 1, White J.P.R. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 2
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 2

Australia 45 Ireland 16

Australia made an impressive, and winning start to their 2003 international season when they smashed Ireland by 45-16 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth.  It was the kind of opener coach Eddie Jones and their millions of fans would have hoped for.

With Australia set to host the Rugby World Cup in October and November, they showed that they will be a force and a powerful one at that on their home grounds.

As would be expected from the first match of the season there were problems, certainly enough of them.  But they are the kind of problems coach Eddie Jones would be able to iron out quite easily in the weeks and months ahead.

Discipline, especially early on, was a problem against an Irish team that showed plenty of grunt.  While the Australian line-outs also left more questions than answers, the Aussies' scrumming was solid.

Continuity improved as the game wore on, suggesting that even inside the first 80 minutes of the year the Wallabies were already beginning to settle.  And their newcomers -- such as the centre combination of Steve Kefu and Morgan Turinui -- also showed they are a force to be reckoned with in the future.

But the early exchanges certainly belonged to the Irish, who kept the ball in hand very well and also tested the Australian defence out wide.  They were rewarded for their early dominance when captain David Humphreys slotted a penalty in the fourth minute for a 3-0 lead to the visitors.

In those early stages, especially the first 10 minutes, the Wallabies simply turned the ball over far too often.  Every time they came within striking distance they just coughed up possession.

But they did eventually get some hint of continuity going and after 15 minutes the Wallabies put their first points on the board.

It came through some handy picking-and-driving from the Australian forwards.  No.8 Toutai Kefu and lock Nathan Sharpe were prominent in this department, with Kefu making good ground.  Captain and scrum-half George Gregan picked his moment perfectly and when the gap opened he darted over for a try.

Elton Flatley added the conversion to put Australia into the lead -- 7-3.

But the Australian mistakes continued to come, with prop Pat Noriega the villain -- giving away the first three penalties going against his team, all for boring in on his opponent in the scrums.

The Irish continued with their ball-in-hand approach and often took it wide, trying to find a weakness in the Australian defence.

They certainly seemed better at keeping control of the ball and in the 30th minute they were rewarded for their effort when left-wing John Kelly went over for his team's first try.  It came after several phases, where they took it from one side to the other, kept switching direction and probing.

With the Irish runners coming at pace and from depth, it was Humphreys who eventually found a gap, only half a gap, and then put the men out wide away.  The self-same Humphreys added the conversion to put the Irish back in the lead.

But the Wallabies hit straight back.

They got the ball from the kick-off and it went quickly to Flatley, who dummied and then sprinted through a huge gap to go over for his team's second try.  He added the conversion of his brilliant individual try to put Australia back in the lead at 14-10.

Ireland managed to narrow the gap to just one point, when Humphreys slotted a penalty in the 34th minute.  This made it 14-13, which was also the score at the break.

Before the break the Irish had enjoyed 53 percent of the possession and an even bigger share (54 percent) of the territory -- but it did not show on the scoreboard.

The early exchanges of the second half certainly belonged to the Wallabies, as they started to take control of proceedings, with a 43rd minute penalty by Flatley stretching the lead to 17-13.

Ten minutes later the Wallabies went further ahead, after Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey was yellow-carded for a professional foul.  It was centre Steve Kefu who scored, a well-orchestrated try from a set-piece scrum, with Gregan making the early running and giving to Flatley, who put Kefu into the gap and over for the score.

Flatley again added the conversion for a 24-13 lead.

Ronan O'Gara, who replaced his skipper at fly-half at half-time, slotted a penalty in the 56th minute to narrow the gap to 24-16.

But after this it was all Australia, as Gregan and Flatley started to dictate terms behind a pack of forwards that also managed to limit their mistakes and turnovers.

With more ball to play with, the next score for the Wallabies came soon -- in the 61st minute.  It was a great little chip-and-chase from Gregan, after he received the ball from Toutai Kefu, which saw the captain score his second try.  Flatley, who had a faultless kicking performance, added the conversion for a 31-16 lead.

The next score was in the 65th minute, when the Irish -- hot on the attack -- lost control of the ball.  Fullback Chris Latham grabbed the ball and out-sprinted the lacklustre Irish, running all of 80 metres for his try.

The sixth and last Australian try should not have been awarded, with Welsh referee Nigel Williams awarding a penalty try to Australia for what he deemed an offence by an Irish player on Flatley.  Replays showed clearly that Flatley had, quite legally, used his shoulder to push the Irish defender out the way and simply tripped over his own feet.

It was one of a number of questionable decisions made by the Welsh match official on the day, but could not detract from what was an outstanding start to the year for the Wallabies.

Man of the Match:  A number of the Wallaby backline players put their hands up for this award.  Captain George Gregan (two tries and a solid service at the base of the scrum) was in the front of the queue and fly-half Elton Flatley (100 percent kicking record and great decision making) also followed closely.  But our award goes to centre Steve Kefu, who started a Test for the Wallabies for the first time and was outstanding on both defence and attack -- showing clearly that he has lost none of the endowment which saw him win his only previous cap as a replacement back in 2001.

Moment of the Match:  There were five outstanding Wallaby tries (the penalty try should not have been awarded) and Gregan's moment of magic (chip and chase), must come close.  But we go for Ireland's only try in the 30th minute.  John Kelly's score came after a period in which Ireland showed how dangerous they can be when they get their hands on the ball -- carrying it forcefully with the forwards and backs, cleverly changing direction and eventually wearing the otherwise rock-solid Australian defence down.  It was a great international try worthy of all the accolades it gets.

Villain of the Match:  We are tempted to give it to the rather pedantic Welsh referee Nigel Williams, but Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey got yellow-carded for a professional foul and he sneaks the award.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 David Giffin, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Lyons, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Elton Flatley, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Steve Kefu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Nathan Grey, Chris Whitaker, Ben Darwin, Daniel Vickerman, Phil Waugh, Lote Tuqiri

Ireland:  1 Reggie Corrigan, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Keith Gleeson, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Victor Costello, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 David Humphreys (c), 11 James Topping, 12 Kevin Maggs, 13 Geordan Murphy, 14 John Kelly, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Emmet Byrne, Paul O'Connell
Unused:  Guy Easterby, Tyrone Howe, Eric Miller, Paul Shields

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Williams n.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 1, Flatley E.J. 1, Gregan G.M. 2, Kefu S. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Flatley E.J. 6
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Kelly J.P. 1
Conv:  Humphreys D.G. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 2, O'Gara R.J.R. 1