New Zealand 53 Wales 37

The All Blacks confirmed first position in Pool D of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, but Wales made them work all the way for their 53-37 win at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney.

In a World Cup already peppered with some fine encounters, it was feared that the final pool game of the tournament, between favourites New Zealand and the erratic Welsh, would fail to provide a decent climax.

But if this was meant to be walkover, no one told the Welsh players -- and they put in a performance that will lift the spirits of their nation.

Indeed, if ever there was a game to re-establish a team's credentials this was it -- in a mere 80 minutes Wales, written off by many as also-rans -- propelled themselves back into rugby's Major League.

Wales will now meet England in a quarter-final encounter in Brisbane, and could upset the sweet-looking chariot should they be able to maintain the kind of intensity and passion that they displayed against the All Blacks in Sydney.

New Zealand -- who now meet South Africa -- signalled their intentions directly from the kick-off with an explosive onslaught that left the Welsh defence clutching at thin air.

It was obvious that after three relatively easy games, New Zealand's runners were straining at the bit, and they quickly reduced Wales to bystanders as they began stringing together the phases.

Soon enough, after a series of flowing moves, winger Joe Rokocoko announced his return from injury with a try in the corner.

Wales looked in trouble, and things took a turn for the worst when fullback Garan Evans was stretchered off after colliding with his captain Colin Charvis in a tackle.

But the injury break gave the Welsh a chance to take stock of what needed to be done and they immediately went about attempting to wrestle the game from New Zealand's grip.

Suddenly, the All Blacks were on the back foot and Wales showed polished ball-retention skills, and some fine hands.

Wales found themselves playing the All Blacks at their own game, running with ball in hand and counter-attacking fluently.

The Wales backs were playing the kind of instinctive rugby that was long the hallmark of their forebears, and a chip and chase from fly-half Stephen Jones soon lead to Mark Taylor try.

Rokocoko replied immediately with a second try before Leon MacDonald profited from a quick penalty by Justin Marshall to squeeze in at the corner.

Lock Ali Williams was next on the scoresheet after he collected a cross-field kick from Carlos Spencer, and -- with the bonus point secured after only 20 minutes -- one could have forgiven the Welsh had they laid down to accept their fate.

But some determined Welsh running seemed to faze the New Zealanders and Wales start to sense that their defence was not as water-tight as they suspected.

A great break from wing Shane Williams split the All Blacks in two, and centre Sonny Parker slid into the corner for a try against the country of his birth.

Jones had added two penalty goals to the scoreboard, and -- when Wales were awarded a penalty within range of the posts at the stroke of half time -- all eyes went to the sticks.

But Charvis opted to kick for the corner and was rewarded for his bravery when he scored a try from the line-out.

Wales came into the second half overflowing with confidence and a Jones penalty kick soon gave them the lead.

Williams -- a constant source of inspiration for Wales -- soon added to New Zealand's woes by scoring in the corner, and Wales were suddenly heading to an unexpected victory.

The All Blacks knew they were in trouble and decided to pack away the dance shoes and pulled on the walking boots.

Slowly, but surely, the New Zealand pack bullied Wales back to their line and launched a series of short-distance raids.

Doug Howlett crossed the line with a diagonal dart to reduce the deficit to a point, before Spencer added another in similar fashion.

New Zealand were in the lead now and smothered the life out of the Welsh attack by keeping the ball tight and only rationing it out to when they were certain of control.

Howlett added another try to leave Wales seriously behind, and when Aaron Mauger added his side's eight try, it was all over for the brave Men in Red.

Man of the match:  With the game free-flowing out of New Zealand's hands, veteran All Black scrum-half Justin Marshall gathered in the reins and forced his forwards to buckle down to the basics.  His shrewd distribution and tactical awareness put his team back into the driving seat.

Moment of the Match:  We are absolutely spoilt for choice in this department!  There were plenty of dazzling individual moments, but if there was one thing that stood out it was Wales' indomitable spirit.  Nothing exemplified that more than the moment before half-time when they were awarded a kickable penalty, but opted to kick for the corner.  Welsh people worldwide must have winced at the decision, but skipper Colin Charvis had faith in his forwards and he dived over a pile of bodies for the try.

Villain of the Match:  It would be foolish to besmirch Wales' performance, but one can't help but think of what might have happened had Wales coach Steve Hansen selected his strongest starting line-up.  You win the award then, Mr Hansen, for not demonstrating the kind of belief that your players held today.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 David Hewett, 2 Keven Mealamu, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Brad Thorn, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Richie McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Jerry Collins, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Leon MacDonald, 13 Aaron Mauger, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 15 Mils Muliaina
Reserves:  Marty Holah, Rodney So'oialo, Mark Hammett, Kees Meeuws
Unused:  Daniel Carter, Byron Kelleher, Ma'a Nonu

Wales:  1 Adam Jones, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Robert Sidoli, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Alix Popham, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Tom Shanklin, 12 Sonny Parker, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Garan Evans
Reserves:  Mefin Davies, Gethin Jenkins, Dafydd Jones, Dwayne Peel, Ceri Sweeney, Gareth Thomas, Chris Wyatt

Attendance:  80112
Referee:  Watson a.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Howlett D.C. 2, MacDonald L.R. 1, Mauger A.J.D. 1, Rokocoko J. 2, Spencer C.J. 1, Williams A.J. 1
Conv:  MacDonald L.R. 5
Pen K.:  MacDonald L.R. 1

Wales
Tries:  Williams S.M. 1, Taylor M. 1, Parker S. 1, Charvis C.L. 1
Conv:  Jones S. 4
Pen K.:  Jones S. 3

Fiji 20 Scotland 22

A try by Tom Smith two minutes from full-time gave resilient Scotland a 22-20 victory over gallant Fiji at Aussie Stadium in Sydney.  Victory was enough to send Scotland through to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.  Fiji, sadly, went home after a great campaign.

It was a match which Fiji could have sewn up in the first half when they had plenty of possession and great chances to score, but much of their effort waned with the departure of their sturdy hooker Greg Smith after 31 minutes.  No Smith, no ball, no quarter-final.

With Smith gone, the Fijians lost four line-outs and had two of their next four scrums wheeled.

Scotland were trailing by five points with two minutes to go when disaster struck Fiji.  First Api Naevo was sin-binned at a tackle.  From the penalty Scotland kicked out.  From the five-metre scrum they bashed and bashed as the Fijians repelled and repelled until Tom Smith, in his 50th Test match for his country, plunged over to level the scores.  Again Chris Paterson bisected the posts.

Behind for most of the time Scotland won.  The first part of the first half had suggested that they were in for a hiding.

After Paterson and Nicky Little had both missed penalty kicks at goal, Fiji took the lead in the simplest possible way -- by passing the ball to Rupeni Caucaunibuca.  He got the ball from a looping pass some 25 metres out with centimetres from the left touchline.  He ran down that touchline, beating three defenders to score in a Kenny Logan tackle at the corner.

Donal Courtney, the Television Match Official, confirmed the try.

At this stage the vital match belonged to Fiji.  They had another four gilt-edged chances to score tries.  First Aisea Tuilevu picked up a dropped ball on the half-way line and only a Glenn Metcalfe tackle and a TMO decision denied the Fijians a second try.

A cruel bounce denied Caucaunibuca a second try after Seru Rabeni had missed a drop at goal.  Then a forward pass seven metres from the line called them back from a fourth opportunity.

Whether their finger-nail defence gave the Scots heart or the disappointment sapped the Fijians, the Scots then had a good period.  In the space of two minutes Chris Paterson, their best player, the only one with an air of confidence, kicked two penalties and then cracked through a gap in a move, which ended when Andrew Henderson lost the ball at the line.

Enough Scotland.  The Fijians then did the sensible thing and gave the ball to Caucaunibuca.  The move started going right in their own 22.  Then it went left and on the 22 the pass went to Caucau, who strove, with the tranquil consciousness of effortless superiority, down the touchline deviating slightly to go inside one and then outside another before scoring near the posts to make the score 14-6 at half-time.

Scotland dominated most of the second half and three Paterson penalties gave them the lead with 19 minutes left, but Little brought his side back to the lead at 17-15 after Cameron Mather was penalised for being off-side.  Shortly afterwards big lock Ifereimi Rawaqa burst for the line.  Scottish attention was on Caucaunibuca on Rawaqa's left, but brave Glenn Metcalfe saved the day for Scotland.

One of Fiji's best weapons in the match was the high kick.  As the strong-shouldered Fijians came homing in, the Scots fumbled again and again.  As hirsute replacement Kitione Salawa approached, Kenny Logan knocked on some seven metres.  Off-side Bruce Douglas picked up and Little put his side 20-15 ahead with only six minutes left.

Those six minutes belonged to Scotland and were the vital six minutes of the thrilling match.

Man of the match:  The temptation is to give it to battered and bruised Glenn Metcalfe, whom the Fijians enjoyed hammering but the blind fullback kept coming back.  If he had been an American soldier he would have had purple hearts and all sorts of other awards.  Chris Paterson and Bryan Redpath were telling at fullback and Simon Taylor noble at No.8 though the best Scottish effort probably came from hooker Gordon Bulloch.  Moses Rauluni had a great game at scrum-half, till replaced by his brother Jacob, but the Man of the match was undoubtedly Rupeni Caucaunibuca.  He did not act often, but his little was greater than all others' performances -- just in a class of his own.

Moment of the match:  As Caucaunibuca came back with grinning casualness after his second try, lock Api Naevo knelt before him and took Caucaunibuca's boot on his knee and cleaned it.  It was a great moment, after a great try!

Villain of the match:  It must, sadly, go to Api Naevo for his untimely yellow card.

Yellow card(s):  Api Naevo (Fiji)

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Isaia Rasila, 2 Greg Smith, 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Apenisa Naevo, 5 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 6 Vula Maimuri, 7 Koli Sewabu, 8 Alifereti Doviverata (c), 9 Mosese Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 12 Seru Rabeni, 13 Epeli Ruivadra, 14 Aisea Tuilevu, 15 Norman Ligairi
Reserves:  Vilimoni Delasau, Sisa Koyamaibole, Isikeli Nacewa, Jacob Rauluni, Kitione Salawa, Naka Seru
Unused:  Seta Tawake Naivaluwaqa

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Stuart Grimes, 6 Ross Beattie, 7 Cameron Mather, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Chris Paterson, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Henderson, 13 Gregor Townsend, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Ben Hinshelwood, James McLaren, Robbie Russell, Jason White
Unused:  Michael Blair, Gordon McIlwham, Jon Petrie

Attendance:  37137
Referee:  Spreadbury t.

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Caucaunibuca R. 2
Conv:  Little N.T. 2
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 2

Scotland
Tries:  Smith T.J. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 5

South Africa 60 Samoa 10

The Springboks delivered a powerful message to the rest of the teams at the 2003 Rugby World Cup when they smashed Samoa by 60-10 at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.  They outscored the Samoans by eight tries to one in an emphatic show of force.

South Africa now head to Melbourne, where they will most likely face the All Blacks at the Telstra Dome in the quarter-final next Saturday, November 8.

But the message delivered by the team of Corné Krige in a powerful first-half performance was that there is plenty of fight left in a Bok side that has limped from game to game all season.  It was, without doubt, the best -- and most clinical South African performance of this year.

For once this victory was not based on defence, but on a gargantuan set of forwards that set the platform and some impressive running from a backline that revelled in all the space and ball they received on the front foot.

It was all South Africa from the opening minutes and they completely crushed the Samoan spirit when the impressive Bok pack mauled the ball up field and kept control of possession.  In fact, in the first five minutes the Boks had more than 80 percent of the possession.

That eventually settled down to just under 70 percent at half-time, but the Samoans were forced to live of mere morsels in that first half.

Behind this pack 20-year-old fly-half Derick Hougaard shone in his first real Test and even though he is still rough around the edges, he showed that he has arrived on the scene.  His kicking out of hand and at goal was as impressive as ever and, most importantly, his option-taking superb.

The only real let-down is his near obsession with drop-goals and his sometimes crab-like running across the field when passing to hi as outside backs.  But overall, he gets a pass mark, no more, a near distinction.

If the Boks were to be criticised, and this is something coach Rudolf Straeuli will have to address as a matter of urgency, it is that they still have tendency to go to sleep early in the second half.  This allowed the Samoans a period of dominance in the third quarter and it very nearly gave them a sniff.

But once the Boks returned to their structured game of the forwards setting it up through mauling and phase-play, the Samoans were lost in the woods.  In fact, in the final 15 minutes the South Africans scored four tries to shut the Samoans out completely.

The Boks will also be concerned about the injury of ace flanker Joe van Niekerk, who was replaced at half-time after limping through play in the late stages of the first half.

But back to that first half, when the Boks showed what they really are capable off.

In the scrums the Samoans were constantly under pressure and on the back foot, while the Boks also stole several balls from the Pacific Islanders' line-outs.

Having received so little of the ball and then still receiving it on the back foot, the Samoan runners were very tentative.  Add to this some very solid hits from the Bok defenders and it was not surprising that the South Africans held a comfortable 31-3 lead at the break.

The first of the tries were scored when the Boks mauled up field and captain Corné Krige sprinted down the right-hand touchline and then, after play broke down, scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen went on the blindside and off-loaded to Van Niekerk to score.

The second try came from a fine break by No.8 Juan Smith and a number of rucks, which produced quick ball.  When the space opened wide, the ball was spread to Jorrie Muller, who summed up the situation before darting over.

Hougaard also got it on the act when he pounced on a loose ball, after the Samoans were put under pressure.  The fly-half kicked the ball through and followed up to score.

And Smith completed the first-half scoring when hooker John Smit sold a huge dummy and handed the ball to the young No.8.

All the Boks' second-half tries came from broken-play, when the Samoans started to tire and could no longer close all the gaps.  But it showed that the Boks do have the ability to put a team away at the death.

Man of the match:  Some of the veterans in the team, including captain Corné Krige and scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen, stood up and showed their true class.  In fact, this was probably the best performance of the year from these two.  Then there was fly-half Derick Hougaard's outstanding performance.  But our vote goes to the entire tight five for that awesome performance in the first half, when they absolutely destroyed the Samoans.

Moment of the match:  This one goes to an incident midway through the second half, when Samoan centre Brian Lima almost cut Bok fly-half Derick Hougaard in half with a tackle, following a real hospital pass from Van der Westhuizen.  The young Bok No.10 was pole-axed and was down for quite a while, but after a few agonising minutes he got to his feet and took up his position at fly-half again, as if nothing had happened.  That was when he signalled his arrival as a class act on the international scene.

Villain of the match:  This one goes to the Australian thug that ran onto the field near the end of the match and attempted to tackle replacement fly-half Louis Koen as he aimed a conversion at the posts.  Following the outcry against Piet van Zyl's actions in Durban last year, this idiot should be locked up and the key thrown away.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Faan Rautenbach, 2 John Smit, 3 Christo Bezuidenhout, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Corne Krige (c), 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Juan Smith, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Derick Hougaard, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Jorrie Muller, 14 Thinus Delport, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves:  Jaque Fourie, Neil De Kock, Richard Bands, Schalk Burger Jr., Danie Coetzee, Louis Koen, Danie Rossouw

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Romi Ropati, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Dominic Feaunati, Des Tuiali'i, Tamato Leupolu, Denning Tyrell, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen
Unused:  Mahonri Schwalger

Attendance:  48496
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Van Der Westhuyzen J 1, Willemse A.K. 1, Muller G.P. 1, Hougaard D.J. 1, Smith J.H. 1, Van Niekerk J.C. 1, De Kock N.A. 1, Fourie J. 1
Conv:  Hougaard D.J. 5, Koen L.J. 2
Pen K.:  Hougaard D.J. 1
Drop G.:  Hougaard D.J. 1

Samoa
Tries:  Palepoi O. 1
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 1
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 1

Australia 17 Ireland 16

Australia managed to hold on in the face of a fierce Irish onslaught to sneak a 17-16 victory in their final 2003 Rugby World Cup Pool A match in Melbourne.  The victory sees the Wallabies top the pool and it sets up a quarter-final match against Scotland next week, while second-placed Ireland will have to face France.

This was a superb match that could have gone either way, both teams showing a real willingness to play positive attacking rugby and contribute to this fine advertisement for indoor rugby.

More like a knockout game than a mere pool tie, this game had everything that the aficonado could desire -- two well-matched packs knocking lumps out of each other;  dazzling strike-runners out wide;  and the requisite big hits in midfield.

With very little difference between the two teams in terms of pace, power and intensity, the result came down to the finest of margins, with the wayward goal-kicking of Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara in the first half having major repercussions.

Ireland may also regret their decision to spurn a kickable penalty in the final quarter of the match and are unlikely to make the same mistake again during the rest of the tournament.

But in the final analysis, Australia deserved to shade this contest, their uncanny ability to raise the tempo of the game at just the right moments giving them the victorious edge.

But, of course, they did not have it all their own way and from the start, as the strains of "Fields of Athrenry" echoed off the roof of the Telstra Dome from the many thousands of green-clad fans around the stadium, it was apparent that Ireland would take strength from their huge travelling support.

Ireland got off to a rousing start, their forwards making an immediate incursion into their opponents' territory to give O'Gara his first chance at goal.

But he was not able to find his range in this early attempt and a few minute later it was Ireland who were feeling the pressure, some slick handling and excellent continuity taking play right down into the Irish 22.

With the referee's arm already out for the penalty for an Irish off-side, Wallaby skipper George Gregan took the ball in midfield and slotted a very neat drop-goal to open the scoring and settle some early nerves.

Just two minutes later, after more excellent work from the Wallabies in the midfield, Ireland were pinned back into their own territory again.

As the ball zipped back from a midfield ruck at double-quick pace, a superb long pass from Elton Flatley made room for George Smith to gallop in untouched in the left-hand corner.

That made it 8-0 -- Flatley missing the conversion -- and there were ominous signs for Ireland that they were going to struggle to deal with Australia's wide game, although Ireland were able to claw back three points some moments later when O'Gara was successful with his second penalty attempt.

That was quickly negated by the boot of Flatley, the centre slotting a penalty in the 17th minute to make it 11-3.

O'Gara missed with his third penalty attempt in the 22nd minute after Australia collapsed a maul way out left following a promising Irish attack, but it appeared that the Wallabies were dealing easily with whatever Keith Wood and co. could throw at them.

Ireland's best attack of the half came some 10 minutes later -- the Men in Green matching the slick handling of their opponents to punch some holes in midfield.  As a ruck was set up in the Australia 22, Flatley got his body on the wrong side to give the penalty away and O'Gara kicked his the points to keep Ireland in touch.

Then, as the half ran down, there was controversy after a ruck degenerated into a free-for-all on the ground following Shane Horgan's rough footwork on Mat Rogers who appeared to be handling the ball in an illegal position.

With several players from both sides drawn into the conflict, New Zealand referee Paddy O'Brien calmed things down, showing both Horgan and Rogers the yellow card.

Save for one length-of-the-field Australian move which was stopped by a brilliant cover tackle from Peter Stringer, that was the last act of the half, intimating that the final result was no foregone conclusion.

The second half started at high pace, the Wallabies noticeably upping the tempo of their play to stretch the Irish defence from the outset.

Australia had their first chance of points just a minute after the break, when O'Driscoll attempted to bring down George Smith by the non-IRB approved "dreadlock tackle" method, but Flatley was just short with the penalty kick.

He made amends some minutes later, kicking a penalty following an off-side decision against Ireland prop John Hayes.

But Ireland stormed right back into the match some minutes later, taking advantage of a moment of madness from the normally cucumber-cool Wallaby No.10 Stephen Larkham.

Larkham opted for a quick throw-in just five metres from his own tryline, nearly gifting Ireland a soft try as Wood and Stringer hared up in pursuit of the ball.

While Australia survived that close shave, it gave a precious attacking platform for Ireland and, showing great ball retention, the Irish battered the Wallabies' defensive line before the ball was shifted wide to O'Driscoll.

As two defenders closed in on him, O'Driscoll showed perfect finishing ability to dive in at the corner -- the video ref rubber-stamping the try a few seconds later.

Unbelievably given his problems throughout the match, O'Gara slotted the conversion from wide out, to put Ireland within a point of their hosts.

Flatley, however, restored the four-point lead with another penalty some moments later, but there was plenty more drama to come.

As the match reached the final quarter, Ireland fought to save the match, a huge up-and-under raining down on the Australia tryline with Horgan in hot pursuit.

The big winger got hands to the ball but just could not keep hold of it, knocking on in the in-goal area to allow Australia supporters to sigh a huge breath of relief.

But the tension was heightened in the 68th minute -- O'Driscoll kicking a drop-goal to bring his team within a point of the world champions.

Both sides stuck to the task as the clock ran down and with less than five minutes of the match left, replacement David Humphreys let fly with another drop-goal attempt.

The ball went wide -- and with it went Ireland's chance of topping Pool A as the Wallabies held their nerve for the frantic last few moments.

While there could only be one winner, both sides will go into the last eight full of confidence that they have the all-round game to launch an assault on rugby's ultimate prize.

Man of the Match:  A number of top performances on both sides, not least Ireland skipper Keith Wood who was an irresistible force in the loose, with Peter Stringer and Paul O'Connell not far behind him in the honour roster.  But we'll go for Wallaby back rower George Smith, who was "Mr Perpetual Motion' throughout proceedings.

Moment of the Match:  Some excellent moments in this encounter -- not least Brian O'Driscoll's thumping tackle on Joe Roff, which rocked the Wallaby wing to his bootstraps.  Then there was O'Driscoll's brilliant dive into the corner for a try at the beginning of the second half.  But we'll go for George Smith's try, demonstrating, as it did, a perfect combination of power, pace and guile from the Wallabies.

Villain of the Match:  Aficionados of the "biff" would not have been disappointed by the flashpoint in the dying moments of the first half when several Australian players took exception to the harsh rucking of Shane Horgan on Wallaby fullback Mat Rogers -- on the wrong side -- and retaliated.  No major damage done, but yellow cards for Horgan and Rogers, earning them this accolade.  A dishonourable mention goes to Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll for his hair-pulling antics on George Smith at the start of the second half.

Yellow card(s):  Mat Rogers (Australia), Shane Horgan (Ireland)

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Ben Darwin, 2 Brendan Cannon, 3 Bill Young, 4 David Giffin, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 George Smith, 7 Phil Waugh, 8 David Lyons, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Elton Flatley, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Mat Rogers
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, Matt Giteau, Jeremy Paul, Alastair Baxter, Daniel Vickerman, Lote Tuqiri
Unused:  Chris Whitaker

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  David Humphreys, Eric Miller, Marcus Horan, John Kelly, Donncha O'Callaghan
Unused:  Shane Byrne, Guy Easterby

Attendance:  54760
Referee:  O'brien p.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Smith G.B. 1
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 3
Drop G.:  Gregan G.M. 1

Ireland
Tries:  O'Driscoll B.G. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2
Drop G.:  O'Driscoll B.G. 1

France 41 United States 14

The USA Eagles bowed out of the 2003 Rugby World Cup with their reputation and honour intact, despite succumbing to a superior French outfit, eventually going down 41-14 in their Pool B match at the WIN Stadium in Wollongong.

But the French again sounded a warning to the other hopefuls at the tournament, beating the fearless Eagles with their second-string selection and outscoring them by five tries to two -- three of their tries going to South African-born centre Brian Liebenberg.

Those teams with aspirations of lifting the Webb Ellis Cup at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on November 22 could do themselves a favour by heeding the words of Eagles skipper Dave Hodges.

"The French are a class act," he said in his post-match interview.  "They will go all the way to the Final."

But Hodges was proud also of the way his charges performed against a team that was clearly superior in all aspects, adding:  "It was a good effort from the guys."

From the opening minute it was clear that the French held too many aces.  They put the Eagles' scrum under pressure and turned ball over, almost at will.

While the Eagles did manage to get their hands on some ball, they added to the pressure already heaped on them with some unforced errors.  It was out wide where most of those mistakes came, with the Eagles looking at their most dangerous when employing their pick-and-drive tactics through the forwards.

It was not surprising at all to see the French take an early lead, with two penalties by fly-half Gérald Merceron giving them a 6-0 lead after nine minutes.

Their first try came in the 16th minute.  Fullback Clément Poitrenaud, putting his hand up for first-choice selection in the play-off stages, made a brilliant break that created the opportunity for Liebenberg to score the first of his three tries.

Three minutes later Liebenberg strolled over for his second try, after the French simply shoved the Eagles off the ball on their own scrum-feed and the French moved the ball to the short-side.

This try also showed why other teams need to start taking note of this French unit.  Even though they were giving away 75 kilograms (almost 10kg per man) to the Eagles up front, France's technique is so brilliant that they toyed with the Eagles at times in the scrums.

France's third try, by tighthead prop Jean-Baptiste Poux, was also the result of total dominance by the French pack.  From a line-out in the 35th minute they simply drove it up and over the line, with the Eagles retreating is if they were competing in an Olympic sprint.

The first half ended with a Merceron penalty, which saw Les Blues take a 26-0 lead into the break.

In the second half the Eagles were a lot more competitive and the teams ended with two tries each.  But the Americans were never going to be able to close that huge gap from the first half.

Liebenberg, who paid credit to his forwards for creating the opportunities to score those "easy" tries, also had some words of praise for the Eagles' second-half performance.

"Credit must go to the Eagles for coming out and sticking to their guns after the break," he said.

And indeed they did well, with the Eagles tries -- by flanker Kort Schubert and fly-half Mike Hercus -- the result of some good creative play.  Schubert's try came after great pick-and-drive play by the forwards, with Hercus showing good hands and setting up the flanker.  Hercus' try was the result of one of the best dummies sold at this year's World Cup.

Man of the match:  One would be tempted to go straight for the hat-trick hero Brian Liebenberg, but then there was Gérald Merceron who had a good game at fly-half and the French forwards were in total control.  But we are going for scrum-half Dmitri Yachvili, who showed there will be life in the No.9 jersey after Fabien Galthié.  His left-footed drop-goal in the 62nd minute was a classic, even though the game had long ended as a contest on the scoreboard.

Moment of the match:  This one is easy.  It goes to Eagles fly-half Mike Hercus' try in the 51st minute.  The dummy he sold the French defenders was so convincing that two of them tackled the player with out the ball and even the TV cameras momentarily followed the wrong player.

Villain of the match:  One yellow card only, with French flanker Sebastién Chabal getting his marching orders in the 75th minute for repeated and cynical offences.  With his team having already won the match at that stage and still in total control, his actions were totally unwarranted.

Yellow card:  (Chabal 75)

The Teams:

France:  1 Olivier Milloud, 2 Yannick Bru (c), 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 4 David Auradou, 5 Olivier Brouzet, 6 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Patrick Tabacco, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 David Bory, 12 Brian Liebenberg, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Pepito Elhorga, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves:  Sylvain Marconnet
Unused:  Raphael Ibanez, Olivier Magne, Aurelien Rougerie, Yannick Jauzion, Frederic Michalak, Jerome Thion

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges (c), 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 David Fee, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Salesi Sika, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 John Buchholz
Reserves:  Jason Keyter, Matt Sherman, Jurie Gouws, Mose Timoteo, Jacob Waasdorp, Matt Wyatt
Unused:  Gerhard Klerck

Attendance:  17833
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Liebenberg B. 3, Bru Y. 1, Poux J-B. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 2
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 3
Drop G.:  Yachvili D. 1

United States
Tries:  Hercus M. 1, Schubert K.S. 1
Conv:  Hercus M. 2

Romania 37 Namibia 7

Romania managed to avoid the Wooden Spoon in Pool A of the Rugby World Cup, the Oaks beating Namibia 37-7 in the first-ever rugby international in Launceston, Tasmania.

Namibia were still reeling from the 142-0 hammering dealt to them by the Australians five days ago and the Romanians immediately had the Africans under pressure when they stole possession at the kick-off.  The Namibians were let off any major damage, however, when they were awarded a penalty, which was cleared into touch.

The Oaks did not fail in their next attempt though when they swept over the frail defensive line of Namibia, stretching them out wide for lock Augustin Petrichei to go over in the corner.  Petrichei was lucky the try was awarded, however, after a television replay showed that the ball was not grounded.  Fly-half Ionut Tofan stretched the lead for the Oaks with the conversion.

The hapless Africans were dismal in all aspects of the game, but it was their defence that really let them down, with the Romanians punching gaps in their line at will and the score could have been far worse if the Oaks had made the passes stick.

Namibia's evening got worse when the Romanians turned over the ball deep inside their opponent's 22 and stormed towards the tryline.  Scrum-half Lucian Sirbu went over for the try, but was held up thanks to a brilliant tackle by Namibia's star flanker Schalk van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe, a lion-tamer by trade, was arguably the only Namibian to raise his hand during the game as he roamed the field tirelessly on defence and was one of the few forces in attack to bother the Oaks, with that tackle on Sirbu just one of many heroic acts from him on the night.

The Oaks' scrum-half would not be denied, however, and when Romania was awarded a penalty close to the line, he tapped quickly and scampered in for the try.

Ten minutes later, on the stroke of half-time, the Romanians went over for another five-pointer as the Namibian defence again failed to cope under the tireless attack.  This time it was left to the forwards to drive towards the line, sending the final pass out to flanker George Chiriac for the try.

Tofan converted to stretch the lead to 32-0 at the break.

The second half was a comedy of errors with the Romanians throwing loose passes as frequently as the Namibians missed tackles -- resulting in possibly the scrappiest display of rugby seen at the tournament to date.  And, to make matters worse, the pitch was littered with injured players as they ran from one side of the field to the other -- the Namibians eventually forced into ringing the changes.

The struggling Africans finally managed to penetrate the Romanian defence late in the half when fly-half Morné Schreuder put the ball into the corner -- from a penalty -- for a line-out.  The forwards drove towards the line and big lock Eben Isaacs then crashed over.  Emile Wessels slotted the conversion, but it was never going to change their fate with the game effectively having ended as a contest before the break.

Christian Sauan brought about the final whistle when he went over for the Oaks' fifth try after the ball was spread out wide and the Namibian defenders, as they had all night, struggled to keep up with the play.

Man of the match:  Namibian flanker Schalk van der Merwe definitely put his hand up and the centre pairing of Romeo Gontineac and Valentin Maftei were superb for Romania.  But Lucian Sirbu's efforts at scrum-half proved to be decisive and he kept his side on the front foot all day earning him our Man of the match award.

Moment of the match:  Namibia's Schalk van der Merwe, above anybody else, deserved a try for his efforts, but his try-saving tackle on Romania scrum-half Lucian Sirbu was testimony to his all-round efforts on the day.

Villian of the match:  It was a clean game, with no animosity and no "silly stuff".  Nobody really deserves this award, although the entire Namibian side tried to win this award with their bumbling first-half display.

The Teams

Romania:  1 Petru Balan, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Marcel Socaciu, 4 Cristian Petre, 5 Augustin Petrechei, 6 George Chiriac, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 8 Sorin Socol, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Ioan Teodorescu, 15 Dan Dumbrava
Reserves:  Silviu Florea, Iulian Andrei, Cezar Popescu, Cristian Sauan, Petrisor Toderasc, Marian Tudori, Mihai Vioreanu

Namibia:  1 Neil Du Toit, 2 J.M. Meyer, 3 Kees Lensing, 4 Eben Isaacs, 5 Heino Senekal, 6 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 7 Wolfie Duvenhage, 8 Sean Furter (c), 9 Niel Swanepoel, 10 Mot Schreuder, 11 Deon Mouton, 12 Du Preez Grobler, 13 Emile Wessels, 14 Vincent Dreyer, 15 Ronaldo Pedro
Reserves:  Andries Blaauw, Deon Grunschloss, Corne Powell, Rudie Janse Van Vuuren, Cor Van Tonder, Jurgens Van Lill
Unused:  Herman Lintvelt

Attendance:  15457
Referee:  0arshall p.

Points Scorers

Romania
Tries:  Teodorescu I. 1, Sirbu L.M. 1, Petrechei A. 1, Chiriac G. 1, Sauan D.C. 1
Conv:  Tofan I.R. 3
Pen K.:  Tofan I.R. 2

Namibia
Tries:  Isaacs E. 1Conv:  Wessels E. 1

Canada 24 Tonga 7

Al Charron and his Canadian side managed a 24-7 win over Tonga in Wollongong, scoring two tries to one and regrouping well after their skipper was stretchered off in a big tackle.

In the last Pool D match at the Rugby World Cup for the two sides, Canada, with fewer scoring opportunities, beat Tonga at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on a windy Wednesday evening.  The Canadian pack and their immaculate fly-half, Bob Ross deserve great credit.

The Canuck pack was lighter than the Tongans, but won every one of their line-outs and five of the Tongans'.  They were better than Tonga in the scrums and drove much, much better in the mauls.

Rugby is about defence and attack.  The Canadians certainly won the defence and, as a result, the match.  When they had a chance to score points they did so, except on two occasions, one in each half.

The Tongans were more spectacular, but much loess cohesive.  Their most spectacular player was their replacement centre, Sukanaivalu Hufanga, who had three thrilling breaks -- which petered out through inadequate support.

Canada had the advantage of the stiff wind in the first half, but ended it leading only 9-7 and things could have been worse as Tonga came close to scoring a second try.

Canada scored first when Tonga were penalised and Canadian scrum-half Morgan Williams forced an extra 10 metres as he did later in the half.  Bob Ross, veteran of veterans at the World Cup, kicked the penalty.

Shortly afterwards, Canada got their closest to the Tongan line in the half.  Tonga were penalised, but the Canadians chose to charge the line, only to be penalised for creating a flying wedge.

Then came Tonga as they set up mauls from a line-out well in the Canadian 22 and eventually their noble captain Inoke Afeaki scored as he fell.  Pierre Hola converted, and after 17 minutes Tonga led 7-3.

Williams milked another 10 metres at a penalty and Ross made it 7-6.

Then Tonga came close as hooker Ephram Taukafa picked up turnover ball and set off on a weaving run that would have done a scrum-half proud.  They moved it right, but Nisifolo Naufahu lost the ball as he strove to score.

Canada weathered that storm and two other close-in line-outs late in the half.  Instead it was Ross's third penalty which gave them their half-time lead.

Canada started and finished the match charging at the Tongans with lots of support.  They barged the ball up, they mauled it up and occasionally they threw it wide.  They seldom kicked into the wind -- as the Tongans seldom kicked with the wind.

Early in the second half, Tonga messed up a defensive line-out and the Canadians drove at them with might and main.  The attack became a five-metre scrum to Canada.  This time they went wide to the right.  Ross did a loop, drew the defenders and sent it out.  Left-wing Winston Stanley and fullback Quentin Fyffe were in the line to send right-wing Sean Fauth over for the try.  That made it 14-7 after 50 minutes.

Tonga had a similar opportunity as they attacked from a five-metre line-out, which became a five-metre scrum.  Back they came for another five-metre line-out.  Again Canada stole it and drove a maul up field till scrum-half Williams went scurrying away.

A hectic Canadian attack came to nought when Stanley knocked on and Hufanga and Vaki, a lock playing on the wing, came close.

Canada then attacked with many phases which ended in a horror collision between Al Charron and Pierre Hola that held up play while the great Canadian, the oldest man at the World Cup, was taken off on a stretcher, bleeding from the jaw.

Just after that, Ross bisected the posts with a penalty and then Tonga attacked in a frenzy -- but were held up over the line.

Instead Canada scored when replacement wing James Pritchard raced down the left-wing and kicked ahead.  Replacement David Palu shouldered him late, causing Canadian anger and a yellow card for Palu.  From the five-metre line-out Canada drove and Aaron Abrams, a hooker, but on as a replacement for Charron, scored.  Pritchard converted from the corner.

Man of the Match:  There was the man with the Mohawk from Tonga, every-where man, Sililo Martens and the exciting centre Sukanaivalu Hufanga.  For Canada there were their busy hooker Mark Lawson, long-legged centre Ryan Smith and scrum-half Morgan Williams, but really the Man of the match was the immaculate, impeccable Bob Ross at fly-half, a Canadian international since 1989.

Moment of the match:  There were three in the first half.  Tongan prop Heamani Lavaka hurt his knee when Naufahu came close to scoring but stood in the scrum.  Then when his management wanted to replace him he waved the replacement away and soldiered on.  Prop of props!  Then the feathers flew!  The Canadian left-wing fly-kicked the ball which hit a startled seagull like a shot at snooker.  In the second half there were Gordon Ross's cleverness for Canada's try and Sukanaivalu Hufanga's three breaks.  But really the moment was the horror moment -- the injury to Al Charron and the sad sight of seeing the wounded warrior carried off, his wounds in front, in his 78th and last Test.

Villain of the match:  David Pula's tackle on James Pritchard, late and reckless, was punished with a yellow card and so earns him the Villain of the match tag.  Pierre Hola's tackle on Al Charron, which felled the big man, may well be revisited by the citing commissioner.  The referee, on the spot, said that he thought it a fair tackle.  A fair tackle can well cause injury.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Garth Cooke, 2 Mark Lawson, 3 Rod Snow, 4 Alan Charron (c), 5 Mike James, 6 Jamie Cudmore, 7 Adam Van Staveren, 8 Josh Jackson, 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, Ed Fairhurst, Jeff Reid, Kevin Tkachuk, Colin Yukes, James Pritchard, Ryan Smith

Tonga:  1 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 2 Ephraim Taukafa, 3 Heamani Lavaka, 4 Milton Ngauamo, 5 'Inoke Afeaki (c), 6 Nisifolo Naufahu, 7 Sione Tu'amoheloa, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Pierre Hola, 11 Pila Fifita, 12 Johnny Ngauamo, 13 John Payne, 14 Sione Fonua, 15 Gus Leger
Reserves:  'Ipolito Fenukitau, Sukanaivalu Hufanga, Usaia Latu, Viliami Ma'asi, David Palu, Kafalosi Tonga, Viliami Vaki

Attendance:  15630
Referee:  Rolland a.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Fauth S. 1, Abrams A. 1
Conv:  Pritchard J. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 4

Tonga
Tries:  Afeaki I.U. 1
Conv:  Hola P. 1

Georgia 12 Uruguay 24

The Teros of Uruguay were full value for their 24-12 win over the Lelos of Georgia in a Pool C match at Aussie Stadium, scoring three tires to nil to record their second-ever Rugby World Cup win.

In 1999 the Uruguayans beat Spain 25-12.  In each of their two World Cup victories their opponents have failed to score a try.

In this match Georgia never looked like scoring a try as they found catching and passing, even at the simplest level, beyond them.  It was, in fact, a largely bumbling match of kicking and bashing, but the three Uruguayan tries were certainly good value.

Uruguay went to the break leading 10-3 after scoring the only try of the match in a half of kick-bash-knock-on varied with a bit of bash-kick-knock-on.

Georgia had more possession, and lost it more often, and adding to Georgian woes was a wobbly line-out.

Indeed Uruguay's try was as a result of lost line-out ball.  It started when Georgia won a sloppy line-out and then turned the ball over.  Uruguayan scrum-half Juan Campomar shot down the short side, but was shoved into touch for a five-metre line-out to Georgia.  Hooker David Dadunashvili overthrew the line-out and Nicolás Grille drove at the line.

Over and over the Uruguayans bashed at the Georgian line which held manfully.  Suddenly Campomar spun the ball to Sebastian Aguirre who gave to fullback Juan Menchaca who was in the line and he sent Alfonso Cardoso over for the try far out, which Diego Aguirre converted.

The other points in the half came from penalties, first by Menchaca and then by right-wing Malkhaz Urjukashvili, who took over from Paliko Jimsheladze, who had missed two.  Uruguay also missed two penalties and two drop-goal attempts.

Georgia made many changes at half-time, aimed no doubt at improving their mobility.  It had a slight effect and they moved up to 10-9 as 19-year-old Merab Kvirikashvili kicked two penalty goals.  Normally a scrum-half, he came on as a fly-half, and penalty goals apart, had a game to forget as his hands and kicking out of hand let him down.

Off one of Kvirikashvili's knock-ons, the Uruguayans attacked and forced the Georgians into scrambled defence which produced a line-out.  The Uruguayans caught the ball, formed a maul and rolled it, till eventually stumpy hooker Diego Lamelas broke off and scored.  Diego Aguirre converted from a long way out.

Uruguay were close again from a maul.  The Georgians collapsed the maul but the referee played advantage and eventually penalised the Uruguayans for "truck-'n-trailer" on the Georgian line.  This produced a query from Diego Aguirre, who wondered why the collapsing of the maul had not been penalised.  He was told that advantage was over.

Remarkably, Georgia did not concede a single penalty in the second half, while the Uruguayans were penalised nine times.

It was rare during this match for man to beat man.  In fact, it happened only twice -- both through breaks by Diego Aguirre.  His second break produced the final try of the match.  A tapped free-kick produced a ruck.  Aguirre straightened up and broke through two Georgians.  In the tackle he got the ball to Campomar, who in turn got the pass away in the tackle to Nicolás Brignoni, a replacement flank, who scored in the tackle.

Man of the Match:  The Uruguayan candidates were their front row who put destructive pressure on the Georgians, captain Diego Aguirre for the best breaks of the match and two sweet conversions and, our choice, ubiquitous loose forward Nicolás Grille.

Moment of the match:  The third Uruguayan try, set up by Diego Aguirre and scored by Nicolás Brignoni.

Villain of the match:  Surprisingly there was some villainy.  On two occasions Uruguayans were lucky not to receive yellow cards -- once when their boots did ugly things to Akvsenti Giorgadze and once when Grille took three steps to plunge a late shoulder into a Georgian kicker.

The Teams:

Georgia:  1 Avtandil Kopaliani, 2 David Dadunashvili, 3 Goderdzi Shvelidze, 4 Sergo Gujaraidze, 5 Zurab Mtchedlishvili, 6 George Chkhaidze, 7 Gregoire Yachvili, 8 Ilia Zedguinidze (c), 9 Irakli Modebadze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Makho Urjukashvili, 12 Irakli Guiorgadze, 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 14 Archil Kavtarahvili, 15 Irakli Machkhaneli
Reserves:  Akvsenti Guiorgadze, Vassil Katsadze, Bessik Khamashuridze, Sosso Nikolaenko, Merab Kvirikashvili, George Tsiklauri
Unused:  David Bolghashvili

Uruguay:  1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Diego Lamelas, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Alzueta, 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 6 Nicolas Grille, 7 Hernan Ponte, 8 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 9 Juan Campomar, 10 Sebastian Aguirre, 11 Carlos Baldassari, 12 Diego Aguirre (c), 13 Martin Mendaro, 14 Alfonso Cardoso, 15 Juan Menchaca
Reserves:  Bernardo Amarillo, Eduardo Berruti, Nicolas Brignoni, Joaquin Pastore, Guillermo Storace, Marcelo Gutierrez, Juan Andres Perez

Attendance:  28576
Referee:  Deaker k.

Points Scorers:

Georgia
Pen K.:  Urjukashvili M. 1, Kvirikashvili M. 3

Uruguay
Tries:  Cardoso A. 1, Lamelas D. 1, Brignoni N. 1
Conv:  Menchaca J.R. 1, Aguirre D. 2
Pen K.:  Menchaca J.R. 1

Japan 26 United States 39

The USA Eagles ended a 16-year drought at the Rugby World Cup when they beat the ever-willing Japanese 39-26 at Gosford's Gold Coast Stadium.

It brought the curtain down on Japan's participation at the 2003 tournament, but the Eagles have an encounter with France, on Friday, to complete their involvement.

While the Eagles have plenty of reason to celebrate their win, the first since they beat Japan in their opening match (21-18) at the 1987 RWC in Brisbane, it is with a touch of sadness that the organisers will be saying "Sayonara" to the "Cherry Blossoms".

They have been thoroughly entertaining in all their matches with their helter-skelter style.  Even though they failed to win any of them, they came pretty close to getting some just reward for providing the thousands of spectators and millions of television viewers with full value for their money.

The Japanese were never completely overwhelmed in any of their matches, despite not being able to match any of their opposition up front.  And, as was the case before, the final scoreline -- 39-26 -- in Gosford does not reflect just how close they came to winning their first match since beating Zimbabwe in Belfast in 1991 -- which is their only RWC win to date.

But credit to the Eagles for the quality of rugby they produced, and as captain Dave Hodges said, it "felt great" to finally win again after so many years.

He lamented the fact that they almost allowed the Japanese to sneak a win, despite dominating possession and territory.

"We tried to get too fancy after a while," he said, reflecting on the fact that they had build up an early 14-0 lead before letting the "Cherry Blossoms" back into the game, "our tactics was to run hard at them all game."

Those tactics certainly paid dividends early in the game, when outside centre Phillip Eloff was particularly devastating.

In the first 10 minutes, the Japanese saw hardly any of the ball, with 80 percent of the possession stakes going to the Eagles, and the scraps the Japanese did see was poor and on the back foot.

Not surprising then that it took the Eagles just eight minutes to score their first try, when fly-half Mike Hercus sold the perfect dummy to dart over under the uprights.  Four minutes later Eloff was rewarded for all his hard work with a brilliant outside break and some strong running.

But the Japanese settled down and "Cherry Blossoms" fly-half Andrew Miller showed he, too, has some skills and class when he created the opportunity for winger Toru Kurihara to go over.

The rest of the first half, on the scoreboard, was a kicking duel between Kurihara and Hercus and it allowed the Eagles to go into the break with a 20-10 lead.

The all-action, high-tempo approach from both teams continued after the break and it seemed that a change of jerseys would do the trick for the Japanese.  In the first half red was the predominant colour for both teams, but after the break Japan came out in a blue-and-white strip.

Three Kurihara penalties saw the gap close to 20-19, before outstanding Eagles flanker Kort Schubert burst over for a try after a great half-break by Hercus.

But the Japanese bounced back again and an outstanding score by world-class winger Daisuke Ohata, after a counter-attack from turnover ball, saw the gap close to 27-26 with just 20 minutes remaining.

It was then a case of who would crack first and the two teams stayed at each other's throats at a furious pace, before the Eagles finally raced away in the final five minutes.

Winger Riaan van Zyl scored in the 75th minute, after a great break by lock Gerhard Klerck, and hooker Kirk Khasigian added the finishing touch with a try in the 80th minute.

Man of the match:  The two Japanese wingers, Daisuke Ohata and Toru Kurihara, deserve special mention for their bravery -- not just on defence, but also for some fine attacking play, while Kurihara was his usual reliable self in the goal-kicking department.  The two fly-halves, Andrew Miller (Japan) and Mike Hercus (USA), also had their moments, but our vote goes to the Eagles' South-African born centre Phillip Eloff, who kept punching holes in the brave Japanese defence for most of the game.

Moment of the match:  The Eagles' five tries were all well-crafted and entraining touchdowns, but the moment that best depicts the game in its entirety was the try scored by Japanese winger Daisuke Ohata in the 58th minute.  It came after the Eagles had lost control of the ball and the "Cherry Blossoms" launched a blistering counter-attack, with Ohata sprinting own the right wing to beat a couple of defenders on the outside, before stepping inside the cover defence to score.

Villain of the match:  There were no incidents of note and no cards, but American coach Tom Billups must have agreed with our vote.  He pulled fullback Paul Emerick off in the 44th minute, after the No.15 had a real shocker, which included a number of fumbles and some ordinary kicking.

The teams:

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masao Amino, 3 Masahiko Toyoyama, 4 Hajime Kiso, 5 Adam Parker, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Takuro Miuchi (c), 8 Takeomi Ito, 9 Yuji Sonoda, 10 Andy Miller, 11 Toru Kurihara, 12 Yukio Motoki, 13 George Konia, 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Hirotoki Onozowa, Yuya Saito, Takashi Tsuji, Masahito Yamamoto
Unused:  Koichi Kubo, Hideki Nanba, Masaaki Sakata

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Gerhard Klerck, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Dave Hodges (c), 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 David Fee, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Salesi Sika, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Paul Emerick
Reserves:  John Buchholz, Kimball Kjar, Jacob Waasdorp, Matt Wyatt
Unused:  Jason Keyter, Olo Fifita, Jurie Gouws

Attendance:  19653
Referee:  Walsh s.

Points Scorers:

Japan
Tries:  Ohata D. 1, Kurihara T. 1
Conv:  Kurihara T. 2
Pen K.:  Kurihara T. 4

United States
Tries:  Eloff P. 1, Van Zyl R. 1, Hercus M. 1, Khasigian K.A. 1, Schubert K.S. 1
Conv:  Hercus M. 4
Pen K.:  Hercus M. 2

England 35 Samoa 22

After going 10-nil down in the first seven minutes in the face of a magnificent opening salvo from Samoa, England -- and No.10 Jonny Wilkinson -- regained their composure to beat the battling Islanders by 35-22 in a Pool C clash in Melbourne.

So, England's place in the quarter-finals of the competition is assured but for about 60 minutes on Sunday evening, it looked as if one of the greatest upsets in the history of rugby -- if not the history of sport -- was on the cards as Samoa ran the much-vaunted men in white off their feet.

England -- number one in the Zurich World Rankings and, after their recent victory over South Africa, near-favourites for the World Cup -- were made to look distinctly second-class by a Samoan team that boasted pace, power and invention.

For the cash-strapped Samoans, whose very existence is under threat because of a lack of funding, this was a simply magnificent performance and one which will send the clearest message possible to rugby's rulers -- let us die and the sport will be infinitely poorer.

It was an extraordinary start to the match as England -- at near full-strength -- were reduced to the role of spectators, watching their opponents go through their full repertoire of dazzling skills to rattle up a 10-nil lead in just seven minutes.

The much-vaunted England defence, which had not conceded a try in the tournament going into this match, simply dissolved in the face of the all-out attack supplied by the Samoa, the Islanders ghosting through the first line of defence on several occasions to cause chaos -- and even panic -- amongst Johnson's men.

As Samoa threw their body and soul into the task, England lost their composure -- the pressure telling on their stuttering backline, with fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, in particular, having a match to forget.

His general play went to pieces during that opening period -- English fans around the ground no doubt rubbing their eyes in disbelief as their golden boy first tossed a forward pass in midfield and then missed a sitter of a penalty kick from a position he could normally kick blind-folded.

After just three minutes England realised that they were in a for a testing afternoon, as a near-faultless passage of play from Samoa pinned them back in their half and led to an off-side decision.

Fly-half Earl Va'a -- as composed as his opposite number was rattled -- slotted the three-pointer and Samoa took the lead, a lead they were to hold until the 50th minute.

At this point, we might have expected the English to settle into their familiar pattern, but Samoa had other ideas.

After regaining possession, they launched another attack from deep, moving the ball at lightning speed from the breakdown and spreading it wide.

Winger Lome Fa'atau burst out of an attempted tackle and Samoa were behind the gainline and England were back-pedalling, as Samoa's superb continuity play resulted in skipper Semo Sititi charging over for the try.

With Va'a supplying the conversion that made it 10-0 and England's RWC campaign looked in serious jeopardy.

But in the end, it was England's forwards who came to the rescue of the cause, their superior power up-front -- particularly in the scrummage, where Julian White was an immense figure -- helped to squeeze the life out the out-gunned Samoans.

With their backline seriously malfunctioning, England realised that there was only going to be one winner if they continued to play it wide, switching their tactics to trench warfare, Martin Johnson and co. closing ranks to do some heavy duty damage to the Samoans.

England's dominance in the pack told in 30th minute, flanker Neil Back carrying the ball over the line after a classic old-fashioned dynamic maul.

It wasn't as pretty as the Samoan try, but it helped settle some English nerves at a crucial point in the game -- as did the touchline conversion slotted by Wilkinson.

Wilkinson dragged his side back into the match with two first-half penalties, but the teams went into the dressing room at the break with Samoa ahead by 16-13.

The second-half saw England start in determined mood, but Wilkinson's missed drop-goal did not get the dream start they were after.

But this was the point where the scrum came into its own, the Men in White piling on the pressure on their counterparts to gain a penalty try.

That was the crucial score of the entire match and even though Va'a struck another penalty to put his side 22-20 ahead going into the final quarter, the momentum was with England and their forwards.

Wilkinson landed a drop-goal, then late tries from Iain Balshaw and Phil Vickery sealed the England victory.

But despite gaining the full five points from the match, England will be disappointed with their performance, while Samoa can only dream of what might have been if they could have gained parity in the set-piece with their opponents.

Man of the match:  Surely some mistake, doesn't Jonny Wilkinson has this spot tied up in perpetuity?  Well, not today, that's for sure.  While there were some superb performances from some individuals -- not least in the English front five -- it was Samoan fly-half Earl Va'a who was the key figure of the game, out-Wilkinsoning his opposite number with an assured and graceful performance.

Moment of the match:  Absolutely no contest, it has to be Samoan skipper Semo Setiti's first-half try.  It was a real team effort, with Samoa stretching the English defence this way and that through a magnificent long range attack started by wing Lome Fa'atautu.  Some 60 metres downfield, with white jerseys in disarray all around the field, the back rower gallloped away in the left-hand corner to score a famous try.

Villain of the match:  That a team capable of such magnificent rugby is in serious danger of extinction should cause no little amount of soul-searching on the part of rugby's wealthier nations.  Chuck these guys a lifeline (inclusion in the Tri-Nations?) and do it now -- or they could be lost to us forever.  Just imagine what Samoa could do if they were able to put out their first team.

The Teams:

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Mark Regan, 3 Julian White, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Iain Balshaw, 12 Mike Tindall, 13 Stuart Abbott, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Jason Robinson
Reserves:  Mike Catt, Phil Vickery, Lewis Moody, Steve Thompson
Unused:  Martin Corry, Andy Gomarsall, Dan Luger

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi, 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Dominic Feaunati, Des Tuiali'i, Simon Lemalu, Mahonri Schwalger, Denning Tyrell, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen

Attendance:  50647
Referee:  Kaplan j.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Balshaw I.R. 1, Back N.A. 1, Vickery P.J. 1, Penalty try 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 3
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2
Drop G.:  Wilkinson J.P. 1

Samoa
Tries:  Sititi S. 1
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 1
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 5

Argentina 15 Ireland 16

Keith Wood's Ireland secured a place in the quarter-finals of RWC 2003 after holding on for a tense 16-15 win over Argentina, flanker Alan Quinlan going over in the first half for the only try of the match.

The win was Ireland's first over Argentina outside of Dublin and guarantees them a berth in the quarter-finals, regardless of the outcome of their meeting with hosts Australia next week.

The Irish bided their time during this tight contest, allowing Argentina to run themselves ragged, before squeezing through at the death.  But full credit must go to the Argentines, whose dominant forwards do not deserve to go out at this early stage.

Indeed, the Pumas started the match in terrific form -- using their mighty pack to bash Ireland onto the back-foot.

But for all their good ball-retention, they kept running out of ideas after a few phases and it was left to fly-half Gonzalo Quesada to keep kicking for position.

The veteran fly-half may not have Felipe Contepomi's ability to get his line moving, but he can definitely kick, and the Pumas were grateful to have him when he stepped up to open the scoring with a penalty kick in the seventh minute.

But Argentina's score focused Irish minds and they set about building the phases, but their movements were more heart than head, and the stoic Puma defence made them lose their train of thought.

With Ireland out-muscled up front, they set about trying to spin the ball wide, and with good reason, as inside centre Kevin Maggs looked determined to right ancient wrongs single-handedly.

When the try came for Ireland, however, it stemmed from forward pressure.  A rare error from the back of the Argentina line-out allowed Wood to steam onto the ball before off-loading to flanker Alan Quinlan, who crashed over to take the lead after 20 minutes.

But Irish smiles were tempered by an injury suffered by Quinlan in the act of scoring, and the flanker left the field with a suspected dislocated shoulder.

The try was very much against the run of play and Argentina bludgeoned their way back into the game.  But time after time -- with the line beckoning -- the Pumas suffered sudden and severe droughts of creativity.

Their inability to finish off good build-up work frustrated them, and Irish confidence grew as a series of Argentine raids stuttered and died agonisingly close to the Ireland tryline.

Humphreys soon added a penalty to his conversion, but his opposite man Quesada showed why he won the "Golden Boot" at RWC '99 by replying with a drop-goal and a penalty of his own, and Argentina went into the break one point adrift only.

Ireland continued playing their waiting game in the second half and seemed content to allow the Pumas to run themselves weary.

But Argentina now had a grip on the game and started to play it to their own liking, turning it into a forward-dominated slug-fest.

This wasn't what Ireland wanted and errors began to creep into their game as they tried to impose a little pace on proceedings.

Denis Hickie showed the way with a great break, and Ronan O'Gara was soon on the field in place of Humphreys to set Ireland's redundant backs loose.

But the fly-half's first clearance failed to find touch and Puma fullback Ignacio Corleto gathered to put the Pumas in the lead with a huge drop-kick from 45 metres out -- reminiscent, perhaps of Wallaby Stephen Larkham's effort in their 1999 semi-final win over South Africa.

O'Gara, however, made amends by stealing back the lead with two penalties, the second coming after a series of Argentine errors opened the game up and put the Irish within touching distance of the Argentine line.

The descent into running rugby suited the Irish and their confidence to run the ball grew, but they had trouble keeping their composure in the face of some frantic Puma pressure and Quesada again pulled his team within a point with a penalty goal.

With their last throw of the dice, the Pumas attacked from deep and Corleto sent hearts racing by cutting through the gainline.  His pass found wing José María Nuñez Piossek in space, but he was dragged into touch, and referee André Watson sealed Argentina's fate by blowing for full-time.

Man of the match:  Centre Kevin Maggs kept the Pumas guessing with some strong running in midfield, and made breaking the gainline look easy.  The game would have been over long before time had Ireland utilised his strengths early in the game.

Moment of the match:  Undoubtedly Keith Wood's break that lead to Ireland's try.  The hooker skipped onto the ball with the energy of a 15-year-old before dummying -- yes, dummying! -- his way past the startled Argentine midfield.  He then drew in Corleto to feed out the pass to the supporting Quinlan.  A whole decade at the coal face -- with nine shoulder operations to his name -- but the "Raging Potato" is still going from strength to strength!

Villain of the match:  The owner of the mystery fist that emerged from the Argentine second row during a scrum to knock Irish Prop Reggie Corrigan to the ground.  The RWC citing commissioners will be licking their lips.

The Teams:

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

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Victor Costello, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Eric Miller, Marcus Horan, Ronan O'Gara
Unused:  Shane Byrne, Guy Easterby, John Kelly, Donncha O'Callaghan

Attendance:  28803
Referee:  Watson a.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 3
Drop G.:  Corleto I. 1

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

France 51 Scotland 9

France underlined their burgeoning Rugby World Cup ambitions by sweeping away a battling, but ultimately outclassed Scotland side by 51-9 to claim top spot in Pool B and a date with the runners-up of Pool A in the quarter-finals.

Scotland started extremely well and forced France to dig deep in the first half, but when the French found their feet in the latter stages of the game the gulf in ability became painfully obvious.

All is not lost for Scotland, however, they will be pleased with the way they took the game to the talented French outfit in the early stages and will now play Fiji (next week) for the runner-up slot in Pool B.

The start of this encounter between the two European heavyweights could have been mistaken for a classic Six Nations contest, with both sides rushing into the game on a wave of raw passion rather than finely-tuned skill.

No quarter was given by either side as they fought for control of a match played in greasy conditions, and both teams were guilty of over-zealous ambitions and the resulting errors made for a battle more of attrition than attraction.

Scotland seemed to have done their homework and any French hopes of running the ball from deep were cut out by a taunt and eager Scottish defence, but France showed why they are fast becoming one of the hot favourites to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy by subjecting Scotland to the full range of attacking options.

When the yards weren't coming via long counter-attacks they opted to barge up field via the tireless Raphael Ibanez and his well-drilled forwards.

And with the Scots holding the lines bravely, they chose to bypass the tacklers with deft kicking, like the 40 metre drop-kick scored by fly-half Frédéric Michalak that won France the lead after 15 minutes.

But, perversely, it was when Scotland had the ball that France looked the most menacing.  Outstanding pressure from flankers Serge Betsen and Olivier Mange left the Scots with very little breathing space and they were forced into making errors.

The resulting turnover ball was music to the ears of the flying French backs and they were able to break away via the likes of elusive wing Christophe Dominici.

Scotland somehow managed to hold on and stifle all but the very best French attacks, and France were forced to save their flamboyance for the second half.

France chipped their way into the lead via the unerring boot of Michalak before Olivier Magne took advantage of a lapse in the Scottish defence to surge through the midfield.  He off-loaded to Imanol Harinordoquy who, in turn, fed Serge Betsen, who turned on the gas before crashing over for a try.

In a flash, France had a significant lead and the capacity crowd at Sydney's Telstra Stadium caught a glimpse of France's most potent weapon -- their back row.

Scotland fans received a lift as Paterson replied to the try by slotting a penalty kick -- pulling his team closer to France, but Michalak had his kicking boots on and immediately slotted one for his own side with the last kick of the first half.

France began the second half looking to extend their lead and they set about pushing Scotland back towards their line.  Once they were within range the ball went back to fullback Nicolas Brusque who caressed a drop-goal through Scotland's posts.

France were now on the front-foot and subjected Scotland to a lesson in total rugby.  For all their pose behind the scrum, the French opted to drive a rolling maul at the Scots and pushed them back past over their goalline and all No.8 Harinordoquy had to do was flop to the ground to record France's second try.

Scotland fought back with some decent phases, but at no point did they look like breaking through.  And, when France conceded a penalty, the Scots had little option save to add three points, Paterson duly obliging.

France bounced back with some flowing rugby, which the outstanding Michalak finishing off by sliding in under the posts to complete his full-house of scores.

Scotland were now on the rack and France were in full flow as captain Fabien Galthié went through totally unopposed from a five-metre scrum to score.

With the bonus point recorded, France settled into a swagger as Scotland tried in vain to fight their way back into the match.

But they were fighting a losing battle and Brusque later added insult to injury by collected his own chip to score in the corner.

Fittingly, it was the boot of the majestic Michalak that brought up the half-century of France points with a superb effort from the touchline to end the game.

Man of the match:  Mention must go to France's back row, but it was fly-half Frédéric Michalak who really caught the eye.  His full-house of scores indicates his ability in all areas, and the easy in which France switched their tactics to suit the situation sprang directly from the vision of the young fly-half.  Eat your heart out, Jonny Wilkinson!

Moment of the match:  As the TV camera went down the line of Scottish players during the anthems, each man offered a slight shake of the head in protest of flanker Martin Leslie's 12-week ban.  It was a dignified, silent gesture -- and showed that the soul of rugby is still anchored in the notion of fraternity.

Villain of the match:  A terrific legal tackle form Simon Taylor on Fabien Galthié was pulled up by touch judge Alain Rolland.  The hit was fine and was the sort one effort that can lift a team's spirits, but instead France got a penalty and Taylor got a ticking off.  There are already too many nannies in our sport, Mr Rolland, we don't need another.

The Teams:

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Fabien Pelous, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Tony Marsh, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Yannick Bru, Olivier Brouzet, Gerald Merceron, Olivier Milloud, Patrick Tabacco, Damien Traille
Unused:  Pepito Elhorga

Scotland:  1 Gavin Kerr, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Cameron Mather, 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:  Bruce Douglas, Nathan Hines, Jon Petrie, James McLaren, Robbie Russell
Unused:  Michael Blair, Simon Danielli

Attendance:  78974
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Brusque N. 1, Michalak F. 1, Galthie F. 1, Betsen Tchoua S. 1, Harinordoquy I. 1
Conv:  Michalak F. 4
Pen K.:  Michalak F. 4
Drop G.:  Brusque N. 1, Michalak F. 1

Scotland
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 3

Wales 27 Italy 15

Wales booked themselves a place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals courtesy of a 27-15 victory over Italy at the Canberra Stadium, the Azzurri putting up brave resistance, but being outscored by three tries to nil in the process.

The Welsh tries were scored by wing Mark Jones, centre Sonny Parker and flanker Dafydd Jones, with the rest of their points coming from the boot of inside centre Iestyn Harris.

Harris converted all three tries and added two penalties as the battered and bruised Azzurri, who had to contend with an horrific playing schedule at this World Cup, were never able to get into this match and keep up pressure on their opponents.

They seemed to lack composure, but they looked tired from their previous three World Cup encounters -- the last two, against Tonga and Canada took a lot out of them -- and they were unable to raise themselves against a Welsh team that tried to be adventurous at times.

The selection of Ceri Sweeney at fly-half suggested that they would run the ball, and although they did at times -- most notably in the build-up to Parker's try, when Sweeney broke after his opposite number Rima Wakarua had rushed up on defence and opened the gap up for him -- the introduction of Stephen Jones after 49 minutes allowed them to consolidate at a crucial stage in the game.

Wales's first try, by wing Jones, also saw a bit of adventure, but it came more from an Italian error that anything else, as they failed to clear their line, giving Wales a chance to attack in the Azzurri 22 before Jones touched down in the left-hand corner.

Sweeney did not have a bad game, but Jones kicked for field position and took some clever options -- along with replacement scrum-half Gareth Cooper -- and despite an Azzurri mini-comeback in the second half, which saw them fight back to 20-15, Wales absorbed the pressure and then hit back with a try from flanker Dafydd Jones in the 64th minute that sealed the win for them.

Perhaps a four-try bonus point would have made life a lot easier for them, as Italy kept them scoreless for the remainder of the game, but coach Steve Hansen would be a relieved man with this win, the victory assuring them of a play-off spot, although they are scheduled to meet likely Pool C winners England in the quarter-finals.

Wales could top the Pool D table if they beat New Zealand in Sydney next Sunday, but it seem an unlikely result, with the Men in Black looking fairly sharp in their 91-7 win over Tonga on Friday.

The Azzurri deserve some kudos for their showing at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, but it would have been interesting to see how they would have performed against Wales if they had had enough time to prepare for this game, which would have allowed some of their players to recover from a few niggling injuries.

Man of the match:  Nobody really stands out in this match.  Italian skipper Alessandro Troncon tried his best, as always, while Aaron Persico was a bundle of energy once again.  For Wales, wings Mark Jones and Gareth Thomas looked full of running, but they did not see enough ball to have a bigger say, while centres Iestyn Harris and Sonny Parker were impressive, too.  In the end, we settled on Harris for a sound performance on defence and attack, while he also kicked some crucial goals, despite missing a few in the latter stages of the game.

Moment of the match:  We have two here.  One is a sad one, the other a game-turning moment.  The first moment involves Welsh prop Duncan Jones, with the fluffy white hair, who went off injured in the 25th minute -- seemingly with a damaged ankle and knee after his leg got trapped under a bunch of bodies.  It really is sad to see a player injured and his disappointment on the sidelines was evident to all.  The second moment, for us, was Sonny Parker's try just before half-time, which saw Wales into a 20-9 half-time lead.  The Azzurri were guilty of some sloppy defence and it cost them seven points.  If they had not conceded that try, they could easily have gone into the lead just after half-time when Rima Wakarua narrowed the scoreline to 20-15 with two penalties in minutes 42 and 49.

Villain of the match:  Nobody in the game -- instead we will award this to the people responsible for Italy's horrific Rugby World Cup draw.  They are on their way home now, having been forced to play four matches in the space of fourteen days, while Wales have a nice seven-day break before their clash with New Zealand.  Does it make sense?  No!  Should it be looked into?  Please!  Italian coach John Kirwan expressed his disgust at the draw in April, telling us at the time:  "Heads could roll, including mine, but that's the least of my worries.  It's more the players I fear for.  It's plain dangerous."

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Duncan Jones, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Dafydd Jones, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Colin Charvis (c), 9 Dwayne Peel, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Sonny Parker, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Kevin Morgan
Reserves:  Gareth Cooper, Gethin Jenkins, Robert Sidoli, Rhys Williams, Jonathan Thomas, Stephen Jones
Unused:  Mefin Davies

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Andrea Masi, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Cristian Bezzi, Carlo Festuccia, Matthew Phillips, Scott Palmer, Mauro Bergamasco, Francesco Mazzariol, Salvatore Perugini

Attendance:  22641
Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Jones M.A. 1, Parker S. 1, Jones D.R. 1
Conv:  Harris I.R. 3
Pen K.:  Harris I.R. 2

Italy
Pen K.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 5

Australia 142 Namibia 0

When Australia played Namibia, it was the first Test ever at Adelaide Oval, though what it tested is uncertain.  It was no contest as the Wallabies ran out winners 142-0 and broke all sorts of records, amongst others the biggest winning margin in a Rugby World Cup match.

The biggest margin of victory previously had been New Zealand's 145-17 victory over Japan in Bloemfontein in 1995.

All kinds of "records" were on the cards at half-time already as the Wallabies led 69-0 after scoring 11 tries.  As a contest it was woeful.  In fact, the scoring would have been even bigger and faster if the Wallabies had just picked up the ball and run with it without wasting intricacies on an uninterested defence.  You have heard the stories of the team that played against the tackling bags and lost.  Tackling bags would probably have stood firmer than the Namibian defence on this Adelaide afternoon.

The first try came after just two minutes.  Namibia won a scrum, Hakkies Hüsselman kicked out on the full and Tuqiri went down the right-hand touchline beating tacklers with ease to send Chris Latham over for the first of his four tries in the half.

Namibia kicked the kick-off out on the full and the Wallabies did lots of phases, Justin Harrison produced a side-step and David Lyons scored.  Latham got the next one after many phases and a plunge into the corner.  Then Stirling Mortlock charged, bashed and ran away for a try.  That brought Australia the bonus point after just 12 minutes -- the fastest bonus point at the World Cup.  The Wallabies then led 26-0.

On and on the scoring went -- Tuqiri from a five-metre scrum after Lyons was held up over the line, a penalty try from a five-metre scrum when the Namibians disintegrated, Latham a third from a scrum, Rogers with a delicate stop and step inside after a long movement, Paul after all sorts of accurate passing, Tuqiri and Latham.  All that for 69-0 lead at half-time.

On and on it went in the second half.  There was no fun or exhilaration in it as it became, in many ways, painful as the Namibians lost pride and heart -- and players through injury.

As in the first half, so in the second half the Wallabies scored 11 tries.  They scored one more than the All Blacks scored in 1995.  Latham's try at 74 minutes gave him an Australian record of five tries in a Test.

Rogers scored 42 points, an Australian record.  (In 1995 Simon Culhane scored 45 against Japan.) Rogers kicked 16 conversions, an Australian record.  (Culhane kicked 20 in 1995).

Man of the Match:  It's silly to choose one from so many, but Chris Latham and Mat Rogers will be credited with most records.  Of the two, Rogers had the better all-round match and is our choice.  All of that said there were two Namibian battlers who deserved mention -- prop Kees Lensing and replacement flank Schalk van der Merwe who played in the backs as a stopper -- a stopper of limited effectiveness.

Moment of the Match:  There was Justin Harrison's side-step, but the Mat Rogers one wins it.  He skated along in his usual way, stopped dead and then stepped inside to score.

Villain of the Match:  The players behaved.  If there were villains, it was whoever put that Namibian team into the field in that frame of mind and called it a Test match.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Ben Darwin, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Matt Dunning, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Croft, 7 George Smith, 8 David Lyons, 9 Chris Whitaker (c), 10 Matt Giteau, 11 Mat Rogers, 12 Nathan Grey, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 14 Lote Tuqiri, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Matthew Burke, Matt Cockbain, David Giffin, John Roe, Morgan Turinui
Unused:  Brendan Cannon, Bill Young

Namibia:  1 Neil Du Toit, 2 Cor Van Tonder, 3 Kees Lensing, 4 Eben Isaacs, 5 Heino Senekal, 6 Herman Lintvelt, 7 Shaun Van Rooi, 8 Jurgens Van Lill, 9 Hakkies Husselman (c), 10 Mot Schreuder, 11 Jurie Booysen, 12 Du Preez Grobler, 13 Emile Wessels, 14 Deon Mouton, 15 Ronaldo Pedro
Reserves:  Melrick Afrika, Andries Blaauw, Sean Furter, Phillipus Isaacs, Niel Swanepoel, Schalk Van Der Merwe, Deon Grunschloss

Attendance:  33597
Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 5, Tuqiri L. 3, Mortlock S.A. 1, Grey N.P. 1, Rogers M.S. 2, Giteau M. 3, Paul J.A. 1, Lyons D. 1, Roe J.A. 1, Turinui M. 2, Burke M.C. 1, Penalty try 1
Conv:  Rogers M.S. 16

South Africa 46 Georgia 19

South Africa failed to impress in an uninspiring Rugby World Cup performance against Georgia at Aussie Stadium in Sydney.

The Boks won their Pool C game 46-19, but coach Rudolf Straeuli's decision to field 14 changes from the side that lost to England last week revealed that fullback Ricardo Loubscher was out of depth, centre Werner Greeff out of position and winger Stefan Terblanché out of gas.

Seemingly, the Springboks barely gave this fixture any recognition, but the Georgians showed that they were in Sydney to play the game and the fans did not take long to warm to the fiery European side.

The Boks managed to soak up the initial charge, but when they were adjudged to be off-side, Georgian fly-half Paliko Jimsheladze slotted the penalty to draw the scores level at 3-all after an earlier Derick Hougaard penalty.

The score seemed to sting the South Africans into action and they swamped all over the Georgian pack at the restart to turn the ball over.  The Boks swung the ball wide and hard-running flanker Danie Rossouw broke through the defence to pick up the first of his two tries.

All eyes may have been on the halfback pairing of Derick Hougaard and Neil de Kock before the game, but it was Rossouw, who stole the show with his tireless work on defence and powerful running on attack.

The South African's continued to make elementary mistakes, however, and their persistence to field forwards in the backline led to a large amount of possession resulting in very little.  The handling was amateurish in the backline, but with props and locks hanging around amongst the three-quarters, it was not too surprising.

Despite all this, however, the Boks scored a second try soon after when centre Jaque Fourie popped up a short pass to Hougaard to run over for his first international try.

Rossouw was involved again when he drew two defenders out wide and popped the ball up to No.8 Joe van Niekerk, who was open on the touchline, for the try.  Hougaard stretched the lead with the conversion.

The Boks then began to produce one of the poorest performances of the tournament and besides Rossouw and lock Bakkies Botha and perhaps Hougaard, nobody in the Springbok XV could be happy with their performance on the park.  They showed no vision on attack, their wingers were cut down quickly out wide and their discipline let them down on a number of occasions.  "Disappointing" would be too kind a word for their performance in the first half.

The second-half performance would do nothing to change that.

The South African team initially looked better when Rossouw and Van Niekerk again linked up to score.  This time, however, it was the No.8 who made the initial break and off-loaded to Rossouw, who barged his way through the defence and then cantered away over the tryline for the second time in the game.  But the resurgence was to be shortlived.

The South Africans were again let down by their handling and their night got worse when the Lelos swept down the field deep into the Bok half from the back of the scrum -- following a knock-on by South Africa -- and were stopped just a few metres short of the line.  Flanker Hendro Scholtz, who was barely visible in the first half, was sin-binned for constantly killing the ball at the breakdown and his exit sparked yet another bumbling display by the Boks.

Georgia, who had never stopped threatening throughout, took advantage of the extra man and barged over the line from the base of a ruck and suddenly South Africa's lead did not look so comfortable at 29-16.

The Boks fought back, however, and two more tries to Fourie and then Botha effectively ended the Georgia challenge.  Fourie gathered a chip through courtesy of Hougaard and was eventually awarded the try, although it took the TMO an awfully long time to mull over what was clearly a legitimate score.

The young fly-half then swung out a wide ball to Botha on the wing, where he spent most of his night, to run over.

Schalk Burger brought the Springboks' dismal display to an end with a last-minute try, giving the final scoreline some air of respectability, although the South African side did not deserve much for an extremely poor performance against a much weaker team.

Man of the match:  It was tempting to give this to the entire Georgia team, who played out of their skin against the Springboks, but ultimately it was Danie Rossouw who stole the show with an impeccable display for the Boks.  Initially a surprise selection for the tournament, Rossouw is one player deserving of a starting position in the bigger games to come.

Moment of the match:  The Georgia try was a highlight, but when Schalk Burger went over for a try on debut, you had to smile at his jubilation.  Burger's passion is something the South African team needs plenty more of.

Villain of the match:  Tempting as it is to give this to TMO Alan Lewis for taken an eternity to award an obvious try, it was Merab Kvirikashvili's high tackle on Stefan Terblanché that soured an otherwise positive performance from the European team.

Sin-bin:  Scholtz 52-62, Kvirikashvili 71-80

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Faan Rautenbach, 2 John Smit (c), 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Bakkies Botha, 5 Selborne Boome, 6 Hendro Scholtz, 7 Danie Rossouw, 8 Joe Van Niekerk, 9 Neil De Kock, 10 Derick Hougaard, 11 Breyton Paulse, 12 Jaque Fourie, 13 Werner Greeff, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Ricardo Loubscher
Reserves:  Schalk Burger Jr., Jorrie Muller, Dale Santon
Unused:  Victor Matfield, Christo Bezuidenhout, Louis Koen, Joost Van Der Westhuizen

Georgia:  1 Avtandil Kopaliani, 2 David Dadunashvili, 3 Aleko Margvelashvili, 4 Victor Didebulidze, 5 Sergo Gujaraidze, 6 David Bolghashvili, 7 George Tsiklauri, 8 George Chkhaidze, 9 Irakli Modebadze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Archil Kavtarahvili, 12 Otar Eloshvili, 13 Vassil Katsadze (c), 14 Gocha Khonelidze, 15 Irakli Machkhaneli
Reserves:  Irakli Abusseridze, Akvsenti Guiorgadze, Bessik Khamashuridze, Sosso Nikolaenko, Merab Kvirikashvili, Ilia Zedguinidze
Unused:  Gregoire Yachvili

Attendance:  34308
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Fourie J. 1, Hougaard D.J. 1, Botha J.P. 1, Van Niekerk J.C. 1, Rossouw D. 2, Burger Jr. S.W.P. 1
Conv:  Hougaard D.J. 4
Pen K.:  Hougaard D.J. 1

Georgia
Tries:  Dadunashvili D. 1
Conv:  Jimsheladze P. 1
Pen K.:  Jimsheladze P. 3, Kvirikashvili M. 1

New Zealand 91 Tonga 7

New Zealand's dominance of Pool D at the 2003 Rugby World Cup continued when they smashed a game, but hopelessly outclassed, Tonga by 91-7 in a rain-soaked Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

The Kiwis scored 13 tries -- including one penalty try -- to the one of Tonga.

The Kiwis were in total control of proceedings from the outset, not just dominating possession, but also running the Tongan defence ragged.  In fact, throughout the match the Kiwis enjoyed more than 70 percent of the possession stakes.

As a result, the Tongans had very few opportunities to play with the ball and most of those were deep inside their own territory.  Their only points came when fly-half Pierre Hola intercepted a Justin Marshall pass in the second half.

Other than that they spent most of the game defending, but even then they simply could not plug all the gaps as the Kiwi runners kept finding space out wide.

All Black captain Reuben Thorne said the margin of the victory was not important, but rather the manner in which the team performed.  "We went out there to focus on what we needed to do and most of those things worked for us," he said.

The Kiwi skipper added that they would now start to focus on their most difficult pool game -- against Wales at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney on November 2.

The All Blacks suffered a late setback when lock Chris Jack was forced to withdraw from the game after picking up an ankle injury at training on Thursday.  His place on the replacements bench was taken by Jerry Collins, who was not even required for duty as Ali Williams, in his first game back from a foot injury, showed no signs of discomfort.

After a tentative start to the game, the All Blacks scored their first try in the seventh minute.  From a line-out five metres out they simply drove it over and young openside Daniel Braid touched down.  Leon MacDonald added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

But it was the next try that really showed how the All Blacks can punish a team whose basics are not up to par.  From a sloppy Tongan line-out the Kiwis spun it wide quickly, where Howlett kicked the ball in-field.  Second five-eighth Daniel Carter was there to collect the kick and as he raced towards the tryline he fended off two half-hearted tackles.  This time Spencer -- for some reason or another -- slotted the conversion.

The Kiwis' scoring continued to keep up with the clock as a 21st minute try by hooker Corey Flynn, after some good interplay between forwards and backs, and a 27th minute try by winger Caleb Ralph -- again after some good work by the forwards -- saw the score progress to 28-0.  MacDonald added both conversions.

The final score of the first half came in the 34th minute, when the ball was kicked ahead and a Tongan defender failed to control the ball as he was tackled into his own in-goal area.  Spencer pounced on the ball and MacDonald converted for a 35-0 lead at the break.

It took the All Blacks less than a minute to open their account in the second half, when Tongan fly-half Pierre Hola failed to find touch and the All Blacks countered, with Ralph running through almost untouched.

MacDonald's conversion made it 42-0.

The rout continued throughout the second half, with prop Kees Meeuws the next to add his name to the scoresheet in the 46th minute.  That was followed by a penalty try to the All Blacks in the 50th minute -- before Tonga's only score came in the 53rd minute, when Hola intercepted and replacement Sateki Tu'ipulotu added the conversion.

This try sparked the Tongans back into life and it appeared briefly that they would make the Kiwis work harder for their tries.

However, five tries in the final 25 minutes -- with Leon MacDonald, Mils Muliaina (twice) and Doug Howlett (twice) going over -- saw the All Blacks continue the rout without too much resistance.

Man of the match:  It was so one-sided that it would be difficult to single out individuals, but All Black second five-eighth Daniel Carter was a creative genius in midfield and set up a number of opportunities for those around him.  Carter, who scored one of his team's 13 tries, gets our award.

Moment of the Match:  In 13 tries you can find many moments of brilliance, but our vote goes to the All Blacks' second try in the 16th minute.  Daniel Carter scored after the Kiwis showed how severely they can punish a team that is just slightly off-colour.  They stole a Tongan line-out and with quick hands it went wide, where winger Doug Howlett kicked the ball infield.  Carter collected and brushed aside two defenders to score.

Villain of the Match:  Argentinian referee Pablo Deluca seemed intent on leaving his mark on the game, but unfortunately he did it for all the wrong reasons and got a number of decisions badly wrong -- which was blatantly obvious even in a game as one-sided as this.  It makes one wonder how some of these match officials made it to the RWC, when there are far better referees around the world who are not present.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Greg Somerville, 2 Corey Flynn, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Brad Thorn, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Daniel Braid, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Daniel Carter, 13 Leon MacDonald, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Mils Muliaina
Reserves:  Ben Atiga, David Hewett, Marty Holah, Richie McCaw, Ma'a Nonu
Unused:  Keven Mealamu, Jerry Collins

Tonga:  1 Heamani Lavaka, 2 Viliami Ma'asi, 3 Kisi Pulu, 4 Usaia Latu, 5 Viliami Vaki, 6 Stanley Afeaki, 7 'Ipolito Fenukitau, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu (c), 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Pierre Hola, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Sukanaivalu Hufanga, 13 John Payne, 14 Tevita Tu'ifua, 15 Sila Va'enuku
Reserves:  Tonga Lea'aetoa, Milton Ngauamo, Edward Langi, Gus Leger, Ephraim Taukafa, Sateki Tuipulotu
Unused:  David Palu

Attendance:  47488
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Muliaina M. 2, Howlett D.C. 2, MacDonald L.R. 1, Carter D.W. 1, Ralph C.S. 2, Spencer C.J. 1, Meeuws K.J. 1, Flynn C.R. 1, Braid D.J. 1, Penalty try 1
Conv:  MacDonald L.R. 12, Spencer C.J. 1

Tonga
Tries:  Hola P. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 1