Australia smash Ireland in Perth

Irish tourists run out of steam

Australia continued their impressive mid-year form when they smashed Ireland, recording a 37-15 win in their one-off Test at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on Saturday.  The Wallabies outscored the Irish by five tries to two and were in command of the game for all but 10 minutes.

This impressive victory follow after their 34-3 and 43-18 hammerings of England and sends a message of intent to Australia's Tri-Nations opponents.

Last year's horrors are but a distance memory for the current crop of Wallabies.  They are in ominous form and appear to have improved every facet of their game, from George Gregan's pass to their scrummaging technique.

As for Ireland, they return home for a well-earned rest -- and a chance to figure out how to drive the nails home once they've coaxed their foe into a coffin.

As per usual, the Irish showed more heart than a gift shop in early February and briefly led 15-11 after two tries in the third quarter of the game.

But like the television schedule on Christmas Day, there was a creeping inevitability about what would follow -- heroic Ireland, full of huff and puff and ambitious endeavour, simply ran out of steam and succumbed to a series of well-taken tries.  It was like watching a repeat.

But Ireland gave Australia the test England never mustered in a thrilling game that went the way of the Wallabies in the final 20 minutes.

Australia opened their account with a 13th-minute penalty from Stirling Mortlock and then Chris Latham finished off a superb unbroken spell of play when he converted a left-wing overlap in the corner to make it 8-0, Mortlock missing the conversion.

The Wallabies lost Mat Rogers on 31 minutes with an ankle injury before Ronan O'Gara and Mortlock exchanged penalties to make it 11-3 at the break.

Ireland seemed invigorated by the rest and fly-half O'Gara, criticised for a poor missed tackle in the second test defeat by the All Blacks last week, set up and scored Ireland's opener.

O'Gara's crossfield kick was collected by Shane Horgan, who fed inside to David Wallace.  Wallace found O'Gara who fell over the line for the try.

The Munster pivot missed the conversion but eight minutes later Ireland took the lead with a superlative try from Neil Best.

Best, the only member of Ireland's pack not from Munster's front eight, touched down after a fabulous break from Andrew Trimble to make it 15-11.

The Australians battled back with verve, Mark Gerrard restoring the lead when his nice dummy-pass fooled John Hayes and he touched down under the posts, Mortlock's boot making it 18-15.

Then giant prop Greg Holmes collected a loose ball on the halfway line and sprinted clear to score under the posts, Mortlock making no mistake with the conversion to make it 25-15.

Skipper George Gregan got the try he and the Australian pressure deserved on 69 minutes when he collected George Smith's pass and rode two tackles to cross.

Cameron Shepherd scored his first test try before his home crowd after a delightful pass from Stephen Larkham before Mortlock completed the scoring.

Man of the Match:  Paul O'Connell, Andrew Trimble and Denis Leamy were the pick of tourists, with Gordon D'Arcy and Ronan O'Gara also mentioned in dispatched.  All Australia's senior men showed their class with the likes of George Gregan, Lote Tuqiri, Mark Gerrard and Stephen Larkham to the fore, but our man of the match is Rocky Elsom who did all that was required of him and a great deal more.

Moment of the Match:  It was nice to see Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara answer his critics with a well-worked try, but who will ever forget Greg Holmes's mad dash for the line?  A marvelous impression of the piper's chubby son -- he stole the ball and away did run.

Villain of the match:  No award for this encounter -- it was all good, clean fun.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Latham, Gerrard, Holmes, Gregan, Shepherd
Cons:  Mortlock 3
Pens:  Mortlock 2

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Gara, Best
Con:  O'Gara
Pen:  O'Gara

The teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman (vice-captain), 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Clyde Rathbone, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Keith Gleeson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Jeremy Staunton, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Steve Walsh, Bryce Lawrence (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Dick Byres (Australia)

England sink to new low in Melbourne

Wallabies put England's season out of its misery

Australia gave England nightmares to last the whole of the European close-season by punctuated the tourists' year with a crushing 43-18 defeat at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne on Saturday.

The result wraps up a very one-sided two-Test series and sees the Wallabies reclaim the Cook Cup after its short stay in Twickenham.

England have suffered a poor run of form since they crowned their annus mirabilis by clinching the Rugby World Cup in 2003.

But despite the heavy losses and surprise results that have peppered the last two years, they are now at their lowest ebb since 1984 -- that was the last time England suffered five successive Test matches losses.  Big Ben is striking thirteen.

It was another chastening experience for England coach Andy Robinson, who has lost 10 of his 18 Tests in charge since replacing Sir Clive Woodward.

The Wallabies followed up last weekend's 34-3 stroll in Sydney by putting England out of sight before half-time through tries from George Smith, Mark Gerrard and Lote Tuqiri.

And when both England props Graham Rowntree and Julian White departed at the break through injuries, the tourists' misery was complete, engaging in uncontested scrums with Wasps flank Joe Worsley packing down in the front-row alongside Tim Payne and George Chuter.

Australia flank Mark Chisholm claimed a fourth Wallabies touchdown before Gerrard crossed again and fly-half Stephen Larkham completed the rout, with skipper Stirling Mortlock booting five conversions and a penalty.

England mustered a consolation tries by Chuter and wing Tom Varndell, plus a penalty and drop-goal from fly-half Andy Goode.

England, without a win since mid-February, are next in action against red-hot World Cup favourites New Zealand on November 5, and the All Blacks are likely to run them ragged, so low are English confidence levels, a sorry situation illustrated by Varndell's nightmare experience in attack and defence.

England have players such as Martin Corry, Charlie Hodgson, Josh Lewsey, Mark Cueto and Steve Thompson to return, but it seems England's ambition to be the first country to defend the Webb Ellis trophy are now resembles a large pie in the sky.

England suffered a late injury blow when Leicester Tigers flank Lewis Moody withdrew at the eleventh hour after having failed to recover from a calf muscle strain.

Robinson opted to look beyond the bench-warming Magnus Lund and drafted in London-born former Australia U21 international Michael Lipman for his first Test start.

Despite the setback, and as in Sydney, England began brightly and monopolised early possession.

It brought a reward when Goode slotted a fourth-minute drop-goal, but the lead lasted barely 100 seconds as Australia scored from their first attack.

Larkham's kick into space caused little initial danger, but it bounced off Goode and Smith hacked clear, capitalising on another kind bounce -- this time off Varndell -- for a clear run to the posts.

England did not lack ambition, yet their basic skills were sub-standard, and Australia gained an attacking five-metre scrum as fullback Iain Balshaw was forced over his own line.

Australia's attacking aggression reaped its reward when, from the ensuing scrum, Larkham's high kick to the corner saw Gerrard clutch possession ahead of a challenging Mathew Tait to touch down.

England, with their forwards battling hard, still enjoyed plenty of possession, but they could make little headway opposite a physical Wallabies back division.

Tuqiri, especially, enjoyed the close-quarter combat, dumping Varndell with relish, yet England cut the deficit to six points when Goode landed a 40-metre penalty after Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe infringed at a line-out.

Australia lost prop Rodney Blake to injury in the 27th minutes, and he was replaced by Al Baxter, whose first contribution was to concede a penalty that Goode booted into touch just outside Australia's 22.

England could not maintain territory though, and a raking Chris Latham clearance sent the visitors back-pedalling 50 metres.

Both sides continued to make errors, but England almost worked Varndell away, only to be denied by a superb Latham tackle.

Australia then lost No.8 Rocky Elsom through injury, handing New South Wales Waratahs flanker Wycliff Palu a Test debut.

But Australia struck a killer blow on the stroke of half-time when Latham smashed through four attempted tackles in midfield, brushing aside Worsley, Rowntree, Chuter and Lipman before delivering a superb inside pass that enabled Tuqiri to crash over.

Mortlock converted, and England trooped off at the break 19-6 adrift, facing little more than another demoralising damage-limitation exercise.

Uncontested scrums made for a totally unsatisfactory situation, and England conceded a fourth try on 45 minutes when Chisholm was sent through a huge defensive hole.

Mortlock slotted the conversion, putting England 20 points behind, although Chuter at least gave visiting supporters something to cheer as he sprinted over for his team's first try on tour.

The Leicester hooker's score in his first Test start gave England a glimmer of hope, although Australia looked to maintain a high tempo by spreading possession wide at every opportunity.

Indeed, Australia had the remainder of the game under control and kept their guests under the kosh, a dominance that was only broken by Varndell's try in the last move of the game.

As if the joy of crushing the English was not enough for the crowd of 56,000, Australia coach John Connolly ordered George Gregan into action in the 56th minute as a replacement for Sam Cordingley.

The Wallaby skipper duly collected his 120th Test cap to eclipse the mark of 119 set by England and Lions prop Jason Leonard.  England's nightmare was complete.

Man of the match:  Iain Balshaw and Peter Richards had some good moments, but this award is going nowhere near the England camp.  There were good performance from all the gold-jerseyed brigade with the likes of Lote Tuqiri and Stirling Mortlock to the fore.  Stephen Larkham conducted affairs superbly but it is the consistently outstanding Chris Latham who gets the gong.  He looked like an over-enthusiastic dad taking on his young son's touch-rugby team.

Moment of the match:  Latham's break that lead to Tuqiri's try was a moment that exemplified Australia's dominance over the English -- strong running and intelligent support from the locals, four miss-tackles and confusion from the tourists.  But how can we overlook the moment that George Gregan joined the fray to win his 120th Test cap and become the most capped player of all time -- a moment that ensured that England's misery was extended to a former member of the red rose club, Jason Leonard.  But the "Fun Bus" will be the first man to buy the Wallaby talisman a well-deserved beer.  On a more comical note (and England fans might need a moment of levity), many have long suspected referee Steve Walsh of being a frustrated player and he added kindling to the fire by collecting a reverse pass from England fly-half Andy Goode before realising he was wearing neither white nor gold.

Villain of the match:  England (and Tom Varndell in particular) are lucky on this score -- we're leaving villainous lack of basic skills out of the equation.  The pace of the game was not conducive to fisty-cuffs, but there was a few arms swung towards the end of the game.  We drag Pat Sanderson and Lote Tuqiri from that minor skirmish and award them the honours, the Englishman for pulling the Australian's hair, and the Australian for reacting like a bit of a schoolgirl.  And we thought rugby had reached its nadir with the "handbags at dawn" episode ...

The scorers:

For Australia
Tries:  Gerrard 2, Tuqiri, Chisholm, Smith, Larkham
Cons:  Mortlock 5
Pen:  Mortlock

For England:
Tries:  Chuter, Varndell
Con:  Goode
Pen:  Goode
Drop:  Goode

The teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 Sam Cordingley, 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 George Gregan, 21 Clyde Rathbone, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

England:  15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Mike Catt, 11 Mathew Tait, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Peter Richards, 8 Pat Sanderson (captain), 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Graham Rowntree.
Replacements:  16 Lee Mears, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Nick Walshe, 21 Olly Barkley, 22 Stuart Abbott.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Kelvin Deaker, Lyndon Bray (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Gary Wise (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Sandy MacNeill (Australia)

Ireland washed out of Auckland

All Blacks squelch home in North Island deluge

The All Blacks completed a 2-0 series win over Ireland with a 27-17 win over Ireland in Auckland on Saturday, but it was an uneasy win in which Ireland had the home team lost for ideas for much of the second half.

In the end it was the weather which stumped the visitors as much as anything, a non-stop hose of rain which prevented the Irish from running the ball as much as they would have liked.

But there was no doubting the tactical superiority of the visitors for long periods of the match, especially the third quarter, and Graham Henry will face questions over his team he has not faced for a long time in this performance's aftermath.

It was a stirring match with lots of credit to both determined teams, and in the end it hinged on a mistake or two as the brave Irish came back, Phoenix-like but from the flood rather than from the flames.

Yet despite their efforts, they must still wait for that elusive first win over the All Blacks.

The rain fell straight down out of the heavens at Eden Park in Auckland.  After a couple of unstirring anthems which some of the players sang tentatively, Carl Hayman, looking like a cross between Tarzan and John the Baptist, led his side in the exaggerated aggression of the haka, which is now less intimidating than the players try to make it, and finally the game was on.

The match was far more stirring than the preliminaries.  It started in funny fashion with the All Blacks kicking straight down to Geordan Murphy in midfield, giving the Irish fullback a busy start to the match.

Two early penalties gave O'Gara a shot at goal -- a long shot which fell short.  The first activity which looked like producing a try came from a long, slithery kick by Aaron Mauger, whose tactical kicking in the match was brilliant.  Gordon D'Arcy saved bravely and the intent Irish gout out of trouble, but not for long.

Chris Jack caught the ball in the line-out that followed Peter Stringer's clearing kick, and the All Blacks trudged up in a maul.  Troy Flavell charged and was minisculely short.  Back the ball came and chunky Byron Kelleher burrowed under big John Hayes to score a try which McAlister converted.  7-0 after six minutes.

The first scrum was significant.  In it New Zealand got the shove-on on their own ball.  Throughout the match they outscrummed the Irish, once winning the ball against the head with a wheel.

The line-outs suffered from congestion but here things went better for New Zealand than they had in Hamilton.  They lost four of nineteen throws as they used five jumpers.  The Irish lost three of eighteen throws.

The Irish threatened when D'Arcy burst past McAlister and sent Ireland attacking down the left.  O'Gara opted for a diagonal kick towards Andrew Trimble on the right but an opportunity was wasted.

After a turn-over, Kelleher, who was brilliant in the wet, broke and in fact could have scored on the left but sought to pass instead and was caught.  Still, a penalty against Neil Best and Denis Leamy for being off-side made the score 10-0 after 23 minutes.

Mauger's boot set up position for the second try.  He grubbered the ball down the right close to touch and, under pressure from Doug Howlett, Murphy was forced to fly-kick into touch.  Rodney So'oialo caught the ball in the subsequent line-out and the All Blacks mauled.  Jack plunged for the line but short of the line dropped the ball a few centimetres above the ground.  Clarke Dermody picked up the ball behind Jack and plunged over for the try.

The Irish disputed the try, claiming that Jack had knocked it on.  The ball appeared not to have gone forward when he dropped in which case there was no problem, but it is likely to be a talking point and important in the context of the unfolding game.  This put Ireland 17-0 down after 28 minutes and one may have expected cracks to open, but instead the Irish fought back with all the composure of great professionals.

Just two minutes later they attacked, Dermody was penalised for diving and Ireland tapped.  Big, ardent Paul O'Connell was knocked to ground, but not held.  Several All Blacks were standing around him but none tackled him and the big man rose up and galloped through the standing New Zealanders and over and round for a try.  17-7.

Shortly after that Leamy was penalised for the wrongful use of his hands at a tackle/ ruck and McAlister made it 20-7, but still the Irish refused to be walked over.

They made a penalty into a five-metre line-out and threw deep to Best.  The All Blacks tipped Best in the air and again the Irish made a five-metre line-out.  This time they mauled and when the maul fell apart hooker Jerry Flannery was there to plunge over for a try which O'Gara converted.

New Zealand kicked off to their left, straight to Brian O'Driscoll, which was a silly thing to do.  The great centre sped down the right touch-line but, devoid of support, was forced to kick ahead and the All Blacks ran the ball out for half-time.  20-14 at the break, which was far closer than the opening exchanges had suggested it would be.

The breeze freshened and was behind the All Blacks in the second half but McAlister was short with a penalty attempt.

The All Blacks looked good going left when Howlett came in off his wing and Muliaina came in from fullback to make an overlap for Joe Rokocoko but the big wing, lacking the confidence of the past, was stopped.

Instead the Irish scored.  O'Driscoll beat three men in a metre of space and Flavell grabbed at his throat to give Ireland a penalty and make the score a competitive 20-17.

This was a period of good pressure for Ireland.  O'Gara missed a drop goal attempt and then found Anthony Horgan with a diagonal kick but Muliaina tackled the tall wing into touch.

Many changes were made from then on as the coaches sought to find a game-breaking moment.  One of those to come on with five minutes to go was New Zealander Isaac Boss, less wildly hirsute than when he played for the Chiefs and Waikato.  He came on for Peter Stringer.  David Hill also came on for his first Test cap for New Zealand.

After O'Gara had knocked on an unpressured pass in midfield, New Zealand got back into the game with a series of pick-and-goes but the Irish defence was brave and determined.  They had a crucial five-metre scrum.  It was reset twice as Horan went down and then off the third scrum So'oialo picked up and drove forward.  Back came the ball and Kelleher gave to McAlister.  The muscular young flyhalf burst through slender veteran O'Gara and scored under the posts in O'Driscoll's grasp.  He converted, and the game was done.

In those last nine minutes Ireland still had the better of play, but it was not productive any more.

Man of the Match:  For New Zealand Mils Muliaina was magnificent, the most accomplished and effective back on the field, even better than Brian O'Driscoll who was also magnificent.  Nearer the scrum Byron Kelleher had a strong match with well-judged variations.  The same is true of his partner Luke McAlister.  Both halves muscled over for tries.  Amongst the forwards there was lots of commitment from men like Rodney So'oialo, Chris Jack, Keven Mealamu, Jerry Flannery, Neil Best and our Man of the Match, the magnificent, proud Paul O'Connell, the Irish lock who did everything a lock could do.

Moment of the Match:  It was a little moment as Ireland kicked the ball down into New Zealand territory on the All Blacks left.  Under pressure Joe Rokocoko popped the ball to Mils Muliaina who was off before he gave it back to Rokocoko and made the Irish defence scramble.

Villain of the Match:  There was an emotional moment after Jerry Flannery's try but the villains were probably less obvious -- those on the Irish side who tugged at Richie McCaw, whose self-restraint was admirable, and those on the New Zealand side that grabbed at free-standing Irishmen at the tackle/ ruck.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Kelleher, Dermody, McAlister
Cons:  McAlister 3
Pens:  McAlister 2

For Ireland:
Try:  O'Connell, Flannery
Cons:  O'Gara 2
Pen:  O'Gara

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Troy Flavell, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Greg Rawlinson, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 David Hill, 22 Ma'a Nonu.

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 4 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Keith Gleeson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Girvan Dempsey, 22 Denis Hickie.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Matt Goddard (Australia), Brett Bowden (Australia)
Television match official:  Paul Marks (Australia)
Assessor:  Stuart Beissel (New Zealand)

Energetic Pumas maul tired Welsh

Argentina warm up for the All Blacks in style

Argentina stormed to a 45-27 win over Wales in Buenos Aires on Saturday, with a performance every bit convincing enough to suggest that the All Blacks will not have things their own way when they visit next week.

Leading 16-6 at half-time, and deservedly so, Argentina's ceaseless running in defence and mallet-like running strength in attack earned them a quick second-half try to make it 23-6, a position from which they were never going to lose, despite the wag in the Welsh tail at the end.

Perhaps it is a trifle unfair to single out youngster James Hook for harsh treatment during the first quarter of this report, but then that is precisely what Argentina appeared to do, so perhaps not.

Hook was tackled meatily several times during a first twenty minutes in which the learning curve for the 20-year-old dubbed the "new Barry John" this week became as steep as the Andes.

He was never given an iota of freedom, despite receiving a healthy amount of ball from his pack and fly-half, and then, after 20 minutes, he experienced one of those moments of solo distress and misfortune that can make or break a season, if not an international career.

Hook was given a standard pass from Nicky Robinson, from some ten metres in front of him, and with Hook standing a couple of metres inside his 22.  Just briefly, fatally, he looked up with the ball in hand as if deciding where to kick, before actually lining up to do so.

The pause allowed Felipe Contepomi to steal an extra couple of metres, charge the kick down, and Hook could only trot back in horror as Gonzalo Tiesi pounced on the kindly bouncing ball for a try.

He had already missed a kick at goal, and had not once managed to squeeze convincingly over the advantage line.  It was an inauspicious start to a first full debut, but the way in which he held his nerve to solidify both running and kicking thereafter suggests that the mentality is strong enough for Hook to keep his development on track.

He was not the only one to fail to cross the gain-line in the first half, as the Argentine defence put in a remarkable hyena-like scavenging performance.  Every Welshman unfortunate enough to get a lateral ball was instantly knocked backwards to the ground.  Every Welshman fortunate enough to get a ball with a couple of metres of space in front of him found a blue wall gathered at the end of that couple of metres, usually with the same destructive effect.

The Pumas won the first-half turnover count 4-1, snuffing out all Welsh intent to spread the ball.  The Welsh had plenty of possession but found it almost impossible to get out of their own half without kicking, and the chasing of the kicks was very poor.  By contrast, every Argentine kick was chased furiously, and there was a poignant moment at the end of the first half when Mike Phillips went back to claim a kick -- but then found that the nearest five players to him were all in blue shirts.

Wales, for their part, ran gamely and still showed the willingness to carry the game to their hosts, but for the large part they simply looked tired and stale, and given that many have played a near-endless dirge of a season, the summer recharge probably cannot come quick enough.

Shane Williams cut a lonely figure on the wing as his centres failed to find either imagination or strength to get onto the front foot and feed the offloads into half-spaces that he thrives on.  Once from a tap penalty, the ball was shovelled out to him so lifelessly that he was bundled into touch by at least three drifting defenders.

The diminutive Ospreys wing managed to get himself under the ball and deny the Pumas a try after 15 minutes when Martín Durand finished off Argentina's first serious attack by crossing the Welsh line.

By the time Hook's kick was charged down, Argentina already led 6-0, with Federico Todeschini capitalising on his team's superiority to take advantage of two close-range kicks at goal.

The second penalty was given against Ian Evans for slowing the ball down, an offence for which the youngster received a yellow card.  Two minutes later, Tiesi scored his try, and the game was already stretching away from the visitors.

The fight in the Welsh at least allowed them to squeeze out seven penalties from the Pumas in the first half, two of which Hook landed to keep Wales within distance.

The second half threatened to descend into ugliness.  Within two minutes of its start, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe had bustled through Gavin Thomas's sloppy tackle and scored a game-clinching try which Todeschini converted.

The Welsh frustration manifested itself in a series of fouls for the next 15 minutes, a high tackle, a tackle off the ball by Ian Gough, a late hit on Juan Martín Fernández, and finally a unarmless high-tackle by Hook, which saw him dispatched to the sin-bin along with Martin Scelzo who retaliated.

What would have hurt the Welsh even more was the way in which nearly every indiscretion was punished by Todeschini.  Many will remember him for a similar performance he produced against the Lions last year in Cardiff, and he was a dead-eye once again on Saturday, landing 11 out of 12 kicks in all.

Three penalties for the indiscretions above took the Pumas to 32-6 ahead, but Gareth Delve finished off the first truly fluid Welsh move of the afternoon on the hour mark, taking the ball on the overlap from Lee Byrne.

Nicky Robinson's conversion bounced over off the crossbar to make it 32-13.

Todeschini kicked his seventh penalty and then Tiesi, who has become a cult hero of London Irish fans and is Argentina's most promising talent by some way, rounded off a truly excellent rugby move, started with a break by Hernández, followed up by several phases of possession before a long pass from Todeschini found Ledesma with a choice of overlappers on the left.

Another perfect Todeschini kick then made it 42-13, and yet another penalty made it 45-13 three minutes later.  Every time the Pumas entered Welsh territory, they registered points.  It was devastatingly effective.

There was a wag in the tail of the game from Wales which saw Williams round off a scintillating inter-passing move started by Hook and continued by Byrne and Robinson, and Byrne scorched home from the restart for a second try in as many minutes, Hook converting both.

The locals were possibly guilty of allowing their minds to wander off to the post-match function.  But who can blame them?  They had recorded their first series victory over Wales and fully deserved a hearty asado and some good red wine.  Jerry Collins and company have been warned.

Man of the match:  From the Pumas there were any number of candidates, both Fernández Lobbe brothers played well, especially Juan Martín, and Gonzalo Longo and Mario Ledesma were excellent around the field.  Juan Martín Hernández was solid as oak under the high ball, all of the backs tackled superbly.  For Wales, Shane Williams had several good moments, as did Alun Wyn Jones in the line-out and Huw Bennett in the loose.  But for his playmaking, tackling, handling and kicking, Federico Todeschini gets the nod.

Moment of the match:  Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe's try just after half-time clinched the game and was a marvellous individual moment of strength and skill produced on the back of a perfect controlled and patient build-up.

Villain of the match:  There were a few ugly moments, but James Hook's high tackle on Juan Hernández was probably the ugliest.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tiesi 2, J-M Fernández Lobbe
Cons:  Todeschini 3
Pens:  Todeschini 8

For Wales:
Tries:  Delve, S Williams, Byrne
Cons:  N Robinson, Hook 2
Pens:  Hook 2

The teams:

Argentina:  15 Juan Martin Hernández, 14 Francisco Leonelli, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Lucas Borges, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Agustín Pichot (c), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Pablo Gambarini, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Martín Schusterman, 20 Nicolas Fernández Miranda, 21 Jose Maria Nuñez Piossek, 22 Federico Serra.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Robinson, 12 James Hook, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Alix Popham, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Alun Wyn Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Duncan Jones (captain).
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Rhys Thomas, 19 Gareth Delve, 20 Andy Williams, 21 Nathan Brew, 22 Matthew Watkins.

Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Television match official:  Eric Darrière (France)
Assessor:  Frans Muller (South Africa)

South Africa win PE shocker

Scotland win try-count two to one

The Springboks recorded a 29-15 win over Scotland in their second Test in Port Elizabeth Saturday, ensuring that their unbeaten home run under Jake White stays intact.  But it was not the kind of performance that would have had South Africa’s Tri-Nations opponents sit up in awe.

The victory equalled the longest home winning streak by South Africa of 13 matches, but it was not a performance worthy of SA recordbooks -- the fact that the Scottish won the try-count two-one says it all.

The Boks will know that they will need to lift their game considerably for next week's one-off encounter with France; the haphazard performance they dished up in PE simply won't do against the French.

Poor Port Elizabeth!  They seldom get big rugby and then they got this.

The Springboks may just be working on a two-week cycle.  Two weeks before this they had that trudging, stultifying performance at Ellis Park against the World XV.  Then came last week when they played at speed and with intensity and it seemed that there was a new dawn.

The new dawn's colours faded rapidly into dull grey and it was fitting that a shroud of mist should envelop the ground towards the end.  It had all been a bit of a funereal march, saved only from South Africa's point of view by the victory.

The Scots on the other hand may well have taken heart from it as they scored two tries to one, far from being humiliated.  They also slowed the ball down at the break which may have been a disservice to the game, but then they did not often have to compete against the Springbok pack, several of whom pretended to be backs.

The boot of Percy Montgomery counted in the end.  There was not a lot else that would have been heartening for the Springboks.

The Scots on the other hand were quite pleased.

Tough captain Jason White said afterwards:  "South Africa is a hard place to come and play, but today we showed that we can compete.  We are not yet good enough.  We just have to be better and take from our Murrayfield performances to places like this."

In fact they enjoyed better possession than the Springboks and on one occasion were desperately close.  That said, their second try was the worst bit of Springbok bungling in the match.

The Scots had had two five-metre line-outs as they kept pressure on the Springboks in their right-hand corner.  But they won a turn-over.  Breyton Paulse was at scrum-half and passed back to Jaco van der Westhuyzen in his in-goal area.  It was not a good pass and the fly-half made it considerably worse by a gross knock-on.  There was a fast ferret there and he scored.  Donnie MacFadyen dropped onto the ball for a try, which delighted him.

After 40 plodding minutes South Africa led Scotland 12-5 but it could well have been 12-all, but for a tiny knock-on.

The Scots were under all sorts of pressure but they won the ball at a tackle/ ruck.  Scrum-half Mike Blair saw an opportunity and sent Simon Webster racing away down the midfield.  He chipped, chased and gathered the ball to roll over in Bryan Habana's tackle.

The referee consulted the television match official and the tiny knock-on became evident, denying Scotland a try near the posts.  There were just 27 seconds in the half and the strong Springbok scrum won the ball and Fourie banged into touch to usher in the break.

The 12 points came from four kicks -- three by Percy Montgomery and one from inside his own half by Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Oddly in this half the Scots were the ones who did more of the forward bashing while the Springboks tried to spread it wide, managed to get lots of forwards playing as backs and lots of clumsy handling to destroy their good intentions.

When it came to basic duties the forwards were fine at scrumming but messy at the line-outs.  They had one good attacking line-out and overthrew the ball.  The Scots on the other hand folded in the scrums, but were efficient in the line-outs.

The field in Port Elizabeth runs from east to west and the Springboks played into the dropping sun in the first half which did not help things like seeing and catching the ball.

Montgomery kicked two penalties when first Jon Petrie and then Craig Smith, were penalised at ruck time, but then the Scots came back, again playing from pressure.  They kept the ball through rickety phases and then went left where Gordon Ross threaded a grubber into the Springbok in-goal are where Webster raced away from Breyton Paulse to score.

The second half was more of the same -- slow, slow ball from the tackle, messy line-outs and a clutter of forwards.  Both sets of centres were pretty anonymous and, apart from Simon Webster, so were the wings.  Did Habana really get only one pass in the match?

In the first Test in the series in Durban, the Springbok loose forwards were the telling factor.  This time there were no credits at all for any of them.

Montgomery kicked two penalties on either side of one by Paterson and the Springboks got a try.

An innocent kick downfield was fumbled in its roll by Webster who was the best wing on the field by many metres.  That produced a scrum near the Scottish line.  The Springboks dominated the scrum, shoved it forward and wheeled it right to make lots of room on the blindside.  Joe van Niekerk picked up and gave to Du Preez who bashed his way over for a try far out on the right.  Montgomery's kick faded left and the score was 23-8 with 20 minutes to play.

The Scots then put lots of pressure on the Springboks, got penalties and did clever things at line-outs.  Macfadyen's try was the reward for the pressure.  That made it 23-15.

The Springboks had two more penalties that were goalable -- one was next to the posts, five metres from the Scots' line -- and that could also have made for try-scoring opportunities.  They opted for the comfort of the penalty goal.

Man of the Match:  It could well have been Simon Webster but for that fumble.  It could also have been lively Mike Blair at scrum-half, but we are going to make our man of the match to the one Springbok who stood out -- Danie Rossouw who was his side's best ball-carrier, won his own and opponents' ball in the line-out and got stuck in wherever a lock should get stuck in.

Moment of the Match:  That run, chip, gather and fatal fumble by Simon Webster -- it was a light moment on a gloomy day's rugby and the fumble made it a dramatic moment.

Villain:  Probably the nearest to a villain was niggling Scotland lock Nathan Hines who brought a bit of Latin temperament over from France were he plys his trade with Perpignan.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Du Preez
Pens:  Montgomery 7, Van der Westhuyzen

For Scotland:
Tries:  Webster, MacFadyen
Con:  Paterson
Pen:  Paterson

Teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 André Snyman, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Gaffie du Toit.

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Chris Paterson, 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Jon Petrie, 7 Allister Hogg, 6 Jason White (captain), 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Craig Smith, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Bruce Douglas, 18 Scott Macleoad, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Donnie MacFadyen, 21 Sam Pinder, 22 Ben MacDougall.

Referee:  Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch judges:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Simon MacDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Rob Debney (England)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)

France canter to win over the Oaks

Nine tries in easy warm-up match for the French

France beat Romania 62-14 in Bucharest on Saturday, scoring nine tries and having a god run out ahead of the tough-looking Test against South Africa in Cape Town next weekend.

It was a baking hot dry day in the Cotroceni Stadium in Bucharest, with 8,000 people watching, in itself a triumph for a Romanian team which has fallen away from its previous position of strength in European rugby.

Not only that, but Daniel Santamans' team were significantly weakened before the match by injury, and were thus sitting ducks for the French team warming up towards their World Cup next year.

The French led 31-6 by half-time, through tries by Yannick Jauzion in the eighth minute, Remy Martin twenty minutes later and then a quick-fire double by Thierry Dusautoir on his debut and Damien Traille in the three minutes before the break.

Sylvain Marconnet, Thomas Castaignède, Dimitri Szarzewski, Julien Laharrague and David Marty carried on the rout in the second half, with Traille adding six conversions and a penalty, and Castaignède adding the other conversion.

However, Romania did not lie down, and were rewarded with a try on the hour mark by wing Catalin Fercu after a mistake by Clement Poitrenaud, to add to the three penalties kicked by full-back Florin Vlaicu.

As a warm-up Test, it will have served a useful purpose for Bernard Laporte for the players and staff to get together again, but the real test will be in Cape Town next week.

The scorers:

For Romania:
Try:  Fercu
Pens:  Vlaicu 3

For France:
Tries:  Jauzion, Martin, Dusautoir, Traille, Marconnet, Castaignède, Szarzewski, Laharrague, Marty
Cons:  Traille 6, Castaignède
Pen:  Traille

The teams:

France:  15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Cédric Heymans, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Philippe Bidabé, 10 Thomas Castaignède, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Remy Martin, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Fabien Pelous (cap), 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 David Attoub, 2 Raphael Ibañez, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Jérôme Thion, 19 Imañol Harinordoquy, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Marty, 22 Julien Laharrague.

Romania:  15 Florin Vlaicu, 14 Catalin Fercu, 13 Robert Dascalu, 12 Romeo Gontineac, 11 Ioan Teodorescu, 10 Ionut Dimofte, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 8 Cosmin Ratiu, 7 Marian Tudori, 6 Stelian Burcea, 5 Cristi Petre, 4 Sorin Socol (captain), 3 Bogdan Balan, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Petru Balan.
Replacements:  16 Cezar Popescu, 17 Ion Paulica, 18 Razvan Mavrodin, 19 Valentin Ursache, 20 Vali Calafeteanu, 21 Gabriel Brezoianu, 22 Iulian Dumitras.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Malcolm Changleng, David Changleng (both Scotland)
Assessor:  Doug Kerr (Scotland)

Italy fall to Fiji in Lautoka

Caucau and company leave Azzurri standing

Italy were handed a lesson in island rugby on Saturday, going down 29-18 to Fiji in Lautoka.

The result of the tour match punctuates the Azzurri's season and ensures that the Fijians go into the next round of the Pacific Five Nations with their heads high.

Amid shaky hands and a number of missed opportunities, tries from Norman Ligairi, Rupeni Caucaunibuca, Isoa Domolailai and Kini Salabogi gave the locals an unassailable lead of 29-8 at the break.

The tourists got Andrea Lo Cicero over the line in the first half and mounted a belated response via a second-half from Josh Sole, but it was too little too late.

The result at Churchill Park means that Fiji go 4-3 up in the overall "series" between the two countries.  Italy took the honours when the sides last met -- in the snows of Monza in November.

The scorers:

For Fiji:
Tries:  Ligairi, Caucau, Domolailai, Salabogi
Cons:  Bai 3
Pen:  Bai

For Italy:
Try:  Sole, Lo Cicero
Con:  Pez
Pen:  Pez 2

The teams:

Fiji:  15 Norman Ligairi, 14 Mosese Luveitasau, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Seru Rabeni, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 10 Seremaia Bai, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Alivereti Doviverata, 6 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 5 Isoa Domolailai, 4 Simon Raiwalui (captain), 3 Apisai Nagi, 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Jo Bale.
Replacements:  16 Joeli Lotawa, 17 Ravuama Samo, 18 Kini Salabogi, 19 Akapusi Qera, 20 Emosi Vucago, 21 Jo Tora, 22 Maleli Kunavore.

Italy:  15 David Bortolussi, 14 Pablo Canavosio, 13 Mirco Bergamasco (captain), 12 Andrea Masi, 11 Michele Sepe, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Sergio Parisse, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellapé, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacement:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Fabio Staibano, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Gert Peens.

Referee:  Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Touch judges:  George Ayoub (Australia), Gary Wise (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Ian Scotney (Australia)

Argentina sneak a win against Wales

Patagonian Pumas hold on for a good win

Argentina recorded a narrow 27-25 win over Wales at Estadio Raúl Conti, in Puerto Madryn, Chubut, on Sunday.  But the first-ever Test in Patagonia was a drab affair with far more penalties, yellow cards and handling errors than any real constructive rugby.

It was different in Puerto Madryn near the sea.  It was a match with a different feel.  It was a humble ground -- no great stands, a fence about it and a request to the spectators to shift up closer so that more people could get in.

The people behind the fence whistled disapproval as if in a lunatic aviary, and there were cow-like noises from time to time and then singing and bobbing.  But then the rugby was not all that entertaining.

The field itself was different -- narrower than usual, which did not make for expansive rugby.  And narrower than it need be -- for there was a broad surrounding available on either side.  It was also ungenerous with its in-goal, which caused momentary damage to Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe -- whose head hit the hoardings just behind the dead-ball area when he scored a try ... a touch-and-go try.

Oh, there were some exciting moments, provided mostly by Wales, as the Argentinians decided beef was their most important asset.  At fly-half they had Federico Todeschini who kicked immaculately at goal.  But for the rest he was uncreative and unambitious, as he kept the seat warm for Felipe Contepomi -- who is due back from his medical exams in time for the second Test of the series.

The Pumas were better at scrummaging and bashing, but the inspiration came from Wales.  It was three tries-all at the end, but Wales's tries and some other bits of their play had style that the Argentinian tries lacked, even the one by replacement Federico Leonelli from a tighthead at a scrum and some close-quarter inter-passing.

In the end Wales paid a dear price for their first-half indiscipline, which produced several penalties and 13 points while men sat in the sin bin.

It was a match of many penalties -- 10-7 to Argentina in the first half and 6-2 to Wales in the second.  Most of the infringements were, inevitably, at the tackle, but there were also cantankerous moments.

The match started with lots of profitable activity -- three tries in eleven minutes then it fell apart into niggles with many warnings, cautioning, admonishings and debatings from the referee and eventually yellow cards for two Welshmen -- which reduced them to 13 men and cost them 13 points.

That was not bright.

Argentina also lost the cantankerous Rodrigo Roncero to the sin-bin in the second half, an absence not as expensive as those of Gavin Thomas and Alix Popham had been in the first half.

Wales scored first.  They attacked, the Pumas went off-side and Mike Phillips tapped within the shadow of the Pumas' posts.  Nicky Robinson threw a long skip pass to wing Mark Jones, who had little trouble scoring.  5-0.  Nicky Robinson missed the conversion and later missed a penalty in each half, expensive in a two-point defeat.

The Pumas struck back from the kick-off.  Juan Manuel Leguizamon charged down an attempted clearance from Phillips and gathered the ball.  He tried to pass infield, but the ball came off Phillips and back into the Welsh in-goal racing for the dead-ball line with flank Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe hurtling after the ball.

He dived and the referee awarded the try.  Many referees would have made a referral to the television match official, but the referee was next to Fernández Lobbe and took the responsibility on himself.  Todeschini converted from far out on his right.  In going for the ball Fernández Lobbe was hurt, as he hurtled into the hoardings.

That made it 7-5 after seven minutes, and four minutes later there was another try.  This one had jam on it.

The Pumas were attacking inside the Welsh half, going right, when Agustín Pichot passed straight to rangy lock Ian Evans, and the new cap set off galloping straight down the middle of the field, the empty middle of the field, off to the posts with lots of glee at scoring a try, which Nicky Robinson converted.  12-7.

It appeared that it would be a high-scoring match.  The appearance was deceptive as much of the rest of the match was a slow war of attrition.

There was a fairly innocent-looking line-out just inside the Welsh half that had dire consequences for the Welsh.  Gavin Thomas got the ball, but the referee decided that all was not innocent and awarded a free kick to the Pumas.  Thomas lay on the ground with the ball.  The Pumas wanted it to play quickly, but Thomas continued to nestle the ball.  He got a yellow card and the free kick became a penalty, which Todeschini swung over the posts to make the score 12-10.

The Pumas got close but, Ignacio Fernández Lobbe was penalised for crawling.  Wales got out of gaol, but not entirely as Popham was penalised twice in a short space of time --firstly for thundering into Mario Ledesma when the sturdy hooker did not have the ball and then for collapsing a maul which the Pumas had working.  That brought Wales to 13 men.

With Popham and Thomas off, the Pumas opted for a five-metre scrum instead of an easy penalty.  Wales put a back into the pack to try to shore it up but the Pumas did not go for the push-over.  Instead they played to the right wing where José María Nuñez Piossek dived over for a try in the corner -- again converted by Todeschini, and the Pumas led 17-12.

The Pumas were not done.  On half-time Wales were penalised again and Todeschini goaled again to make the score 20-12 at the break.

When Matthew Watkins was helped off injured, he was replaced by young James Hook of great promise, his first cap for Wales.

Any electricity in the match came in this half and was Welsh-engineered.  Shane Williams had two great runs out of defence though the moves were scuppered by reluctance to pass.  On one occasion Popham was clear on the left but Mark Jones ignored his presence entirely.

Nicky Robinson goaled one penalty and then, when Roncero was yellow-carded, a second to make the score 20-18.  This was a period of Welsh dominance, their best passage of play in the match, but the Pumas then came back strongly.

They drove off a five-metre scrum and got close to the line but instead of looking for a try they got Todeschini to drop for goal.  He scooped a drop from straight in front and close in, what little boys used to call baby-line because even little boys could kick it over from there -- and he missed!

Shane Williams went on a crafty run again, but died with the ball, and the Pumas came back.

Their try started at a Welsh scrum.  Phillips -- who was big and strong but not perhaps as nimble as a day of scruffy ball required -- fed the scrum and the Pumas won a tighthead with sheer power.

That set off a hectic attack with sharp inter-passing involving above all Gonzalo Longo and Lucas Borges.  A pass from Borges sent replacement Leonelli over for a try, which Todeschini inevitably converted.  27-18 and the match looked safe.  But there were still eight minutes to play.

The Pumas came back onto the attack with Ledesma leading the charge, but suddenly light burst into the game as Jamie Robinson broke out of his own 22.

He had a player on each side and he raced downfield.  He chose Hook on his inside and the tall centre kept on running.  Leonelli grasped at him and rugged at him but eventually the young player broke free in time to drop over the Puma line in front of their posts.  Nicky Robinson converted.  27-25 with three minutes to play.

The Pumas kept a stranglehold on the three minutes and when Wales were penalised in a position where Todeschini would certainly have goaled, Pichot decided to hoof the ball into touch and the whistle went -- Argentina had held on for a famous win.

Man of the Match:  Shane Williams was electric and Jamie Robinson was profitably electric, Ian Jones was good at getting the ball out of the air and scored a fun try and Lee Byrne was perhaps the best of all the Welsh with a grand performance in defence and attack.  For the Pumas, cool Juan Martín Hernández, busy Juan Manuel Leguizamon, and aggressive Ignacio Fernández Lobbe were effective but our man of the match is Mario Ledesma, the sturdy hooker who threw in immaculately, scrummaged powerfully and added strength to the loose.

Moment of the Match:  For the sheer joy of it, Ian Evans's try.

Villain of the Match:  The three-card tricksters -- Gavin Thomas, Alix Popham and Rodrigo Roncero.  If we had to vote for one it would go to Roncero.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  J-M Lobbe, Piossek, Leonelli
Cons:  Todeschini 3
Pens:  Todeschini 2

For Wales:
Tries:  M Jones, Evans, Hook
Cons:  N Robinson 2
Pens:  N Robinson 2

Yellow cards:  Gavin Thomas (Wales, 30), Alix Popham (Wales, 38), Rodrigo Roncero (Argentina, 60)

Teams:

Argentina:  15 Juan Martín Hernández, 14 José María Nuñez Piossek, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Rafael Carballo, 11 Lucas Borges, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 5 Rimas Álvarez Kairelis, 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero
Replacements:  16 Marcos Ayerza, 17 Pablo Gambarini, 18 Santiago Sanz, 19 Martín Schuterman, 20 Nicolás Fernández Miranda, 21 Francisco Leonelli, 22 Federico Serra

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Robinson, 12 Matthew Watkins, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Alix Popham, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Alun Wyn Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Duncan Jones (captain).
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Rhys Thomas, 18 John Yapp, 19 Gareth Delve, 20 Andy Williams, 21 James Hook, 22 Chris Czekaj.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Dave Pearson (England), Eric Darrière (France)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Assessor:  Frans Muller (South Africa)

Fijians taken out by Tonga in Gosford

Unbeaten Junior ABs await unbeaten Tongans

Tonga remain in contention for the IRB Pacific Five Nations spoils after recording a tense 24-23 victory over Fiji in Australia on Saturday.

Having handing Japan a emphatic 57-16 defeat in Fukuoka last weekend Tonga come from behind to beat the fancied Fijians in a thrilling match in Gosford.

Trailing 17-23 with just five minutes to go, the game appeared to have slipped away from Tonga.

However, in cold and wet conditions the home side rallied one last time before replacement hooker Aleki Lutui crashed over out wide for a try that brought Tonga back to within one point, much to the approval of the 3,582 crowd.  Pierre Hola's conversion sealed victory for the Tongans.

Neither side allowed the damp conditions to stifle their attacking play with both sets of backs creating opportunities.  However, it was the Tongans, with their powerful forward pack and intelligent kicking game, who settled first with Hola slotting over a drop-goal just three minutes into the match.

Seremia Bai levelled the scores with a penalty before Fiji forged into the lead after a typically flamboyant back move, started deep inside their own half, was rounded off by Kameli Ratuvou underneath the posts.  Bai converted and then added a penalty shortly afterwards to open up a 13-3 lead for the visitors.

Tonga, enjoying the better of the forward exchanges, hit back with two minutes to go until the interval with centre Suka Hufanga capitalising on turn over ball inside the Fijian half.  Hola's conversion reduced the deficit to just three points at half time.

Tonga regained the lead early in the second half after Hola's accurate cross-field kick was gathered in the in-goal area by Saracens wing Tevita Vaikona for a well-finished score.  Hola's conversion gave the home side a deserved 17-13 lead.

Both coaches made a plethora of substitutions as the game entered the final quarter, and it was Fiji, who were quick to adjust to the changes, who struck with a well-executed try by flying Sevens star Mosese Leveitasu.

Bai's conversion, followed by a penalty in the 69th minute seemed to have wrapped up the victory for the visitors, before Latui's try and Hola's conversion secured Tonga's first victory over Fiji since 2003.

The result sets up a mouth-watering Round Three clash against the only other undefeated team in the competition, the Junior All Blacks in New Plymouth on Saturday in the first of a double-header at the Yarrows Stadium as Japan take on the Samoa.

The scorers:

For Tonga:
Tries:  Hufanga, Vaikona, Latui
Cons:  Hola 3
Drop:  Hola

For Fiji:
Tries:  Ratuvou, Leveitasu
Con:  Bai 2
Pen:  Bai 3

Australia monster England in Sydney

Rodzilla scores on debut

Australia got their 2006 test season off to the perfect start, when they monstered the new-look England team -- recording an emphatic 34-3 win at the Telstra Stadium, in Sydney, on Sunday.  The Wallabies outscored their rival by three tries to none in this Cook Cup encounter.

Despite England dominating possession for large periods of the game, often building and taking the ball through numerous phases (as many as 19 phases on one occasion), it was the Wallabies who tackled the English into submission and then struck in the final 10 minutes with two tries to ram home the advantage.

The field was heavy after the heavy rains, and the game was ponderous, compounded by poor handling -- perhaps the leaden feet made for brittle hands -- the continuing nuisance of Australian scrums and unsure line-outs.

The scrums were a talking point before the match but coach John Connolly believed that his new, young front row was good enough to take the Wallabies to the next Rugby World Cup.  Australia's three scrums in the first half produced three resets and a free-kick.  England had six scrums -- which yielded three resets and two penalties to England.  That is drabness beyond what the watching public deserves.

In the first half there were two free-kicks and two penalties at line-outs.  In addition England lost two throws.  That also does not make for confident rugby.

The goal-kicking in the first half was also not great.  Stirling Mortlock missed two for penalty kicks for Australia which he would have considered comfortable, and Olly Barkley missed a sitter for England.

It took 54 minutes for a try to be scored and soon there were three -- none, obviously, to England who did not look like scoring a try but for one moment when the television match official decided that he could not be sure that a try had been scored when it seemed highly unlikely that a try had not been scored.

That happened when Australia were leading 6-0 and England attacked, using two grubbers behind the flat Wallaby backs.  Mike Catt got the first one and headed for the Australian line.  Back the ball came to England and Iain Balshaw got the bouncing ball but George Gregan grabbed Balshaw and rolled him over in the dead-ball zone.

The TMO's decision left Balshaw perplexed and he looked on as the five-metre scrum to England formed.  The set-piece produced a penalty for England, the second at a scrum against Greg Holmes, but Barkley missed the easy kick.

Two kicks in the teeth for the tourists in two minutes -- it hurt.

England had a lot of possession and did so well in keeping it through a multitude of phases.  The phases were multitudinous but did nothing to get England going forward.

Peter Richards used England's scrum pressure to create a possible chance for England to score but instead they settled into phases and went further and further backs.  Phases did not improve latitude.

The one exception at phase time was captain Pat Sanderson who always seemed to be able to go forward.

England had the first moment of distant likelihood when Balshaw produced an overlap for new man Tom Varndell but the speedster opted to grubber ahead and the ball ricocheted of Chris Latham.

The Leicester Tigers star had another great moment in the half when he scooted around Lote Tuqiri chipped.

But he looked green at this level -- he had one ghastly moment when England ran out of their 22 and gave Varndell an overlap on the left wing with Tom Voyce outside him, but the pass which Varndell heaved over Voyce's head and into touch looked the effort of a man who had never passed before.

After Mortlock had missed a straight kick from 38 metres out he goaled a straightforward one when England were penalised for holding on as an attempt at a rolling maul failed.

Straight from the kick-off the Wallabies had their first promising moment when George Gregan beat Voyce who was chasing the kick-off and charged downfield before giving to Mortlock who raced to the England 22.

When England went off-side late in the half, Mortlock had an easy goal.  6-0.

It was after this that Balshaw came within millimetres of not being allowed a try.

From a go-forward scrum Sanderson strode away for England with a man to his right but instead made a mess of a floating attempt to find Varndell who was a long, long way from him on his right.

Australia had a go down the right but Mat Rogers knocked on about six metres from the goal-line, and the half ended when Mortlock goaled a third penalty.

Another good run by Sanderson off a good scrum was promising and England got onto the attack, Barkley goaling a penalty.

Unusually, England tried running in their own 22 but three Wallabies jumped Barley who held on and was penalised.  Mortlock made the score 12-3.

Six minutes later the try came.  It came as great relief for it seemed that one would never come and when it came it was so worth waiting for -- a delicious, breath-taking moment.

From a line-out on their left the Wallabies went right in orthodox fashion until suddenly Latham cut through off a little give from Mortlock.  He swept past Richards and away from Varndell, did a bit of pre-try celebrating and was over at the posts, to the glee of his team-mates.

That try decided the outcome which had already had a look of inevitability.

At this stage and from now on both sides were giving players chances to get caps.

At one stage England excelled in winning phases which had nothing to do with scoring points until Catt capitulated with a grubber.  There was no way through the Wallaby defence.

With 12 minutes to go, Mortlock goaled a penalty when Mathew Tait was penalised for diving at a tackle area and a while later replacement Clyde Rathbone made the break of the match.

He took an inside pass as Australia looked to move from their own 22, and raced downfield.  Tackled on the England 22, he tried to get the ball back to Mark Gerrard.  The right wing now playing fullback footed a wayward ball across the England posts until he was able to gather its low bounce and sprawl over for a try, which Mortlock converted -- 29-3 with seven minutes left.

There was time for one more pleasing try, started by the forwards and finished by the biggest of them all.

The locals moved right with Nathan Sharpe and replacement Jeremy Paul to the fore and then went far left where Phil Waugh charged and then sent a long pass to massive Rodney Blake.  The huge new cap pulled the ball in from behind him and bulldozed his 131kg through Tait for a try.

The English lay about the field as Australians celebrated wildly.  Three years on and the boot was most assuredly on the other foot.

Man of the Match:  Pat Sanderson was good for England and Julian White scrummaged to good effect.  For the Wallabies, veterans Chris Latham and George Gregan were effective.  Rocky Elsom, playing No.8, had an excellent game and so did the youngest veteran of them all, the ubiquitous George Smith, our man of the match.

Moment of the Match:  The try from Chris Latham, although all three touch-downs had class.  But the Latham try was just such sweet relief!

Villain of the Match:  All good clean fun -- not unless you want to be smart and nominate the Wallaby front row for their nuisance effect.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Latham, Gerrard, Blake
Cons:  Mortlock 2
Pens:  Mortlock 5

For England:
Pen:  Barkley

Teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Daniel Heenan, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Clyde Rathbone, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

England:  15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Mike Catt, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Olly Barkley, 9 Peter Richards, 8 Pat Sanderson, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Julian White, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Graham Rowntree.
Replacements:  16 George Chuter, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Chris Jones, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Nick Walshe, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Jamie Noon.

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand), Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

Italy notch up fifty points in Tokyo

Japan slump to another heavy defeat

Italy opened their two-Test tour of the Pacific with an emphatic 52-6 victory over Japan in Tokyo on Sunday, running seven tries past the flat-footed Brave Blossoms at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground.

After Japan had opened the scoring in the first minute through a penalty by Shotaro Onishi, Italy took control of the game.  Their scoring started with a try by New Zealand flank, Josh Sole after a charge by the pack with Marco Bortolami in the van.

David Bortolussi, playing his first match for Italy, got the second try and then came the third by Denis Dallan, back in the side after an absence of 19 months.

Ramiro Pez converted the three tries and added a penalty to make the score 24-3 to Italy at half-time.

After Mirco Bergamasco's try had taken the score to 31-3, coach Pierre Berbizier sent on five replacements, all young players to join the other new caps Bortolussi and South African Benjamin de Jager.  On came hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini (21), prop Fabio Staibano (23), flank Robert Barbieri (22), flyhalf Andrea Marcato (23) and the youngest of them all, wing Michele Sepe (19).  That made seven new caps on the field in addition to young scrumhalf Simon Picone who came on for Paul Griffen.

Still Italy pressed on, and lock Santiago Dellapè, originally from Argentina, scored his first Test try.  Even though Sole was sent to the sin bin, Mirco Bergamasco got his second and then De Jager imitated Bortolussi by scoring his second on debut.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Sole, Bortolussi, Dallan, Mi.  Bergamasco 2, Dellapè, De Jager
Cons:  Pez 4, Marcato 3
Pen:  Pez

For Japan:
Pens:  Onishi 2

The teams:

Italy:  15 David Bortolussi (Montpellier), 14 Benjamin de Jager (Amatori Catania), 13 Andrea Masi (Arix Viadana), 12 Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français), 11 Denis Dallan (Benetton Treviso), 10 Ramiro Pez (Perpignan), 9 Paul Griffen (Ghial Calvisano), 8 Josh Sole (Arix Viadana), 7 Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), 6 Silvio Orlando (Benetton Treviso), 5 Marco Bortolami (Narbonne, captain), 4 Santiago Dellapé (Agen), 3 Carlos Nieto (Arix Viadana), 2 Fabio Ongaro (Benetton Treviso), 1 Andrea Lo Cicero (Conad L'Aquila).
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Ghial Calvisano), 17 Fabio STaibano (Overmach Parma), 18 Carlo Antonio del Fava (Bourgoin), 19 Robert Barbieri (Overmach Parma), 20 Simon Picone (Benetton Treviso), 21 Andrea Marcato (Benetton Treviso), 22 Michele Sepe (HDI UR Capitolina).

Japan:  15 Keiji Takei (NEC Green Rockets); 14 Kosuke Endo (Toyota Motor Verblitz), 13 Aatsushi Moriya (Yamaha Jubilo), 12 Yuta Imamura (Waseda University), 11 Nataniela Oto (Toshiba Brave Lupus); 10 Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha Jubilo), 9 Wataru Ikeda (Sanyo Wild Knight); 8 Hajime Kiso (Yamaha Jubilo), 7 Ryota Asano (NEC Green Rockets, captain), 6 Tomoaki Nakai (Toshiba Brave Lupus); 5 Tomoaki Taniguchi (Toyota Motor Verblitz), 4 Takanori Kumagae (Nec Green Rockets); 3 Ryo Yamamura (Yamaha Jubilo), 2 Yuji Matsubara (Kobe Kobelco Steelers), 1 Tomokazu Soma (Sanyo Wild Knight).
Replacement:  16 Takashi Yamaoka (Suntory Sungoliath), 17 Yuichi Hisadomi (NEC Green Rockets), 18 Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba Brave Lupus), 19 Takashi Kikutani (Toyota Motor Verblitx), 20 Mamoru Ito (Toshiba Brave Lupus), 21 Hideyuki Yoshiba (Kubota Spears), 22 Hiroki Mizono (Toyota Motor Verblitz).

Referee:  Scott Young (Australia)
Touch judges:  Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), Paul Marks (Australia)

Boks race past outclassed Scotland

Four tries to one in Durban

The Springboks have handed Scotland their biggest-ever defeat on South African soil, racing to a 36-16 victory in Durban on Saturday in a game where the scoreline certainly flatters the visitors.  It is the first time Scotland had lost by more than ten points on SA soil and it is also a result that ensures Scotland are still searching for their first win in South Africa.

At four tries to one, with the Scottish touchdown a late consolation score, it says that only one team was ever going to win this game.

Like the dainty antelope adorning their jerseys, the Springboks were sprinting around the park and leaped with sheer delight as they created numerous opportunities.

Despite all that was said beforehand about Scotland's new resolve and determination, the match seemed to be heading for an inevitable result after the first few minutes as the Springbok pack took over and did so till cap-dishing-out time late in the match.

In the end the score line flattered the Scots who used every scoring chance they had in accumulating their 16 points.

For the Springboks the first half was better and their control complete as long as the "A" team played.  The tight forwards made life tough for all eight Scots, but released the Springbok loose trio to play, and play they did in everything one would expect from loose forwards.

But in the later stages of the game, the changed Springbok pack was ordinary if not beaten.

When he spoke after the match Jason White, the Scotland captain, acknowledged the strength of the Springbok pack but took heart from the try at the end.  That try probably did not have a lot authority about it.  A suspect turn-over off replacement Pedrie Wannenburg and the ball went wide to replacement Gordon Ross who sent replacement Simon Webster who scored.  There were just three minutes to go at the time.

Scotland opted for the kick-off, the Springboks mauled and troubles started for the Scots.  The Springbok pack moved on top and stayed there in all aspects of the game.

From the maul, the Springboks, a constant tactic, used the short side off the maul.  Nathan Hines was penalised and the Springboks were in Scots territory where they attacked again till at a tackle Donnie Macfadyen was penalised and Percy Montgomery had a comfortable position for the penalty.  3-0 after just over two minutes.

The Scots then had their best moment when they mauled from the line-out and went down the short side where big Sean Lamont had freedom.  He played inside where John Smit was penalised for an early tackle, and Chris Paterson levelled the scores.

Only on one other occasion in the first half did the Scots come close, and then, too, it was Paterson who scored after Victor Matfield had been adjudged off-side.

After Paterson's first penalty the Springboks set about destroying the Scottish pack.  On one occasion they shoved the Scots off the ball and Fourie du Preez had a great run going right.  The movement broke down when they went left and André Snyman knocked on.

Nathan Hines was penalised for an air-tackle on Matfield in a line-out the Springboks mauled from the subsequent line-out and were over.  The television match official could not see the grounding.  That became a five-metre scrum from which Joe Van Niekerk picked up and drove at the line.  The Springboks squeezed and squeezed till Schalk Burger squeezed the ball onto the line.  This time television match official decided it was a try.

Right from the kick-off the Springboks scored again.  They mauled the kick-off and suddenly Burger broke on the short side.  The ball went from him to stately Juan Smith, who gave to Paulse of the bushy hairdo.  Paulse played inside to Du Preez, who gave back to Paulse who squeezed over in the corner.

But any suggestion of a runaway victory faded from then on.  South Africa's best period of play had happened.

Not that it was sterile for there was a good counter-attack from Montgomery and Van Niekerk had another run from a maul off a line-out.  This time the ball went from Smith to Snyman and then to Du Preez whom Hugo Southwell tackled into the cornerpost for a drop-out.

When Bruce Douglas was penalised at a scrum, Montgomery made it 18-6, which was the half-time score.

Just before half-time there was a shuddering tackle by Lamont on De Villiers.  Lamont went off, but De Villiers went on -- till his best moment in the match.

In the first half, Jaco van der Westhuyzen had twice grubbered to no good effect.  He was not cured of it during the half-time break, but it was an unprofitable investment in attack.

In the second half the Scots decided to maul and did it well.  Paterson goaled a penalty and then the game became fairly drab with lots of kicking here, there and anywhere.

It took a great break by Snyman to inject life into the match.  De Villiers broke and went racing away.  Cleverly he took two men onto himself as he got the ball away to Snyman on his left.  Snyman scored under the bar.  But as he passed and fell Paterson's left hand brushed his chest, innocuously it seemed, but De Villiers went off in agony with a suspected broken rib -- probably the residue of that tackle by Lamont.

In cap-dishing time, Montgomery kicked a penalty and then came a try that stared in inauspicious circumstances.

Replacement Enrico Januarie went back to get hold of an awkward slap-back by Matfield at a line-out.  He turned to face the music himself but found room and an opening.  He gave to big Danie Rossouw who galloped down the field on the left.  The ball then went wider right where Montgomery forced his way over through three tacklers.

The SA scoring ended when Montgomery kicked a penalty.  All that was left was an encouraging few minutes for the Scots which included the Webster try.

Man of the Match:  Big Bok loose forward Schalk Burger.  Others did well -- Allister Hogg, Mike Blair, Donnie Macfadyen, Joe van Niekerk, Juan Smith, Fourie du Preez and Danie Rossouw -- but the best if all was energetic, committed, determined, fearless Burger.

Moment of the Match:  Surely Breyton Paulse's try from the re-start.

Villain of the Match:  Nobody.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Burger, Paulse, Snyman, Montgomery
Cons:  Montgomery 2
Pens:  Montgomery 4

For Scotland:
Try:  Webster
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 3

Teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 André Snyman, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 Johan Muller, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Gaffie du Toit.

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Chris Paterson, 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Allister Hogg, 7 Donnie Macfadyen, 6 Jason White (captain), 5 Scott Murray, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Bruce Douglas, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Craig Smith, 18 Alastair Kellock, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Sam Pinder, 21 Gordon Ross, 22 Simon Webster.

Referee:  Donal Courtney (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Joël Jutge (France), Rob Debney (England)
Television match official:  Simon MacDowell (Ireland)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)

Kiwis keep clean sheet against Irish

Late surge sees the All Blacks home

New Zealand retained their clean sheet against Ireland, recording a 34-23 victory at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Saturday.  It was a late surge, 13 points in the last 10 minutes, which saw the All Blacks home in this tightly contested encounter.

The Kiwis outscored the Irish by three tries to two to ensure they retain the record of having never lost to the men from the Emerald Isle.

It wasn't the most convincing of wins, but as captain Richie McCaw said afterwards, the All Blacks stuck at it after conceded an early lead and in the end got through.

But what a great match!  What drama, what tension, what skill!  It was wonderful entertainment and it nearly contained an upset.  Upsets are always fun if you are not the people being upset.

June is bursting out all over in rugby Tests.  If this is the sunburst that is to come it is going to be a wonderful June.

If you had watched just the first eight minutes of the match, you would have left it thinking it was a runaway victory for New Zealand.  If you had next tuned in at half-time you would have been in shocked disbelief when you saw that Ireland were leading 16-8.

It took the All Blacks just 43 seconds to get a try.  And the All Blacks kept on running and running.  Ma'a Nonu had two good runs, Luke McAlister missed and easy penalty.  And Mils Muliaina ran with effect at every opportunity.

It was Muliaina who set up that 43-second try.

Ronan O'Gara kicked off deep and Keven Mealamu caught and drove.  McAlister went left, tackled he popped the ball to new cap Clarke Dermody, going left.  Back the ball came to Muliaina going right.  He was standing, he shimmied, he accelerated and he was clean past O'Gara.  Aaron Mauger was up to take the pass and looked likely to score but his pace seemed to leave him and so he transferred to Doug Howlett who headed at an angle for the corner where he just beat young Andrew Trimble for a try in the corner.  5-0.

The pace kept cracking on.  The first stoppage, for a line-out, came after two and a half minutes, the first penalty after four minutes and the first scrum after six and a half minutes.

Initially Ireland kicked more -- but then they had O'Gara -- but it was kicking that was a major part of the build-up for Ireland's shock try.

First Mauger kicked out on the full.  Then McAlister kicked out on the full.  At the subsequent line-out Greg Rawlinson, making his test debut, slapped the ball back and left Byron Kelleher to clean-up.  Kelleher was taken clean into touch and three bits of sloppy play gave Ireland a line-out well inside the All Blacks' 22.

Ireland won the line-out and in conventional fashion the ball went from Peter Stringer to Ronan O'Gara, to Gordon D'Arcy, to Brian O'Driscoll -- and the playing genius went on a slight arc beyond Nonu and inside Joe Rokocoko and round for a try at the posts.  It was simply beautiful.  O'Gara converted and Ireland went into a dream-like 7-5 lead after just less than 10 minutes.

When McAlister was penalised for a dubiously ruled high tackle, O'Gara made it 10-5 after 11 minutes.

Were the Irish to do what the All Blacks had been predicted to do and run away with the match?

Penalties played a large part in the game.  The count went 11-7 against Ireland, but there were three telling ones by loose forwards which punished the brave Irish.

The first happened in the first half when Neil Best, Ireland's only non-Munster forward, went off-side, clattering into Kelleher, the incident which saw Kelleher wobbling off to be replaced by Jimmy Cowan.  McAlister goaled the penalty to make the score 10-8 after 20 minutes.

New Zealand ran from near their own line and charged downfield.  Ireland attempted to do in like manner, but O'Driscoll knocked on a rolling past from O'Gara and showed a touch of paddy in disapproving of his experienced fly-half's recklessness.

That gave New Zealand good attacking opportunity, but one of the characteristics of 70 minutes of the match was the decisive tackling of the proud Irish.  Indeed, Ireland were next to score and there was irony in the penalty as it was at a scrum.

As New Zealand battled in the line-outs, so Ireland battled in the scrum -- where Marcus Horan was vulnerable.  At this scrum Clarke Dermody was penalised for pulling back and down, and O'Gara made the score 13-8.

The game rattled on till, on the stroke of half-time, Richie McCaw was penalised for clinging on to the tackled player, and O'Gara made it 16-8 at the break.

Pinch me, Ireland are ahead!  Not only that, they have scored twice the number of points the All Blacks.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first-half -- with a splendid try by New Zealand, a try of delicious simplicity.

From a scrum on their left, McAlister slipped a short pass to Rokocoko coming off the left wing and going right.  Big Joe gave to Nonu who gave to Mauger who gave to Muliaina coming in from fullback and Muliaina had the strength to go over as two Irishmen clung to him.  This time McAlister converted, and the score was 16-15.

Ah, you felt as you sat back, this is the start of New Zealand road to rapid victory.  Ah, you were wrong.  Five minutes later the Irish were further ahead.

They came on in wave after wave of multiphased attack with Paul O'Connell and Shane Horgan prominent.  From far right they moved left till O'Connell was at the line.  Stringier got quick ball to O'Gara, who ran at the defence, brought two defenders onto himself and managed to get a clever pass to Trimble who ran round for the try which O'Gara converted.  23-15 with half an hour to play.

Flank David Wallace was penalised twice in three minutes -- once for collapsing a maul and once for staying onto the tackled player, and each time McAlister goaled the penalty.  That made it 23-21 with twenty minutes to go.

With 14 minutes to go, O'Gara missed a penalty attempt.  With 13 minutes to go Ireland were attacking with vigour when bad things happened.  A scrum became a penalty for dissent, and this seemed to break Irish hearts.

The All Blacks attacked through many, many phases even with Cowan down groggy.  Replacement Keith Gleeson was penalised for coming in at the side and McAlister put the All Blacks a point ahead at 24-23.  For over an hour Ireland had led.  But the last nine minutes counted most.

Behind a point, the spirited Irish looked for a winning try.  Geordan Murphy counter-attacked brilliantly from just outside his 22 and set O'Driscoll running.  They seemed to have put the Irish on the way to scoring a try when somehow McAlister intercepted a pass from O'Connell and the attack went New Zealand's way.  Trimble got back and saved bravely and the Irish won a defensive ruck.

Stringer, still searching for a winner, chipped.  The ball bounced awkwardly.  O'Connell got a hand to it but managed only to tip the ball into the path of steaming Nonu to thump off Stringer and feed replacement Troy Flavell.  The big lock celebrated his return to All Black duty after a five-year absence by surging over, hand aloft in triumph, for the try which sealed the match.  31-23 with six minutes left.

Those were not a good six minutes for Ireland.  O'Connell was penalised for holding on and it was 34-23 and Jerry Flannery was penalised and yellow-carded for a late shoulder-charge on Muliaina.

When the final whistle went the All Blacks were on the Irish line.

Man of the Match:  Mils Muliaina was great and so was Rodney So'oialo, and Carl Hayman made the Irish scrum a rickety thing.  Geordan Murphy had great moments for Ireland and so did Gordon D'Arcy, but the player of undoubted class and skill was Brian O'Driscoll of Ireland.

Moment of the Match:  All of the tries were exciting but perhaps it was Ireland's first one that was the real moment, when they struck from a line-out and Brian O'Driscoll swept round for the try that told the world:  "This is going to be great match."

Villain of the Match:  Jerry Flannery is the official one with his yellow card for petulant stupidity, but Marcus Horan with boots working on Rodney So'oialo's mop of hair was an uglier sight.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Howlett, Muliaina, Flavell
Cons:  McAlister 2
Pens:  McAlister 5

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Dricoll, Trimble
Cons:  O'Gara 2
Pens:  O'Gara 3

Yellow card(s):  Flannery (Ireland) -- late tackle, 79

The teams:

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Marty Holah, 5 Greg Rawlinson, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements:  16 Anton Oliver, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Troy Flavell, 19 Jerome Kaino, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 David Hill, 22 Scott Hamilton.

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Keith Gleeson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Denis Hickie, 22 Girvan Dempsey.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges:  Matt Goddard (Australia), George Ayoub (Australia)
Television match official:  Brett Bowden (Australia)
Assessor:  Stuart Beissel (New Zealand)

Tongans tonk the Brave Blossoms

Japan fall in Fukuoka

Tonga loose forward Tevita Fifita ran in a brace of tries as his country opened their Pacific Five Nations account with a resounding 57-16 victory over Japan in Fukuoka on Sunday.

Fifita, one of several Japan-based players in the Tongan side, opened the scoring in the first minute but Japan rallied to leave the half-time score balanced 15-13 in favour of the visitors.

But the islanders upped the ante in the second half and ran six tries past the error-prone Japanese.

"The second half was a nightmare," said Japan coach Jean-Pierre Elissalde.

"Every time in contact situations, we were worse than Tonga and lost the ball.

"It didn't matter if we went wide or kept it tight, we were going to lose the ball."

Tonga coach Adam Leach admitted that local knowledge had played a big role in his side's win.

"A lot of the players and me have experience of playing and coaching here," said the former Yamaha Jubilo assistant coach.

"We knew their strengths and weaknesses and that gave us confidence."

The scorers:

For Tonga:
Tries:  Fifita 2, Vaikona, Hala'ufia, Hehea, Tuifa, Tu'ipulotu, Filipine
Cons:  Hola 3
Pens:  Hola 2

For Japan:
Try:  Oto
Con:  Onishi
Pens:  Onishi 3

Barbarians beat Georgia in Tbilisi

Four tries to three as Pat Howard pulls on his boots

Before some 10,000 spectators the Barbarians beat Georgia 28-19 in Tbilisi on Sunday afternoon.  There was more than just a rugby match.

The Barbarians led 14-7 at half-time and the Lelos pulled back to 14-all early in the second half, but the Barbarians then added two more tries before the Lelos got their third just before the end.

The Barbarians had 25 players with them and all of them got a game.  In fact, even coach Pat Howard joined in as one of the 25!

Paliko Jimsheladze, normally a fly-half but playing fullback in this match, became the first Georgian to win 50 caps for his country.  In recognition of this feat he was presented with a commemorative cap.  The presentation was made by Nodar Qipiani, the first captain of a Georgian national team.

After the match the Barbarians presented £10,000 for the development of rugby in Georgia.

The scorers:

For Barbarians:
Tries:  Monye, Hanley 2, Hallett
Cons:  Malone 3, Hallett

For Georgia:
Tries:  Machkhaneli 2, Magrakvelidze
Cons:  Barkalaia 2

Teams:

Georgia:  15 Paliko Jimsheladze (captain), 14 Otar Eloshvili, 13 Revaz Guigauri, 12 Irakli Guiorgadze, 11 Irakli Machkhaneli; 10 Otar Barkalaia, 9 Bidzina Samkharadze, 8 Besso Udessiani, 7 Rati Urushadze, 6 Ilia Maissuradze, 5 Levan Datunashvili, 4 Mamuka Gorgodze, 3 Avtandil Kopaliani, 2 Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 1 Mamuka Magrakvelidze.
Replacements:  16 Michael Sujashvili, 17 David Khinchaguishvili, 18 Shalva Papashvili, 19 Zviad Maissuradze, 20 George Katcharava, 21 Lexo Gugava, 22 George Elizbarashvili.
Coaches:  Malkhaz Tcheishvili, Paata Narimanashvili

Barbarians:  15 Neil Hallett, 14 Ugo Monye, 13 Tony Marsh, 12 Kevin Maggs, 11 Lee Robinson; 10 Chris Malone, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 8 Bob Skinstad (captain), 7 Will Skinner, 6 Brad Macleod-Henderson, 5 Simon Miall, 4 James Hamilton, 3 Darren Crompton, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Justin Fitzpatrick.
Replacements:  16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Kevin Tkachuk, 18 Hottie Louw, 19 Daniel Browne, 20 Ian Vass, 21 Leon Lloyd, 22 Steve Hanley, 23 Jason Forster, 24 John Davies.
Coach:  (who played) Pat Howard

Referee:  Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch judges:  Ucha Narimanidze, George Javakhishvili (both Georgia)

Springboks put World XV to bed

Montgomery kicks guests to death

The Springbok XV edged out the World XV to maintain their unbeaten record over the star-studded visitors, but Saturday's drab 30-27 victory at a half-empty Ellis Park wasn't quite the celebration of rugby that the overpriced match-tickets had promised.

Nor did the game really serve its purpose as a warm-up match ahead of South Africa's gruelling schedule of game.

South Africa fullback Percy Montgomery was perhaps the only man to benefit from this mess -- he got his eye in by slotting all but three of his side's points.

Indeed, the World XV contributed the only tries of a penalty-strewn encounter that compelled organisers to pump jaunty music through the PA system in an attempt to engender some sort of atmosphere -- a ploy that fell as flat as the few efforts to run the ball on the bone-dry pitch.

Ellis Park had some 30,000 spectators at the match.  That meant it was roughly half full.  The other half certainly made the better choice for this was a low-level match of poor skill, low intensity and much mindlessness -- and the Springboks were the side mainly to blame, winners or not.

Two tries to nil suggests a winning team.  The World XV had the two tries but had a lower score at the end.  Yet their contribution to the match, even with the two tries, was certainly not sparkling.

They said beforehand that it would not be a "Barbarians match", presumably that it was not going to be a match of adventure and skill.  If that is what was meant, it certainly was the case.  The first half was drab, drab, drab.  The second half was drab, drab, drab.

There was a little sparkle when Ruan Pienaar, Wynand Olivier, Gary Botha and Pedrie Wannenburg came on but they soon succumbed to drabness as well.

There were many penalties to add to the drabness -- 19 to the Springboks, 13 to the World XV and there were seven free-kicks.  That did not help.

There were 18 scrums, in which there were 13 resets and three penalties.  That did not add any sparkle.

There was no sparkle.

It was drab.

The Springboks had the majority of territory and possession but gave every impression of lacking any ideas, even simple ones.

It started at halfbacks where a podgy Enrico Januarie continued his poor form of the Super 14, passing slowly and poorly and taking good ball for himself.  No that the forwards provided a comfortable platform for a scrum-half.

It continued at fly-half where Jaco van der Westhuyzen had a poor game in judgement and execution.  But then he had played fullback during the Super 14.

That left the outside backs cut off from the game.

But look at things that happened -- the sight of Danie Rossouw robbed by little Thomas Castaignède, Rossouw plodding towards the touch-line, Wynand Olivier taking a quick throw-in to Albert Olivier with Radike Samo behind him and so clumsily on.

The Springboks had four five-metre line-outs.  They got over once but in a tight bundle leaving referee and TMO unable to award the try.  On the other occasions they made little impression on the World XV defenders.  They had a five-metre scrum as well.  The defence was made easier by the lack of variation or inventiveness.

To their credit the Springboks, three times in quick succession, kicked for the line-out instead of at goal.  The intentions were obviously good, but not the execution.

It did not help that Cobus Visagie, told he was not wanted in the Springbok team, destroyed first Deon Carstens and then Lawrence Sephaka.  The Springbok scrum was under pressure and they lost one against the head.

The World XV did not bother about running, not even on counterattack, but they got the only try of the first half -- not a spectacular one -- and the only try of the second half, probably a fortunate one.

After Matthew Burke had kicked a penalty when Wikus van Heerden tackled Sébastien Chabal late.  Then Percy Montgomery equalised when England lock Tom Palmer held on at a tackle.

Then the World XV had a chance to attack.  From a quick scrum on their right, Chabal picked up and bashed down the blind side.  In saving, Albert van den Berg conceded a five-metre scrum.  Again Chabal picked up and bashed down the blind side, through and past AJ Venter.  Justin Marshall ripped the ball off him and plunged over for the try.  That made it 8-3.

Then kicks went back and forth until half-time came with the Springboks leading 15-11 -- four penalties by Montgomery and one, from inside his own half on the stroke of the interval, by Gaffie du Toit.

Venter was sent to the sin-bin for punching early in the second half.  While he was missing the World XV scored a try of ridiculous simplicity.

Carlos Spencer kicked a diagonal to his right.  Isa Nacewa jumped for the bouncing ball.  Montgomery flung arms out wide in respect for the airborne player but kept his eyes prayerfully cast down.  Nacewa came to earth and ran away from the prayerful fullback to score a try under the posts.  Burke converted.

The rest of the half was characterised by penalties and replacements as each player got a chance to play.  Montgomery kicked five penalties, Burke three.

When the whistle mercifully put a strop to the bungling, one wondered what purpose could possibly have been served.

Man of the Match:  The award goes to Sébastien Chabal, part biblical patriarch and part pirate, all energy and personality in a match which lacked personality.

Moment of the Match:  The final whistle.

Villain of the Match:  The easy thing is to say it was AJ Venter for getting a yellow card.

The scorers:

For Springbok XV:
Pens:  Montgomery 9, Du Toit

For World XV:
Tries:  Marshall, Nacewa
Con:  Burke
Pens:  Burke 5

Yellow card(s):  Venter (Springboks XV) -- punching, 43

The teams:

Springbok XV:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 André Snyman, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Gaffie du Toit, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 AJ Venter, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 Hanyani Shimange, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements:  16 Gary Botha, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Brent Russell.

World XV:  15 Matt Burke, 14 Isa Nacewa, 13 Thomas Castaignède, 12 Fraser Waters, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Justin Marshall (captain), 8 Sébastien Chabal, 7 Olivier Magne, 6 Xavier Rush, 5 Radike Samo, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Cobus Visagie, 2 Raphaël Ibañez, 1 Dave Hewett.
Replacements:  16 Mark Regan, 17 Christian Califano 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Sam Harding/Toutai Kefu, 20 Mark Robinson, 21 Ludovic Mercier, 22 Joe Roff.

Referee:  Tappe Henning
Touch judges:  Jonathan Kaplan, JC Fortuin
Television Match Official:  André Watson