Shane shines in Welsh win

Two tries from Shane Williams, including one magnificent solo effort, helped Wales to a healthy-looking 33-16 win over Argentina in Cardiff on Saturday.

An error-strewn match was lit up by Williams' try after 65 minutes, which quashed any thoughts Argentina had harboured of a comeback after Martin Rodriguez had brought them back to within a score at 23-16 on the hour.

Williams aside, the match was played as though both teams had been chloroformed at times.  Perhaps there was something in those water bottles that underling coaches take it upon themselves to bring onto the field at any and every opportunity.  The number of handling errors shot off the scale, which meant long periods of kicks, return kicks and punctuating scrums.

Both sides did show glimpses of wanting to do something constructive, with James Hook and Shane Williams forever a threat out wide for the Welsh and both Argentinean half-backs looking lively on their toes when they did get some quick ball.

But the supporting runners were either lacking imagination or just plain lacking.  The game built up a rhythm.  Bash went the runners.  Bosh went the tacklers.  Boom went the boots.  "B..." went the crowd.  As rhythms go, it was about as entertaining as one of those emanating from some city wide boy's bass bin.  It was every bit as irritating for the casual onlooker as well.

Aside from the brilliance of Williams, Wales certainly won by being more clinical.  They did not concede a penalty for the first half-hour and they forced a huge number in the final half-hour.  In the final reckoning, Rodrigo Roncero conceded almost as many penalties as the entire Welsh team.  He's a great loosehead, but he really can be a liability at times.

In between those, Argentina's Rodriguez landed three goals to keep his team just about in touch -- he hit the post with another as well -- before he scored his try, but Wales were never really in danger.  The Welsh line-out was flawless and while the scrum was uneasy, much of that was down to Argentinean niggle rather than superior scrummaging prowess, enough of it picked up by the referee.

Welsh handling was better as well, if just a little too laterally exploratory at times.  It was a step up, but it was curiously unsatisfying, as though it was an advertisement of Wales' potential rather than their true playing ability.  Whether they realise that potential or not ... we'll see against Australia next week, but Warren Gatland might be frustrated.

The highlight of the first half was undoubtedly its lone try.  Wales won a penalty, and Stephen Jones took the ball up to the mark but everything stopped for Roncero to receive a magic sponge to his leg.  When time was called back on again, the entire Puma team turned back and trudged to wards the posts, while Jones tapped and raced away to the corner, ruining his moment of glory somewhat by landing on the ball in the touchdown and winding himself quite badly.  But he did recover in time to land the conversion.

Otherwise, the first half was all about the errors from both teams and some truly dire kicking.  Jones landed two penalties, Rodriguez one just before the break, where the teams went in with Wales 13-3 ahead.

It took Wales 21 seconds to extend their lead in the second half when the big paw of Luke Charteris got in the way of Gus Figuerola's clearing box-kick and Williams ducked and weaved his way to the line.  He could actually have made it just through sheer pace, but the way he cut inside, stepped, ducked and evaded Patricio Albacete's arms was almost mocking.  No wonder Martyn Williams shoved him over the line at the end -- "stop messing about!"

Jones made it 20-3 with the extras, and then followed another laboured passage of play in which Rodriguez notched two penalties to one from Leigh Halfpenny.  Then Rodriguez charged down a clearance kick so lackadaisical it verged on the negligent and raced away for a try, which he converted himself and had Argentina somehow within a score at 23-16.

The response was a moment of beauty.  Williams picked up a loose ball, stepped and burst through the lumbering bodies like a bullet.  The acceleration took him all the way home and under the posts, the game-breaking moment.  And that, with the exception of a long penalty from Halfpenny, was that.

Man of the match:  It should not come as a surprise to those who have made their way this far that this award goes to Shane Williams.

Moment of the match:  As with man of the match, except to Shane Williams' second try.

Villain of the match:  No real villainy, but Rodrigo Roncero still needs to learn the lesson about quelling Latin temperament and getting on with it at times.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  S Jones, S Williams 2
Cons:  S Jones 3
Pens:  S Jones 2, Halfpenny 2

For Argentina:
Try:  Rodriguez
Con:  Rodriguez
Pens:  Rodriguez 3

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Dan Lydiate, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Andrew Bishop, 22 Tom James.

Argentina:  15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Mauro Comuzzi, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Agustin Figuerola, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe (c), 7 Alfredo Abadie, 6 Tomas Leonardi, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 22 H San Martin.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Christophe Berdos (France), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match officials:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

Springboks off the mark in Europe

South Africa finally got their end-of-year tour off the mark as they stuttered along to a 32-10 win over a determined Italy outfit at the Stadio Friuli in Udine on Saturday.

The Springboks will take the win, but this victory will do nothing to their self-esteem or credentials on this somewhat unrewarding trip of Europe that has only dented their title as world champions.

A comedy of errors from the visitors -- most of them in the scrum against the Azzurri -- didn't help the South Africans' cause to stamp their authority on a game that was touted as a warm-up for next week's finale against Ireland.

In front of another passionate home crowd, the Italians were their own worst enemies as the goal-kickers -- in a repeat of last week's defeat to New Zealand -- missed a number of penalties that would have given the scoreline a bit more respectability.

However, be that as it may, Italy were still able to stay in the contest at half-time after trailing 12-7 but failed to keep the pressure on as the men in green and gold ran in a further two tries to seal the deal.

It was South Africa's first win in their fourth match on tour, but while the final scoreline was emphatic enough in the Springboks' favour it was not the rousing performance that might have been hoped for to erase the memory of the past two weeks.

The Springboks scored four tries, all of them to the backs, and it was a day where the South Africans should have been exceedingly thankful that they had a massive advantage behind the scrum.

For the umpteenth time on this tour, the Boks were pummelled in the set-scrums and if the truth be told, Italy's comfort in most aspects of the forward battle should be taken as a loud warning ahead of next week's big match in Dublin.

When playing the world champions as heavy underdogs the last thing you want to do is pay for some early indiscipline.  But in his first start for Italy, flanker Simone Favaro charged upfield and hit scrum-half Fourie du Preez with a stupid late tackle that earned him a yellow card and resulted in a simple penalty in front of the posts.

Morne Steyn produced a most uncharacteristic mistake by missing, however the South Africans quickly struck with a great try which was fashioned by a break from Ryan Kankowski for Bryan Habana to capitalise on the quick ball that was spread out wide in the sixth minute.

Steyn missed the conversion but just after Favaro was allowed back on, Habana beat Matteo Pratichetti on the outside and slipped the ball inside for Jaque Fourie to score under the posts.

Steyn finally landed a kick and with 14 minutes gone the hosts were already 12-0 down.  It looked as though it might be one-way traffic, but up to that point there had yet to be a set scrum.  When the teams did finally scrum down, the Italians were as solid as a house, and completely destroyed the Boks with the second scrum of the match.

Italy continued to improve and should have scored as Alessandro Zanni broke to within a metre of the line but his support was slow in reaching him and the Springboks cleared their lines thanks to a trademark Heinrich Brussow steal.

Italy's first shot at goal had to be taken upstairs to decide whether the ball had in fact managed to squeeze in between the uprights.  Gower was convinced, but the TMO was not and with 30 minutes up on the clock, South Africa held on to their 12-point lead.

But the former Australian-born rugby league international finally came good a few minutes later as he gave a subtle inside pass to centre Gonzalo Garcia with Alberto Sgarbi acting as a decoy.

Completely flummoxing the Springbok backline, Garcia ran in untouched for a splendid touchdown that was clearly scripted to aim at one of the Bok weaknesses.  Steyn held his line, but Adi Jacobs didn't hold his, and the try was all too easy.  At 12-7, and with the scrum flying backwards, the Boks were in big trouble.

There was still time, though, for both Italy full-back Luke McLean and Steyn to miss penalties before the break.

Six minutes into the second period Steyn landed a penalty before McLean missed his second of the afternoon after Italy's scrum caused the kind of problems that had the All Blacks struggling a week ago.

But on 53 minutes, the Springboks scored after more calamitous Italian defending as Danie Rossouw broke a tackle on the left-hand touchline.  The Bok flanker slipped the ball inside to Habana who cut inside and popped the ball to Du Preez, who held off Zanni and Mirco Bergamasco to score.

Gower soon pulled back three points from a penalty after his own midfield break but Steyn replied on 64 minutes to make it 10-25.

As Italian legs started to tire, gaps appeared and Du Preez scythed through following a line-out and fed replacement Wyand Olivier to score by the posts -- his first in 26 Tests -- with another replacement in the form of Ruan Pienaar converting.

With Jacobs struggling so much with his defensive game, and Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll licking his lips about his rematch with the Bok team that beat the British and Irish Lions in mid-year, the smart money should be on Olivier wearing the number twelve jersey at Croke Park.

But the area that should come under most scrutiny in the build-up to the final game of the tour is undeniably the front row.  And against the Italians, this may be a timely pointer to the Springbok management as they consider their options.

Man of the match:  Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie were prominent in the Bok backline along with Heinrich Brussow in the forwards, but our vote goes with number nine Fourie du Preez who once again showed his running ability, kicking ability and try-scoring ability.

Moment of the match:  All the tries scored in this match were gems, but we think Du Preez's touchdown after the break was what the Boks needed to shut the Italians out.

Villain of the match:  Assistant referee James Jones appears to not like the colour green and gold.  He was the man in charge during the Wembley defeat, penalizing the Boks unjustly at the breakdown, and was at it again -- albeit from the touchline -- today.  As Bryan Habana attempted to save a touch-finder, the Welshman ruled the winger to have put a foot in touch when Habana was in fact ... in the air!  Oh, and the Italians scored a great try from the ensuing line-out.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Garcia
Pens:  Gower
Cons:  Gower

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana, Fourie, Du Preez, Olivier
Cons:  Steyn 2, Pienaar
Pens:  Steyn 2

Yellow card:  Favaro (Italy, 4mins)

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Simon Picone;  8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Gonzalo Canale.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements:  16 Tendai Mtawarira, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Victor Matfield, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)

USA edge out Uruguay

Depsite a late comeback form the home side, the USA managed to beat Uruguay 27-22 in a World Cup qualifying match in Montevideo on Saturday.

Thirteen points in the last six minutes have boosted Uruguay's chances of claiming the Americas 2 spot at Rugby World Cup 2011 after the first leg of their play-off.

Uruguay had won only one of their 10 previous meetings with the Eagles, their most recent loss being a 43-9 defeat in Salt Lake City last year, and at 27-9 they would have been left with a mountain to climb in Florida next weekend

However, Uruguay full back Jeronimo Etcheverry -- a member of their IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy winning side of 2008 -- stepped forward to kick two penalties and convert his last minute try to cut the deficit to five points at the final whistle to the delight of the 2,000 strong crowd

The 21-year-old's fourth penalty of the night and his converted try came when Uruguay enjoyed a one-man advantage after Eagles replacement Mike Petri was sent to the sin-bin by Argentinean referee Javier Mancuso

"We are happy to win, but honestly a bit disappointed that we gave up so many points in the last quarter" admitted Eagles coach Eddie O'Sullivan

"We would have liked to walk away with a larger point spread, but in the end are happy to take away the victory"

The Eagles had taken the lead in the 15th minute at the Charrua Stadium with scrum half Tim Usasz's try, before fly half Nicolas Morales got the home side on the board with a penalty five minutes later Another try for Kevin Swiryn and a Mike Hercus penalty, though, gave the visitors a 13-3 advantage at half time

Centre Junior Sifa touched down eight minutes after the break and this time Hercus was able to add the conversion Once more though Los Teros came back at their visitors with Etcheverry kicking his first penalty in the 55th minute to make it 20-6

Uruguay's cause was not helped by the loss of prop Mario Sagario to the sin-bin just past the hour mark, and while Etcheverry kicked another penalty, the Eagles pulled further away with replacement Alipate Tuilevuka's try

However with Uruguay's scrum and maul remaining strong, Etcheverry brought them back into the match and strengthened their chances of taking the Americas 2 place alongside two-time winners Australia, Italy, Ireland and Europe 2 in Pool C at Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand

The teams:

Uruguay:  15 Jeronimo Etcheverry, 14 Martin Crosa, 13 Juan Llovet, 12 Joaquin Pastore, 11 Leandro Leivas, 10 Nicolas Morales, 9 Juan Campomar, 8 Rodrigo Capo (c), 7 Alfredo Giuria, 6 Nicolas Brignoni, 5 Matias Fonseca, 4 Carlos Protasi, 3 Mario Sagario, 2 Martin Espiga, 1 Rodrigo Sànchez,
Replacements:  16 Carlos Arboleya 17 Alejo Corral 18 Juan Rombys 19 Juan Alzueta 20 Manuel Martinez 21 Alejandro Silveira 22 Tomas Jolivet

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Junior Sifa, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Mike Hercus, 9 Tim Usasz, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever (captain), 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John Van der Giessen, 3 Will Johnson, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Mate Moeakiola.
Replacements:  16 Brian McClenahan 17 Jacob Sprague 18 Alec Parker 19 Jonathan Gagiano 20 Mike Petri 21 Nese Malifa 22 Pate Tuilevuka

Japan thrash Canada

Asian champions Japan scored six tries as they thrashed Canada 46-8 in the opener of their two-match Test series in Sendai on Sunday.

Left flanker Michael Leitch opened the scoring in the ninth minute with stand-off Shaun Webb missing the conversion but later adding two penalties to take an 11-3 lead, which appeared enough to beat the visitors.

Number eight Takashi Kikutani and full back Go Aruga added two more converted tries to end the first half 25-3, with Canada's points coming from a James Pritchard penalty.

Substitute Alisi Tupuailei, left winger Hirotoki Onozawa, and hooker Shota Horie added three more tries with conversions to make it 46-3 before Nathan Hirayama touched down a consolation try for Canada in the dying minutes.

The second match will be played in Tokyo next Saturday.

The Scorers: 

For Japan: 
Tries:  Michael Leitch, Takashi Kikutani, Go Aruga, Alisi

Tupuailei, Hirotoki Onozawa, Shota Horie.
Cons:  Shaun Webb(4), James Arlidge.
Pens:  Shaun Webb (2).

For Canada: 
Try:  Nathan Hirayama.
Pens:  James Pritchard.

BOD delivers Ireland rescue

Australia's Grand Slam aspirations were foiled by a last-minute Brian O'Driscoll try to seal a 20-20 draw in Dublin on Sunday.

The Wallabies stepped up a gear from their defeat of England last week and delivered by some distance their most polished performance of the year, capped by a fine second-half try from Rocky Elsom, returning to Dublin where he was so revered earlier this year.

He could have been the villain of the piece, but as he has done so often, Brian O'Driscoll accelerated through a glaring gap in the final minute and steamed under the posts to cap his 100th Test with another crucial try for Ireland.

The stage had been set for such a finale before the game, but Australia threatened to ruin the party for long periods.

The Wallabies showed many aspects of lessons having been learned from their difficult Tri-Nations series.  Disturbingly for Ireland, they looked a yard faster for much of the match, even though Ireland produced the stirring fightback in the final ten minutes.

Most disturbing of all for the Irish was the manner in which Australia's scrum dismantled the Irish eight.  John Hayes had a horrible day.  Three times in the second half, the Wallaby eight first got the shove on, then splintered the Irish eight.  Once on Ireland's own ball.  Both Scotland and Wales should have made a note of that in bold.

Both sides kept the game tight, but Australia managed that much better.  There were fewer errors with hand and especially boot.  Quade Cooper, inconsistent for the Reds but undoubtedly talented, looked like he'd been playing Test rugby for years, so intelligent was his positioning and kicking.

Ireland did not fare so well.  Too many kicks were too long, or too central, or too high ... there was always a margin of error, rarely a perfect delivery.  On the rare occasions they did make a clean break or a player ran a threatening angle, the support was conspicuous by its absence and Ireland gave away too many penalties on attack.

But then Ireland were under pressure right from the 128th second, when Drew Mitchell opened the scoring.  Ronan O'Gara took the ball too flat and zipped a pass out to O'Driscoll, whose attempt to drift onto the ball meant he was not forward enough to catch it.  Mitchell scooped it up and made the 30m to the line with something to spare.  After three minutes, his day could only get better.  It did.

Thereafter, things got cagey.  Jonathan Kaplan set out his stall to be tight at the breakdowns, challenging the teams to respond imaginatively and let momentum build, but both sides continued to fret over opening the ball and opted to kick rather than let possession fall foul of Kaplan's shrill whistle.  A shame -- had the teams bought into it, we could have had a cracker.

As it was, it came in fits and starts.  Both Matt Giteau and Elsom made individual line-breaks, Giteau's nearly to the line, but neither one was capitalised on properly -- in Giteau's case, a glaring lack of support.

O'Gara opted for an unorthodox chip penalty for Tommy Bowe to run onto in the corner, but the Ospreys winger couldn't get onto the end of it under pressure from Digby Ioane.  Luke Fitzgerald was released down the left, but the Australian cover smothered any chance of an offload and the move petered out.

By half-time, Australia thus led 10-6, with Giteau landing one penalty to O'Gara's two as the scoring additions to Mitchell's try.

The second half was better as a spectacle, much better for Australia.  The forwards cured their line-out woes of the first half -- where they had lost four out of eight -- and found a real collective head of steam, playing both the referee and the fringes far far better than Ireland.  Giteau missed one penalty, but landed his second after 55 minutes, by which point Australia had had nearly 70 per cent of the second-half territory and possession.

Then Ireland pulled a try back.  Cian Healy, who had not had the best of debuts in the tight, was at least rampant in the loose.  He won the restart and bullocked into the Australian 22.  Eight close phases followed, culminating in a simple two pass move for Bowe who scored by the posts.

Tied at thirteen, Australia simply carried on without a blip.  Healy once again bustled forward, but the ball was turned over and the Wallabies gloriously moved the ball from side to side before Elsom powered into the corner.  Giteau's touchline conversion looked to be a hammer blow.

But Ireland responded.  Australia's huge effort left the reserve tanks empty and the siege Ireland laid to Australia's half in the final ten had an air of inevitability about it.  Two penalties in the corner forced Kaplan to issue a team warning to the men in gold, and from the next phase, Tommy Bowe was held up in the corner.  A five-metre scrum, solid this time, and then Tomas O'Leary crabbed while delaying his pass to find the right one of the three runners.  Australia's two centres parted like curtains and through the gap steamed O'Drsicoll, Ireland's hero once again.

Man of the match:  Big kudos must go to the Wallaby front row of Alexander, Moore and Robinson for their scrumming, while Rocky Elsom delivered a fine captain's display.  Quade Cooper started very well, but faded a little.  BOD was as good as ever and Tommy Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald -- before the latter went off injured -- were both constant threats.  But running those few yards further than anyone was David Pocock, who may well have usurped George Smith for keeps with his display.

Moment of the match:  In his hundredth Test, a last gasp-try to save his team's bacon from BOD.  A Hollywood finale.

Villain of the match:  Wycliff Palu was yellow-carded for an alleged dangerous tackle, but replays bore out Palu's version of events.  No award.

The scorers:

For Ireland:Tries:  Bowe, O'Driscoll
Cons:  O'Gara 2
Pens:  O'Gara 2

For Australia:
Tries:  Mitchell, Elsom
Cons:  Giteau 2
Pens:  Giteau 2

Yellow card:  Palu, 30, dangerous tackle

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Keith Earls.

Australia:  15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Digby Ioane, 12 Quade Cooper, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota Nau, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 James O'Connor.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Christophe Berdos (France), Andrew Small (England)
TMO:  Geoff Warren (England)

England limp past the Pumas

It was the win they needed, but it will sting like a loss.  The performance that led to England's dismal 16-9 win over Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday made the rabble that succumbed to Australia look like world beaters.

A litany of handling errors, poor decisions and wonky white set-pieces was punctuated by a late try from Matt Banahan and four swings of Jonny Wilkinson's left leg.  And that was just enough for the purple turtles.

Despite the new strip there was no disguising the curious inadequacies that have dogged England for far too long.

Worrying, there were also a few new ones to add to Martin Johnson's creaking in-tray:  clueless in the face of the counter-attack, absenteeism in defence and lack of wet-weather skills -- to name but three.

And, as referee Nigel Owens told England captain Steve Borthwick in no uncertain terms in one break in play, ''all the problems are coming from your scrum''.

Johnson coined a word this week -- ''tempo-ing'' -- but it looks like he didn't get around to teaching his charges how to actually effect it.  Only at the very end did they choose to up the gears.

Hell, even Wilkinson's kicking went to pot!

In hindsight, purple was actually the perfect pick for this excuse for a game:  Twickenham felt like a funeral parlour.

Such a rubbishing of England's performance might seem like a slight on the team that they beat.  It is not.  This vitriol is rooted in the injustice of the situation:  the best side did not win today.

The Pumas were everything their hosts were not:  confident, daring, canny and organised.

Although the weather was quintessentially English, it was the South Americans who made a better fist of the conditions.  The ball -- a virtual soap in the hands of the locals -- swept through the Pumas' paws with aplomb.

Let us not forget that, like England, Argentina have been hit hard by injuries.  Yet unlike England, they are unable to fill the breaches with seasoned pros.

The bare bones of the matter is that amateurs almost pipped England at Twickenham after less than a week of prep.  It doesn't get much worse than that.

Johnson made three changes to the spine of the England team in the hope of injecting some urgency and dynamism into the performance, with Paul Hodgson given a first Test start at scrum-half while James Haskell returned at number eight and Dylan Hartley at hooker.

Whilst Wilkinson's tactical kicking was disappointing, he did stroke England into the lead with a sublime drop-goal after setting up the chance with a huge tackle on the visiting captain, the immense Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.

As the barrage of kicking continued, England earned their first real opening when Lobbe fumbled a steepling kick under pressure from tireless Lewis Moody, and Mark Cueto broke clear -- but his top gear wasn't enough to shake off Horacio Agulla.

Despite missing so many key creative players it was Argentina who showed the most inclination to attack.

Martin Rodriguez shaved the post with a drop-goal attempt but drew Argentina level with a penalty after Tim Payne was penalised for not binding at the scrum.

And Rodriguez then drilled a second effort wide after Haskell was penalised for being offside, but Wilkinson responded with a successful long-range strike to nudge England back into the lead.

Monye, a stand-in full-back for England, was struggling badly as Fernandez continued to pepper him with high balls.

The Pumas had clocked it, but it took until half-time before England had the sense to switch him to his preferred position of wing and drop Cueto back to fifteen.

When Monye's third attempted catch went to ground, Haskell compounded the problem by diving on the ball and conceding another penalty which Rodriguez accepted gratefully.

The Twickenham crowd of nearly 78,000 was growing restless.  Paper planes rained down on the pitch in a palpable demonstration of boredom.  When Monye successfully claimed a wayward drop-goal effort from Fernandez he was greeted by ironic jeers from the stands.

Shane Geraghty was then booed for kicking the ball straight into touch instead of launching an attack.

When England were again penalised at the scrum, Rodriguez edged Argentina ahead with a third penalty, but the Pumas conceded almost immediately.

Wilkinson drew the scores level at half-time, but England departed for the break to more booing.

Despite what must have surely been a 'hairdryer' session under the stands, England didn't fare much better after the break.

The locals' kick-chase was almost non-existent -- with Moody the only player haring around and he managed to get half a block on Agulla's clearance.

Wilkinson did well to spot Argentina offside and exploited it with a grubber kick to earn the penalty, but he drilled it wide from 40 metres out.

England received another let-off when Rodriguez missed from a similar range and Cueto took it on his shoulders to inject some pace into the game with a confident take and counter-attack.

Cueto's angled kick forward was chased again by Moody and the pressure forced Argentina to gift England a lineout ten metres from the line.

But there was little invention on England's attack and Cueto was chopped down by a ruthless tackle from Lucas Borges and the attack was snuffed out.

Finally, with ten minutes remaining, England managed to create one ounce of the dynamic rugby they had promised from the outset.

Haskell sparked the move with a midfield break, Steve Borthwick off-loaded and the ball was spread wide via Cueto and Moody for Banahan to score in the corner.

The giant Bath winger -- otherwise anonymous -- touched down under the posts for his third try in four Tests (and all scored against the Pumas) to allow the unusually wayward Wilkinson to slot a simple conversion.

Argentina piled on the pressure at the death in search of the draw, but England managed to hold on.

Next up for England:  the All Blacks.  Look away now.

Man of the match:  The industrious Lewis Moody is the only Englishman who deserves a mention in dispatches.  Were the likes of Danny Hipkiss, Louis Deacon and Tom Croft even on the pitch?  The South Americans were impressive to a man, with Santiago Fernandez, Alfredo Lalanne and Horacio Agulla indicating that the Four Nations might not be a three-horse race that many expect it to be.  Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe was his usual brilliant self, but we'll thrust the honours towards the old warhorse who goes by the name of Patricio Albacete.  Immense in the tight and dynamic in the loose.  He was all the things that England promised to be.

Moment of the match:  This match will not live long in the memory.  At least we hope not.  But perhaps the booing at half-time might come to be remembered as a turning point in Martin Johnson's tenure as England boss.  His new priority is to simply win back the fans.

Villian of the match:  Dylan Hartley and Mario Ledesma had a couple of tiny tussles, but the skullduggery ended there.  In fact, a little more niggle might have helped proceedings.  No award.

The scorers:

For England:
Try:  Banahan
Con:  Wilkinson
Pens:  Wilkinson 2
Drop:  Wilkinson

For Argentina:
Pens:  Rodriguez 3

The teams:

England:  15 Ugo Monye, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Danny Hipkiss, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Steve Borthwick (c), 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Ayoola Erinle.

Argentina:  15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Mauro Comuzzi, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe (c), 7 Alfredo Abadie, 6 Tomas Leonardi, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Esteban Lozada, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Agustin Figuerola, 21 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 22 Federico Martin Aramburu.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)

All Blacks survive at San Siro

New Zealand avoided a potential European banana skin on Saturday in an historic 20-6 victory over Italy.

Despite holding a two-score cushion with just eight minutes remaining, the second-string visitors were under serious pressure which arguably should have translated into a penalty try after several scrum resets close to the line.

The passionate crowd were baying for official Stuart Dickinson to make the short jog under the poles.  He did not and the All Blacks escaped.

In the end the 80 minutes did not match the occasion though.  Welcome banners for New Zealand added to the warm reception during pre-game, which they had also received all week in the fashion capital.  However, they seemed to find the atmosphere and expectation a little overwhelming in a disjointed overall effort.

Players who were handed chances to impress such as Mike Delany, Tanerau Latimer and Ben Smith struggled in their quest to impress ahead of facing England next week, with the latter fumbling his first touch in the full Test jumper.

Bledisloe Cup holders New Zealand were also comprehensively beaten up front and in the aforementioned scrums by Leicester's destroyer Martin Castrogiovanni alongside experienced loosehead Salvatore Perugini.

In the middle of that grizzly duo was an in-form hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini, who proved a constant livewire for Italy and was slighly more deserving than opposite number Corey Flynn in claiming the only try of the first period..scratch that, the game.

It took the visitors a full 26 minutes to cross for that five-pointer, which was slightly against the run of play after Sitiveni Sivivatu delicately shipped the ball out to his hooker wide out.

That was the only attacking highlight of the first 40 but the overall moment came when, on two occasions, Italy demolished the All Black scrum.  It was quite a sight that pleased captain Sergio Parisse no end.

Many had predicted a strong opening from the home side, who were being cheered on by such names as soccer veterans Clarence Seedorf and Alessandro Del Piero.

A single penalty goal from Craig Gower on four minutes due to Wyatt Crockett being penalised at the set-piece got the crowd upright.  However, for all their spirit and the leadership of Parisse, Italy were unfortunate to find themselves 3-14 down at the break.

The neutral was predicting a closely-fought opening to this one before the opening of the floodgates when Graham Henry rolled on the likes of Richie McCaw, Andrew Hore, Jimmy Cowan and Mils Muliaina.  But that proved not to be the case as it was in fact the hosts who grew as the game wore on - the territorial statistics over the final 40 minutes act as proof, Italy had 60 per cent.

But for all their field position they lacked any threatening ideas under the playmaking nous of Gower, who had an off-day in general play.  One would imagine the New Zealand of old to have subsequently made them pay.

Not so, as Luke McAlister missed more than he made from the tee in Milan, with the width of a post summing up the former Sale man's own luck with the boot.

But the centre finally found his range on 44 minutes before Parisse lifted his troops for the final ten minutes.  How they responded from being 6-20 behind.

Italy set up camp five metres from the black whitewash and were gunning for a score that would reward the 77,000 spectators who had come out to pack the San Siro.

Wave after wave of attacks from their imperious scrum had Dickinson pressured to award them seven points in what was a fitting finish in this special Test fixture.  But Dickinson pooped the party.

Man of the match:  Leonardo Ghiraldini was strong during the first period but the overall performance of Sergio Parisse was once again unparalleled.  The Paris number eight got the better of opposite number Rodney So'oialo and proved his ever-growing global reputation with an excellent 80 minutes as leader.

Moment of the match:  The final eight minutes in Milan summed up the spirit of the Azzurri.  Close to ten scrum resets almost gave them a much-needed seven points but it wasn't to be.  80,000 stood to applaud the effort and Nick Mallett will be oh so proud of his pack.

Villain of the match:  No one really stands out in either camp.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Gower 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Flynn
Pens:  McAlister 5

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Simon Picone, 21 Kristopher Burton, 22 Alberto Sgarbi

New Zealand:  15 Cory Jane, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Mike Delany, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Anthony Boric, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Richie McCaw, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Mils Muliaina.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Tim Hayes (Wales)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

Scotland ease past Fiji

Scotland began their November Test series -- and Andy Robinson's tenure -- with a comfortable 23-10 win over Fiji on Saturday.

An early second-half try -- tinged with controversy -- by Graeme Morrison put the Scots in a winning position, but despite the promise shown in the first half there might be a mild concern that the team failed to kick on and close out the win their set-piece superiority deserved.

They might see it as progress -- Scotland had lost six of the last nine coming into this after all -- but there's still a lot to do.  Having worked themselves in good fashion to a 16-0 lead, Scotland conceded a soft try and went thoroughly into their shells, briefly peeking out to score a second try and then retreating as though caught in the glare of headlights.

Some of the first half was top notch from the Scots.  There were some clever well-worked moves coming off the back of an utterly dominant set piece, not least the opening try.  But the number of balls turned over and the comparatively high penalty count negated the momentum.

In the second half, the backs just couldn't seem to find the right angles to run and ran out of ideas far too fast, while the forwards seemed unable to tidy up the rucks.  The defence held firm well enough, but also allowed the Fijians to build up momentum too quickly.  Fiji were unable to punish, but a better opponent would have cleaned up.

Fiji will also not be entirely satisfied.  All too rarely did their fabled hands begin to work and put players into space, the balance the team likes to strike between sevens and the full game tilted too far towards the latter;  not their forte.  Runners took the ball into contact but the support was slow -- understandable given only three days of chaotic preparation but they'll have to analyse and reflect that a little more adventure could have reaped rewards.

One move in particular which took them to 2m away from the Scots' line, was begging for a glory finish.  Instead the forwards took the ball on around the fringes a couple of phases too many and had it wrapped up.  That won the Fijians a scrum, frequently a good source of Scottish possession.

After finding their feet during the first ten minutes and taking the lead with a Phil Godman penalty, Scotland struck first with a super try.  Johnnie Beattie popped the ball down to Chris Cusiter off a line-out and the scrum-half scampered through, offloading to Beattie who took two players over the line with him.  Those two players included Josefa Domolailai who subsequently left the field with an oxygen mask after sustaining a horrible leg injury.

Further penalties followed from Godman, as well as one that struck the post, as Scotland exploited their scrumming superiority mercilessly, but Fiji built up a couple of good heads of steam as well, and scored a sucker-punch try just before half time.  A series of rucks near the Scottish line built the momentum before the pass went out to an unopposed Vereneki Goneva for a simple finish, but questions will be asked as to why Simon Danielli chose that moment to cut inside on defence and leave Goneva free.

Half-time at 16-7 was comfortable enough and within five minutes of the second half, Graeme Morrison -- benefitting from a monstrous knock-on right in the blind spot of the officials -- crashed over under the posts, with Godman making it 23-7.

That should have been a catalyst, no matter how hard the Fijians fought.  The blue scrum was shoving the white eight from loosehead to tight and the line-out was solid, while poor Josh Matavesi at full-back for Fiji was having a nervous game.  All the requisite weak spots were there, but Scotland got sloppy, falling over rucks, resorting to illegal scrummaging to hammer home their advantage and looking a little lackadaisical in support and on the hoof.

Nicky Little banged over a penalty for Fiji on the hour to bring them to within two scores, but the Fijians got tired as the game petered out a little.  Only Napolioni Nalaga looked capable of breaking a line and causing danger, but he was not given enough time running with the ball.

With six minutes to go, Fiji had worked their way to the line and an overlap -- with Nalaga on the end of it -- was begging.  It could have been a very uncomfortable final few minutes for Scotland, but the Fiji forwards took the wrong option, winning only a scrum, from which they lost the ball.  A win for Scotland, but lots to do.

Man of the match:  Not a whole great deal of contenders, but while he was on the pitch, Chris Cusiter showed plenty of flashes and led the side ably in terms of both personnel and game play.

Moment of the match:  Without a doubt Scotland's opening try, which should have inspired Scotland to bigger and better.

Villain of the match:  Not a jot.  No flying Fijian tackles -- indeed the highest tackle of the day was by Alasdair Strokosch!

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Beattie, Morrison
Cons:  Godman 2
Pens:  Godman 3

For Fiji:
Try:  Goneva
Con:  Little
Pen:  Little

Scotland:  15 Rory Lamont, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Alex Grove, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Chris Cusiter (c), 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Jason White, 19 Richie Vernon, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Nick De Luca.

Fiji:  15 Josh Matavesi, 14 Vereneki Goneva, 13 Gabirieli Lovobalavu, 12 Seremaia Bai (c), 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Nicky Little, 9 Moses Rauluni, 8 Asaeli Boko, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Josefa Domolailai, 5 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 4 Wame Lewaravu, 3 Deacon Manu, 2 Vili Veikoso, 1 Alefoso Yalayalatabua.
Replacements:  16 Graham Dewes, 17 Sereli Ledua, 18 Leone Nakarawa, 19 Samu Bola, 20 Waisale Vatuvoka, 21 Jonetani Ratu, 22 Nasoni Roko.

Referee:  Chris White (England)
Assistants:  Carlo Damasco (Italy), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO:  Guillio De Santis (Italy)

Wales cling on for victory

Wales' Pacific Island jinx nearly struck again on Friday as they laboured to a scrappy 17-13 win over Samoa in Cardiff.

They rode their luck though, ending up holding on desperately to a four-point lead after Seilala Mapusua's intercept try had brought the Samoans back into the game on the hour mark.

It looked so good after five minutes.  Wales had stretched the Samoans this way and that, winning an early penalty and scoring a gem of a try when Leigh Halfpenny collected Dan Biggar's kick on the wing.  But that was about it.  For the rest of the match, the Welsh simply struggled to match the physicality of the men in blue and their own organisation faltered as a result.

Offloads didn't stick, the decision-making went awry.  Dan Biggar eschewed three big overlaps in the run up to Mapusua's intercept before then hanging on to the ball too long and chucking out a sitter for the experienced centre to pick off and score.  This was a young team which needed to learn, but any team has to do better than that with 65 per cent of the possession.

Samoa did not offer anything unexpected, indeed the sophistication of their own play was at a lesser level than usual.  Rarely in the first hour did they pose a major attacking threat.  Lolo Lui was sin-binned for a murderous charge on Dwayne Peel which left the scrum-half stunned for a good three minutes.  Only later in the game did the Samoans break free, but it was too late.  Welsh fans will not like to consider what might have been had they tried it a bit earlier.

The Tuilagi brothers were also flinging their weight around with barely legal abandon and the rest of the blue shirts marauded around the fringes of rucks, exploiting well the leeway given to them by referee Peter Fitzgibbon.  It was disruptive and effective, but Wales had to rise above it.  They didn't, and nearly paid the price.

There were good things too.  Some of the handling, particularly from the forwards, was almost dainty.  There was an encouraging number of line-breaks -- eleven to Samoa's two in the end -- which at least shows that the team is heading in a good direction.

The first of those was by Alun-Wyn Jones, who tock an inside pass from Biggar and offloaded to Peel.  Peel accelerated before offloading to Warburton and then being flattened by Lui.  Warburton was brought down a metre short and his tackler was penalised for not releasing too.  Lui went to the bin as Biggar clipped over the points.

Right from the restart Samoa equalised, with Welsh chasers in front of Peel's box-kick, but with the Welsh already creating problems out wide, Biggar spied David Lemi off his wing and hoisted a fabulous cross-kick into Halfpenny's arms for the winger to do the rest.

Biggar extended the lead on sixteen minutes after George Stowers was caught holding on in a tackle, and with Wales' kicking game vastly superior, Samoa could not get out of their half.

As the game approached the half-hour and Warburton -- excellent on the night -- once again found a hole to get through, before James Hook -- another standout performer -- was denied by a crunching tackle from Alesana Tuilagi, you sensed Wales were turning the screw.  A try before the break might have killed things off.

Instead Samoa found their way into Wales' half with some good kicking themselves, and Fa'atonu Fili missed one sitter of a penalty before landing a second and sending the teams into the changing rooms at 11-6 to Wales.

The second half began as the first had ended, Wales in the ascendancy, finding small holes but not opening them up enough.  James Hook had the best opportunity, tearing away down the left where he could have passed inside or chipped.  Instead he dummied and held on and was cleaned up by Lui having isolated himself in the process.

Still, Halfpenny and Biggar had both notched kicks to put the Welsh a comfortable 17-6 ahead, but then Biggar made his howler just as the Samoans were looking ripe for the picking and within a minute, it was 17-13.

From then, it only got worse.  Samoa found a second wind of hurricane-strength and had Wales desperately clutching on in defence.  Mapusua and Uale Mai almost combined to scoring effect down the right.  David Lemi's chip and chase was wonderfully rescued by Halfpenny at the last gasp.  Welsh attacks continued to lack the fluency or cohesion of the first half and shades of 1991 hung in the air.

Alas for Samoa it was not to be.  But with only three days' preparation, this was an impressive display of guts and nous.  For three weeks of preparation, Wales came up distinctly short.

Man of the match:  A tough one to call.  While the Welsh were not on song as a team, there were many individual moments of brilliance:  James Hook, Ryan Jones, Andy Powell, Dwayne Peel and Sam Warburton can all hold heads high.  But sticking it all together and putting his all into it when it often mattered most was the energetic Gethin Jenkins, who also produced a sterling scrummaging effort.  For Samoa, mention should be made to Cencus Johnston and Junior Polu.

Moment of the match:  Halfpenny's try and Mapusua's reply both featured, but Leigh Halfpenny's save of David Lemi's chip and chase was the moment when the sighs of relief began to pour forth from the Millennium Stadium stands.

Villain of the match:  It makes for good viewing, but Lolo Lui should study tapes of his hit on Dwayne Peel and Alesana Tuilagi's on James Hook and spot the difference in the freeze frames:  namely the lack of a ball in Peel's hand.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Halfpenny
Pens:  Biggar 3, Halfpenny

For Samoa:
Try:  Mapusua
Con:  Fili
Pens:  Fili 2

Yellow cards:  Lui (2, Samoa, dangerous tackle), H Tuilagi (52, Samoa, repeated infringement)

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tom James, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Matthew Rees, 17 Craig Mitchell, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 Jonathan Davies, 22 Morgan Stoddart.

Samoa:  15 Lolo Lui, 14 David Lemi, 13 Gavin Williams, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Fa'atonu Fili, 9 Junior Polu, 8 Henry Tuilagi, 7 Ofisa Treviranus, 6 George Stowers (c), 5 Iosefa Tekori, 4 Filipo Levi, 3 Cencus Johnston, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Justin Va'a.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Williams, 17 Sakaria Taulafo, 18 Kane Thompson, 19 Jonny Faamatuianu, 20 Uale Mai, 21 Henry Fa'afili, 22 Titi Esau.

Referee:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Dave Pearson (England), Rob Debney (England)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

Ferocious French stop Boks

France lived up to their reputation as the giant-killers of world rugby with a deserved 20-13 win over South Africa in Toulouse on Friday.

Beaten at scrum-time and at the breakdown, matched in the line-outs and in the battle of the boot, the Springboks were a step behind their hosts from the word go.

Before the game, the French promised that they would match the Boks for physicality and they did just that.  A pumped-up French pack put on an absolutely ferocious display -- constantly denying the world champions any opportunity to gain any sort of momentum.

The French would have been bitterly disappointed when they trailed 13-11 at the break after having enjoyed the better of the first half.  South Africa's luck would change in the second half however as two yellow cards and blustery wind contributed to a scoreless second period for the tourists.

A number of eyebrows were raised in France when the Boks arrived just 48 hours prior to kick-off.  Whether their late arrival played a part in their error-riddled performance is a matter of debate, but what is clear is that, on a slippery surface, South Africa made far more errors they we had become used to during the Tri-Nations.

But let's take nothing away from the Tricolors, who stepped up to the plate and produced and near faultless display.  Despite the Springboks' credentials, this was no fluke as Marc Lièvremont's side lived up to the expectations created by their victory in New Zealand in June.

Julien Dupuy's early penalty gave France the lead as the hosts kept the world champions under constant pressure.  Three times in the first fifteen minutes South Africa were robbed of the ball at the ruck and the team in blue were doing a good job of keeping possession.

But you only need to give John Smit's team half a chance and they will put points on the board.  First Morné Steyn levelled the scores with a yet another fabulous kick before he put his side ahead with a neat drop.

When Smit latched onto a wayward line-out throw from local hooker William Servat to barge over from short range, South Africa took an ten-point lead with the conversion from Steyn.

Two mistakes had cost France dearly, but it took less than a minute for Les Bleus to reply.

When the Boks fluffed the restart the French midfield turned on the gas.  With the Bok defence stretched to the limit, Yann David found a gap, a brilliant tap-on from Francois Trinh-Duc gave Vincent Clerc the half-second he needed to sneak into the corner.

Things started to come apart at the seems for South Africa when Steyn was shown yellow on the stroke of half time and Dupuy narrowed the gap to two points.

Soon after the teams swapped sides Dupuy put France ahead when the Bok scrum was destroyed under their own posts.  The wind was at France's back, both literally and figuratively.

South African never realistically looked like scoring in the second period and when Ryan Kankowski, who had a disappointing game in general, was shown a yellow for killing the ball near his own try line, the writing was on the wall.

Replacement scrum-half Morgan Parra missed the penalty but was on target a few minutes later to secure to win for the hosts.

Man of the match:  France skipper Thierry Dusautoir was awesome.  A terror at the breakdown, the Toulouse flank led his team with all the gusto that one could ask for.

Moment of the match:  With France trailing on the half-hour mark, one might have had the feeling it wasn't going to be Les Blues' night, but Vincent Clerc's try seemed to give the hosts the belief that they could win.

Villain of the match:  Whoever that rasta was who murdered the South African anthem.  Please, please never let him get close to a microphone ever again.

The Scorers

For France:
Try:  Clerc
Pens:  Dupuy 4, Parra

For South Africa:
Try:  Smit
Con:  Steyn
Pen:  Steyn
Drop:  Steyn

Yellow cards:  Steyn (SA -- 40th min -- foul play);  Kankowski (SA -- 68th min -- professional foul)

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Sébastien Chabal, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Marty, 22 Maxime Médard.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.

Venue:  Stadium de Toulouse
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), James Jones (Wales)
Television match officials:  Graham Hughes (England)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Australia display new-found resolve

More accustomed to throwing leads away, Australia bounced back from a 9-5 half-time deficit to beat England 18-9 at Twickenham on Saturday.

The win is just the tonic Australia need at the end of a year in which they have so often flattered to deceive.  England were limited, but the manner in which Australia came out in the second half and took the game by the cobblers will have had Robbie Deans glowing inside.

It's England's limitations that will be the prime subject of focus after this game, not so much in terms of personnel but certainly in tactical thinking.  At the end of an opening quarter which England utterly dominated, they should have held far more than a 6-0 lead.  A minute later, after Australia's first meaningful spell of pressure, it was only 6-5.  Will Genia, and later in the game, Adam Ashley-Cooper, found something that England never did.

More meaningful than the scoreline ought to be a sober reflection on the number of scoring opportunities Australia butchered as well.  Matt Giteau was twice denied by thumping tackles from Jonny Wilkinson and Rocky Elsom suffered an untimely case of tunnel vision, while a wrong option to chip by Drew Mitchell and a butter-fingered moment from Digby Ioane by the line also meant points went a-begging.

But it is the first twenty minutes that England must focus on, perhaps even the entire first half.  They had nine penalties to Australia's two.  Steve Borthwick and Tom Croft were creating all sorts of problems for Australia's line-out -- they stole three out of seven.  It took Australia 16 minutes to have, and claim, a phase of set-piece possession.  Stats like that should mean a lead of at least ten points.

England did lead 6-0 at the end of the first twenty, courtesy of a majestic drop goal from Wilkinson and a penalty but they had to kick on and press the advantage home.  Instead, outside of an effervescent Wilkinson whose absorption of French rugby culture appears to have stretched to his becoming almost maverick with his steps and chips, there was little beyond the crash, bash and thunder of archetypal English club rugby.  Straight running, lots of contact, lots of rucking, lots of basics ... in the end, quite a lot of nothing at all.  More imagination is needed.

Instead it was Genia who showed the way, sparking a wave of attacks and then slipping through a gap at the base of a ruck to put the Wallabies on the scoreboard.

England continued to dominate, but the question had been posed.  'We can do that,' said Australia.  'What can you do?'

Well, Wilkinson kicked another penalty.  England's defence stood resolute late on -- again, Wilkinson showed his importance -- as Australia came again.  England's pack continued to rumble.  But it was Giteau who looked the most likely to score as half-time neared, with Wilkinson putting in a terrific tackle on him.

At 9-5, England sat pretty at the break.  This is Australia, after all, the team that always fades.  Except this time, Australia's forwards came out and got into English faces.  Giteau nailed a penalty for an offside, after a movement where both he and Elsom could have released the ball for tries.  A dubious scrum penalty on the hour mark meant Giteau gave his side the lead.  Now England had to respond.  Wilkinson tried his hardest with a sublime chip, regather and offload, but nobody else had the fluency or imagination to carry the move on.  Eventually, the men in white resorted to type, trying to grind it out.  It won't cut the mustard against the more sophisticated teams.

But the killer blow will have had Martin Johnson's forehead dropping deep with rage.  Out the ball came left to Adam Ashley-Cooper, who was taken too high and too upright by both Mark Cueto and Ugo Monye.  The Wallaby full-back renowned for his strength on his feet, powered forward and dragged the two Englishmen over the line with him from 15m out.  Giteau converted to send Australia two scores ahead with ten to go -- two scores England were never going to get.

Man of the match:  Will Genia takes this one, with Quade Cooper and Jonny Wilkinson a close second.  Cooper in particular looked as close to coming of age as he ever has, while Wilkinson looked as fresh as a spring day.  But Genia's pace, intelligence and threatening running posed continual questions that England found too much to cope with.

Moment of the match:  Adam Ashley-Cooper's try killed the game off -- and what a score it was!

Villain of the match:  We're almost tempted to castigate the players for being too clean!  Where's the edge?  No award.

The scorers:

For England:
Pens:  Wilkinson 2
Drop goal:  Wilkinson

For Australia:
Tries:  Genia, Ashley-Cooper
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2

England:  15 Ugo Monye, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Steve Borthwick (Captain), 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dave Wilson, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Ayoola Erinle.

Australia:  15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Digby Ioane, 12 Quade Cooper, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, (captain), 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota Nau, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 James O'Connor.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match officials:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

All Blacks close out Wales in Cardiff

It was close, but in the end New Zealand broke Welsh hearts yet again after beating their hosts 19-12 at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Wales came agonisingly close to breaking their 56-year duck, but only have themselves to blame for yet another defeat in a game that could have easily ended in a draw.

With just three minutes left on the clock and seven points behind, an intercept by lock Alun-Wyn Jones had the capacity crowd on their feet.  Tired, battered and bruised, 60 metres to the All Blacks' try-line looked like 60 miles for the second row forward.

He did well enough to get to New Zealand's 22, but with red jerseys to his left and his right -- the final pass found a black one instead and all hope of a match-saving touchdown was lost in an instant.

Cool, calm and collected, Dan Carter also produced a big try-saving tackle on Welsh replacement Martin Roberts after a superb Shane Williams burst.  Replays showed it to be high and Carter was booed off by the home fans after being named man of the match.

Fair play to the All Blacks though, they dug deep when it mattered and closed the game out with precision after several last-ditch efforts from the Welshmen.

Wales, determined as ever in front of their passionate home crowd, took the game to New Zealand and would have taken plenty of heart heading into the half-time sheds with the scores locked at 6-6.  It was definitely a fair reflection of the first forty, as there wasn't too much separating the two sides as far as possession and territory was concerned.

The All Blacks used the kicking game more often than not during the first half -- an obvious tactic considering Carter passed the ball just once in the opening 20 minutes.  Wales on the other hand were far more creative and looked dangerous on attack -- only to cough up the ball at crucial moments.

Wales had a chance to open the scoring early on, but a missed goal attempt from Leigh Halfpenny from 48m out, instead allowed New Zealand the honour of posting first points on the board courtesy of a trademark Carter penalty in the twelfth minute.

With Halfpenny guilty of missing and giving away a penalty in the space of five minutes, relief was written all over the young wingers face when fly-half Stephen Jones stepped up to level the scores after Richie McCaw's illegal dabbling in a ruck.

The All Blacks thought they finally cracked the Welsh line, only for the TMO ruling a blatant knock-on by Brendon Leonard.  But referee Craig Joubert was playing advantage to the visitors, and Carter was on hand to put the Kiwis back in front.

The see-saw battle continued, but Stephen Jones wasn't kidding around with his second successful kick of the night that leveled the scores with half-time looming after prop Neemia Tialata was blown for not rolling away in the tackle.

Carter handed the All Blacks the lead after just three minutes of the second-half when veteran flanker Martyn Williams played the ball as the Kiwis pressed the Welsh line.

With both sides now running the ball, and full-back James Hook in particular fielding all kicks with aplomb, it was the Welsh defence which buckled, letting hooker Andrew Hore burrow in for a try in the corner which Carter converted for a 16-6 lead.

The visitors' tails were suddenly up as big lock Brad Thorn rumbled 30 metres upfield to set up an attacking position the Kiwis almost capitalised on.  And then Conrad Smith was held up over the line by Shane Williams after a slick interchange of passes in midfield.

Wales were struggling to get out their own half -- let alone get their hands on the ball -- and Carter added a fourth penalty in the 65th minute when Andy Powell infringed on the floor.

Stephen Jones hit straight back after McCaw was penalised again for a 19-9 ball game as Wales finally managed to break out of their own half.

But it was that man Carter again who was on hand to produce a covering, albeit high, try-saving tackle on replacement scrum-half Roberts after Shane Williams had stepped away from his marker.

Jones claimed a fourth penalty from out wide with five minutes to play to set up a nail-biting finish.

Alun-Wyn Jones then intercepted a sloppy Jimmy Cowan pass, but the excellent Zac Guildford, making his debut on the wing, tracked back and knocked down the Welsh lock's effort to offload.

Wales then squandered a line-out on the All Black five-metre line and were turned over in midfield by the incomparable midfield pairing of Ma'a Nonu and Smith to ensure New Zealand got their European tour off to a perfect start.

Man of the match:  New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter masterminded the All Blacks in both defence and attack, kicking four penalties and a conversion to make it a perfect 13 from 13 on the tour so far.

Moment of the match:  Andrew Hore's try certainly proved the difference between the two sides, but it was Alan-Wyn Jones' intercept that really put everyone's heart in their throats!

Villain of the match:  None to speak of.  Good, clean fun in Cardiff.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Pens:  S Jones 4

For New Zealand:
Try:  Hore
Con:  Carter
Pens:  Carter 4

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 Jonathan Davies, 22 Tom James.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Brendan Leonard, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Corey Flynn, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Ben Smith.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Bledisloe blackwash in Tokyo

New Zealand completed a clean sweep in the 2009 Bledisloe Cup on Saturday with a 32-19 win over Australia in Tokyo.

The Wallabies got off to a good start but faded as the match went on and were unable to score in the second half.

Australia led 16-13 at half time after a Peter Hynes try cancelled out an earlier score from All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Sivivatu has rounded off a fabulous team effort to put New Zealand ahead after two Matt Giteau penalties had given Australia an early lead.

But the Wallabies were able to wrestle the lead back when Sivivatu earned a yellow card for taking Adam Ashley-Cooper out in the air.

The All Blacks move back in front shortly after the break when centre Conrad Smith broke clear to score.

Dan Carter added three more penalties to seal the deal for New Zealand.

It was a more committed Australian side who showed they had regained their physicality to put the experience of Wellington and their 33-6 loss to the All Blacks in their last encounter behind them.

But they were still unable to find the finesse to put the All Blacks under sufficient pressure.

Number eight Wycliff Paul twice went close to scoring, being held up on the line the first time, and losing the ball in the tackle the second time.

Handling mistakes proved costly on several occasions for the Wallabies.

Half-back Will Genia, inside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper and wing Digby Ioane were each slippery on attack but were unable to head off the All Blacks cover defence.

New Zealand's performance was not as dominant as in Wellington but with all the emphasis on coaching changes the lineout proved more competitive from the outset.

Australia did make the most of the sin-binning of wing Sitiveni Sivivatu after a dangerous tackle on an airborne Ashley-Cooper and wing Peter Hynes was awarded a controversial try soon after when referee Mark Lawrence became frustrated at the delay in the decision-making of a Japanese television match official.

Earlier, clever All Blacks handling overcame determined Australian defence to produce the first try of the game after Matt Giteau had landed two penalty goals to one by Dan Carter.

Carter took a heavy hit but still managed to recycle the ball and half-back Jimmy Cowan threw a long pass to flanker Richie McCaw who in-passed to lock Tom Donnelly.

He linked with full-back Mils Muliaina and he found McCaw in support and his pass outside found wing Sitiveni Sivivatu in the clear.

Carter landed a conversion from wide out for a 10-6 lead.

Giteau and Carter exchanged penalty goals in the 29th and 30th minutes.

Australia struck back after Sivivatu's sin-binning and moved the ball to wing Peter Hynes, with Genia firing a long pass from a maul.

Hynes was in the clear but three All Blacks cover defenders looked to get him as he dived at the line.  Referee Mark Lawrence called for the television match official to see if Hynes grounded the ball short of the line.

Initial replays were inconclusive but Lawrence lost patience with the amount of time taken and ruled the try had been scored.  Giteau landed a fine conversion to give Australia a 16-13 lead.

Moments later, after some poor All Blacks decision-making, Palu ran off the back of a scrum toward the line but was unable to ground the ball as Cowan got under him and the All Blacks were able to survive until the half-time whistle.

Sivivatu marked his return with a 60-metre kick which hit the corner post and when Australia cleared downfield Muliaina ran the ball upfield to link with Carter.

From the maul the ball was moved to wing Cory Jane standing at first receiver.

He threaded through the defence and passed to centre Conrad Smith who stepped through the Australians and went over for a 45th-minute try.

Penalty goals to Carter took the All Blacks to a 26-16 lead before Giteau landed his fourth to bring Australia back to the seven-point margin.

But almost immediately Carter landed a fifth penalty goal to regain the 10-point margin.

Carter's fourth penalty goal brought up his 200th point in Tests against Australia.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Hynes
Pens:  Giteau 3

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Sivivatu, Smith
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 5

Yellow card:  Sivivatu (NZ - 33rd min - dangerous tackle);

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Drew Mitchell, 22 tbc.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements:  16 Corey Flynn, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Zac Guildford.

Venue:  Olympic Stadium
Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert, Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match officials:  Akihisa Aso (Japan)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

ABs hand Wallabies wooden spoon

New Zealand secured second place in the 2009 Tri-Nations at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday with a convincing 33-6 win over Australia.

The daggers were out for Graham Henry and co. this week but the All Blacks answered their critics with their third victory over Australia this year, scoring three tries to none in a dominant display.

While the protagonists produced an entertaining game of rugby, the error count -- by Australia at the breakdown and line-outs especially -- made it clear to see why neither team could match the Springboks in this year's Tri-Nations.

In both regards the New Zealand were the better side.  The All Blacks line-out has come under a lot of fire of late and while they made a marked improvement, the progress made must be taken with a pinch of salt considering Australia hardly bothered to compete when their hosts threw the ball in.

But let's take nothing away from the way the All Blacks approached the game.  Three tries were just reward for their positive running and domination of possession.

Perhaps the real story here is Australia's inability to string two solid performances together.  If you're going to play a running game, ball retention at the breakdown is primordial.  The men in gold gave away possession while on attack far to easily, far too often -- in stark contrast to their win over South Africa just two weeks ago.

Two months ago, many were convinced that Robbie Deans' Wallabies would be serious challengers for the title in 2009, but just one win from six games is not the kind of return expected from a team with such promise.

"Promise" -- perhaps that is the key word here because for all their talent, this Wallaby side does not have the maturity needed to compete with the best as illustrated by James O'Connor's display in Wellington.  The young full-back's potential for greatness is undeniable, but he had a bit of a nightmare at Westpac.  You can't buy experience and one gets the distinct impression that he, like his side, are far from the finished product.

But back to the All Blacks, who looked the more dangerous side in the first quarter and their enterprise on attack was rewarded with a 9- 3 lead as Dan Carter and Matt Giteau exchanged penalties.

When Berrick Barnes slotted a drop for the visitors and Isaia Toeava was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, the Wallabies looked set to grab control of the game.

But Mils Muliaina and Cory Jane had other ideas.  Muliaina's clever high kick placed O'Connor under pressure and Jane did brilliantly to snatch the ball from him in mid-air before making a dash for the line.

Carter's conversion gave New Zealand a 16-6 lead and that's how the scores would remain as the All Blacks finished the half with all fifteen men on the field and seven points better since Toeava's yellow card.

Speaking of Toeava, the outside centre was in sparkling form, showing why Henry had given him the number thirteen jersey.  If only his partnership with Ma'a Nonu had flourished in South Africa they way it did in Wellington I hear All Black fans saying.

In the second period Richie McCaw's men did a excellent job of closing Australia down.

Forced to play catch-up, the Wallabies grew more and more ragged as New Zealand turned the screw tighter and tighter.

With the scrums an absolute mess for both sides and New Zealand enjoying free reign in the line-outs, Australia were starved of quality possession.

When, on occasion, the visitors were able to build some kind of momentum, the home side's loose trio were at their pilfering best at the rucks- significantly stealing the ball back on their own line on Australia's only real crack at th whitewash.

The wheels came off the Wallaby cart in the last ten minutes when first Ma'a Nonu burst through Giteau's channel and then shook off three challengers to score New Zealand's second try.

Joe Rokocoko dived over in the corner in the dying moments to rub salt in the wounds and cap a deserved win for the home side.

Man of the match:  He only played 60 minutes, but Cory Jane's contribution was a telling one.  It seems like a easy choice to pick the try scorer but way Jane found his way to the try-line was significant considering the All Blacks trouble under the high ball in South Africa.  Whenever Jane had the ball, something seemed on as he injected some creative spark into his backline.  The home loose trio deserve a mention too.

Moment of the match:  Easy.  Jane's try gave the All Blacks a ten-point lead (despite being a man down).  From then on, the Wallabies were playing catch up ...

Villain of the match:  Nothing to mention here.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Jane, Nonu, Rokocoko
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 4

For Australia:
Pen:  Giteau
Drop:  Barnes

Yellow card:  Toeava (NZ -- 29th min -- High tackle)

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Rodney So'oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Hosea Gear.

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 George Smith (c), 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Wycliff Palu, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Peter Hynes.

Venue:  Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Weather:  Clear skies, still 10°C
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Springboks claim Tri-Nations

South Africa, back on their game after last week's blip, have claimed the Tri-Nations with a bludgeoning 32-29 win over New Zealand in Hamilton.

New Zealand fell foul to sucker-punch after sucker-punch, with Francois Steyn landing three penalties from within his own half in the first half alone, as every minute indiscretion from the home side was punished ruthlessly.

The defence functioned again, letting the All Black backs have not a whiff of space.  As the second half wore on and the All Blacks' chase of the Boks' lead grew increasingly frantic, the Boks relaxed into an all-too-familiar routine of tackling and waiting for the error to prey on.  It's becoming a mental edge they have in that area now as well as a physical one.

Then, on 53 minutes, Jean de Villiers picked off a 50-50 pass as he has done so often for his country, and raced away to finish off the game as a contest under the posts.  A minute later, Richie McCaw spilled a simple pass in midfield.  In two acts, the contrasting tales of the two teams were told:  one of patience and reward for eanest endeavour, the other of creative but futile attempts to move the immovable.

And yet somehow, they ended up clinging on for it.  If there is a worry for this Springbok team going forward, it is the propensity to concede late tries which has seeped into their season.  Australia managed it three times in three games, New Zealand managed it here to fight their way back from 29-12 down after De Villiers' effort.  It was a belting finale.

That was one which, for the first hour, you would never have predicted in a million years.  It was the usual Bok story:  stealing line-outs, tackling behind the gain-line, forcing penalties, racking up points, kicking deep for territory and chasing hard not to lose it ... just generally irritating, frustrating and battering the opposition.

Then there is Frans Steyn.  It's a special kind of weapon to have in the arsenal when you can just shrug your shoulders on the award of a penalty on your own 10m line, point to the posts and relax as the ball goes sailing over the bar for three points.  It's a hell of a thing to face as a team as well.  You could see All Black necks crane as the kicks sailed over their heads, then see the heads click resignedly into place as the flags went up.  New Zealand had all the territory in the opening quarter, yet found themselves trailing 9-6, two 50m+ penalties from Steyn and a snap drop goal from namesake Morne to two penalties from Carter.

Then came a classic Springbok try.  The ball went up, up, up, the catcher -- this time the unfortunate Joe Rokocoko -- dropped it, Bakkies Botha took it on and Fourie du Preez sniped from the ruck to dive over the line and score.  Morne Steyn landed his kick -- not a single place-kick from either team was missed all day -- and it was 16-6.

That sparked the All Blacks into action.  Within two minutes the ball was being run by Sitiveni Sivivatu from his own 22, who got a little bit of change from his run but once again found his option so well closed down that there was never any danger.  It was a feature of the rest of the half:  the most telling moment coming when Stephen Donald took a ball on a charge and found it stripped from him expertly in the tackle.

A further double-exchange of penalties rounded off the half, with another monster from Frans and a chip from Morne countering two from Carter.

But again, New Zealand were left frustrated by the Bok defence right at the half's close.  Having engineered a short line-out to good effect -- full line-outs were a catastrophe for the ABs all day -- the All Black forwards took the ball up close to the line, but it was too slow coming out and Carter's grubber was rendered ineffective by the sheer depth of the green-clad cover.  New Zealand trailed by ten at the break and without a single try to their account in a match they needed to win and score four tries in.  Only an effort akin to the infamous Paris blitz of November 2004 could have done the second-half job.

Instead, and following a televised half-time interview with Wayne Smith which had "what on earth can we do" radiating from his every syllable, it was the Boks who came desperately close to scoring.  Sivivatu mis-fielded a high kick, Morne Steyn seized upon it and set Bismarck du Plessis on his way to the line where he was tackled just short.  Had Bakkies Botha not been quite so intent on cleaning out Mils Muliaina and looked to take an offload, he would surely have scored.

The body blows kept coming.  Sivivatu panic-passed and nearly let the Boks get away again.  John Smit put in a monster hit on Brad Thorn which even earned a handshake of admiration from the lock.  New Zealand fluency faltered under the pressure.  A Bok score was inevitable.

Finally De Villiers' sense for an intercept served him once again, in what will be his last match in green for some time, and the All Blacks could only look on distraught as he raced away, with Morne Steyn's conversion making it 29-12.  Just after the restart came McCaw's spilled pass.  It was all over?

Not quite.  As McCaw said immediately afterwards when quizzed on the last half-hour:  "I wish we could have done it from the start."

Isaia Toeava's impact as he came on for Donald was immediate, as he took on a Ma'a Nonu offload and fed Sivivatu for a quick counter-try, with Carter converting expertly from the touchline.  New Zealand's fluency upped as the Boks seemed content to sit back and try and soak it up.  Carter landed another penalty and the All Blacks were back to within a score.

The Boks stormed into action once again, hounding Rokocoko under a high kick, charging up on Cowan for the clearance and with Du Plessis so nearly creating a try with a charge-down.  A penalty was conceded in desperation and Morne Steyn restored the ten-point cushion.

Back came the home side, with flickers of 2004 in their speed and width.  Breathless stuff abounded as the ball spun from one side to the other, with the green blanket finally stretched.  Carter put in a super cross-kick and all McCaw had to do watch catch and fall for the try with two minutes to go.  It usually takes a kicker a minute to prepare for a touchline conversion with no guarantee of success.  Carter took 20 seconds and made it look nonchalant.

Still the black waves of pressure crashed, with width now the name of the game and with the forwards operating in pods on both sides.  The hooter sounded.  Carter got the ball and cross-kicked again.  Long, long it sailed, curving downwards towards Kieran Read's outstretched hands, with the green defence scrambling across once more ... but it was just too long.  About a yard.  It wasn't the hardest yard this Bok team has managed in this tournament, but it was the winning one.

Man of the match:  Kieran Read, Dan Carter, Tony Woodcock and Ma'a Nonu all shone for New Zealand, while Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger, John Smit and Jean de Villiers were all on top form in green.  But once again, as he has done so many times, Fourie du Preez controlled the game so well from the rucks, scrums and line-outs.  He was the man to provide most of the Boks' winning platform.

Moment of the match:  Many moments to consider in an excellent game.  But for sheer individuality and brilliance, we'll plump for Dan Carter's hurried late touchline conversion which gave the All Blacks a fighting chance in the final two minutes.  Twenty seconds to line-up and land a touchline conversion is awesome.

Villain of the match:  Far too much good stuff here to even consider villainy.  Even when Bakkies Botha was admonished for some skullduggery, his "thanks sir" response to Nigel Owens was too comical to remember what the admonishment was even for!

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Sivivatu, McCaw
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 5

For South Africa:
Tries:  Du Preez, De Villiers
Cons:  M. Steyn 2
Pens:  F. Steyn 3, M.Steyn 2
Drop goal:  M. Steyn

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Josevata Rokocoko, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Adam Thomson, 19 Rodney So'oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Isaia Toeava, 22 Cory Jane.

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (captain), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Ruan Pienaar.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Wallabies end Springboks' run

South Africa will have to put their Tri-Nations champagne on ice for a little longer after succumbing to a 21-6 defeat to a much-improved Wallaby side in Brisbane on Saturday.

So much has been said and written about how good the current Springbok side is, but they met their match at the Suncorp Stadium and few would deny that Australia deserved their victory.

The Wallabies' two-tries-to-nil win means that the Tri-Nations is still far from decided as the Springboks must now travel to Hamilton in search of the two points they need to secure the trophy.

Robbie Deans and his team have come in for endless stick in recent weeks but they silenced their critics with a huge improvement at both the rucks and line-outs to provide their backs with plenty of quality possession.

From the very start, South Africa put any suspicions that would "play it safe" to bed as they matched Australia's eagerness to spread the ball around, but the home side produced far more on attack.  Three times the Wallabies were denied a try in the act of scoring by a last-gasp tackle.

Was a deviation from the kick-and chase game that worked so well in the Republic the right call for the Boks?  While it produced the goods last week, the visitors only seriously threatened the Wallaby try-line on a handful of occasions.

Whether the Springboks' choice of tactics were appropriate on the night will be matter for debate, but it certainly produced an entertaining game of rugby, so we won't complain.

While the Wallaby backs provided all their team's points, the gold-clad pack laid the platform for victory by matching the Springboks' physicality at the breakdown.

While South Africa's scrum produced a better display than a week ago, for the most part it the Aussies had the upper hand when asked to crouch and engage.

A high-paced game got off to an intense start, but unlike their previous Tri-Nations matches this year, the Springboks were unable to build a lead as the Wallaby defence stood up to the early blitz.

Matt Giteau had given Australia a 6-0 lead from two penalties when Morné Steyn slotted a drop goal on the half-hour mark.

But it was clear that Australia were going to match their visitors in the contact situations and as the Wallabies grew in confidence, they started asking more and more questions of the Springboks, significantly actually competing at line-out time, unlike earlier in the game.

Not that Victor Matfield and co. were given a huge headache at the set piece, but the best line-out in the world were not able to dominate their hosts in the fashion they did in the two previous encounters.

Giteau replied in kind to Steyn's drop a few minutes later (from a movement started on solid line-out possession) to restore the gap only for Steyn to find the mark form the kicking tee on 37 minutes.

The first half might have been tryless but it wasn't for lack of effort from both sides -- Australia were denied a try by a brilliant tackle from Bryan Habana on Lachie Turner above the whitewash while Heinrich Brüssow had a try disallowed for a forward pass with half time beckoning.

The threat for the home side was coming from South Africa's midfield with Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie twice combining to break through.

The teams headed for the changing room with the hosts 9-6 up and Habana off the field injured.

Twice Australia came within inches of scoring in the third quarter as they began to assert themselves, only to be denied by brilliant tackles in the final inches (Du Preez ripping the ball from Will Genia's hands and Fourie bumping Giteau into touch in the corner).

Australia finally broke the deadlock when Adam Ashley-Cooper ran a great angle on Berrick Barnes' outside to slice through the Bok midfield.

Trailing by ten points the South Africans were forced to kick more and more, but with Habana nowhere to be seen the effectiveness of their chase had disappeared.

It was all Wallabies in the final ten minutes as the Springboks began to run out of options on attack and were succumbing to the pressure on defence and in the scrums.

James O'Connor provided the icing on the cake when Rocky Elsom blocked a Du Preez clearance and young flyer pounced on the loose ball to seal the win.

Man of the match:  The home pack deserve a collective pat on the back for their engagement, illustrated by a couple of crunching tackles from Tatafu Polota-Nau -- if he had lasted more than half an hour, he would have been in the running for our gong.  But we'll give the award to Berrick Barnes, whose return made a huge difference to the Wallaby back-line with the extra options he provides to Giteau.  The two regularly swapped places to share the kicking load and Barnes' pass to put Ashley-Cooper clear was class.

Moment of the match:  It was pretty much all square until Ashley-Cooper's try gave the home side a ten point lead -- they never looked back.

Villain of the match:  Not a villain to be seen.  This match was a true advertisement for the game as a whole.

The Scorers

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, O'Connor
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2
Drop:  Giteau

For South Africa:
Pen:  Steyn
Drop goal:  Steyn

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 George Smith (capt), 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Wycliff Palu, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Peter Hynes.

South Africa:  15 Ruan Pienaar, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Frans Steyn.

Venue:  Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
TMO:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)