Ireland blow chance against France

France managed to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive on Sunday after winning a hotly-contested clash with Ireland 25-22 at Aviva Stadium.

Ireland gave a massively improved performance than the one that saw Italy come so close to causing the upset in the championship's history.

But their efforts were not enough to overcome a les Bleus outfit who will be relieved to escape Dublin with two points that puts them joint-top.

The classy visitors had gone in 15-12 down at the interval after Leinster winger Fergus McFadden and Munster scrum-half Tomas O'Leary had crossed the whitewash, with France maestro Morgan Parra on target with four penalty goals.

However, a well-taken Maxime Médard try on 55 minutes was the catalyst of a French revival in the second-half as their bench proved too strong.

Ireland supporters will be cursing their luck though in the aftermath of this one as they blew an opportunity to score what would've been a match-winning try in the 79th minute, but replacement hooker Sean Cronin knocked-on at the vital time.

The underdog hosts in fact looked superior in flashes, but were undone by their ill-discipline as six penalties saw Marc Lievremont's charges edge the battle on a brisk afternoon.

Ireland began at great pace and were rewarded with a fifth-minute try when McFadden muscled his way over from close-range with his leg drive stunning France's ruck guards.

However, the assured boot of Parra replied quickly for the visitors and he went on to land three further before the interval while O'Leary answered some of his critics with another strong finish fifteen in from the left touchline.  An out-of-sorts Sexton missed the extras.

Following the break another Parra penalty drew the French level before the stadium fell silent on the hour when Aurelien Rougerie shrugged off Gordon D'Arcy to send Medard in.

A sixth French penalty -- this time from replacement number nine Dimitri Yachvili -- piled on the misery and although returning number eight Jamie Heaslip dived over in the corner to make it a three-point game, Cronin spilt the chance of a winning try at the death.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  McFadden, O'Leary, Heaslip
Con:  Sexton, O'Gara
Pen:  Sexton

For France:
Try:  Medard
Con:  Yachvili
Pen:  Parra 5, Yachvili

Ireland:  15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Paddy Wallace.

France:  15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Vincent Clerc.

Referee:  Dave Pearson
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Wales back to winning ways

Wales ended their eight-Test winless drought thanks to a scrappy 24-6 Six Nations victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Under-fire coach Warren Gatland will be relieved after his team did enough to upset the formbook and put their championship campaign back on track.

Recent results suggested that the odds were against the Welsh having triumphed just twice in their last 14 games, but Gatland's troops -- at one stage down to just 13 players -- did enough in the opening quarter of the match to rain on Scotland's parade.

Wonder wing Shane Williams ran in two tries and fly-half James Hook scored the rest of the points, kicking four penalties, a conversion and creating the first try in a fine all-round performance.

Scotland, who went into the contest with high hopes after opening their Six Nations campaign with a brave display against France, could only muster six points through the boot of Dan Parks.

Coach Andy Robinson cut a frustrated figure as a mistake-riddled Scottish performance underlined their chronic lack of consistency.  The hosts have now lost two from two this season and could end up in a battle with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon.

The visitors enjoyed a strong start -- surging towards the Scotland try-line just after the five-minute mark -- and took the lead through a Williams try.

Hook, starting in the number ten jersey for the first time in two years, broke through the defence to play in his Ospreys team-mate for a simple try, which he then duly converted.

Hook then extended the advantage in the 14th minute as he slotted home a penalty from the right after the hosts had been penalised for strolling offsides.  And the 25-year-old made it 13-0 just after 18 minutes were in the clock when he nailed another penalty after Scotland had come in from the side at a ruck.

Scotland full-back Hugo Southwell was then taken off the pitch with blood poring from his face after catching a boot when challenging opposite number Lee Byrne.  He would not return.

Another infringement at the breakdown then allowed Hook to score his third penalty, but Scotland were given a boost when Bradley Davies was yellow carded for cynically kicking the ball away from a dangerous ruck.

And when Byrne took out Max Evans with a dangerously high tackle, Scotland were given a two-man advantage.

The ever-reliable Parks got Scotland on the board after Dan Lydiate had conceded a penalty but they would have wanted more then three points by the time Byrne re-entered the fray to even the numbers.

Parks then slipped as he was attempting another kick at goal after Wales prop Craig Mitchell failed to bind at the scrum, leaving the scoreline 16-3 at the half-time interval.

After the restart, Hook attempted to increase the advantage with an attempt from almost 50 metres, but although his kick had the legs it drifted just wide.

Parks reduced the arrears by another three points after Wales were penalised for hinging down at a scrum as the contest became more and more scrappy.

Wales centre Jamie Roberts was on his way to killing the game off as he raced towards the line after Scotland gave the ball up but Sean Lamont made a terrific try-saving tackle.

The visitors came away with three points, however, as Hook kicked his third penalty and shortly afterwards Williams ran onto a Jonathan Davies kick to touch down again and put the result beyond doubt.

It is now a case of back to the drawing board for Scotland after arguably their worst performance of Robinson's reign, which came just three days after he signed a contract extension to incorporate the 2015 World Cup.

Man of the match:  Group effort.  The Wales back row of Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton and Ryan Jones were a key element in the visitors' defensive effort -- especially when the Welsh were down to thirteen men.  The triumvirate were tireless at the tackle area and completely outplayed their highly-rated Scottish counterparts.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Parks 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Williams 2
Cons:  Hook
Pens:  Hook 4

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Al Kellock (c), 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Rosss Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Moray Low, 18 Scott Macleod, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Sean Lamont.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Rhys Priestland.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)

Four-try Ashton leads rampant England

England underlined their 2011 Six Nations title credentials on Saturday as they demolished Italy 59-13 in an eight-try performance at Twickenham.

It was a showing that will add weight to talk of a possible Grand Slam as sublime running and support lines left the Azzurri with no answer.

Toby Flood and Chris Ashton were once again the top performers, with the right wing crossing four times to take his championship tally up to six.

Next up for England -- after a week's break -- will be a mouth-watering prospect of testing themselves against reigning champions France on home soil.  And if they progress past title contenders Les Bleus, there is a prospect of a trip to Ireland on March 19 for possible glory -- where they in fact sealed their last Grand Slam back in 2003.

One major reason for England's sudden boost in confidence has been the form of Ashton, of that there is little doubt.  Northampton's prized possession regularly gets himself on the shoulder of the initial line-breaker, with his four tries showing just that as he fed off the many breaks made by Flood and others wearing white.

It took just three minutes for Ashton to get over the line following his fly-half finding a hole in his own half.  It was a sucker punch for the side beaten narrowly by Ireland and one that they struggled to recover from.  But in truth, England were a gear up than the Irish.

The visitors did manage to stay in touch via two Mirco Bergamasco penalties, but when the lively Ashton crossed again on 25 minutes, the writing was on the wall in London.

Italy were struggling for any foothold in the match as their line-out fell to pieces in the first half-hour.  And that problem was the catalyst of a moment to savour for Mark Cueto, who followed Ashton's support-line lead by popping up for his first try in nineteen Tests.  England were cruising at 24-6 up.

Captain Mike Tindall joined the party five minutes later when he was on hand to take a nice offload from number eight Nick Easter that extended the lead to 25 points at the break.

Italy needed a miracle to get back into the contest and were not helped by tighthead Martin Castrogiovanni being yellow carded for slapping the ball out of Ben Youngs' hands as the scrum-half tried to take a quick penalty.  His absence led to Ashton going over and then the procession continued as Danny Care crossed.

Fabio Ongaro snatched a consolation try for the Italians from a rolling maul, but James Haskell grabbed a deserved score before Banahan sent Ashton in for his fourth late on.

Man-of-the-match:  Toby Flood was once again the architect but for his four poacher-like tries, the award has to go to Saints star Chris Ashton.

Moment-of-the-match:  Despite all the pre-game talk about not throwing in the Hollywood dive when scoring, it took just three minutes for the in-form Ashton to go against his word.  Cue the laughter from the journalists.  Wonder how Brian Smith and Martin Johnson reacted.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Ashton 4, Cueto, Tindall, Care, Haskell
Con:  Flood 5, Wilkinson 3
Pen:  Flood

For Italy:
Try:  Ongaro
Con:  Bergamasco
Pen:  Bergamasco 3

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Valerio Bernabo, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Garcia.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official:  Tony Redmond (Ireland)

France outclass Scotland

Defending Six Nations champions France sent out a statement to their championship rivals on Saturday with an impressive 34-21 win over Scotland in Paris.

Unlike the nightmare against Australia the last time les Bleus were at the Stade de France, Marc Lièvremont's side were all singing from the same hymn sheet as they scored four eye-catching tries.

Out-muscled up front, outpaced out wide, Scotland looked down and out with an hour left on the clock.  Credit to them however for scoring three tries of their own by the final whistle, with a late consolation touch down lending the scoreline an air of respectability.

Scotland's scrum has been a strength in recent times but the French scrum is quite possibly the best there is right now and they showed the world as much.  It's not often that Euan Murray is put under pressure at scrum time but the Scottish tighthead, like the rest of the visiting front row, was going either backwards or down all evening from the moment the ''engage'' call came from referee Wayne Barnes.

But for a change, the French backs were also firing and the hosts ensured that the game was played at a frenetic pace.

The French off-loading in the tackle and support running on the counter attack had their visitors scampering back with high frequency and only a handful of last-gasp tackles prevented the score-line from running away in the first half.

By full-time, Maxime Médard, Imanol Harinordoquy and Damien Traille had all touched down, all from movements started in broken play.

France were cruising to such an extent that Lièvremont had no fear of disrupting his team by sending most of his bench on well before the last quarter.

France were on the scoreboard with the almost their first touch of the ball.  From a turnover in the tackle Thierry Dusautoir fed wing-turned-centre Aurélien Rougerie who dropped the ball onto his left boot.  Médard turned on the gas on the outside and dotted down for the opening try after just three minutes.

A François Trinh-Duc drop goal saw the French take a ten-point lead after as many minutes.

Scotland did well to hang in there and Alastair Kellock's first Test try at the end of the first quarter kept his side in contention.  After some solid build-up play the skipper found a gap on the fringe of a ruck to sneak over.

But the visitors failed to threaten for the rest of the first period.  Referee Barnes was left with no choice but to award France with a penalty try on the half-hour mark after the visitors' pack was murdered in series of 5 metre scrums.

Scotland would have been relieved to head to the changing rooms at 17-7.

Trinh-Duc linked up with Harinordoquy -- via a pass between the fly-half's legs -- to get the scoreboard ticking in the second period with the big loose forward backing himself for pace to finish under the sticks.

Again the reply came from Scotland as Kelly Brown profited from some sloppy tackling to charge over and reduce the gap to ten points.

The changes had taken some of the rhythm out of the French attack but they were still lethal from broken play and a silky string of interpassing saw Traille end under the posts.

With the result sewn up, Lamont grabbed a try in the dying minutes as the French defence went missing.

Ironically the game ended -- like it did against the Wallabies -- with a few boos coming the crowd who were denied another try when France opted for an easy penalty rather than going for the whitewash.

Man of the match:  A handful of candidates here.  Richie Gray had a strong game for Scotland while Maxime Médard and François Trinh-Duc looked good for the hosts.  But we'll go for prop Thomas Domingo who, along with William Servat and Nicolas Mas, was awesome at scrum time.

Moment of the match:  Went it's going right for les Bleus, it seems anything is possible.  François Trinh-Duc's between the legs pass to set up Harinordoquy's try was a classic!

Villain of the match:  Nothing to report here.  A wonderful night of rugby.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Médard, Penalty try, Harinordoquy, Traille
Cons:  Parra 2, Yachvili 2
Pens:  Yachvili
Drop:  Trinh-Duc

For Scotland:
Tries:  Kellock, Brown, Lamont
Cons:  Parks 2, Jackson

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Vincent Clerc, 22 Clément Poitrenaud.

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell , 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Max Evans, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown,7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock (c),4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray,2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Sean Lamont.

Venue:  Stade de France, Paris
Referee:  Wayne Barnes

O'Gara drop saves Ireland

Ireland survived a massive scare on Saturday as a Ronan O'Gara drop-goal sealed a 13-11 win that broke Italian hearts at the Stadio Flaminio.

Played under glorious sunshine, this was always going to be a banana skin that needed avoiding for Ireland.  And boy was it difficult to negate.

With just two minutes separating the Azzurri from an historic first win over their visitors, replacement fly-half O'Gara save travelling Irish blushes.

Italy had frustrated the Emerald Isle for much of the contest and actually went in 6-3 up at the interval thanks to two Mirco Bergamasco shots.  However much like in 2007 and 2009, it was an early storm that needed weathering for the Irish.

Brian O'Driscoll it was who turned things around for Ireland with a try on 44 minutes, but even he endured a difficult day as a couple of try-scoring passes went astray.

It was that sort of game for Ireland.  Frustrating and stuttered.  But the job was done ahead of a home clash with France next week, as a possible Grand Slam decider moves a step closer when England arrive on Saturday, March 19.

Our preview had sighted the battle at number eight at being one to watch and that was an early eye-catcher when Sean O'Brien showed power and pace to elude a couple of Italian chasers.  But he was to outdone soon after by Sergio Parisse who, back in the Six Nations after a year's break, showed his worth by winning his side a penalty on seven minutes.

Ireland looked a tad rattled and were throwing many wayward passes while struggling to penetrate the blue defensive wall.  The Azzurri were showing a lot of hunger and even with the departure of injured number nine and organiser Edoardo Gori, they were streetwise.

On 20 minutes, the change in momentum finally came for Declan Kidney's side as Luke Fitzgerald's break down the left from halfway saw him step inside and feed Jonathan Sexton.  However, the latter Leinsterman couldn't keep hold, leading to a lesson being handed to the Irish front-row by Martin Castrogiovanni and company.

Ireland eventually levelled matter eight minutes later as Kris Burton started to miss his touch-finders but that did not stop Italy going in at the break in front thanks to Bergamasco.

If truth be told, the first 40 was hardly memorable.  The second was.  Ireland had obviously been given a rollicking by their coaching staff and promptly took it on board as Denis Leamy ran hard to set up a score just three minutes after half-time.

Back and forth Ireland went on the Azzurri ten-metre line before the ball came out to O'Driscoll, who spotted a mismatch against Castrogiovanni.  There was only one winner and it looked as though the procession of last year was about to be repeated.

A successful conversion from Sexton made the scores 10-6 but the game proved far from done when a lovely flowing move from Italy saw Luke McLean go over right in the corner.  Unfortunately for the Rome faithful, Bergamasco's extras went painfully left of the upright and that proved costly as substitute O'Gara sat back when it mattered to break home hearts.

Man-of-the-match:  An extremely tough decision as no one really stepped up for Ireland but for his solidity under the high ball and decent running, it goes to Luke Fitzgerald.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Try:  McLean
Pen:  Bergamasco 2

For Ireland:
Try:  O'Driscoll
Con:  Sexton
Pen:  Sexton
Drop:  O'Gara

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Carlo Del Fava, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Gonzalo Garcia.

Ireland:  15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Sean O'Brien, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Paddy Wallace.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  Jérôme Garces (France), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Wales sunk by promising England

Six Nations favourites England got their 2011 campaign off on the right foot on Friday as they defeated Wales 26-19 at the Millennium Stadium.

Much of the midweek talk had been about the props, line-out and that man Dylan Hartley but in truth those three facets of this one were swamped by the men out wide as Chris Ashton's brace of tries saw the Red Rose silence a hostile Cardiff.

Victory on the road for the last instalment of the Friday night experiment will slide down even sweeter for England in the knowledge that they now have three games at Twickenham -- a venue they seldom lose at in the championship.

Wales had come out of the blocks hell bent on proving a point to their bitter rivals.  However, the English stood tall and weathered an early assault before launching one of their own that ultimately brought the first points on fourteen minutes.  Toby Flood was the architect, ghosting through a hole on the home 22 before feeding Northampton winger Ashton who swan-dived under the uprights.  The conversion made the scores 0-7.

Flood extended the lead further before the quarter before Stephen Jones succeeded where James Hook had failed twice earlier from distance.  The Scarlet knocked over a couple of three-pointers after English indiscretions, the latter offence seeing Louis Deacon binned.

The man advantage didn't result in much joy for Wales though, who struggled to recapture that sustained possession they'd enjoyed in the opening stages.  In fact, England were the ones who came out of the ten-minute spell on top in terms of the scoreboard if one discounts Jones' kick while Leicester's Deacon departed for the walk of shame.

And so with a seven-point margin at the break, England were most definitely the happier of the two as Flood was completely on top of his opposite number in terms of creativity.

Wales did have their moments though, but too often they wasted promising attacking positions through poor kicking when keeping ball in hand would have proved a more threatening option.

Jones completed his penalty hat-trick within three minutes of the restart, yet indiscipline then surfaced as Craig Mitchell was carded for a technical infringement.

It was the last thing Wales wanted, and another Flood strike put England 16-9 in front before Ashton poached his second try after Tom Palmer's powerful run spread-eagled Wales' defence and Mark Cueto sent his fellow wing across.

Wales looked down and out, yet they struck back right on cue when Morgan Stoddart took Davies' scoring pass after England centre Shontayne Hape blasted out of the defensive line.

The try gave Wales renewed hope, and an air of anticipation surrounded Hook's move to fly-half after Jones went off with thirteen minutes left.

Hook's first act was to kick a penalty, leaving Wales just four points adrift, but England reverted to their forwards, Lee Byrne conceded a penalty and Jonny Wilkinson did the rest.

Man-of-the-match:  Ben Foden was a real threat when in possession while two tries from Chris Ashton deserves a mention.  But fly-half Toby Flood was the director of matters.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Stoddart
Con:  Jones
Pen:  Jones 3, Hook

For England:
Tries:  Ashton 2
Con:  Flood 2
Pen:  Flood 3, Wilkinson

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Morgan Stoddart, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Ryan Jones, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Rhys Priestland, 22 Lee Byrne.

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall (capt), 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Danny Care, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Matt Banahan.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Barbarians too hot for Springboks

Two tries from Drew Mitchell were the difference between the Barbarians and Boks, with the 'hosts' winning 26-20 in an entertaining clash at HQ.

It was a fine advert for this historic spectacle, not least because the Baa-Baas were celebrating their 120th year.  It was a very happy birthday.

Mitchell was again a key outlet on the wing while Anton van Zyl, very much a South African, put in a dominant performance in his adopted pack.

Several games across Britain were called off due to the weather this weekend but the London pitch looked in surprisingly decent nick for the contest.  And that was great news for the supporters who had braved the cold to come out and watch such a star-studded Barbarians team in action.  They did not disappoint either, with Ma'a Nonu dominating the midfield, Neemia Tialata lapping up some running up front and James O'Connor roaming.

It was that man Nonu who got the 'hosts' on the front-foot too as he slipped the net on halfway, beating three defenders to take his side up to the 22.  From there the Barbarians mounted serious pressure on the Springbok whitewash with the score looking ominous.  Finally it came on six minutes when Will Genia popped an inside ball to in-form Wallaby team-mate Drew Mitchell for the opening score of the day.

South Africa did knock over a response through a penalty from fly-half Elton Jantjies four minutes later, who made a nervy debut in green and gold particularly from the kicking tee.

But that only awoke the Baa-baas beast as a mistake at the Bok line-out saw All Blacks prop Tialata rampaging at the visitors' whitewash.  He came close but the damage was done, with numbers to the left resulting in a simple run-in for O'Connor, who kicked the extras.

More was to come for the now warmed spectators though and it was arguably the moment of the match.  Yet again from turnover ball, captain Matt Giteau stretched his legs down the left wing before a slick inside ball to Adam Ashley-Cooper then saw the centre chip over and from there it was a foot-race that Mitchell won.  The Waratahs winger was definitely following up his hat-trick against France with another strong performance, this time at Twickenham.

Peter de Villiers had obviously had a stern word with his charges at the break and credit to them, the Springboks came out firing on 44 minutes.  The try came from a Barbarians mistake however, as Nonu's speculative pass found the hands of Odwa Ndungane.

Jantjies sent over the simple conversion and the scores were 19-10 with a great deal of time remaining.  But the Lions number ten then proceeded to miss the opportunity to cut the lead further just before the hour, and it was not the most difficult of shots.

A South African-born player then scored a five-pointer however, it was the Italian lock forward Quintin Geldenhuys who got over following another sustained period of possession.  O'Connor added two more points and the game as a contest seemed to be over.

The Boks did rally late on though as Bakkies Botha and replacement hooker Bandise Maku crossed on 71 and 80 minutes respectively to cap an entertaining affair at Twickenham.

Man-of-the-match:  Many put their hand up for this gong but we have gone for a South African playing in Barbarians colours.  Anton van Zyl was a real physical presence for his side and led the pack with a powerful performance.  Mentions go to Ma'a Nonu, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Drew Mitchell, who were all threatening throughout.

The scorers:

For Barbarians:
Tries:  Mitchell 2, O'Connor, Geldenhuys
Con:  O'Connor 3

For South Africa:
Try:  Ndungane, Botha
Con:  Jantjies
Pen:  Jantjies

Barbarians:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau (c), 9 Will Genia, 8 Colin Bourke, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Rodney So'oialo, 5 Chris Jack, 4 Anton van Zyl, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Yapp, 18 Quintin Geldenhuys, 19 Daniel Braid, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Seru Rabini.

South Africa:  15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adi Jacobs, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 François Hougaard, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Juan Smith (c), 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements:  16 Bandise Maku, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Gio Aplon.

Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant referees:  Christophe Berdos (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)

Ireland end on a high

Ireland ended their November Test series on a high thanks to a hard-fought 29-9 victory over Argentina at Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

It wasn't pretty, it wasn't ugly either -- but it was effective as fly-half Jonathan Sexton contributed seventeen points with the boot to keep his untroubled side ahead of an uninspired Pumas outfit.

A late try from Gordon D'Arcy in injury time flattered Ireland's final scoreline a wee bit, but the end result was never in doubt as the home side were always on top in a rather dour contest.

Once they fell behind, Argentina's conservative game-plan was badly exposed and, in the end, they had only a trio of Felipe Contepomi penalties to show for their efforts.  The Pumas pivot missed three shots at goal, and Argentina also failed to sink two drop-goal attempts.

Freezing conditions greeted both teams, with the Aviva Stadium passing a morning pitch inspection despite heavy snowfall over the last 48 hours.  However if the crowd expected to be warmed up with an entertaining game of rugby -- they were to be highly disappointed.

After a diabolical display against the Springboks, Ireland picked up a scratchy win over Samoa, and then tested the All Blacks with a determined but ultimately insufficient effort.  Their first-half performance against Argentina was encouraging, although their consistency left a lot to be desired.

The hosts showed some resilience in the first 10 minutes when Argentina enjoyed terrific momentum through the rolling maul and scrum.  But while the Pumas started strongly up front, their discipline cost them dear and it didn't take long for Sexton to get the first three-pointer on the board.

With the momentum provided by the pack, the Irish runners produced several good touches.  Stephen Ferris rounded off some sparkling interplay between forwards and backs in the 21st minute.

The blindside flanker, who passed a fitness test on his ankle to make the starting XV, was left with a simple finish out on the right after his back-row colleague Jamie Heaslip had burst through and drawn the final line of defence.

Sexton converted and added three further penalties before half-time to put Ireland 19-3 up at the break, the Pumas' only points having come via Contepomi's 31st-minute penalty.

The second half was a tight affair, clear-cut chances few and far between as both sides instead relied on the boot of their respective fly-halves.

Sexton added a further penalty to take his personal tally to 17 before making way for veteran Ronan O'Gara for the final 12 minutes.

Contepomi, who also missed three penalty chances, landed kicks of his own in the 58th and 68th minutes to reduce Argentina's deficit to 22-9.  But Ireland remained resolute in defence and never looked likely to surrender their lead.

Replacement Keith Earls was denied a late try when the video referee ruled he had knocked on but moments later centre D'Arcy did manage to seal the win in style, collecting his own chip over the top before touching down.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try:  Ferris
Con:  Sexton, O'Gara
Pens:  Sexton 5

For Argentina:
Pens:  Contepomi 3

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tommy Bowe 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c) 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Peter Stringer , 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:16 Damien Varley, 17 Tom Court, 18 Devin Toner, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan , 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Keith Earls.

Argentina:  15 Martin Rodriguez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Marcelo Bosch, 11 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 10 Felipe Contepomi (c), 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Julio Farias Cabello, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Santiago Guzman, 20 Alvaro Galindo, 21 Alfredo Lalanne, 22 Lucas Borges.

Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)

Wallabies humble France

After being level at half time, Wallabies eventually cantered past France with a seven-try 59-16 victory in Paris on Saturday.

Les Bleus were booed off the field by their home crowd as a second-half meltdown saw them concede a whopping 46 points after the break.

Despite being annihilated at scrum time, Australia notched up a record victory over France, proving that attack truly is the best form of defence as Drew Mitchell scored a hat-trick in the space of a few minutes.

This must surely be a wake-up call for Marc Lièvremont whose side looked completely disjointed and lacked any sort of direction.

The hosts were completely outplayed in very department expect for the scrum, and even the Wallabies' disastrous set piece become largely irrelevant in the second half.

The constant chopping and changing of the French team has left them without any sort of cohesion.  In front of 80 000 of their fans on Saturday, the XV de France was exposed by arguably the world's most electrifying attacking team.

Just as worrying for French fans must be the way their team simply capitulated once the Wallabies had a decent lead.  This is not the first time it's happened -- similar beatings were dished out by the All Blacks in Marseille last November and by the Springboks in Cape Town in June.  The manner in which French heads dropped and tackles were missed in Paris was all too familiar.

As for Australia, despite the impressive scoreline this victory must be taken with a pinch of salt.  Yes, they were fantastic on attack.  Yes, they managed to win handsomely against one of the world's rugby powers, but there is simply no way they can expect to win the World Cup with that scrum.

France were able to hang on for 40 minutes almost entirely thanks to their scrum dominance which was not only worth a penalty try but also a bagful of penalties.

Australia took an early lead thanks to wonderfully executed move that saw Adam Ashley-Cooper bust through the midfield to score.

James O'Connor and Morgan Parra exchanged penalties until referee Bryce Lawrence was left with no choice but to hand France a penalty try -- and send Ben Alexander to the sin bin -- as the Aussie scrum repeatedly collapsed meaning the teams headed to the changing rooms at 13-all.

Parra gave France a 16-13 lead shortly after the break but it was one-way traffic for the rest of the game.

Tries from Benn Robinson and Will Genia in the 48th and 51st minutes put Australia in control, before Mitchell claimed a quickfire hat-trick and James O'Connor added a try of his own to complete a personal haul of 29 points.

Man of the match:  A lot was made of the size and class of the French midfield but they were completely outshone by Adam Ashley-Cooper whose running lines were simply outstanding.

Moment of the match:  There was an air of inevitability about Benn Robinson's try with half an hour left on the clock.  As it turned out, it was the straw that broke the camel's back as France imploded.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Penalty try
Cons:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 3

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Robinson, Genia, Mitchell 3, O'Connor
Cons:  O'Connor 6
Pens:  O'Connor 4

Yellow card:  Alexander (Australia -- 30th min- repeated scum infringements)

France:  15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jerome Schuster, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Marc Andreu.

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Lachie Turner.

Venue:  Stade de France.
Referee:  Brice Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)

All Blacks bag another Grand Slam

Wales made New Zealand work hard for their Grand Slam decider, with the visitors eventually running out 37-25 winners in Cardiff.

Dan Carter broke Jonny Wilkinson's world Test points record at the Millennium Stadium as the All Blacks completed their third Grand Slam tour of Britain and Ireland in six seasons.

All Blacks fly-half Carter missed four first-half kicks, but an early long-range penalty took him past England star Wilkinson's mark of 1,178.

Wales gave the red-hot 2011 World Cup favourites a real fright though, trailing 13-12 early in the second period after Carter's opposite number Stephen Jones landed four penalties.

But the All Blacks displayed their renowned ruthless streak when it mattered, with Hosea Gear scoring two tries -- his second when substitute Daniel Braid was in the sin-bin -- while full-back Mils Muliaina, Gear's fellow wing Isaia Toeava and substitute prop John Afoa also touched down.

Carter added three conversions and two penalties, and Jones slotted two more three-pointers, plus a conversion of full-back Lee Byrne's well-worked late try to see him finish with 20 points.

But Wales have now lost 24 successive games against New Zealand and gone seven matches without a win since beating Italy in last season's Six Nations Championship.

They can take a degree of comfort from their fiercely-committed display, a quality they will again need in abundance when opening Six Nations opponents England arrive in Cardiff on February 4.

Scrum-half Mike Phillips, flanker Sam Warburton and centre Tom Shanklin all delivered powerful performances, yet Wales ultimately went the same way as England, Scotland and Ireland this month, beaten comfortably by the best team on planet rugby.

Wales took the lead inside two minutes when Jones slotted a penalty after he was tackled late by Gear.

The All Blacks wing turned his ankle after landing awkwardly following the challenge, but he soon ran it off by punishing Wales with a soft fifth-minute try.

Missed tackles by Shanklin and wing George North on Toeava gifted New Zealand an opportunity, and Gear went over unopposed in the corner.

Carter missed the touchline conversion attempt, yet he found his range just four minutes later from 49 metres to overtake Wilkinson and give the visitors an 8-3 advantage.

Gear's score served as a graphic reminder to Wales they could not afford such defensive lapses, but the lesson went unheeded.

New Zealand struck again midway through the first-half as Carter injected pace into a routine counter-attack, and Muliaina glided in from halfway, eluding half-hearted challenges from Wales flanker Dan Lydiate and his back-row colleague Ryan Jones.

Carter failed to convert -- his third miss in four attempts -- and that was just as well for Wales as the All Blacks built an imposing 10-point lead.

Wales showed glimpses of their renowned attacking ability, creating chances when they put width on the ball, but centre James Hook could not quite stretch over the line, knocking on under pressure from Muliaina's tackle.

Jones cut the with a second penalty, and with Wales enjoying territorial dominance, New Zealand had to step up their defensive work-rate.

The visitors were not helped when their influential number eight Kieran Read limped off just before the break, and Wales maintained impressive momentum as Jones completed his penalty hat-trick.

Carter then missed another kick on the stroke of half-time, ending a fast and furious opening period that saw Wales firmly in touch despite their misfiring lineout and occasional defensive fragility.

Wales, desperate to avoid going through their four-match autumn series without a win, gained fresh impetus with the arrival of back-row substitutes Andy Powell and Jonathan Thomas after 48 minutes.

The All Blacks were rattled, confirmed by Braid -- Read's replacement -- being yellow-carded for not rolling away after tackling Stephen Jones.

Jones brought Wales to within a point by booting the resulting penalty, yet it was the cue for New Zealand to step up intensity levels, and slick passing saw Gear claim his second try.

Carter added the extras and then kicked a penalty, but two more Jones penalties during a four-minute spell gave Wales renewed hope.

An upset briefly looked possible -- then New Zealand emphatically snuffed out any prospect through late scores from Toeava and Afoa.

It was rough justice on Wales, and their frustration was underlined when Powell high-tackled All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw -- an incident which could easily result in him being cited by match commissioner Rob Flockhart.

But they at least had the final word through Byrne's consolation effort that Jones improved, although New Zealand once again emerged victorious and extended an unbeaten record against Wales that stretches back to 1953.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Byrne
Con:  S Jones
Pens:  S Jones 6

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Gear 2, Muliaina, Toeava, Afoa
Cons:  Carter 3
Pens:  Carter 2

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 George North, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 James Hook, 11 Tom James, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 Paul James, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Andy Powell, 20 Martyn Williams, 21 Richie Rees, 22 Andrew Bishop.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Isaia Toeava, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Daniel Braid, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Ma'a Nonu.

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland

Scotland sneak past Samoa at the death

Scotland needed an 80th minute penalty from Ruaridh Jackson to edge past Samoa 19-16 at Pittodrie on Saturday.

After the 49-3 defeat by New Zealand and a 21-17 win over South Africa, Scotland were seeking a fifth win from six Tests to finish the year on a high.

But they were tested to the full by Samoa and had to come from behind to take a 13-10 half-time lead.

After Dan Parks' early penalty, Kahn Fotuali'i's fine ninth-minute converted try put Samoa ahead, but Nikki Walker touched down under the posts for Scotland's first try of the three-match autumn series.

Parks converted and added another penalty, but Paul Williams narrowed the deficit with three points of his own.

Williams twice kicked Samoa level with penalties either side of a Parks drop goal but 15 years after drawing with Scotland, Samoa were denied.

Replacement fly-half Jackson, aged 22 and winning his second cap off the bench, stepped up to give the hosts victory after Iosefa Tekori was penalised at the breakdown.

Allan Jacobsen and Sean Lamont won their 50th caps as Scotland looked to end 2010 on a high at Pittodrie.

But Samoa, too, were looking to end their year on a winning note after a 20-10 loss to Ireland and a 26-13 defeat by England.

Scotland had won five and drawn one -- in November 1995 -- of their previous six meetings with Samoa, who last recorded a European win in 2001 in Italy, but had previously defeated Wales and Ireland.

Scotland, reverting to the white change strip they wore in the humbling by the All Blacks a fortnight ago, immediately began by applying forward pressure on the Samoa line and Parks' early penalty gave the hosts a 3-0 lead.

But Samoa went in front after nine minutes, breaching the Scotland defence with a move which demonstrated their full range of talents.

George Pisi broke down the left and kicked on, Seilala Mapusua picked up and fed inside to scrum-half Fotuali'i to score.  Williams converted.

Scotland responded with a converted try of their own.

After a scrum on the right, Walker burst through on an angled run off his right wing and touched down under the posts.

Walker scored two tries the last time Scotland played in Aberdeen, against Canada in 2008, and touched down for his fifth international try -- the first Andy Robinson's side have scored in the autumn series.

Parks, who had a 100 per cent success rate against South Africa, missed a penalty before being granted another opportunity after Ross Ford had initiated a driving maul.

Williams cut the interval deficit to three points with a penalty after Kelly Brown was penalised for not rolling away from a tackle on Alesana Tuilagi.

The full-back levelled two minutes into the second half.

Parks missed a second straightforward penalty of the game as he failed to restore Scotland's lead.

The hosts then spread the ball the width of the field trying to puncture a hole in the Samoa defence, but no break was forthcoming and Parks dropped a goal to make amends for his missed penalty and keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Scotland were on the defensive from the restart and Samoa were continually held up short of the hosts' line.

The hosts creeped offside and Samoa drew level again with Williams kicking a penalty from in front of the posts.

Robinson turned to his bench for reinforcements with 20 minutes remaining, with scrum-half Mike Blair, prop Moray Low, fly-half Jackson, lock Jim Hamilton and centre Max Evans coming on.

Blair was immediately required in defence and caught Ofisa Treviranus in the corner, denying Samoa a second score.

Graeme Morrison, Blair and John Barclay drove through the middle as Scotland responded, but Lamont knocked on down the blindside to save Samoa.

Lamont was forced off, with Vernon switching to the wing for the final six minutes and Ross Rennie coming into the back row.

But Scotland's frailties out wide were not exposed and Samoa replacement Iosefa Tekori was penalised at the breakdown in the last minute, handing Scotland an opportunity to steal victory.

And Glasgow Warriors number 10 Jackson stepped up to convert the resulting penalty with his first points in international rugby.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Walker
Con:  Parks
Pens:  Parks 2, Jackson
Drop:  Parks

For Samoa:
Try:  Fotuali'i
Con:  Williams
Pens:  Williams 3

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson (c), 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Jim Hamilton, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Max Evans.

Samoa:  15 Paul Williams, 14 David Lemi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tasesa Lavea, 9 Kahn Fotualii, 8 George Stowers, 7 Manaia Salavea, 6 Ofisa Trevarinus, 5 Kane Thompsen, 4 Filipo Lavea Levi, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Mahonri Schwalger (c), 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements:  16 Ti'I Paulo, 17 Anthony Perenise, 18 Iosefa Tekori, 19 Afa Aiono, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Daniel Leo, 22 Fautua Otto.

Venue:  Pittodrie, Aberdeen
Referee:  Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Marius Jonker (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
Television match official:  Tony Redmond (Ireland)

Boks redeem themselves at Twickers

Following a demoralising defeat to Scotland, the embattled Springboks went from zero to hero in the space of a week after beating England 21-11 at Twickenham on Saturday.

South Africa dusted themselves off from a miserable afternoon at Murrayfield to silence their critics with a powerful performance that made up for last week's effort ten-fold.

It was an incredible return of serve from the world champions who may have had their Grand Slam dreams dashed, but at least restored some pride with one game left to play on tour against the Barbarians at the same venue next weekend.

Once again, the Boks' proved that they are a different kettle of fish with their backs up against the wall as England were left to find out the hard way -- enduring a seventh consecutive defeat to the men in green and gold.

The visiting pack was immense, dominating the collisions and set-pieces -- their line-out was simply outstanding -- however the backline were less impressive, making too many handling errors and lacking penetration on attack.

But it didn't matter as England were a shadow of the team that smashed the Wallabies two weeks ago.  Out-thought and out-fought.  That was the bottom line for England in an encounter which was not so much a rugby match as an arm-wrestle.

Gone were the pretty patterns woven by England in recent weeks.  Instead they found themselves scrapping for possession.  Desperately shoring up their defence.  Fighting for their lives against the toughest, meanest team in rugby.  They came up short.

The sides were level at half-time but after losing the influential Tom Croft and Toby Flood shortly before the break, England conceded a soft penalty straight after and it was all South Africa thereafter as the hosts wilted under pressure.

Replacement Willem Alberts was sent over in the right-hand corner before debutant winger Lwazi Mvovo ghosted through a stationary England backline five minutes later to effectively seal matters.

An intercept try from full-back Ben Foden two minutes from the end represented scant consolation for Martin Johnson's men, who battled hard but ultimately failed to deal with the might of the Springboks pack.

Toby Flood got the ball rolling with a straight-forward penalty in the fifth minute after a scintillating 30m run from Tom Croft that took play into kicking range for his fly-half, who didn't disappoint.  It was just reward for an all-out England counter-attack instigated by Nick Easter.

The physicality of the match nearly claimed its first victim in the form of Chris Ashton following a mistimed tackle on Bok skipper Victor Matfield that saw the England winger come off second best.  Dazed, Ashton saw more than stars flying over his head as Morne Steyn leveled the scores with a well-struck penalty in the tenth minute.

The big hits kept coming in, and this time it was the impressive-looking Croft who felt the punishing effects of a brutal Test that would see the flanker forced off the pitch clutching his forearm.  It was a cruel blow for England, but the hosts pressed on and took the lead once more thanks to another three points from Flood.

At this point it seemed whatever England did, South Africa could do better as the world champions clicked into a higher gear and nearly accelerated over the line only for Matfield to have the ball knocked from his grasp with the tryline begging.

The missed opportunities wouldn't end there for the Boks, however, after the two Steyns -- Morne and Francois -- watched in angst as their respective penalty efforts hit the posts and denied South Africa six points.

Flood, injured in the build-up to the Matfield effort, failed to make the interval and was replaced by Charlie Hodgson, while opposite number Steyn levelled matters four minutes before the end of the half after England spoiled a ruck on their own line.

Three minutes after the break and South Africa were ahead for the first time -- veteran Mike Tindall spotted in an offside position.

England responded well though, driving towards the line through Dylan Hartley and Easter, and although they camped on the try-line for several minutes looking for an opening, Easter was hit by three defenders and the ball fell clear as the Springboks survived.

South Africa began to ring the changes with prop CJ Van Der Linde and flanker Alberts sent on -- and both made an immediate impact.

The England scrum struggled as the Springboks wheeled one and then hooked a ball against the head.  Morne Steyn kicked ahead and wing Mark Cueto conceded the line-out.

South Africa drove through phase after phase before moving the ball wide and number eight Pierre Spies' wonderful, delayed pass sent Alberts over in the corner.  Morne Steyn was off-target with the conversion, but it had become a war of attrition and in such circumstances there was only likely to be one outcome.

Hodgson tried a cross-kick which Mvovo gathered and he then drew the penalty as Ashton and Shontayne Hape came off their feet and Morne Steyn teed up the attacking line-out.

Both Steyns dropped back into position for a drop goal but the Springboks instead worked the ball wide for Mvovo, who brushed past Ashton to score on 70 minutes.

England never really looked like creating an opening were before they gifted a late try after Foden picked off Van Der Linde's offload and sprinted 90 metres to score.  Tindall tried the quick drop-goal conversion and hit the post, summing up their afternoon.

Man of the match:  While Bismarck du Plessis was named the official man of the match, it could have gone to any of the Bok heavies.  Which is why we're going for a collective effort!  Special mention for England lock Courtney Lawes -- he was everywhere!

Moment of the match:  Tough to choose between new Bok recruits Willem Alberts and Lwazi Mvovo.  But we'll go for Mvovo's touchdown, as the Bok speedster sealed the win with his first Test try.

Villain of the match:  None spring to mind, but we have a funny feeling you'll prove us wrong -- answers on a postcard please!

The scorers:

For England:
Try:  Foden
Pens:  Flood 2

For South Africa:
Tries:  Alberts, Mvovo
Cons:  M Steyn
Pens:  M Steyn 3

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody (c), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Matt Banahan.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Frans Steyn, 12 Jean De Villiers, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (capt), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 CJ Van der Linde, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Patrick Lambie, 22 Adi Jacobs.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)

Bergamasco boots Italy to victory

Italian winger Mirco Bergamasco kicked eight penalties from eight as the Azzurri beat Fiji 24-16 in Modena.

In a game that was riddled with handling errors and penalties, the power of the Italian pack in the second-half was enough to quell the attacking prowess of the Fijians in the first forty minutes.

The Fijians demonstrated great flair and power when going forward and opened the scoring in the eight minute when hooker Talemaitoga Taupati dived over after some good build up work from Napolioni Nalaga and Semisi Naevo.

The try sparked the Italians into life and Bergamasco and Fijian fly-half Seremaia Bai proceeded to trade penalties, with both sides serial penalty offenders in defence, with the players seemingly deciding that infringing was the only manner in which to halt an attack.

Nick Mallet must have been a worried man at the break having just seen prop Martin Castrogiovanni sin-binned on the stroke of half-time for continued infringements and his side trailing 9-16.

He need not have been though as the Islanders ran out of steam in the second forty minutes as the Italian pack began to stamp their authority on proceedings.

When Castrogiovanni returned from his ten minutes off the park, the Azzurri forwards stepped up a gear and with Fiji now conceding penalties at will, Bergamasco made the most of their indiscretions, with his pinpoint accuracy producing a world record-equalling performance of eight penalties from eight attempts.

Man of the match:  Without a doubt Mirco Bergamasco.  Italy didn't off much on attack, but Bergamasco made the most of every points scoring opportunity that was afforded to him.

Moment of the match:  Italy and their players don't hold many records of a positive nature, but with Bergamasco equalling the record for the most successful attempts at goal, they certainly do now.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Bergamasco (8)

For Fiji:
Tries:  Taupati
Cons:  Bai
Pens:  Bai (3)

Yellow cards:  Castrogiovanni (Italy)

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (C), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Tommaso Benvenuti.

Fiji:  15 Norman Ligairi, 14 Vereniki Goneva , 13 Albert Vulivuli, 12 Gabriele Lovobalavu, 11 Napolioni Nalaga , 10 Seremaia Baï, 9 Nemia Kenatale, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Semisi Saukawa, 5 Jone Qovu, 4 Wame Lewaravu, 3 Deacon Manu (c), 2 Tuapati Talemaitoga, 1 Campese Ma'afu.
Replacements:  16 Viliame Veikoso, 17 Vesi Rarawa, 18 Sekonaia Kalou, 19 Jimilai Naikadawa, 20 Seveci Taka, 21 Seru Rabeni, 22 Taniela Rawaqa.

Date:  Saturday, November 27
Venue:  Stadio Braglia, Modena
Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees:  Christophe Berdos (France), James Jones (Wales)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Canada go down to Georgia

Canada suffered its first loss in three games on their current European tour after going down to Georgia 22-15 in Tbilisi.

It was just the second Test match between the two rugby nations.

Canada conceded a penalty and then a penalty try at the scrum to go down 10-0 in the first half before prop Jason Marshall touched down to make it 10-5.

Georgia responded with another forwards oriented try -- mauling over from one metre to take the score to 15-5.  James Pritchard hit for a penalty to make the half-time score 15-8.

In the second half the Georgians kept Canada under pressure -- eventually scoring a try off a chip and chase that was gathered in right at the tryline -- to give the homeside a 22-8 cushion with fifteen minutes to go.

With time running out Canada organized a ragged attack at the Lelos line -- eventually seeing Aaron Carpenter across for a converted try and a 22-15 score.

In the final seconds of the game DTH van der Merwe made a dramatic line break but was stopped after a thirty metre run and that was the game.

Georgia, ranked 17th to Canada's 14 will surely enjoy such a huge home victory.

For Canada -- it is time to regroup and head to Lisbon for the final match of the four test set -- next weekend.

France win battle of the boot

France got revenge over Argentina for their loss in June thanks to a morbid 15-9 victory in Montpellier on Saturday.

In a contest which produced no tries, it was left to the boots of Morgan Parra and Felipe Contepomi to decide the outcome with France's scrum-half coming out tops.

Parra sent four penalties between the uprights, while fly-half Damien Traille added a cheeky drop goal for good measure.

France had been steamrollered in South America last June having travelled with high hopes on the back their first Six Nations Grand Slam since 2004, while the Pumas also beat them twice on French soil at the last World Cup -- including the match for third place.

Les Bleus coach Marc Lièvremont had demanded the record be put straight and a performance more solid than last weekend's shoddy 34-12 win over Fiji in Nantes.

In rainy conditions in the deep south of France, Lièvremont got the result -- if not entirely the performance, he craved.

Contepomi sent over a trio of penalties for the visitors who nonetheless in the slithery conditions never looked like turning in the festival of rugby they had delivered the last time they faced their rivals.

Parra gave the hosts a lead in the tenth minute only for Contepomi to belt over a 40-metre riposte six minutes later following a knock-on by Aurelien Rougerie.

France, who were largely dominating the scrum in the opening quarter, retook the lead with Parra sweeping over two penalties in six minutes to send the hosts in 9-3 to the good at the interval.

The 35,000 crowd were further cheered with Traille's drop nine minutes after the restart and Parra ultimately gave the Argentinians too much to do when he made it 15-6 on the hour.

Contepomi slammed over his third penalty almost immediately but any hopes that would spark a revival proved unfounded as the French made it 32 wins in 44 outings against the men in sky blue and white.

The French will now hope to make it three wins on a roll in this November series when they go up against Australia next Saturday at the Stade de France.

Man of the match:  Hard to look beyond Morgan Parra and his golden boot.

Moment of the match:  There's wasn't many, if any.  But perhaps Argentina's late surge at the end did it for us.

The scorers:

For France:
Pens:  Parra 4
Drop:  Traille

For Argentina:
Pens:Contepomi 3

France:  15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Imanol Harinordoquy, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Jerome Porical.

Argentina:15 Martin Rodriguez, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fenandez, 11 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 10 Felipe Contepomi (c), 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Miguel De Achaval, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Mario Galarza, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marco Ayerza, 18 Santiago Guzman, 19 Julio Farias Cabello, 20 Alvaro Galindo, 21 Alfredo Lalanne, 22 Marcelo Bosch.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

All Blacks see off spirited Irish

New Zealand remained on course to complete the Grand Slam after completing a 38-18 victory over Ireland at Aviva Stadium.

The All Blacks were on the attack from the outset, collecting the kick-off and racing down to the Irish 22 with backs and forwards combining with great ease and effect.

Many in Aviva Stadium must have thought they were in for a similar fate suffered by those at Murrayfield last week, but the Irish refused to be completely brushed aside.

It was only a matter of time before the scoring was opened and Carter got the scoreboard ticking over with a penalty in the eighth minute.  Spurred into life after the early barrage from the visitors, Jonny Sexton levelled matters a mere three minutes later when his long-range effort crept over the crossbar.

As the game ebbed and flowed, Carter and Sexton traded penalties before Stephen Ferris scored the first try of the match -- and amazingly, the first of his Test career -- in the 31st minute.

After some good work bashing it up by the forwards, the ball was spread wide where Jamie Heaslip delivered a neat pop pass to the onrushing Ferris who crashed over.  There was some suspicion that the pass from Heaslip was forward but the try stood and Sexton applied the extras.

New Zealand picked up a five-pointer of their own on the stroke of half-time after some sustained pressure.  The ball was moved from left to right where Andy Ellis fumbled the ball at the back of the ruck, the Irish defence rushed out to hammer the scrum-half but Ellis managed to scoop the ball up to Anthony Boric who powered through the onrushing defenders.  Carter added the conversion to give New Zealand a 19-13 lead at the break.

The visitors looked to pick up from where they left off after half-time and managed to do just that in the 45th minute when Kieran Read crossed over for his first try.

The score came on the back of some good work from Ma'a Nonu, with the centre's in-and-out allowing the All Blacks the space to break forward and move the ball wide to Read who dived over in the right-hand corner.

Graham Henry's men appeared to be running away with matters when Sam Whitelock crossed for the All Blacks' third try and an incredible one at that.

The try-scoring movement emanated from an up-and-under into the New Zealand half, Corey Jane fielded the kick, bounced of one defender and spread the ball down the line.  The New Zealanders worked the ball all the way out to Whitelock on the touchline who cut inside and carried a few defenders over the tryline with him.

Carter again made no mistake with the conversion, this time from wide on the left.

Slightly against the run of play the Irish struck back through their skipper Brian O' Driscoll.  An intercept from Heaslip brought the Irish into the opposing 22 where the home side where awarded a penalty.  With tries the order of the game, Ireland took the line-out and after a few stop start moments from a resulting scrum, were able to spread the ball wide.

As Rob Kearney entered the line his attempted inside ball was spilt but it didn't go forward and O' Driscoll superbly picked it up with one hand and dived over.

Henry responded to the try by introducing a host of substitutes and the move nearly paid immediate dividends, with a number of scrums near the Irish line just not producing the desired result.

As if in a game of chess, Declan Kidney made substitutions of his own to counter Henry's move as the home side upped the pressure.

Replacement Keith Earls appeared to have given the hosts a lifeline when he dived over in the corner following some good work from Sexton and Tommy Bowe.  However, the covering defence did just enough, ensuring the winger entered touch before he was able to ground the ball.

It was Ireland's final chance and in the end it was the All Blacks who enjoyed the last of the scoring opportunities with Read completing his brace after some superb quick hands from Mils Muliaina.

Man of the match:  Dan Carter marshalled his troops brilliantly and was particularly prominent in the first-half.  The fly-half was as reliable as ever with the boot, missing just one kick, his final strike of the game, which sees him move to within two points of Jonny Wilkinson at the top of the world's points-scoring charts.

Moment of the match:  A moment to savour for Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina as they became joint holders of the title of highest capped All Black, surpassing Sean Fitzpatrick's record of 92 Tests.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try:  Ferris, O'Driscoll
Con:  Sexton
Pens:  Sexton 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Boric, Read 2, Whitelock
Cons:  Carter 3
Pens:  Carter 4

Ireland:  15 Robert Kearney 14 Tommy Bowe 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c) 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Tom Court, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 John Hayes, 18 Devin Toner, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Keith Earls.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Anthony Boric, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Liam Messam, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.

Scots shatter Boks' Grand Slam

South Africa's quest for a Grand Slam is over after Scotland defeated the world champions 21-17 on Saturday.

It was an amazing turnaround for the hosts who were thumped by New Zealand a week ago, but -- against all odds -- bounced back superbly to record a memorable victory and restore some pride.

The same couldn't be said of South Africa though, who would have targeted this encounter as the easiest of the four ''Home Nations''.  However, Scotland proved that no Test match is easy as the woeful Boks found out ... the hard way.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson was seeking a response from the 49-3 loss to the All Blacks and he certainly got it as the hosts edged a scrappy encounter laden with penalties and decided by the boot of Dan Parks.

Scotland were without a win over South Africa since the 2002 Murrayfield meeting, but eight years on Parks demonstrated his unerring accuracy, kicking six penalties and a drop goal to punish the Springboks' indiscipline.

It was Scotland's fourth win in five Tests and just a second victory over South Africa in 13 post-Apartheid meetings.

Not for the first time on tour, South Africa were on the scoreboard first thanks to Morne Steyn's boot three minutes in.  It could have been a nine-point lead after nine minutes had Steyn and his namesake Francois not missed the target with their respective attempts.

The Scots were certainly left off the hook by the two Steyn's after giving away silly penalties that only slowed the game down as a spectacle, but the Bok fly-half wasn't to be denied his third crack -- the ball sailing through the uprights on the 13th minute mark.

At last, Gio Aplon woke the Murrayfield crowd from their slumber with a a trademark dart along the touchline, only to be brought down by Graeme Morrison who prevented a possible opening try for the South Africans.

That seemed to spark the Scots as the home side rumbled into South Africa's territory for the first time in the match, and were swiftly awarded with a penalty that Parks duly slotted for his team.

The Springboks knew they had a game on their hands when, three minutes later and Scotland once again on the attack, Parks opted for a cheeky drop goal that leveled the scores 6-6 with a quarter of the Test played.

To the Boks' horror and Murrayfield's delight, Parks doubled Scotland's score with two further penalties that accelerated the hosts into a rather surprising 12-6 lead.

It was a vastly different display from the home team that never had a look-in last week against the All Blacks, while South Africa looked the same messy bunch as seen in the first half in Cardiff.

But just as the Boks did in the Welsh capital, they did again in Edinburgh -- Morne Steyn's boot keeping the world champions in with a shout from the kicking tee that would take them into the half-time sheds three points behind (12-9).

Scotland had an opportunity to finish the first half off with a try, but their chance to extend a three-point lead fell flat like their pivot Parks who was on the receiving end of an almighty tackle that would only see him rise to his feet several minutes after the initial hit.

Still, Scotland were forty minutes away from only their second win over the Boks in the last decade.

South Africa had other ideas though and drew level once again with another Morne Steyn penalty six minutes into the second half.  Parks certainly didn't look like he had been smashed by a bus after responding with his fifth successful penalty of the afternoon.

He wasn't done there though as another one followed soon after to give Scotland the lead with a six-point cushion that left frustrated Bok captain Victor Matfield questioning referee Stu Dickinson's calls where on one or two occasions certainly looked a tad dubious.

Parks was the man of the moment after raising the flags yet again after Dickinson incorrectly blew Juan Smith for diving into a ruck.  At 21-12, South Africa were in trouble but responded in the only way they know how -- forward power.

Replacement loose forward Willem Alberts used his massive frame to bulldoze his way over after taking the ball from the back of a line-out that gave his team a sniff at another come-from-behind win.  Fellow replacement Patrick Lamble missed the ensuing conversion, which at 21-17, meant South Africa would need more than a penalty to snatch it.

Four points behind, the tourists pressed with Bok full-back Zane Kirchner making a run out towards the left flank but with six minutes left, Scotland won a penalty and kicked for the corner.

Parks' chip through went nowhere but Scotland were also killing time -- the game ending in the absence of any do or die efforts from their opponents.

Man of the match:  Dan Parks provided all the home side's points, but we giving this award to the entire Scotland team for proving their doubters wrong.

Moment of the match:  There weren't many, but every time Dan Parks thumped over another penalty, the more Scottish fans sensed a victory was in sight.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Parks 6
Drop:  Parks

For South Africa:
Try:  Alberts
Pens:  M Steyn 4

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson (c), 8 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Scott MacLeod, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Greig Laidlaw, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Chris Paterson.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Frans Steyn, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 François Hougaard, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss , 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Patrick Lambie, 22 Adi Jacobs.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)

England do enough against Samoa

England survived an early second-half scare to record a 26-13 victory over a spirited Samoan outfit at Twickenham.

Martin Johnson's side were trailing 6-8 in the 42nd minute after Sale full-back Paul Williams had caught the Red Rose napping.  But from there, the home side clicked into gear as scores from Matt Banahan and Tom Croft won it.

It was not a thing of beauty though and this week there were no wonder tries at HQ.

Yet against a steel-like Samoan defence Johnson's side did what they had to do.

They won, professionally and clinically.  When we remember how difficult victories came just twelve months ago that is another measure of progress.

Indeed, the really encouraging thing was that England tried to continue from where they left off against Australia.

They tried to play with width and adventure.  They used the pace of Ben Foden and Chris Ashton and the superb Mark Cueto, who has now gone sixteen matches without scoring a try for England in what is one of rugby's great mysteries.

Cueto again epitomised everything Johnson's team are striving to become.  Quick to run, swift to see the gap.  Daring.

The problem was that whereas against Australia everything came off in a match which was near perfect technically, against Samoa too often they were sloppy and imprecise in their passing and kicking.

Give Samoa credit.  They had lost by only 10 points to Ireland last weekend.  They were no pushovers.  In fact, they play a brand of rugby which is as physical as it is entertaining.

It is full of quick thinking and enterprising handling and it rocked England, especially in the early exchanges.

Where last weekend England had carved great holes in Australia's defence almost from the first whistle this time they met men in blue who have added organisation to their undoubted flair.

Men who frustrated their progress with crushing tackles, especially London Irish centre Seilala Mapusua.  It is easy in such circumstances to try too hard and England were guilty of that in the first half.

Toby Flood, so imperious against Australia, threw too many long, looping passes which struggled to reach their destination.

Foden failed to get the ball down in the corner when it appeared he must score and Ashton burst through and over the whitewash only to be recalled for a forward pass.

The action, however, was never fluent, unless we count one almighty slugging match mid-way through the half which saw more punches thrown than Audley Harrison has managed in an entire career.

Partly, the erratic nature of the skirmish was down to the domination of England's scrummage.

Samoa, who had performed so creditably against Ireland's pack, could not cope with England's front row of Andrew Sheridan, David Wilson and Dylan Hartley.  There was too much weight, too much technique coming their way and time and again they buckled.

It did not make for pretty viewing, even if England did spurn penalty after penalty in favour of another push-fest.

The stats board, however, told the story.  In that first half Samoa made 77 tackles against 17 from England.  Total domination from England, just the execution was lacking.

It meant the teams went in with England leading 6-3, courtesy of two tries from Flood and one from Samoa full-back Paul Williams.

England could hardly have started the second half in worse fashion, sluggishly allowing Williams to cruise over for the first touchdown after 40 seconds.

It was the first try of Williams' career and the first by Samoa at Twickenham.  And they deserved it.

The Twickenham faithful might have been a little worried at that point, although there was no hint of panic down on the pitch.

If anything that is the virtue of Johnson's side.  They have belief in their character as well as their ability.

And they produced the try of the match when Shontayne Hape made the break, fed Ashton and there was Banahan to secure the touchdown.  Croft added another to give the scoreline a flattering look.

It was a long way from perfect, especially as Gavin Williams crossed for a late try for Samoa.  But it was a reasonably comfortable victory.  One which provides another brick in Johnson's rebuilding programme.

Man-of-the-match:  Despite being on the losing team, we had to go for Samoa full-back Paul Williams, who contributed a try and a penalty.  Extremely effective in attack and painfully solid in defence.  Spot on, as was an in-form Mark Cueto on the left wing for England.

Moment-of-the-match:  ''Moments'' ... Andrew Sheridan's rampaging runs through the heart of the Samoan defence.  His comeback to international rugby following injury has been a swift one, but my has it been impressive.

Villain-of-the-match:  Answers on a postcard.  Little really to speak of.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Banahan, Croft
Con:  Flood 2
Pen:  Flood 3

For Samoa:
Tries:  P Williams, G Williams
Pen:  P Williams

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Matt Banahan, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nick Easter (c), 7 Hendre Fourie, 6 James Haskell, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Dave Attwood, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Danny Care, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Delon Armitage.

Samoa:  15 Paul Williams, 14 David Lemi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Seilala Mapasua, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tasesa Lavea, 9 Kahn Fotualii, 8 George Stowers, 7 Manaia Salavea, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Filipo Levi, 4 Kane Thompson, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Mahonri Schwalger (c), 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements:  16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Census Johnston, 18 Joe Tekori, 19 Afa Aiono, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Jamie Helleur, 22 Gavin Williams.

Referee:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Australia fail to impress in Florence

Australia claimed their second win on their November tour with a 32-14 win over an ill-disciplined Italian outfit.

In a match that lacked any really quality, it was the boot of Berrick Barnes that ensured that Robbie Deans' men picked up the second scalp on their end-of-year tour.  However, it was far from a performance that will quell the growing discontent amongst the Australian press and public.

While the Australian scrum showed some signs of stability against Munster, on Saturday the front-row again suffered the indignity of conceding penalties at almost every scrum.  The line-outs didn't fare much better with Stephen Moore often failing to find his jumpers.

Barnes set the tone for the match when he opened the scoring in the third minute with his first of six penalties.

Drew Mitchell claimed the visitors' first five-pointer of the encounter in the ninth minute when he crashed over from five minutes out after Australia went close in the right hand corner, there was some suspicion that the pass to Mitchell was forward but referee Berdos was happy.

What followed was a mêlée of forward grind from both sides that failed to yield any substantial gain.  It was the Italians propensity to concede penalties at will within their own half that ensured the Wallabies continued to stretch their lead, one that stood at 13-9 at the break.

Neither side saw fit to involve their wide men with any regularity, with Adam Ashley-Cooper barely touching the ball during his 50th game for the Australians.  Indeed, Italian full-back Luke McLean seemed so surprised to be passed the ball as the Italians broke down the right hand touchline that he fumbled the ball with the try-line in his sights.

Barnes continued to show great accuracy with his place-kicking but it was the Azzurri who were next to cross the whitewash.  From a scrum five metres from the line, skipper Sergio Parisse picked up from the back of the scrum and drove forward, the ball dropped backwards in the tackle and replacement Robert Barbieri dived over the line.

With just under ten minutes to go and the deficit reduced to just eleven, the home side briefly held hopes that an unlikely victory could be recorded, but Rocky Elsom crashed over in the last movement of the game after the ball spewed out of an Italian scrum to ensure there was no late charge.

Man of the match:  The Italians certainly played with great courage and for all the interest surrounding his debut, Edoardo Gori enjoyed a productive start.  But it was the boot of Berrick Barnes that was the difference between the two teams.

Moment of the match:  Such was the dire nature of play that a rather humorous incident in which Drew Mitchell's tattooed backside got extended airtime provided one of the few reasons to smile during the 80 minutes.

Villain of the match:  The Australian scrum were at their appalling best in Florence.  James Slipper was the primary culprit, conceding three penalties at scrum time before he was substituted in the second-half.  But Slipper was not alone, with Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander also falling foul of the referee's whistle.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Barbieri
Pens:  Bergamasco 2, Orquera

For Australia:
Tries:  Mitchell, Elsom
Cons:  Barnes 2
Pens:  Barnes 6

The teams:

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Andrea Masi.

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Will Genia, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Pat McCabe.

Referee:  Christophe Berdos (France)

Fiji beat Wales 16-16

Wales had to settle for a 16-16 draw against Fiji in Cardiff, but the islanders will consider Friday's result as another huge victory.

The talk before the game had been of restoring morale after defeats by Australia and South Africa, in preparation for the visit of New Zealand next week.

But Welsh spirits will be close to rock-bottom after this woeful display - disjoined and error-strewn, lacking in direction and purpose, Wales only avoided a defeat thanks to their dominance at the scrum.

Seremeia Bai kicked an injury-time penalty to earn Fiji a draw which was the very least their spirit and ambition deserved.  Had they possessed a decent front row, they probably would have won comfortably.

Wales edged ahead after six minutes through a Dan Biggar penalty and attempted to play the tight, controlled game which Warren Gatland had demanded.

But there were too many errors to take advantage of a clear dominance at the breakdown and Wales quickly became bogged down.

Bai levelled the scores after an obstruction at the ruck and although Biggar kicked another penalty for a spear-tackle on Aled Brew which earned Bai a yellow card, Josh Matavesi levelled the scores soon afterwards.

And it was Fiji who went in ahead at the break after taking advantage of the half's only clear-cut chance.

Wales lost a lineout in their own 22 and Sisa Koyamaibole rumbled to within five metres of the line.  The ball was shipped out wide and Albert Vulivuli brushed aside James Hook's attempted tackle to crash over, with the returning Bai adding he extras.

Wales changed a third of their side on 50 minutes and it paid almost immediate dividends.

They wasted a clear overlap as Lee Byrne was adjudged to have been short as he slid towards the line, but the subsequent 5m scrum eventually produced a try.

After a free-kick, repeated re-sets and two penalties, the referee's patience was exhausted and he awarded a penalty try, Stephen Jones levelling the scores.

Wales dominated from there on but had only a Jones penalty to show for it and they paid the price.

The forwards were attempting to run down the clock with repeated pick and drives in midfield, but were penalised for failing to release.

That set up a final attack for Fiji inside the Welsh 22 - virtually their only visit of the half - and after an offside around the ruck, Bai slotted over a straightforward penalty with the last kick of the match.

Man of the match:  George North looked Wales' most threatening attacking force on only his second international appearance, but flanker Dan Lydiate was probably the best player on the pitch.  A workaholic attitude that too few of his colleagues matched.

Moment of the match:  Seremaia Bai's injury-time penalty that broke Welsh hearts as Fiji shared the spoils in Cardiff.

Villain of the match:  Poor Ryan Jones.  It was the Wales captain who crept offside which allowed Bai to land the penalty to salvage a draw for the Islanders.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Penalty try
Con:  S Jones
Pens:  Biggar 2, S Jones

For Fiji:
Try:  Vulivuli
Con:  Baikeinuku
Pens:  Baikeinuku 2, Matavesi

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 George North, 13 James Hook, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Richie Rees,8 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Dan Lydiate, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Deiniol Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Paul James.
Replacements:16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Toby Faletau, 20 Mike Phillips, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Tom Shanklin.

Fiji:  15 Josh Matavesi, 14 Michael Tagicakibau, 13 Albert Vulivuli, 12 Gabriele Lovobalavu, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Seremaia Baï, 9 Nemia Kenatale, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Malakai Ravulo, 6 Semisi Saukawa, 5 Jone Qovu, 4 Ifereimi Rawaqa,3 Deacon Manu (c), 2 Viliame Veikoso, 1 Campese Ma'afu.
Replacements:  16 Tuapati Talemaitoga, 17 Graham Dewes, 18 Sekonaia Kalou, 19 Akapusi Qera, 20 Seveci Taka, 21 Ropate Ratu, 22 Taniela Rawaqa.

Referee:  Jérôme Garces (France)