Wales still alive at World Cup 2011

Wales kept their World Cup quarter-final hopes alive after seeing off Samoa 17-10 at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Sunday.

Trailing by four points (6-10) at half-time, Wales dug deep to deny the Samoans victory thanks to a try by wing Shane Williams thirteen minutes from full-time which proved to be the match-winner.

After major upsets in 1991 and 1999 against Samoa, it was Wales' first victory over their bogey team at a World Cup tournament.

The win, following their 16-17 opening loss to South Africa, puts Wales in the box seat to qualify second from Pool D with a likely quarter-final against Six Nations rivals Ireland.

However Wales were given a scare or two along the way and it looked as if Warren Gatland's reign as coach could be brought to an end in his hometown of Hamilton.

In bright and breezy conditions at a packed Waikato Stadium, James Hook's early penalty from the halfway line went narrowly wide and Samoa passed up a golden chance when Sailosi Tagicakibau spilled a low pass just metres from the tryline.

Wales suffered a blow when flanker Danny Lydiate limped off in just the 11th minute to be replaced by Andy Powell.  But Hook was gifted an easy three points when Maurie Faasavalu high-tackled pivot Rhys Priestland.

Jamie Roberts crossed on 14 minutes but was brought back for a forward pass and Priestland missed his third drop-goal of the World Cup, before Samoa full-back Paul Williams levelled the scores with a well-struck penalty.

Samoa's forwards disintegrated under a powerful Welsh scrum to give Hook another penalty to make it 6-3.

Despite clearly having issues in the scrum, the Samoans had no such problems in the breakdown -- with their pack happy to hammer away around the fringes of the breakdown to drive Wales back.

And they were left frustrated when an 18-phase spell ended with Fa'asavalu burrowing over from close range, only for the flanker to be pinged for a double movement.

A missed penalty from Williams soon after did little to lift the mood of the Samoans.

However, Samoa had the final say in the first half as their forwards took control and they dealt Wales an enormous hit when another crunching attack culminated in a try to prop Anthony Perenise's on the stroke of half-time.  Williams' conversion gave the islanders a 10-6 half-time lead.

Hook was replaced by Leigh Halfpenny at half-time after a shoulder injury and the Welsh reduced the margin to 10-9 when Priestland's penalty fortuitously bounced off the crossbar and over.

The Wales backs were suddenly in the game and centre Jonathan Davies had the tryline at his mercy when a long cross-field kick bounced off his legs, but Priestland then kicked them 12-10 ahead after a ruck infringement.

And Wales were again rewarded for their greater endeavour when Halfpenny broke down the left and fed Davies, whose one-handed pass was gathered off the floor by Williams for his 55th Test try, 13 minutes from the end.

Samoa regrouped and continued to hammer away at the Wales line but they couldn't find a way through.  Samoa's forwards massed for one final assault but the attempt was undone when number eight George Stowers lost control of the ball at the tryline.

Wales survive to fight another day.

Man of the match:  Sam Warburton did some great work for Wales at key moments, and he was at the forefront of his team's effort, however it's hard to look past Welsh Wizard Shane Williams whose try allowed his team to breathe a little easier.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Williams
Pens:  Hook 2, Priestland 2

For Samoa:
Try:  Perenise
Con:  Williams
Pen:  Williams

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Andy Powell, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Scott Williams, 22 Leigh Halfpenny.

Samoa:  15 Paul Williams, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 George Pisi, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 George Stowers, 7 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Daniel Leo, 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 Taiasina Tuifu'a, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu, 22 Tasesa Lavea.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Ireland shock lifeless Wallabies

Ireland scored the first major upset of RWC 2011 after stunning Australia 15-6 at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.

There is no hiding the fact that a poor Wallabies side came off second best to the Irish as their key players were superbly contained by a side who in Brian O'Driscoll's words ''dug deep into the well''.

Ireland love silencing the critics -- as they have done so many times in the past in such one-off games -- and they did just that in a team effort that was spearheaded by loosehead prop Cian Healy.

Healy was the heartbeat of an Irish scrum that helped the underdogs claim the majority of their points, while Sean O'Brien, Stephen Ferris and Paul O'Connell chipped in with strong showings.

But for Australia there are some harsh lessons to learn from this shock defeat, not least why their playmaking duo of Will Genia and Quade Cooper were seemingly absent for most of the game.

Cooper looked disinterested in Auckland while his centre combination of Pat McCabe and Anthony Faingaa struggled to make any impact outside him.  Kurtley Beale was the only shining light for the Wallabies, who now look like joining New Zealand and South Africa in the tougher side of the knockout draw.  England and France must be licking their lips.

The day started badly and ultimately got worse for the Wallabies when vital openside flanker David Pocock and hooker Stephen Moore both pulled out of the game injured before kick-off.

It would only have been human of Irish fans to sense an opening for a shock result and their team duly delivered, despite going 0-3 down on 12 minutes to a James O'Connor penalty.

Jonathan Sexton, who had another hot-and-cold night with the boot, sent over a levelling penalty four minutes later and then knocked Ireland ahead with a drop to cap a good spell.

O'Connor was also struggling to find his range though before a moment that summed up Australia's troubles occurred.  Genia was under pressure at the base of a scrum and upon picking up the ball he was met and driven back ten metres by Ulster back-row Ferris.

The neutral promptly knew that the game could go either way as the confidence in the Irish camp continued to grow, despite O'Connor levelling matters on 24 minutes.  That was how things stayed until the break when there were no doubt choice words from Robbie Deans.

It was to no avail as Ireland continued to win the tight exchanges and mini-battles in the engine room and midfield, with James Horwill becoming increasingly frustrated as he gave away another three at a ruck on 50 minutes.  Ireland were in front again and looking calm.

Then came a moment that many thought would make or break this game as Gordon D'Arcy hobbled off and was replaced by Ronan O'Gara.  Sexton subsequently shifted out to inside centre and it worked superbly for Declan Kidney's side, with the duo pinning back the Wallabies and O'Gara ultimately adding six more points for a memorable 15-6 victory.

Man of the match:  Little doubt about this one as Cian Healy was at the heart of this victory.  He made Ben Alexander's life miserable at Eden Park and kicked on from Tom Court's scrum performance last week.  Mentions too for Sean O'Brien and Paul O'Connell.

Moment of the match:  Ireland fans must have been licking their lips when news broke that Stephen Moore and David Pocock had withdrawn from the game injured.  Would they have made a difference? Pocock definitely as Ben McCalman struggled to have any impact.

Villain of the match:  Nothing to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Pen:  O'Connor 2

For Ireland:
Pen:  Sexton 2, O'Gara 2
Drop:  Sexton

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Anthony Fainga'a, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Radike Samo, 7 Ben McCalman, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Dan Vickerman, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Wycliff Palu, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Drew Mitchell.

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 5 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Conor Murray, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Andrew Trimble.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Dave Pearson (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

Boks show Fiji no mercy

South Africa made up for their opening World Cup wobble against Wales by powering past Fiji 49-3 in Wellington on Saturday.

The defending champions were a far superior outfit from the one that edged the Welsh by one point a week ago, and silenced their critics with a comprehensive six-try victory.

Perhaps the biggest achievement for South Africa was keeping the Flying Fijians tryless, and credit must go to their outstanding defence which was rock-solid for 80 minutes.

Whilst Fiji never took a step back, the Boks simply had too much class for the islanders in a free-flowing spectacle that saw plenty of running rugby -- most of which came from the men in green and gold.

Fiji had the Boks on the backfoot for the early stages of the first half after stringing some impressive phases together with ball in hand, and it took some tremendous defensive work from South Africa to keep the islanders at bay.

Bok pivot Morne Steyn missed his first shot at goal that would have given his team the perfect start with barely three minutes gone on the clock, but his namesake Francois was more successful with a whopping 60m penalty kick to put South Africa on the board.

Fiji replied with a three-pointer of their own through centre Seremaia Bai that leveled the scores (3-3), but the Boks settled their supporters' nerves when prop Gurthrö Steenkamp steamrolled past two tacklers for a well-worked try.

Frans Steyn made the initial break, showing tremendous upper-body strength with ball in hand to take his team into Fiji's dangerzone, before the ball was shifted on the shortside to Steenkamp finished off in the corner.

Morne Steyn was on target with the touchline conversion and stretched his team's lead even further with a penalty that gave SA some breathing space at 13-3.

The Boks weren't done there, however, and were over for their second try when centre Jaque Fourie touched down in the same corner visited by Steenkamp seven minutes earlier.  The TMO was called in to judge whether Fourie's foot strayed into touch, but the green light was given.

Steyn missed the conversion put nailed another penalty on the stroke of half-time to take the Boks into the break 21-3 ahead.

After a scrappy start to the second half, a moment of brilliance from Bok flank Heinrich Brussow helped Frans Steyn cross for their third try.  With South Africa hot on the attack, Brussow chipped over the top for Steyn to regather and step inside to score.  Morne Steyn was on target with the extras.

Despite the quality of the game dropping, with the pace and defensive efforts telling on both sides, the Boks were able to register their 100th World Cup try when Morne Steyn dived over.

Naipolioni Nalaga thought he had finally breached the Boks defence when he dived over in the corner but play was called back for a forward pass.

And South Africa rubbed salt into the wounds as replacement prop Tendai Mtawarira stretched out from close-range after taking a pop pass from that man Frans Steyn who had been stopped inches short.  Morne Steyn brought his personally tally to 19 points with the extras.

Nalaga dived over again with nine minutes left but this time the ball was knocked out of his grasp by opposite number JP Pietersen.

Again the Boks made the most of the let-off, with the hard-working Danie Rossouw crashing through with three minutes left to seal the deal for South Africa.

Man of the match:  Every Bok player from 1-15 put their hand up, but we'll go for Frans Steyn, who was influential throughout.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Steenkamp, Fourie, F Steyn, M Steyn, Mtawarira, Rossouw
Cons:  M Steyn 5
Pens:  F Steyn, M Steyn 2

For Fiji:
Pens:  Bai

South Africa:  15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Odwa Ndungane, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 François Louw, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh.

Fiji:  15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Gaby Lovobalavu, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Waisea Sedre Luveniyali, 9 Neemia Kenatale, 8 Sakiusa Matadigo, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Dominiko Maiwiriwiri Waqaniburotu, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 4 Leone Nakarawa, 3 Deacon Manu (c), 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Campese Ma'afu.
Replacements:  16 Talemaitoga Dautu Tuapati, 17 Waisea Nailago, 18 Netani Edward Talei, 19 Sisa Koyamaibole, 20 Vitori Tomu Buatava, 21 Nicky Little, 22 Ravai Fatiaki.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)

Pumas hit back against Romania

Argentina recorded an immediate response to their defeat to England by teaching Romania a rugby lesson in a 43-8 win in Invercargill on Saturday.

The Pumas were full value for their win in a one-sided Pool B encounter that saw seven tries being scored -- six of them to Argentina.

Santiago Fernandez, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Juan Figallo, Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, Florin Vlaicu and Genaro Fessia all crossed for tries -- and Argentina could have scored more but for some desperate Romanian defending.

There was also am improved showing with the boot as centre Martin Rodriguez, who was guilty of missing too many efforts in the 13-9 loss to England, was more accurate this time as he added 13 points from the kicking tee.

He missed an early penalty attempt with barely three minutes up on the clock but made up for his blunder by converting Argentina's opening try to pivot Fernandez, who strolled over in the sixth minute.

The Pumas wasted little time in scoring their second when -- just two minutes later -- flanker Leguizamon used his pace and power to charge through two would-be defenders to crash over beside the posts.

Romania had hardly touched the ball twelve minutes into the match, but were rewarded for their best spell of pressure with a penalty and fly-half Tiberius Dimofte made no mistake.

However, the Pumas extended their lead even further when prop Figallo burrowed his over from close range before full-back Amorosino secured Argentina's four-try bonus point when he broke through some tired tackling after a concerted spell of pressure.

Romania weren't prepared to roll over that easily though and hit back with a try through wing Ionel Cazan, who flew over in the corner after the Oaks had stretched the Pumas defence for the first time in the match.

Dimofte missed the conversion as well as a penalty attempt on the stroke of half-time that saw Romania head into the break 26-8 down.

Argentina started the second half in the same fashion they began the first -- with a missed penalty followed by a successful one through Rodriguez.

Romania kept the Pumas tryless until prop Mihaita Lazar was sin-binned for repeated infringements.

Argentina finally broke the Romania resistance when replacement back Juan Jose Imhoff stepped and then showed electric acceleration to score a converted try under the sticks.

Romania thought they had hit back when Dimofte intercepted and found Daniel Carpo in support.  The number eight shipped the ball to Cazan but as the winger attempted to keep the move alive, Argentina were able to hack the ball on -- with replacement flanker Fessia picking up and running in unopposed to score.

Game, set and match Argentina!

The win sets up a showdown with Scotland in Wellington next Sunday with the winner in pole position to ensure a slot in the quarter-finals, while the east Europeans are now set to make it seven straight failures to get out of the pool stages at the World Cup.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Fernandez, Leguizamon, Figallo, Amorosino, Imhoff, Fessia
Con:  Rodriguez 5
Pen:  Rodriguez

For Romania:
Try:  Cazan
Pen:  Dimofte

Argentina:  15 Lucas González Amorosino, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Martin Rodriguez, 12 Marcelo Bosch, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Martin Scelzo, 18 Mariano Galarza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Nicolas Sanchez, 22 Juan Jose Imhoff.

Romania:  15 Iulian Dumitras, 14 Madalin Lemnaru, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Constantin Gheara, 11 Ionel Cazan, 10 Tiberius Dimofte, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Mihai Macovei, 5 Cristian Petre, 4 Valentin Ursache, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Marius Tincu (c), 1 Mihaita Lazar.
Replacements:  16 Bogdan Suman, 17 Silviu Florea, 18 Valentin Poparlan, 19 Daniel Ianus, 20 Valentin Calafeteanu, 21 Marin Dumbrava, 22 Florin Vlaicu

Referee:  Steve Walsh (Australia)

Canter for thirteen-try All Blacks

New Zealand recorded two wins from two in World Cup 2011 on Friday with a slick 83-7 victory over Japan, a result that saw them score thirteen tries.

It quickly turned into a procession in Waikato as Ma'a Nonu caused all kinds of problems for the Brave Blossoms, who had rested several of their first-choice players.  New Zealand had done something similar during midweek while niggles for Richie McCaw and Dan Carter saw them pull out soon after being named in the starting XV.

What was worrying early on for the All Blacks was the kicking from hand and tee of Colin Slade -- one could picture the scribes already sharpening their pens for the second-choice fly-half.  However, a settling conversion on 31 minutes calmed the number ten and he went on to enjoy a try-scoring effort for a side that was always on the front-foot.

Nonu was the key to this victory though, with his ability to fix and beat a man always keeping Japan on the back foot.  It seemed like visiting head coach John Kirwan had targetted the soon-to-be Blues man by loading two players onto him, but that proved futile as Nonu tore the opposition to shreds in setting up his team-mates.

Centre colleague Conrad Smith, who was in for the benched Sonny Bill Williams, opened the scoring on just four minutes when number eight Victor Vito, Nonu and full-back Isaia Toeava combined to send over the number thirteen.  Slade was on-target with the conversion from close to the left touchline but then mis-judged a penalty attempt soon after.

New Zealand had definitely found their rhythm and it didn't take too long for them to cross again, with Richard Kahui ghosting over after good work from Toeava for his third try of the tournament so far.  He would get his fourth later on.  The score was 12-0 with the television camera showing John Kirwan trying to keep a brave face.  Things would not improve though.

On the other end of the scale, there was some pleasant viewing for Graham Henry, who will have a fair few selection headaches to deal with ahead of facing France in Auckland.

Nonu has nailed his spot down and Henry would have been encouraged by how Williams played on the right wing, scoring two tries in his cameo.  Israel Dagg meanwhile has to start.

Joining Williams, Smith and Kahui on the try-scoring chart was Jerome Kaino, Keven Mealamu, Andy Ellis, Slade, Toeava, Andrew Hore, Nonu and Adam Thomson.  The All Blacks now have until next Saturday to recover before facing les Bleus in a Pool decider.

Man of the match:  While it took him over an hour to cross the whitewash, Ma'a Nonu was at the hear of all things good for New Zealand.  Both he and Isaia Toeava were regularly on hand with assists for team-mates but Nonu was the man who caused the most problems.

Moment of the match:  We always knew the All Blacks would be the ones scoring the tries but when veteran wing Hirotoki Onozawa went over for Japan on 58 minutes, it led to one of the biggest cheers of the night.

Villain of the match:  Played in a good spirit.  Nothing dirty.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Smith, Kahui 2, Kaino, Mealamu, Ellis, Slade, SB Williams 2, Toeava, Hore, Nonu, Thomson
Con:  Slade 9

For Japan:
Try:  Onozawa
Con:  Williams

New Zealand:  15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Adam Thomson, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu (c), 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Anthony Boric, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.

Japan:  15 Taihei Ueda, 14 Takahisa Usuzuki, 13 Koji Taira, 12 Yuta Imamura, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Murray Williams, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Takashi Kikutani (c), 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Itaru Taniguchi, 5 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 4 Hithoshi Ono, 3 Nozomu Fujita, 2 Yusuke Aoki, 1 Naoki Kawamata.
Replacements:  16 Hiroki Yuhara, 17 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 18 Yuji Kitagawa, 19 Sione Talikavili Vatuvei, 20 Tomoki Yoshida, 21 Shaun Webb, 22 Alisi Tupuailai.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Jérôme Garces (France)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

USA resist Russian charge

The USA held on for a 13-6 win over World Cup debutants Russia in an enthralling encounter in New Plymouth on Thursday.

Intensity was the name of the game as the protagonists went at each other hammer and tongs.

The USA led 10-3 at the break thanks to a fantastic try from scrum-half Mike Petri but had to wait until deep in the second half to add a penalty to give themselves some breathing room.

A late penalty from Russian however set up a grandstand finish.

Despite what the scoreline might suggest, there was plenty of good rugby on offer.  Unfortunately the very wet conditions did not help as driving rain, in the second half in particular, made handling very difficult.

The Bears made a storming start to the game and looked dangerous when putting some of their big runners in space.

But the World Cup newcomers were half a yard behind their rivals for much of the game and one would imagine that in more favourable conditions the USA would have won more confortably.

After being handed a beating in the scrums against Ireland, the Americans would have enjoyed holding the upper hand in the set pieces, particularly in the line-outs.

Indeed, the Russians were denied a handful of opportunities as they failed to secure possession on their own throw.  In total, the USA stole six of the opponents' throw-ins, enough to stifle the red armada's momentum.

Russia opened the scoring after just three minutes when fly-half Yury Kushnarev slotted a penalty.  The Russians had come racing out of the blocks and had the American defence working overtime.

A penalty from USA full-back Chris Wyles levelled matters before the more experienced team struck with the game's only try from a flowing move started inside their own half to put Petri over the line under the posts at the end of the first quarter.  Centre Andrew Suniula put fly-half and brother Roland through a hole and the ball was worked back inside for Petri to drag Igor Klyuchnikov over the line, Wyles added the conversion.

That gave the Americans a seven-point led but despite largely controlling the match, they were not able to move further ahead until the 64th minute due to a combination of gallant defending from the Russians and some below-par handling from the blue-clad outside backs.

Russia finished strongly and a silly shoulder charge from US skipper Todd Clever allowed Kushnarev to add his second three-pointer and set up a nail-biting finish.

The Bears were unable to produce the accuracy needed to come up with a try however and must settle for a losing bonus-point in their first RWC appearance.

Man of the match:  The US dominated the breakdown zone and Mike MacDonald put in plenty of graft as well as being solid at scrum time.

Moment of the match:  No doubt about this one, the USA try was one of the best we've seen in the tournament so far as they turned on the gas to break from their own territory.

Villain of the match:  A few fisticuffs, as you would expect, but a villain award seems a bit harsh.

The scorers:

For Russia:
Pens:  Kushnarev 2

For USA:
Try:  Petri
Con:  Wyles
Pens:  Wyles 2

The teams:

Russia:  15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Vladimir Ostroushko, 13 Konstantin Rachkov, 12 Alexey Makovetskiy, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Alexander Shakirov, 8 Vyacheslav Grachev, 7 Artem Fatakhov, 6 Andrey Garbuzov, 5 Denis Antonov, 4 Alexander Voytov, 3 Ivan Prishchepenko, 2 Vladislav Korshunov (c), 1 Sergey Popov.
Replacements:  16 Valery Tsnobiladze, 17 Alexander Khrokin, 18 Vladmimir Botvinnikov, 19 Adam Byrnes, 20 Victor Gresev, 21 Alexander Yanyushkin, 22 Andrey Kuzin.

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 James Paterson, 10 Roland Suniula, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever (c), 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements:  16 Phil Thiel, 17 Shawn Pittman, 18 Scott LaValla, 19 Pat Danahy, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Nese Malifa, 22 Blaine Scully.

Venue:  Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth
Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

Scotland grind past Georgia

Scotland made heavy work of their second World Cup win on Wednesday, labouring to a 15-6 win over Georgia in Invercargill in probably the worst game so far in the 2011 World Cup.

Four penalties and a drop-goal from Dan Parks were enough to hand Scotland four pool points in a try-less encounter in wet conditions.

After struggling to get the better of Romania in their opening fixture on Saturday, Scotland once again failed to impress against a side playing rather negative rugby.

Opportunities were not lacking for Scotland, but their poor execution suggests that they will struggle to make the quarter-finals.

Georgia's tactics were exactly what we expected:  It was all about using the grunt of the pack, taking Scotland on up front and doing everything in their power to disrupt Scottish possession.

And it worked.  Scotland were always going to try use their superior backs to stretch the big Eastern Europeans wide and they had the majority of the possession to do so.  But the Scots' handling let them down more often that not.

Scotland held a 9-3 lead at the end of a first-half highlighted by some thundering tackles from the Georgians and some poor kicking by both sides.

Scotland were forced into a late change when hooker Scott Lawson pulled out after suffering from a tight calf muscle in training.  Ross Ford was called into the first-team to replace Lawson, with Dougie Hall coming onto the replacements' bench.

If Andy Robinson's team were in any doubt they were in for a stern contest, it was clear they had a battle on their hands when Georgia took the lead at the end of the first quarter.

Fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili smashed over a penalty from half-way to give the underdogs their first points of the tournament.

Scotland got onto the scoreboard when Parks landed his second attempt at goal.  The pivot put the Scots ahead on 33 minutes before slotting a drop-goal just before the break to leave his team 9-3 ahead as the protagonists headed for the changing rooms.

It was much the same story in the second period and the crowd had to wait until the 71st minute to see the first points -- again from Parks's boot.

Georgia replied almost immediately but a late three-pointer from Parks secured the win for Scotland.

Man of the match:  Not too many impressive performances but Kelly Brown worked tirelessly at the breakdown.

Moment of the match:  The anthems?  Not much to write home about here.  Dan Parks's drop-goal summed up what was a frustrating night for Scotland.  Unable to breach the Georgian defence, they had to advance three points at a time.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Parks 4
Drop:  Parks

For Georgia:
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 2

Scotland:  15 Rory Lamont, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson (captain), 8 Kelly Brown, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Alasdair Dickinson, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Richie Vernon, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Chris Paterson.

Georgia:  15 Revaz Gigauri, 14 Irakli Machkhaneli, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Tedo Zibzibadze, 11 Alexander Todua, 10 Merab Kvirikashvili, 9 Irakli Abuseridze (capt), 8 Dimitri Basilaia, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Vakhtang Maisuradze, 4 Levan Datunashvili, 3 David Zirakashvili, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 David Khinchagishvili.
Replacements:  16 Akvsenti Giorgadze, 17 David Kubriashvilini, 18 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 19 Viktor Kolelishvili, 20 Bidzina Samkharadze, 21 Lasha Khmaladze, 22 Malkhaz Urjukashvili.

Venue:  Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Simon McDowell (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Canada get the better of Tonga

Canada opened their World Cup account with a deserved 25-20 win over crowd favourites Tonga in Whangarei on Wednesday.

The Canucks outscored Tonga three tries to two in a cracking game, and were full value for their win after leading 10-7 at half-time.

The islanders bounced back in the second half though and looked on course for their first victory after losing to New Zealand in last Friday's opening World Cup match.  Tonga centre Siale Piutau picked up his second try while Kurt Morath chipped away at the lead.

However, Canada had other ideas and stormed back in front thanks to tries from number eight Aaron Carpenter and wing Phil Mackenzie.

With just a converted try to win the match, Tonga pushed hard until the final whistle but were unable to breach Canada's rock-solid defence.

The defeat now leaves the Tongans with a mountain to climb in Pool A, after suffering back-to-back defeats in the tournament.

Despite not touching the ball during an early onslaught from the Tongans, it was Canada who moved into an early lead after first Chauncey O'Toole and then DTH Van Der Merwe cut through the red sea of defence, before lock Jebb Sinclair applied the finish.

Canada full-back James Pritchard converted and Canada were in a surprise 7-0 lead.

Tonga full-back Kurt Morath had a chance to cut the deficit to just one point, but missed two straightforward efforts for the Pacific islanders -- with frustrating errors a common theme in their play.

Tonga had the territory and possession to drive Canada back but too often their handling let them down.  And Canada made them pay as Pritchard extended their lead to 10-0 after 26 minutes.

Tonga were finally rewarded on the stroke of half-time as centre Siale Piutau was released in space on the right and scythed through two defenders to score.  Morath added the conversion to cut Canada's lead to 10-7 at the break.

The game burst into life in the second half as the teams swapped penalties and then Piutau ran onto a short pass and accelerated through Canada's defence on 53 minutes.

Canada were on the ropes but they hit back when substitute centre Conor Trainor muscled forward and number eight Carpenter capitalised by barrelling through a sea of bodies for a try on 67 minutes.

Pritchard missed the conversion, leaving them two points short, but left wing MacKenzie crossed for the match-winner as the Maple Leafs regained the decisive lead 25-20 with just six minutes to go.

Man of the match:  Tough one.  For Tonga, a brace from Siale Piutau wasn't enough to see his side through.  And for Canada, Ander Monro and Phil Mackenzie shone in the backs while Aaron Carpenter stood out in the forwards.  But not as tall as flank Adam Kleeberger who got through a mountain of work for his team in a tireless performance.

Moment of the match:  Another hard one.  But it has to be Phil Mackenzie's match-winner.

Villain of the match:  No malice to report.

The scorers:

For Tonga:
Tries:  Piutau 2
Cons:  Morath 2
Pens:  Morath 2

For Canada:
Tries:  Sinclair, Carpenter, Mackenzie
Cons:  Pritchard 2
Pens:  Pritchard 2

Tonga:  15 Kurt Morath, 14 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Alipate Fatafehi, 11 William Helu, 10 Taniela Moa, 9 Thomas Palu, 8 Samiu Vahafolau, 7 Sione Vaiomounga, 6 Finau Maka (c), 5 Tukulua Lokotui, 4 Sione Timani, 3 Kisi Pulu, 2 Ephraim Taukafa, 1 Alisona Taumalolo.
Replacements:  16 Aloisio Ma'asi, 17 Soane Tonga'uiha, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Viliami Ma'afu, 20 Sione Kalamafoni, 21 Viliame Iongi, 22 Alaska Taufa.

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 DTH Van Der Merwe, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Phil Mackenzie, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Adam Kleeberger, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Pat Riordan (capt), 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements:  16 Ryan Hamilton, 17 Scott Franklin, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Conor Trainor, 21 Sean White, 22 Nathan Hirayama.

Samoa open with a bang

Samoa got their Rugby World Cup campaign underway in emphatic fashion, after demolishing Namibia 49-12 at Rotorua International Stadium on Wednesday.

Samoa speedster Alesani Tuilagi bagged a hat-trick to help his team along to a comprehensive six-tries-to-two Pool D win.

The islanders simply had too much pace and power for the African minnows, with Wales, Fiji and the Springboks having been interested spectators of the performance.

The writing was on the wall for Namibia just 49 seconds into the match when scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'i went over for the opening try, converted by pivot Tusi Pisi.

Samoa hit double figures with a Pisi penalty, and it was 10-0 after ten minutes played.

Six minutes later, powerful wing Alesani Tuilagi used his pace to speed over for Samoa's second converted try after the islanders did the basics well with ball in hand.  The Tigers star still had some work to do out wide, but made it look easy.

Pisi followed up his conversion with another penalty and Samoa were smiling 20-0 up.

With half-time approaching, Tuilagi was over for his second and Samoa's third five-pointer thanks to a quick-tap from flank Maurie Faasavalu and quick hands by the Samoan back-line.  Tuilagi was once again left to work hard, but bounced off three would-be tacklers to score in the corner.

With Pisi off injured, full-back Paul Williams was unable to add the extras but Samoa were firmly in control heading into the break at 25-0 ahead.

Samoa ran into their first road block of the match when Williams was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle in the 39th minute of the match, but Namibia failed to make their advantage against 14 men count in the second half.

Williams returned to the fray and made up for his misdemeanor by slotting over a penalty for his team after Tuilagi was denied his hat-trick moments earlier with the ref ruling a forward pass.

However, Tuilagi wouldn't be denied the next time he got his hands on the ball just two minutes from the restart and raced in for Samoa's bonus point.  Williams converted to give the men in blue a 35-0 lead against the struggling Namibians.

Another superb break-out from Faasavalu ended in Samoa's fifth try of the afternoon -- this time Williams exposing some sloppy defence from Namibia for a converted touchdown (42-0).

Namibia finally woke up from their slumber and replied in style.  A catch off his own chip kick ahead by winger Llewellyn Winkler set up centre Danie van Wyk, before Namibia's second try saw fly-half Theuns Kotze stretch out under the posts.

But in between, Namibia flanker Rohan Kitshoff -- a late replacement for Jacques Nieuwenhuis -- was yellow-carded for repeated infringement, and Namibia's short-handed scrum gave up a penalty try to Samoa.

Man of the match:  Blockbusting wing Alesana Tuilagi signalled his star power with Samoa's first World Cup hat-trick, but it was exciting flank Maurie Faasavalu who really caught the eye without having to score a try.  He was just everywhere!

Moment of the match:  Fotuali'i's opening try with barely a minute up on the clock set the mood for the match.

Villains of the match:  There haven't been many so far at this year's showpiece.  But naughty, naughty Paul Williams and Rohan Kitshoff -- a yellow card each.

The scorers:

For Samoa:
Tries:  Fotuali'i, Tuilagi 3, Williams, Penalty try
Cons:  Pisi 2, Williams 3
Pens:  Pisi 2, Williams

For Namibia:
Tries:  Van Wyk, Kotze
Con:  Kotze

Samoa:  15 Paul Williams, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 George Pisi, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Alesani Tuilagi, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 George Stowers, 7 Maurie Faasavalu, 6 Taiasina Tuifua, 5 Kane Thompson, 4 Daniel Leo, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Mahonri Schwalger (c), 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements:  16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Census Johnston, 18 Joe Tekori, 19 Ofisa Treviranus, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Eliota Sapolu Fuimaono, 22 Tasesa Lavea.

Namibia:  15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Danie van Wyk, 12 Piet van Zyl, 11 Llewellyn Winkler, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Pieter Jan van Lill, 7 Jacques Burger (c), 6 Rohan Kitshoff;  5 Henk Franken, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Raoul Larson, 2 Hugo Horn, 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys.
Replacements:  16 Bertus O'Callaghan, 17 Jane du Toit, 18 Nico Esterhuyse, 19 Reaud van Neel, 20 Ryan de la Harpe, 21 Darryl de la Harpe, 22 TC Losper.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)

Springboks edge Wales in thriller

Defending champions South Africa were made to work extremely hard for a 17-16 win over Wales in a thrilling encounter in Wellington on Sunday.

Trailing 16-10 with fifteen minutes left, the Springboks had to dig deep to produce a try for replacement wing Francois Hougaard and clinch a hard-fought victory by the skin of their teeth.

Fiji still top Pool D on five points, but South Africa will now expect to win the "Group of Death."

After going behind in the early stages (South Africa led 10-6 at the break) Wales produced an outstanding hour of rugby to wrestle the lead back from the pool favourites.

Wales could not complain of a lack of opportunities as they had the lion's share of possession for the majority of the game.

Indeed, much of the pre-game talk centred around the Welsh pack's ability to match their opponents for physicality, but the men in red stood up to the challenge and have every reason to feel bitterly disappointed after coming mighty close to a memorable win.

South Africa looked dangerous in the first twenty minutes, but were outplayed for most of the remainder of the game bar a five-minute spell that produced the winning try.

Once the (mild) victory celebrations are done, the Springboks will also be sweating over the fitness of two key players after Jean de Villiers and Victor Matfield were forced off early with rib and hamstring injuries respectively.

South Africa were out of the blocks at a furious pace and took the lead after just three minutes when Frans Steyn scored in the corner.  Jaque Fourie's initial break had put the Boks on the front foot before the ball was sent wide to Steyn, who smashed James Hook out the way to remind everyone of who the current world champions are.

After a shaky start, Wales settled down and Hook put them on the scoreboard after Pierre Spies was pinged for going off his feet.

The Welsh looked perplexed when referee Wayne Barnes denied them three more points when he adjudged that Hook's second penalty attempt had not crept inside the upright.

Morne Steyn extended South Africa's lead at the end of the first quarter by adding a penalty to his earlier conversion but Hook replied around the half-hour mark to leave the scores at 10-6.  And so it remained until the break.

Wales spent the better part of 20 minutes camped in the Springbok half after the restart, dominating the battle for possession in the tight exchanges and impressing on attack.

Hook narrowed the gap to a single point on 50 minutes before number eight Toby Faletau crashed over at the end of an overlap to give Wales the lead going into the final quarter.

Shocked into action, the Springbok reply wasn't long in coming.  Without their core leadership group (John Smit and Matfield were already off) they first made the brave decision to kick for touch rather than at goal from a penalty.  True to form, they rumbled forward to open a gap on the side of a ruck through which Hougaard came flying to latch onto Fourie Du Preez's short pass and finish under the sticks.

Morne Steyn's conversion gave the champs a 17-16 lead.

Rhys Priestland missed a late drop and Hook couldn't find the mark with a penalty at the death, handing the Springboks an unconvincing victory.

Man of the match:  A mention must go to Springbok openside Heinrich Brüssow, who was a tackling machine.  But Wales skipper Sam Warburton was the standout player with a phenomenal display at the breakdown.

Moment of the match:  There can only be one: Francois Hougaard's try came at the end of South Africa's only real attack in the second half ... one was all they needed.

Villain of the match:  If you're Welsh, we know who you would pick, but we're not going down that road.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  F. Steyn, Hougaard
Cons:  M. Steyn 2
Pen:  M. Steyn

For Wales:
Try:  Faletau
Con:  Hook
Pens:  Hook 3

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Johann Muller, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Butch James.

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Danny Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Paul James
Replacements:  16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Andy Powell, 20 Tavis Knoyle, 21 Scott Williams, 22 Leigh Halfpenny.

Venue:  Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Matt Goddard (Australia)

Ireland battle to win over USA

Ireland got their World Cup campaign off to a stuttering start with a 22-10 win over USA at the Taranaki Stadium in New Plymouth on Sunday.

The match was played in rainy conditions and although Ireland held the upper hand in most facets of play, they struggled to breach their opponents' defence.

They only scored three tries, which means that they failed to secure a bonus point.

Ireland's forwards illustrated their dominance with the first scrum of the match when they shoved their opponents off the ball and that scene was repeated on numerous occasions during the rest of the match.

USA's defence were impressive in the initial stages and they held Ireland at bay until the 17th minute when Jonathan Sexton opened the scoring with a penalty.

Ireland did all the attacking in the first half but the wet conditions and their opponents' solid defensive effort made it difficult for them to cross the tryline.

Although USA defended resiliently, they could only watch as Tommy Bowe crossed over for the first try just before half-time, after receiving an inside pass from Sexton, after the Irish pack laid the groundwork with fine driving play in the build-up.

Sexton converted to give his side a 10-0 lead at the break.

The Leinster fly-half's woeful goalkicking and option-taking saw him being replaced by Ronan O'Gara shortly after the restart and there seemed to be a new sense of urgency in Ireland's attacking play with the veteran pivot's introduction.

O'Gara made an immediate impact and brought his outside backs more into the game, something which Sexton struggled to do during his stint on the field.

Ireland crossed over for their second try in the 55th minute when Rory Best charged over from close quarters from a rolling maul.

Shortly afterwards O'Gara fed O'Driscoll, who swapped passes with Bowe, who got in for his second touchdown and it seemed that more tries would follow for the Irish.

This failed to happen, and although they came close to scoring that elusive fourth try on a couple of occasions, the USA were rewarded for their efforts when just before the final whistle as Paul Emerick intercepted a pass by Gordon D'Ary close to the halfway line to score under the posts.

Man of the match:  Ireland's front-row of Mike Ross, Rory Best and Tom Court for the demolition job they did on the USA pack in the scrums.

Moment of the match:  The 40th minute when Tommy Bowe got in for the opening try of the match.  Up to that point Ireland were kept out by a fine defensive effort from USA.

Villain of the match:  Jonathan Sexton had a shocking allround game and poor goalkicking return of two out of six.  He was replaced by Ronan O'Gara, who gave more direction to the Irish back-line.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Bowe 2, Best
Con:  Sexton, O'Gara
Pen:  Sexton

For USA:
Try:  Emerick
Con:  Paterson
Pen:  Paterson

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordan D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements:  16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Andrew Trimble.

USA:  15 Blaine Scully, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 James Paterson, 10 Roland Suniula, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever (capt), 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements:  16 Chris Biller, 17 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 18 Scott LaValla, 19 Pat Danahy, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Nese Malifa, 22 Colin Hawley.

Wobbly victory for Wallabies

Australia recovered from a 6-6 interval scoreline to eventually overcome Italy 32-6 in a four-try performance at North Harbour Stadium on Sunday.

The Golds had struggled to shake off the Azzurri until a second-half masterclass saw them pull away from Nick Mallett's passionate outfit.

Tries from Ben Alexander, Adam Ashley-Cooper, James O'Connor and Digby Ioane sealed matters when the rain and Italian resilience had abated.

Spectators could see that Martin Castrogiovanni and company were brimming ahead of kick-off when the heavens opened.  And it proved to help their cause as Australia struggled to apply much pressure on Italy's line, with Mirco Bergamasco and Quade Cooper knocking over two penalties apiece in an intense opening 40 minutes.

But when O'Connor emerged from the sidelines for centre Anthony Faingaa, the Wallabies soon clicked into gear and ran away with the game.

Cooper and Bergamasco were guilty of missing early attempts at goal before the Wallabies playmaker found his range on sixteen minutes before doubling his side's lead on 31 minutes.  Bergamasco made it 6-6 on the stroke of half-time after Wallaby indiscretions.

Upon the turnaround, a stolen line-out by veteran lock forward Dan Vickerman then led to wing Ioane finding a hole, which led to prop Alexander burrowing his way over the line.

Australia looked to have found their rhythm and their second score did not take long to arrive as, Ashley-Cooper hit a superb short line off Cooper's left shoulder to go in unopposed.

O'Connor, who was left on the bench in his comeback from suspension, knocked over the two points before converting his own try, with Cooper again the provider from close-range.

Ioane was again involved in Australia's third try when he took a ball from Cooper and went over from distance.  O'Connor converted and the game was out of sight for the Italians.

Man of the match:  A few years ago, this Italian pack would have been all over the Wallabies at scrum-time.  But not anymore, Ben Alexander fully deserved his try and it was interesting to note that Italy's strongest scrummage came when Alexander had been replaced.

Moment of the match:  Minute 47, enter James O'Connor.  The game turned on its head from that point on and it would be wrong not to attribute that, in part, to O'Connor's arrival.  He offered lines off Quade Cooper and looked keen to make up for his recent bad behaviour.

Villain of the match:  Nothing shady to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Alexander, Ashley-Cooper, O'Connor, Ioane
Con:  O'Connor 3
Pen:  Cooper 2

For Italy:
Pen:  Bergamasco 2

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Anthony Fainga'a, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Radike Samo, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Dan Vickerman, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 James O'Connor.

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Luke McLean.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland))
Assistant referees:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)

England escape wounded Pumas

England recovered from a six-point deficit to claim a vital 13-9 Rugby World Cup victory over Argentina at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.

The Pumas will count themselves unlucky not to have done what they did to France four years ago after shelling 18 points due to wayward attempts from Felipe Contepomi and Martin Rodriguez.

However, Jonny Wilkinson was not much better from the kicking tee as England had to rely on Ben Youngs' second-half try for the matchday points.

What will make the defeat worse for Argentina is that they lost Contepomi and Gonzalo Tiesi to respective rib and knee injuries.  We will see if they recover to feature in the Pool B run-in.

There is little doubt that the Pumas played the better of the two teams -- which is impressive having had just one Test in 11 months.  And they led 6-3 at the break thanks to a penalty each from Contepomi and Rodriguez.  The former did not last the first-half though while Stade Francais team-mate Tiesi hobbled off soon after.

England were making life easier for Argentina during the first period by offending countless times at the breakdown, with referee Bryce Lawrence not taking long to lose his patience.

The official -- after Wilkinson missed a seemingly easy penalty -- sent prop Dan Cole to the sin-bin on 34 minutes for playing the ball on the floor, only for Rodriguez to miss again.

England needed the break to gain some perspective and ideas from their coaching staff yet it was the Pumas who were out of the blocks the quicker, as the English conceded another penalty which Rodriguez kicked to make it 9-3.  England needed some magic.

But then came the turning point in the game as Martin Johnson threw on Youngs for Richard Wigglesworth and he soon spotted a gap from close-range to knock the stuffing out of the Pumas.  From there, they never recovered as Wilkinson added another three to seal victory.

Man of the match:  I'm afraid we have gone for a player on the losing side.  Only lock Courtney Lawes really threw his weight around in the tackle for England while Mario Ledesma and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe were strong.

Moment of the match:  England desperately need to some bite and Ben Youngs brought the pace and go-forward they required when he came on.  His try was crucial in turning the game on its head -- he saw the gap and backed himself.

Villain of the match:  If we have to hand this out, Dan Cole was the one shown the yellow card for a repeated team offences but England on the whole showed very little in the first-half.  Tad harsh but we're going for Martin Rodriguez, who missed fifteen points.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Pen:  Contepomi, Rodriguez 2

For England:
Try:  Youngs
Con:  Wilkinson
Pen:  Wilkinson 2

Argentina:  15 Martin Rodriguez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Martin Scelzo, 18 Mariano Galarza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Marcelo Bosch, 22 Juan Jose Imhoff.

England:  15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Mike Tindall (c), 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Nick Easter, 7 James Haskell, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Tom Wood, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Matt Banahan.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO:  Matt Goddard (Australia)

Bleus battle past Brave Blossoms

France were given a scare by Japan in their World Cup opener on Saturday but managed to get the job done with a 47-21 win at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.

A bonus point means that les Bleus move level with New Zealand at the top of Pool A, but it was far from plain sailing as the Japanese made a mockery of many of the bookies' predictions.

A virtuoso performance from Japanese fly-half James Arlidge saw him score all his team's points in an entertaining game highlighted by the Brave Blossoms' fighting spirit.

The result looked done and dusted early on as France made the expected strong start.  But as complacency set in and Japan continued to fight, the underdogs made an incredible comeback.

After cruising to a 20-3 lead inside the first 30 minutes, France found themselves under huge pressure at 25-21 on the hour mark.

A late revival however saw the French restore order, finishing the game with six tries to Japan's two.

The first half-an-hour went perfectly to script:  The Japanese scrum was slaughtered and their defence out wide was found wanting.

Three tries -- from lock Julien Pierre, fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc and wing Vincent Clerc -- gave France a 23-11 lead at half-time.  Arlidge's replied with a try of his own and two penalties.

It took France 27 minutes to score their first points of the second half -- although they were unlucky to be denied a try on two occasions by the TMO, who adjudged the ball to have been held up -- but scored 22 unanswered points in the last ten minutes.

Dragons fly-half Arlidge got Japan on the board with his second penalty attempt and was handed a stroke of good fortune when his attempted grubber, charged down by Trinh-Duc, rebound into his hands to dash over, although he missed the conversion.

France hit back with a lovely try from deadly finisher Clerc.  Arlidge then landed his second penalty on half-time to keep Japan in touch.

Imanol Harinordoquy and Lionel Nallet were both denied tries soon after the restart as the Japanese managed to get body parts under the ball in-goal.

The Cherry Blossoms then began to strike.  After a series of phases -- prompted by the high tempo play of scrum-half Fumiaki Tanaka -- Arlidge spotted the gap and broke through two tackles to score.  He also added the conversion to cut the deficit to 25-18.

France suddenly seemed all at sea and lost all shape.  However they were given some breathing space by a Yachvili penalty with 12 minutes left before veteran lock Nallet powered over to make the game safe.

And in the dying minutes lock Pascal Papé added the finishing touch after a brilliant move that started in the French 22, while replacement Parra scored in the corner.

Man of the match:  We don't often go for a player from the losing team, but James Arlidge deserves the gong.  His second try was sensational and gave his team hope of causing an upset.

Moment of the match:  France showed what they are capable off when Cedric Heymans made a beautiful offload to Aurélien Rougerie, who sent it wide for Vincent Clerc's try.  It gave France a 25-8 lead...Japan were never going to be able to come back from there.

Villain of the match:  No nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Pierre, Trinh-Duc, Clerc, Nallet, Papé, Parra
Cons:  Yachvili 4
Pens:  Yachvili 3

For Japan:
Tries:  Arlidge 2
Cons:  Arlidge
Pens:  Arlidge 3

France:  15 Cedric Heymans, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Julien Bonnaire, 19 Pascal Papé, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Skrela, 22 David Marty

Japan:  15 Shaun Webb, 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Koji Taira, 12 Ryan Nicholas, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 James Arlidge, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryukoliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Takashi Kikutani (c), 5 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Hisateru Hirashima.
Replacements:  16 Yusuke Aoki, 17 Nozomu Fujita, 18 Hitoshi Ono, 19 Itaru Taniguchi, 20 Atsushi Hiwasa, 21 Murray Williams, 22 Alisi Tupuailai.

Venue:  North Harbour Stadium, Albany
Referee:  Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)), Stuart Terheege (England)
TMO:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Fiji run six past Namibia

Wing Vereniki Goneva scored four of Fiji's six tries to help beat Namibia 49-25 in a highly entertaining Rugby World Cup match on Saturday.

The brave Namibians can hold their heads up high after producing a more than competitive performance, leading twice in the early stages of the match.  However Fiji's attacking prowess was just too hot to handle in Rotorua.

Seremaia Bai added 19 points from the boot for the islanders, while former soldier Leone Nakarawa and Naipolioni Nalaga also added their name to Fiji's scoresheet.

Namibia pivot Theuns Kotze contributed 15 points, including a hat-trick of drop goals, while Heinz Koll and Chrysander Botha scored scintillating tries.

Despite their defeat, Namibia -- handed a World Cup record 142-0 thrashing by Australia eight years ago -- enjoyed their highest score and closest result in four appearances at rugby's biggest showpiece.

Orchestrated by Kotze, the Namibians took great satisfaction from keeping the tiring Flying Fijians on the defence for much of the second half in an engrossing spectacle at Rotorua International Stadium.

It was the boot of Kotze against Fiji's try-scoring genius in the first half as the number ten, starting just his second Test, nailed three drop-goals in just four minutes to put the 2007 quarter-finalists on the back foot.

But Sevens specialists Fiji dazzled with ball in hand and Goneva rampaged down the right-hand touchline for a first-half hat-trick alongside a lone effort from Nakarawa to make it 32-15 at half-time.

Namibia had denied Fiji possession for long periods of the first half and they burst through for a long-range first try after the break, with lock Heinz Koll finishing off a move from deep within their own half.

Fiji's Goneva hit back with his fourth score but Namibia ran in their second through full-back Chrysander Botha on 56 minutes, setting up a spell of heavy pressure with the scores at 39-25.

However, Bai put the game effectively out of reach with a penalty before left wing Naipolioni Nalaga crossed in the dying minutes.

Man of the match:  Vereniki Goneva.  Count 'em ... one, two, three, four.

Moment of the match:  Take your pic from any of the eight tries scored.

Villain of the match:  Thrilling match played in good spirits.

The scorers:

For Fiji:
Tries:  Goneva 4, Nakarawa, Nalaga
Cons:  Bai 4
Pens:  Bai 3

For Namibia:
Tries:Koll, Botha
Cons:  Kotze
Pens:Kotze 2
Drops:  Kotze 3

Fiji:  15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Gaby Lovobalavu, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Waisea Sedre Luveniyali, 9 Nemia Kenatale, 8 Netani Edward Talei, 7 Mala Ravulo, 6 Dominiko Maiwiriwiri Waqaniburotu, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 4 Leone Nakarawa, 3 Deacon Manu (c), 2 Viliame Veikoso, 1 Campese Ma'afu.
Replacements:  16 Sunia Koto, 17 Waisea Nailago, 18 Seko Kalou, 19 Akapusi Qera, 20 Vitori Tomu Buatava, 21 Albert James Vulivuli, 22 Iliesa Lomani Rakuka Keresoni.

Namibia:  15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Danie Van Wyk, 12 Piet Van Zyl, 11 Conrad Marais, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 7 Jacques Burger (c), 6 Tinus Du Plessis, 5 Nico Esterhuyse, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Raoul Larson, 2 Hugo Horn, 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys.
Replacements:  16 Bertus O'Callaghan, 17 Jané Du Toit, 18 Pieter Jan van Lill, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Ryan De La Harpe, 21 Darryl De La Harpe, 22 Llewellyn Winkler.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)

Danielli brace saves Scotland blushes

Scotland wing Simon Danielli saved his team from an embarrassing opening World Cup defeat by scoring two tries to help see off Romania 34-24 at Rugby Park on Saturday.

Against all odds, Romania had the Scots hanging on the ropes after leading by three points with ten minutes of the match remaining.

However, a fourth penalty from veteran full-back Chris Paterson and two well-taken tries by Danielli denied the Oaks what would have been a sensational win.

Instead, an unconvincing Scotland outfit take maximum points courtesy of scoring four tries but will know there is much work to be done ahead of their next match against Georgia on Wednesday.

The last time the teams met at the World Cup, Scotland beat Romania 42-0.  And after scrum-half Mike Blair and centre Joe Ansbro scored early tries for Scotland , it looked like another rout was in the works.

But Romania outplayed Scotland for much of the second half after trailing by just seven points (18-11) at the break, thanks to prop Mihaita Lazar's try on the stroke of half-time.

Paterson had got Scotland off the mark with an early penalty before Blair scored the opening try on seven minutes.  Great hands from Joe Ansbro released Danielli whose mazy run was well supported by Blair for the scrum-half to add the finishing touch.

Romania pivot Marin Dumbrava made up for a missed shot at goal by opening Romania's account with a well-struck penalty just a minute later.

Scotland blew two try-scoring chances, but soon found the whitewash again after Ansbro shot through three would-be tacklers for a superb try under the sticks.  Paterson converted for a 15-3 lead, and Scotland looked to be in control... or so we thought.

Dumbrava replied for Romania with another penalty and the Oaks were unlucky not to get their first try as they hammered away at Scotland's tryline through their powerful pack.

Somewhat surprisingly Romania opted for a shot at goal when a 5m scrum collapsed, but Dumbrava failed to take advantage and captain Marius Tincu was left to rue his decision.

Paterson showed Dumbrava how it was done with his second penalty shot of the half to give Scotland an 18-6 lead, but Tincu got it right the second time when this time he turned down three points and opted instead for the line-out and drive with one minute of the half remaining.

Romania's heavies drove Scotland over their line, with prop Lazar being awarded the try.  Dumbrava missed the conversion but went into the half-time sheds with their tails up after having the final say in the first half.

Paterson missed an early penalty chance after the restart, while a mixture of good defence and poor ball retention left Scotland frustrated.

Paterson, playing in his fourth World Cup, found the target on 52 minutes to give Scotland a ten-point cushion -- but once again Andy Robinson's side gave away another needless penalty from the restart, with centre Tiberius Dimofte -- taking over kicking duties from subbed Dumbrava -- slotting over the three-pointer.

Suddenly Romania found some self-belief -- and with replacement halfback pair Florin Surugiu and Ionel Cazan pulling the strings, they hammered away at the Scotland line before Dimofte slotted over another penalty.

The impossible looked very probable for the underdogs when number eight Daniel Carpo picked up the ball from the base of a 5m scrum and powered over for the try.  Dimofte's conversion put his team three points ahead and amazingly, Romania were in a suprise lead.

Scotland bounced back to level the scores through Paterson and Scotland fans were breathing a sigh of relief as Danielli raced over with five minutes left after a storming break and offload from number eight Richie Vernon along the touchline.

Danielli added his second two minutes later to seal the deal for Scotland.

Man of the match:  Marius Tincu.  Romania were just 10 minutes away from creating history, and in that time their captain was subbed.  Why coach Romeo Gontineac pulled the side's most inspirational player off the field baffles us.  But he did enough beforehand to get our vote.

Moment of the match:  Daniel Carpo's try followed by Tiberius Dimofte's conversion to take the lead.  This is what World Cups are made for!

Villain of the match:  No yellow or red cards to report.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Blair, Ansbro, Danielli 2
Cons:  Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 4

For Romania:
Tries:  Lazar, Carpo
Con:  Dimofte 2
Pens:  Dumbrava 2, Dimofte 2

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Max Evans, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (c), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Rory Lamont.

Romania:  15 Iulian Dumitras, 14 Stefan Eugen Ciuntu, 13 Csaba Minya Gal, 12 Tiberius Ionut Dimofte, 11 Madalin Vlad Lemnaru, 10 Marin Danut Dumbrava, 9 Lucian Mihai Sirbu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Mihai Macovei, 5 Cristian Constantin Petre, 4 Valentin Neculai Ursache, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Marius Tincu (c), 1 Mihaita Alexandru Lazar.
Replacements:  16 Bogdan Zebega Suman, 17 Silviu Florea, 18 Valentin Poparlan, 19 Sandu Stelian Burcea, 20 Florin Surugiu, 21 Ionel Cazan, 22 Florin Adrian Vlaicu.

Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)

All Blacks up and running in Auckland

A fine first-half performance helped New Zealand to a 41-10 victory over Tonga in the first game of the 2011 World Cup at Eden Park on Friday.

It was hardly a vintage 80 minutes but with the job done and dusted before the break, it is difficult to blame the hosts for taking their foot off the gas.

They carded six tries in all while the Tongans, who were unlucky not to take the second-half spoils after topping both the possession and territory statistics, responded thanks to a late try from replacement loosehead prop Alisona Taumalolo.

We had a sneaking feeling that a strong game here for Israel Dagg could make life very difficult for veteran Mils Muliaina to reclaim his number fifteen jersey.  And so it happened as Crusader Dagg was a constant threat from full-back, scoring twice and claiming the opening score of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in the process.

New Zealand were sublime for many chunks of the fixture and the experiment of Sonny Bill Williams and Ma'a Nonu at centre gave more than a feeling that head coach Graham Henry had known about this combination for some time but kept it under wraps until the tournament kick-off.  Rivals must now do their homework.

Japan are next on their schedule so expect plenty of changes in personnel for that, with Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and the entire back-three expected to be kept in cotton wool ahead of the France game.  On this form and creating so many opportunities, one expects les bleus may struggle.  As the aforementioned stats show, NZ don't need much to score.

It did take them ten minutes to cross the whitewash though as, following a Carter penalty five minutes before, Kahui busted two tacklers before recycled ball found Nonu who handed to Dagg for the simplest of scores.  Carter missed the extras from wide on the left touchline.

Maybe there were still a few nerves at Eden Park as it took another nine minutes before the scorers were troubled again.  This time it was the impressive Sonny Bill Williams who turned provider with a lovely inside offload to Isaia Toeava which led to Kahui getting over.

New Zealand were starting to turn the screw.

And so it proved as another Williams pass in the tackle to Toeava produced Dagg's second try before the full-back fed Kahui for try number four.  The All Blacks had 29 points on their tally before a Kurt Morath penalty put the Tongans on the board on 40 minutes.

But it was a different Tonga after the break and in the first fifteen minutes Williams, Nonu, Toeava and Brad Thorn were all dropped in crunching tackles in reach of the try-line.

Kahui managed to break the second-half deadlock though, regathering his own chip kick and passing to the supporting blindside flanker Jerome Kaino who extended the lead.

But then came one of the biggest cheers of the night as Tonga, who had 6,000 supporters welcoming them at the airport upon arrival, crossed the line thanks to Taumalolo.  The All Blacks had the final say though as Nonu scored late on to cap a professional showing.

Man of the match:  It was a toss-up betwen Sonny Bill Williams for his assists and Richard Kahui for grabbing his opportunity on the wing with both hands.  Kahui was just too good with two tries picked up -- one of which was a well-finished score down the right touchline.

Moment of the match:  The offload from Sonny Bill Williams back inside to Isaia Toeava was sublime.  Without looking, SBW sent the ball behind his back and inside to the wing, who then handed the pill to a scoring Richard Kahui.  Quality stuff that thrilled Eden Park.

Villain of the match:  No bad-boy in what was a clean 80 minutes.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg 2, Kahui 2, Kaino, Nonu
Con:  Carter 3, Slade
Pen:  Carter

For Tonga:
Try:  Taumalolo
Con:  Morath
Pen:  Morath

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Richard Kahui, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Isaia Toeava, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Richie McCaw (capt), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Sam Whitelock, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Colin Slade, 22 Cory Jane.

Tonga:  15 Vunga Lilo, 14 Viliame Iongi, 13 Suka Hufanga, 12 Andrew Ma'ilei, 11 Siale Piutau, 10 Kurt Morath, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Viliami Ma'afu, 7 Finau Maka (c), 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Joe Tu'ineau, 4 Paino Hehea, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements:  16 Ephraim Taukafa, 17 Alisona Taumalolo, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Sione Timani, 20 Samiu Vahafolau, 21 Samisoni Fisilau, 22 Alipate Fatafehi.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Wallabies crowned Tri-Nations champs

Australia have won the Tri-Nations after a ten-year wait thanks to a 25-20 win over New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.

This is what Test rugby is all about!

The Wallabies outscored their visitors by three tries to two in what was a delicious hors d'oeuvre before the start of the Rugby World Cup.

A first-half blitz from the hosts saw Robbie Deans' troops send the shell-shocked All Blacks into the half-time sheds 17 points behind (20-3).

However, just like clockwork, New Zealand bounced back after the break to level the scores and set up a thrilling finish to a pulsating Tri-Nations decider.

But just as it seemed the visitors were going to seize the game by the scruff of the neck, a piece of brilliance by Australia's scrum-half Will Genia created the decisive try for Kurtley Beale.

It was a fast and furious start to the match that saw the Wallabies in fifth gear straight from the kick-off, only for the hosts to slam on the brakes after two mistimed passes from halfback partners Genia and Quade Cooper denied wing Digby Ioane ten points in the bank.

Instead, the hosts had to settle for a three-point lead following a straight-forward penalty from Cooper that put his team in front after four minutes played.

The Wallabies' lead was nearly stretched soon afterwards when centre Adam Ashley-Cooper weaved his way over the All Blacks' tryline, but was held up thanks to some sterling defensive work from scrum-half Piri Weepu and full-back Mils Muliaina.

The pace and physicallity of the game took its toll on the All Blacks' loose trio, who all required some attention before number eight Kieran Read called it a day and limped off the pitch as Adam Thomson recieved some heavy strapping to his left elbow.

The Wallabies then rubbed salt into the visitors' early wounds with the game's opening try after Genia sliced his way through a gap and dived over beside the posts.  Cooper added the extras and Australia had a handy 10-0 lead after 15 minutes played.

All Blacks pivot Dan Carter finally got the visitors on the board with his trusty boot mid-way through the half after the Wallabies defence was caught offside, but the Australians were still in control and Cooper replied with his second successful penalty of the match.

From the restart, two of Australia's veterans in the form of Dan Vickerman and number eight Radike Samo worked together to lift the capacity crowd off their feet.

Vickerman took his big frame into contact before putting Samo through a gap that the 35-year-old exploited to perfection -- first handing off Thomson, then racing 50 metres to the tryline for a sensational try with two All Blacks hanging on his back.

Cooper slammed over the conversion from bang in front and Australia went into half-time with their tails up, leading 20-3.  But any happy thoughts that Wallaby fans had of a runaway win by their team, were cast into doubt by this year's World Cup hosts in the second half.

Dominating possession from the restart, Ii was clear that New Zealand had set out their stall during the interval to extinguish the Wallaby flare that had burned so brightly in the opening 40 minutes.

First Carter added three more points with a penalty on 47 minutes, before the All Black magician drew the home side's defence and unleashed centre Conrad Smith for their opening try.

Carter's conversion took the scores to 20-11, but they weren't done there and seven minutes later the All Blacks went in for their second after Ma'a Nonu ran in to put his team right back in the frame.

With Carter's second conversion added to the mix, it was game on at 20-20!

However, Australia hit back in the best way possible.

Just like he did for the Reds in this year's Super Rugby final against the Crusaders at the same ground, Genia wrong-footed the opposition again and made good ground before delivering the offload to Ioane.

The Wallaby wing drew in the defence and then unselfishly fed Beale who ran in unopposed for the try to put the hosts back in front, but Cooper missed the conversion, leaving the scores on 25-20.

Six minutes from full-time Cooper missed what looked like a simple chance to give his side an eight-point advantage when he sent a penalty wide of the uprights.

But Australia held on through a nail-biting finish to claim the Tri-Nations crown for the first time in a decade.

Man of the match:  Tough one! We could go for a Wallabies team award, but it was decided that Radike Samo, the oldest Wallaby player at 35, deserves it the most after showing everyone who witnessed his try that there's still plenty of life left in those old legs.

Moment of the match:  Beale's match-winning try in the left corner to retrieve Australia's lead.  It had class written all over it.

Villain of the match:  Hmmm ... maybe see our comments section below.  We're pretty sure you'll find a few candidates in there somewhere!

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Genia, Samo, Beale
Cons:  Cooper 2
Pens:  Cooper 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Smith, Nonu
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 2

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Anthony Fainga'a, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Radike Samo, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Dan Vickerman, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Salesi Ma'afu, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Rob Horne.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 John Afoa, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Colin Slade, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)

Two-try return for Drew Mitchell

Drew Mitchell scored two tries on his international return from an ankle injury to lead Australian Barbarians to an easy 38-14 victory over Canada.

The lethal finisher, who was playing his third match since suffering that horrific Super Rugby injury, was one of four on the comeback trail.

Berrick Barnes, Rob Horne, James Slipper and Tatafu Polota-Nau all came through unscathed in a selection that saw veteran Nathan Sharpe lead.

Centre Ben Tapuai, who was not selected for the World Cup, had a hand in the first three Barbarian tries and scored one of his own late in the day.

Horne, who also scored a try, was later named as a reserve for the Wallabies in Saturday's match after he was rested for the second half.

Canada will play in Pool A with France, Japan, New Zealand and Tonga at the World Cup.

The scorers:

For Australian Barbarians:
Tries:  Horne, Barnes, Mitchell 2, Hodgson, Tapuai
Con:  Barnes 4

For Canada:
Tries:  Van der Merwe, McKenzie
Con:  Pritchard 2

Australian Barbarians:  15 Lachie Turner, 14 Rod Davies, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Pat McCutcheon, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (capt), 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 James Slipper, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Beau Robinson, 20 Ben Tapuai, 21 Luke Morahan, 22 Mark Gerrard.

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Phil Mackenzie, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Chauncey O'Toole, 6 Adam Kleeberger, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Jebb Sinclair, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Pat Riordan (c), 1 Hubert Buydens.
Replacements:  16 Ryan Hamilton, 17 Scott Franklin, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Sean White, 21Conor Trainor, 22 Nathan Hirayama.

Scotland make it two from two

Scotland beat Italy 23-12 at Murrayfield on Saturday to complete their World Cup preparations with a second consecutive win.

Both teams scored two tries but three penalties from the boot of home fly-half Dan Parks proved the difference after 80 minutes.

The result sees the Scots build on the 10-6 win over Ireland a fortnight ago although the success was marred somewhat by the sight of Nikki Walker leaving the field on a stretcher in the closing stages with a knee injury.

Coach Andy Robinson will name his World Cup squad on Monday.

The crowd in sun-kissed Edinburgh found immediate cause for excitement as the Scots surged straight into attack.  The hosts got off to a cracking start as Alasdair Dickinson scored his first Test try on the ten minute mark following a slaloming run by wing Max Evans.

Italy replied through a try from wing Tommaso Benvenuti which Mirco Bergamasco converted but Parks' second penalty gave Scotland a 13-7 half-time lead.

Scotland continued to earn the bulk of possession and territory, but the good early work was spoiled when they gave away a series of turnovers.

The action continued to be scrappy and disjointed after the restart with the Scots looking increasingly nervy.

And it was the Italians who were producing the more attractive and constructive rugby -- much to the frustration of the vast majority among the 20,245-strong crowd.

The visitors' pluck and endeavour was rewarded in the 48th minute as Treviso scrum-half Fabio Semenzato scored the second try.

The Scots' fringe defence was markedly absent as the smallest man on the pitch darted through a gap to score from close quarters after a well-controlled pick and drive sequence.

Scotland needed a stroke of good fortune and the vision of vice-captain Mike Blair to ease the jitters.

Andrea Masi fatally delayed his clearance kick, giving Edinburgh scrum-half Blair the chance to charge it down and win the race for the critical try.

The conversion was a formality for Parks, who stretched the gap to eight points, and two minutes later he thumped over a 40-metre penalty to give the hosts even more breathing space.

For Scotland:
Tries:  Dickinson, Blair
Cons:  Parks 2
Pens:  Parks 3

For Italy:
Tries:  Benvenuti, Semenzato
Cons:  Bergamasco

Scotland:  15 Rory Lamont, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Moray Low, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Euan Murray, 18 Richie Gray, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Nikki Walker.

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Joshua Furno.

Venue:  Murrayfield
Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Robin Goodliffe (England)
TMO:  Huw Watkins (Wales)

France see off Ireland in Dublin

Ireland are facing up to the prospect of going into the World Cup without a warm-up win to their name after they lost out 26-22 to France on Saturday.

Les Bleus -- who beat the Irish 19-12 in Bordeaux last Saturday -- will name their RWC squad on Sunday while Ireland name theirs on Monday.

The Irish wrap up their preparations with a home match against 2003 champions England next Saturday and will be desperate for a victory.

It is worth mentioning that France only won the game by four and Ireland gifted their visitors seven second-half points when Tomas O'Leary threw a wild pass to pivot Francois Trinh-Duc.

There were ten changes to the Irish side that lost in Bordeaux last weekend, with skipper Brian O'Driscoll and midfield partner Gordon D'Arcy starting in midfield, while Paul O'Connell and Jamie Heaslip made their first warm-up starts.

Shane Jennings filled in for the injured David Wallace in the back-row, while Munster's Felix Jones made his first start for Ireland at full back.

There were plenty of changes in the visiting side too, with Lievremont retaining just Alexis Palisson and Dimitri Szarzewski from last weekend, with the majority of the French players making their first appearance of the season.

Ireland, therefore, should have had the edge physically, and the tempo with which they began the game was testament to that.

It took just two minutes for them to open the scoring through a Jonathan Sexton penalty.  They attacked relentlessly and it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough came.

Having stretched the French across the field, Healy was left in a one-on-one with France scrum-half Parra who was simply blown away by the Leinster prop, who crossed to score his first international try in 20 appearances.

Sexton pushed the extras wide, but Ireland deservedly led 8-0 with just 11 minutes gone.

France turned the match on its head in the space of five minutes, with Parra opening his account with a straightforward penalty from just outside the 22-yard line on 26 minutes.

Trinh-Duc punished a poor clearance by O'Leary to strike home a drop goal from just inside the Irish half.  Then came the French try as Aurelien Rougerie cut through the midfield with ease.  Heymans ran a great line to run home in style and take the lead for the first time.

Parra added another penalty just before the break and then added a third just after the restart.  The points kept coming for the visitors as they added a second try moments later.

Unfortunately for the hosts, the score was self inflicted, with O'Leary the culprit as his suicidal attempted pass to Sexton was intercepted by Trinh-Duc, who touched down unopposed.  Sexton and O'Brien then put a little gloss on the scoreline late on.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Healy, Sexton, O'Brien
Con:  O'Gara 2
Pen:  Sexton

For France:
Tries:  Heymans, Trinh-Duc
Con:  Parra 2
Pen:  Parra 3
Drop:  Trinh-Duc

Ireland:  15 Felix Jones, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Jerry Flannery, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mike McCarthy, 19 Stephen Ferris, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Luke Fitzgerald.

France:  15 Cedric Heymans, 14 Maxime Médard, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louise Picamoles, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascale Papé, Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.

Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Thierry Dusautoir, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Marty, 22 Vincent Clerc, 23 Luc Ducalcon.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Iain Ramage (Scotland)

Second warm-up win for Wales

Wales scored their second Test victory in as many weeks on Saturday with a 28-13 victory over 2007 World Cup semi-finalists Argentina at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Wales led 14-3 at half-time thanks to try from number eight Andy Powell and a handful of penalties from James Hook.

The Pumas pack dominated in opening stages but their kickers -- Felipe Contepomi and Marcelo Bosch -- failed to reflect the visitors' ascendancy on the scoreboard.

Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones provided the spark the hosts need just before the break, setting up Powell to score before touching down himself shortly after the break.

The home side raised their game in the second period, taking charge to seal victory via a late try from wing George North.

Replacement front-row Martin Scelzo scored a consolation try for Argentina in the dying moments which Felipe converted but the result was already beyond doubt.

Wales were determined to build on the triumph over England last weekend and enter their World Cup opener against world champions South Africa on September, 11, on the back of two victories.

One worry, though, for Wales was they lost veteran fly-half Stephen Jones before kick-off, with a recurrence of a calf injury, with Scott Williams stepping up to the bench.

But Wales led by Martyn Williams, who won his 99th cap, comfortably completed their mission.

The Pumas gave the hosts a real scare early on after Contepomi threaded a grubber along the touchline.

Leicester Tigers' Horacio Agulla scorched-up the wing and beat Jonathan Davies to the ball but it had brushed the touchline on the bounce.

Wales had their first chance eighteen minutes into the scrappy encounter but Davies was unable to hold-on to Hook's pass following a Tavis Knoyle quick tap.

Contepomi opened the scoring on 29 minutes with a well-taken penalty.  Moments later the Argentine fly-half had the chance to extend the visitors lead but was once again off target with the boot.

And Wales took full advantage moments later when they surged into the lead thanks to Powell's first ever try for his country.

Knoyle broke off the back of a scrappy scrum and linked with second-row Jones who then released Powell to race into the corner.  Hook expertly slotted the touchline conversion and they grabbed a second quick-fire try within moments of the restart.

Jamie Roberts offloaded out of contact to release North and the Scarlets flyer beat his opposite number and Contepomi before drawing Martin Rodriguez to put Jones over for a try of his own.

Hook was again on target to hand Wales a 14-3 half-time lead.  Wales started the second-half with much better effect than the first and they got their reward with a Hook penalty on 44 minutes.

He added a second on 53 minutes to extend Wales' lead to 20-3.  Argentina were dealt a blow when Juan Fernandez Lobbe was sent to the sin-bin after taking Jones out at the restart.

But Contepomi struck-back with a penalty on 62 minutes to reduce the deficit to 20-6.  Wales made a raft of replacements in the final quarter and it was no surprise that the game lost its shape and rhythm.

And they were dealt a World Cup scare when Roberts limped off with what appeared to be a dead leg.  But the hosts finished in style with North crashing over for his seventh try in nine matches for Wales.

It was a well-worked move by Wales, they sucked in the Pumas' defence and spread the ball wide to centre Davies who flicked a pass inside to North.

Argentina grabbed a late consolation try with a trademark drive over maul which Contepomi converted but it was not enough and Hook added a final penalty at the death.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Powell, AW Jones, North
Con:  Hook 2
Pen:  Hook 3

For Argentina:
Try:  Scelzo
Cons:  Contepomi
Pens:  Contepomi 2

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jamie Roberts, 12 Jonathan Davies, 11 George North, 10 James Hook, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams (capt), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Jonathan Thomas, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Scott Williams, 22 Aled Brew.

Argentina:  15 Martin Rodriguez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Felipe Contepomi (c), 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16Agustin Creevy, 17 Martin Scelzo, 18 Mariano Galarza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Nicolas Sanchez, 22 Juan Imhoff.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)