France too hot for Tonga

France exacted revenge for their 2011 Rugby World Cup Pool defeat as they overcame a spirited Tonga side 38-18 at Stade Océane on Saturday.

A healthy level of passion from the Pacific Island side boiled over at the beginning of the second half, when Perpignan prop Sona Taumalolo unleashed a flurry of punches on Yoann Maestri.

After a fair scrap, both players were shown straight red cards by referee Glen Jackson to send them down to 14 men for the remainder of the match.

Tonga were already down a man after scrum-half Taniela Moa was sin-binned for an unacceptable elbow on Dimitri Szarzewski.  It was unfortunate that those two moments of complete indiscipline will overshadow what for large parts was a exciting performance of attacking rugby from the visitors.

The early signs appeared slightly more ominous however, with Morgan Parra slotting a penalty in the second minute before debutant Sofiane Guitoune scored his first try for his country.

Rémi Talès' perfectly-executed cross kick found Guitoune in space in the right corner after good build-up in the middle by Wesley Fofana to put France up 8-0 after only a few minutes.

Fangatapu 'Apikotoa's first penalty for Tonga cannoned back off the post and it would take the fly-half half an hour to eventually put his team on the board, after Parra had added another three points to make the score 14-3.

Tonga however did enjoy large swathes of possession and their big carriers — centres Siale Piutau and Sione Piukala — along with Vunga Lilo broke plenty of tackles to keep France busy in defence.

They were unable though to register anything substantial on the scoreboard, 'Apikotoa adding a second penalty to cut the gap to eight points.

That changed right before the break when Damien Chouly dove over after a dominant five-metre scrum whilst Moa was in the bin.

Once the dust had settled from the Taumalolo-sparked brawl, France's composure grew and they delivered an excellent third try after Guitoune turned provider to send over Brice Dulin for Les Bleus' third try.

Fetu'u Vainikolo was then rewarded for Tonga's persistence with a try, Parra cautiously re-extending the gap to 20 points with a penalty, before replacement hooker Benjamin Kayser wrapped things up late on following an effective French maul for their fourth try.

Vainikolo would add a second try with a fingertip finish as time ran out, no doubt much to the frustration of Phillipe Saint-André, but France by the end were comfortable winners — emerging on top from a game that could have descended into a boxing match.

Man of the Match:  For scoring a try and providing a cute assist, Sofiane Guitoune is our main man from Le Havre.  His fade and then the delivery of his pass for Dulin's try was exceptional.

Moment of the Match:  The classless elbow from Taniela Moa on Szarzewski was pointless and gave France a numerical advantage that ended in a try before the break.

Villain of the Match:  Maestri also saw red, but Sona Taumalolo's first swing appeared to be completely unprovoked.  Bizarre.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Guitoune, Chouly, Dulin, Kayser
Con:  Parra 2, Michalak
Pen:  Parra 4
Red card:  Maestri (42 mins)

For Tonga:
Tries:  Vainikolo 2
Con:  Fosita
Pen:  'Apikotoa 2
Yellow card:  Moa (40 mins)
Red card:  Taumalolo (42 mins)

France:  15 Brice Dulin, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Rémi Talès, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Pascale Papé, 20 Bernard Le Roux, 21 Jonathan Pélissié, 22 Frederic Michalak, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud.

Tonga:  15 Vunga Lilo, 14 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Sione Piukala, 11 Viliami Helu 10 Fangatapu 'Apikotoa, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Opeti Fonua, 7 Nili Latu (c), 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Joe Tu'ineau, 4 Lua Lokotui, 3 Tevita Mailau, 2 Elvis Taione, 1 Sona Taumalolo.
Replacements:  16 Viliami Ma'asi, 17 Taione Vea, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Viliami Ma'afu, 20 Hale T-Pole, 21 Samisoni Fisilau, 22 Latiume Fosita, 23 David Halaifonua.

Referee:  Glen Jackson

Wales hammer Argentina

Four-try Wales impressed to overcome a fatigued Pumas side 40-6 in an entertaining Test at the Millenium Stadium on Saturday.

Scores from Mike Phillips, George North, Toby Faletau and Ken Owens coupled with twenty points from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny were too much for a Pumas team that failed to capitalise on their early opportunities.

Where last week, against South Africa, Wales lacked a clinical element in attack, on Saturday they took the chances their play created, and quickly racked up a handsome lead.

Both teams began with plenty of enterprise in attack, and a high-tempo, offloading game was the order of the day.  The Argentines had the better of the first-half, and indeed were briefly a man up after Justin Tipuric was sin-binned for tackling a player without the ball.

Sparkling runs from Santiago Cordero and a lovely chip and chase from captain Juan Leguizamon put the visitors in good attacking positions, but errors and good Welsh defence shut them down time and again.

It was from one of these attacks that Wales broke away to open the scoring.  A loose Argentine pass on the home 22 was scooped up by Phillips, who raced home untouched, aided by the supporting run of North.

That added to an early Halfpenny penalty, and the full-back converted for a 10-0 lead inside the opening ten minutes.

The British and Irish Lions Man of the Series knocked over another three-pointer, before a textbook training maneouvre off a line-out in the visitors' 22 allowed Phillips and North to combine again, with the latter powering through the defence for Wales' second try.

Argentina continued to press, and in fact played most of the rugby in the first half.  They eventually got on the board with a Nicolas Sanchez penalty, but that was soon cancelled out by another three-pointer from Halfpenny, taking the scores to 23-3 at half-time.

The second-half started slowly, with a penalty apiece for Halfpenny and Sanchez, but it well and truly burst into life on 56 minutes.

Faletau broke off the back of a Welsh scrum on half-way, the ball was spread wide to Halfpenny running the sweeping outside channel, and Liam Williams was put away up the left-hand-side.

He drew covering full-back Lucas Amorisino and sent the number eight galloping home for the game's third try.

Halfpenny converted, and Wales were left to cut loose in the final quarter.  The match opened up and became scrappy as both sides began to tire, and fatigue looked to be an issue throughout for an Argentine side embattled by a lengthy and grueling season.

The hosts scored another effort, this time via a powerful driving maul, through replacement hooker Owens, which — surprise, surprise — was converted by Halfpenny.

Argentina, to their credit, continued to try things and play through the hands right to the death.  While unquestionably guilty of trying to play too much rugby in the wrong areas of the pitch, Los Pumas showed some tidy stuff, with Cordero and Marcelo Bosch involved.

The game began to peter out in the final ten minutes;  Samson Lee was yellow-carded late on for cynical play, and neither side was able to add to the scoreline.

A morale-boosting and much needed victory for Wales, then, while a ragged Argentina are left to lick their wounds after another disappointing loss.

Man of the Match:  Leigh Halfpenny was typically outstanding, and Mike Phillips recorded his best performance in a Welsh jersey for some time.  But number eight Toby Faletau was at the heart of all Wales' tight grunt and attacking verve.  His try was just reward for a performance that reaffirmed how important he is to the Dragons and Welsh rugby.

Moment of the Match:  Faletau's try was the pick of the bunch, and extinguished any faint hopes of an Argentine comeback.

Villain of the Match:  A few niggles, but nothing malicious to report.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Phillips, North, Faletau, Owens
Conversions:  Halfpenny 4
Penalties:  Halfpenny 4
Yellow cards:  Tipuric, Lee

For Argentina:
Penalties:  Sanchez 2

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Sam Warburton (c), 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Rhodri Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Ryan Jones, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Ashley Beck

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Leguizamon, 7 Pablo Matera, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements:  16 Santiago Iglesias, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Matias Diaz, 19 Tomas Lavanini, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Gabriel Ascarate, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino

Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Steve Walsh (Australia), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

Italy down ill-disciplined Fiji

A bizarre, high-scoring and heated affair in Cremona saw Italy overcome touring Fiji 37-31 in their second November Test on Saturday.

Despite what the scoreline might suggest, the game was a terrible advertisement for Test match rugby.

Italy owe their success largely to the five yellow cards coughed by the Fijians, four of which came in an eight-minute spell of madness late in the first half.

A week after a 50-20 mauling by Australia in Turin, coach Jacques Brunel had called for a determined performance by his Azzurri but he will not be happy man as his team put in a woeful display in almost very department bar the scrums.

Indeed, on what was the 100th appearance for skipper Sergio Parisse and prop Martin Castrogiovanni, the hosts were made to work by Fiji, who launched a late fightback with two tries in the final eight minutes to eventually outscore their hosts five tries to four.

Italy went in for half-time with a 20-5 lead after Akapusi Qera, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Masi Matadigo and Nemani Nadolo were all sin-binned.

Before then, Italy had dominated possession but had been largely unconvincing as Fiji's size and aggression caused problems.

Centre Luca Morisi was floored by a crushing tackle from Tikoirotuma in the opening minutes and although he returned in time for fly-half Luciano Orquera to put the first three points on the board with a penalty, he was soon forced off.

Two minutes later Fiji pounced on a fumble near their try line to grab their opening try.  Tikoirotuma took possession and ran the length of the field before offloading to full-back Metuisela Talebula to touch down wide of the posts.

Parisse then crossed for the hosts but suspicions that Orquera's pass was forward were soon confirmed by officials.  Orquera then missed a penalty from 30 metres out and with Fiji still leading 5-3 the match took a turn for the worse.

Tempers frayed after Qera up-ended Gori, prompting Castrogiovanni to react angrily with a punch as others joined the fray.

Fiji's ill-discipline left them with 11 men for the closing 12 minutes of the half, allowing Italy to finally capitalise.

Parisse was awarded the try after Italy's ruck pushed the big number eight over the line, with Orquera adding two points with the boot for the conversion.

Full-back Luke McLean added another try on 33 minutes with Orquera on target to seal a 20-5 half-time lead for the hosts.

Brunel replaced Gori with Tobias Botes for start of second half, which provided a far better demonstration of rugby from both sides but saw the hosts come close to being stunned at the death.

Fiji replied to an Orquera penalty soon after the restart with a persistent chase which gave them a deserved try, after Parisse failed to deal with Talebula's chip and Nagusa run in to touch down deep in the corner.

Bai narrowly missed the conversion from a difficult angle, while at the other end Orquera missed a penalty attempt to the left of the posts.

Italy finally began to find their rhythm and, after Gonzalo Canale was hauled down by Wame Lewaravu, the hosts won a penalty try from the scrum, with Orquera adding the conversion for a 30-10 lead.

But despite looking in command, Italy took their foot off the pedal.

Nadolo made up for his past infringement to burst through on the right and touch down, with Bai adding the conversion.

Fiji lost replacement Sisa Koyamaibole to the sin-bin 13 minutes from the final whistle but despite Parisse putting Fijian-born replacement Manoa Vosawai through to touch down and Tommaso Allan adding an easy conversion, Fiji fought back defiantly.

Nalaga touched down on 71 minutes, with Bai converting, and after Parisse was sin-binned, Nagusa grabbed his second try with Bai taking the score to 37-31 with five, nervous minutes to play.

Scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Parisse, McLean, Penalty try, Vosawai
Conversions:  Orquera 3, Allan
Penalties:  Orquera 3
Yellow card:  Parisse

For Fiji:
Tries:  Talebula, Nagusa 2, Nadolo, Nalaga
Conversion:  Baikeinuku 3
Yellow cards:  Qera, Tikoirotuma, Matadigo, Nasiganiyavi, Koyamaibole

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Valerio Bernabo, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements:  16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Michele Campagnaro.

Fiji:  15 Metuisela Talebula, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 12 Nemani Nadolo, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Serenaia Bai, 9 Nemia Kenatale, 8 Sakiusa Matadigo, 7 Akapusi Qera (c), 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotukula, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 4 Apisai Naikatini, 3 Setefano Somoca, 2 Viliame Veikoso, 1 Jereremaia Yanuyanutawa.
Replacements:  16 Seremaia Namaralevu, 17 Campese Ma'afu, 18 Manasa Saulo, 19 Sisa Koyamaibole, 20 Malakai Ravulo, 21 Nikola Matawalu, 22 Waisea Luveniyali, 23 Adriu Delai.

Venue:  Stadio Zini, Cremona
Referee:  Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Joaquin Montes (Uruguay)
Television match official:  Eric Gauzins (France)

Clinical All Blacks win at Twickenham

New Zealand continued their unbeaten run in 2013 with a hard-fought 30-22 victory over England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Julian Savea scored two tries with Kieran Read also crossing the England line for the All Blacks to win their 13th match of the year.

Joe Launchbury was England's sole try scorer as Owen Farrell kicked 17 points in a spirited fightback from 3-17 down to lead 22-20 before slipping away.

This was a game that had it all.  Theatre, power, pace, skill and above all, physicality.

In the final analysis, New Zealand simply just found a way to win, avenging their defeat in the corresponding fixture last season, and calling on the reference points of 12 victories on the trot.

But don't denude the England display.  One could argue that England, in defeat, put in their best performance of 2013, with both Billy's, Vunipola and Twlevetrees, truly coming of age as Test match players.

New Zealand started spectacularly, with the sublime Read producing a sumptuous offload from the touchline to put the flying Salvea over the whitewash, and exploiting England's narrow defensive line.

With the intensity of tackle and ruck increasing my the minute, the outstanding Read again exploited the wide fringes of England's drift defence to power over for his 15th try in test rugby to take the score to 17-3, and at that moment even the most optimistic of England fans started to fear a cricket score that Sachin Tendulkar would have been proud of.

However, this England side, led by a massive performance from the back row, refused to roll over and die.  At times, the finishing and handling did not match the ambition or power, but a series of All Black infringements allowed Owen Farrell to kick deep into the corner, setting up a series of driving mauls, which eventually allowed Launchberry to power over for a well deserved try after 23 minutes.

England rocked the All Blacks either side of half time;  at times, showing a width and intensity that had been sorely lacking in their two previous autumnal victories.  In short, the World Champions were struggling to cope with the wave of intensity created by the direct running of the England forwards, notable Courtney Lawes, Billy Vunipola and skipper Chris Robshaw, and the Kiwis looked something akin to shell shocked.

As the All Blacks infringed several times at ruck time, with players streaming in from all directions, New Zealand's talisman Read received his marching orders from referee Craig Joubert for side entry.  England used this to their advantage and turned the screw to get within four points of New Zealand at the interval.

The theme continued in the first ten minutes of the second half, and a brace of penalty goals by Owen Farrell took England to a fragile 2 point lead on 53rd minute mark.

With England challenging hard, the introduction of Ben Morgan for Billy Vunipola took the game up to new heights, as the Gloucester eight put in 20 minutes of power running that defined the phrase impact substitution.

However, New Zealand are not World Champions for nothing.  Time and time again they've found a way to win in every situation imaginable, and this time it was the outstanding Ma'a Nonu who broke the English hearts with a coruscating break and a no less brilliant off-load around the back of Courtney Lawes to seal England's fate as Savea powered over for his second try.

England can also rue their exit strategy in the last ten minutes.  Four line-outs lost in quick succession put unnecessary pressure on the home side, and moving forward, they will look to me more effective at getting out of their own 22 when pressure is brought the bear.

In the final analysis, this was a game that both sides can take a lot from;  New Zealand can take comfort in their durability in the face of a English tidal wave of running.  England equally showed width, pace and power that had not been evident for a long time from a side wearing the white shirt.

As Test matches go, this was as good as it gets.

Man of the Match:  With so many performances of quality it is very hard to single out an individual.  For New Zealand, Nonu, McCaw and Salvea were compelling, and equally, England's heroes were led by Mike Brown, Billy Vunipola and Courtney Lawes.  But for 70 minutes, one man was at the epicentre of everything good about All Black Rugby, and our award goes to Kiwi number eight Kieran Read.

Moment of the Match:  With so much great rugby on display, it's hard to single one moment out.  Read's offload in the opening minutes was delightful, but great sides find a way to win in adversity, and Ma'a Nonu's offload and pass around Courtney Lawes' huge tackle, to set Salvea free for the clinching score, takes this week's prize.

Villain of the Match:  Not a lot to report here, in a game of massive physicality but great sportsmanship.  Wyatt Crocket's charge on Ashton was a little hot headed, so he gets our nomination.

The scorers:

For England: 
Try:  Launchbury
Con:  Farrell
Pens:  Farrell 5

For New Zealand: 
Tries:  Savea 2, Read
Cons:  Carter 2, Cruden
Pens:  Carter, Cruden 2
Yellow card:  Read

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements:  16 Tom Youngs, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 David Wilson, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Alex Goode.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Charles Piutau, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ryan Crotty.

Venue:  Twickenham
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)
Television match official:  Gareth Simmonds (Wales)
Assessor:  Clayton Thomas (Wales)

Japan put 40 on Russia

Japan racked up 27 unanswered points in the second half to defeat Russia 40-13 in Wales on Friday.

Japan scored one try in the first half and four in the second as they picked up the first win of their European tour.

Ayumu Goromaru opened the scoring with a penalty in the third minute after Japan had kept the ball alive for more than a dozen phases from the kick-off.

But despite dominating possession and territory for the next 10 minutes it was Russia who scored next when a Japan handling error allowed Vladimir Ostroushko to use his pace to follow up a kick ahead and touch down.  Ramil Gayshin banged over the conversion as Russia led 7-3 completely against the run of play.

Japan hit back though when a good break by Goromaru in the 15th minute was finished off by Hendrik Tui after the Japan forwards pushed the Russian pack back 15 metres.  Goromaru's conversion made it 10-7.

A brace of penalties from Gayshin saw Russia regain the lead before Goromaru levelled things up with a second penalty in the 28th minute, as the teams went into the break all level at 13-13.

Japan got off to the best possible start to the second half when Michael Broadhurst crossed two minutes after the break.  Goromaru added the conversion and then a penalty before Male Sa'u scored the try of the game in the 50th minute.

The Japan centre used his pace and power to go over from 35 metres out, before following it up with a second five-pointer seven minutes late.  Toshiaki Hirose then rounded off the scoring in the 67th minute following a good cross kick from Kosei Ono.

Japan fly to Madrid on Sunday and wrap up their European tour with a test against Spain on Nov. 23

The scorers:

For Japan:
Tries:  Broadhurst, Sau 2, Hirose
Cons:  Goromaru 4
Pens:  Goromaru 4

For Russia:
Try:  Ostroushko
Con:  Gaysin
Pen:  Gaysin
Yellow Card:  Artemyev

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Toshiaki Hirose (c), 13 Male Sau, 12 Yu Tamura, 11 Yoshikazu Fujita, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Hitoshi Ono , 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements:  16 Hiroki Yuharai, 17 Hisateru Hirashima, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Justin Ives, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Seiichi Shimomura, 23 Akihito Yamada .

Russia:  15 Ramil Gaysin, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 Dmitry Gerasimov, 12 Alexey Makovetskiy, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Sergey Sugrobov, 9 Anton Ryabov, 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Alexander Khudyakov, 5 Andrey Garbuzov, 4 Alexander Voytov (capt), 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Grigory Tsnobiladze.
Replacements:  16 Vladislav Korshunov, 17 Sergey Sekisov, 18 Innokentiy Zykov, 19 Denis Antonov, 20 Artem Fatakhov, 21 Alexey Shcherban, 22 Igor Galinovskiy, 23 Denis Simplikevich.

Referee:  JP Doyle (England)

Gloucester thrash Japan XV

Charlie Sharples scored a hat-trick as Gloucester thrashed a spirited Japan side 40-5 in seven-try spectacle at Kingsholm.

Gloucester made history on Tuesday as they thrashed a spirited and ambitious second-string Japan side 40-5 in seven-try spectacle at Kingsholm.

Charlie Sharples scored a hat-trick as the Cherry and Whites outscored the Brave Blossom six tries to one.

With Test matches either side of the game against the English Premiership side, this was a Japan XV rather than the full national side, with the tourists making 14 changes from the side that lost 42-17 to Scotland.  But the game allowed stand-in coach Scott Wisemantel the opportunity to blood a number of new and inexperienced players.

Gloucester meanwhile lined-up a very strong side and overpowered the free-running visitors, who fought doggedly from beginning to end.

The Brave Blossoms got off to an ideal start when flanker Justin Ives rumbled over in just the second minute.  But they were unable to add to the score as Gloucester's quick backs ran in four tries in the first half to lead 26-5 at the break.

Sharples bagged three tries while fellow England international wing James Simpson-Daniel also crossed, with Rob Cook knocking over three conversions.

Japan dominated territory and possession in the second half but were unable to turn pressure into points, despite a good performance from Atsushi Hiwasa at scrum-half and flashes of attacking flair from a number of players.

Unfortunately too many turnovers allowed Gloucester to keep their line intact and they scored the only points of the half through tries by Steph Reynolns and Matt Cox, with Cook again on target with the two conversions.

Japan head to Colwyn Bay, Wales for Friday's test with Russia.  They then travel to Madrid to take on Spain in the final game of their European tour on November 23.

Gloucester return to Kingsholm on Saturday against Newcastle Falcons in the LV= Cup.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries:  Sharples 3, Simpson-Daniel, Reynolds, Cox
Cons:  Cook 5

For Japan:
Try:  Ives

Gloucester:  15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Jonny May, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 James Simpson-Daniel , 10 Ryan Mills, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Matt Cox, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Tom Savage (capt), 5 James Hudson, 4 Elliott Stooke, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Yann Thomas.
Replacements:  16 Koree Britton, 17 James Gibbons, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Lewis Ludlow, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Steph Reynolds.

Japan:  15 Yoshikazu Fujita, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Seiichi Shimomura, 12 Yasuki Hayashi, 11 Yuta Imamura, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Takashi Kikutani 7 Kyosuke Horie, 6 Justin Ives, 5 Shoji Ito, 4 Shinya Makabe, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Yusuke Aoki, 1 Yusuka Nagae.
Replacements:  16 Shota Horie, 17 Hisateru Hirashima, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Michael Broadhurst, 21 Kosei Ono, 22 Kotaro Matsushima, 23 Kilryong So.

Romania edge out Tonga

Romania recorded an historic victory to kicking off their November campaign, beating Tonga 19-18 in a hard-fought contest in Bucharest on Saturday.

Romania have not lost a Test match in 2013, winning seven out of eight and drawing 9-9 with Georgia in March.

In the first ever Test match between the nations, Tonga — who play France on Saturday — outscored their hosts two tries to one, but paid for their poor discipline as they were punished by the boot on Romanian centre Florin Vlaicu.

The game was level 6-6 at the interval with Tonga fly-half Fangatapu 'Apikatoa trading kicks with Vlaicu.

The 'Ikale Tahi scored both their tries in the second half via full-back Lilo Vungakoto and winger Fetu'u Vainikolo.

Romania managed only one try from number eight Mihai Macovei but Vlaicu's four successful penalties proved enough, despite the hosts conceding two yellow cards.

Tonga have only ever won twice against European nations during European Tours.  These were against Portugal 24-19 in Lisbon in 2009 and last year against Scotland 21-15 in Aberdeen.

Romania host Canada on Saturday while Tonga will play France in Le Havre before facing Wales in Cardiff on November 22.

The scorers:

For Romania:
Try:  Macovei
Cons:  Vlaicu
Pens:  Vlaicu 4
Drops:
Yellow cards:  Vlaicu;  Macovei

For Tonga:
Tries:  Vungakoto, Vainikolo
Cons:  'Apikotoa
Pens:  'Apikotoa 2

Romania:  15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Ionut Dumitru, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Florin Vlaicu, 11 Stephen Hihetah, 10 Vali Calafeteanu, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Mihai Macovei (c), 7 Valentin Ursache, 6 Viorel Lucaci, 5 Marius Sirbe, 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Otar Turashvili, 1 Mihai Lazar.
Replacements:  16 Eugen Capatana, 17 Constantin Pristavita, 18 Horatiu Pungea, 19 Alin Coste, 20 Dorin Lazar, 21 Cristian Dinis, 22 Catalin Dascalu, 23 Dorin Manole.

Tonga:  15 Lilo Vungakoto, 14 Viliami Helu, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Sione Piukala, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Fangatapu 'Apikotoa, 9 Tomasi Palu, 8 Viliami Ma'afu, 7 Nili Latu Langilangi (c), 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Uli Kolo'ofai, 4 Lua Lokotui, 3 Tevita Mailau, 2 Taione Vea, 1 Sona Taumalolo.
Replacements:  16 Suliasi Taufalele, 17 Eddie Aholelei, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Opeti Fonua, 20 Viliami Fainga'a, 21 Samisoni Fisilau, 22 Latiume Fosita, 23 David Halaifonua Tonga.

Venue:  Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
Referee:  Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)

Springboks resist Welsh comeback

South Africa kicked their November tour off with a solid 24-15 victory over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.

The pre-game hype revolved around Wales being billed as a pseudo-Lions team, but unlike what we saw in Australia, this team in red was unable to out-muscle their southern hemisphere opponents as the Springboks used their big men and rolling maul to devastating effect, outscoring the Six Nations champions three tries to none.

After twenty minutes Wales looked set for a drubbing as the visitors raced to a 17-6 lead.  The tourists led 17-12 at the break but saw the hosts fight back to cut the gap to just two points heading into the final quarter.

The truth be told, Wales never really got on top of their visitors and had to rely on all their points coming from the boot of Leigh Halfpenny.

Halfpenny and Morné Steyn traded early penalties as referee Alain Rolland stamped his authority on the game.  The message was clear, there would be no leeway at the ruck and the penalties would flow thick and fast.

Jonathan Davies made his second break of the opening seven minutes to set up more points for Wales, again a penalty on the deck, but the Springboks would reply with their first try.

A brilliant 50-odd metre break from Bryan Habana had the Welsh defence scrambling.  Bismarck du Plessis was up in support and left Liam Williams seeing stars as he charged forward before finding skipper Jean de Villiers, who showed outstanding skill to latch onto the pass behind his back and crash over.

Steyn's conversion put South Africa 10-6 ahead as the hosts were forced to re-jig their back-line with both Davies and Liam Williams forced off after 12 minutes.

The Springboks' second try was soon to follow, a display of pure power, as Du Plessis muscled his way over off the back of a rolling maul.  Steyn's conversion was his last contribution as he too was forced from the field, meaning Pat Lambie moved to fly-half with the scores at 17-6.

Halfpenny pulled six points back via two more ruck penalties to keep Wales in the contest and when Francois Louw was yellow carded for a bit of unnecessary argy-bargy just before the break, the home side and the home crowd, were in much higher spirits as the teams swapped ends at 17-12.

The scores would not budge until the 55th minute when Halfpenny found the target for the fifth time in five attempts to cut the deficit to just two points.

Confusion reigned when Rolland sent off both Gethin Jenkins and Coenie Oosthuizen (who had only just come on) as his patience ran out with the consistent collapsed scrums.  Ten minutes of uncontested scrums followed.

South Africa's third try was made in Japan as Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie combined to give their side some breathing room.  Du Preez's deft chip down the touchline was collect by the veteran centre, who miraculously found a gap to put his scrum-half clear.

Lambie's conversion left Wales trailing by nine points with ten minutes left on the clock and despite some late pressure, the hosts would fall well short.

Man of the match:  A mention for Fourie du Preez, who once again pulled the tactical strings and scored a fabulous try.  But we'll go with Bismarck du Plessis thanks to his role in setting up one try and scoring another.

Moment of the match:  Wales were always going to struggle after Jean de Villiers's early try.  Beyond being an outstanding try, it meant Wales were chasing the game for the rest of the evening.

Villain of the match:  The pitch.  Test match rugby is supposed to be the pinnacle of the professional game, but the quality of the surface wasn't worthy of much more than a rural club fixture.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Pens:  Halfpenny 5
Yellow cards:  Jenkins (58th min — scrum infringement)

For South Africa:
Tries:  De Villiers, Du Plessis, Du Preez
Cons:  Steyn 2, Lambie
Pen:  Steyn
Yellow cards:  Louw (35th min — foul play);  Oosthuizen (58th min — scrum infringement)

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Ashley Beck.

South Africa:  15 Patrick Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 JJ Engelbrecht, 23 Willie le Roux.

Venue:  Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO:  Eric Gauzins (France)

Maori battle past Eagles

The Maori All Blacks were forced to overturn a half-time deficit to claim a hard-fought 29-19 victory over the USA Eagles in Philadelphia.

Two second-half tries from skipper Tim Bateman sparked the tourists into life after a lacklustre first half left them trailing 7-9 at the interval in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,500 people at PPL Park.

Energized from the fans' response to the Maori All Blacks' Haka with chants of "USA", the Eagles kept the All Blacks on their own side of the field in the opening minutes.

In the sixth minute, the Eagles conceded a penalty, giving the All Blacks a line-out with good field position following a kick to touch.  Jamison Gibson-Park received the ball from a maul and juked the last defender to open the scoring.  Robbie Robinson converted for the 7-0 lead.

The Eagles replied when captain Todd Clever stole a All Blacks' line-out and, a few phases later, drew a penalty.  Full-back Adam Siddall stepped up for a 25-meter kick and sent it through the posts to diminish the deficit by three.

The Maori All Blacks showed their quality, breaking through the gain line well and keeping possession in contact.  The speed of the visitors was combated by the Eagles' size and determination, which was rewarded just after the midpoint of the first half.

The Eagles drew another penalty at a ruck after a break by Peter Dahl and Siddall kicked his second penalty goal of the night to make the score 6-7.

Eagles number eight Cameron Dolan went close to scoring after intercepting a pass from full-back Robbie Robinson in broken plan.  It took a determined covering tackle from the opposite wing by Kurt Baker to deny the Eagles the try.

The Eagles regained possession within 10 meters again as Nick Wallace showed his mobility with a sneaky run from a ruck at the 22 to put the Eagles within scoring range.  Joe Wheeler was sent to the sin bin, giving the Eagles a man-up advantage for the final 10 minutes of the half.

The visitors won their own line-out and cleared it, but Siddall caught the ball and gained ground with a nifty run between defenders.  After another phase, he received the ball again and broke another two tackles and set up a scrum for the Eagles.  The Maori committed a subsequent penalty and Siddall gave the Eagles a 9-7 lead with a successful kick.

The halftime whistle came too soon for the Eagles, who were wearing down the visitors.

The Eagles relinquished the lead in the 44th minute after Bateman received a pass off of the switch and caught two Eagles on the wrong foot for a try between the sticks.  Robinson kicked his second conversion to put the All Blacks back in front at 14-9.

The Maori All Blacks began to chip away at the Eagles with multiple phases not far from the try line, but hard work from players like Hume and Nick Wallace kept them from scoring.  The All Blacks ended up committing a penalty with possession and the Eagles cleared.

In the 56th minute, Bateman scored his second of the match.  The Eagles cleared a dangerous possession and the tourists decided to keep the ball in hand.  They were rewarded by moving the ball wide and setting up Bateman to break through once again.  Robinson kicked his conversion just wide to keep the Eagles within two scoring plays.

Following the try, it was the Eagles' turn to knock on the door.  Multiple rucks were stuffed by the defenders, but another penalty gave the Eagles options.  Clever opted for points and Siddall nailed a tough-angled kick for a 12-19 score line.  Robinson kicked the Maori All Blacks' first penalty goal in the 69th minute to extend their lead to 22-12.

In the 73rd minute, the Eagles defence forced a turnover and — after being stuffed several more times on the wrong side of the try line — Dolan finished the play by dotting down to put the Eagles within three at 19-22.

With just four minutes remaining and the threat of their first loss in years a possibility, the All Blacks sealed their win through Luke Katene after an Eagles turnover.

The Eagles were one possession away from snatching victory from the Maori All Blacks, and the players' effort cannot be underscored.

"We gave it our all for 80 minutes and we came up short", said Man of the Match Dolan.

Even the New Zealand Maori All Blacks felt the game could have gone against them.

"It was a really tough win tonight", said Bateman,

"They brought what we expected.  They're strong athletes.  You look at Todd after the game with his kit off and bloodied;  he was really indicative of the way they played.  They put everything into it."

The city of Philadelphia impressed both sides with its hospitality and ability to host sporting events, with the Maori All Blacks having witnessed a 76ers game the week leading up to the match.

"[Philadelphia] is just so good at entertaining", New Zealand Maori All Blacks Head Coach Colin Cooper said.  "I've been all over the world and the USA's ability to entertain and get people packed in is outstanding.  I think the USA really brought it.  If we hadn't the spirit that we had, we would have lost the game."

"Coming here in front of a packed crowd with the chant of 'USA' really helped us out", Clever said.

"Any time you get a sold-out in the United States for rugby it's a phenomenal honor", Dolan said.

The scorers:

For USA:
Try:  Dolan
Con:  Siddal
Pens:  Siddal 4

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  Gibson-Park, Bateman 2, Katene
Cons:  Robinson 2
Pen:  Robinson

USA:  15 Adam Siddal, 14 Luke Hume, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Tim Maupin, 10 Toby L'Estrange, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Cameron Dolan, 7 Peter Dahl, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Tai Tuisamoa, 4 Scott LaValla, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Nick Wallace.
Replacements:  16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Titi Lamositele, 18 Olive Kilifi, 19 Graham Harriman, 20 Kyle Sumsion, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Zach Pangelinan, 23 Folau Niua

Maori All Blacks:  15 Robbie Robinson, 14 Kurt Baker, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Tim Bateman (capt), 11 Matt Proctor, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Shane Christie, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Ben Afeaki, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Kane Hames.
Replacements:  16 Joe Royal, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Luke Katene, 20 Elliot Dixon, 21 Chris Smylie, 22 Jackson Willison, 23 Zac Guildford.

Venue:  PPL Park, Philadelphia
Referee:  Chris Assmus (Canada)

Ireland cruise past Samoa

New Ireland boss Joe Schmidt's tenure got off to a fine start when his side secured a 40-9 win over Samoa in Dublin on Saturday.

The appointment of Schmidt at the helm of Irish rugby has yielded an abundance of expectation and this dominant victory justified the sense of growing optimism among those on the Emerald Isle.

After a subdued and stuttering first period, which saw both sides make an abundance of unforced errors, Ireland exposed the gaping holes in the visitors' depleted defence to score three tries including two for debutant Dave Kearney.

In truth, it was a lot more straightforward than many of the 45,000 in attendance would have predicted.  The visitors didn't provide the level of opposition and resistance which their pre-match tag of potential giant killers or indeed current seventh placed ranking had indicated.

Nonetheless, with sterner tests on the horizon in the shape of Australia and New Zealand, this was an adequate start to an new era and in the process, laid a solid foundation for what is to come.

In the absence of Jonny Sexton, Ulster's Paddy Jackson added further weight to his case for the number ten jersey for next week's visit of the Wallabies with a composed display behind the scrum as he finished with fifteen points to his name including three first-half penalties.

However, his performance is unlikely to wrestle the starting berth off the Racing Metro fly-half while it was memorable evening for prop Jack McGrath who marked his international bow with a man-of-the-match performance in the scrum.  Having said that, his task was made slightly easier with Leicester Tiger Logovi'i Mulipola forced off through injury in the opening minutes.

Peter Mahony set the ball rolling after a largely lethargic opening half hour when he rounded off a fine rolling maul to cross the line before the introduction of Sean O'Brien, for the injured Chris Henry, provided the sparks the hosts and those in the stands required.

However, the game's defining moment came on the stroke of half-time as referee Steve Walsh decided to justifiably sin-bin George Pisi after using the TMO to determine the centre had committed and dangerous and unnecessary tip-tackle on Tommy Bowe.

Ireland took full advantage of their numerical advantage as they scored ten points during Pisi's absence to all but end Samoa's brave effort with O'Brien crossing the line after another piece of individual brilliance from the evergreen Brian O'Driscoll.  A nasty collision between Brando Vaaulu and Tusi Pisi before the hour mark was an additional blow to Stephen Betham's already depleted ranks.

With one eye on the forthcoming fixtures, Schimdt utilised his bench and underlined the strength in depth he has at his disposal with the introduction of British and Irish Lions duo Cian Healy and newly appointed captain Paul O'Connell.

Kearney was one of those replacements and wasted no time in making an impact in a green shirt.  The winger, younger brother of Rob, ducked into the corner in incisive fashion before Fergus McFadden scored his eighth international try in the opposite corner after aesthetically pleasing approach play.

There was enough time left for Kearney to score his second and Ireland's fifth to seal a comfortable win.

Victory ensures Ireland will leapfrog their opponents into seventh in the IRB rankings thanks to their third successive victory, the first time that's been achieved since October 2011.  However, all eyes will be on the task in hand when they welcome Australia and then the All Blacks to Dublin.

The next couple of weeks will give a clear indication if Ireland can become the driving force they're capable of becoming under Schmidt.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Mahony, O'Brien, D Kearney 2, McFadden
Con:  Jackson 3
Pen:  Jackson 3

For Samoa:
Pens:  T Pisi 2, Fotuali'i

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Mike McCarthy, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Paul O'Connell, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Dave Kearney.

Samoa:  15 Faatoina Autagavaia, 14 Alapati Leuia, 13 George Pisi, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Brando Vaaulu, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Teofilo Paulo, 4 Faatiga Lemalu, 3 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements:  16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Viliamu Afatia, 18 James Johnston, 19 Joe Tekori, 20 Alafoti Faosilivia, 21 Jeremy Sua, 22 Isaia Tuifua, 23 Fautua Otto.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (Australia)

Georgia edge out Canada

Canada suffered a 19-15 defeat to Georgia in Tbilisi in a match where both sides saw red before half-time.

The incident which turned an otherwise entertaining contest into somewhat of a sluggish affair happened four minutes from half-time when Georgian flanker Viktor Kolelishvili landed a dangerous tackle on Canada fly-half Liam Underwood which resulted in a multi-player punch-up.

Kolelishvili and Canada captain Tyler Ardron subsequently played no further part in the match.

Georgian full-back Merab Kvirikashvili kicked 14 points with winger Tedore Zibzibadze the only man to score a try.

Canada's points came from penalties by Underwood and Harry Jones.

Jones was forced to take over the kicking duties after Underwood had retired hurt and through his boot Canada enjoyed a 12-9 lead at half-time.

Then came Zibzibadze's moment of brilliance was followed-up by a well executed conversion from out wide which handed the lead back to Georgia in the 51st minute.

Kvirikashvili converted another penalty at the 61-minute mark in what turned out to be the final score of the contest.

Canada take on Romania in Bucharest next week.

Man of the match:Merab Kvirikashvili's kicking proved to be vital in this slugfest.

Moment of the match:  It has to be Tendore Zizibadze's try.

Villains of the match:  All the players who were involved in the punch-up.  With special mention to Tyler Ardron and Victor Kolelishvili who saw red for their actions.

The scorers:

For Geordia:
Try:  Tendore Zizibadze
Con:  Merab Kvirikashvili
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 4
Red card:  Kolelishvili

For Canada:
Pens:  Underwood 3, Jones 2
Red card:  Ardron

All Blacks pushed hard in Paris

The All Blacks took a step closer to completing their quest to finish the year unbeaten with a 26-19 victory over France on Saturday.

The result, New Zealand's fourth win over les Bleus in 2013, leaves Steve Hansen's team with 12 wins from 12 starts ahead of next weekend's game against England, but they were made to work very hard at the Stade de France.

When the dust had settled, the tourists had outscored France two tries to one in a gripping encounter on the outskirts of the French capital.

Against all expectations, France were level with the world champions at 9-all at half-time.  In fact, les Bleus could very easily have been ahead had it not been for Morgan Parra missing two relatively easy penalty kicks.

But, true to form, New Zealand raised the tempo in the second-half and made scoring two excellent tries - via Charlie Piutau and Kieran Read - look easy.

France replied through a top-quality try from full-back Brice Dulin and finished the game camped on the New Zealand line.

In the end, the surface at the Stade de France let the home team down as it disintegrated, preventing the dominant French scrum from pushing on for a draw-saving try, that certainly looked on.

Having survived a close shave in the second minute - when Cory Jane came within inches of scoring a try - France grew in confidence as the first-half unfolded.

Parra traded three-pointers with Dan Carter as the French paid the All Blacks' reputation very little respect and progressively took the game to their visitors, finishing the half camped in New Zealand territory.

The trend continued after the break as Parra briefly put France in front only to see Carter reply.

In typical fashion, the All Blacks would score the first try from inside their own half to punish a poor French kick as Charlie Piutau chased down Ben Smith's kick ahead, showing dazzling pace and some decent soccer skills to pounce.

The second came just after the hour mark as Piutau's fantastic offload out the back of his hand was collected by Kieran Read, who cruised home.

The result looked settled but France hit back almost immediately as Dulin finished off a slick backline move that saw Rémi Talès and Gael Fickou combine.

It was all-France in the closing stages, but after series of reset scrums five metres short of the New Zeland line, referee Jaco Peyper spotted Damien Chouly use his hand in the scrum, ending the hosts' hopes of forcing a shock result.

Man of the match:  A number of candidates from both sides but we couldn't look past Charlie Piutau, who scored one try and brilliantly created New Zealand's other.

Moment of the match:  France managed to get over the whitewash in the dying moments but the ball was obscured for the view of the cameras.  Ask any Frenchman, and he'll tell you they deserved a draw.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Dulin
Con:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 4

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Piutau, Read
Cons:  Carter, Cruden
Pens:  Carter 4

France:  15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Rémi Talès, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 20 Antonie Claassen, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22 Camille Lopez, 23 Gael Fickou.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Charlie Piutau, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ryan Crotty.

Venue:  Stade de France, Paris
Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television match official:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

England claim unconvincing win

England made it two wins from two in their November series on Saturday, sealing a 31-12 victory over Argentina.

It wasn't pretty, particularly in the second-half as the hosts only troubled the scorers in the final minutes after what was a decent opening spell.

Questions will be asked of his team by head coach Stuart Lancaster as to what happened at the turnaround to cause such a slump in form.

But credit must also go to the Pumas, who were a different side after the interval, as they looked to eat into the sizeable 24-6 half-time scoreline.

As mentioned, Argentina looked a shadow of their best in the first-half as England took them on up front, leading to gaps being created on the fringe.

However, the second 40 minutes would see the English fail to add to their three first period tries which will be a concern ahead of New Zealand.

In truth, the dip in fluency is an issue as they look to make it a clean sweep in November through back-to-back home wins against the All Blacks.

Owen Farrell opened the scoring with five minutes played after a breakdown offence from the flat Pumas, but opposite number Nicolas Sanchez replied two minutes later.

However, then came the English power as at the second attempt, the hosts powered over thanks to a pushover try from Joe Launchbury.  An easy Farrell conversion meant it was 10-3 with thirteen minutes played.  It looked like the Red Rose was on its way to an easy win.

Argentina were hanging in there though at Twickenham and bounced back off the ropes thanks to a long-range penalty attempt from Saracens outside centre Marcelo Bosch.

Stuart Lancaster's men were still showing more signs of turning the screw however and were over again with a quarter of the game gone, again at the second time of asking.  Chris Ashton had gone close and probably should have scored on the right wing before inside centre Billy Twelvetrees barged over Pumas left wing Juan Imhoff to extend the lead.

With Farrell's conversion it was 17-6 before Ashton was rewarded by his fly-half on 33 minutes with a simple slide over that possibly should have been checked by Television Match Official Iain Ramage, with Ashton seemingly being very close to the sideline.

That was about as good as it got for England as they returned from the break with very little impetus, with the Pumas being the side in the ascendancy for the majority of the second 40.

Despite England strengthening their scrum by bringing on Alex Corbisiero in place of loosehead Joe Marler at half-time, Argentina struck first through two Sanchez penalties.

Lancaster brought on several replacements and England, with Argentina rallying, struggled to get their hands on the ball, compounded when Farrell carelessly kicked a penalty dead.

Argentina were still in the game with eight minutes left but their hopes of a come-from-behind win evaporated when Bosch missed a long-range penalty from right in front.

And that miss was compounded when replacement Ben Morgan blasted through Santiago Cordero's attempted tackle for a try converted by fellow replacement, fly-half Toby Flood.

Man of the match:  Tough seeing as few players stood out for the full game but we go for Tom Wood, who continues to shine.  His rangy yet powerful style was again prominent.

Moment of the match:  Half-time … what happened at the break to see such a turnaround?

Villain of the match:  Nothing malicious to report.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Launchbury, Twelvetrees, Ashton, Morgan
Con:  Farrell 4
Pen:  Farrell

For Argentina:
Pen:  Sanchez 3, Bosch

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 David Wilson, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Alex Goode.

Argentina:  15 Lucas González Amorosino, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernández, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolás Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón (c), 7 Pablo Matera, 6 Julio Farias Cabello, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Patricio Albacete, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Eusebio Guiñazú, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:  16 Santiago Iglesias Valdez, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Benjamín Macome, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Gonzalo Tiesi, 23 Santiago Cordero.

Referee:  Pascal Gauzère (France)
Assistant referees:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
TMO:  Iain Ramage (Scotland)

Scotland too strong for Japan

Scotland held off a spirited performance from Japan before claiming a 42-17 victory at Murrayfield on Saturday.

A brace of tries from Tommy Seymour, and scores from Greig Laidlaw, Al Dickinson and Sean Lamont cancelled out a wonderful double from the visitors' speedster, Kenki Fukuoka.

The Brave Blossoms imposed themselves well, with the wonderfully quick ball they generated, and the fleetness of their outside backs causing the Scots problems in defence.

And indeed, they twice clawed themselves back to within a single point of the Scots, showing discipline and resilience to score a couple of excellent tries.

It was, however, a disjointed opening quarter, with neither side able to string many phases together.

The hosts looked rusty on their first outing as a team since June, and static attacking play combined with knock-ons and errors stunted their attack.

Laidlaw put the Scots on the board with two penalties, as the Scottish scrum dominated their much lighter opponents, forcing a multitude of Japanese infringements.

And things were looking ominous for the Cherry Blossoms as the men in blue started to click out wide, and gaps appeared in midfield.  Sean Maitland burst into the 22, before the ball was recycled well, and several phases later, Seymour took advantage of stretched Japanese defence to loop around Jackson and score in the corner.

The scrum-half failed to add the extras, though, and full-back Ayumu Goromaru got the visitors on the board with a penalty late in the first half.

The Scots led 11-3 at the break, having had a Lamont try disallowed by the TMO thanks to obstruction from Tim Swinson, but the Japanese came flying out of the blocks in the second-half to shell-shock their hosts.

Laidlaw was penalised for a squint feed to a scrum on halfway, and the visitors — in keeping with the verve and pace they so favour in attack — went for a quick tap.

Great handling up the left-hand-side sent Fukuoka — who had threatened several times in the opening forty — scampering round and under the posts.  Goromaru's kick reduced the deficit to a single point.

Scotland responded well to this setback, though, with an opportunist try from Laidlaw as he sniped over from two metres out to extend the lead.

But back came Japan again, and in some considerable style.  Brutalised in the scrum all afternoon, the Cherry Blossoms drove Scotland back on their own ball, and won possession against the head.

Their speed of play came to the fore once again, as Goromaru made a clean break through the middle.  He was hauled down just metres short of the line by three defenders, but his offload to Fukuoka was perfect, and the winger had a run-in for his second.

Once again, though, Scotland persevered, and were rewarded as Seymour was set free by a fine Jackson pass for his second try after the forwards had sucked in the Japanse defence.

Now, the Scots had well and truly hit their stride, and when number eight Ryu Holani was sin-binned for slowing the ball down, the hosts pressed home their numerical advantage.

The industrious Tim Swinson was held up over the line, but moments later, excellent sleight of hand from Ross Ford and Jackson saw Al Dickinson crashing his way over from 20 metres out.

That proved to be the killer blow for the Japanse, who shipped two further tries from Weir and Lamont — both of which were verified by the TMO — and lost Goromaru to the sin-bin for the final three minutes.

All in all, a pleasing first outing for Scott Johnson's men, with the performance of the back-row, aided by the outstanding Swinson, proving major positives given the challenges that lie ahead in the coming weeks.

Man of the Match:  There were a few candidates, but none more impressive than Tim Swinson.  Despite his lack of size at second-row, the Glasgow Warriors man was excellent in the loose, making big hits aplenty and always making yards with ball in hand.  With this showing, he be in real contention to face South Africa next week.

Moment of the Match:  The beginning of the end for Japan was marked by Dickinson's tidy score.  There are few finer sights in rugby than a prop barrelling his way over the line from distance.

Villain of the Match:Ryu Holani's yellow-card contributed heftily to Japan's downfall, with the Cherry Blossoms shipping two tries while down to fourteen men.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Seymour 2, Laidlaw, Dickinson, Weir, Lamont
Con:  Laidlaw 2, Weir
Pen:  Laidlaw 2

For Japan:
Tries:  Fukuoka 2
Con:  Goromaru 2
Pen:  Goromaru

Scotland:  15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick de Luca, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Denton, 7 Kelly Brown (c), 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Al Kellock, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements:  16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Al Dickinson, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Richie Gray, 20 John Barclay, 21 Henry Prygos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Duncan Taylor.

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Toshiaki Hirose (c), 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements:  16 Yusuke Aoki, 17 Yusuke Nagae, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Takashi Kikutani, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yoshikazu Fujita.

Referee:  JP Doyle (England)

Australia put 50 on Italy

The Wallabies bounced back from last weekend's loss to England with an emphatic 50-20 win over Italy in Turin.

Any doubts that Ewen McKenzie's men would fail to keep their country's 15 win record against the Azzurri intact were erased 15 minutes into the contest when Quade Cooper put skipper Ben Mowen over for his first Test try.

Pardon the alliteration, but it could very well end up being one of the most memorable moments of Mowen's career as his men were trailing 10-0 following a surprisingly solid start by the hosts.

The new Wallaby captain had just weathered storm of complaints following last week's loss to England and would have known when he agreed to take the job, that nothing but a total turnaround in his team's fortunes would satisfy his countrymen.

As expected, it took some time for the respective packs of forwards to warm to the occasion but in the meantime a brilliant backline move initiated by fly-half Alberto di Bernardo resulted in a try by full-back Luke McLean in the 11th minute.

Italy had their tails up and showed what they are capable of — even though they would have loved more consistency.

While the contest between the two packs was fair, the Italian backs struggled to contend with the shear pace of their rivals.

Wing Nick Cummins not only scored two of his team's seven tries, the first to be dotted down by the outside backs could easily have been credited to him too.

Showing great strength in contact, Cummins bounced off his opponents at regular intervals and would eventually off-load with precision to send Tivati Kurindrani, who was equally deceptive with ball in hand, over.

Cummins scored his second as a result of the numbers Italy were committing to the tackle area.

But foundation for this record victory was, however, laid by the half-back pairing of Cooper and his general — Will Genia.

The long-time partners marshalled their troops extremely well and needed only 15 minutes to confirm that it would be out wide, where Cummins could be found, where their hosts were most vulnerable.

Italy weren't doing themselves any favours either.

Minutes before the break di Bernardo missed a relatively easy chance to keep his side in the hunt through a penalty conversion.

When the teams came out for the second stanza, there were also no first half butterflies that would hurt Australia who were leading 19-10 at the time.

Continued awareness at the breakdown and a few splendid steals by flanker Michael Hooper ensured that Wallabies were rarely caught inside their own 22.

After Cummins raced over the try line for his brace around the 50 minute mark, the floodgates opened and ended any hopes Italy had of ending a 30-year losing streak.

Cooper later created space for Adam-Ashey Cooper's five pointer while Italy restored some pride through impact players Lorenzo Cittadini and Tommaso Allan.

Isreal Folau rounded off a fine day in the office for McKenzie's men.

Man of the match:  Michael Hooper — Hooper's presence at the tackle area prevented Italy from setting the attacking platform they would have liked to have.  His general awareness was exceptional while there were very few faults with his defence.

Moment of the match:  Ben Mowen's first Test try turned the tables.  Australians fans will be hoping that it is a permanent change of their fortunes following a terrible season.

Villain of the match:  Nothing dirty worth reporting.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  McLean, Cittadini, Allan
Con:  Di Bernardo
Pen:  Di Bernardo

For Australia:
Tries:  Mowen, Kuridrani, Cummins 2, Ashley-Cooper, Tomane, Folau
Con:  Cooper 4, Leali'ifano 2
Pen:  Leali'ifano

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benevenuti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Iannone.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (c), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Rob Simmons, 5 James Horwill, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nic White, 22 Christian Leali'ifano, 23 Joe Tomane.

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

Maori All Blacks win big in Toronto

The Maori All Blacks kicked off their tour of North America with a 40-15 win over Canada in an entertaining clash at BMO Field in Toronto.

In front of a 22 000-strong sellout crowd, the biggest in the history of Canadian rugby, the Maori outscored their hosts six tries to two with scrum-half Jamison Gipson-Park bagging a brace.

In ice-cold but sunny conditions, Canada were first to strike via a try from wing Jeff Hassler but, despite some promising play from the men in red, the Maori would do all the scoring until half-time.

Tries from Man of the Match Zac Guildford, full-back Robbie Robinson and Gipson-Park — who was a late replacement for Piri Weepu — saw the tourists take a 19-5 lead into the break.

Gipson-Park scored again early in the second half but Canada fought back through a try from captain Aaron Carpenter and a penalty from the boot of Liam Underwood.

With Canada trailing by just 11 points, replacement wing Matt Proctor landed a killer blow, scoring a try in the 68th minute.

Nick Barrett added the icing on the Kiwi cake with a late try, profiting from panic in the Canadian ranks.

The Maori All Blacks now travel to Philadelphia for next weekend's clash with the USA Eagles while Canada head to Europe to face Georgia, Romania and Portugal.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  Hassler, Carpenter
Cons:  Underwood
Pens:  Underwood

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  Guildford 2, Gibson Park 2, Robinson, Barrett
Cons:  Taylor 2, Robinson, West

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Harry Jones, 11 Conor Trainor, 10 Liam Underwood, 9 Phil Mack, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 John Moonlight, 6 Nanyak Dala, 5 Tyler Ardron, 4 Jon Phelan, 3 Doug Wooldridge, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Hubert Buydens,Replacments:  16 Jake Ilnicki, 17 Ryan March, 18 Aaron Flagg, 19 Kyle Gilmour, 20 Adam Kleeberger, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 Pat Parfrey, 23 Connor Braid.

Maori All Blacks:  15 Robbie Robinson, 14 Andre Taylor, 13 Charlie Ngatai, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Tim Bateman, 9 Jamison Gipson-Park, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Luke Braid, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Ben Afeaki, 2 Hikawera Elliot, 1 Kane Hames,
Replacements:  16 Chris Eves, 17 Nick Barrett, 18 Ash Dixon, 19 Blade Thomson, 20 Shane Christie, 21 , 22 Ihaia West, 23 Matt Proctor

Venue:  BMO Field, Toronto
Referee:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina)

Fortunate England see off Wallabies

Two second-half tries from Chris Robshaw and Owen Farrell gave England a peculiar 20-13 victory over Australia at Twickenham.

Cagey in the first half, a combination of a powerful scrum and extreme fortune reversed the tide after the break thanks to England's two tries.

The optimist's view will highlight that England won whilst playing poorly, an eighth win in their last nine matches as Stuart Lancaster picked up his 13th win in 20 matches as England coach.  Yet Lancaster is England's harshest critic, and he will know that they have plenty to work on.

There were certainly positives.  Billy Twelvetrees effort on Matt Toomua aside, England defended well and their scrum was rampant.  Argentina will provide better competition in that area next weekend, but it means England have a platform for when their backline begins to click.

Australia's haphazard scrum and line-out meant they never enjoyed as much possession as their hosts.  Moments of execution — kicks to touch, discipline and Quade Cooper's goalkicking as the match went on — were way off the mark from their exciting performance against New Zealand in Dunedin.

The Wallabies looked to have made plenty of progress in their two most recent matches, but there was no consistency at Twickenham.  Three wins in the last four years have made England's home a happy hunting ground for the Wallabies, but when chasing the game their play at times was dire.

England's Rugby World Cup squad were in the stands to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of that famous night in Sydney, but there has been only one Six Nations title to celebrate in the time since.

To highlight the alarming contrast between that success and the decade since, England spluttered their way through a first half where they lacked the cutting edge required to win a Test match.  The parading of the Webb Ellis trophy by Sir Clive Woodward and the 2003 squad around the field felt almost cruel.

One fear before the match that England's dominant scrum would be blunted following the loss of Alex Corbisiero proved to be unfounded, as Mako Vunipola and Dan Cole were in charge throughout against their Wallaby counterparts.

Farrell's first attempt at goal sailed over but his next three were wayward, a couple of off-key moments turning into desperation from the normally reliable Saracens number ten.

Israel Folau shone everytime a high ball was sent his way — not exactly a rare occurance as kicking dominated the whole game — but scrum and lineout woes unraveled promising field position for the Wallabies over and over again.

With Australia's penalty count rapidly rising, Michael Hooper was fortunate to avoid yellow as England finally re-took the lead.  This time Farrell glanced the ball off the post the right way.

Folau continued to be at the heart of Australia's best efforts and he busted Chris Ashton's tackle — released by a blinding pass from Cooper — to create the first try for Toomua as barreled his way over a hapless Billy Twelvetrees.

Cooper's penalty immediately afterwards gave Australia a 13-6 advantage to take into the interval, as England plodded their way forward to suck up time and phases — but created no points.

Questionable decision-making hurt England early in the second half, when Marland Yarde was penalised for a late tackle, but Cooper's kick faded away to the left.

England needed a lucky break and after Brown clearly lost the ball into touch and Chris Ashton botched a quick penalty, Yarde was given a chance to test the Wallabies down the left wing.  He nearly made them pay with a bright burst down the touchline, but was expertly tackled by Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Luck then quite literally fell England's way, as Genia was charged down by Tom Wood for the captain Robshaw to pounce on the loose ball and level the scores.

They had an extra slice of fortune for Farrell's try shortly after.  Dylan Hartley was deemed to have not been obstructed Ben Mowen enough as the England fly-half strode through to score.

Cooper missed another crucial opportunity for points to keep England ahead by seven heading towards the final ten minutes, but the Wallabies threw caution to the wind.

A sharp counter-attack from Nick Cummins had England scrambling and with Cooper's radar misfiring, they kicked into the corner.  It looked threatening and Australia edged closer to the five-metre line, until Ben Alexander coughed up the ball and the Wallabies' hopes went with it.

Man of the Match:  He may have been lucky in the build-up to Robshaw's try, but Mike Brown:  was influential for England at the back.  Credit to Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Moment of the Match:  It has to be Owen Farrell's try, for putting the hosts into a lead that Australia couldn't chase down.

Villain of the Match:  The minor block from Dylan Hartley was clearly obstructive.  When has not enough obstruction been a thing?

For England:
Tries:  Robshaw, Farrell
Cons:  Farrell 2
Pens:  Farrell 2

For Australia:
Try:  Toomua
Con:  Cooper
Pens:  Cooper 2

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joel Tomkins, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Joe Marler, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Ben Foden.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (c), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sepoke Kepu, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nic White, 22 Christian Lealiifano, 23 Bernard Foley.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO:  Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)

All Blacks hit 50 in Tokyo

New Zealand scored eight unanswered tries as they thrashed Japan 54-6 on Saturday to kick their end-of-year tour off in impressive fashion.

As expected, the All Blacks were dominant but Japan did not disgrace themselves even though they failed to score a try.

The All Blacks opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Charles Piutau was quickest to react after Ayumu Goromaru dropped a high kick from Beauden Barrett.  Piutau gathered the loose ball and outpaced the cover defence before scoring his first Test try.

Dan Carter added the extras but, despite that try, the All Blacks battled to gain control during the early stages.  The world champions battled to get going and had already made seven uncharacteristic errors by the 25th minute.

Goromaru made up for his earlier indiscretion by kicking two penalties and although they were coming off second-best in most departments, Japan would have been satisfied with the 7-6 scoreline.

All that changed, when the All Blacks scored three tries — by Sam Cane, Ben Smith and Richie McCaw — within the space of ten minutes to pull away from the Brave Blossoms.

Smith's effort in the 30th minute was the best of the match.  Piutau laid the groundwork.  He gathered a pass from Smith before bumping off two defenders, down the left flank, and threw an inside pass to Smith who scored under the posts.

New Zealand upped the ante after the break and were rewarded with four further tries.

Jeremy Thrush also got his first Test try, 10 minutes after the restart, when he burrowed his way over from close quarters after Japan did well to halt the All Blacks from scoring from a drive at a line-out on the home side's five-metre line.

Carter, who had a perfect record from the kicking-tee, succeeded with the conversion before being replaced by Tom Taylor.

Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen and Luke Whitelock joined fellow debutants Frank Halai and Dominic Bird off the replacements bench and Halai also left his stamp on the match when he scored in the left-hand corner.  Tawera Kerr-Barlow was initially stopped just short of the line after combining with McCaw from the back of a scrum.

The floodgates were well and truly open by now with Piutau crossing over for his second, five minutes before the end, after Beauden Barrett — who took over at fly-half and the goal-kicking duties from Carter — also dotted down five minutes earlier.

Japan tried gallantly to score a try in the game's closing stages but, despite going close on a couple of occasions, they could not breach the All Blacks' defence.

The world champions' only blemish came during this period when Sam Cane was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul close to his try-line.

It wasn't the All Blacks' most eye-catching display but their coach Steve Hansen will be especially pleased with the performances of his inexperienced players and that of captain Richie McCaw at number eight.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Pens:  Goromaru 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Piutau 2, Cane, B. Smith, McCaw, Thrush, Halai, Barrett
Cons:  Carter 5, Barrett 2
Yellow card:  Cane

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Toshiaki Hirose, 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Hitoshi Ono, 4 Shoji Ito, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements:  16 Yusuke Aoki, 17 Yusuke Nagae, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Luke Thompson, 20 Takashi Kikutani, 21 Kosei Ono, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yoshikazu Fujita.

New Zealand:  15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Charles Piutau, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Francis Saili, 11 Frank Halai, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Richie McCaw (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Luke Whitelock, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Tom Taylor, 23 Ryan Crotty.

Ruthless All Blacks stay unbeaten

Peerless execution from New Zealand led to a 41-33 victory over Australia at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

Despite a great improvement from the Wallabies, their performance was no match for the ruthlessness of New Zealand ― epitomised by their second try for Sam Cane as Aaron Cruden, Julian Savea and Israel Dagg flawlessly combined.

Restarts plagued the Wallabies constantly as New Zealand continued to win the ball back and then add subsequent points;  increasing the gap on the scoreboard.

The emotion on debutant Peter Betham's face during the anthems proved that this was no dead-rubber Test, with Wallaby pride on the line after two defeats already to their Tasman rivals earlier this year.  They scored three tries through Adam Ashley-Cooper, Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani as the salvage mission being undertaken by Ewen McKenzie continues.

Generally written off against New Zealand, who haven't lost this year, Australia started hungrily with an amount of territory and possession inside All Blacks territory.  Their effort level didn't fade, but they couldn't keep pace with the world champions for long enough to take the lead ― despite getting close at 33-26.

Israel Folau underlined his status as the Wallabies' biggest threat with a half-break through the defensive line, putting Australia on the go-forward as they showed their intent.

A scrappily-assembled scrum forced Kieran Read to hold on and Quade Cooper converted the resulting penalty for a 3-0 lead to the visitors.

Cruden's long-range response missed and by some distance, but the ensuing possession resulted in New Zealand's first try by Savea, as Israel Dagg found the space to release the giant winger down the left touchline to score in the corner.

The aggression and commitment of the Wallaby forwards though to provide Will Genia with a strong platform benefited Australia hugely and created the opportunity for Cooper's drop goal on 16 minutes.

Cruden's response had New Zealand 10-6 ahead at the close of the first quarter, but the All Blacks formula was still working well ― powerful turnover, kick ahead from Ma'a Nonu and then forcing a rushed kick from Adam Ashley-Cooper to set up position in the Wallabies 22 and win the penalty for Cruden to convert.  Simple enough on paper, but it has become the All Blacks mantra.

Lazy running from Tony Woodcock produced a penalty for Cooper to successfully add another three points, the Wallabies staying within range.

Desperate defence from Ben McCalman on his opposite man Read denied the All Blacks a second try coming up to half an hour in, but they wouldn't have to wait long.

Cruden's perfectly weighted cross-field kick landed in Savea's basket, passing onto Dagg who beat Folau and Betham to find Sam Cane in space for a run-in and his sixth try in 13 Tests.

It was truly vintage stuff from the world champions, who were magnificent on the day.

Australia didn't deserve to be 11 points off the pace and they chipped that down to eight with another Cooper penalty as the tempo of the match entered a crucial phase before half-time.

The second try for New Zealand had been a gem, and their third matched it.  The key was Liam Messam's inside line after Dagg, again, fixed the defence ― so that the Messam could cut in and offload to Cruden to go over.

At 30-12 the Wallabies needed something to cling on to.  They got it through Adam Ashley-Cooper, surprising space on the outside left uncovered by the Kiwi defence for him to cross over as Cooper added a super conversion.

Australia had not even performed badly.  New Zealand were just phenomenal.

Nonu's subtle touch with the boot after the break had the All Blacks holding Australia by the throat once more ― a five-metre scrum looming.  Cruden's pass was poor but a penalty came New Zealand's way and the fly-half converted for a 33-19 lead.

Australia cut into it handsomely through Kuridrani's interception, breaking upfield after poaching Savea's pass and offloading to Toomua for the try.

Cruden's bizarre close-range miss kept the gap at seven, but the fourth try wasn't far behind from Read.

James Slipper was wrapped up in a double tackle and lost possession, but from there New Zealand's one-on-one passing, drawing in the opposite man, worked perfectly to create a comfortable overlap on the left for Read to cruise over.

Kuridrani's beautiful step inside Ben Smith had the Wallabies supporters in the crowd in full voice, the resulting maul winning a penalty for Australia to kick into the corner.

Craig Joubert's refereeing drew the ire of both sets of fans as Australia's promising maul was judged to have stopped five metres out.  It cut off a priceless chance for the Wallabies to get within range.

The efforts of Kuridrani were rewarded with a try four minutes from the finish with Cooper adding another conversion.

It was just reward for Australia, who hadn't played poorly, but as with every other team couldn't live with a New Zealand team playing at their peak.

Man of the Match:  Two assists for Israel Dagg capped a fine performance from the New Zealand full-back.

Moment of the Match:  Australia at 30-12 could have been cut off but Adam Ashley-Cooper's try just before the break kept them in the hunt.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Savea, Cane, Cruden, Read
Cons:  Cruden 3
Pens:  Cruden 4, Barrett

For Australia:
Try:  Ashley-Cooper, Toomua, Kuridrani
Cons:  Cooper 3
Pens:  Cooper 3
Drop Goal:  Cooper

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Charles Piutau, 13 Ben Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Owen Franks, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Tom Taylor.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Peter Betham, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 James Horwill (capt), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Dave Dennis, 21 Nic White, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Bernard Foley.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
TMO:  Vinny Munro (New Zealand)

Resurgent Australia thrash Pumas

Israel Folau scored a hat-trick after 42 minutes as Australia bounced back by hammering Argentina 54-17 in Rosario.

The Wallabies were utterly unrecognisable from the side that left Newlands with their tails between their legs seven days ago, playing with an intensity that was too much for Argentina to contain as they racked up a national record winning score in a Rugby Championship/Tri-Nations match.

Folau was at the heart of everything good that Australia produced, taking his tally to seven tries in nine matches at Test level since making his debut against the British and Irish Lions back in June.

Granted the defence opposite them was more porous than in recent weeks, but the Wallabies have often come unstuck when it has come to finishing off their chances.  There was little complacency in Rosario as they racked up seven tries.

Argentina were for the most part brutally disappointing.  The intensity shown against New Zealand and South Africa at home, based around a ferocious defence and physicality at the breakdown, was at times completely absent.

The Pumas are developing a concerning habit of imploding when the pressure is on to pick up their first victory in The Rugby Championship.  The arrival of a tarnished Australia team torn apart in recent weeks by their critics presented an absolutely golden opportunity.

As much as Wallabies were brilliant, Argentina were painfully lacklustre.  It was the worst possible goodbye for a Pumas legend — Felipe Contepomi bowing out at 36 years of age.

Their inaccuracy was best summed up a ten-minute period of dominance with four scrum penalties on the Australian five-metre line, only to leave the ball loose at the back of the fifth scrum for the Wallabies to pounce and clear.  When their execution needed to be perfect, Argentina spluttered.

Too often the hosts couldn't live with the pace of Will Genia and Quade Cooper controlling the gain line through flat passes and pace around the flat-footed Argentinian forwards on the fringes.

Australia have been undone by bright starts in recent matches but they struck first here, working the ball into space for Joe Tomane who freed up room for Folau down the left touchline for the first score inside three minutes.

Tomane then squandered another golden chance when he failed to find a man after bursting through once more, the home crowd muted by the Wallabies' early impetus.

The Pumas have had the best scrum in the competition and it was no surprise to see them earn a penalty from the first engagement.  A clever kick through behind forced Cooper to concede a five-metre scrum.

A precarious position for the Wallabies saw them buckle under the first engagement and then the second a few minutes later from the same distance.

With the Wallabies warned, they were lucky not to concede a penalty try after their third indiscretion.  James Slipper was sin-binned after the fourth but on the fifth Australia escaped through Genia's kick — a psychological blow far more damaging than Folau's early try.

Argentina's dangerous burst illustrated their confidence at running from within their own half — Marcelo Bosch and Juan Imhoff causing problems for the backtracking Wallaby defence until Julio Farias Cabello was penalised for entering a ruck from the side.

Enjoying more space around the fringes than they have been afforded in the tournament until Rosario, Australia flourished — particularly thanks to the reintroduction of Genia at scrum-half whose flat passes continued to unlock the defence.

An interception from the impressive Marcelo Bosch resulted in Argentina's first points from the boot of fly-half Nicolas Sanchez as the crowd came back into life, before the renewed atmosphere was snuffed out.

Openside Pablo Matera was sin-binned for a tackle without the arms on a rampaging Scott Fardy down the touchline, Lealiifano adding his second penalty as a result to give Australia a healthy ten-point advantage.

Their lead then became insurmountable.  Folau slipped out of the tackle down the right touchline and combined with Genia to release Adam Ashley-Cooper for the Wallabies second score — Australia up 18-3.

Folau, everywhere in first half, then hammered the nail in the coffin.  Rob Simmons pass found the superb full-back on a sweet line up the middle of the field and the tri-code convert galloped over round Juan Martin Hernandez.

The Pumas desperately needed something to take into half-time and it came from Bosch, skipping inside a hapless tackling effort from Folau with Sanchez converting to reduce the deficit to 15 points.

Folau then sealed his hat-trick immediately after the break on an inside pass from Cooper for a score that looked way too easy.

Martin Landajo snapped back with a score for the Pumas as Australia ran out of numbers defending their own line, but with the Wallabies still ahead 32-17.

The Wallabies were reduced to 14 Simmons needlessly checked Contepomi off the ball, but the Pumas misfired on a promising attacking lineout inside the Australian 22.

Michael Hooper put down a simple pass after Tomane again burst through space to keep the Wallabies honest, 15 points ahead but with too long left in the game to be complacent.  Three points from a Cooper penalty helped their cause.

Tomane grabbed an opportunistic score to bring up the 40-point mark for the Wallabies as Contepomi departed to a rousing reception on his 88th and final appearance.

Benn Robinson bounced over for Australia's sixth score before Bernard Foley turned out the lights on debut with a breakaway try, racking up the half century to cap a miserable night for the Pumas in a far cry from the one-point battle between these two sides in Perth earlier this season.

Man of the match:  For finishing the contest so early, Israel Folau takes the plaudits.  A major weapon.

Moment of the match:  Argentina's successive scrums with the Wallabies on the rack before they forgot one thing ... the ball.

Villain of the match:  For daring to body-check the retiring Contepomi, Rob Simmons is your bad guy.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Bosch, Landajo
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pen:  Sanchez
Yellow Card:  Matera

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau 3, Ashley-Cooper, Tomane, Robinson, Foley
Cons:  Lealiifano 2, Cooper, Foley 2
Pens:  Lealiifano 2, Cooper
Yellow Card:  Slipper

Argentina:  15 Juan Martin Hernandez, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7 Pablo Matera, 6 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (c), 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Julio Farias Cabello, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Eusebio Guinazu, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Nahuel Lobo, 18 Matias Diaz, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Benjamn Macome, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Fernandez, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nic White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Bernard Foley.

Venue:  Gigante de Arroyito Stadium, Rosario
Referee:  Wayne Barnes