Wales labour past Tonga

First-half tries from Owen Williams and Ashley Beck gave Wales a scrappy, incohesive 17-7 win over Tonga at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Friday's showpiece simply spluttered its way through a catalogue of handling errors and set-piece calamities, interspersed with thunderous moments of physicality from Tonga as they kept themselves in the game until the death.

Despite the quality of Leigh Halfpenny, George North and James Hook in the backs, Wales laboured to victory over the Pacific Island side — who showed technical excellence at the breakdown but were too often let down by their handling and tactics when it mattered most.

Tonga had impressed in patches against France last Saturday in Le Havre, but their flashes of indiscipline undermined their efforts.  This time there was no nonsense, simply enormous defence from a squad that physically imposed themselves on the right side of the law.

Lloyd Williams came close to a charge-down try after five minutes — had Ryan Jones got a hand on the bouncing ball he might have been in — but both teams fell victim of the choke tackle in a disrupted opening that set the tone.

Viliami Ma'afu's fine tackle on Owen Williams halted another Welsh surge but scrum troubles for Tonga gave Wales a second successive penalty for Hook to boot into the corner to set up field position.  It ended in three points off Halfpenny's boot.

Williams then bounced back from Ma'afu's thunderous hit by scoring an excellent try on debut.

The outside centre was released by Leigh Halfpenny in a counter-attack and broke through outstretched Tongan arms to race away for the first try.  Consultation from the TMO deemed that Sione Kalamafoni's questionable hit on Hook was not illegal.

A flat first-half wasn't aided in any shape by some painful handling errors from Tongas, with Viliami Helu in particular having a minute to forget with two knock-ons, but Wales did their best to lift the tempo.

Ashley Beck stepped his way to a brilliant finish in the left corner, coming after George North had been released on an inside ball that left Tonga back-pedalling.  It put Wales 17-0 up after only 25 minutes and suggested they would score many more, rather than none whatsoever.

Set-piece turmoil meant Tonga had no key to stick in the ignition, Taniela Moa showing sparks but knock-ons again sucked away any momentum.

Everything just needed to click and with enough effort, Tonga made it happen.  Ma'afu's powerful carry and offload released Helu on the angle as he shot like an arrow to dive over by the right of the posts.

Hallam Amos was denied a try on his first start for Wales after the break as his heel scraped the touchline, with the hosts only holding out a ten-point lead over their abrasive visitors.

Tonga's forward pack though began to take control — winning consecutive scrums and continuing their good work at the breakdown by winning penalties.

It left the home crowd twitchy under the Millennium Stadium's closed roof — Luke Charteris dropping the ball over the line not doing them any favours — and when the TMO correctly denied Wales for a third time after North burrowed over in the 70th minute it was destined to end as a tussle.

Given the second half finished scoreless, you would have been forgiven for deciding to give it a miss.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  O Williams, Beck,
Cons:  Halfpenny 2
Pen:  Halfpenny

For Tonga:
Try:  Helu
Cons:  Fosita

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Owen Williams, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 James Hook, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Andrew Coombs, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Rhodri Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Dan Lydiate, 20 Sam Warburton, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Jordan Williams.

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

Referee:  Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Luke Pearce (England)
Television match official:  Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Assessor:  Clayton Thomas (Wales)

Springboks shut out Scotland

South Africa were comprehensive winners over Scotland after running in four tries in a 28-0 victory at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Tries from Willem Alberts, WIllie le Roux, JP Pietersen and Coenie Oosthuizen were enough to see off a home side that were blighted by handling errors and imprecision.

The Scots could not be faulted for the way they threw themselves at their illustrious guests, but a combination of blunt attack and bruising Springbok defence rendered them both tryless and pointless come the full-time whistle.

The Boks were rarely troubled, as Scott Johnson's side coughed up possession and penalties on numerous occasions, stunting opportunities, and spoiling good field position.

The set-piece too was a nightmare for the hosts, as they lost a string of lineouts thanks to poor throwing and good contention from the visitors, and the Murrayfield pitch once again made for less than ideal scrummaging conditions.

The breakdown was an aspect of play largely dominated by the South Africans, as the immovable objects of Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw planted themselves over the ball time and again to deny the hosts quick ball, or win penalties and turnovers.

The game began in ominous fashion for Scotland, with the Boks opting to kick to touch after winning what was a very kickable penalty in the home 22.

There was something of an air of inevitability as the visitors set up a driving maul, and Alberts was the man in possession as the forwards piled over the try-line.

The Scots reacted well, and begun to build phases in midfield with some strong carrying from the likes of Al Strokosch and Dave Denton.

But an error cost them dear once again.  With the opportunity of a potential overlap presenting itself, Ruaridh Jackson's pass went loose, and was scooped up by the flying Le Roux.  The full-back juggled for a moment, but gathered possession to sprint home untouched from some sixty metres.

With the Scots staring at a 14-0 deficit, the Boks struck again with a truly magnificent score, and Le Roux was once again at the forefront.

The sort of incisive running that lit up the Rugby Championship came to the fore in Edinburgh as he exploited a midfield gap to scythe through the home line, before flighting a perfect kick to the far corner and the onrushing Pietersen.

The winger, on his fiftieth cap, gathered and crossed the line for his side's third try, and Pat Lambie converted for a 21-0 half-time lead.

Scotland came out strongly in the second-half, but their attacking play was too static, too slow and too far behind the gain line to trouble a typically abrasive Springbok defence.

And another driving maul from close range saw them fall further behind, with replacement tighthead Oosthuizen burrowing over for try number four.

From that point on it was virtually all Scotland.

The Scots continued to lack penetration, though, despite enjoying over 70% in both possession and territory in the second-half.

The offensive effort improved with the introduction of the feisty Duncan Weir at fly-half, and more good carrying from Strokosch and Sean Lamont saw the hosts camped in their opponents' 22 for much of the final quarter.

It was a moment of intelligence from the Warriors' pivot that almost put Scotland on the scoreboard, as his crossfield grubber kick to the corner was chased down by Max Evans.

But the Castres utility back failed the ground the ball, and the Boks were able to close out the game without conceding a single point.

Man of the Match:  Plenty of contenders in the green and gold, with Willie Le Roux an outstanding performer.  But for his brilliant work at the breakdown in constantly stifling the home attack, Francois Louw gets the nod from us.  The openside suffered a late injury and was stretchered from the field in the closing stages, and we hope he makes a full and speedy recovery.

Moment of the Match:  Undoubtedly JP Pietersen's stunning long-range try, with a fine assist from Le Roux.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report beyond the usual handbags, although Pietersen rubbing David Denton's face into the ground was unnecessary.

The scorers:

For Scotland:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Alberts, Le Roux, Pietersen, Oosthuizen
Cons:  Lambie 4
Yellow Card:  Coetzee

Scotland:  15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Dave Denton, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Al Dickinson.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Johnnie Beattie, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Max Evans.

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

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees:  Pascal Gauzère (France), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)

Uruguay squeeze past Spain

Uruguay came from behind to claim a deserved 16-15 victory over Spain in Montevido on Saturday.

The hosts made a bright start and raced into a 6-0 lead, after 15 minutes, via two penalties from Agustín Ormaechea but Spain struck back with a three-pointer of their own from Igor Genua.

Spain held a 10-6 lead at half-time after Genua scored a try, which he also converted, just before the break.

The visitors raced into a 15-6 lead, shortly after the restart, when Matías Tudela scored their second try but Uruguay finished stronger thanks to another Ormaechea penalty and a converted try by Gastón Mieres.

The scorers:

For Uruguay:
Try:  Mieres
Con:  Ormaechea
Pens:  Ormaechea 3

For Spain:
Tries:  Genua, Tudela
Con:  Genua
Pen:  Genua

Uruguay:  15 Gastón Mieres, 14 Santiago Gibernau, 13 Andrés Vilaseca, 12 Alberto Román, 11 Jerónimo Etcheverry, 10 Felipe Berchesi, 9 Agustín Ormaechea, 8 Diego Magno, 7 Juan De Freitas, 6 Juan Gaminara, 5 Santiago Vilaseca, 4 Franco Lamanna, 3 Mario Sagario, 2 Nicolás Klappenbach (c), 1 Alejo Coral.
Replacements:  16 Arturo Ãvalo, 17 Francisco Jiménez, 18 Rodolfo De Mula, 19 Mathías Palomeque, 20 Alejandro Nieto, 21 Fernando Bascou, 22 Alejo Durán, 23 Joaquín Prada.

Spain:  15 César Sempere, 14 Marcos Poggi,13 Ignacio Contardi, 12 Javier Canosa, 11 Matías Tudela, 10 Daniel Snee, 9 Pablo Feijoo (c), 8 Federico Negrillo, 7 Glen Rolls, 6 Gauthier Gibouin, 5 Jesús Recuerda, 4 Matt Cook, 3 Jesús Moreno, 2 Fabien Rofes, 1 Beñat Auzqui.
Replacements:16 Jon Insausti, 17 Joe Hutchinson, 18 Alejandro Blanco, 19 Anibal Bonán, 20 Adam Newton, 21 Igor Genua, 22 Nil Baró, 23 Agustín Ortíz.

Venue:  Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Referee:  Chris Assmus (Canada)

French Barbarians edge Samoa

The star-studded French Barbarians edged Samoa 20-19 at Clermont's Parc des Sports Marcel-Michelin on Saturday.

Samoa, coming off the back of a 40-9 mauling by Ireland last week, raced out to an early lead thanks to tries from Alapati Leiua and Brando Vaaulu.

The Baa-Baas hit back with a brace of their own from South Africans Henie Adams and Gerhard Vosloo before Samoa captain Kahn Fotuali'i crossed for a third try.

Adams crossed for his second with 20 minutes to play before Grenoble fly-half Valentin Courrent hit a late penalty to edge the game.

The scorers:

For French Barbarians:
Tries:  Adams 2, Vosloo
Con:  Trinh-Duc
Pens:  Courrent

For Samoa:
Tries:  Leiua, Vaaulu, Fotuali'i
Cons:  Fotuali'i 2

French Barbarians:  15 Sylvain Tian, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 David Smith, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Rabadan Rabadan, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Robins Tchale-Watchou, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 David Attoub, 2 Brice Mach, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux
Replacements:  16 Rémi Bonfils, 17 Kenan Mutapcic, 18 Aretz Iguiniz, 19 Thibault Lassalle, 20 Jonathan Best, 21 Valentin Courrent, 22 David Skrela, 23 Alexis Palisson.

Samoa:  15 Faatoina Autagavaia, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Isaia Tuifua, 12 John Leota, 11 Brando Vaaulu, 10 Kahn Fotualii (captain), 9 Jeremy Sua, 8 Faifili Levave, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 5 Iosefa Tekori, 4 Piula Faasalele, 3 James Johnston, 2 Tii Paulo, 1 Viliamu Afatia
Replacements:  16 Wayne Ole Avei, 17 Anthony Perenise, 18 Benjamin Sa, 19 Teofilo Paulo, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Patrick Faapale 22 Sinoti Sinoti, 23 Ken Pisi

Eagles see off Georgia

A late penalty from fly-half Adam Siddall secured the USA's first win in a year as they overcame Georgia 25-23 in Tbilisi on Saturday.

Merab Kvirikashvili opened the scoring in style for the hosts with a penalty and a converted try in the corner in the opening fifteen minutes.

The Eagles responded well, however, after speedster Folau Niua chased down a kick deep in Georgian territory to win a lineout.

The pressure told, and Saracens winger Chris Wyles was sent over for his side's first points.

Kvirikashvili and Siddall then exchanged penalties, before the visitors scored a superb try.

Wyles again showed his pace, bursting some fifty metres downfield before finding captain Todd Clever.  Clever offloaded well to the supporting Blaine Scully, who beat the last Georgian defender and touched down under the posts.

With Siddal's conversion, the USA had a narrow 15-13 lead at half-time.

Another fine try for the visitors, albeit through an unlikely source, saw them extend their lead shortly after the break.

Prop Nick Wallace caught out the Georgian rearguard with a dummy, and had the pace to reach the line from around forty metres out.

The hosts hit back moments later, as last-ditch defence from Scully failed to prevent Merba Sharikadze scooping up the loose ball and dotting down.

Another three-pointer for the Georgians saw them draw ahead 23-22 in the closing minutes, before the Eagles won a penalty over forty metres out.

The New Zealand-born Siddall, enjoying his first start in the Eagles number ten jersey, stepped up and made no mistake from the tee to give his side a morale-boosting away victory.

Scorers:

For Georgia:
Tries:  Kvirikashvili, Sharikadze
Conversions:  Kvirikashvili 2
Penalties:  Kvirikashvili 3

For USA:
Tries:  Wyles, Scully, Wallace
Conversions:  Siddall 2
Penalties:  Siddall 2

The teams:

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Tamaz Mchelidze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Tedo Zibzibadze, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Levan Datunashvili, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 David Kubriashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 David Khinchagishvili
Replacements:  16 Simon Maisuradze, 17 Mikheil Nariashvili, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Giorgi Nemsadze, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaguradze, 23 Beka Tsiklauri

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Folau Nina, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Tim Maupin, 10 Adam Siddall, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Cameron Dolan, 7 Derek Asbun, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Samu Manoa, 4 Graham Harriman, 3 Shawn Pittman, 2 Phil Tiel, 1 Nick Wallace
Replacements:  16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Eric Fry, 19 Inaki Basauri, 20 John Quil, 21 Shaun Davies, 22 Seamus Kelly, 23 Luke Hume

Referee:  Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Ian Davies, Chris Williams (both Wales)

Last-gasp penalty sinks Canada

A last-minute penalty from centre Florin Vlaicu saw Romania overcome touring Canada 21-20 in dramatic fashion Bucharest on Saturday.

The Maple Leaves defended well early on, and indeed were dynamic and powerful when given the chance to attack, but fell behind to two Vlaicu penalties in the opening fifteen minutes to trail 6-0.

Canada responded well, however, with sustained pressure on the Romanian line yielding a try under the posts for captain Tyler Ardron, with the conversion putting the visitors into the lead for the first time.

A brace of three-pointers from Vlaicu saw the home side regain the ascendancy and a 12-7 lead going into the break.

The early portion of the second-half belonged to the transatlantic team, and Harry Jones was able to slot a penalty to cut the gap to two points.

Jones himself then bagged a try less than ten minutes later, and slotted the conversion to give the Canadians a 17-12 lead.

But the Maple Leaves' indiscipline was to prove costly, as they fell behind once more to another duo of Vlaicu penalties.

Substitute James Pritchard managed to restore a slender two-point advantage for the visitors, but there was to be a twist in the tale.

With time dead, Vlaicu stepped up once more to nail his sixth penalty, and a more-boosting win for the hosts.

Scorers:

For Romania:
Penalties:  Vlaicu 6

For Canada:
Tries:  Ardron, Jones
Conversions:  Jones 2
Penalties:  Jones 2

The teams:

Romania:  15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Ionut Dumitru, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Florin Vlaicu, 11 Florin Ionita, 10 Valentin Calafeteanu, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Sandu Stelian Burcea, 7 Mihai Macovei (c), 6 Viorel Lucaci, 5 Marius Sirbe, 4 Alin Coste, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Otar Turashvili, 1 Mihaita Lazar
Replacements:  16 Andrei Radoi, 17 Constantin Pristavita, 18 Horatiu Pungea, 19 Valentin Poparlan, 20 Dorin Lazar, 21 Catalin Robert Dascalu, 22 Cristian Dinis, 23 Gabriel Conache

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Phil MacKenzie, 10 Harry Jones, 9 Phil Mack, 8 Tyler Ardron (c), 7 Nanyak Dala, 6 Jeff Sinclair, 5 Brett Beukeboom, 4 Tyler Hotson, 3 Andrew Tiedemann, 2 Benoit Piffero, 1 Hubert Buydens
Replacements:  16 Ryan March, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Jake Ilnichi, 19 Adam Kleeberger, 20 Jon Phelan, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 James Pritchard, 23 Conor Trainor

Referee:  Greg Garner
Assistant referees:  Marius Mitrea, Giuseppe Vivarini (both Italy)

Four-try win for Wallabies

The Wallabies built on the momentum accrued last week in Turin by beating a disappointing Irish side 32-15 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

With many expecting a much closer scoreline than the one recorded, the visiting outfit will undoubtedly be delighted with their four-try win.

This sets them up nicely for remaining fixtures against Scotland and Wales, with head coach Ewen McKenzie's plans seemingly bearing fruit.

Ireland meanwhile will not look forward to their Monday video session as the Wallabies' wide game hurt the home side dearly in the first-half.

Joe Schmidt will have a whole host of questions at that meeting and should ask his side about their defensive frailties as tries for Nick Cummins, Michael Hooper (one of his two) and Quade Cooper left a lot to be desired from an Irish point of view.  If they don't right those wrongs then the All Blacks should have little issue making it 14 wins.

The first for the Wallaby wing came in the seventeenth minute via slick hands that led to hooker Stephen Moore slipping a tackle before he found the Western Force finisher hitting a nice angle to go in under the posts.  Cooper's easy conversion put Australia 10-3 up.

Ireland did not learn from their mistake though of being slack in the defensive line and when Scott Fardy put Hooper over to take Australia 15-6 up, the hosts could only be thankful that Cooper was enduring an off spell with the boot.  Everything else he touched turned to gold.

Schmidt's outfit did finally find some form from then until the break as Sean O'Brien's power led the charge en route to two more Sexton penalty goals.  And because of those strikes, the head coach would have been warmed that Ireland were just three points down at 12-15.

Sexton did not return to the fray after the break due to a hamstring injury as Ian Madigan, selected ahead of Paddy Jackson because of his versatility, was handed a chance to shine.

The Wallabies didn't have to wait long for their third try as Cooper produced an individual moment of magic, feinting to pass before stepping inside some weak 10-12 defence to touch down for a converted score that made it 22-12 at a silent Aviva Stadium.

Cooper, rewarded by head coach McKenzie for his change in attitude by being named vice-captain for the tour, then added a penalty from long range to leave Ireland in danger of a real hammering as the Wallabies led 25-12 with half-an-hour remaining in Dublin.

Madigan landed a penalty shortly before the hour to just about keep the Irish in touch at 25-15 but the hosts were lacking any sort of spark or inspiration to suggest they may recover.

The Irish eschewed the possibility of a relatively easy three points to go for touch with 20 minutes remaining but it went to waste as the Australians once again forced a turnover.

The clincial Wallabies added a fourth try through openside flanker Hooper after the Australian pack pushed the Irish back over their line, Cooper adding the kick for 32-15.

The visitors' superb day ended on a sour note when Tevita Kuridrani speartackled Peter O'Mahony and Pollock wielded the red card after consulting the television match official.

Man of the match:  Australia seem to be clicking on this end-of-year tour after the initial loss to England and Michael Hooper is a major part of that.  He edges this award from the always threatening Israel Folau because of the openside flank's hard graft and two scores.

Moment of the match:  The second-half score for Quade Cooper summed up the Ireland defence as the fly-half slipped through a gap that shouldn't have been there.  Work needed.

Villain of the match:  The lift-tackle on Peter O'Mahony was not good from Tevita Kuridrani.  Ben Mowen's reaction to the red card summed up the feeling.  Silly move from the centre.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Pen:  Sexton 4, Madigan

For Australia:
Tries:  Cummins, Hooper 2, Cooper
Con:  Cooper 3
Pen:  Cooper 2
Yellow card:  Hooper (32 mins)
Red card:  Kuridrani

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Kevin McLaughlin, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Robbie Henshaw.

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 (capt), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nic White, 22 Christian Leali'ifano, 23 Joe Tomane.

Referee:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)

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)