England win to lift Calcutta Cup

England got their Six Nations campaign off to a winning start at Murrayfield on Saturday, edging Scotland 15-9 to lift the Calcutta Cup.

Eddie Jones hinted it wouldn't be pretty but a victory is all the English wanted to start their new era on a positive note after a poor World Cup.

Tries were scored by second-row George Kruis and wing Jack Nowell, with Owen Farrell kicking five points to Greig Laidlaw's nine for Scotland.

It was a pulsating first-half in Edinburgh as England edged the opening quarter before Scotland finished strongly, making the 7-6 scoreline a fair reflection of the first 40 minutes.  Those points came via England lock Kruis' converted score and two Laidlaw penalties in reply.

However, Scotland would rue a Laidlaw penalty miss and also a 40th minute drop-goal attempt from fly-half Finn Russell that went well wide.

England had a pot shot of their own in the first opportunity of the game on ten minutes as George Ford sat back in the pocket.  That effort drifted just wide of the post but the visitors did not have to wait long before Kruis reached out after a series of close carries for 7-0.

At this point England were enjoying 80 percent of possession in decent areas so when Scotland came to life in the 17th minute, Murrayfield was full of relieved faces as their charges began to improve.  Laidlaw landed a penalty for some reward after Chris Robshaw didn't roll away.

It could have been 7-6 on the half-hour mark when Ford was penalised for not releasing under pressure from Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour.  But Laidlaw was off-target as Scotland had to wait until the 38th minute for their next points, this time Joe Launchbury the man not releasing.

As mentioned though, Vern Cotter's side would possibly feel they should have gone into the dressing room in front after that Russell miss.

The momentum continued to be with Scotland after the turnaround but once again they had little to show for their dominance, with a second crooked lineout throw from hooker Ross Ford not helping their cause, allowing England to clear their lines for a much-needed respite.

Enter Mako Vunipola whose fine form this season in club colours continued for his country, with lovely hands leading to Nowell racing over on the right wing.  Farrell though could not land the difficult touchline extras which meant Scotland remained within a score at 12-6 down.

It was predicted that England's powerful bench would have a say on proceedings and that proved to be the case coming up to the hour as they set up camp in the home 22.

Fortunately for Scotland a loose pass from Ben Youngs gave them a welcome escape up to halfway.  However, had that ball been kept in hand there was more than a chance of a breakout try.

The clearance wouldn't shield them from three key points in the game though as a scrum penalty led to Farrell sending one over to make it 15-6.

Scotland were gifted a route back into the game on 69 minutes when England replacement Courtney Lawes was caught offside from a Mike Brown kick, Laidlaw making no mistake from in front of the uprights as the gap was cut to six points with plenty of time still on the clock.

But England held on and deservedly won the match, seeing out the clash on the front foot as the Jones era began on a positive note.

Man of the Match:  A force throughout at number eight for England, Billy Vunipola gets the nod for our star man.  Scotland struggled to keep a lid on his power as Vunipola made good metres with his carries.  Despite a mixed day off the tee, and one careless penalty, centre Owen Farrell was also impressive.

Moment of the Match:  Maybe Scotland fly-half Finn Russell will be kicking himself for booting the ball upfield after intercepting a pass in his 22.  Had he looked to his left he would have found full-back Stuart Hogg who would surely have won a foot race with George Ford.  Costly.

Villain of the Match:  All in all, a clean game with no mischief.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Laidlaw 3

For England:
Tries:  Kruis, Nowell
Con:  Farrell
Pen:  Farrell

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 David Denton, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements:  16 Stuart McInally, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Blair Cowan, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Duncan Taylor

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 James Haskell, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Joe Marler
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Alex Goode, 23 Ollie Devoto

Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Plisson’s penalty holds off Italy

Jules Plisson's late penalty was enough for France to hold off Italy 23-21 in a gripping Six Nations opener at the Stade de France.

Virimi Vakatawa crossed on his debut as France outscored their visitors three tries to two, but Sergio Parisse's late drop-goal attempt nearly snatched victory for the Azzurri, only for his effort to miss.

As tactical performances go this was one of Italy's finest for years and they surpassed all pre-tournament expectations, arguably deserving more for their efforts in an entertaining contest.

There is so much hope around France's new caps, four of which started in Paris with Yacouba Camara an early replacement for Louis Picamoles.  That experience felt like a burden until their fly-half Plisson, just 24 himself, landed the crucial penalty with only minutes remaining.

Written off in a hurry before the tournament, this was a fine response from Italy.  Competitive as ever in the set-piece, whenever their passes stuck they appeared a real threat, exposing France's flawed defence.  It almost goes without saying that Parisse was excellent such is his class, but this was one of his finest games for some time.

Leonardo Sarto came so close to a moment of brilliance chasing down Edoardo Gori's box kick but their bright start was rewarded through a drop-goal from Carlo Canna.

Vakatawa's try shortly followed, despite his foot coming dangerously close to the touchline, but it came at a cost as Picamoles trudged off the field helped by the French medical staff.

A missed penalty and conversion from Sébastien Bezy prevented France's lead from being healthier after the opening quarter.

By persistenly testing Vakatawa's positioning with kicks over his head Italy eventually struck back, forcing Maxime Médard to turn and find the safety of touch with his boot.  Attacking from the resulting five-metre lineout, Parisse was found at the bottom of the pile after Italy's maul rumbled over the line to score.

The quick-thinking of Gaël Fickou, taking a tap penalty after Parisse's deliberate knock-on, helped to spin the ball through the hands allowing Damien Chouly to finish in the corner.  Bézy missed his third kick of the contest from out wide.

Canna had the chance to put Italy ahead just before the break, but his penalty drifted wide yet again to leave Italy trailing 10-8 at the interval despite banging on the door late on through Michele Campagnaro who was stopped just short.

Italy's young fly-half found his range with a first penalty after the break to put the Azzurri ahead, but what happened next stunned the Stade de France.

With so much space on offer Italy profited by getting their runners into gaps at speed, Parisse's carry putting him on the verge of a second score were it not for Vakatawa's try-saving tackle.  After Italy recycled Canna was there to touch down, converting to make it 18-10.

Now under pressure France looked short of both leadership and also direction in their attack, trying to spread the ball as often as they could with little success.  Plisson's chip and chase was a rare exception, even if the attack came to nothing.

France at last clicked with a sweeping score, started by Vakatawa's thunderous carry as he dragged tacklers into the 22.  Wide the French went as Danty released Hugo Bonneval to score right in the corner.  Plisson's conversion made it a one-point game.

The switch in kickers paid off with a Plisson penalty with 11 minutes to go, putting France back ahead at 20-18, only for replacement number ten Kelly Haimona to swing the lead back Italy's way with six minutes left.

Parisse, shaking his head after being penalised for playing the ball after being tackled, then watched his Stade Français team-mate Plisson hammer over a monster penalty to make it 23-21.

Italy did their best to force a penalty out of JP Doyle through the scrum, and then for a drop goal — bizarrely taken by all people by Parisse in familiar territory.  The number eight's effort desperately missed, France clinging on.

Man of the Match:  Contenders from both sides, with Canna excellent for Italy, but Jules Plisson's late kicks were absolutely vital when France needed direction.

Moment of the Match:  Parisse, penalised for trying to carry on after being tackled, and Plisson's huge penalty thereafter to secure the win.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Vakatawa, Chouly, Bonneval
Cons:  Plisson
Pens:  Plisson

For Italy:
Tries:  Parisse, Canna
Cons:  Canna
Pens:  Canna, Haimona
Drop:  Canna

France:  15 Maxime Médard, 14 Hugo Bonneval, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Sébastien Bezy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Damien Chouly, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Paul Jedrasiak, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Jefferson Poirot, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Yacouba Camara, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Jean-Marc Doussain, 23 Maxime Mermoz

Italy:  15 David Odiete, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 George Fabio Biagi, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Andries van Schalkwyk, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Kelly Haimona, 23 Luke McLean

Referee:  JP Doyle (England)
Assistant Referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

NZ Baa-baas too strong for Maori ABs

The New Zealand Barbarians outscored the Maori All Blacks five tries to two to secure a 34-17 win at Eden Park on Saturday.

Despite the wet and windy conditions, the Maori All Blacks opted to run the ball but they committed too many unforced errors which the Baa-baas capitalised on.

Although most of the early exchanges were restricted to the forwards, the second half was a more entertaining affair as both sides played expansively.

The New Zealand Barbarians made a solid start and dominated the territory and possession statistics in the first half and were rewarded with tries from Blake Gibson and Mitchell Drummond.

Tom Taylor and Marty McKenzie traded early penalties to put both sides on the board but the Barbarians created more chances as the game progressed.

Gibson and Drummond then crossed over for their tries which were both converted by Taylor which meant the Baa-baas led 15-3 at half-time.

The Maori All Blacks made the brighter start in the second half and were rewarded with a try from Damian McKenzie which his brother Marty converted.

The Baa-baas responded with tries from Seta Tamanivalu and Patrick Osborne with Tamanivalu's effort particularly impressive.  The big midfielder fielded a clearance kick close to the Maori All Blacks' 10-metre line and shrugged of four challengers before crossing over.

The Maori All Blacks struck back with a try from Cody Rei but the Baa-baas sealed victory when Taylor rounded off three minutes before full-time after Richard Buckman did well in the build-up.

The scorers:

For New Zealand Barbarians:
Tries:  Gibson, Drummond, Tamanivalu, Osborne, Taylor
Cons:  Taylor 3
Pen:  Taylor

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  D McKenzie, Rei
Cons:  M McKenzie, Black
Pen:  M McKenzie

New Zealand Barbarians:  15 Andrew Horrell, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Seta Tamanivalu, 12 George Moala, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Mitchell Drummond, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Blake Gibson, 6 Brad Shields (c), 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 2 Liam Coltman, 1 Mitchell Graham.
Replacements:  16 James Parsons, 17 Reg Goodes, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Mark Reddish, 20 Jordan Taufua, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Ihaia West, 23 Richard Buckman.

Maori All Blacks:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Rieko Ioane, 13 Sean Wainui, 12 Charlie Ngatai (c), 11 Matt Proctor, 10 Marty McKenzie, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Mitchell Crosswell, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Joe Wheeler, 3 Brendon Edmonds, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements:  16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Joe Royal, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Akira Ioane, 20 Joe Edwards, 21 Brad Weber, 22 Otere Black, 23 Codey Rei.

Referee:  Kane McBride

Springboks third but Habana misses record

Bryan Habana failed to break Jonah Lomu's World Cup try-scoring record but South Africa cruised to a 24-13 victory in the third place play-off at the Olympic Stadium.

JP Pietersen and Eben Etzebeth scored a try in each half for the Springboks, while Handré Pollard slotted four penalties and a conversion before Habana was removed with quarter of an hour remaining.

Argentina at least had the final word though with a converted try from prop Juan Pablo Orlandi in a subdued atmosphere.

Habana had three glorious chances in the first half, but just couldn't quite find his way over, with the record clearly playing on his mind as he tried to do too much.  He will finish on 15 tries, just like Lomu, while Drew Mitchell could yet overtake them both in the final.

It seemed to be almost the only thing riding on the game, with Argentina clearly still suffering from their loss to Australia, and decimated by injury.

Victor Matfield and Juán Martín Fernández Lobbe bid their farewells to the international scene, and could yet be joined by more, but that wasn't enough to make up for the sloppy play on show.

Argentina showed all the adventure we've enjoyed during tournament, but were outclassed early, as a Pietersen try and three Pollard penalties were enough to establish a 16-0 half-time lead.

An early Nicolas Sánchez drop goal got Argentina on the board in the second half but the Springboks hit straight back with an Etzebeth try, as if to reinforce their superiority.

The biggest surprise came with 14 minutes to go as Jan Serfontein was introduced for Habana, the South African legend going off to huge applause and a little bewilderment.

And fittingly Argentina finally got over the line with the final play of the game, Orlandi powering over from close range.

South Africa flew out of the blocks and when Ruan Pienaar took a quick tap penalty, Tomás Cubelli couldn't resist and grabbed him immediately.  The scrum-half was sin-binned and South Africa capitalised.

After a driving maul, they spread the ball quickly to the right, where Pietersen was on hand to work his way over.  Pollard converted from the touchline and South Africa led 7-0 after just six minutes.

They were almost over again three minutes later when Habana thought he'd scored the record-breaking try, but Lucas Amorosino got back in time to dot down before him.

Still, they were soon 10-0 ahead when Argentina were penalised for offside, Pollard slotting from in front as the Springboks made the most of their extra man.

Cubelli returned but it was still the Springboks dominating, and Habana was almost in again when he pounced on a loose ball, but the scrum-half got back to tackle him and force a knock-on.  Earlier in the move Santiago Cordero had produced a stunning step away from a Schalk Burger tackle, and the diminutive winger certainly looked Argentina's biggest threat with ball in hand.

Having looked thoroughly overwhelmed early on, Argentina finally established some field position just before the half-hour, and could have scored a try when Cubelli dummied and went on the 22, only to be hauled down just short of the line.

Habana then had his third chance at the record when Pollard stepped his way through but his wide pass was knocked on as the winger got over-excited at the chance of the try.

Another penalty for in at the side conceded by Argentina allowed Pollard to stretch the lead to 13 with his second penalty of the evening.

That was followed by yet another Habana opportunity, as he was released out wide, but after chipping over the top, he clipped the heels of Sánchez, who was also running back, and conceded a penalty as a result.

While South Africa dominated on the scoreboard, it was Argentina who were winning the crowd over by trying to run at every opportunity, with Matias Moroni beating a number of men before being tackled deep in the Bok 22.

However Argentine indiscipline was proving costly, as Pollard slotted a third penalty to make it 16-0 at the break after Juan Figallo was pinged at a breakdown.

The Pumas got hold of the ball early in the second half, and after a couple of drives, Sánchez dropped back into the pocket and slotted a sweet drop goal to get his team off the mark.

South Africa responded immediately, and while Habana wasn't the scorer, he delivered the pass as Etzebeth went over on the left wing to make it 21-3.

Despite their huge lead, South Africa seemed happy to keep the scoreboard ticking over, with another Pollard penalty making it 24-3 when Argentina were caught offside after a Jesse Kriel break.

In an equally baffling decision, Argentina, trailing by three scores, also took a shot at goal, Sánchez knocking over a penalty when Francois Louw came in from the side.

With half an hour remaining, Daniel Hourcade started rolling out his replacements, notably removing Fernández Lobbe for what was his final appearance in a Pumas jersey.

Schalk Burger looked equally emotional as he departed a minute later, although he would return a little later as a blood replacement for Louw.

Just before the hour Argentina should have had their first try when they broke down the blindside.  However Juán Leguizamon held onto a ball when Cordero was free outside him.

The game was a mess but not lacking in fight, with one melee occurring after South Africa had knocked on five metres out, with Etzebeth at the heart of it of the pushing and shoving.

Matfield then made his farewell for the Boks in his 127th and final appearance, four years after his last retirement before the curious removal of Habana.

What little rhythm there had been in the match had disappeared, and as if to show the farce of this match-up between two disinterested teams, replacement Pat Lambie attempted a penalty with 12 minutes left finding only the upright, before somehow missing touch from 15 metres away a minute later.

Still, Argentina kept coming and finally got their reward in the last minute, Orlandi finishing off a series of pick and drives.  Sánchez converted to cap off a fine tournament, but it was the Springboks who finish fourth.

Man of the match:  It's hard to stand out in such an awkward atmosphere, neither team really wanting to be there, but Eben Etzebeth gets the nod for an all-action display as well as his try.

Moment of the match:  Bryan Habana couldn't manage a score of his own, but provided the final pass for Etzebeth's try in the second half.  It was small consolation for the Springbok legend.

Villain of the match:  Nothing particularly nasty to report, but Heyneke Meyer must be up there for his decision to take off Habana with 14 minutes remaining.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Try:  Orlandi
Con:  Sánchez
Pen:  Sánchez
Drop Goal:  Sánchez
Yellow Card:  Cubelli

For South Africa:
Tries:  Pietersen, Etzebeth
Con:  Pollard
Pens:  Pollard 4

Argentina:  15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo De La Fuente, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Nicolás Sánchez (c), 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Javier Ortega Desio, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Juan Figallo.
Replacements:  16 Lucas Noguera, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Santiago Garcia Botta, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Juan Pablo Socino.

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Lodewyk de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

Venue:  Olympic Park, London
Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

All Blacks make history with third RWC

New Zealand made history at Twickenham, surviving a comeback from Australia to win 34-17 and become 2015 Rugby World Cup champions.

The Wallabies bravely defied the odds to claw their way back from 21-3 down to make it 21-17 in the second half, but it wasn't to be their day.

Instead Steve Hansen’s extraordinary side became the first team to win three World Cups, and the first to win consecutive titles.

In the process they tore to shreds that nagging old record of having never won a World Cup away from home soil and sent off Richie McCaw and Dan Carter on the final high that their illustrious careers deserved.

It’s the oldest cliché but points right before half-time are like a sledgehammer, except this time the Wallabies took one to the stomach either side of the break thanks to tries from Nehe Milner-Skudder and Ma'a Nonu.

However, Australia scored twice during Ben Smith’s period in the sin-bin — thanks to David Pocock’s effort from a maul and Tevita Kuridrani — to bring a Halloween fixture that looked dead very much back to life.

Carter, finally playing on the game’s biggest stage, stepped up with a drop goal followed by a 49-metre penalty to put the All Blacks definitively out of reach.

Big hits in the first minute from Owen Franks and Conrad Smith and a chargedown set the tone, the beginning of a seven-minute assault inside the Wallabies' half which ended with Carter scoring the game’s first points through a penalty.

Pocock and the Wallabies have been kings of the turnovers at this World Cup but the All Blacks were prominent early on, thrice stealing the ball out of Australia’s hands.

Franks’ bind on the arm of Scott Sio allowed Foley to level the scores at 3-3 after 12 minutes, just before Kane Douglas departed early with a knee injury.

The pressure was obvious — a decision to tap by New Zealand close to the Australian line backfiring as the Wallabies won the penalty.

Penalties against Sekope Kepu for two dangerous tackles were spot-on calls from the referee, the latter allowing Carter to put New Zealand back ahead on 26 minutes as Matt Giteau departed for a Head Injury Assessment that brought his remarkable return to the World Cup stage to a sorry end.

New Zealand then got a lucky break — Nehe Milner-Skudder’s forward pass somehow going undetected by either the referee or his assistant Wayne Barnes before Carter was set up to make it 9-3 from out wide.

The same winger then finished off a moment of magic.  With the Wallabies defence creaking before half-time, Conrad Smith’s deep inside pass set the All Blacks up for a second wave as Aaron Smith and Richie McCaw fluidly moved the ball out wide to Milner-Skudder for a try a minute ahead of the interval.  Exquisite;  there’s no other way to describe it.

Carter’s conversion, perfection from the sideline, gave the All Blacks a monster 16-3 half-time lead.  Seven clean breaks to none from Australia and domination of the possession (68 percent) and territory (76 percent) were damning statistics.

Conrad Smith’s Test career came to an end when he was replaced during the break by Sonny Bill Williams.  Not that because of it the All Blacks were worse off.

Williams produced two offloads instantly but the second one was key, finding Nonu.  The future Toulon star tore through a stretched Australia defence before twisting Kurtley Beale inside out and powering over to score.

Now 21-3 it felt as though Australia were done, but a yellow card to Ben Smith for a tip tackle on Drew Mitchell created the opportunity to get the rolling maul on the charge.  As we’ve seen so often this year Pocock scored from the tail, Foley converting to close the gap.

The comeback was on, and Australia were right back in it when Kuridrani finished off a fine chip and take by Foley.  The fly-half converted to make it a four-point game.

Carter’s drop goal came just at the right time, a sublime effort from 40 metres and then a long-range penalty just inside Australia’s half stretching the lead to 27-17 with less than ten minutes remaining.

There was time for one more moment of inspiration.  Breaking out from their own half Ben Smith kicked ahead with Beauden Barrett leading the chase to dot down to spark rapturous celebrations on the sidelines.

Now, at last, it feels like New Zealand have truly backed up their dominance of the sport with the silverware to show for it.  Australia never gave up, but we are living in the golden age of the All Blacks.

Man of the Match:  The all-time leading Test points scorer bows out on top.  Dan Carter, on sublime form, finished with 19 points.

Moment of the Match:  The game seemed long over but Tevita Kuridrani's score to make it 21-17 was an unexpected twist that set up a thrilling finish.

Villian of the Match:  The tip tackle from Ben Smith was a little careless, but nothing major.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Milner-Skudder, Nonu, Barrett
Cons:  Carter 3
Pens:  Carter 4
Drop Goal:  Carter
Yellow Card:  B Smith

For Australia:
Tries:  Pocock, Kuridrani
Cons:  Foley 2
Pen:  Foley

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Kurtley Beale.

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Wayne Barnes (England)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Wallabies to face All Blacks in final

Australia set up a World Cup final against New Zealand as an Adam Ashley-Cooper hat-trick helped them edge past Argentina 29-15 at Twickenham on Sunday.

The Wallabies went over three times in the first half and despite the excellent goal-kicking of Nicolás Sánchez, Ashley-Cooper's third, following a magnificent break from Drew Mitchell, sealed the win.

Australia will have to be better to beat the All Blacks, with their discipline a real issue, but in Bernard Foley and Matt Giteau they have two distributors of the highest order, while David Pocock was back to his incomparable best as he ruled at the breakdown.

A disastrous first half for the Pumas began with an intercept try after barely a minute, Rob Simmons grabbing Sánchez's inside pass before showing his pace to run in from the 22.

After a Sánchez penalty cut the deficit, Australia went over again through Ashley-Cooper, with a wide pass from Foley carving up the Pumas.

Argentina lost a wobbly Juan Imhoff to injury, closely followed by Tomás Lavanini to a marginal yellow card.  Skipper Agustín Creevy joined them on the sidelines, clearly not 100 per cent having only just been passed fit this week.

Against 14 men, Australia were clinical, Giteau putting Ashley-Cooper over for his second, and despite a third penalty from Sánchez, the Wallabies led 19-9 at the break.

Two more penalties from Sánchez, to one from Foley made it a one-score game heading into the last ten minutes, but Mitchell then produced a moment of magic as he shrugged off a succession of tackles from his left wing, and delivered a scrappy final pass to create Ashley-Cooper's third and kill off the Puma challenge.

With just a minute on the board Australia were 7-0 up as Argentina paid the price for too much adventure in their own half.  After Mitchell had narrowly failed to hang on to one interception, Simmons showed his handling skills to stick out a mitt and collect Sánchez's inside ball before racing over from the 22.  Foley converted from in front to give the Wallabies a dream start.

Argentina came straight back when Juan Martín Hernández perfectly delayed his pass to send Marcelo Bosch clean through.  For a second it looked like he might have the pace to cross but Foley came across to make the cover tackle.  The Wallabies infringed, allowing Sánchez to get his team on the board with a penalty, but Hernández was shaken up in the move after a big hit as he passed.

Australia had clearly done their homework though and scored a simple try from a perfect training ground move.  Spotting that the Pumas keep their wingers narrow in defence, Foley threw a perfect wide pass that sent Ashley-Cooper over on the right after a scrum opposite the posts in the Argentinian 22.  Foley converted from the touchline and Australia led 14-3 after just ten minutes.

It could have been even worse for Argentina when another fantastic wide pass from Foley opened up the Pumas again.  Israel Folau fed Tevita Kuridrani, who burst through, but Santiago Cordero brought him down and the support was too far away to deliver the final pass.

Argentina were trying to play too much rugby in their own half, while Pocock showed his worth for the Wallabies with a number of a turnovers at the breakdown.

The Pumas lost Imhoff to injury with barely quarter of an hour gone, their top scorer clearly knocked out in a huge collision and replaced by Lucas González Amorosino.

Midway through the half they looked to have an opportunity to get back in contention, but a five-metre lineout and maul was easily dealt with by the Wallabies.  From the resulting scrum, Argentina earned a penalty which Sánchez converted from out wide to cut the deficit to eight.

Having been overwhelmed early, Argentina really needed to build on that penalty, but instead they were reduced to 14 men when Lavanini was sin-binned for a no-arms tackle on Israel Folau, Wayne Barnes earning jeers from the Pumas-dominated crowd for his decision.

Australia turned down a shot at goal a minute later as they went to their maul, but Argentina defended it well and earned a scrum.

Still, things weren't going to plan for Argentina and it got worse when Creevy, who had been a doubt this week, had to leave his teammates after half an hour, replaced by Julián Montoya.

A minute later Australia were in again, taking advantage of their extra man to send Ashley-Cooper over once more.  A couple of missed tackles on Folau allowed him to get in behind.  Argentina held initially but Australia showed their class with Giteau's long miss-pass giving the winger the easy finish, on the left this time.  Foley pulled the conversion wide but Australia led 19-6.

An offside from Sekope Kepu with five minutes left in the half allowed Sánchez to knock over his third penalty of the afternoon and make it a ten-point deficit.

And they could have been back to within a score on the stroke of half-time when Cordero went clean through.  He managed to find Hernández outside him, but the centre's pass didn't go to hand.

The second half could have started perfectly for Australia, but Foley was off-target with a penalty after Fardy had stolen the ball at the restart.

Hernández, who had been struggling since the early Bosch break, finally left the field three minutes into the half, but Argentina took advantage of a big scrum to cut the deficit to seven with Sánchez's fourth penalty.

It was quickly cancelled out by Foley, making no mistake this time after Fernández Lobbe couldn't resist and handled in a ruck.

The game was really opening up, with Argentina looking dangerous, particularly thanks to one break from Joaquín Tuculet.  After Australia were penalised at a maul, Sánchez cut the deficit to seven once again.

Another break from Amorosino almost had Argentina in, with Tuculet on his shoulder, but Australia held firm before the ball went loose in a ruck.

When a poor kick from Tuculet gave Australia a shot at goal from 45 metres out with 15 minutes to go, they curiously turned it down, and a loose lineout allowed the Pumas to clear.

The game was still on a knife-edge, but that changed when Mitchell intervened and ended the game as a contest setting up Ashley-Cooper's treble.  Foley converted and there was no way back for Argentina.

Man of the match:  Australia comprehensively won the breakdown battle, and it was in large part thanks to the returning David Pocock.  Back from injury, he made turnover after turnover and took advantage of Argentinian naïvety in the first half.  Hat tip to Ashley-Cooper for his well-taken hat-trick.

Moment of the match:  Argentina were somehow still in it with ten minutes to go.  Drew Mitchell then stepped up, broke down the left, cut inside and found Adam Ashley-Cooper for his hat-trick.

Villain of the match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Pens:  Sanchez 5
Yellow Card:  Lavanini

For Australia:
Tries:  Simmons, Ashley-Cooper 3
Cons:  Foley 3
Pen:  Foley

The teams:

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Juan Martin Hernandez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Marcos Ayerza
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera Paz, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 23 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Toby Smith, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Kurtley Beale

Venue:  Twickenham Stadium, London
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

All Blacks book fourth final

Defending champions New Zealand booked their place in the Rugby World Cup Final thanks to a 20-18 win over South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday.

The All Blacks are still on track to become the first team to defend the world title as they will now face the winners of Sunday's second semi-final between Argentina and Australia.

In a nail-biting encounter, the two-time champions and tournament favourites outscored their fiercest rivals two tries to none to advance to their first RWC Final in the northern hemisphere.  But it didn't come easily.

South Africa led 12-7 at the interval thanks to four penalties from the boot of Handré Pollard while Jerome Kaino scored the only try of the first half for New Zealand.

The All Blacks ruled both the territory and possession stats in the first 40 minutes but the Springboks held the edge in the physical arm wrestle, especially at the breakdown while also enjoying the upper hand at the rare scrums.

It was the classic clash of s we had all expected as New Zealand constantly probed with ball in hand while the Boks turned defence into attack.

The Springbok lineout was under pressure however and four stolen lineouts over the course of the game robbed them of vital momentum.

The half-time break also signaled a change in conditions as steady rain began to fall, which should have worked in South Africa's favour, but a Dan Carter drop goal and a Beauden Barrett try put New Zealand back in front for good.

South Africa made an excellent start with Jesse Kriel given a chance to stretch his legs in the opening minutes.  And the Boks were first on the scoreboard when Pollard split the uprights after Kieran Read came in from the side of a maul.

The All Blacks' response was typically clinical as they scored the opening try with their first attack.  Richie McCaw found Kaino out wide on the overlap and the flanker shrugged off the challenge of Lood de Jager to cross in the corner.  Dan Carter was crucially given a second chance at the conversion after Bryan Habana started his run too soon and the Kiwi fly-half coolly made it 7-3.

Pollard landed his second penalty to cut the gap to a single point after McCaw jumped the gun at a lineout and was penalised for offside around the ten-minute mark.

The All Blacks were clearly targeting Willie le Roux under the high ball but the Bok full-back was up to the early tests while Nehe Milner-Skudder was the target of a few kicks by the Boks.  Habana beat the young New Zealander in the air before Ma'a Nonu was caught offside as he chased back, which allowed Pollard to give South Africa the lead (9-7) at the end of the first quarter.

It took 25 minutes for the first scrum as the South African defence was made to do a lot of work by New Zealand's phase play.  The men in black were rewarded for their pressure as Schalk Burger was pinged for a no-arms tackle but Carter's shot at goal bounced off the upright.

With half-time looming large, Kaino was sent to the sin bin for a silly kick of a loose ball from an offside position.  Pollard made no mistake and stretched to the lead to five points as the teams headed for the changing rooms.

There was a slight change of script early in the second stanza as Carter slotted a cheeky drop goal, meaning that when Kaino returned from the bin the gap was the same three points as when he saw yellow.

The game turned on its head when first New Zealand's scrum shoved the Boks and then Carter ripped the ball from Burger's hands.  A few phases later, Nonu's pass wide found Barrett (on for Milner-Skudder) out wide for a well-taken try.

The Boks suffered a double whammy as Habana saw yellow for knocking the ball from Aaron Smith's hands in the build-up and Carter slotted the conversion to make it 17-12.

A handful of changes to the respective front rows restored South Africa's scrum dominance as Charlie Faumuina conceded three points to Pollard for dropping his bind but Carter replied almost immediately when Eben Etzebeth went off his feet.

Habana returned with New Zealand leading 20-15 as the game entered it's final quarter with Sonny Bill Williams proving a danger with every touch of the ball and the Boks looking dead on their feet.

Read was again penalised for coming in from the side of a maul — his fourth penalty — and Pat Lambie hit the mark from long range to reduce the gap to two points and set up a grandstand finish.

Crucially, Damian de Allende lost the ball in contact with South Africa pressing hard and yet another stolen lineout gave New Zealand field position in the dying minutes.

With the rain driving down, the Boks tried to run their way out of their 22, but to no avail.

Man of the match:  A tough call to make considering he was shown a yellow card, but Jerome Kaino was New Zealand's best player, scoring a try, carrying like a monster and even making a lineout steal.  Mentions too for Ben Smith and Sam Whitelock.

Moment of the match:  The writing was on the wall when Barrett scored New Zealand's second try.  The Boks could have cleared quickly, but instead saw the ball ripped from Schalk Burger's hands as the tried to force a better position.

Villain of the match:  Nothing nasty enough to mention.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Pens:  Pollard 5, Lambie
Yellow card:  Habana

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Kaino, Barrett
Cons:  Carter 2
Pen:  Carter
Drop:  Carter
Yellow card:  Kaino

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.

Venue:  Twickenham, London
Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Johnny Lacey (Ireland)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Australia edge brave Scotland

Australia outscored Scotland five tries to three to ensure it will be a set of all-Southern Hemisphere semi-finals next weekend after a 35-34 win at Twickenham on Sunday.

Scotland were outstanding and went desperately close as Mark Bennett's interception score looked to have clinched an enormous upset, after opportunist tries from Peter Horne and Tommy Seymour kept them in the hunt.

But the Wallabies' attack was too dangerous as Drew Mitchell crossed twice along with Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani and Michael Hooper, before Bernard Foley snatched back the lead in the 78th minute with a penalty to win the game.

If Australia play with this much width and quick ball at the breakdown next week, then their semi-final with Argentina could be a classic.

Never has Twickenham been so loud for the men in blue from north of the border.  Vern Cotter's team were willed on by the top half of the earth to make sure a northern hemisphere side made the final four, but now no sides from the north are left in the competition.

The Six Nations wooden-spooners though are undeniably on an upward curve and while this was a step too far for now, they should not be too downhearted after leaving everything on the pitch.

Every time Australia entered the Scottish 22 they looked certain to score and the number of chances that went begging were minimal.

However even with that try-scoring threat they were never comfortably out of reach, as Scotland doggedly battled away, backed by a roaring Twickenham crowd.

The Wallabies' ability to recycle the ball at the ruck quicker than Will Genia can click his fingers has made them a nightmare to contain throughout this tournament, and it was the same again early on.

Scotland's defence was put to work in the opening exchanges, with Mitchell unable to gather an inside pass from Foley from two metres out, but it wasn't long before the Wallabies crossed the whitewash.

Tommy Seymour burst out of the line to try and stop Kuridrani early only to miss his tackle, allowing the big centre through to release Ashley-Cooper into the space that Seymour had left behind.

Scotland though are not a side who mope on mistakes and they deservedly scored three points through a Laidlaw penalty after a patient attack inside Australia's 22, making it 5-3.

Peter Horne's try soon followed, the centre smartly spotting no Wallaby tacklers behind the ruck before scooping the ball up and darting behind the defence from five metres out.  Laidlaw's conversion gave them a 10-5 lead.

Australia's scrum has been the talk of the World Cup but it buckled to give Laidlaw a penalty shot from 47 metres out, the Scotland captain making no mistake as he side extended their lead.

The Wallabies remained eager to go wide and a penalty for hands in the ruck, despite Sean Maitland's smart cover tackle, set Australia up in Scotland's 22 from which they eventually scored in the corner through Mitchell after sucking in the Scottish defence.  Foley again missed the conversion from out wide.

Another penalty though against the Australian scrum, after Scott Sio collapsed, allowed Laidlaw another shot at the posts to make it 16-10.

Runs from Maitland, Mark Bennett and Blair Cowan meant Scotland were always asking questions of Australia, but back-to-back penalties set the Wallabies up for a driving maul five metres out for Michael Hooper to score the third try.

Again Foley missed going for the extra two, leaving him zero from three by half-time as Scotland went in ahead 16-15.

Scotland needed everything to go their way to pull off a shock, so an extremely harsh yellow card on Maitland was the worst possible start.

After the success of their maul earlier on the Wallabies understandably returned to the corner, except this time Genia darted down the blindside and released Mitchell for his second try in the corner.

A fourth Laidlaw penalty kept Scotland right in the contest at 22-19 but a huge loss of composure from the restart led to Seymour being bundled into touch five metres from his own line.

It appeared that Ashley-Cooper had matched Mitchell with a second try of his own after the Wallabies whipped the ball wide, but a small knock-on from Genia at the ruck brought the play back to keep Scotland alive.

Foley's first penalty after 52 minutes gave Australia a six-point cushion as the error counts rose on either side, with Foley committing the biggest of all.

An undercooked chip kick was charged down by Finn Russell and despite Genia tracking back to bring the fly-half down, his offload off the ground released Seymour to score as Twickenham erupted.  Laidlaw however couldn't add the crucial conversion, leaving Australia ahead 25-24.

Kuridrani responded for Australia after a timely steal at the lineout from Rob Simmons had Scotland on the rack again before the outside centre powered his way over.

Scotland were now more than a score behind but pressed on, adding another Laidlaw penalty to make it 32-27 heading into the final ten minutes.

Bennett looked to have snatched a famous win with a well-taken interception that sent the crowd crazy but a fiercely debated call for accidental offside deep in Scottish territory set Foley up with a penalty for the win.

He didn't miss, ending the hopes of Scotland and those north of the equator.  Heartbreak for Cotter's side.  The Wallabies slip through.

Man of the Match:  Greig Laidlaw, Richie Gray and Mark Bennett deserve huge credit but Adam Ashley-Cooper was a massive threat throughout.

Moment of the Match:  If Twickenham had a roof it would be blown off when Mark Bennett broke away for the line and a huge upset looked on the cards.

Villain of the Match:  An absurd call for a deliberate knock-on saw Sean Maitland yellow carded by TMO Ben Skeen, with Drew Mitchell then scoring in his corner.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Mitchell 2, Hooper, Kuridrani
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 2

For Scotland:
Tries:  Horne, Seymour, Bennett
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pens:  Laidlaw 5
Yellow Card:  Maitland

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c) 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Quade Cooper

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Dave Denton, 7 John Hardie, 6 Blair Cowan, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 WP Nel, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements:  16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Richie Vernon, 23 Sean Lamont.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Pumas charge into semi-finals

Argentina booked their place in the 2015 Rugby World Cup semi-finals after stunning Ireland 43-20 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday.

Fully refreshed from a game's rest in their final pool match, los Pumas' first XV won the physical battle and fully deserved their passage into the last four, showing a great deal of attacking prowess to prove they are an ever-evolving outfit.

Tries were scored by Matías Moroni, Juan Imhoff (2) and Joaquin Tuculet while Nicolás Sánchez landed 23 points as Ireland had no answer to a side that cannot be taken lightly.  In this form, they are capable of going all the way.

The loss of Paul O'Connell, Jonathan Sexton and Peter O'Mahony was clearly felt by Ireland early on but maybe that's doing a disservice to los Pumas, who were outstanding in the first quarter.  During that passage they scored 20 points via two converted tries and a couple of penalties.

Moroni, in for the suspended Marcelo Bosch at outside centre, got the ball rolling inside three minutes following a powerful carry from Pablo Matera.  The recycled ball came right to where the in-form Santiago Cordero ghosted round Dave Kearney before setting up Moroni for the opener.

Fly-half Sánchez continued his excellent recent form off the tee with the touchline conversion before adding the two from Imhoff's try only six minutes later.  That try — his fifth of the competition — double Argentina's lead as he grounded Cordero's kick ahead just before it went dead.

Ireland were shell-shocked and wouldn't feel much better when Sánchez landed a penalty on 14 minutes.  They desperately needed an in in the game, especially after adding Tommy Bowe to their already weighty injury list.  He left the action with a knee injury, with Luke Fitzgerald coming on.

That came via Pumas prop Ramiro Herrera being yellow carded for a late tackle on Keith Earls, which lifted both Ireland players and supporters.

Madigan and Ireland's first points of the game soon followed before Sánchez struck back to make it 20-3 with 18 minutes remaining in the half.

One sensed from an Irish point of view they needed something more to cling to and fortunately for them it came 13 minutes before the turnaround from an opportunistic break-out.  Sánchez's penalty hit the post and Ireland pounced on it, with replacement Fitzgerald crossing down the left.

The first score after the interval was always going to be critical and it went the way of the Irish, whose comeback continued thanks to Murphy popping up on the shoulder of Fitzgerald after the wing's bust into the 22.  Madigan landed the extras and suddenly it was 20-17 to Argentina.

The momentum had well-and-truly swung in favour of the Irish at this point and they set about not letting it go to waste.  Argentina though were steadfast and soaked up the pressure before making a break-out of their own through Cordero and Imhoff, which resulted in three points from Sánchez.

Argentina's six-point buffer was short-lived as on 51 minutes Herrera was penalised for a ruck clearout and Madigan made no mistake for 23-20.

He was not so fortunate from 45 metres out on the hour mark as his penalty attempt to level drifted wide, with both sides now having utilised their respective benches.  The final quarter was all set up to be as fascinating as the opening three as a place in the semi-final was looming.

Los Pumas took a firmer grip on proceedings in the 64th minute when Devin Toner was punished for a high tackle on Sánchez, who made no mistake from the tee.

Cue an increase in tempo from Argentina as they ran in a further two tries in the closing stages through full-back Tuculet and a second from Imhoff before Sánchez rubbed salt into Irish wounds for 43-20 as the Pumas march on semi-final date against either Australia or Scotland next Sunday.

Man of the match:  Pablo Matera deserves a special mention for his bruising opening half-hour but for another faultless 80 minute performance in blue and white, Nicolás Sánchez wins this award.  23 points from the Pumas maestro.  Such an assured player.

Moment of the match:  It was the perfect start from Argentina and while Ireland recovered to get within three points, los Pumas had landed crucial early body blows which they then exploited late on.  An excellent opening 20 minutes from Agustin Creevy's men.

Villain of the match:  Nothing overly untoward to report.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Fitzgerald, Murphy
Con:  Madigan 2
Pen:  Madigan 2

For Argentina:
Tries:  Moroni, Imhoff 2, Tuculet
Con:  Sánchez 4
Pen:  Sánchez 5
Yellow:  Herrera (late, no arm tackle — 17 mins)

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c), 7 Chris Henry, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements:  16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Luke Fitzgerald.

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 19 Matías Alemanno, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jerónimo De La Fuente, 23 Lucas González Amorosino.

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

All Blacks humiliate France in Cardiff

New Zealand laid to rest the ghosts of 1999 and 2007 as they embarrassed France 62-13 with a dominant performance at the Millennium Stadium.

The All Blacks set up a mouthwatering semi-final thanks to a hat-trick from Julian Savea, never giving France a sniff of a third World Cup upset as they claimed the biggest win in World Cup knock-out history.

The Philippe Saint-André era came to the most shuddering of ends against a clinical All Black side that ran in four first-half tries to end the game as a contest in their best performance of the tournament to date.

The boos rang out for the French, but on this form New Zealand will rightfully be restored as World Cup favourites after adding five more tries in the second half.  They will face better opposition next week and potentially in the final, but they will take some stopping if they can recreate performances like this.

Brodie Retallick got them started with a chargedown score which also proved to be Frédéric Michalak's last contribution, injuring his leg in the process.

Nehe Milner-Skudder then added a second and when Savea ran in his first, the All Blacks were cruising at 24-6.

Louis Picamoles pulled one back for France but any thoughts of a comeback were quickly dismissed as Savea crashed his way through for a Jonah Lomu-esque second to make it 29-13 at the break, equalling the great man's 37 Test tries before overtaking it in the second half.

France weren't actually playing that poorly in the first half, but the All Blacks punished any errors before cutting loose in the second 40 minutes.

Their job got harder early in the second half when Picamoles was sin-binned for a shove to Richie McCaw's face on the ground, and in his absence Jerome Kaino scored New Zealand's fifth.

As if to underline their dominance, Savea raced in for an easy third when Noa Nakaitaci was stripped in midfield and the ball was delivered to the winger to race in from halfway.

The seventh came from Kieran Read before Tawera Kerr-Barlow scored two as France completely collapsed, although Brice Dulin at least came back to deny Ma'a Nonu the tenth try with a fantastic cover tackle on the final play.

The signs were ominous early on, with New Zealand making ground with every carry, stealing the first French lineout and generally looking a step-up from their performances to date in the competition.

France meanwhile saw Yoann Maestri turned over on his first carry, while Thierry Dusautoir, on what was likely a sorry goodbye to Test rugby, missed two tackles in the first five minutes, having famously not missed one in the corresponding fixture eight years ago.

And yet France could have had the first try as Wesley Fofana, France's best player by a country mile, pounced on messy ruck ball on halfway and was in the clear.  Nigel Owens had spotted a French infringement though, and it was Carter who slotted the first points for the All Blacks.

France hadn't been in the New Zealand half, but they levelled the scores with a long-range penalty from Scott Spedding after New Zealand had slowed the ball down in a ruck.

That didn't last long though as Retallick charged down Michalak from a dreadfully slow clearance kick, with the ball popping up for the simplest stroll in.  Literally adding insult to injury, Michalak appeared to pull his groin in the process of kicking, and had to leave the field after just 11 minutes.

Rémi Talès replaced him, but after Carter converted les Bleus, playing in red, pulled three points back through a Morgan Parra penalty.

They should have been back to within a point thanks but Parra missed a sitter after France nearly scored.  Conrad Smith was brilliantly scragged in midfield by Picamoles before inexplicably chucking the ball backwards and Nakaitaci was first onto it as Savea dallied.  The winger did enough to stop Nakaitaci but the All Blacks were offside and Parra should have knocked over his second penalty, only to pull it to the right.

France were starting to get into the game, with New Zealand looking a little rattled but on 23 minutes, Milner-Skudder showed why he had been selected with a trademark step.  After a Carter drop goal was charged down New Zealand scrambled back, but calmly recycled before Milner-Skudder stepped back off his right past Brice Dulin and raced away for the try.  Carter converted and New Zealand 17-6.

That try appeared to kill off any French hopes, and New Zealand were soon in again, this time thanks to some magic from Carter.  The All Black fly-half spotted a mismatch in midfield and handed off Pascal Papé before a delightful backhand flick for the easy finish for Savea.  Carter again added the extras and the game was over as a contest, New Zealand leading 24-6.

France needed a try before half-time to have any hope and they got it with their first real period of sustained possession.  Regularly making ground with ball in hand, they worked their way into the 22.  When a pass was missed by Bernard le Roux, Picamoles pounced and then had the strength to barge his way over from ten metres out.  Parra converted to cut the deficit to 11 with four minutes left in the half.

The doubts could have crept in, but instead New Zealand fired straight back with a brutal, bludgeoning second from Savea.  Ben Smith got up highest to beat Picamoles to a Carter bomb and with France in disarray, Savea bounced off both Nakaitaci and Spedding for the try.  Carter missed the conversion but New Zealand led 29-13 at the break.

France started the second half the stronger and set up camp in the New Zealand 22.  When McCaw pulled down a French maul and then refused to release the ball as Parra tried to take it quickly, Picamoles reacted with a push to the face, causing the penalty to be overturned and earning ten minutes in the sin-bin.

Down to 14, France were up against it, and New Zealand had their fifth on 50 minutes.  Beauden Barrett, on at half-time for Milner-Skudder delivered the final pass to Kaino after an initial break on the right by Ben Smith.

Savea completed his hat-trick with a turnover score and New Zealand were in cruise control, with every offload going to hand, and Read and then Kerr-Barlow popping up in support following line breaks to finish off more tries.

Back to their very best, this All Black team will be big favourites against South Africa next week.  For France a miserable four years comes to an end in embarrassing fashion, Saint-André appearing to a chorus of boos at the final whistle.

Man of the match:  For a man who is seemingly out of form, Julian Savea was excellent once more, overtaking Jonah Lomu with a stunning hat-trick as France never found a way to stop him.

Moment of the match:  Nine minutes in Frédéric Michalak was too slow clearing the ball as France finally got hold of the ball.  Brodie Retallick charged him down, collected and scored, while Michalak limped off.  It only got worse from there for les Bleus.

Villain of the match:  Despite Louis Picamoles' yellow card, the game was played in good spirit.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Picamoles
Con:  Parra
Pens:  Spedding, Parra
Yellow Card:  Picamoles

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Retallick, Milner-Skudder, Savea 3, Kaino, Read, Kerr-Barlow 2
Cons:  Carter 7
Pen:  Carter

The teams:

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Bernard le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Joe Moody, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.

Venue:  Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Du Preez try takes Boks into semi-finals

South Africa advanced to the 2015 Rugby World Cup semi-finals thanks to a 23-19 victory over Wales in an intense battle at Twickenham on Saturday.

Springbok skipper Fourie du Preez scored in the 75th minute to snatch victory in an epic game that could have gone either way.

South Africa will now face the winners of Saturday's other quarter-final between France and defending champions New Zealand next weekend at the same venue.

You could not have asked for the greater physical battle in a match played at a furious pace.  It was simply thrilling as the lead constantly swapped hands.

A monumental effort from the South African pack was at the heart of this victory as their big ball carriers worked tirelessly, relentlessly hammering away at the gainline.

There was precious little to separate the sides at the interval as Wales led 13-12 thanks to a try from scrum-half Gareth Davies and a drop-goal on the stroke of half-time from Dan Biggar.

The battle of the breakdown had been billed as the decisive area by both camps before kick-off and the ruck penalty count against Wales proved significant, meaning that South Africa led for most of the opening 40 minutes.

It was a tale of missed chances early on and Wales had a great opportunity to score after Tyler Morgan ripped the ball off Damian de Allende, setting up George North to charge up field, but Gethin Jenkins threw a shocker of a pass when Morgan had acres of space on the overlap after the ball was recycled.

Three consecutive ruck penalties allowed Handre Pollard to give South Africa a 6-0 lead although Biggar pulled three points back when South Africa were pinned down in front of their own posts.

But Wales were being hammered by referee Wayne Barnes at the breakdown and Pollard made it 9-3 just after the 15 minute mark.

Wales hit back with the first try of the game as Biggar collected his own bomb before offloading to Davies, who ghosted over.  Biggar added the conversion to give Wales the lead for the first time.

The Springboks edged back in front at the end of the first quarter as Pollard slotted his fourth penalty, this time for obstruction.

A tense territorial battle ensued as bombs rained down in both directions with the Boks just holding the upper hand in terms of possession, but twice Du Preez's cross-field kicks just missed the chasing JP Pietersen.

Biggar hit the post with a long-range shot but with time up, he sent a drop-goal straight through the middle to give Wales the narrowest of advantages as the teams headed for the changing rooms.

Pollard sent a penalty wide early in the second-half after Wales were pinged for pulling down a maul but Biggar hit the target from over 40 metres out after Schalk Burger went offside.

The Springbok pack turned up the heat with a prolonged period of massive ball carrying but the Welsh defence brilliantly held firm.  The men in green eventually turned to Pollard to slot a drop of his own, to make it a one-point ball game once again.

The Springbok fly-half should have given his team the lead but missed the mark for the second time.  A scything run from Willie le Roux gave Bryan Habana a glimpse of the line and the World Cup try-scoring record only to be stopped just short, meaning Wales hit the hour mark 16-15 up.

The Boks wrestled the lead back as Jesse Kriel forced Gareth Anscombe to hang on and Pollard landed his sixth penalty but Eben Etzebeth was penalised on the deck immediately after the restart and Biggar duly restored the Welsh advantage, setting up a nail-biting finale.

With 'Bread of Heaven' resounding around Twickenham Wales were in sight of their second consecutive RWC semi-final but a big scrum set up Duane Vermeulen to break off the back with his offload sending Du Preez over in the corner.

Pollard missed the conversion, leaving Wales within touching distance but the Boks held on.

Man of the match:  Du Preez obviously deserves a mention and Vermeulen was instrumental but Schalk Burger was phenomenal, making 26 carries in a vintage performance.

Moment of the match:  There can be only one;  Vermeulen's offload to set up the winning try in the dying minutes was sublime.

Villain of the match:  No nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Du Preez
Pens:  Pollard 5
Drop:  Pollard

For Wales:
Try:  Davies
Con:  Biggar
Pens:  Biggar 3
Drop:  Biggar

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.

Wales:  15 Gareth Anscombe, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Tom Francis, 19 Bradley Davies 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 James Hook

Venue:  Twickenham Stadium, London
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  JP Doyle (England), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Brave Blossoms go out with a bang

Japan became the first team to win three games at a World Cup and exit at the pool stages after their 28-18 win over USA in Gloucester.

Nothing has epitomised the 2015 Rugby World Cup quite like the performances of the emerging nations and it was fitting that a packed house at Kingsholm saw Japan, the heroes of the first weekend of the tournament, see off the challenge of a muscular USA side in a game polarised by the power of the States versus the technical excellence of their opponents.

The USA offered an heroic and committed performance, and the scoreline was a fair reflection of the match and ability of both teams.

Rugby is the USA's fastest growing team sport and their exposure and efforts in 2015 will of course resonate and assist with the momentum of their game, despite being forced to re-qualify next time around.

However, there's been many journeys in this World Cup, but none enjoyed or embraced quite as much by the collective rugby world as that of Japan.

It is criminal that after winning three pool matches that they are out of the World Cup, but they leave to host the 2019 tournament with their heads held high, their reputation enhanced and with the respect of the entire rugby world.

An early penalty AJ MacGinty after four minutes gave the USA the first blow, but Japan were quick to reply and after six minutes their first try came to rapturous applause, inspired by a brilliant kick and chase by fly-half Kosei Ono with two quick phases seeing backs and forwards combine to send flyer Kotaro Matsushima over on the left wing.

However, the USA are a side of immense power and strength, and the reply saw skipper Samu Manoa and his forwards battering the try line with multi phase rucks and rolling mauls, followed by MacGinty hoisting a kick cross field to send Takudzwa Ngwenya sprinting over in the right hand corner.

Japan took no time at all to offer their response, as USA lock Hayden Smith fumbled a restart, allowing Japan to re-gather and played the Americans at their own game, as Michael Leitch and his men mauled and drove their way to the line, with wing Fujita detached and crashing right through the middle of the maul to score.

A Ayumu Goromaru penalty after 33 minutes saw the veteran full back become the first Japanese player to reach a landmark of 700 test points and the USA, although threatening the Japanese line towards the end of the first half, couldn't muster the finish nor could they quite cope with the excellence and height of the Japanese scrummage, allowing the Brace Blossoms a lead of 17-8 at half time.

After another early Goromaru penalty in the second half, the USA mounted ten minutes of sustained pressure into the Japanese 22 but their over-commitment to numbers at ruck time, combined with the Japanese discipline at the contact area allowed them no space to capitalise on the possession and territory they had despite a ruck transgression allowing MacGinty to add another penalty.

With USA prop Eric Fry sent to the sinbin on 60 mins for kicking the ball when offside at a ruck, the ensuing lineout saw Japan set up an express maul, and one of the stars of the tournament, Amanaki Mafi barrelled over the tryline much to the delight of the packed Kingsholm shed.

The resilience of all the lower tier teams has been a credit to each and every one of them and it was no surprise that the USA replied with a period of sustained power and counter rucking to send Saracens' favourite import, skipper Chris Wyles an open run over in the corner.

With Goromaru adding another penalty in the dying moments, in the final analysis, Japan had just that little bit more composure than the USA and that was telling in getting them home.

Man of the match:  Both Japanese number eights, Holani and Mafi were outstanding, but an assured display from veteran full-back Ayumu Goromaru takes the award.

Moment of the match:  Japan's line-out leading to the Mafi try was a picture of precision rugby;  ball to middle, receivers peeling off through the front gap summed up their technical excellence and brilliant execution throughout the Rugby World Cup, but we will go to the absolute standing ovation offered to both sides by Kingsholm and its infamous shed;  a fitting tribute to both teams.

Villain of the match:  In a game without a single TMO referral and played in good spirit there was no nasty stuff to report.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Tries:  Matsushima, Fujita, Mafi
Cons:  Goromaru 2
Pens:  Goromaru 3

For USA:
Tries:  Ngwenya, Wyles
Con:  MacGinty
Pens:  MacGinty 2
Yellow Card:  Fry

USA:  15 Chris Wyles (c), 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Zach Test, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Al McFarland, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Zach Fenoglio, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements:  16 Phil Thiel, 17 Oli Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Cam Dolan, 20 John Quill, 21 Danny Barrett, 22 Niku Kruger, 23 Folau Niua.

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Yoshikazu Fujita, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kotaro Matsushima, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch (c), 5 Justin Ives, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Hiroshi Yamashita, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements:  16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 21 Hendrik Tui, 22 Atsushi Hiwasa, 23 Karne Hesketh.

Venue:  Kingsholm, Gloucester
Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Ireland top Pool D but at a massive cost

Ireland avoided a quarter-final against New Zealand by beating France 24-9 at the Millennium Stadium, but it came at a huge cost.

Joe Schmidt's side will likely be without Paul O'Connell, Jonathan Sexton, Peter O'Mahony and Sean O'Brien for their quarter-final against Argentina next Sunday after a brutal encounter.

In front of a huge Irish crowd, tries from Rob Kearney and Conor Murray were enough for the Six Nations champions, who produced their best performance of the tournament so far, but the losses will be of greater concern.

A bone-shuddering first half saw Ireland lose possibly their two most important players, with Sexton lasting just 25 minutes, while O'Connell was stretchered off at half-time after twice trying and failing to walk off under his own steam.

They will likely be without O'Brien as well as after he threw a vicious punch to Pascal Papé's ribs off the ball at the very first ruck while in the second half O'Mahony was also carted off.

Try-scoring chances were few and far between in the opening 40, with Keith Earls missing the best opportunity of the half when he couldn't hold on after Tommy Bowe had gone clean through.

Instead two penalties from Sexton and one from replacement Ian Madigan were enough to have Ireland up 9-6 at half-time, with Scott Spedding slotting two for France.

After the break Rob Kearney got the game's first try, and in such an attritional affair, an eight-point lead was always going to be too much to recover from.

While France did get back to within a score, a second try, from Murray, sealed the win for Ireland, who will have an extra day to prepare for their clash with Argentina next Sunday which should test their depth.

France meanwhile, will take on New Zealand in Cardiff in a repeat of the 2007 quarter-final.  While All Black fans will be understandably nervous, on this form les Bleus won't manage another upset having barely looked like scoring a try.

It was a ferocious start with both teams flying into the tackles and Papé feeling the effects at the very first ruck.  O'Brien appeared to be after some retribution for Papé's indiscretion on the last meeting between the two teams and will surely be cited as a result.

While Ireland were winning the collisions, they conceded a couple of early penalties, the second in a kickable position but Frédéric Michalak's strike wasn't clean and the ball fell short.

Les Bleus had a second chance to take the lead when Ireland collapsed a scrum just short of halfway.  For the longer range kick, Spedding took over kicking duties, but his effort came back off the post.

Ireland, on the other hand, had no such problem from the kicking tee, Sexton giving them a 3-0 lead on 12 minutes when Mathieu Bastareaud was caught offside tracking back from a chip over the top that Eddy Ben Arous couldn't collect.

Still, France were enjoying more of the territory, and when Michalak ghosted through a gap in the Irish midfield they were in behind.  A messy ruck saw the move break down but Ireland were quickly isolated and this time Spedding found the target to level the scores from halfway.

In a tight first quarter, Ireland moved back in front thanks to a second Sexton penalty, with Yoann Maestri the man penalised for rolling away too slowly.

France were soon back on terms with a high tackle on Guilhem Guirado giving Spedding a second chance from long range, knocking one over from inside his own half.

During the week France had talked about targeting Sexton, and he lasted just 25 minutes.  Having already taken one big hit on a French attack, Louis Picamoles delivered the final blow with a thumping tackle.

Ian Madigan replaced him and was quickly called into action for a tackle off the ball, putting the Irish back in front 9-6.

Just after the hour Ireland had the first real try-scoring opportunity after Bowe was put clean through off a lineout.  The simple two on one should have seen Earls over but he couldn't collect the final pass.

A break from Spedding had France in great position just before the break but they couldn't capitalise.  O'Connell was injured in the build-up, replaced by Iain Henderson at half-time.

The first chance of the second half went Ireland's way, Robbie Henshaw going straight past Mathieu Bastareaud in midfield and being stopped just short.  While that attack was stopped when Noa Nakaitaci knocked on in a tackle on Murray, Ireland soon broke through with Rob Kearney finishing after the resulting scrum.  Madigan missed the conversion but Ireland led 14-6 with half an hour remaining.

It appeared to be the knockout blow, with France struggling for territory, and when Thierry Dusautoir knocked on just outside his 22, it was hard to see a way back for les Bleus.

There was still plenty of time remaining, and Ireland's next casualty was O'Mahony, who also needed lengthy treatment before being stretchered off after coming off second best when carrying at Papé.

France got back to within a score with a penalty from replacement Morgan Parra, and got themselves in good position with ten minutes remaining only for the scrum-half to knock on when O'Brien fell into him in a ruck.

That was the end of France's challenge, and Murray delivered the final blow when he pushed the ball up against the side of the post for Ireland's second try.  Madigan converted and the fight went out of France, conceding two scrum penalties as the Irish took complete control in the dying seconds.

Man of the match:  After missing the first two games of the tournament, Robbie Henshaw has come back with a bang.  It was his break early in the second half, standing up Mathieu Bastareaud, that put Ireland in position for their first try.

Moment of the match:  Ireland's troubles began when they lost Sexton to injury just 25 minutes in.  Louis Picamoles' hit was perfectly legal but having already been shaken up, Sexton was out for good.

Villain of the match:  It's hard to imagine a Joe Schmidt side deliberately targeting an opposition player but that's what Sean O'Brien appeared to do in the opening minutes with a sucker punch on Pascal Papé.  He surely won't play in the quarters as a result.

The scorers:

For France:
Pens:  Spedding 2, Parra

For Ireland:
Tries:  R Kearney, Murray
Con:  Madigan
Pens:  Sexton 2, Madigan 2

The teams:

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Damien Chouly, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Bernard le Roux, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Alexandre Dumoulin

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Luke Fitzgerald

Venue:  Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Italy too strong for Romania

Italy finished their Rugby World Cup campaign on a high with a 32-22 victory over Romania at Sandy Park in Exeter on Sunday.

The four-tries-to-three victory ensures the Azzurri qualify directly for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan as they finish third in Pool D, with two wins from their four games.

The scoreline will perhaps add weight to calls for Romania's inclusion into an expanded Six Nations tournament but, to be fair, they looked well beaten on the hour mark.

It's a tough argument because the Oaks need more exposure to Tier-One competition if they are to continue their progress, but they were a step below Italy in most sectors of a hard-fought game that saw the Italian pack match their powerful opponents from Eastern Europe for sheer grunt.

Romania dominated the stats both in terms of possession and territory but they struggled to contain the Italian attack, with the Azzurri making double the amount of line breaks as they beat 22 defenders.

Italy ran in three unanswered tries to lead 22-3 at the interval as wing Leonardo Sarto and half-back duo Edoardo Gori and Tommaso Allan all touched down.

Number eight Alessandro Zanni scored early in the second half to secure the bonus point and put the final result beyond doubt — although Romania did their best to repeat the comeback heriocs of last week's win over Canada.

The Oaks kept fighting and finished strongly with three tries in the final quarter — two via replacement wing Adrian Apostol.

First Apostol bashed his way over the whitewash off the back of a powerful scrum before lock Valentin Poparlan went over at the back of a maul.

Apostol dived into the corner in the dying minutes to add some gloss to the scoreline.

Man of the match:  A few candidates to consider from both teams including Tommaso Allan, who finished with 17 points, but we'll go for Edoardo Gori, who was a real livewire and deserved his try.

Moment of the match:  Romania were hanging in there, but Allan's try just before half time gave Italy the lead they needed to see out the game.

Villain of the match:  Nothing rough enough to mention.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Sarto, Gori, Allan, Zanni
Cons:  Allan 3
Pens:  Allan 2

For Romania:
Tries:  Apostol 2, Poparlan
Cons:  Vlaicu 2
Pen:  Vlaicu
Yellow card:  Van Heerden

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Benvenuti, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys (captain), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements:  16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Samuela Vunisa, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Enrico Bacchin.

Romania:  15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Madalin Lemnaru, 13 Paula Kinikinilau, 12 Florin Vlaicu, 11 Ionut Botezatu, 10 Michael Wiringi, 9 Valentin Calafeteanu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Viorel Lucaci, 6 Valentin Ursache (c), 5 Johannes van Heerden, 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Otar Turashvili, 1 Mihaita Lazar.
Replacements:  16 Andrei Radoi, 17 Andrei Ursache, 18 Horatiu Pungea, 19 Marius Antonescu, 20 Stelian Burcea, 21 Tudorel Bratu, 22 Adrian Apostol, 23 Csaba Gal.

Venue:  Sandy Park, Exeter
Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Nine-try Argentina thrash Namibia

Argentina laid down a marker ahead of the World Cup's play-offs when they claimed a 64-19 victory over Namibia in their Pool C clash in Leicester on Sunday.

As expected, los Pumas were in control from start to finish and outscored their opponents nine tries to three and this performance sets them up nicely for next weekend's quarter-final against the winners of the clash between France and Ireland later in the day.

Despite making 11 changes to their starting XV, Argentina turned on the and several players delivered superb performances which will give their coach Daniel Hourcade a selection headache ahead of their play-off clash.

Namibia were never going to win this encounter especially considering that they were involved in a gruelling clash with Georgia just five days ago and Argentina made full use of their superior fitness especially during the game's latter stages when Namibia were tiring.

The Welwitchias gave a good account of themselves up front, particularly the scrums, but los Pumas took control of the set phases as the match progressed which created plenty of gaps which their backline gladly exploited.

Los Pumas were on the attack from the opening minute and Juan Martin Hernandez scored his first World Cup try since crossing for a brace against Romania at the 2003 tournament as early as the seventh minute after Matias Moroni laid the groundwork with a mazy run in the build-up.

Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias then made it 10-0 from the kicking tee after the Welwitchias were reduced to 14 men in the 10th minute when JC Greyling was yellow-carded for not using his arms in a tackle on Hernandez.

That setback didn't seem to bother the Africans though and shortly afterwards Johan Tromp pounced on a mistake in los Pumas' backline to score his side's opening try.

Tromp booted a loose ball, close to Argentina's 10-metre line, ahead before regathering and dotting down under the posts.  Shortly afterwards, Moroni showed great determination as he ghosted past four defenders to cross for a deserved try under the posts.

Argentina's forwards then set up a solid platform for their backs who took the ball wide to Horacio Agulla who crossed for Argentina's third try, which meant both los Pumas wingers scored in the same World Cup match for the third consecutive time.

Facundo Isa then crossed from a lineout drive to secure Argentina's bonus point in the 35th minute before Lucas Noguera Paz dotted down on the stroke of half-time to give his side a 36-7 lead.

Namibia made a superb start to the second half when Greyling made up for his earlier indiscretion to score his side's second try.  The centre gathered a loose ball close to Argentina's 10-metre line and outpaced the cover defence before dotting down under the sticks.

The rest of the match was one-way traffic, however, as Argentina introduced first-choice players like Marcelo Bosch, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Tomas Cubelli and Juan Imhoff off the replacements bench.

Matias Alemanno crossed for los Pumas' sixth try in the 50th minute but the South Americans were also forced to play with 14 men shortly afterwards when Bosch was sent to the sin bin for a tip-tackle on Theuns Kotze.

That didn't deter Argentina though and the rest of the match became a loose affair as they ran the ball from all areas of the field.  Leonardo Senatore soon rounded off under the posts, after the ball went through several pairs of hands in the build-up.

Los Pumas' free-flowing was rewarded when Julian Montoya and Cubelli also crossed for further five-pointers towards the end and although Namiba played the closing stages with 14 men — after Tinus Du Plessis received a yellow card for taking out Bosch in the air — they got the biggest cheer of the match when Eugene Jantjies rounded off a superb move in injury time.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Hernandez, Moroni, Agulla, Isa, Noguera Paz, Alemanno, Senatore, Montoya, Cubelli
Cons:  Iglesias 4, Socino 4
Pen:  Iglesias
Yellow card:  Bosch

For Namibia:
Tries:  Tromp, Greyling, Jantjes
Cons:  Kotze 2
Yellow cards:  Greyling, Du Plessis

Argentina:  15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Martin Landajo (c), 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Lucas Noguera Paz.
Replacements:  16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Leonardo Senatore, 20 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Juan Imhoff.

Namibia:  15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Johan Tromp, 13 JC Greyling, 12 Johan Deysel, 11 Conrad Marais, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eneill Buitendag, 8 Leneve Damens, 7 Wian Conradie, 6 Rohan Kitsoff (captain), 5 Tijuee Uanivi, 4 Janco Venter, 3 Johannes Coetzee, 2 Torsten Van Jaarsveld, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements:  16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Johnny Redelinghuys, 18 Raoul Larson, 19 Renaldo Bothma, 20 Tinus Du Plessis, 21 PJ Van Lill, 22 Eugene Jantjes, 23 Heinrich Smit.

Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (France)