Wallabies win scrap with South Africa

Australia ended a run of six Test defeats by coming from behind to beat South Africa 23-17 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.

Tries from Warren Whiteley and Johan Goosen handed South Africa a double-digit lead, but the boot of Bernard Foley and an Adam Coleman try meant that South Africa only led by a point at half-time, up 14-13.

A Foley penalty then put the Wallabies ahead for the first time before his solo try edged Australia further into the lead.

And despite a Morné Steyn penalty putting the Springboks within a converted try of the win, they couldn't find the breakthrough in the closing stages, to make it back-to-back losses for Allister Coetzee's side.

Considering the two teams' form prior to Brisbane this fixture was unsurprisingly scrappy, with handling errors aplenty.

Questions regarding what South Africa are trying to achieve tactically on attack will continue to persist as long as they only score tries off turnovers, as was the case here in Brisbane.

And while the Wallabies attack at times showed plenty of rhythm, that also disappeared for large swathes of the match.  Both outfits are truthfully some way off their best, and will be underdogs for their respective fixtures against Argentina and New Zealand next weekend.

Some credit must go to South Africa for the way they made the most of Wallaby mistakes for their two tries in the first half, pouncing on the errors and turning them into points.

A Jantjies break produced the first score, Whiteley finishing off a sustained attack by going over from metres out after great runs in the build-up from Faf de Klerk and Oupa Mohoje.

Foley cut the lead to four with a first penalty before the Wallabies' intent in attack, especially from Quade Cooper with an incisive break at the touchline, came to nothing and turned into a disaster.

Adriaan Strauss produced an athletic interception and from there the Springboks broke, Goosen winning the race to Jantjies' chip ahead to score under the posts, making it 14-3 with the conversion.

That scoreline felt harsh on the Wallabies and they eventually crossed themselves through lock Coleman, finishing in the corner from a looping Foley pass as Bryan Habana failed to haul in a possible interception.  Foley's touchline conversion made it 10-14.

And another penalty from the Wallaby number ten cut the gap to just a point at the break, with Jantjies pushing an effort of his own to the right to leave South Africa ahead 14-13 at half-time.

Not long after Eben Etzebeth had run back onto the field for the second half he was soon trudging off it again, yellow carded for cynical play in his 50th Test after a break from Samu Kerevi.  Foley converted the resulting penalty to put Australia ahead for the first time at 16-14.

A prolonged TMO referral then eventually denied Kerevi a finish in the corner, the big Reds centre's knee touching the whitewash milliseconds before he appeared to have done enough to ground the ball despite the tackle of Goosen.

Finely poised for over 20 minutes after that, with South Africa riding out the sin-bin period, both sides were guilty of squandering chances either by failing to make the most of overlaps or through turnovers.

Foley stopped the rot.  Shaping to pass wide in the middle of the field before cutting in-between Jantjies and Pieter-Steph du Toit to score by the posts for a sharp finish.

Steyn cut the gap to six with a penalty to set up an intriguing final few minutes, but South Africa couldn't find the score required, giving Australia a long-awaited victory and their first of the year.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Coleman, Foley
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3

For South Africa:
Tries:  Whiteley, Goosen
Cons:  Jantjies 2
Pen:  Steyn
Yellow Card:  Etzebeth

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tevita Kuridrani, 23 Drew Mitchell

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Steven Kitshoff, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Referee:  Nigel Owens
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes, Pascal Gauzère
TMO:  Ben Skeen

All Blacks turn it on in Hamilton

New Zealand claimed a third successive bonus-point victory in the Rugby Championship on Saturday as they defeated Argentina 57-22 in Hamilton.

The scoreline doesn't tell the full story of how this game played out as the Pumas were very much in the contest for 50 minutes, before the All Blacks replacements bench gave the world champions a real shot in the arm.

Julian Savea, Ben Smith (2), Beauden Barrett, Ryan Crotty (2), Charlie Faumuina and Luke Romano scored New Zealand's tries and with Warren Gatland watching, it was also a message to the 2017 British and Irish Lions.

Gatland would have been intrigued to see Argentina enjoy a strong first half, however, as they went in just 24-19 behind against a clearly rattled New Zealand side, with Santiago Cordero having crossed the try-line first.

It was an outstanding start for the Pumas when Cordero raced over after the visitors had bust through the middle of the All Black defence.  Nicolás Sánchez landed the simple extras from in front and it was game on in Hamilton as, like at Wembley, Argentina scored the first try.

New Zealand missed the chance to cut the gap when Barrett struck the upright from a penalty but their drought was short-lived as from a scrum five metres out, a lovely pull back pass sent Savea under the posts untouched.  Barrett made no mistake this time so it was 7-7.

Argentina were proving a hard nut to crack though and were also offering plenty in attack, which resulted in two penalties from Sánchez.

Barrett was not as deadly in front of goal as he missed an attempt but would make no such mistake from in front after Smith finished off a nice try on 23 minutes.  It came following another carry from Savea, who was playing well, before the ball came right to the full-back.

That made it 14-13 to New Zealand but again Sánchez was chipping away, pushing his side back in front two minutes later from 40 metres.

Israel Dagg would then slot a penalty from range as again the lead changed hands before a touch of brilliance from Ben Smith saw his grubber through sit up perfectly for Barrett on the left wing, allowing the fly-half to show his speed to score under the uprights for 24-16.

Argentina though deservedly went into the interval within one score when Sánchez struck again and could have cut the gap to two but for a wayward strike late in the half, his first miss of the night.  Despite this they had definitely made the All Blacks a concerned team.

The Pumas continued to press their claims early in the second period and were rewarded for their efforts with another Sánchez three points on 50 minutes.  Perhaps another positive for the visitors was the fact that coach Steve Hansen made big changes, including replacing Aaron Smith, so early in a Test match.  TJ Perenara was the player coming on while Ardie Savea, Charlie Faumuina and Codie Taylor also made early arrivals.

It worked, partly due to Barrett's quality as he followed up a brilliant break with a beautiful offload to Crotty for a try under the posts.

New Zealand had clearly turned the corner and were motoring, with Faumuina next to cross on 57 minutes as the score was now 38-22.

The game was gone for Argentina as New Zealand, with the bonus point already next to their name, went in search of more tries.  Their next went to Crotty thanks to a slick set-piece move off the back of a five-metre scrum, with Perenara's well-timed pass sending him over.

They weren't done there as full-back Smith showed his class once again on 68 minutes with a lovely slalom run to the line from 40 metres out to make it 52-22, leaving opposite number Joaquín Tuculet turned inside out.  Somehow the game had turned into a procession for the home side.

Even ricochets were going for New Zealand at this point as a cross-kick from Cruden out to Dagg bounced off the wing's chest for Romano, who had the final say on a quite brilliant second half from the hosts.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  J Savea, B Smith 2, Barrett, Crotty 2, Faumuina, Romano
Cons:  Barrett 6, Cruden
Pen:  Dagg

For Argentina:
Try:  Cordero
Con:  Sánchez
Pens:  Sánchez 5

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Argentina edge out South Africa

A 78th minute Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias penalty goal helped Argentina battle past South Africa 26-24 in their Rugby Championship clash in Salta.

This was only Argentina's second victory ever over the Springboks and they deserved it.

This victory was a long time coming.  Argentina were the better team overall and this time the Boks' luck ran out even though they missed quite a few penalties.

The result is a reflection of where South African rugby finds itself at the moment and it doesn't look pretty.  The first half especially was atrocious and one of the worst first 40 minutes in recent memory from the Boks.

Argentina led 23-13 after 55 minutes and it felt like deja vu from last week's Test in Nelspruit, but this time Argentina held their composure in the final minutes to clinch the win.

The first half was terrible, especially from South Africa who just didn't play with any conviction, structure or fluency.  What will be of massive concern for Allister Coetzee is the team's defence which was all over the place.

The Boks gave away too many possession in the first 40, their game plan consisting of box kicks which always went too far.  They didn't have the defensive discipline to cope with the counter attacks los Pumas launched which kept South Africa on the back foot.

Argentina blundered an early opportunity to score when Manuel Montero lost the ball over the line after a desperate tackle from Lionel Mapoe.

Elton Jantjies, who was substituted after 50 minutes, slotted a penalty to get South Africa on the scoreboard after Ramiro Herrera was sent off for a late tackle on Francois Louw.  It was the only points the Boks managed to get while they were playing against 14 men.

A penalty by Nicolas Sanchez was followed by a superb try for Joaquin Tuculet.  Starting in their own 22, Argentina moved up the field and when Vincent Koch shot out of the defensive line it created the space the home side needed to create space on the outside before Tuculet took an inside pass to dive over for a 13-3 lead.

Argentina dominated possession and territory in the first half as the Boks looked clueless.

The second half was slightly better as Coetzee almost emptied his entire bench to try and influence the game.

It worked in patches.  Jantjies slotted a penalty before Bryan Habana scored his 20th Rugby Championship try and 65th of his career for a new Tier-one Test record, surpassing David Campese in the process.

The revival was short lived when Juan Manuel Leguizamon collected a cross kick in the Boks 22 and managed to get the ball down despite colliding with Habana on the way down.  It gave Argentina a 20-13 lead and left the Boks in deep trouble.

Morne Steyn missed a penalty which would have relieved some pressure before Juan Martin Hernandez extended the lead to 23-13 after 55 minutes.

Steyn pulled three points back 10 minutes later and when Pieter-Steph du Toit, who made an excellent impact off the bench, barged his way over the line four minutes later South Africa only trailed by two points.

Steyn gave his team the lead with six minutes to play and the feeling was that the Boks might just pull off another comeback victory, but it wasn't to be.

With two minutes left Argentina won a penalty in the Springbok half which Hernandez converted to give his team their first ever win on home soil over the Springboks.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tuculet, Leguizamón
Cons:  Sánchez, Hernández
Pens:  Sánchez 2, Hernández, Iglesias

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana, Du Toit
Cons:  Goosen
Pens:  Jantjies 2, Steyn 2

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel

Referee:  Jerome Garces (France)
Assistant Referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia

All Blacks too good again for Wallabies

New Zealand secured a bonus-point win over Australia in the second week of the Rugby Championship, triumphing 29-9 in Wellington.

It was a far closer game than their previous encounter in Sydney last weekend after Australia displayed a much tighter defence compared to their performance last weekend.

However, Israel Dagg scored a brace for his side as New Zealand frequently took advantage of the overlaps they fashioned after some quick recycling.

The win sees the All Blacks consolidate their lead on the overall table after their bonus point last weekend and now sit on top with 10 points.

Unfortunately for Australia, they languish at the bottom of the table after not picking up a single point in either game.

New Zealand inside centre Anton Lienert-Brown vindicated his coach's faith in the player as he provided a fantastic link between the ever imaginative Beauden Barrett and the outside-backs on debut.

The All Blacks led at the break 15-9 after a far more defensively orientated game from the Australians.

But not much changed for the Australians in the second half as it was all New Zealand, when they scored two tries through Sam Cane and Julian Savea.

The statistics are indicative of the scoreline as New Zealand won in almost every facet of the game.  The men in black pipped the Wallabies in defence as they made ten more tackles than their near rivals, while the Wallabies missed a horrendous tally of 30 tackles.  What is even more impressive is that New Zealand made more tackles while actually having 10 percent more possession, with 55 to Australia's 45 percent.

New Zealand started off the try scoring after Aaron Smith made a beautiful break down the midfield.  The scrum-half was tackled and the ball was recycled quickly while the Australian defence was still in disarray.

New recruit Lienert-Brown showed great composure to suck the Australian cover defence in before giving a basketball pass over the last defender for Dagg to gather and cross the line.

After neither side could break the line and both sides' discipline started to slack there was a period of penalty exchanges.  Foley got his side into the game with a shot at goal just outside the All Black 22-metre line, shortly followed by a three-point reply from Barrett.  Foley then took another kick to narrow the points gap.

Dagg grabbed the second try of the game when New Zealand played a well worked set play off the lineout, where Barrett got the ball going at pace and running laterally across the field.  He then gave a perfectly weighted wide pass, which was collected by Ben Smith who gave a short pass to Dagg who cantered over the line for the try.

Australia's luck didn't get any better after they went down to ten men after Scott Fardy hunted down the elusive Ben Smith.  Unfortunately for the Australian blindside, the full-back had already given the pass and the tackle was deemed very late and Fardy was given a yellow card.

Julian Savea was the first scorer of the second half.  Dagg contested for a high ball in the air with Quade Cooper that set up a fantastic field position for New Zealand to attack from.

While the Australian defence was still sucked in, Aaron Smith spread the ball wide with haste for Savea who had inches of space as the cover defence were trying to close him down.  Savea had enough pace to make it past the encroaching Australian wall and dived over.

Sam Cane then bagged a five-pointer of his own after New Zealand surged towards the try line from ten metres out.

Ben Smith darted through the Australian defence before being taken down inches before the white wash.  The ball was then given to Cane who muscled through the defence to put the stamp on another convincing display.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg 2, Savea, Cane
Cons:  Barrett 3
Pen:  Barrett

For Australia:
Pen:  Foley 2, Hodge
Yellow Card:  Fardy

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 James Parsons, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Seta Tamanivalu

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Dane Haylett-Petty, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Ala’alatoa, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Will Skelton, 21 Tevita Kuridrani, 22 Reece Hodge, 23 Nick Phipps

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Boks leave it late to edge Argentina

South Africa faught back from 13-23 down to beat Argentina 30-23 in their Rugby Championship opener in Nelspruit on Saturday.

Nerves of steel are becoming a mandatory requirement for players and fans alike in the Allister Coetzee era after Warren Whiteley scored a last minute try to complete a strong comeback by the hosts.

There certainly were moments when South Africa must have feared the worst in losing only a second ever home game against the Pumas.  But like they showed in the series against Ireland, this Bok team can grind out a win even if they looked wholly unconvincing for large parts of this contest.

Argentina gave everything and will be kicking themselves that they allowed the Springboks back into the game after taking an imposing ten-point lead with 12 minutes to play.  The wet conditions definitely played a part in the standard of the game but Argentina will still feel they had a great chance to secure a memorable victory in South Africa.

In the end it wasn't to be thanks to some sublime combination play at the death.  The Boks took the ball through the phases from a line-out inside Argentina's 22.  Jaco Kriel and Juan de Jongh carried the ball well before the ball went out wide.  Eben Etzebeth and Bryan Habana both drew defenders before Habana offloaded to Whiteley, who beat his man to crash over in the left-hand corner.

South Africa started the game strongly and looked up for the game.  Jantjies missed an early penalty but soon made up for it when he exploited a gap in broken play.  The ball was recycled quickly to Johan Goosen who found himself in space before putting Ruan Combrinck away for a try in the corner.

Argetina were reduced to 14 men when Manuel Montero was sent off for a tip tackle on Damian de Allende, but the Boks failed to capatalise on their numerical advantage.  Instead they conceded 10 points during that period through a penalty and a try.

Some thrilling running rugby by los Pumas, which started inside their own 22, resulted in a brilliant try for Matias Orlando which Nicolas Sanchez converted for a 13-10 lead.

South Africa had a great chance to take the lead and ease the pressure when Lionel Mapoe went over after some build-up play following a five-metre line-out.  However, replays confirmed he lost the ball going over and the try was disallowed.

The second half didn't start well for the hosts when Habana received a yellow card after slipping and taking out Cordero in the air.  Still, Jantjies managed to level the score with a penalty despite Argentina enjoying a greater percentage of the possession throughout the game.

The Boks were guilty of too many basic mistakes, especially in the second half and didn't do enough with the ball when they did have it.  Cordero punished some poor tactical kicking by Jantjies to stretch the lead to 23-13 after Argentina launched a counter-attack following a pointless up-and-under by Jantjies.

Etzebeth made a great cover tackle but the visitors recycled quickly before Sanchez chipped the ball over the Bok defence for Cordero to pounce.

South Africa looked down and out at this stage, just like they did in the second Test against Ireland, but they composed themselves and hit back with a try through Goosen to get back into the game.  From a scrum, the excellent Faf de Klerk gathered the ball and ran down the blind side, sucking in three defenders in before giving the inside pass to Goosen who timed his run well to run through unapposed.

A Jantjies penalty levelled things at 23-23 before Whiteley finished off with the match-winning try to spare the home side an embarrassing defeat.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Combrinck, Goosen, Whiteley
Cons:  Jantjies 3
Pens:  Jantjies 3
Yellow Card:  Habana

For Argentina:
Tries:  Orlando, Cordero
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pens:  Sanchez 3
Yellow Card:  Montero

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Juan de Jongh, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano.

Date:  Saturday, August 20
Venue:  Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-off:  17:05 local (15:05 GMT)
Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Awesome All Blacks embarrass Australia in Sydney

A breathtaking performance by New Zealand saw them demolish Australia 42-8 in a one-sided Rugby Championship opener on Saturday.

While few gave Australia a chance of winning this game, no one expected them to go down at home with the third highest margin ever against their arch rivals.

As scary as the scoreline seems, it's worth remembering that New Zealand left quite a few points on the field considering Beauden Barrett missed three conversions while a try was also disallowed in the first half.

On this evidence it will take something special to prevent the All Blacks from reclaiming the trophy they lost to the Wallabies in 2015.

The build-up to the game was spiced up with the revelation that a listening device was found in a meeting room in New Zealand's Sydney hotel, but on the evidence of the match the question should be asked — who bugged who?

The All Blacks dominated all facets of play.  Their superior handling skills put the Australian defence under immense pressure as they couldn't cope with the line speed and offloading of the men in black.

The Wallabies played into New Zealand's hands by too often kicking possession away aimlessly.  They also lost too many line-outs on their own throw which further underlines their naive tactical approach.

New Zealand were all over the hosts in the first half as they placed an emphasis on keeping the ball, resulting in them enjoying 61 percent possession in the first 40.  Australia couldn't handle the onslaught and slipped 15 tackles during this period, a sure sign that they were in for a very tough night.

Australia's troubles got worse as the game went on.  They lost inside centre Matt Giteau in the 12th minute through an ankle injury.  Matt Toomua replaced him but didn't last the half as he had to go off with concussion.

His replacement Rob Horne was forced off the field shortly before half-time with a wrist injury which forced Nick Phipps onto the field.

New Zealand's rush defence put a lot of pressure on the Australian ball carriers when they did have the ball but the defensive line was caught offside a few times which relieved the pressure on the home side.

Ryan Crotty scored the opening try after some clever play by his captain Kieran Read who pulled a defender and got the ball away quickly to the centre who beat his man on the outside to score.

The second All Black try was a direct result of a second consecutive lineout steal.  After taking play to the opposite side of the field Beauden Barrett took a gap and run over to give his side a commanding 20-3 lead.

The visitors sealed the bonus point before half time through tries by Jerome Kaino, who charged down a Bernard Foley kick, recollected the ball and scored, and Waisake Naholo who ran a clever line to receive an inside pass from Barrett.

Naholo injured himself in the process but it was of little consequence as it gave New Zealand a 32-3 lead going into the break.

The second half was less lively and for a while it looked as if Australia would be able to limit the damage, but another basic error saw Dane Coles reach over for a try after Julian Savea had pounced on a loose ball which Tevita Kuridrani dropped with his team on the attack.

Savea himself celebrated his 40th Test try shortly after before Phipps scored a consolation try for Australia against 14 men after read had been sent off.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Phipps
Pen:  Foley

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Crotty, Barrett, Kaino, Naholo, Coles, J Savea
Cons:  Barrett 3
Pens:  Barrett 2
Yellow Card:  Read

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

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Kane Hames, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Julian Savea.

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Italy edge past a spirited Canada

A second half penalty from replacement playmaker Carlo Canna saw Italy snatch an emphatic 20-18 victory over Canada on Sunday in Toronto.

The replacement fly-half kicked one of five Italy penalties which saw the visitors outscore Canada by one try to zero.

Scrum-half Gordon McRorie scored the home side's only points via six penalty conversions while hooker Ornel Gega scored the only try of the match.

The win extends Azzuri's unbeaten streak over the Canucks to six consecutive wins with their last victory against Italy coming back in 2000.

The second half performance from the visitors saw them edge past their hosts as the scores were tied on 9-all as the players headed into the tunnel.

Azzuri's forwards laid the platform for a powerful display of rolling mauls that could not be contained by the home side.

Canna's penalty kick was the difference in the end but it was the fly-half who put in a dangerous tackle on Dan Moor, a few minutes from the final whistle, which meant the visitors finished the match with just 14 men.

This one man advantage seemed to have given Canada the confidence boost needed, but it was the 13th ranked Italy that held on for a two-point win.

Conor O'Shea's men finished their June international window with two wins, last week's 24-20 victory over the USA and the 20-18 win over Canada, and a 30-24 loss to Argentina while Canada finished their June Test period with two losses – one against Azzuri and a 26-22 loss to Japan – while they outclassed Russia and claimed a 46-21 victory last week.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Pens:  McRorie 6
Yellow Card:  Hearn

For Italy:
Try:  Gega
Pens:  Allan 4, Canna
Yellow Cards:  Canna

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Pat Parfrey, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Jamie Cudmore (c), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Paul Ciulini, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 Liam Underwood, 23 Brock Staller

Italy:  15 David Odiete, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori (c), 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Maxime Mbanda’, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Sebastian Negri Da Oleggio, 20 Jacopo Sarto, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Giulio Bisegni

Referee:  Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant Referees:  Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Kurt Weaver (USA)

USA defeat scoreless Russia

Six AJ MacGinty penalties helped the USA to a 25-0 victory over Russia at Bonney Field in Sacramento on Saturday.

MacGinty kicked six penalty goals and converted the home side's only try which was scored by Mike Te'o.

The win means that the USA extend their unbeaten record against Russia to seven matches since 2004.

Todd Clever was in impressive form in his record-breaking 68th appearance for the Eagles.

John Mitchell's men enjoyed the territorial advantage with James King and Tony Lamborn playing an integral part in their second caps for the home side by dominating the breakdowns.

Lamborn's physical prowess at the set pieces resulted in the home side receiving an early penalty which MacGinty slotted.

The playmaker doubled the advantage after Russia strayed offside, only a few minutes later taking the score to 6-0.

A true testament to the clinical defence from the home side as they kept a spirited Russia attack at bay, with the visitors setting up a few promising attacking phases.

MacGinty added three more penalties before the break as the players headed into the paddocks with the home side firmly in the lead on 15-0.

The scoring frustration continued for the visitors which was dealt a blow in the 48th minute when Andrei Garbuzov saw yellow, but the home side failed to add any points against a 14 men side.

Replacement Langilangi Haupeakui's powerful runs made an immediate impact and added his weight on defence, that helped to set up the only try of the match in the 65th minute.

MacGinty's slick handling skills allowed the pivot to offload to an inside running Mike Te'o.  The right wing beat one defender and burnt the defence to dive over for his third career try before MacGinty added the extras to take the final score to 25-0.

The scorers:

For USA:
Try:  Te'o
Con:  MacGinty
Pens:  MacGinty 6

For Russia:
Yellow Card:  Garbuzov

USA:  15 Will Holder, 14 Mike Te'o, 13 Thretton Palamo, 12 Shalom Suniula, 11 Blaine Scully (c), 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Todd Clever, 5 Nate Brakeley, 4 James King, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Harry Higgins, 20 Langilangi Haupeakui, 21 Stephen Tomasin, 22 Chad London, 23 Luke Hume

Russia:  15 Ramil Gaisin, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vasily Artemyev (c), 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Rushan Iagudin, 8 Anton Rudoi, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Viktor Gresev, 5 Denis Antonov, 4 Andrei Garbuzov, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Evgeny Matveev, 1 Alexey Volkov
Replacements:  16 Nazir Gasanov, 17 Azamat Bitiev, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Evgeny Elgin, 20 Danila Chegodaev, 21 Alexey Shcherban, 22 Evgeny Kolomiitsev, 23 Anton Ryabov

Referee:  Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Chris Assmus (Canada)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

France outclass scoreless Argentina

France bounced back in emphatic style to level the two-Test match series when they beat Argentina by 27-0 in Tucumán on Saturday.

Les Bleus put in a dominating allround display in unfavourable wet conditions to outscore their hosts by three tries to nil with Los Pumas failing to score any points.

Hugo Bonneval, Rémi Lamerat and Loann Goujon got over for the visitors while scrum-half Baptiste Serin converted three tries and along with two penalties took his personal tally to 12 points.

As expected, given the wet weather in Tucumán, it was a tightly contested match in the opening quarter with the visitors enjoying most of the possession and playing the rugby inside Argentina's half.

The visitors' defensive effort resticted the home side from getting any quality go-forward ball which saw France miss zero tackles in the first quarter, Les Bleus made sure that the threatening Argentinian attack never gained any form of momentum.

Serin added the first points of the half through a penalty conversion, after 26 minutes, following an earlier failed attempt from him and fly-half François Trinh-Duc.

The first try of the match came right at the end of the first half with the late call-up to the starting XV, Boneval going over after Serin caught the defence off-guard on the blindside and offloaded to the inside running wing, the scrum-half added the extras as the players headed into the tunnel with France enjoying a 10-0 lead.

The half time talk seemed to have inspired Los Pumas to fight their way back into the match, it was however the clinical defence from the visitors that frustrated Daniel Hourcade's men throughout the second 40.

A well-timed offload from Trinh-Duc put his inside centre Lamerat into a half gap and the midfielder crashed over from close range with Serin adding the extras taking the score to 17-0.

Argentina introduced their replacements in a bid to gain some form of momentum, but once again it was the relentless attacking prowess and clinical defence from the visitors that was rewarded with their third try via loose forward Goujon.

The third score for Les Bleus was also converted by Serin which took the game well out of the reach of the home side and was to be the final score as Argentina failed to score any points for the first time in 16 years since losing 19-0 to England in 2000 at Twickenham.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Yellow Card:  Lavanini

For France:
Tries:  Bonneval, Lamerat, Goujon
Cons:  Serin 3
Pens:  Serin 2

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Tomás Lezana, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Matías Orlando, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

France:  15 Maxime Médard, 14 Hugo Bonneval, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 Djibril Camara, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 6 Loann Goujon, 5 Yoann Maestri (c), 4 Julien Ledevedec, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Rémi Bonfils, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Lucas Pointud, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Kélian Galletier, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Julien Rey

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO:  Johan Greeff (South Africa)

Boks edge past Ireland to clinch Test series

Two second half penalties from the Springboks saw them beat Ireland 19-13 to clinch the three-match Test series in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

The Boks' clinical set pieces throughout the opening 40 allowed them to advance deep into Ireland's half and with only 33 percent possession, it was a pretty remarkable feat to head into the break with a slender 13-10 lead.

Despite both sides scoring one try each, it was the boot of fly-half Elton Jantjies as well as Lions teammate Ruan Combrinck which saw the home side over the winning line in the end.

Those two scores in the first half came through JP Pietersen for South Africa, while Luke Marshall got over the whitewash for Ireland.

The home side were reduced to 14 men after Sharks full-back Willie le Roux saw yellow for a dangerous aerial challenge on his opposite number Tieran O’Halloran, the visitors added their converted try during this time.

The resilient attack and patient defending from the visitors was however not enough to contain the home side's discipline on defence, and it was Allister Coetzee's troops' overall physical prowess at the set pieces that saw them outsmart their opponents in the end.

Early pressure from both sides on attack and defence saw them cop a penalty apiece in the opening minutes.

The home side's penalty, which Tendai Mtawarira won when he overpowered Mike Ross at the scrum, was within the range of fly-half Elton Jantjies and the Lions number ten made no mistake, making the score 3-0 after just six minutes.

Ireland hit back hard and showed real patience with both ball in hand and on defence, allowing to build on the Boks' mistakes and it was this resilience that allowed Marshall to break an attempted tackle from Jantjies to crash over by the posts, with Paddy Jackson adding the extras and giving the visitors a slender 7-3 lead.

The power and execution of their scrum and lineout was a display of pure strength and skill from the home side as they dominated those areas throughout the opening half.

Frans Malherbe, in similar fashion to Tendai Mtawarira, outmuscled his opposite number in Jake McGrath winning another scrum penalty for the hosts which allowed Jantjies to reduce Ireland's lead to 6-10 after an earlier penalty from Jackson.

Soon after some brilliant vision led to a Jantjies cross kick which veteran wing JP Pietersen gathered and dotted down on the stroke of half-time, Jantjies' conversion from a difficult angle handing the home side a three-point lead.

The home side's second half performance was a clinical and disciplined display of making use of their 32 percent possesion and 27 percent territory despite Ireland making all the runs.

Earlier in the week Coetzee mentioned that Combrinck's inclusion in the starting XV gave his side a right-fooedt kicker and not only an alternative to Jantjies' left boot but also a long range one at that, given it was Combrinck who kicked a 50 metre penalty conversion before Jantjies' third penalty to give the home side a 19-10 lead as we headed into the final quarter.

Jackson added a penalty ten minutes from time that reduced the home side's lead to just six points, 19-13, as Ireland rolled out their bench in an attempt to find some extra energy.

But it was a brilliant defensive effort from the home side on their own try line just minutes from the final whistle which clinched both the game and series.

Outstanding throughout, scrum-half Faf de Klerk made a try-saving interception near his own line and then also sealed the win with a last-gasp tackle to deny Ireland at the end.

Man of the Match:  Lots of players stood out for the home side, but in the end it has to the experience of veteran utility back JP Pietersen.  His brilliant gather of Jantjies' cross kick on the stroke of half-time was the highlight of the match.

Moment of the Match:  The defensive effort from the Boks right at the end testified of their brave discipline effort throughout and capped off a well deserved win and claiming the three-match Test series, 2-1.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Pietersen
Con:  Jantjies
Pens:  Jantjies 3, Combrinck
Yellow Card:  le Roux

For Ireland:
Try:  Marshall
Con:  Jackson
Pens:  Jackson 2

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Lwazi Mvovo

Ireland:  15 Tieran O’Halloran, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Finley Bealham, 18 Tadgh Furlong, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Matt Healy

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

England clinch Sydney battle for 3-0 series win

England completed an outstanding 3-0 series in Australia after coming out on top in a barnstormer of a third Test, winning 44-40 in Sydney.

A late score for Taqele Naiyaravoro meant the Wallabies edged the try-scoring battle five to four, after equally clinical attacking and some tired defending by both sides, but in the end it came down to the points off the boot of Owen Farrell, 24 overall as he knocked over six penalties and three conversions.  He finished with 23 kicks out of 26 attempts over the three Tests.

After the one-way demolition that New Zealand dished out in Dunedin this refreshingly was a proper Test match, both sides swinging blows at the other to tip the scoreboard back and forth.

A record crowd for Allianz Stadium of 44,063 were treated to some contest, and one which the Wallabies had to win after two confidence-sapping losses.  Instead they became only the fourth team in history to score 40 points in a Test match and lose.

England's defence wasn't the sensational force from seven days ago but they showed real tenacity to keep coming back at the Wallabies when in the past their heads might have dropped.

Australia hadn't been defeated 3-0 in a home series since South Africa in 1971.  Now England head home with their chests puffed out having changed that.

England's early approach was so controlled, directed excellently by Ben Youngs through a series of short pop passes which culminated with Dan Cole crashing over for his third try in 68 Tests.

Australia's response though was instant, Israel Folau breaking up the touchline before passes to Matt Toomua and then Bernard Foley saw the fly-half canter over.  A possible knock-on in the build-up was ruled out by the TMO, allowing Foley to convert to make it 7-7.

It was a decent response from Stephen Moore's side, forcing England to miss tackles which they made in Melbourne to get over the gain line.

The improvement in the width of their play thanks to Matt Toomua's return was obvious, stretching England far more than last week and subsequently rewarded with a second try.

Dane Haylett-Petty has enjoyed an outstanding series and now has a first Test try to his name, waiting patiently on the wing for Australia to send the ball wide until the overlap was found and Folau put his winger over in the corner.  Foley couldn't convert, leaving the Wallabies ahead 12-7.

England's scrum hit back by winning a penalty, knocked over by Farrell, only for the tourists to hold on at the restart for Foley to counter with three points of his own.

Big hits from the Australian defence were forcing handling errors out of England but a moment of skill from Anthony Watson unlocked the defence.

Chipping over the top of Haylett-Petty, it was Mike Brown who won the race to the ball following up to score and tie the game, Farrell's touchline coversion then putting England ahead 17-15.

Immediately after that happened the new face in England's XV, Teimana Harrison, was hauled off and replaced by Courtney Lawes on 31 minutes, with Maro Itoje moving to six, in a move similar to Luther Burrell's early substitution in the first Test.

Foley missed a penalty to restore the lead, after a late tackle from Cole, as a quality Test match headed towards half-time with Foley nudging the Wallabies back ahead after Maro Itoje went offside.  Adam Coleman was a half-time replacement for Will Skelton as he made his Wallabies debut.

A curious start to the second half followed, a high kick from George Ford hitting the spider-cam above but with play carrying on Youngs pinned Australia right back in their corner.

Stephen Moore overthrew from the subsequent lineout five metres out but Chris Robshaw couldn't ground the ball, held up and handing the tourists a close-range scrum, from which there was no stopping Billy Vunipola as England scored their third try.  Farrell couldn't convert, but England led 22-18.

There was nothing wrong his next effort, a superb long-range penalty by Farrell stretching England's lead to seven.

Typical of the contest Australia's response was almost instant, Coleman on debut bursting through the middle only to be hauled down short of the line.

Now it was the Wallabies' turn to have a five-metre scrum and they stretched England one way and then the next before Michael Hooper went through the tackle of Brown and reached out to try and ground the ball on the line.  Foley converted, levelling things up at 25-25.

England freshened up with the arrival of Danny Care and Jack Clifford off the bench to add some pace and the pack was still working away, James Slipper penalised for not binding square before Farrell landed his third penalty to restore the lead.

It didn't last long.  Toomua busted through a tired tackle attempt from Billy Vunipola and had Folau on his inside to score Australia's fourth try.

A penalty against Fardy for playing the ball on the floor helped Farrell to chip back again, cutting the gap to one point at 32-31, as England never gave up.

Jamie George, the super sub from Melbourne, came back off the bench and struck again with his golden boot, although this time luck played a huge part as a trickling ball ricocheted forward off his legs and the hooker pounced on it to score.  Farrell again converted, giving England a six-point lead.

A moment of madness from Nick Phipps loosely flicking the ball backwards started off the chain of events which led to that score and now Australia had to keep their heads, down by nearly a converted score with time ticking away.

Farrell had a shot at another penalty won from England's driving maul and typical of a series in which he's come so far he landed it from some way out, taking England over the 40-point barrier for a 41-32 lead.

Straight away Foley responded with three points from right out in front to bring the Wallabies back within a converted score but now the hosts were fighting against the clock as England noticeably took their time, bringing on Elliot Daly into the back row as the legs began to tire.

Farrell hammered home the result, his sixth penalty confirming not just the win, but a series whitewash against the team who dumped them out of their own Rugby World Cup last year.

Naiyaravoro had the final say with a try after the siren, but this was England's night.  They have completely deserved to win the series, and this will go right up near the top as one of their finest achievements.

Man of the Match:  Plenty of standout performers on both sides, Dane Haylett-Petty and Sean McMahon for Australia, but the composure of Owen Farrell decided both the Test and the series.

Moment of the Match:  He might have been a touch fortunate with the way the ball bounced his way but Jamie George's try gave England the margin they needed.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Foley, Haylett-Petty, Hooper, Folau, Naiyaravoro
Cons:  Foley 3
Pens:  Foley 3

For England:
Tries:  Cole, Brown, B Vunipola, George
Cons:  Farrell 3
Pens:  Farrell 6

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Adam Coleman, 20 Wycliff Palu, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Christian Leali’ifano, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

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

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Scotland squeeze past Japan

Scotland were made to work hard before securing a narrow 21-16 victory over Japan in Tokyo on Saturday.

Just like last weekend's first Test, Japan held the upper hand early on, and led 13-9 at the break but Scotland progressively got into their stride though and took control of the game and the result secures them a 2-0 series victory over the Brave Blossoms.

As the scoreline suggests, this was an even affair and although Scotland secured victory thanks to the goalkicking of Henry Pyrgos and Greg Laidlaw, Japan scored the only try.

The first half was a stop-start affair characterised by several handling errors, especially from the visitors who stuttered with ball in hand during this period.

The match started at a frenetic pace with both sides giving the ball plenty of air before Pyrgos gave the visitors the lead via a penalty in the third minute, but Yu Tamara replied with a three-pointer of his own, from the kicking tee, shortly afterwards.

Pyrgos added his second penalty 10 minutes later before the game came alive in the 20th minute when the Brave Blossoms launched an attack from inside their half and were rewarded with the opening try, after the ball went through several pairs of hands.  Shoukei Kin was prominent throughout and eventually offloaded to Kaito Shigeno who rounded off the score.

Tamura added the extras but Pyrgos narrowed the gap to four points by the half-hour mark and although both sides launched several attacks towards the end of the first half, neither side could add to their tally during this period.

The second half was a more subdued affair but both sides continued to concede penalties.  Tamura added his third three-pointer in the 49th minute after Scotland were blown up for taking Shigeno out, off the ball, at a ruck.

The visitors had replaced Pyrgos with Laidlaw at half-time and he soon made his presence felt when he landed a penalty after Japan infringed at a ruck.

Laidlaw made it a one-point ball-game with his second successful penalty on the hour-mark and the visitors looked stronger during the game's latter stages.

The hosts were then penalised for illegal scrummaging in the 71st minute, and Laidlaw slotted another three-pointer from the kicking tee before securing victory with another penalty, three minutes before full-time, after Rikiya Matsuda was pinged for holding onto the ball on the ground.

Man of the Match:  Several Japanese players worked themselves into the ground during the game, both defensively and going forwards.  Amanaki Mafi tackled everything that moved and scrum-half Kaito Shigeno was a livewire.  Both Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw arrived onto the pitch after 50-minutes and used all of his experience to galvanise the side together and his boot kicked them to victory.

Moment of the Match:  Not often does this award get handed to the losing side but the only try of the game deserves this.  Japan ran in a length of the field score showing miss passes, steps and pace all around.  Almost every Japanese player was involved and Kaito Shigeno had the luck to finish off the score, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Try:  Shigeno
Con:  Tamura
Pens:  Tamura 3

For Scotland:
Pens:  Pyrgos 3, Laidlaw 4

Japan:  15 Rikiya Matsuda, 14 Male Sa'u, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamara, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Shoukei Kin, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie (c), 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Takeishi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Ryu Kolinasi Holani, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Mifi Poseti Paea

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Barclay, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 John Hardie, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Sean Lamont

Referee:  Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant Referees:  Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand), Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ian Smith (Australia)

All Blacks thrash Wales to clinch series whitewash

New Zealand produced a masterclass of attacking rugby on Saturday as they demolished Wales, running out 46-6 winners in Dunedin.

In a thrilling display of enterprising rugby in which they stayed true to their attacking roots but also showed tremendous discipline on defence, the world champions outscored their visitors by six tries to zero with Beauden Barrett leading the way with a superb all-round display, finishing with a 26-point haul via two tries, five conversions and two penalties.

The victory secures a 3-0 series whitewash for the All Blacks and stretches their unbeaten run against Wales to 29 matches.

The result also means the world champions have now stretched their winning run on home soil to an incredible 41 consecutive matches and Wales are now the fourth country – along with Australia, France and South Africa – against whom the world champions have wracked up more than 1000 points.

Wales were impressive during the early exchanges but unlike the two previous Tests – in Auckland and Wellington – when they were still in the game at half-time, they faded badly on this occasion and had no answer for the All Blacks' dominance on attack.

The visitors made the brighter start and took the lead via a Dan Biggar penalty in the sixth minute, after Sam Cane infringed at a ruck, before Barrett drew the home side level from the kicking tee when Wales' back-line went offside on defence.

Dane Coles was then blown up for obstruction in the 17th minute and Biggar restored the visitors three-point lead when he landed his second penalty.

Shortly afterwards Ben Smith ran onto a pass from Barrett close to Wales' 10-metre line and went on a mazy run before Rhys Patchell halted his progress with a desperate tackle close to the visitors' try-line.

From the ensuing scrum, the All Blacks set up some phases with their forwards before Aaron Smith threw a long pass to his namesake, Ben Smith, who got over in the right-hand corner for the opening try.

Barrett missed with the conversion attempt but soon made it 11-6 with his second successful penalty.  The All Blacks continued to dominate and spent large periods camped inside Wales' half with the two Smiths – Aaron and Ben – and Israel Dagg prominent as they launched several attacks from inside their half.

And on each occasion they got over the gainline with ease, leaving defenders floundering as they soon found thmselves deep inside Wales' 22.  One such attack saw Brodie Retallick, Julian Savea, Dane Coles, Ryan Crotty, Barrett, and Dagg all handling the ball before the latter was stopped just short of the try-line, but George Moala did well to gather before barging over for his second Test try in as many appearances.

Barrett added the extras which meant the home side were sittting pretty at 18-6 as the teams changed sides at the interval.

Wales tried to take on the All Blacks at their attacking game but their decision to run the ball from their own try line, soon after the restart, backfired when they were called back for a forward pass from Jonathan Davies to Hallom Amos.

That error had calamitous consequences as Barrett took a flat pass from Aaron Smith from the resulting scrum on Wales' five-metre line, and the direct route had the desired effect as he flattened Biggar on his way over the whitewash.

Shortly afterwards, the world champions were reduced to 14 men – Sam Cane receiving his marching orders for continually infringing at the ruck area, but that setback had little impact on the match an Wales failed to add to their tally.

The All Blacks rang the changes and in the 57th minute Lima Sopoaga, shortly after entering the fray, put Barrett in the clear on the edge of Wales' 22 before he slipped past two defenders and got over for his second try.

The hosts had the game in the bag but didn't take their foot off the pedal and five minutes later Coles got his name onto the scoresheet after running onto a flat pass from Cane.

Wales upped the ante in a bid to add some respectability to the score, but shortly before full-time they conceded a turnover inside New Zealand's half and Dagg sealed the win when he outpaced the cover defence before clinching the result with his side's sixth try.

Man of the Match:  Several All Blacks put their hand up with Aaron Smith, Ben Smith and Israel Dagg particularly outstanding but, in the end, Beauden Barrett gets our vote for a superb allround showing.

Moment of the Match:  Although New Zealand held a comfortable 18-6 lead at the interval, Barrett's first try, shortly after the restart, hammered home his side's dominance and there was no looking for the world champions after that.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Barrett 2, B Smith, Moala, Coles, Dagg
Cons:  Barrett 5
Pens:  Barrett 2
Yellow Card:  Cane

For Wales:
Pens:  Biggar 2

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 George Moala, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Liam Squire, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Waisake Naholo

Wales:  15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Aaron Jarvis, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Scott Williams

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Andrew Lees (Australia)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Georgia get the better of Fiji

Georgia finished their tour of the Pacific Islands on a high when they claimed a hard-fought 14-3 victory over Fiji in Suva on Friday.

In a tightly contested clash, Georgia did well to keep the home side's dangerous back-line in check thanks to a heroic defensive effort.

The visitors opened the scoring via a Merab Kvirikashvili penalty early in the first half, but Fiji struck back with a three-pointer off the kicking tee from Ben Volavola which meant the teams were deadlocked at 3-3 at half-time.

Georgia gained the upper hand shortly after the restart when Lasha Khmaladze crossed for the game's only try and although Kvirikashvili failed to convert the visitors continued to dominate.

Kvirikashvili added two further penalties with his second one, shortly before full-time, sealing a memorable victory.

The result means Georgia have completed their tour to the Pacific Islands with an unbeaten record after they drew their opening Test with Samoa before beating Tonga last weekend.

The scorers:

For Fiji:
Pen:  Volavola

For Georgia:
Try:  Khmaladze
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 3

Fiji:  15 Benito Masilevu, 14 Savenaca Rawaca, 13 Adriu Delai, 12 Eroni Vasiteri, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Nemia Kenatale, 8 Eremasi Radrodro, 7 Mosese Voka, 6 Naulia Dawai, 5 Tevita Cavubati, 4 Savenaca Tabakanalagi, 3 Taniela Koroi, 2 Sunia Koto (c), 1 Peni Ravai
Replacements:  16 Viliame Veikoso, 17 Campese Maáfu, 18 Mesake Doge, 19 Nemia Soqeta, 20 Malakai Ravulo, 21 Henry Seniloli, 22 Seremaia Bai, 23 Vereniki Goneva

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Giorgi Pruidze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili (c), 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 3 Irakli Mirtskhulava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Karlen Asieshvili
Replacements:  16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Zurab Zhvania, 18 Nikoloz Khatiashvili, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Lasha Lomidze, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaghuradze, 23 Saba Shubitidze

Referee:  JP Doyle (England)

Argentina too good for France

Argentina went 1-0 up in their two-Test series with France after a 30-19 win at the Estadio Monumental José Fierro in Tucumán.

Los Pumas outscored Les Bleus by three tries to one thanks to first-half efforts from Manuel Montero and Joaquín Tuculet and a sensational late score from Guido Petti, while France in response crossed through Rémi Bonfils.

But the second half truly was dictated by the goalkicking prowess of Nicolás Sánchez and Jules Plisson, as both sides were repeatedly punished by the whistle of referee John Lacey.

Sánchez in the end finished with 15 points, including the final conversion of Petti's try which proved to be enough for Argentina to seal the win.

This was very much an experimental French outfit, featuring seven new caps in total and captained by Jules Plisson on just his 12th cap.

Head coach Guy Novès of course was unable to pick players from the four Top 14 semi-finalists – Clermont, Racing 92, Montpellier and Toulon – preventing him from selecting France's regular captain from the Six Nations in Guilhem Guirado.

Still, this was a valuable opportunity for Novès to get a closer look at those players on the fringes of his radar pushing for selection.

They certainly had the brighter start, winning their first four lineouts with Plisson fizzing out passes trying to get his back three onto the ball before slotting the first points with a close-range penalty after ten minutes.

Plisson had a chance to double that tally after Argentina were penalised for collapsing the maul, only to miss, with Argentina instead charging upfield and tying the score through a Sánchez three-pointer.

The hosts were beginning to play with real confidence and a slick attack saw Argentina try and break France's defence down the left and right sides, sucking in defenders before the ball was flung wide to Montero for a score in the corner.  Sánchez landed an impressive conversion from out wide to make the score 10-3.

Plisson straight away had a chance to reply only to miss his second penalty, keeping the gap at seven points, and soon he was left in a hopeless chase trying to catch Tuculet as Argentina raced in for their second try.

Excellent work from Montero saw the juggernaut Argentine wing fend off Jonathan Danty before finding Tuculet on his inside, with the full-back having the speed on the angle to go over by the posts.

Penalties however in Argentina's half were keeping France in the contest, and after kicking to touch they hit back through a rolling maul with Bonfils the scorer.  Plisson converted to make it 17-10.

Despite the French pack also having the edge in the scrum, they couldn't find another score before the first half came to a close as Argentina went in ahead.

Early pressure from France at the start of the second half was rewarded with three more points from Plisson to make it 17-13, and Argentina's indiscipline was starting to become a real issue as their penalty count crossed into double figures.

Consecutive infringements in their own 22 led to referee John Lacey showing a yellow card to lock Javier Ortega Desio.

Plisson obliged with his third penalty, cutting the gap to one, and a fourth soon followed to put France into the lead again at 17-19.

Sánchez had a chance to stem the tide but his penalty effort clattered back off the right upright towards the end of the third quarter with the game finely poised.

Now though France were coming under pressure from the referee, loosehead prop Jefferson Poirot sin-binned as Sánchez stepped up to make it 20-19 to Argentina.

Three more points from Sánchez, landing his fifth kick out of six, gave Argentina more of a cushion, but the fly-half couldn't land his next effort from halfway as France began to tire and as a result gave away soft penalties.

And not long after Argentina found the knockout score, a deep attack remarkably finished off by Petti, who showed an impressive turn of speed to cut through the French defence to go over by the posts.

With the conversion of Sánchez the hosts now comfortably led 30-19 with five minutes remaining and despite a late French attack, the result was already settled.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Montero, Tuculet, Petti
Cons:  Sánchez 3
Pens:  Sánchez 3
Yellow Card:  Desio

For France:
Try:  Bonfils
Con:  Plisson
Pens:  Plisson 4
Yellow Card:  Poirot

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Juan Martín Hernandez, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Tomás Lezana, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Javier Ortega Desio, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Ignacio Larrague, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago González Iglesias , 23 Ramiro Moyano

France:  15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Xavier Mignot, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Djibril Camara, 10 Jules Plisson (c), 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Kevin Gourdon, 7 Raphaël Lakafia, 6 Loann Goujon, 5 William Demotte, 4 Julien Ledevedec, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Rémi Bonfils, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Lucas Pointud, 19 Fabrice Metz, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 François Trinh-Duc, 23 Gaël Fickou

Referee:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Stuart Berry (South Africa), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO:  Johan Greeff (South Africa)

Six-try Canada thrash Russia

Canada returned to the victory trail when they claimed a deserved 46-21 win over Russia in Calgary on Saturday.

The Canucks, who lost narrowly against Japan last weekend, outscored their visitors six tries to three with Gordon McRorie leading the way with a 26 point haul via a brace of tries, five conversions and two penalties.

Russia battled throughout and couldn't match the pace and intensity of the home side who went into this clash ranked one place higher than them, in 18th place, on the World Rugby rankings.

Canada made the brighter start and raced into a 19-0 lead inside the opening quarter after McRorie, Taylor Paris and Matt Evans crossed for tries.

They continued to dominate and in the 24th minute Pat Parfrey scored their fourth try after gathering a skip pass from Evans.

To their credit, Russia ddin't surrender and in the 31st minute front-row Innokentiy Zykov barged over for their opening try which Yury Kushnarev converted to cut the lead to 26-7 at half-time.

A McRorie penalty in the 43rd minute made it 29-7 and shortly afterwards he combined with Djustice Sears-Duru before dotting down under the posts to give the Canucks a commanding 36-7 lead.

Midway through the half, Jordan Wilson-Ross sealed victory when he crossed for Canada'a sixth try and although Russia added some respectability to the score with two consolation tries from Evgeny Elgin and Evgeny Matveev, McRorie slotted a late penalty to add the final nail in the visitors' coffin.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  McRorie 2, Paris, Evans, Parfrey, Wilson-Ross
Cons:  McRorie 5
Pens:  McRorie 2

For Russia:
Tries:  Zykov, Elvin, Matveev
Cons:  Kushnarev 3

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Mozac Samson, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Pat Parfrey, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Jamie Cudmore (c), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Cam Pierce, 20 Alistair Clark, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 Liam Underwood, 23 Jordan Wilson-Ross

Russia:  15 Artemyev Vasily (c), 14 Uzunov Konstantin, 13 Gerasimov Dmitry, 12 Rudenko Vladimir, 11 Kolomiytsev Evgeny, 10 Kushnarev Yury, 9 Shcherban Alexey, 8 Rudoi Anton, 7 Temnov Andrey, 6 Gresev Viktor, 5 Antonov Denis, 4 Garbuzov Andrei, 3 Zykov Innokentiy, 2 Gasanov Nazir, 1 Bitiev Azamat
Replacements:  16 Matveev Evgeny 17 Volkov Alexey 18 Podrezov Vladimir 19 Elgin Evgeny 20 Butenko Pavel 21 Iagudin Rushan 22 Ianiushkin Sergei 23 Ryabov Anton

Referee:  Shuhei Kubo (Japan)

Italy squeeze past USA

Italy got the job done but were made to graft for their 24-20 victory over the USA in San Jose on Saturday.

The result was a momentus one for the Azzurri as it's their first victory under new head coach Conor O'Shea, who took over the reins from Jacques Brunel at the end of a winless Six Nations campaign.

Italy's hero was their hooker, Ornel Gega, who scored a try either side of half-time which paved the way to victory.  Azzurri fly-half Carlo Canna also impressed with a 14-point haul via three penalties, a conversion and a drop goal.

Despite finishing on the losing side, the Eagles were competitive throughout and they will be happy with their competitive performance as they came into this clash after ending off their Americas Rugby Championship campaign in February with two successive defeats against Brazil and Uruguay.

The USA opened the scoring in the 12th minute via an AJ MaGinty penalty but Canna drew his side level from the kicking tee soon afterwards.  The game came alive in the 21st minute when referee Marius van der Westhuizen awarded a penalty try to the home side.  This after a Canna was adjudged to have thwarted a certain try with a deliberate knock on.

The Azzurri struck back 10 minutes later when Gega scored his first try from close quarters after his side set up a drive from a line-out deep inside the Eagles' 22.

Shortly before half-time, Canna slotted a penalty which meant the visitors held a slender 11-10 lead at the interval.

Italy were fastest out of the blocks and a well-taken drop goal from Canna extended their lead in the 43rd minute before MacGinty struck back with his second penalty to narrow the lead to one point again in the 51st minute.

The home side suffered a setback five minutes later, however, when Cam Dolan received a yellow card for dangerous play at a line-out inside his 22.

From the ensuing penalty, Italy kicked for touch and, in similar fashion to his try in the first half, Gega barged over from a rolling maul at the line-out.

Canna added the extras to give his side a 21-13 lead but the USA didn't surrender and struck back with a Tony Lamborn try in the 70th minute, after MacGinty and Mike Te'o did well in the build-up.

MacGinty slotted the conversion to narrow the gap to a point but Canna secured victory for the visitors with his third penalty shortly before full-time.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Penalty try, Lamborn
Cons:  MacGinty 2
Pens:  MacGinty 2
Yellow card:  Dolan

For Italy:
Tries:  Gega 2
Con:  Canna
Pens:  Canna 3
Drop goal:  Canna

USA:  15 Will Holder, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Thretton Palamo, 12 Shalom Suniula, 11 Blaine Scully, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Todd Clever (C), 6 Andrew Durutalo, 5 Greg Peterson, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Stephen Tomasin, 20 Harry Higgins, 21 Tony Lamborn, 22 Chad London, 23 Mike Te'o

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 David Odiete, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Robert Barbieri, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Maxime Mbandà, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti

Referee:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

South Africa rally to defeat Ireland

South Africa hit back against Ireland at Ellis Park despite trailing for the majority of the match, ultimately winning 32-26 to tie the series.

Ireland were in complete control for close to 60 minutes in Johannesburg thanks to tries from Devin Toner and Jamie Heaslip along with the boot of Paddy Jackson, who scored 16 points.

But as the tourists began to tire in the final quarter South Africa finally came good after an abject first half, finishing with four tries from Ruan Combrinck and Warren Whiteley, both replacements at half-time, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Damian de Allende.  From 26-10 down, they scored 22 unanswered points.

Facing an expected backlash from South Africa, Ireland were by far the better side for the majority of the contest, but the Springboks dug deep and eventually came up with the goods to turn the boos from the crowd into cheers.

The result means the series is now tied at 1-1 ahead of the final Test in Port Elizabeth next weekend.

First blood at the scrum went the way of the Springboks, the penalty going against Tadhg Furlong for scrumming on the angle with Elton Jantjies stepping up to knock the ball over from just inside Ireland's half.

Aspects of South Africa's game were immediately brighter than the previous week but it wasn't long until the boos rang out as Willie le Roux lashed another wasteful kick long into Irish hands.

Jackson levelled things up with a penalty after ten minutes and after South Africa strayed offside he doubled his tally, making it 3-6.

Turning down kickable points was a basic mistake from Adriaan Strauss with Ireland's rip defence continually winning turnovers.

Ireland meanwhile oozed control, their rolling maul resulting in another shot for Jackson which he unsurprisingly converted to stretch the lead to six points.

Just like at Newlands the indiscipline from the home side continued to cost them, Jackson striking again to ominously make it 3-12 for Ireland.

Jantjies had a chance to stem the tide, a soft penalty conceded by Andrew Trimble holding Faf de Klerk in at the ruck, but he could only strike the left upright.  Ireland infringed again immediately from the ricochet but this time Jantjies' effort slid down the left, keeping the gap at nine points.

Now South Africa were panicking.  Lwazi Mvovo failed to deal with a high kick forward as Andrew Trimble brilliantly scooped the ball back in-field to Jared Payne.  The Ireland full-back was brought down short of the line but after recycling Devin Toner crashed over, converted by Jackson to make it 3-19.

Jackson's perfect run came to an end with a penalty miss but Ireland had already done some damage, as the Springboks sprinted off at half-time to a cacophony of boos from their own supporters.

Allister Coetzee had to change something and the introduction of Ruan Combrinck and Warren Whiteley was a start, as was some slicker ball and greater intent.

Jackson missed his second penalty narrowly down the right upright but Ireland had ridden out a potentially tricky opening ten minutes at the start of the second half with South Africa looking to find a way back into the contest.

The Springbok scrum though was being decimated, the power of Quinn Roux added to the second row making a difference and allowing Ireland to more or less play the game exactly where they wanted to.

Finally South Africa made a breakthrough, a quick lineout giving Le Roux time to counter-attack before he released Combrinck, who busted through the tackle of Jackson to finish in the corner.

Jantjies, who might have been rocked by those earlier misses, crucially landed the conversion from out wide to make the score 10-19.

Ireland's response was immediate, charging down Faf de Klerk's box kick and winning a deep penalty before opting for the corner instead of going for the posts.

South Africa had no answer for Ireland's maul, Jamie Heaslip touching down for their second try to take the air out of the Ellis Park.  Jackson landed a sublime conversion to make it 10-26.

The other half-time replacement for the Springboks was the next to score, Whiteley's footwork allowing him to score in the corner after Combrinck had thundered through the tackle of Payne on the other side to start off the attack.  This time there was no conversion, Ireland taking a 26-15 lead into the final 15 minutes.

Suddenly the altitude looked a factor as South Africa turned on the power, Pieter-Steph du Toit crashing over by the posts to cut the deficit even further after Jantjies' conversion to make it just 22-26.

A momentous steal from Eben Etzebeth helped the Springboks climb another rung on the comeback ladder and the killer blow came from De Allende, busting through some tired Irish tackles for South Africa's fourth try, and more importantly the one to put them ahead.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Combrinck, Whiteley, Du Toit, De Allende
Cons:  Jantjies 3
Pen:  Jantjies

For Ireland:
Tries:  Toner, Heaslip
Cons:  Jackson 2
Pens:  Jackson 4

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Ruan Combrinck

Ireland:  15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Rhys Ruddock, 6 Iain Henderson, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 Richardt Strauss, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Tiernan O’Halloran

Referee:  Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Scotland come back to defeat Japan

Scotland came from behind to defeat Japan 26-13 at Toyota Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday.

It was a game of two halves as the first half showed some great running rugby opposed to a more placid second half.  The Japanese looked dominant in the first quarter of the game as they scored a great running try through Shota Horie.  Greg Laidlaw's boot however kept his side in contention.

Scotland dominated the possession as the visitors had a whopping 64 percent, while Japan also missed 17 tackles to Scotland's eight.

Japan's discipline really let them down as they coneded 11 penalties in the first half alone and two yellow cards, coming three minutes apart as Hendrik Tui and Rikiya Matsuda were sent to the bin, reducing the hosts to 13 men and killing the momentum Japan were building in the first half.

The first points came from Scotland captain Laidlaw who knocked over a penalty after Japan were penalised using hands at the breakdown.

Horie then scored a fantastic try after Amanaki Mafi broke the line and somehow got round Duncan Taylor who passed to his the captain to dot it down.

Laidlaw however kept his team in the game but after half an hour Japan were ahead 10-9.

From a Scottish rolling maul, Matsuda in a last gasp attempt tried to stop the play with a deliberate knockdown, which led to Scotland receiving a penalty try and Matsuda being sent to the bin for ten minutes.  Laidlaw made no mistake in converting the try.  Scotland went into the second half leading 16-10 as a result.

Japan were simply unable to defend with only 13 players on the field as Nel then crashed over for the five-pointer from close range.

The final score did not reflect some great running rugby from both teams in the second half, with only Nel's try and Laidlaw's penalty to show for it.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Penalty Try, Nel
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pens:  Laidlaw 4

For Japan:
Try:  Horie
Con:  Tamura
Pens:  Tamara 2
Yellow Cards:  Matsuda, Tui

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Mifiposeti Paea, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Shokei Kin, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Hiroki Yamamoto, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Rikiya Matsuda

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Damien Hoyland, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Sean Maitland

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Marius Mitrea (Italy), Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ian Smith (Australia)

England clinch historial series in Australia

England clinched a first-ever series win in Australia with a remarkable defensive effort, scrapping their way to a 23-7 win in Melbourne.

The tourists led 13-7 for almost the entire second half thanks to a try from Dylan Hartley and two Owen Farrell penalties, before a breakaway try finished off by Farrell made sure that England would make history.

After the thrills and spills of Sydney this was more of a traditional Test slugfest, boiling over at times and leaving Dan Cole early on with his shirt ripped off his back.

Tries from the two captains Stephen Moore and Hartley were copycat efforts off rolling mauls and from then on it was all about desire.  Exhausting enough just watching, both sets of players left everything out there.

Australia had chances to take penalties but opted for the lineout instead – brave at first, but the longer they trailled the more foolish turning down those points seemed.

From renowned tacklers likes James Haskell and Maro Itoje to someone whose tackling has been doubted like George Ford, England defence's was remarkable, even when it looked like their legs might give way.

Chris Robshaw celebrated his 50th cap with an outstanding display.  Haskell finished with 21 tackles.  Australia will feel that Farrell's late try was burglary, but the truth is England had more than earned it for their work camped in their own 22.

Farrell, metronomic with his place kicking in Sydney, couldn't draw his first attempt around to keep the scores at 0-0.

The pre-match concerns about the AAMI Park struggling with Test level scrums proved to be more than valid, as the two packs churned up dead turf at an alarming rate following the first couple of engagements.  Frankly, it was an embarrassment.

If the scrums were a letdown then a scrap which blew up following Robshaw's apparent neck roll on Nick Phipps saw both sides steaming into one another, a lengthy TMO referral resulting in Moore being penalised for flying in off his feet.

Patience was the key to England's approach on attack and after a bomb from Ford went unclaimed by the Wallabies waiting underneath, allowing it to bounce, Joseph pounced to secure possession to set up an attack which resulted in England kicking to the corner from a penalty and eventually scoring.

Having set the maul England's second phase gave them the power required to drive forward with Hartley pouncing for the try.  Farrell converted to make it 7-0.

A superior kicking game and the outstanding work of Cole in the scrum was allowing England to control proceedings, Farrell adding a penalty to stretch the lead to ten.

Seemingly in a daze Australia desperately needed something to snap out of their lull, and it came from their own maul.

The loss of Rory Arnold to the blood bin didn't matter as the Wallaby pack set and then powered over with the captain Moore the scorer.  Foley put his Sydney kicking woes behind him by landing the conversion from out wide to make it 7-10.

Samu Kerevi repayed the faith shown in him by Michael Cheika with some punishing runs, threatening to split England open with the first half running down.

Australia though had a final chance to attack after Billy Vunipola kicked the ball out seemingly at the same time as the hooter.

The hosts instead cracked out an attack from the resulting lineout which went four minutes and over 20 phases into overtime, the Wallabies finishing it with absolutely no points whatsoever.  England led by the break, just, as both teams headed down the tunnel still scrapping.

It was the visitors who started the second half with more energy but they had been lucky to not lose a man to a yellow card in the first half after cynical penalties close to their own line.

A TMO referral for a block in the back by Farrell suggested that sin-binning would finally happen, except instead Australia were penalised for obstruction and Farrell obliged to make it 7-13.

Only an excellent turnover from Robshaw on his 50th cap could keep Australia out again but the Wallabies were starting to surge, a fresh front row turning the screw on the scrum to test England's defence again.  Foley's knock-on brought that to an end.

With England tiring the introduction of Christian Lealiifano to add some width to Australia's game looked like a masterstroke as the Wallabies enjoyed close to 70 percent possession in the second half.

Time and again England's defence five metres out from their line remained resolute, desperately kicking clear whenever they could.

Waiting for a vital mistake, England pounced.  Courtney Lawes burst up the middle was followed up by replacement hooker Jamie George, and it was his grubber kick which unlocked the Australia defence, Farrell racing up in support to get to the ball and score the series-winning score.

Another dominant scrum from England had Billy Vunipola roaring in celebration and Farrell lining up another penalty, stretching the score to 23-7.

Sunday will be a rough day for Australia as they try and recover for Sydney.  England meanwhile will savour the moment.  What a turnaround from their Rugby World Cup disaster.

Man of the Match:  A tie between England's two "six and a halves" – Chris Robshaw and James Haskell – whose defensive efforts will be remembered for some time.

Moment of the Match:  Finely poised for so long, Jamie George's support line and kick ahead suddenly have Australia scrambling as Farrell pounced for that winning score.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing overly nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Moore
Con:  Foley

For England:
Tries:  Hartley, Farrell
Cons:  Farrell 2
Pens:  Farrell 3

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 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 Ben McCalman, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Christian Leali’ifano, 23 Luke Morahan

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

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
TMO:  Glenn Newman (New Zealand)