Ireland too strong for Scotland

Ireland moved closer to the Six Nations title following a comfortable 28-8 triumph over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.

In a thrilling first half, Greig Laidlaw opened the game’s account by kicking a penalty but two Jacob Stockdale tries gave the Emerald Isle an 11-point buffer at the interval.

Conor Murray extended the lead early in the second period before Blair Kinghorn gave the visitors hope going into the final half-hour.

Joe Schmidt’s men continued to control matters, though, and Sean Cronin made the game safe by barging across the whitewash from close range for the crucial bonus-point.

They will head to Twickenham with an opportunity of claiming a Grand Slam for just the third time in their history, while Scotland are now out of the title race.

The hosts began the game in the ascendency, keeping the ball impressively through the phases, but mistakes at costly times prevented them from opening the scoring.

Scottish defence in the early stages was ferocious and uncharacteristic errors crept into the Irish game.  There were knock-ons aplenty and the visitors benefited by earning a penalty on the opposition 22, which Laidlaw converted.

That effort gave Gregor Townsend’s men confidence and Stuart Hogg, Kinghorn and Finn Russell all displayed some neat touches, but they proceeded to undo their good work.

The away side had created space out wide but Peter Horne threw a needless pass to give Stockdale an easy intercept try.  Jonathan Sexton converted and Ireland held a 7-3 advantage after 25 minutes.

It was proving to be a pulsating contest with both teams showing creativity and physicality in abundance.  However, the respective rearguards remained on top until late in the half when Schmidt’s team found a clinical edge.

Following Rob Kearney’s break, which almost ended in Murray crossing the whitewash, the hosts were awarded a scrum five metres out and Garry Ringrose combined with Bundee Aki to send Stockdale over.

Ireland duly went into the break 14-3 ahead and took that momentum into the second period, dominating the opening exchanges and pressurising the opposition 22.

A sixth Scotland infringement at the breakdown allowed the Emerald Isle to build another attack and Murray displayed his sniping instincts to touch down from close range.

Similar to their Wales performance, Townsend’s team could have folded but they showed commendable spirit to come back into the encounter via a well-worked score for Kinghorn.

However, the Scots were not quite at Ireland’s level, failing to take the chances that came their way and also conceding far too many penalties.

Once such error gave Sexton a chance to extend their advantage but, although the fly-half missed for the only time off the tee, it did not matter as Cronin secured the five points in the final quarter.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Stockdale 2, Murray, Cronin
Cons:  Sexton 4

For Scotland:
Try:  Kinghorn
Pen:  Laidlaw

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Dan Leavy, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Devin Toner, 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 David Denton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Nick Grigg, 23 Lee Jones

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Ireland win Six Nations after England lose to France

Ireland have won the Six Nations championship after a lacklustre England succumbed 22-16 to an improved French side at the Stade de France.

Eddie Jones required tries but all he got was three-pointers in the first half as the teams traded three penalties apiece.  Maxime Machenaud kicked all of Les Bleus’ points while Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly shared out the Red Rose’s before the interval.

It was a poor performance from England in the opening period and they continued to underwhelm after the break.

Jacques Brunel’s men duly punished their ill-discipline and inability to get across the gainline as a penalty try and another Machenaud effort off moved them in front.

The away team hit back via Jonny May but it wasn’t enough as Lionel Beauxis scored a late penalty in a frantic finish.

With Ireland’s result earlier moving them 10 points clear of the Red Rose, the visitors needed a quick start and they dominated possession and territory.

Chances were few and far between, however, and they had to make do with the accurate kicking of Farrell and Daly to accrue their points.

The hosts conceded penalties at will in the opening stages, allowing England to go 6-0 ahead via their centre and returning winger, who was on target with a long-range effort.

France soon took charge of the breakdown battle, though, and reduced the arrears through Machenaud before Farrell regained the away side’s six-point buffer.

England needed a spark to get them going but, as they were against Scotland, Jones’ men lacked direction and intensity.  In fact, the hosts arguably looked more dangerous with ball in hand and deservedly levelled proceedings at the break, with Machenaud adding a brace of three-pointers.

Nevertheless, it was hardly a match to inspire and the performances of both sides were symptomatic of their respective campaigns.

Those frustrations continued into the second half with creativity at a minimum, but France finally found an opening.  With a penalty advantage, Francois Trinh-Duc kicked out to the left where Benjamin Fall gathered and was tackled high by Anthony Watson.

Jaco Peyper, in consultation with the television match official, correctly awarded a penalty try and sent the full-back to the sin-bin.

All of a sudden, Les Bleus had the momentum and produced another opportunity from an England mistake – their umpteenth of the match – but they butchered the chance and the visitors escaped.

Unperturbed, a far more confident French outfit merely went again and earned a fourth three-point chance, which Machenaud duly kicked to extend their buffer.

Entering the last 10 minutes, Jones’ men looked out of the contest but, whether through tiredness or nerves, holes began to appear in the hosts’ defence and May gave the English hope.

They continued to press, despite a Beauxis penalty, but it was not enough as France deservedly came away with the victory.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Penalty try
Pens:  Machenaud 4, Beauxis

For England:
Try:  May
Con:  Farrell
Pens:  Farrell 2, Daly
Yellow Card:  Watson

France:  15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Benjamin Fall, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11 Rémy Grosso, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Marco Tauleigne, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhelm Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Adrien Pelissié, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Kélian Galletier, 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Lionel Beauxis, 23 Gaël Fickou

England:  15 Anthony Watson, 14 Jonny May, 13 Ben Te’o, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 James Haskell, 20 Sam Simmonds, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Mike Brown

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Scotland claim Calcutta Cup

Scotland have ended 10 years of misery against the Auld Enemy with a 25-13 victory over England at Murrayfield on Saturday.

It brings to an end an eight-game losing streak for Scotland against England and represents Scotland's greatest triumph of the modern era.

Meanwhile, England's hopes of claiming a record third successive title have been cast into doubt while Ireland have now emerged as favourites following their convincing win over Wales.

Greig Laidlaw gave Scotland an early lead, making it nine from nine penalties in this year's Six Nations.

Owen Farrell levelled matters at 3-3 after 14 minutes but then out of nowhere Scotland scored the game's first try.  After driving a maul in to the 22, Finn Russell placed a well-weighted grubber kick through which bounced fortunately for Scotland, completely bamboozling Anthony Watson as Huw Jones pounced on the ball to run through and dot down for the game's first try.  Laidlaw's conversion made it 10-3.

England resorted to mauling as their primary weapon of attack and it was from here they won a penalty as Scotland lock Grant Gilchrist was penalised for pulling the maul down.  Farrell made no mistake from the tee, cutting the deficit to four with a quarter of the match gone.

Russell was pulling the strings on attack for Scotland and made two superb passes in the build-up to an excellent team try, the final pass a floater over the top for Sean Maitland to dive over in the corner.

Jones grabbed his brace, running a sublime line to scythe through the tackle of Nathan Hughes and still showed great strength to brush off the dual attentions of Watson and Mike Brown as he powered over the try-line with a truly world-class finish.

England immediately took the game to Scotland after the break, enjoying their best spell of possession of the game and the resistance was broken just four minutes in when Farrell ran a lovely line as Danny Care switched back to the blindside, catching the Scottish defence slightly off-guard.

A long period of no scoring ensued before Sam Underhill saw yellow in the 65th minute for a no-arms tackle.  Russell slotted the subsequent penalty to extend the lead to 25-13.

However, Scotland showed tremendous character on defence to deny England any further scores and secure an historic victory.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Jones 2, Maitland
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pens:  Laidlaw, Russell

For England:
Try:  Farrell
Con:  Farrell
Pens:  Farrell 2

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 David Denton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Nick Grigg, 23 Blair Kinghorn

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Jack Nowell

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Ireland overpower Wales in Dublin

Ireland maintained their unbeaten 2018 Six Nations record with a 35-27 victory over Wales at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

The hosts completely dominated the match, enjoying 69 percent possession and 75 percent territory with Wales having to make 175 tackles.

In the first half, however, Ireland could not convert their dominance into points while Wales scored from the one chance they had.  But after the break, Ireland were more clinical and capitalised on their superiority, as Wales tired due to the sheer amount of tackles they had to make.

Ireland had all the attacking flair and creative instinct with their New-Zealand style offloading game coming to the fore, while Wales were old-fashioned and attritional.

The half-back pairing of Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton bossed the game and were excellent in their decision making on the day, whereas Dan Biggar and the Wales backline went missing.  Pity because the Wales back row were excellent.

Leigh Halfpenny gave Wales the early lead with a penalty.  Soon after, Sexton had a penalty of his own but hit the post.

However, Ireland did have their try soon afterwards.  Slide-rule precision from the hands of Sexton found Jacob Stockdale on the left wing who dotted down.

With Wales on a rare attack, the ball came loose from Rob Evans’ pass.  Nippy scrum-half Davies picked the ball up and had plenty of space to make a sniping run through a scrambling Irish defence and dive over.  Halfpenny slotted the conversion for a 10-5 lead.

Halfpenny added a penalty soon afterwards to extend the lead to 13-5 as Wales seemed content with not having to play rugby while still keeping the scoreboard ticking.

Sexton got his first points off the tee after Wales were penalised for offside as Ireland opted to take the points with still enough time to get a try before half-time.

And they did reclaim the lead before the interval when Bundee Aki showed his physical prowess to bust past two defenders and still have the strength to stretch out and dot down.

Ireland were more clinical after the break and were justly rewarded.  Slick interplay between Earls and Rob Kearney made the break down the right.  The forwards expertly took the ball up through close quarters and when they were close enough and the time was right, propelled Dan Leavy over the line.  Sexton’s conversion made it 22-13.

Wales simply could not cope by now with Ireland as their plan was simply to get close to the line and once there, take it up and over through their powerful forwards;  this time Cian Healy burrowing over from close range to cap off a fantastic individual display.

But the Welsh seemed to get a second wind.  Biggar made 25 yards by successfully chasing and regaining Davies’ box-kick.  The ball was recycled and spread through the hands with Hadleigh Parkes’ looping pass over the top finding Josh Navidi who only had to draw his defender and release Shingler for a clear run to the line down the right wing.  Halfpenny made a difficult conversion to bring Wales within a converted try.

Ireland’s forwards claimed a moral victory winning a late scrum penalty.  Murray held his nerve with the kick, as it went in off the bar, giving Ireland a ten-point buffer.

But Wales weren’t done yet and Steff Evans, who had a very quiet game, popped up for the try to cap off a wonderful team move and set up a tense finale.

From the restart, Wales went on the attack in search of a dramatic comeback and made their way upfield.  But a slow, looping pass in midfield was intercepted by Stockdale, who was never going to be caught, grabbing his brace and securing the 37-27 victory.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Stockdale 2, Healy, Leavy, Aki
Cons:  Sexton 3, Carbery
Pens:  Sexton, Murray

For Wales:
Tries:  Davies, Shingler, Evans
Cons:  Halfpenny 3
Pens:  Halfpenny 2

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Dan Leavy, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Devin Toner, 4 James Ryan, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 John Ryan, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Fergus McFadden

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Cory Hill, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 George North

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Pascal Gauzere (France), Matthew Carley (England)

France down Italy in scrappy encounter

France claimed their first win of the 2018 Six Nations, defeating Italy 34-17 at the Orange Vélodrome on Friday night.

Les Bleus squandered several chances in the first half.  However, after going into the break with a narrow 11-7 advantage, they wore Italy down and eventually put some daylight between themselves and the Azzurri in the second half.

France came into the match under pressure after narrow defeats to Ireland and Scotland.  However, it only took five minutes for Les Bleus to draw first blood.  Following an attacking lineout, they forced their way over the try-line, with Paul Gabrillagues grounding the ball.

But Italy hit back from an attacking lineout of their own and were awarded a penalty try in the 13th minute after the hosts collapsed the maul.

After a lengthy spell of pressure, France finally regained the lead in the 29th minute, with Maxime Machenaud slotting over a penalty won for offside right under the posts.

Back from a three-week ban for a homophobic slur, Mathieu Bastareaud did well to rip the ball out of Italian hands on the stroke of half-time, leading to another French penalty and three more points for Machenaud.

France squandered a glorious chance to score right after the break.  They found themselves with numbers out on the left, but with the try-line at their mercy, Lionel Beauxis swung the ball to nobody and the hosts knocked on.

Les Bleus did extend their lead through another Machenaud penalty in the 46th minute following a high tackle.  However, Italy hit back within four minutes.  Tommaso Allan nailed his first kick of the game after Sergio Parisse was taken out off the ball.

In the 60th minute, France finally scored their second try.  They attacked down the left once more, with Hugo Bonneval passing to Rémy Grosso out wide.  The winger offloaded back inside to the full-back as he was forced into touch and Bonneval finished off with ease.

Four minutes later, Nicola Quaglio was penalised for offside.  Machenaud stepped up to the kicking tee once more and extended the lead to two converted tries.

The scrum-half's last contribution before being substituted off for Baptiste Couilloud came in the 71st minute, when he popped his fifth penalty of the night over after France failed to make the most of an advantage.

In the 73rd minute, Bastareaud put the game to bed.  After Marco Tauleigne had charged through the Azzurri defence to initiate the attack, the centre was left to finish the job from close range.  He duly obliged, powering over the try-line.

With less than two minutes left on the clock, Italy scored a consolation try.  Following a set play, they moved the ball out to the left and breezed through the French defence.  Matteo Minozzi finished off the move.

However, the game ended in tears for the Azzurri as Luca Bigi was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on in the dying seconds.  France were unable to force their way over for one final try, but they nevertheless claimed a comfortable win.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Gabrillagues, Bonneval, Bastareaud
Cons:  Machenaud, Trinh-Duc
Pens:  Machenaud 5

For Italy:
Tries:  Penalty try, Minozzi
Con:  Canna
Pen:  Allan
Yellow Card:  Bigi

France:  15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Benjamin Fall, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11 Rémy Grosso, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Marco Tauleigne, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Adrien Pelissié, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Kélian Galletier, 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 François Trinh-Duc, 23 Gaël Fickou

Italy:  15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Maxime Mbanda, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Luca Bigi, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Tiziano Pasquali 19 George Biagi, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Jayden Hayward

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO:  David Grashoff (England)

Greig Laidlaw kicks Scotland to victory over France

Greig Laidlaw kicked six second half penalties as Scotland got their Six Nations campaign back on track following a 32-26 triumph over France.

The first half was a wonderfully free-flowing encounter with the sides scoring two tries apiece.  Teddy Thomas touched down twice for the French – his second taking them 17-7 clear – but Sean Maitland and Huw Jones crossed the whitewash for the hosts to leave it finely poised.

Although the second period was slightly more attritional, with three penalties from Laidlaw to two from Baptiste Serin the only scores in the third quarter, it was still an enthralling contest going into the final 20 minutes.

Laidlaw then levelled proceedings before the half-back added two more from the tee to condemn France to a second consecutive defeat.

It was a thrilling affair – quite comfortably the best game of the championship – and the early passage of play set the tone.

With conditions far more conducive for attacking rugby than in France’s narrow defeat to Ireland last weekend, the visitors looked to move the ball wider and enjoyed plenty of success.

Once again, Thomas, after his wonderful individual score in round one, was particularly prominent and he repeated that effort in the opening 10 minutes.

The wing virtually produced a carbon copy of that try as he picked up the ball on the right, weaved outside Finn Russell and then stepped inside Stuart Hogg for another magnificent individual touchdown.

Jacques Brunel’s men were on the front foot and Maxime Machenaud followed up converting Thomas’ score by adding a penalty.

Scotland hit back, however.  Against Wales, where they conceded early and duly folded, Gregor Townsend’s men could have gone the same way at Murrayfield but, to their credit, the hosts found their composure and, more importantly, their physicality.

Both Hamish Watson and Jonny Gray had surges which dented the opposition rearguard before the ball was shifted wide and Maitland crossed the whitewash unopposed.

Townsend’s side were playing much better but so were Les Bleus and another piece of Thomas brilliance saw them restore their 10-point buffer.  The hosts were exposed on the right once more and the Frenchman sprinted down the wing, kicked ahead and touched down.

Unperturbed, Scotland reduced the arrears when Jones took a brilliant line, but a second Machenaud three-pointer gave the visitors a 20-14 advantage at the interval.

Discipline was an issue in the second period with Laidlaw and replacement Serin, who came on at half-time, trading three-pointers.  The kickers then repeated the trick as Brunel’s side went into the final quarter 26-20 in front.

France were beginning to make errors, however, and they started to infringe more consistently.  Two of those were in kickable positions and Scotland’s scrum-half was in no mood to miss, adding a brace of penalties.

The home team sensed that their opponents were wilting and searched for the decisive breakthrough.  Townsend’s men were on the front foot and the pressure eventually yielded an opportunity for their sharp-shooter, which he converted.

Scotland maintained their intensity and Laidlaw made sure that they erased memories of their woeful performance against Wales.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Maitland, Jones
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pens:  Laidlaw 6

For France:
Tries:  Thomas 2
Cons:  Machenaud 2
Pens:  Machenaud 2, Serin 2

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 David Denton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Blair Kinghorn

France:  15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Maxine Machenaud, 8 Marco Tauleigne, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Adrien Pelissié, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Benjamin Fall

Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

England grind past spirited Wales

England kept their Grand Slam hopes alive when they claimed a hard-fought 12-6 victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday.

In a tough and uncompromising encounter, characterised by several brutal collisions, England outscored their hosts two tries to none with Jonny May crossing for a brace in the first half.

England were made to work very hard for this win but, in the end, they did enough in the first half to secure the result as a Wales penalty was the only points after half-time.  Although the visitors will rue some missed opportunities on attack.

The hosts made a bright start and opened the scoring as early as the third minute when May gathered a bouncing crossfield kick from Owen Farrell inside Wales' 22 before crossing the whitewash.

Farrell missed with the conversion attempt but although Wales had a chance to narrow the gap when England infringed from the restart, Rhys Patchell pushed his penalty kick wide of the posts.

England continued to dominate as the half progressed and in the 20th minute they increased their lead courtesy of May's second try.

Farrell threw a long pass to Joe Launchbury close to Wales' try-line.  And although the big second-row still had work to do, he did well to throw an inside pass to May, who went over untouched.

Farrell succeeded with the conversion attempt which gave his side a 12-0 lead, but Wales were soon back on the attack and were unlucky not to be awarded a try.

This, after a Patchell crossfield kick bounced off Steff Evans' knee and Gareth Anscombe appeared to ground the ball before Anthony Watson but the Television Match Official ruled that there was insufficient evidence of the grounding.

Referee Jérôme Garcès came back for an England infringement on defence and Patchell slotted the resulting penalty to open the visitors' account.

There were several tense moments over the next 15 minutes but Patchell's penalty was the final points of the half and although England held a nine-point lead, the game was evenly poised as the teams changed sides at the interval.

The second half was a tight affair and although the two teams spent time inside their opponents' half, they kept each other at bay with solid defensive efforts.

Wales finished stronger, however, and did most of the attacking during the final quarter.

Just after the hour-mark, Ken Owens and George North combined brilliantly before North offloaded to Scott Williams inside England's 22.  Williams was in the clear and sailed towards the try-line from five metres out but Sam Underhill did saved the day for the hosts with a brilliant cover tackle which took Williams into touch at the corner flag.

Wales continued to attack but had nothing to show for their efforts although they secured a losing bonus-point, three minutes before full-time, when Anscombe slotted a penalty.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  May 2
Con:  Farrell

For Wales:
Pens:  Patchell, Anscombe

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Jack Nowell

Wales:  15 Gareth Anscombe, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Cory Hill, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Owen Watkin, 23 George North

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Nic Berry (Australia)
TMO:  Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Eight-try Ireland cruise past Italy

Ireland made it two wins out of two in this year's Six Nations when they claimed a deserved 56-19 win over Italy in Dublin on Saturday.

Joe Schmidt's men were ruthless in the first half and went into the break leading 28-0.  Despite a few defensive errors in the second, they ultimately proved too good for Conor O'Shea's side.

After a sustained spell of pressure from the hosts, Robbie Henshaw scored the first try of the game in the 11th minute, after spotting a gap in the defence and surging through from close range.

Ireland continued to attack and only had to wait three minutes before scoring again.  A magnificent pass from Jack Conan sent Conor Murray away on the left and the scrum-half finished off.

Murray turned provider in the 21st minute following an attacking lineout, which had put Ireland just short of the try-line.  From there, he passed the ball to Bundee Aki, who crashed over.

14 minutes later, it was Aki's turn to set up a try.  After a clever dummy in the build-up, he passed the ball to Keith Earls, who eased over for the bonus-point try near the right touchline.

Italy shot themselves in the foot in the fourth minute of the second half, as Sergio Parisse's sloppy pass to Tommaso Allan was intercepted by Henshaw.  The centre ran through for his second try, but injured himself in the process and had to be replaced by debutant Jordan Larmour.

Captain Rory Best got in on the act in the 53rd minute, when he peeled away from a maul and crashed over for a rare try.

However, Italy hit back three minutes later, when Tommaso Castello charged through a gap in the defence and offloaded to Tommaso Allan, who scored the Azzurri's first try.

It didn't take long for Ireland to respond.  Jacob Stockdale eased through the Azzurri defence from close range and grounded the ball near the posts in the 60th minute following another attacking lineout.

Matteo Minozzi was the catalyst for a well-worked attacking move which led to Italy's second try.  Parisse got the final pass to Edoardo Gori, who scored in the 66th minute.

However, once again, Italy proved their own worst enemies, as Stockdale intercepted a Castello pass and darted through on the left to score Ireland's eighth try four minutes later.

Minozzi got a deserved try of his own with five minutes left on the clock after the ball was worked out left to him following an attacking lineout.  Nevertheless, it was too little, too late, as Italy narrowly missed out on a bonus point.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Henshaw 2, Murray, Aki, Earls, Best, Stockdale 2
Cons:  Sexton 5, Carbery 3

For Italy:
Tries:  Allan, Gori, Minozzi
Cons:  Allan 2

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Dan Leavy, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 CJ Stander, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour

Italy:  15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Braam Steyn, 6 Sebastien Negri, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Maxime Mata Mbanda, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Jayden Hayward

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  Pascal Gaüzère (France), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO:  David Grashoff (England)

Seven-try England put Italy to the sword

England got their Six Nations campaign off to a winning start when they claimed a 46-15 victory over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday.

In a fast-paced and entertaining game, both sides gave the ball plenty of air but in the end England proved too strong and outscored their hosts seven tries to two with Anthony Watson and Sam Simmonds scoring a brace each.

The win proved costly, however, as they lost the services of first-choice scrum-half Ben Youngs who left the field early in the game with what looked like a serious leg injury.  Youngs' leg got caught as he tried to get a pass out from a ruck in the 10th minute and he was subsequently replaced by Danny Care.

Despite finishing on the losing side, Italy were competitive for large periods and their tries were a fitting reward after they impressed with enterprising play which caught England by surprise.

The visitors started the game at a frenetic pace and opened their account in the third minute when Watson rounded off a well-worked try in the right-hand corner after brilliant work from Owen Farrell and George Ford in the build-up.  England's chief playmakers traded a couple of looped passes inside Italy's 22, before Jonny May hit the line at pace before offloading to Watson, who went over in the right-hand corner.

In the 11th minute, England launched another attack and once again it was May who caused confusion in Italy's defensive ranks when he joined his side's back-line before getting a pass out to Watson.

The right wing still had work to do but his pace took him past a couple of defenders before he dotted down in the same corner again.

Despite being under the cosh for most of the opening quarter, Italy soaked up the early pressure and replied with a superb try from Tommaso Benvenuti.  This after the ball went through several phases in the build-up before Tommaso Allan delivered a delightful long pass to Benvenuti who crossed for a deserved five-pointer.

In the 25th minute, England notched their third try when Ford put Farrell in the clear with a well-timed pass and he broke through the Azzurri's midfield before crossing the whitewash.

Just before half-time, Mako Vunipola was penalised for an infringement at a breakdown and Allan slotted the resulting penalty which meant England led 17-10 as the teams changed sides at the interval.

Shortly after the restart, England took the ball through several phases inside the Azzurri's half with Courtney Lawes prominent.  Lawes was eventually brought to ground deep inside Italy's 22 and from the ensuing ruck, Watson ran onto a pass from Care and beat a couple of defenders but he was denied his third try when he lost the ball while stretching over the try-line.

Italy thought they had narrowed the gap in the 47th minute when Tommaso Boni glided through a gap in England's defence before crossing the whitewash but the try was disallowed after television replays showed that he gathered a forward pass from Allan before dotting down.

Shortly afterwards, Farrell slotted a penalty after Italy were blown up for illegal scrummaging.  In the 52nd minute, Simmonds showed a superb turn of speed when he broke through a lineout on the edge of Italy's 22 before crossing for his first Test try on his Six Nations debut.

Italy did not surrender, however, and five minutes later Mattia Bellini rounded off in the left-hand corner after his side took the ball through several phases in the build-up.

That would be the last time the visitors would score points, however, as England finished stronger during the game's final quarter.  That was largely due to their strength in depth coming off their replacements bench.

Late tries from Ford, Simmonds and Jack Nowell knocked the wind out of the home side's sails and made the scoreline seem more flattering.  But England head coach Eddie Jones will be satisfied that his team managed to secure a bonus-point win away from home in their tournament opener.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Benvenuti, Bellini
Con:  Allan
Pen:  Allan

For England:
Tries:  Watson 2, Farrell, Simmonds 2, Ford, Nowell
Cons:  Farrell 4
Pen:  Farrell

Italy:  15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Renato Giammarioli, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Luca Bigi, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 George Biagi, 20 Maxime Mbanda’, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Jayden Hayward

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Ben Te’o, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 George Kruis, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Danny Care, 22 Jonathan Joseph, 23 Jack Nowell

Referee:  Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Nic Berry (Australia)
TMO:  Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Late Johnny Sexton brilliance stuns France

Johnny Sexton was the Ireland hero as his last-minute long range drop-goal broke France hearts, snatching a dramatic 15-13 triumph at the Stade de France.

Les Bleus were playing their first game under Jacques Brunel, following the sacking of Guy Noves, and it showed in the opening 20 minutes.

The Emerald Isle were initially far more assured in what they were trying to achieve with the ball and successive Sexton penalties gave them a six-point buffer.  Maxime Machenaud reduced the deficit from the tee, but the visiting pivot added another three-pointer for a 9-3 advantage at the interval.

Sexton and Machenaud then traded three-pointers after the break, leaving it finely poised going into the four quarter, but the French seemed to produce one final surge.

Joe Schmidt’s team had appeared too streetwise for an outfit still finding its feet, but Teddy Thomas weaved his way through the opposition’s rearguard for a superb try.  However, Ireland are a confident side under their astute boss and they maintained their composure to win the game when Sexton dropped a goal from over 40 metres.

The visitors began confidently and went through the phases impressively and against a French team eager to get into the contest, forcing Brunel’s men to infringe.

Keith Earls was also looking particularly threatening and those two factors allowed the away side to earn a couple of kickable penalties, which Sexton converted for an early 6-0 advantage.

The 2014 and ‘15 winners remained in the ascendency and created an opportunity inside their opponents’ 22 but, to the hosts’ credit, they remained resilient in defence.

For a team that has had little preparation time under their new head coach, Les Bleus were remarkably well organised and they managed to frustrate Ireland.  Schmidt’s men duly became far too narrow in attack and France profited at the breakdown, earning a pressure-relieving penalty.

Brunel’s team then got into the Ireland half and reduced the arrears via Machenaud before Sexton restored the visitors’ buffer at the interval.

It was a disappointing opening 40 minutes, particularly after Ireland’s bright start, and the attrional nature of the contest continued in the second period.

Both teams were trying every trick in the book to slow down opposition ball but the French stepped over the line in the 47th minute and the Emerald Isle’s pivot punished them with his fourth off the tee.

Ireland had been disciplined throughout the encounter and it kept the hosts at arm’s length, but a needless infringement allowed Machenaud to keep France in the game.

Schmidt’s men were in control and appeared to be heading for victory before Thomas picked up the ball, scythed his way through and crossed the whitewash.  Anthony Belleau converted and that looked to be the game, until Sexton displayed his qualities in the final minute.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Thomas
Con:  Belleau
Pens:  Machenaud 2

For Ireland:
Pens:  Sexton 4
Drop-goal:  Sexton

France:  15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Kevin Gourdon, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Adrien Pelissié, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Marco Tauleigne, 21 Antoine Dupont, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Benjamin Fall

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 John Ryan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Fergus McFadden

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Wales get Scotland revenge

Wales exacted their revenge for last year's defeat with a 34-7 win over Scotland in Six Nations action at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

Tries from Gareth Davies, Steff Evans and a Leigh Halfpenny brace proved too much for Scotland, who scored through Peter Horne.

Although they enjoyed superior possession and territory, Scotland were guilty of poor execution and Wales were happy to sit back and pounce on their mistakes.

Scotland also gave away too many penalties, refusing to learn their lesson and Halfpenny continued to punish them as he maintained his hundred percent kicking record throughout.

Scotland can count themselves unlucky to have gone behind against the run of play, having dominated the early exchanges.  Scrum-half Ali Price was slow to clear from the ruck and opposite number Davies read his pass like a novel, snatching the ball out of mid-air before winning the foot race with Scotland outside centre Chris Harris to dot down.  Halfpenny added the extras.

Wales doubled their lead six minutes later.  It was sloppy from Scotland to give away the scrum in the first place.  Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell made the initial break from the set-piece but was halted metres short.  Wales sucked in the Scottish defence before spraying the ball out wide to the right where Wales had two men waiting on the overlap.  Halfpenny didn't even need the man on his outside as he crashed over before converting his own try to give the home side a 12th-minute 14-0 lead.

Wales came flying out the blocks in the second half and were rewarded with a Halfpenny three-pointer five minutes in after referee Pascal Gauzere ruled that Scotland captain John Barclay had stolen the ball illegally at a ruck.

Soon after, Halfpenny slotted another penalty with Barclay the culprit again;  this time for not releasing the tackler.  This meant Wales led 20-0 with half an hour to go.

One could tell the Scotland backroom staff were not happy with the state of affairs when Scotland coach Gregor Townsend rung the changes on the 50-minute mark.  His counterpart Warren Gatland responded by making a string of changes of his own.

Ten minutes later, Wales had their third.  From a five-metre attacking lineout, the ball was switched from left to right as Wales showed patience in taking the ball through the phases.  The space was created courtesy of quick hands from Evans to free Halfpenny on the right flank for the full-back to grab his brace.  Halfpenny added the extras for a 27-0 lead.

A powerful carry up the middle from Wales flank Aaron Shingler got Wales on the front foot and the Scotland defence scrambling.  The ball was recycled out left to centre Hadleigh Parkes who did well to slip his tackler and delay the pass just enough for Evans to produce a stylish one-handed finish in the corner.

With two minutes left on the clock, Scotland scored a consolation try when substitute Horne hurdled his way through the space behind the ruck;  a momentary lapse of concentration from the Wales defence denying them a clean sheet.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  G Davies, S Evans, Halfpenny 2
Cons:  Halfpenny 4
Pens:  Halfpenny 2

For Scotland:
Try:  Horne
Con:  Horne

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Cory Hill, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Owen Watkin

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Cornell du Preez, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Sean Maitland

Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO:  David Grashoff

Parkes double helps Wales beat South Africa

A brace from new cap Hadleigh Parkes helped Wales beat South Africa 24-22 in their end-of-year Test at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

Wales dominated the first half and led 21-10 at the break.  A spirited fightback from the Springboks in the second put them ahead, but a late penalty gave Warren Gatland's team the win.

A Dan Biggar masterclass in the opening stages left the Springboks reeling.

First, his cross-kick found Hallam Amos, who set Scott Williams up for the opening try in the fifth minute, which Leigh Halfpenny converted.

Then, three minutes later, Biggar chipped the ball through for Parkes to gather and score.  Once again, Halfpenny added the extras.

Malcolm Marx thought he had powered his way over at the other end in the 19th minute, but TMO Rowan Kitt was less convinced and awarded the Springboks nothing more than a five-metre scrum.

With 10 minutes left of the first 40, Josh Navidi was penalised for a high tackle on Handré Pollard.  The fly-half then stepped up to the tee and put South Africa on the board.

However, it seemed that every silver lining preceded another cloud for the visitors.  In the 33rd minute, Wales scored their third try.  Andries Coetzee's charged-down kick was chased by Taulupe Faletau, who passed inside to Parkes for yet another finish.

On the stroke of half-time, Warrick Gelant pulled a try back on his first start.  Dillyn Leyds initiated a counter-attack for the Springboks and Jesse Kriel put a clever kick through for the Blue Bulls youngster to chase and dot down.  Pollard nailed a well-executed conversion kick.

The Springboks picked up where they left off at the start of the second half, and after a sustained spell of pressure, Pollard went over for their second try six minutes in.  However, he failed to convert this time.

In the 55th minute, South Africa struck again.  They worked the ball out left, with Malcolm Marx getting the final pass away to Jesse Kriel, who crashed through Halfpenny's poor tackle and scored.  Pollard put the Springboks in front with a fantastic conversion.

Wales went back in front in the 68th minute with a Halfpenny penalty after Pieter-Steph du Toit was blown up for not rolling away.

Unfortunately for Allister Coetzee's side, they were unable to fight back again and the hosts held on for a much-needed victory, ending a difficult year on a high note.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Williams, Parkes 2
Cons:  Halfpenny 3
Pen:  Halfpenny

For South Africa:
Tries:  Gelant, Pollard, Kriel
Cons:  Pollard 2
Pen:  Pollard

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Hallam Amos, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Cory Hill, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Dan Lydiate, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Owen Watkin

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Warrick Gelant, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Oupa Mohoje, 20 Uzair Cassiem, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Lukhanyo Am

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

France and Japan end all square

France and Japan could not be separated as they played out a hard-fought 23-23 draw in an entertaining end-of-year Test in Nanterre on Saturday.

Japan can hold their heads high as they were competitive throughout and eventually outscored their hosts three tries to two although it was the goal-kicking of Francois Trinh-Duc that kept France in this match and he eventually finished with a 13-point haul courtesy of three penalties and two conversions.

The result finishes a nightmare run of results for les Bleus in 2017 and they are still winless since the Six Nations after losing four games to South Africa and one to New Zealand in their five previous fixtures.

The Brave Blossoms held the upper hand for large periods during the opening half and took the lead in the fifth minute courtesy of a Yu Tamura penalty.

France drew level in the 14th minute when Trinh-Duc slotted a penalty from 48 metres out after Michael Leitch was blown up for a ruck infringement.

The visitors' enterprising style of play saw them crossing the advantage line at will and in the 23rd minute they were rewarded when Shota Horie crossed for the opening try after Kotaro Matsushima did well with a superb line break in the build-up.

France tried to strike back by showing some urgency on attack and in the 28th minute, debutant Gabriel Lacroix crossed the whitewash but his try was disallowed after televison replays revealed that he had a foot in touch after a brilliant tackle from Harumichi Tatekawa.

Two minutes later, the home side reduced the deficit to two points courtesy of another Trinh-Duc penalty.  And on the stroke of half-time, they took the ball through several phases inside Japan's half before Baptiste Serin offloaded to Rabah Slimani, who barged over from close quarters for a deserved try.

Trinh-Duc added the extras which meant les Bleus went into the break holding a 13-8 lead.

The Brave Blossoms were fastest out of the blocks in the second half and three minutes after the restart, Timothy Lafaele dotted down after a fine break from Keita Inagaki in the build up.

France fought back bravely and after stringing together several phases in Japan's half, Trinh-Duc launched an inch-perfect cross-field kick which Lacroix gathered before crossing for his first Test try.

The host were dealt a setback on the hour-mark though when Lacroix was yellow carded for playing Tamura in the air.

Shortly afterwards, Tamura narrowed the gap to two points when he landed a three-pointer from the kicking tee but Trinh-Duc made it 23-18 to France when he slotted his third penalty in the 68th minute.

That set up an exciting finish and the Brave Blossoms were soon camped inside les Bleus' 22.

And after spending an extended period close to the home side's tryline, Shintaro Ishihara caught the defence by surprise in the 74th minute when he barged through the middle of a ruck before diving over.

That drew the sides level but Tamura pushed his conversion attempt wide which meant the teams had to settle for the draw.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Slimani, Lacroix
Cons:  Trinh-Duc 2
Pens:  Trinh-Duc 3

For Japan:
Tries:  Horie, Lafaele, Ishihara
Con:  Tamura
Pens:  Tamura 2

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Gabriel Lacroix, 13 Damian Penaud, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Sekou Macalou, 6 Judicaël Cancoriet, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Romain Taofifenua, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Daniel Kotze, 18 Sebastien Taofifenua, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Fabien Sanconnie, 21 Antoine Dupont, 22 Mathieu Bastareaud, 23 Hugo Bonneval

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Lomano Lemeki, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Yutaka Nagare, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Michael Leitch (c), 6 Kazuki Himeno, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 3 Jiwon Koo, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Shintaro Ishihara, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 20 Fetuani Lautami, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Sione Teaupa, 23 Yoshikazu Fujita

Referee:  Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Joy Neville (Ireland)
TMO:  Sean Davey (England)

Ireland make it three from three

Ireland claimed their third win in three November Tests with a clinical 28-19 victory over Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

The hosts dominated the first-half and went into the break 13-0 ahead.  The Pumas were on the attack for much of the second-half, but Joe Schmidt's side survived the onslaught and took their chances at the other end to secure the win.

Ireland went on the front foot straight from the kick-off and won an early penalty right under the posts following a spell of pressure.  Johnny Sexton slotted it over for the opening three points in the fourth minute.

10 minutes later, Sexton nailed another simple shot at poles after Argentina were penalised for collapsing the scrum.

The first try of the game came 20 minutes in.  Chris Farrell sent Sexton through a gap in the Argentine defence and the fly-half gave the inside pass to Jacob Stockdale for the finish before adding the extra two points.

Argentina grew into the game as the first-half progressed, but Ireland struck again in the second minute after half-time.  Stockdale broke through the visitors' defence and sprinted to the corner to score.  Sexton converted from the touchline with an inch-perfect kick.

However, the visitors finally scored in the 55th minute as Joaquin Tuculet ran onto Nicolas Sanchez's kick to finish the move.  Sanchez made no mistake in converting.

Ireland struck back in the 63rd minute following an attacking lineout as CJ Stander broke away from the maul and powered over.  Sexton failed to convert as his kick hit the post.

However, Argentina piled on the pressure and their persistence payed off in the 71st minute.  Tuculet passed the ball to Juan Manuel Leguizamon on the left and he managed to ground the ball before Rob Kearney could push him into touch.  Sanchez did not convert this time.

Four minutes afterwards, Ireland won a penalty and Sexton stretched their lead back beyond two converted tries.

Argentina finished off with another consolation try as Gonzalo Bertranou put a kick through for Ramiro Moyano to finish on the left.  Sanchez converted with the last kick of the game — but it was too, little, too late and Ireland had the last laugh.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Stockdale 2, Stander
Cons:  Sexton 2
Pens:  Sexton 3

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tuculet, Leguizamon, Moyano
Cons:  Sanchez 2

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 James Tracy, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Andrew Conway

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Tomas Lezana, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Santiago Garcia Botta
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 21 Gonzalo Bertranou, 22 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 23 Sebastian Cancelliere

Referee:  Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant referees:  Marius Mitrea (Italy), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO:  David Grashoff (England)

Five-try All Blacks too good for Wales

New Zealand were made to work hard but eventually got the job done as they beat Wales 33-18 in their end-of-year Test in Cardiff on Saturday.

In a tough and uncompromising encounter, both sides deserve credit for making this the entertaining spectacle that it was and the All Blacks eventually outscored their hosts five tries to two with Waisake Naholo and Rieko Ioane scoring a brace apiece.

The match started at a frenetic pace and the opening exchanges were characterised by several brutal collisions.  This resulted in Wales' Rhys Webb and Jake Ball as well as New Zealand's Ryan Crotty having to leave the field inside the opening quarter due to injuries.

Wales dominated the possession and territorial stakes during the opening half and after several All Blacks strayed offside on defence, Leigh Halfpenny made them pay by slotting the resulting penalty which gave Wales a 3-0 lead after nine minutes.

New Zealand were soaking up the early pressure and their patience was rewarded in the 14th minute when, after a superb line break from Ioane, the ball was shifted wide to Naholo who rounded off in acrobatic fashion in the right-hand corner.

Beauden Barrett added the extras and although Wales continued to dominate as the half progressed, they had little to show for their efforts.

Another Halfpenny penalty in the 32nd minute narrowed the gap to a point but the All Blacks extended their lead five minutes later when Naholo crossed for his second try after Sonny Bill Williams was stopped just short of the try-line in the build-up.

Despite that setback, Wales did not panic and on the stroke of half-time, they struck back in superb fashion with a superb try from Scott Williams.  This, after Hallom Amos made a superb line break from close to the halfway line before offloading to Dan Biggar.  He did well to get a pass out to the onrushing Williams who crossed in the left-hand corner to the delight of the home fans.

Halfpenny failed to convert which meant the All Blacks held a slender 12-11 lead as teams changed sides at half-time.

Wales continued to dominate after the restart but just like the opening exchanges in the first half, they could not round off their attacking efforts.  And once again it was the All Blacks who would score the first try of the half albeit in fortunate circumstances.

Ioane, who was brilliant throughout, set up the score with a powerful run inside Wales' 22 and when he was eventually brought to ground by three defenders, the ball bounced into the hands of Anton Lienert-Brown, who cantered in for an easy try.

Barrett converted which meant the All Blacks were now leading 19-11.  This meant Wales had to take risks on attack which they did but they were dealt a blow in the 62nd minute when Ioane intercepted a Biggar pass, just inside the home side's half, before sprinting away to score his side's fourth try.

That knocked the wind out of Wales' sails but they continued to fight and soon found themselves camped inside New Zealand's 22.  And they were handed a lifeline when All Blacks skipper Sam Whitelock was sent to the sin bin after a cynical foul on defence close to his try-line.

Shortly afterwards, Wales made full use of their numerical advantage when Gareth Davies made a break off the back of a scrum — on New Zealand's five-metre line — and stepped past TJ Perenara before crossing for his side's second try.

Halfpenny slotted the conversion which meant Wales were still in this game with the All Blacks leading 26-18 with 10 minutes left on the clock.

But five minutes before the end, the world champions sealed the win when Ioane glided through a gaping hole in Wales' defence before diving over for his second try despite the attentions of two defenders.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  S Williams, Davies
Con:  Halfpenny
Pens:  Halfpenny 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Naholo 2, Lienert-Brown, Ioane 2
Cons:  Barrett 4
Yellow Card:  S Whitelock

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Hallam Amos, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Cory Hill, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Jamie Roberts

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Samuel Whitelock (c), 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Kane Hames
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Seven-try England see off Samoa

England made it three wins out of three in their November internationals as they overcame Samoa 48-14 at Twickenham on Saturday.

Tries from Mike Brown, Alex Lozowski, Elliot Daly (2), Henry Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni saw them past Samoa in a scrappy showing.

Piula Faasalele and Chris Vui crossed for Samoa, who bounced back admirably from last week's loss to Romania with a spirited display.

England raced out of the blocks and were looking in red hot form when full-back Brown crossed after just two minutes, following flanker Maro Itoje's smart pick and go from 15 metres out.  Ford added the extras off the tee as Samoa looked rocked with a big scoreline in the offing.

The hosts continued to dominate and on 10 minutes went over for their second try, this time Lozowski finished off good work from wing Daly and Jamie George after Tim Nanai-Williams spilled a high kick.  Ford was wayward with a relatively simple conversion, which kept it at 12-0.

Samoa then admirably quelled the attacks and launched one of their own three minutes later, crossing through Faasalele with a carry.

But England hit back with the only further try before the break as lock Ewels barged over on 29 minutes, adding to Ford's earlier penalty.

Coming out for the second-half at 22-7 in front, it was expected that England would ease away of Samoa.  However, they were frustrated until the hour mark as Samoa were strong at the breakdown, regularly getting over the ball to win relieving penalties that halted the hosts.

But cometh the hour cometh Daly who finished well, stepping inside off his wing with the pressure finally telling as England went 29-7 up.

That seemed to release the shackles for Jones' men and they had their fifth try when replacement scrum-half Ben Youngs fed outside centre Slade brilliantly with a flat pass to make it 36-7 with the conversion on 70 minutes.

And there was still time for both sides to add to their tally as first Samoa captain Vui finished superbly on the left for a consolation try before Daly showed his pace to go in under the posts, with Rokoduguni adding the late gloss.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Brown, Lozowski, Ewels, Daly 2, Slade, Rokoduguni
Cons:  Ford 5
Pen:  Ford

For Samoa:
Tries:  Faasalele, Vui
Cons:  Nanai-Williams 2
Yellow Card:  Faasalele

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Alex Lozowski, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford (cc), 9 Danny Care, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Chris Robshaw (cc), 6 Maro Itoje, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jamie George, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Semesa Rokoduguni

Samoa:  15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Paul Perez, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 David Lemi, 10 Tim Nanai-Williams, 9 Dwayne Polataivao, 8 Jack Lam, 7 TJ Ioane, 6 Piula Faasalele, 5 Chris Vui (c), 4 Josh Tyrell, 3 Donald Brighouse, 2 Motu Matu’u, 1 Jordan Lay
Replacements:  16 Manu Leiataua, 17 James Lay, 18 Hisa Sasagi, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Melani Matavao, 22 Rey Lee-Lo, 23 JJ Taulagi

Referee:  Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Scotland wallop Wallabies

Scotland scored eight tries in a thrilling 53-24 win over Australia at Murrayfield on Saturday — their record-highest win over the Wallabies.

The first half was a relatively even contest, but the match turned after Sekope Kepu was sent off right before half-time.  From there, Scotland dominated.

Stuart Hogg was forced to withdraw from the Scotland starting XV before kick-off.  Sean Maitland moved to full-back to cover for him, while Byron McGuigan started on the left wing.

Finn Russell opened the scoring for Scotland after 14 minutes, slotting his kick over after Sean McMahon was penalised for offside.

The first try of the game came a minute later.  McGuigan started the move by pouncing on a poor pass and finished it by running onto his own kick and crossing the line.  Russell converted.

The Wallabies finally struck back 33 minutes in.  Bernard Foley put a clever kick through for Tevita Kuridrani to score and then converted the try.

Three minutes later, Kuridrani scored another try to put Australia ahead.  Once again, Foley initiated the move with a kick-and-chase and got the final pass away to the centre.  However, this time, the fly-half missed the conversion.

Just as Australia seemed to be finding their feet, Sekope Kepu was red carded on the stroke of half-time for diving dangerously with his shoulder into the head of Hamish Watson.

Scotland capitalised on their numerical advantage 39 minutes in as Ali Price peeled off the driving maul to score their second try.  Russell converted once more.

Australia hit back two minutes into the second half with an unconverted try as Kurtley Beale powered over following some patient build-up.

However, from there, it was all one way traffic.  First, Maitland went on a brilliant run down the left, scoring an unconverted try to put Scotland back ahead four minutes after conceding.  Then, after another three minutes, Jamie Bhatti's run set Jonny Gray up for Scotland's fourth try.  This time, Russell converted.

Huw Jones then added another try 55 minutes into the game after Russell set him up following a quickly-taken penalty.  Despite his good work in the build-up, the fly-half failed to convert.

McGuigan scored his second try after 61 minutes after some quick hands from the hosts in the build-up.  Once again, Russell missed his conversion attempt.

Australia scored a consolation try with 11 minutes left on the clock, with Lopeti Timani getting down low and powering through for the finish after the visitors were awarded a penalty for offside.  Foley added the extras.

However, John Barclay crashed through three tackles at the other end five minutes later to score after a lengthy build-up.  This time, Russell popped a simple conversion over.

Kurtley Beale was yellow carded in the 79th minute for foul play and Stuart McInally crashed over from the driving maul.  Russell converted with the last kick of the game.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  McGuigan 2, Price, Maitland, Gray, Jones, Barclay, McInally
Cons:  Russell 5
Pen:  Russell

For Australia:
Tries:  Kuridrani 2, Beale, Timani
Cons:  Foley 2
Yellow Card:  Beale
Red Card:  Kepu

Scotland:  15 Sean Maitland, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Darryl Marfo
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Phil Burleigh, 23 Ruaridh Jackson

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Marika Koroibete, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ben McCalman, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Lukhan Tui, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Karmichael Hunt, 23 Henry Speight

Referee:  Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), David Wilkinson (Ireland)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Boks get Azzurri revenge

The Springboks enacted their revenge on the Italians for last year's defeat with a convincing 35-6 victory in Padova on Saturday.

The conditions were wet and slippery with the Boks resorting to their driving maul as a result to good effect.

Tries from Francois Louw, Bongi Mbonambi, Francois Venter, Stephen Kitshoff and Franco Mostert proved too much for Italy who were kept tryless.

A Carlo Canna penalty gave Italy a 3-0 lead with ten minutes gone after Bok captain Eben Etzebeth had been penalised for an infringement at the lineout.

The Boks, however, began to exert their pressure taking the ball through the phases before Louw reached over from close range after a series of powerful carries from the forwards.  Handre Pollard added the extras to make it 7-3 to the Boks after 14 minutes.

Soon after, Canna reduced the deficit to one point with another penalty after Bok lock Lood de Jager was found guilty for not rolling away.

Mbonambi then scored on his starting debut going over at the back of a lineout driving maul after the Boks won a scrum penalty when the Italians were culpable of illegal wheeling.  Pollard slotted the resulting penalty between the sticks to give the Boks a 14-6 lead after 25 minutes.

The Boks extended their lead to 21-6 when Venter joined Mbonambi in grabbing his first Test try after a Pollard crossfield kick bounced kindly for the Cheetahs captain to dot down.  Pollard converted.

Canna missed a penalty on the half-time whistle after Bok skipper Eben Etzebeth was penalised for a high tackle on Italian counterpart Sergio Parisse which ensured the score remained 21-6 to the Boks as the sides went in to the interval.

Shortly after the resumption of the second half, Kitshoff burst over at the back of a lineout driving maul with Pollard slotting the resulting conversion to give the Boks a 28-6 buffer.

Mostert then got himself on the try column with a late score bursting over after a series of powerful carries from the Bok forwards.  It was Elton Jantjies who made the initial break down the left.  Jantjies converted as the Boks claimed a 35-6 victory.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Canna 2

For South Africa:
Tries:  Louw, Mbonambi, Venter, Kitshoff, Mostert
Cons:  Pollard 4, Jantjies

The teams:

Italy:  15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Giovanni Licata, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Francesco Minto, 20 Renato Giammarioli, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Ian Mckinley, 23 Matteo Minozzi

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Warrick Gelant

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  JP Doyle (England), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO:  Eric Gauzins (France)

Boks bounce back to squeeze past France

South Africa responded to last week's loss to Ireland by claiming an 18-17 victory over France in their end-of-year Test in Paris on Saturday.

The visitors were made to graft for this result and although both sides scored two tries apiece, South Africa will breathe a huge sigh of relief as poor goalkicking from Handré Pollard nearly cost them this match after he missed three penalties and a conversion.

Both sides showed a willingness to run the ball from the outset and the Springboks were the first to benefit from this tactic when Dillyn Leyds crossed for his first Test try in the seventh minute.

This, after the Boks took the ball through numerous phases — with Siya Kolisi, Malcolm Marx and Courtnall Skosan prominent — before Pollard offloaded to Leyds, who shrugged off an Antoine Dupont challenge before stretching over the whitewash.

Pollard failed with the conversion attempt but 10 minutes later, he extended the Springboks' lead courtesy of a penalty after Geoffrey Doumayrou was blown up for a high tackle on Jesse Kriel.

The Boks took the attack to their hosts but despite having most of the possession, they failed to score any points during the rest of the half.  That proved costly as France opened their account in the 27th minute when the Boks failed to deal with a high ball from Anthony Belleau.

The ball was gathered just inside the visitors' half by Paul Jedrasiak and taken wide to Teddy Thomas.  He set off on a surging run before being brought to ground inside South Africa's 22.  From the ensuing ruck, the ball came out to Belleau, who shrugged off a tackle from Jesse Kriel before scoring under the posts.

Belleau added the extras and there would be no further points during the half although both he and Pollard failed with further penalty attempts in the latter stages.

First, Belleau was off target in the 32nd minute before Pollard missed shots at goal in the closing minutes of the half which meant the match was evenly poised at half-time with South Africa holding a slender 8-7 lead.

The hosts were fastest out of the blocks in the second half and took the lead in the 48th minute when Belleau added a penalty after Skosan was blown up for a high tackle on Thomas.

Five minutes later, Pollard lined another penalty attempt after Nans Ducuing infringed by throwing the ball away in touch, when the Boks were trying to take a quick throw-in at the set-piece but like his two previous kicks, this one was also wide of the mark.

Shortly afterwards, the Boks were handed a lifeline when Baptiste Serin was sent to the sin bin for an early tackle on Marx inside France's 22.  Pollard was successful with the ensuing penalty which meant the Boks now led 11-10 after 58 minutes.

The visitors soon extended that lead when, after an extended period camped inside France's 22, Eben Etzebeth offloaded to Kriel who crossed for his side's second try.

The final 15 minutes was a tense affair as France tried to narrow the gap.  They were eventually rewarded in the 77th minute when Serin crossed from close quarters after Judicael Cancoriet and Yoann Huget did well in the build-up.

Belleau slotted the conversion which meant there was just one point separating the sides but the Boks held on for the win thanks to a solid defensive effort in the game's closing stages.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Belleau, Serin
Cons:  Belleau 2
Pen:  Belleau
Yellow Card:  Serin

For South Africa:
Tries:  Leyds, Kriel
Con:  Pollard
Pens:  Pollard 2

France:  15 Nans Ducuing, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 6 Judicael Cancoriet, 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Clement Maynadier, 17 Sebastien Taofifenua, 18 Daniel Kotze, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Damian Penaud

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian de Allende

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Tom Foley (England)
Television match official:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Ireland sneak past Fiji in Dublin

Ireland were made to work hard for their 23-20 victory over a quality Fiji outfit, but got the job done at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Ian Keatley's penalty was key with tries coming from Darren Sweetnam, Dave Kearney and Jack Conan, with Joey Carbery adding a conversion.

Fiji's tries came from Henry Senioli and Timoci Nagusa, with Ben Volavola kicking the remaining 10 points in an impressive display from them.

A much-changed Ireland started brightly in Dublin with a try set up by Carbery seeing him slice through before finding Sweetnam wide out.  The young fly-half was off-target with his conversion attempt but it was an early example of how deadly a player he is with ball in hand.

Volavola did pull Fiji back to within two points on 21 minutes after an offside from Ireland but the hosts hit back almost immediately when Andrew Conway held two defenders to create space on the left for Kearney to dive over.  This time Carbery hit the post with his conversion.

Kearney was denied a second try on the half-hour due to a knock-on from Conway in the attempt of claiming a ball, but Ireland didn't have to wait long for their third crossing as Conan showed decent pace to collect a spillage and get over on the right, making it a 17-3 lead.

Fiji recovered admirably though and a try just before the break from Senioli, set up by Nemani Nadolo, and one four minutes into the second-half from Nagusa, suddenly pulled them level at 17-17.  Nagusa's score came as he intercepted Kearney's loose pass on halfway.

Suddenly it was anyone's game in Dublin and Joe Schmidt went to his bench in an attempt to respond.  Fiji though were growing in confidence.

Keatley and Volavola traded penalties in the 66th and 69th minute respectively, with the prospect of a thrilling finish becoming a reality.

But a tip tackle on Cian Healy from Kini Murimurivalu gifted Keatley his second three-pointer on 73 minutes which proved the match-winner.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Sweetnam, Kearney, Conan
Con:  Carbery
Pens:  Keatley 2

For Fiji:
Tries:  Senioli, Nagusa
Cons:  Volavola 2
Pens:  Volavola 2

Ireland:  15 Andrew Conway, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 Devin Toner, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 James Tracy, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 CJ Stander, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Robbie Henshaw

Fiji:  15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Jale Vatabua, 12 Levani Botia, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Henry Senioli, 8 Nemani Nagusa, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Dominiko Waqaniboruto, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Apisalome Ratuniyarawa, 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Talemaitoga Tuapati, 1 Campese Ma’afu
Replacements:  16 Sunia Koto, 17 Peni Ravai, 18 Kalivati Tawake, 19 Sikeli Nabou, 20 Peceli Yato/Semi Kunatani, 21 Niko Matawalu, 22 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 23 Vereniki Goneva

Referee:  Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Alex Ruiz (France)
Television match official:  David Grashoff (England)

All Blacks grind past plucky Scotland

New Zealand were made to work hard before claiming a 22-17 victory over a spirited Scotland side in their end-of-year Test at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The All Blacks did not always have things their way, especially during the opening half which was dominated by Scotland, and the teams went into the sheds at the interval with the score level at 3-3.

The world champions eventually outscored their hosts three tries to two and the result means Scotland are still winless against New Zealand after 112 years of Test rugby between the two countries.

Scotland made a fine start and after dominating early on, Finn Russell opened the scoring with a penalty in the seventh minute after Waisake Naholo went off his feet at a ruck.

The home side continued to hold the upper-hand and five minutes later Russell had another shot at goal — after Vaea Fifita was penalised at a ruck — but his effort was off target.

They continued to have the bulk of the possession and were camped inside the All Blacks' half for large periods but had nothing to show for their efforts.

There were some worried looks in the New Zealand camp when referee Matthew Carley consulted his television match official, Graham Hughes, after Naholo took Stuart Hogg out in the air.

Hogg came down heavily under Naholo's challenge but Hughes ruled that contact was unavoidable and Scotland were only awarded a penalty.

The All Blacks had several opportunities to open their account during the opening half but instead of opting for a shot at goal, their captain Kieran Read instructed Beauden Barrett to put the ball into touch.

Invariably, they reaped no reward from this tactic but when Scotland's backs strayed offside on defence in the 39th minute, Barrett decided to take a shot at goal, which he converted.

Despite that poor opening half, the All Blacks made a bright start to the second period and five minutes after the restart, Rieko Ioane threw an inch-perfect long pass to Codie Taylor, who crossed in the left-hand corner.

Five minutes later, New Zealand were camped inside Scotland's 22 again and Sonny Bill Williams delivered a perfectly-weighted grubber kick which Damian McKenzie gathered before dotting down.

Barrett added the extras but the All Blacks were dealt a blow 10 minutes later when Sam Cane was sent to the sin bin for a cynical foul on defence close to his try-line.

Shortly afterwards, Scotland made their numerical advantage count when Jonny Gray showed great determination to power his way over the try-line despite the attentions of three defenders.

The world champions struck back in the 67th minute when Williams shrugged off a tackle before offloading to McKenzie.  He did well to draw in the final defender before passing to Barrett, who crossed for his side's third try.

Three minutes later, New Zealand suffered another setback when Wyatt Crockett was also yellow carded after he took Ali Price out at a ruck close to the world champions' try-line.

Scotland would finish stronger and three minutes before full-time Hogg stabbed a grubber kick through which Tommy Seymour gathered inside New Zealand's 22, before throwing an inside pass to Huw Jones, who crossed for a deserved try.

Russell slotted the conversion from close to the touchline which meant the score was 22-17 to the visitors.  Scotland launched some attacks during the game's closing stages but the All Blacks' defence did well to keep them at bay.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Gray, Jones
Cons:  Russell 2
Pen:  Russell

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Taylor, McKenzie, Barrett
Cons:  Barrett 2
Pen:  Barrett
Yellow Cards:  Cane, Crockett

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Cornell du Preez, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Darryl Marfo
Replacements:  16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Byron McGuigan

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Kane Hames
Replacements:  16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

Referee:  Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Ian Davies (Wales)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

England power past Wallabies

England ran out emphatic 30-6 victors over Australia in a November Test series clash in poor conditions at Twickenham on Saturday.

England showed great resilience on defence and an ability to counter-attack, forcing the opposition in to errors which they are good at capitalising on.

England's substitutes came to the fore late in the game with Danny Care in particular having a major impact.

Tries from Elliot Daly, Jonathan Joseph and Jonny May proved too much for Australia who were kept scoreless except for a penalty apiece from Reece Hodge and Bernard Foley.

Owen Farrell gave England an early 3-0 lead with a penalty.

The Wallabies looked the more threatening of the two sides on attack and were unlucky not to get themselves a try for their efforts when just as it looked if Michael Hooper had scored, it was ruled out by the TMO for offside.

Heavy rain persisted throughout and the wet conditions made handling difficult and halted both sides' momentum on attack resulting in a stop-start encounter.

Skipper Hooper was then yellow-carded with 32 minutes gone on the clock for repeated infringements.  England extended the lead to 6-0 from the resulting penalty courtesy of Farrell's right boot.

The Wallabies were then reduced to 13 men when Kurtley Beale saw yellow for his deliberate knockdown on the stroke of half-time.

Hodge's well-struck penalty from forty metres out eight minutes in to the second half saw the Wallabies cut the deficit to three at 6-3.

Daly was the first to get to George Ford's kick ahead after Tevita Kuridrani had spilt the ball on a Wallabies' attack.  Daly controlled the ball well keeping it in field and diving on top of it.  Farrell added the extras as England took a 13-3 lead on the 55-minute mark much to the delight of the home support.

Joseph got himself on the try column when he ran on to an expertly weighted box-kick from substitute scrum-half Care to slide over in the wet.  Farrell added the extras to give the hosts a 20-6 lead.

And May put the game beyond doubt when he chased down Care's deft grubber kick and cut inside to finish emphatically.

Having assisted two tries, Care got in on the act by getting himself on the try column in the closing stages after another kick through, this time from May to close out the match at 30-6.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Daly, Joseph, May, Care
Cons:  Farrell 2
Pens:  Farrell 2

For Australia:
Pens:  Hodge, Foley

England:  15 Anthony Watson, 14 Jonny May, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Sam Simmonds, 21 Danny Care, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Semesa Rokoduguni

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Marika Koroibete, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Lopeti Timani, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Karmichael Hunt

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)