Australia 35 France 12

The best side won the biggest match at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff as Australia won their second Webb Ellis trophy, downing the gallant French 35-12 in the World Cup final.

The Wallabies, strong favourites for this match, didn't fail to take the chances offered to them in a scrappy, bad-tempered encounter.  The handling of their backline was key but also the performance in defence of the men in gold.

"We have a lot of pride in our defence and that was what won it for us," said Australian captain John Eales, with a big grin on his face, shortly after the final whistle blew and shortly before receiving the golden cup and hoisting it to the Cardiff heavens to a massive roar.

A 65th minute try from winger Ben Tune blew the game open after the two sides' kickers, French fly-half Christophe Lamaison and Australian fullback Matt Burke had traded penalties throughout the first half.  A break from scum-half George Gregan went out to substitute flanker Owen Finegan, who popped to the wing for his 22nd Test try in the right hand corner.

A bad-tempered first half was punctuated by penalties, and Burke emerged on top, despite missing two penalties from less than 40 metres out.  Pelous was yellow-carded by referee Andrew Watson following a mass of punches in the seventh minute, following a try-saving tackle by Bernat-Salles on Roff.

More surprising was the yellow card on Australian captain Eales shortly afterwards.  His punch in a scrum was spotted by the touch judge and Lamaison converted the penalty to tie the scores at six.

As the half closed, a Garbajosa drop kick was charged down and, as Les Bleus continually killed the ball, Burke slotted one over from 31 metres out for a 12-6 lead.

France never looked like scoring the vital five-pointer that would have put the two sides on a par.  They continually killed play, and were justly penalised.  A try for Finegan five minutes into time added on perhaps exaggerated the prowess of the Aussies but it was a just reward for the man who has been used as an impact substitute throughout the tournament.

"We've had some close ones, against South Africa and against Wales, but it was a little more comfortable in this one," said Eales.

The Australians will certainly be comfortable tonight as they bask in the glory of a hard-fought second World title.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Andrew Blades, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Richard Harry, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Matt Cockbain, 7 David Wilson, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves:  Mark Connors, Dan Crowley, Owen Finegan, Nathan Grey, Jason Little, Jeremy Paul, Chris Whitaker

France:  1 Cedric Soulette, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Emile Ntamack, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Olivier Brouzet, Arnaud Costes, Marc Dal Maso, Pieter De Villiers, Stephane Glas, Ugo Mola, Stephane Castaignede

Attendance:  72000
Referee:  Watson a

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Finegan O.D.A. 1, Tune B.N. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 2
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 7

France
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 4

France 43 New Zealand 31

A massive 23 second half points from French fly-half Christophe Lamaison gave Les Bleus the biggest upset victory in World Cup history at Twickenham.

The French -- Wooden Spoonists in this year's Five Nations Championship -- had been slated at 15/2 for a victory in the World Cup semi-final but overcame the odds to progress to next Saturday's final at Cardiff thanks to a momentous 43-31 victory.

Down by seven points at half-time, France were even further under the cosh when Lomu took a short pass from Jeff Wilson and dived in for his second try of the match.  Andrew Mehrtens converted for a 14-point lead to the Kiwis.

There then followed a massive glut of French points, a 26-point spree which included two drop goals within two minutes from the mercurial out-half, standing in for the injured Thomas Castaignede.

For periods during the first half, France had the Kiwis rattled, none more so than when two kicks ahead became tooth-and-nail contests on the goal line.  Either could have resulted in a try for Les Bleus.

Dominici kicked the first from 40 yards out and Garbajosa gave chase but, as he chipped forward again, he gave the ball too much, putting it over the dead ball line.  A kick from openside Olivier Magne from the 22 was even closer.  Referee Jim Fleming ruled that Jeff Wilson had touched the ball down in his own goal, although television replays showed that he had in fact still been in the field of play.  A 22-metre drop out saved All Black tension.

In fact, in a half when the normally reliable Mehrtens missed three penalties and a conversion, the main difference between the two sides was Jonah Lomu, who in a trademark move in the 23rd minute, took the ball wide and broke at least four attempted tackles, and even side-stepping a couple to boot, to put his side 14-10 up.

Lamaison's try had put the French ahead just five minutes earlier, a break from Dominici being brought to a halt just in front of the posts by Kronfeld.  A quick ball out saw the fly-half go over.

The killer blow for the French, though, was when, with seven minutes to go, Bernat-Salles dived on a kick ahead for the fourth try for his side.  With the score 24-36 in favour of the French, the World Cup favourites could still have snatched victory.  The All Blacks were pressing for minutes on end but, as the ball went down the backline once more, Magne popped in for the interception.  He kicked and ran, as if his life depended on it.  In the end, Bernat-Salles was just too speedy for Wilson, nudging with the boot and then falling on the ball for the score which nailed the Kiwi coffin firmly shut.

All Black coach John Hart was under no illusions after the game.  "We just made too many mistakes and the French capitalised," he said.  "I hate to think how many balls we dropped today."

Even if they right those mistakes on in the third-place match against South Africa on Thursday, it won't be remotely enough to erase the despair that must be felt throughout the land of the long white cloud.

The Teams:

France:  1 Cedric Soulette, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Emile Ntamack, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Olivier Brouzet, Arnaud Costes, Pieter De Villiers, Stephane Glas, Ugo Mola, Stephane Castaignede
Unused:  Marc Dal Maso

New Zealand:  1 Craig Dowd, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Carl Hoeft, 4 Robin Brooke, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Josh Kronfeld, 7 Reuben Thorne, 8 Taine Randell (c), 9 Byron Kelleher, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Christian Cullen, 13 Alama Ieremia, 14 Tana Umaga, 15 Jeff Wilson
Reserves:  Daryl Gibson, Justin Marshall, Kees Meeuws, Royce Willis
Unused:  Andrew Blowers, Tony Brown, Mark Hammett

Attendance:  73000
Referee:  Fleming j

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Dourthe R. 1, Lamaison C. 1, Dominici C. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 4
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 3
Drop G.:  Lamaison C. 2

New Zealand
Tries:  Lomu J.T. 2, Wilson J.W. 1
Conv:  Mehrtens A.P. 2
Pen K.:  Mehrtens A.P. 4

Australia 27 South Africa 21

Australia reached their second World Cup final with a tension-filled 27-21 victory after extra-time over holders South Africa in a try-less epic at Twickenham.

A long-range Stephen Larkham drop goal -- the first of his Test career -- and Matt Burke's eighth succcessful penalty in the second period of extra-time handed South Africa their first ever World Cup defeat.

The Springboks had earlier forced the extra 20 minutes when fly-half Jannie de Beer levelled the scores at 18-18 with a penalty in the sixth-minute of time added on at the end of the second half.

De Beer, who had kicked England to death with five drop goals in the quarter-finals, missed four drop goal attempts out of five this time.

Australia, the 1991 winners who came closest to scoring when scrum-half George Gregan had a touchdown disallowed, will face either New Zealand or France in the final next Saturday at Cardiff.  It was only their 14th win in 45 meetings with the Springboks.

De Beer tried his luck twice in the first 20 minutes but failed to hit the mark, and he also missed an early penalty attempt despite having a swirling wind largely in his favour.

Australia played most of the adventurous rugby of the opening period and after an early miss with a penalty and drop goal attempt, full-back Burke found his range twice to give the Wallabies a 6-0 lead.

Wallaby fly-half Larkham managed to run off an early knee knock and helped direct Australia's impressive backline in which Tim Horan, showing no signs of the stomach upset which had threatened his place in the team, and Burke both raided effectively.  Normal service was resumed when de Beer slotted from 40 metres to get South Africa on the scoresheet and halve the deficit but Burke replied in kind immediately.  Another de Beer penalty just before the interval looked to have put the gradually improving Springboks in touch at 6-9 down.  But in injury time Burke was again on target and the teams headed to the dressing-room with Australia 12-6 up.

De Beer had a third drop goal effort charged down at the start of the second half but earned a reprieve when Australia's Ben Tune was penalised for squaring up to Rassie Erasmus.  The South Africa fly-half hit his penalty true to make it 12-9.

Australia's hopes suffered a further blow when Burke missed from the halfway line soon after and then De Beer tried his fourth drop goal of the match and this time the ball sailed between the uprights.

At 12-12 South Africa were level for the first time since the 13th minute and as the skies over south-west London darkened they suddenly began to exert some real pressure on Australia.

De Beer missed his fourth drop goal attempt as the final quarter approached and the crowd, impatient for tries, roundly booed the Springbok stand-off.

It wasn't pretty but it was effective and Australia were rattled and South Africa centre Robbie Fleck twice breached the game line with strong surges to show his side could also attack from the backs.  A bent Naka Drotske throw gave Australia relief and Burke's fifth penalty gave the them the edge once more at 15-12.

The Wallabies poured onto the attack and after a breathless series of charges foundered on the rock-like Springbok defence Gregan, scorer of two tries in the quarter-final win over Wales, looked to have gone over in the corner.

Australia celebrated but Welsh referee Derek Bevan awarded South Africa a penalty instead, apparently for a double movement.  Soon after though Horan broke again and South Africa were offside, allowing Burke to slot another penalty to give Australia a six-point lead with five minutes left.

It seemed all over but with a minute to go de Beer gave South Africa hope with another penalty.  Australia still looked safe but, incredibly, in the sixth minute of time added on, repleacment Owen Finegan infringed and from 35 metres de Beer nervelessly slotted his fifth penalty to force extra-time.

When the players returned from the dressing-rooms Australia looked dazed, conceding a penalty in front of their posts inside three minutes.

De Beer potted it and for the first time South Africa led, 21-18 but the Springbok hero was quickly hit by a Gregan pass and Burke levelled from the resulting penalty to Australia.

The tension was touchable as half-time in extra-time arrived with the deadlock unbroken.

Larkham, who prides himself on running not kicking, decided the contest by taking leaf out of de Beer's book as he spiralled a sensational 50-metre drop goal between the posts after 93 minutes.  It was his first drop goal in international rugby.

Burke's eight successful penalty out of 10 three minutes later sealed a sensational Wallaby victory three minutes later and this time South Africa had no response.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Andrew Blades, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Richard Harry, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Matt Cockbain, 7 David Wilson, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves:  Mark Connors, Owen Finegan, Nathan Grey, Jason Little, Unused Rod Moore, Jeremy Paul, Chris Whitaker

South Africa:  1 Os Du Randt, 2 Naka Drotske, 3 Cobus Visagie, 4 Mark Andrews, 5 Krynauw Otto, 6 Johan Erasmus, 7 Andre Venter, 8 Bobby Skinstad, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen (c), 10 Jannie De Beer, 11 Deon Kayser, 12 Robbie Fleck, 13 Pieter Muller, 14 Pieter Rossouw, 15 Percy Montgomery
Reserves:  Henry Honiball, Ollie Le Roux, Stefan Terblanche, Albert Van Den Bergh, Andre Vos
Unused:  Chris Rossouw, Werner Swanepoel

Attendance:  73000
Referee:  Bevan d

Points Scorers:

Australia
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 8
Drop G.:  Larkham S.J. 1

South Africa
Pen K.:  De Beer J.H. 6

Scotland 18 New Zealand 30

New Zealand steamrollered their way to an emphatic 30-18 win over Scotland in their World Cup quarter-final at Murrayfield.

The All Blacks ran in four tries to two and will now face France in the semi-finals at Twickenham next weekend.  The other semi-final will be between defending champions South Africa and Australia.

Wing Tana Umaga scored two tries and full-back Jeff Wilson and giant wing Jonah Lomu one each for the All Blacks, while fly-half Andrew Mehrtens kicked two penalties and converted the first two tries.

Scotland's points came from late tries from flanker Budge Pountney and wing Cameron Murray, a penalty and a conversion kicked by wing Kenny Logan and a drop goal from fly-half Gregor Townsend.

New Zealand -- the runners-up in 1995 -- continued their rampage through the tournament and underlined their status as odds-on favourites.  Both Scotland's tries came late in the game when the result was beyond doubt.  The Kiwis scored 176 points and conceded just 28 in winning their three group matches and the gritty Scots, who were playing their final match under coach Jim Telfer, had no real answers to their poise, power and control.

Scotland are the reigning Five Nations champions but the gap in standards between the southern hemisphere and the north was again underlined by New Zealand's dominance.

New Zealand maintained their record of never having lost to Scotland in 21 meetings dating back to 1905 but lost key man Mehrtens to a knee injury at halftime.  He was replaced by Tony Brown and his condition will cause concern to the All Blacks over the next few days.

The Scots, playing in their change tangerine strip, struggled from the start to keep pace with the tournament favourites in a match played in pouring rain and on a damp, slippery pitch.

After surviving some brief early pressure, New Zealanders took the lead through an eighth-minute Mehrtens penalty.  Umaga's 12th-minute first try was the result of a fine charge up the middle by Lomu, the tournament's leading try-scorer.  It took five men to subdue Lomu and when the New Zealanders eventually moved the ball wide, Umaga was on hand to cross the line.

Wilson's try in the right corner -- which saw him pass 200 points in test rugby -- was set up by the pace, awareness and fast hands of Mehrtens, who slipped the ball wide for the fullback to power over the line.  Mehrtens' kick made it 17-0.

The Scots got on the scoreboard through Logan's penalty after 20 minutes but Mehrtens responded in kind five minutes later, although the metronomic kicker did miss a subsequent drop goal attempt.

New Zealand were resolute in defence, but had to survive some uncomfortable moments before Umaga scored his second try in injury time after a superb handling movement and a fine final pass from centre Christian Cullen.

Townsend's drop goal after 49 minutes didn't lead to a Scottish revival.  Instead, Lomu squandered an opportunity for his sixth try of the tournament at the other end when he dropped the ball when over the line.

It wasn't long, however, before he did cross for the 25th try of his All Black career when the Scots were unable to halt his power down the wing.  Brown's kick missed, but the margin was 24 points and the game was out of the Scots' reach.

Pountney got a pushover try for the Scots with 14 minutes left -- his first international try -- and Logan converted.  Murray then went over in the last minute, but it was too little, too late.

New Zealand's win leaves France as the only side capable of winning the World Cup for the first time.  The All Blacks won the first tournament in 1987, Australia triumphed in 1991 while South Africa were victorious in 1995 and have yet to lose a World Cup match.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Paul Burnell, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Scott Murray, 5 Doddie Weir, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Gordon Simpson, 9 Gary Armstrong (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Jamie Mayer, 13 Alan Tait, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  George Graham, Stuart Grimes, Robbie Russell
Unused:  Duncan Hodge, Cameron Mather, James McLaren, Bryan Redpath

New Zealand:  1 Craig Dowd, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Carl Hoeft, 4 Robin Brooke, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Josh Kronfeld, 7 Reuben Thorne, 8 Taine Randell (c), 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Christian Cullen, 13 Alama Ieremia, 14 Tana Umaga, 15 Jeff Wilson
Reserves:  Tony Brown, Daryl Gibson, Mark Hammett, Ian Jones, Kees Meeuws
Unused:  Andrew Blowers, Byron Kelleher

Attendance:  59757
Referee:  Morrison e

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Pountney A.C. 1, Murray C.A. 1
Conv:  Logan K.McK. 1
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 1
Drop G.:  Townsend G.P.J. 1

New Zealand
Tries:  Lomu J.T. 1, Umaga T.J.F. 2, Wilson J.W. 1
Conv:  Mehrtens A.P. 2
Pen K.:  Mehrtens A.P. 2

Argentina 26 France 47

France claimed their place in the World Cup semi-finals on Sunday when they quelled a valiant Argentina side to win a try-filled quarter-final 47-26 at Lansdowne Road.

France raced into a 17-0 lead before Argentina battled back to trail just 30-26, only for the greater freshness of Jean-Claude Skrela's side to show in the final 10 minutes.

Winger Philippe Bernat-Salles and full-back Xavier Garbajosa scored two tries apiece as France touched down five times in all, with fly-half Christophe Lamaison landing 22 points with the boot.  France face the winners of the New Zealand-Scotland quarter-final in the last four.

Argentina, for whom scrum-half Agustin Pichot was outstanding, took great credit for their fightback though and could have scored more than their two tries by Pichot and captain Lisandro Arbizu.  Skrela's much-criticised team showed none of their early tournament rustiness as first Carbajosa and then Bernat-Salles, after a thrilling move, touched down to help France into a 17-0 lead after 12 minutes.

Argentina, surprise conquerors of Ireland in the quarter-final play-offs, were stung into action and Pichot, at fault for the first French try, nipped over down the blind side to reduce the arrears.  Gonzalo Queseda converted and then put over another penalty to make it 17-10.

But Emile Ntamack restored French dominance immediately with a score after charging down Arbizu's kick.  With Lamaison kicking five successful kicks out of five France led 27-10 before Queseda's second penalty and then a fine converted Arbizu try, following a missed tackle by Ntamack, hauled Argentina back to within seven points.

The second period began in bruising fashion with the Argentines clearly pumped up by their fightback.  Argentine prop Mauricio Reggiardi was substituted by Argentina coach Alex Wyllie immediately after smashing a forearm into Richard Dourthe's face, for which he earned a yellow card.

Quesada and Lamasion exchanged penalties and both sides went close to scoring with the darting Pichot in particular catching the eye.  But Argentina suffered a hammer blow on the hour when Queseda, the tournament's leading points scorer with 102, was forced off injured.

Trailing 30-23 the South Americans dug deep and began to dominate, with Pichot at the centre of everything.  Replacement kicker Felipe Contepomi cut the gap to four points with 10 minutes left from in front of the posts after series of bone-juddering charges by the Pumas.  Lamaison settled the French with a booming 45-metre penalty to make it 33-26 and Argentina's granite-like defence finally cracked.

Olivier Magne roared down the left and the ball was spread wide for Garbajosa to suck in the tacklers and pass inside for Bernat-Salles to grab his second.  Lamaison converted and France led 40-26 before Dourthe kicked for Carbajosa to gallop in and complete his brace with two minutes left.  Lamaison converted imperiously to seal a convincing, if belated, victory.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves:  Agustin Canalda, Manuel Contepomi, Felipe Contepomi, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Lucas Ostiglia, Miguel Ruiz, Martin Scelzo

France:  1 Cedric Soulette, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Olivier Brouzet, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Emile Ntamack, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  David Auradou, Arnaud Costes, Marc Dal Maso, Pieter De Villiers, Stephane Glas, Ugo Mola, Stephane Castaignede

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Bevan d

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Arbizu L. 1, Pichot A. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 2
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 1, Quesada G. 3

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 2, Garbajosa X. 2, Ntamack E. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 5
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 4

Australia 24 Wales 9

Australia ended the World Cup dreams of hosts Wales on Saturday, claiming their place in the semi-finals with a hard-earned 24-9 victory at the Millennium Stadium.

Two tries by George Gregan and one from Ben Tune gave the Wallabies a deserved success on a poor quality pitch as Wales finally succumbed to their opponents' greater attacking flair in front of a capacity 72,000 crowd.

In the last four next weekend at Twickenham Rod Macqueen's side, who have conceded just one try so far, will face the winner of Sunday's England-South Africa quarter-final in Paris.  "We're pretty happy," said Australia captain John Eales, whose side led only 10-9 at half-time.  "It was very close at half-time and it was anyone's game.  But our defence held up.  We've a lot of confidence in our squad."  Wales' kick-king Neil Jenkins, who started the match as the new points world record holder with 927, spurned an early chance to go for goal, preferring instead to find touch with a penalty on the halfway line.

Australia, who had racked up 250 points in their last six clashes with Wales, took advantage and Joe Roff had already threatened to open Australia's account after a sharp break by fly-half Stephen Larkham when he created a score for scrum-half George Gregan.  The Welsh defence was nowhere to be seen as Roff spurted down the left flank and passed inside for Zambian-born Gregan to flop over.

Matthew Burke converted to complete the perfect start for the Wallabies.

Jenkins took his next opportunity, slotting superbly from the touchline to make it 7-3.  Australia were dominant though and Burke immediately made it 10-3 with his first penalty.  Jenkins kept Wales within touching distance with another three-pointer as the rain began to drench the turf, provoking handling errors from Australia in particular.

And when Australia flanker David Wilson ventured offside on the half-hour, Jenkins made it 10-9 with his third successful kick out of three.

Mud patches began to appear on the surface and Wales looked the more likely to score, with winger Gareth Thomas wasting a two-man overlap in stoppage time at the end of the first half.  Australia started the second half as they had the first and only a fine Brett Sinkinson tackle denied Daniel Herbert a touchdown after a neat scissors in midfield.  But Wales absorbed the pressure well and the tension was evident as the half-hour point was passed since either side had troubled the scorers.  It took a moment of magic from the impressive Larkham to break the deadlock.

The fly-half took the ball from Gregan and chipped through.  He was baulked by the Welsh defence but Tune stormed through and beat Shane Howarth to the ball to score.  Burke converted and a relieved Australia were 17-9 up with 15 minutes left.

Wilson and Tune were then both quickly denied tries because of knock-ons as the southern hemisphere side greater dynamism began to tell.  This time there was no rain to save the Welsh and in the final minutes they struggled to get out of their own half.

In stoppage time it was the Australians who scored again, in highly dubious circumstances.  Tim Horan broke several tackles but appeared to knock on and when the ball fell loose Gregan touched down.

New Zealand referee Colin Hawke, given the bird by the crowd for much of the match, then infuriated them by awarding the try, which Burke converted to complete Australia's 24-9 victory.  "We just gave away too much ball," said Wales full-back Shane Howarth.  "If you don't play to the best of your ability at this level you get beaten and that's what happened.  We're a bit naive at the moment."

The teams:

Australia:  1 Andrew Blades, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Richard Harry, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Matt Cockbain, 7 David Wilson, 8 Tiaan Strauss, 9 George Gregan, 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves:  Mark Connors, Owen Finegan, Jason Little, Jeremy Paul

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Hooker Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young, 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Allan Bateman, Ben Evans, Andrew Lewis, Mike Voyle

Attendance:  71500
Referee:  Hawke c

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Gregan G.M. 2, Tune B.N. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 3
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 1

Wales
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 3

Scotland 35 Samoa 20

Scotland were on top of Samoa from start to finish but their weekend's opponents -- the All Blacks of New Zealand -- will feel they have nothing to fear following a lacklustre 35-20 victory in front of an equally lacklustre Murrayfield crowd.

In the seventh minute of the first half, the Scots were awarded a penalty five yards out and opted for the scrum.  Eight long minutes of scrummaging later, referee David McHugh finally gave up on a fair set-piece and gave a penalty try.

Scotland seemed determined not to fall into the trap of playing an unstructured game, a flaw that had been exploited in the Wales side by Samoa last weekend.  They were dominant in the scrum from start to finish.  The return of Doddie Weir leant strength to the lineout and the kicking of fly-half Gregor Townsend was consistently to touch but the side lacked the flair that will be required should they harbour any hope of putting up a fight when the All Blacks come to town on Sunday.

Ironically, it was the power of New Zealand-born Gordon Simpson and Martin Leslie that made the difference up front for the Scots.  Leslie scored the first try of the match, bullocking his way over towards the end of the first half, but the absence of Martin Leslie and Allan Taint from the centres that lead to the back line lacking bite.  The Scots committed nine handling errors and turned the ball over four times -- a record they cannot afford to match in four days time.

Samoa, oddly for this country famed for its passionate play, seemed not to have come into the game with the same intensity which downed the Welsh in Cardiff.  Their cynical fouling spurred chance after chance for Kenny Logan to kick at goal.  The winger converted five of the six offered.

The Southern Hemisphere side's forward power seemed to increase considerably when Onehunga Matauiau replaced the injured Trevor Leota at hooker after 36 minutes but this was a game governed by handling errors in crucial areas.

The one highlight of a generally dour game was a drop goal from Townsend at the end of the third quarter.  From a ruck just in front of the 22, the ball was spun out and the Brive showman slotted the attempt over with ease.

Wing Brian Lima made a try from half-way as time ran out to close the margin to 15 but there were no real winners from this encounter.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 George Graham, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Scott Murray, 5 Doddie Weir, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Gordon Simpson, 9 Gary Armstrong (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Jamie Mayer, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Paul Burnell, Stuart Grimes, Duncan Hodge, Cameron Mather, Robbie Russell
Unused:  Bryan Redpath, Alan Tait

Samoa:  1 Polo Asi, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Brendan Reidy, 4 Lio Falaniko, 5 Lama Tone, 6 Craig Glendinning, 7 Semo Sititi, 8 Pat Lam (c), 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Stephen Bachop, 11 Brian Lima, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 To'o Vaega, 14 Inga Tuigamala, 15 Silao Leaega
Reserves:  Earl Va'a, Robbie Ale, Onehunga Matauiau Esau, Sene Ta'ala, Filipo Toala
Unused:  John Clarke, Kalolo Toleafoa

Attendance:  15661
Referee:  Hawke c

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Penalty Try 1, Leslie M.D. 1, Murray C.A. 1
Conv:  Logan K.McK. 1
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 5
Drop G.:  Townsend G.P.J. 1

Samoa
Tries:  Lima B.P. 1, Sititi S. 1
Conv:  Leaega S. 2
Pen K.:  Leaega S. 2

Fiji 24 England 45

England were tested a little more than they would have liked, and incurred several casualties along the way, but still managed a 45-24 victory over Fiji at Twickenham and now progress to a weekend date with South Africa in Paris.

Young England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson must be the greatest injury concern ahead of Sunday's quarter-final having been apparently knocked out by a high tackle from Fiji captain and hooker Greg Smith as he put Phil Greening over for a try with ten minutes remaining.  A concussion would result in a mandatory three-week lay-off.

Matt Perry was forced from the field with shoulder trouble shortly before the final whistle and Austin Healey was replaced at half-time having taken a general battering.

A half-time lead of 21-3 was more down to the fact that England, through Wilkinson, chose to convert penalties rather than attempting to run or kick for the lineout, as the Southern Hemisphere side invariably chose to.

Penalties were traded for the first quarter of the match before a tremendous breakaway from wing Dan Luger put some space between the two sides in the 23rd minute.  He then promptly left the field with a groin strain.

England were almost as guilty as Fiji of cynical fouling close to the line, with Nick Beal receiving a yellow card after half an hour for holding on to prop Daniel Rouse in the tackle, just yards from the try-line.

Fiji's play has progressed a long way from their familiar, flowing Sevens style but, when given a chance by the English, they took it with abandon.  Two knock-ons close to the line denied tries that could have brought Fiji level at the half but instead England were allowed to bear down with their extra weight and discipline in the tight.

A try for Mel Nakauta in the 79th minute rounded out a period of play in which England were worryingly on the back-foot, but it was too little too late.

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Dan Rouse, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Koli Sewabu, 7 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 8 Ifereimi Tawake, 9 Mosese Rauluni, 10 Waisale Serevi, 11 Imanueli Tikomaimakogai, 12 Meli Nakauta, 13 Viliame Satala, 14 Marika Vunibaka, 15 Alfred Uluinayau
Reserves:  Nicky Little, Inoke Male, Epeli Naituvau, Jacob Rauluni, Isaia Rasila, Waisake Sotutu
Unused:  Alifereti Doviverata

England:  1 Darren Garforth, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Jason Leonard, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Austin Healey, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Nick Beal, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Will Greenwood, 14 Dan Luger, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Richard Cockerill, Matt Dawson, Phil De Glanville, Paul Grayson, Richard Hill, Tim Rodber, Graham Rowntree

Attendance:  60000
Referee:  Bevan d

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Nakauta M. 1, Satala V. 1, Tikomaimakogai I. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 3
Pen K.:  Serevi W.T. 1

England
Tries:  Back N.A. 1, Beal N.D. 1, Greening P.B.T. 1, Luger D.D. 1
Conv:  Dawson M.J.S. 1, Wilkinson J.P. 1
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 7

Argentina 28 Ireland 24

Argentina progressed to the World Cup quarter finals following 89 minutes of the most nail-biting match seen so far in this tournament.

Twenty-three points from fly-half Gonzalo Quesada kept the Pumas ahead in the battle of the boots but it was a 72nd minute try from winger Diego Albanese which broke the game open and lead to a thrilling extra time period.

Seventy-nine minutes had elapsed in the game when Quesada slotted his seventh penalty but little did he know that the best was yet to come.  A huge hit by tighthead prop Mauricio Reggiardo on Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll gave Ireland a chance to kick for the lineout and drive for a match-winning try.  Deep into time added on, the men in green put all 15 into the lineout effort.  The Pumas pulled it down but a second attempt was equally unsuccessful and, as referee Stuart Dickinson blew the final whistle, the Argentina side leapt for the skies.

Dickinson was particularly stringent around the breakdown and 15-9 line in Ireland's favour was purely down to his fondness for blowing up when players went down with the ball.  The only interruption to traded penalty attempts was failed drop goal attempts from both Quesada and his opposite number David Humphreys.

Humphreys was more successful just four minutes after the break when a chip from 35 yards split the posts and, with a 12-point margin, Ireland looked like cruising to a home fixture with France at home on Sunday.  Instead, tonight's victors will face Les Bleus in front of a Dublin crowd deprived of their appetite for action.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves:  Felipe Contepomi, Martin Scelzo

Ireland:  1 Paul Wallace, 2 Keith Wood, 3 Reg Corrigan, 4 Jeremy Davidson, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Andy Ward, 8 Dion O'Cuinneagain (c), 9 Tom Tierney, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Matt Mostyn, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Justin Bishop, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves:  Bob Casey, Eric Miller, Justin Fitzpatrick

Attendance:  22000
Referee:  Dickinson s

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Albanese D.L. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 1
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 7

Ireland
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 7
Drop G.:  Humphreys D.G. 1

Scotland 48 Spain 0

Scotland booked their place in the World Cup quarter-final play-offs with a 48-0 victory over Spain in the final group A match at a near-empty Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday.

Just 17,500 fans were there to see the Five Nations champions run up seven tries to set up a clash for a place in the last eight back at the 67,000 capacity Murrayfield next Wednesday against either Wales, Samoa, or Argentina.

Scotland's points came from two tries from Cammie Mather, one apiece for Shaun Longstaff, James McLaren, Cameron Murray and Duncan Hodge.

The Scots were also awarded a penalty try while fly-half Hodge struck five conversions and a penalty for a personal points tally of 18.

Spain, twice thrashed by Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers, exit the competition without a win following their earlier defeats by Uruguay and South Africa.

The Spanish, written off as whipping boys before the tournament, have impressed with their courage -- particularly against South Africa -- but they headed for Edinburgh airport without even a try to their name.

Scotland, who lost their opener 46-29 to South Africa and were unimpressive in a 47-12 win over Uruguay, needed a handsome victory to rouse the flagging interest in their campaign amongst the Scottish public.

Hugh blocks of seats were empty as the players took the field but the flat, echoing atmosphere did not appear to affect the Scots who tore into their opponents from the start.

Hodge put the Scots in front with an early penalty before the Scots went 10-0 ahead when the back-pedalling Spanish scrum conceded a penalty try in the 12th minute.  It was the third penalty try conceded by Spain's lightweight pack in the World Cup.

Flanker Mather barged over from close range for Scotland's second try before New Zeland-born left wing Longstaff raced over in the corner for a third.

Centre McLaren scored his second try in his third match for Scotland to stretch the Scots' lead three minutes after the break.

Mather buried over for his second try as the Scots turned up the pressure before Murray came bursting off the wing at an angle to run in Scotland's sixth try.

Hodge punched a hole through the increasingly creaky Spanish defence to touch down under the posts in the 64th minute.  Hodge converted what proved to be the last points of the match as the Spanish staged a spirited rally in the final quarter.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Paul Burnell, 2 Robbie Russell, 3 Dave Hilton, 4 Andy Reed, 5 Doddie Weir, 6 Cameron Mather, 7 Peter Walton, 8 Stuart Reid, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Shaun Longstaff, 12 Jamie Mayer, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Iain Fairley, Gregor Townsend
Unused:  Glenn Metcalfe, Gordon Bulloch, George Graham, Stuart Grimes, Martin Leslie

Spain:  1 Victor Torres Funes, 2 Diego Zarzosa Pena, 3 Jose Ignacio Zapatero Ferreras, 4 Oscar Astarloa Uriarte, 5 Jose Miguel Villau Cabeza, 6 Jose Diaz, 7 Carlos Souto Vidal, 8 Alfonso Mata Suarez, 9 Aratz Gallastegui Sodupe, 10 Andrei Kovalenco, 11 Miguel Angel Frechilla Manrique, 12 Alvar Enciso Fernandez-Valderam (c), 13 Sebastien Loubsens, 14 Jose Ignacio Inchausti Bravo, 15 Francisco Puertas Soto
Reserves:  Fernando De La Calle Pozo, Luis Javier Martinez Villanueva, Agustin Malet Raga, Alberto Socias Olmos, Steve Tuineau Iloa, Ferran Velazco Querol
Unused:  Jaime Alonso Lasheras

Attendance:  17593
Referee:  Thomas c

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Longstaff S.L. 1, Penalty Try 1, Hodge D.W. 1, Mather C.G. 2, McLaren J.G. 1, Murray C.A. 1
Conv:  Hodge D.W. 5
Pen K.:  Hodge D.W. 1

France 28 Fiji 19

A last minute try by winger Christophe Dominici gave France a 28-19 win over Fiji and landed them the Group C crown -- Fiji finish runners-up.

An error ridden match in which the French, who led 13-3 at the break, scored three tries to Fiji's one was enlivened by a superb touchdown from Fijian fullback Alfred Uluinayau to get his side back into the match in the second-half.

The match descended into farce with 15 minutes to go as referee Paddy O'Brien, who had a poor game, awarded France eight successive scrums five metres out and booked all three of the Fijian front row for purposefully turning the scrums before finally awarding the French a penalty try.

Fijian fly-half Nicky Little, who had been preferred to sevens legend Waisale Serevi because coach Brad Johnstone believed he exerted more control, had reduced the gap to just seven points four minutes into the second period with a sweetly struck penalty.

Uluinayau then produced his magic taking the pass from scrum-half Jacob Rauluni and broke three feeble tackles, sidestepping fullback Ugo Mola, to run it in from 40 metres out for his second international try and turned the volatile French crowd against their side.

Five minutes later the Fijians, quarter-finalists in 1987, were ahead as Little converted another penalty from in front of the posts and added another to give his side a six point lead -- however, the French nosed ahead with the penalty try.

The French, who have been unconvincing so far, scored one try in the first-half to lead the Fijians into the break -- but O'Brien's poor performance had deprived both sides of a try apiece.

Christophe Juillet, who was dropped for the Namibia match but recalled for this one because Thomas Lievremont was injured, thrust himself over the line from three metres out after Stephane Castaignede fed him the pass.

France had started shakily, dropping balls and knocking on, and missed a golden opportunity in the fourth minute when with an overlap Richard Dourthe delayed too long and Viliame Satala was able to tackle Dominici short of the line.

Dourthe's penalty, however, settled them down and a wonderful passing move with Lamaison missing out Dourthe to create the overlap broke down when Ugo Mola passed forward to Dominici -- another schoolboy type forward pass by Philippe Bernat-Salles halted another French move.

Little missed an earlier opportunity to level the scores at 3-3 when his penalty in front of the posts, albeit a long way out, went wide.

Fiji were fortunate to have 15 players on the pitch as number eight Alivereti Maceletu, who had already been shown the yellow card for blocking captain Raphael Ibanez, layed out the hooker with his forearm.

Ibanez's tough first-half got worse as O'Brien booked him mistakenly for butting giant Fijian prop Joeli Veitayaki when in fact it was Christian Califano.

O'Brien infuriated the French when having awarded a try to Dominici following a penalty he changed his mind declaring that the French had initially said they were going for goal -- Dourthe converted the penalty.

The Kiwi balanced out his decisions by anulling a genuine Fijian try when Setareki Tawake went over -- ruling that he'd knocked on although it was French fullback Ugo Mola who had lost the ball in a tackle.

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Stephane Castaignede, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Emile Ntamack, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Ugo Mola
Reserves:  Olivier Brouzet, Arnaud Costes, Marc Dal Maso, Fabien Galthie, Xavier Garbajosa
Unused:  Cedric Desbrosses, Pieter De Villiers

Fiji:  1 Dan Rouse, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Ilivasi Tamanivalu Tabua, 7 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 8 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Manasa Bari, 12 Viliame Satala, 13 Waisake Sotutu, 14 Fero Lasagavibau, 15 Alfred Uluinayau
Reserves:  Meli Nakauta, Koli Sewabu
Unused:  Waisale Serevi, Epeli Naituvau, Mosese Rauluni, Isaia Rasila, Ifereimi Tawake

Attendance:  36000
Referee:  O'brien p

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Juillet C. 1, Dominici C. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Dourthe R. 2
Pen K.:  Dourthe R. 2, Lamaison C. 1

Fiji
Tries:  Uluinayau A.B. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 1
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 4

Argentina 33 Japan 12

Points machine Gonzalo Quesada produced another superb kicking display to boot Argentina into the World Cup knockout stages in a 33-12 win over Japan at the Millennium Stadium.

The result of the final match of the group stages means that Wales win Group D and will play Australia in the quarter-finals in Cardiff.

The Argentinians, as the best third-placed team in the five groups, will play Ireland in Lens, in the quarter-final play-offs on Wednesday.

Samoa will play Scotland at Murrayfield on the same day after finishing second in the group.

Fly-half Gonzalo Quesada, the World Cup's leading points scorer, struck seven penalties while Agustin Pichot and Diego Albanese scored tries to see off the Japanese who leave the World Cup without a win.

Quesada has now scored 66 of his team's 83 points in the competition after kicking 18 points in the 23-18 defeat to Wales and 27 in the 32-16 win over Samoa.

The match boiled down to a battle of the the goalkickers with Quesada getting the better of his opposite man Keija Hirose who kicked all four of his attempts at goal.

Quesada made amends for an earlier miss when he put the Pumas 6-0 in with two penalties in quick succession.

Hirose reduced the deficit with a penalty before Argentinian scrum-half Pichot burst down the blindside for a superb try in the left corner.

Quesada missed a difficult conversion from the touchline but moments later he stretched the lead to 14-3 with his third penalty before Hirose hit back with his second.

Quesada soon added another three points but Japan, who won the last meeting between the countries, a 44-29 triumph in Tokyo last year, kept in contention when Hirose made it 17-9 just before half-time.

The pattern of tit-for-tat penalties continued after the break with the two goal-kickers both adding three points to their totals in the first five minutes.

Quesada, nicknmaed Speedy Gonzalez because of the lengthy time it takes him at kicks, put the Pumas 23-12 in front with his sixth successful kick from eight attempts before adding another.

Winger Diego Albanese went over for a try under the posts in injury time -- converted by Contepomi, who came on in the dying moments to replace Quesada -- to seal victory.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Pedro Sporleder, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves:  Felipe Contepomi, Lucas Ostiglia, Miguel Ruiz
Unused:  Agustin Canalda, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Jose Orengo, Martin Scelzo

Japan:  1 Toshikazu Nakamichi, 2 Masahiro Kunda, 3 Kohei Oguchi, 4 Robert Gordon, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Greg Smith, 8 Jamie Joseph, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Andrew McCormick (c), 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Patiliai Tuidraki, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Shin Hasegawa, Takeomi Ito, Naoto Nakamura, Masaaki Sakata
Unused:  Terunori Masuho, Wataru Murata, Yoshihiko Sakuraba

Attendance:  47000
Referee:  Dickinson s

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Albanese D.L. 1, Pichot A. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 7

Japan
Pen K.:  Hirose K. 4

Tonga 10 England 101

Fly-half Paul Grayson reclaimed his English record for points scored in a match and his team confirmed their place in the quarter-final play-offs of the World Cup, scoring 13 tries in a 101-10 procession against Tonga at Twickenham.

England were given a helping hand when Tonga's prop Ngalu Taufo'ou was sent off three minutes before half-time for a massive punch, which floored flanker Richard Hill.

Clive Woodward's side were already in control at 24-10 but against 14 men it was no contest in the second half and England were able to give several players a rest ahead of next Wednesday's match at home against either France of Fiji.

Grayson surpassed Jonny Wilkinson's individual scoring record of 32, set just two weeks ago, by kicking 36 points.  He hit 16 successful kicks out of 17, missing just his first conversion.

Hooker Phil Greening, Dan Luger, Austin Healey, Will Greenwood and Jerry Guscott all scored two tries apiece for England.  Greenwood's brace came in the space of just two minutes.

The only worry for England was an injury to scrum-half Matt Dawson who was forced off just before the Taufo'ou dismissal.  The Tongan saw red after full-back Matt Perry was tackled dangerously in mid-air.  A melee ensued which ended with Taufo'ou running 20 metres to deck Hill.  He was red-carded by Australian referee Wayne Erickson to leave the Tongans facing an impossible task.

Two early Grayson penalties settled England, who knew they had to win the match to stay in the competition following their defeat by the All Blacks.  Scrum-half Dawson then scampered over to score after 13 minutes but Tonga's winger Tevita Tiueti put Grayson off his conversion and then from the re-start scorched into the corner past Perry for a try converted by Sateki Tu'ipulotu.  Pegged back at 11-7, Grayson restored England's superiority with two more penalties.

Tu'ipulotu stroked over another penalty for the Tongans but England scored again when Healey burst through the defence and hooker Greening plunged over to touch down.  Grayson converted and England were 24-10 up before the match boiled over at the end of the half.

England took full advantage of their spare man and further converted tries by wing Luger and Perry gave them a 38-10 half-time lead.

The second half was always going to be a formality and Will Greenwood, still feeling his way back after being injured in the opening win over Italy, danced through for England's fifth and six tries to bring up the half-century.

Healey, playing at scrum-half in Dawson's place, and Hill added further efforts but the biggest cheer was reserved for 34-year-old centre Guscott, who was only playing because of an injury to Phil de Glanville.  England's prince of centres gathered a quick Healey tap penalty and ran fully 80 metres to dive majestically under the posts.

Another jinking Healey effort was converted by Grayson to make the score 80-10 and the stand-in scrum-half then generously gave Greening his second try of the match which allowed Grayson to equal Wilkinson's mark, set against the Italians.

Luger and Guscott completed their braces in the dying minutes to take England over the century of points, just as group-mates New Zealand had on Thursday against Italy.

The Teams:

Tonga:  1 Ngalu Taufo'ou, 2 Fe'ao Vunipola, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 Isi Fatani, 5 Ben Hur Kivalu, 6 David Edwards, 7 Jonathan Koloi, 8 Kati Tu'ipulotu, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 'Elisi Vunipola (c), 11 David Tiueti, 12 Salesi Finau, 13 Fepiko Tatafu, 14 Semi Taupeaafe, 15 Sateki Tuipulotu
Reserves:  Ta'u Fainga'anuku, Latiume Maka, Falamani Mafi, 'Epeli Taione, Isi Tapueluelu, Va'a Toloke, Sione Tuipulotu

England:  1 Graham Rowntree, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Garath Archer, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Richard Hill, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Paul Grayson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Jerry Guscott, 14 Dan Luger, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Nick Beal, Mike Catt, Richard Cockerill, Danny Grewcock
Unused:  Neil Back, Jason Leonard, Jonny Wilkinson

Attendance:  73000
Referee:  Erickson w

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Tiueti T.L. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 1
Pen K.:  Tuipulotu S. 1

England
Tries:  Dawson M.J.S. 1, Greening P.B.T. 2, Greenwood W.J.H. 2, Guscott J.C. 2, Healey A.S. 2, Hill R.A. 1, Luger D.D. 2, Perry M.B. 1
Conv:  Grayson P.J. 12
Pen K.:  Grayson P.J. 4

Ireland 44 Romania 14

Captain Dion O'Cuinneagain scored his first international try and fullback Conor O'Shea touched down twice to guide Ireland to a 44-14 victory over Romania in their World Cup Group E match at half-empty Lansdowne Road on Friday night.

The win sealed Ireland second place in Group E behind unbeaten Australia and earned them a quarter-final play-off in Lens, France, on Wednesday.

The Irish will play either Samoa, Argentina or Canada depending on the result of Saturday's Japan-Argentina match.

Romania were eliminated after one win and two losses in the group stage.

Flanker Andy Ward and scrum-half Tom Tierney also scored tries for Ireland, while fly-half Eric Elwood kicked five conversions and two penalties for a personal tally of 16 points -- and a flawless night of goal-kicking.  Replacement Brian O'Driscoll landed a late drop goal.

Ireland responded well to the do-or-die situation.  "We knew that if we didn't win we would have been packing our bags -- and that would have been unthinkable," said O'Shea.  "It was solid and we got our confidence back after the loss to Australia, but it wasn't vintage stuff by any means.  "We are happy, but we know there is still a lot of work to do."

Ireland lost prop Peter Clohessy (back) and wing Justin Bishop (hamstring) a couple of hours before kickoff but their side was still strong enough to hold off a committed Romanian combination who were beaten but far from disgraced.  "I'm proud of my players," said Romanian technical director John Phillips.  "We went out and competed -- we gave it a go."  South African-born back-rower O'Cuinneagain, a late inclusion in a half-strength Ireland team, scored his side's first try after just six minutes -- finishing off a superb 50-metre passing movement.  Elwood converted to make it 7-0.

Elwood added a 13th-minute penalty and when Ward burst through some feeble defence two minutes later -- and his try was converted by Elwood -- it was 17-0 and the Irish were in control.

Romanian scrum-half Petre Mitu landed penalties in the 18th and 25th minutes before O'Shea grabbed the third Irish try in the 33rd minute after the ball had been recycled intelligently.

Elwood again converted and then landed an injury-time penalty to make it 27-6 at the break.

O'Shea's second try came five minutes into the second half when he collected a fine pass from Elwood to go over -- and the fly-half again converted.

When Romania lost inspirational skipper Tudor Constantin to injury their hopes had all but evaporated.

Mitu landed a third penalty in the 57th minute when it might have been smarter to take a tap and the Irish immediately went up to the other end for Tierney to scamper over the line.  Elwood again converted.

The job done, Ireland coach Warren Gatland was able to pull off O'Shea and Tierney with 20 minutes still remaining.  Elwood, too, left the field early with a cut head -- a sad finish after such an influential performance.

The Romanians got a consolation try with five minutes left when wing Cristian Sauan scampered over in the right corner after his teammates used quick hands after a five-metre scrum win.

Ireland still had the last word, however, with O'Driscoll's injury-time drop goal.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Paul Wallace, 2 Ross Nesdale, 3 Justin Fitzpatrick, 4 Paddy Johns, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Andy Ward, 8 Dion O'Cuinneagain (c), 9 Tom Tierney, 10 Eric Elwood, 11 Matt Mostyn, 12 Jonathan Bell, 13 Mike Mullins, 14 Jimmy Topping, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves:  Jeremy Davidson, Gordon D'Arcy, Angus McKeen, Brian O'Meara, Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Wood, Alan Quinlan

Romania:  1 Razvan Mavrodin, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Constantin Stan, 4 Tiberiu Brinza, 5 Tudor Constantin (c), 6 Alin Petrache, 7 Erdinci Septar, 8 Catalin Draguceanu, 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Roland Vusec, 11 Cristian Sauan, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac, 14 Gheorghe Solomie, 15 Mihai Vioreanu
Reserves:  Marius Iacob, Daniel Chiriac, Florin Corodeanu, Nicolae Dragos Dima, Radu Fugigi, Laurentiu Rotaru, Ionut Tofan

Attendance:  33000
Referee:  Campsall b

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  O'Cuinneagain D. 1, O'Shea C.M.P. 2, Tierney T. 1, Ward A.J. 1
Conv:  Elwood E.P. 5
Pen K.:  Elwood E.P. 2
Drop G.:  O'Driscoll B. 1

Romania
Tries:  Sauan D.C. 1
Pen K.:  Mitu P. 3

Canada 72 Namibia 11

Winless Canada, determined to go home with at least one win, ended their Group C campaign with a 72-11 thrashing of Namibia -- a personal triumph for fly-half Gareth Rees who ended his fourth World Cup with a 100 percent record in kicks at goal and 49 points.

While Rees and his side, whose aspirations to make the quarter-final play-offs nosedived with Wales' defeat by Samoa earlier on Thursday, could feel proud of their display, in which they ran in nine tries.  The one sour note was the sending off of flanker Danny Baugh for stamping early in the second-half.

The Africans, who themselves were fortunate to end with a full complement of players after Arthur Samuelson's deliberate high tackle led to hooker Mark Cardinal having to go off, reacted to Baugh's dirty play by scoring a try through captain Quinn Hough, his 10th try in 73 appearances.

The Canadians, who made the quarter-finals in 1991, dampened down any hopes of a Namibian comeback by running in another try as a terrible foul-up in the Africans defence led to Kyle Nicholls running in his second touch down.

However, it was replacement fullback Bobby Ross who scored their best try, finishing off a seven man move with a spectacular catch from Winston Stanley's flicked-on pass -- Stanley added another minutes later and Rod Snow got his second of the evening on fulltime with Stanley running in a final one in injury-time.

Namibia's player of the tournament Leandre van Dyk had opened the score with a third minute penalty but Canada hit back as their find of the competition, scrum-half Morgan Williams, burrowed over from five metres out for his third try in the group stage.

The Africans self-destructed two minutes later as fullback Glovin van Wyk's pass was intercepted by centre Kyle Nicholls who raced away to touch down under the posts.

The 32-year-old Rees, playing probably his swansong match in the World Cup, and van Dyk exchanged penalties before Canadian veteran Al Charron beat two tackles to get their third try and his seventh in 54 appearances for his country.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Mark Cardinal, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 John Tait, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 John Hutchinson, 8 Alan Charron, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Gareth Rees, 11 Joe Pagano, 12 Dave Lougheed, 13 Kyle Nichols, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Scott Stewart
Reserves:  Ryan Banks, Scott Bryan, Pat Dunkley, John Graf, Duane Major, Bobby Ross, Mike Schmid

Namibia:  1 Joodt Opperman, 2 Hugo Horn, 3 Eben Smith, 4 Heino Senekal, 5 Pieter Steyn, 6 Quinn Hough (c), 7 Thys Van Rooyen, 8 Sean Furter, 9 Riaan Jantjies, 10 Johan Zaayman, 11 Attie Samuelson, 12 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 13 Francois Van Rensburg, 14 Lean Van Dyk, 15 Glovin Van Wyk
Reserves:  Andries Blaauw, Herman Lintvelt, Johannes Theron
Unused:  Dirk Farmer, 1FI1, Lukas Holtzhausen, Ronaldo Pedro

Attendance:  28000
Referee:  Cole a

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Charron A.J. 1, Nichols K. 2, Ross R.P. 1, Snow R.G.A. 2, Stanley W.U. 2, Williams M. 1
Conv:  Rees G.L. 9
Pen K.:  Rees G.L. 3

Namibia
Tries:  Hough Q. 1
Pen K.:  Van Dyk L. 2

New Zealand 101 Italy 3

A rampaging second string New Zealand ran over hapless Italy 101-3 in their Group B clash here on Thursday to record the highest score of the tournament to date.

With only four players from the team that beat England on show, New Zealand confirmed that no matter what team they put out, they are a match for anyone.

Full-back Jeff Wilson wrote himself into the All Black record books by running in three tries to make himself the country's highest try scorer, overtaking the 35 scored by legendary winger John Kirwan.  "It was really exciting for me.  My mum was in the stand.  To be up there with people like John Kirwan is something special.  The guys got excited and it was all ours.  It was pleasure to be out there with them," said Wilson.

Out-half Tony Brown, playing in his seventh Test scored more points -- 36 -- than he had in his previous six appearances added together.  He also scored his first try in an All Black jersey when he intercepted a loose pass in the first-half.

Also stamping his authority was Jonah Lomu, the destroyer of England, who showed he was as good a forward as he was back.

In the dying minutes of the first half Lomu came into the scrum, picked up the ball like a true number eight and charged over from 10 meters out, dragging three Italians over with him.  In the second-half he collected the ball on the wing and ran half the length of the field with no one to stop him piling on the misery for a shell-shocked Italian side.

It also made Lomu the greatest try scorer in World Cup history, moving him ahead of previous record hold Rory Underwood of England.  Lomu, clearly with more to come, has now scored 12 World Cup tries.

Italy had hoped to test the All Blacks and prove that they derserved their place in the new Six Nations next year.  Instead, they found themselves totally outclassed by New Zealand's second fifteen.  Flanker Dylan Mika, captain Taine Randall, Daryl Gibson, Scott Robinson, Christian Cullen, Glen Osborne and hooker Mark Hammett all went over for tries.

Italy's best moment came in the opening minute of the match when they managed to get to within less than a meter of the New Zealand line thanks to a clever attack launched by full-back Matt Pini but then they wasted the opportunity by giving away a penalty.

The desperate Italians tried to halt that New Zealand attack by going offside when the opportunity arose but Scottish referee Jim Fleming was having none of it.  In the end he warned the Italians that he would send off the next offender if it continued.

Italy's only points came from the boot of their kicking machine Diego Dominguez when New Zealand were caught going over the ball early in the first-half.

New Zealand:  1 Craig Dowd, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Greg Feek, 4 Ian Jones, 5 Royce Willis, 6 Andrew Blowers, 7 Dylan Mika, 8 Taine Randell (c), 9 Byron Kelleher, 10 Tony Brown, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Pita Alatini, 13 Daryl Gibson, 14 Glen Osborne, 15 Jeff Wilson
Reserves:  Robin Brooke, Christian Cullen, Rhys Duggan, Kees Meeuws, Scott Robertson
Unused:  Andrew Mehrtens, Anton Oliver

Italy:  1 Andrea Castellani, 2 Andrea Moretti, 3 Alejandro Moreno, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Mark Giacheri, 6 Massimo Giovanelli (c), 7 Stefano Saviozzi, 8 Carlo Caione, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Paolo Vaccari, 12 Sandro Ceppolino, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicolas Zisti, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Orazio Arancio, Walter Cristofoletto, Francesco Mazzariol, Nicola Mazzucato, Alessandro Moscardi, Franco Properzi-Curti
Unused:  Giampiero Mazzi

Attendance:  22032
Referee:  Fleming j

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Brown T.E. 1, Cullen C.M. 1, Gibson D.P.E. 1, Hammett M.G. 1, Lomu J.T. 2, Mika D.G. 1, Osborne G.M. 2, Randell T.C. 1, Robertson S.M. 1, Wilson J.W. 3
Conv:  Brown T.E. 11
Pen K.:  Brown T.E. 3

Italy
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 1

Wales 31 Samoa 38

Samoa pulled off the biggest upset in the 1999 World Cup when they sent host nation Wales spiralling to a 38-31 defeat in a dramatic Group D match here on Thursday.

In a carbon-copy of their stunning 16-13 defeat to the Pacific islanders in the 1991 finals, Wales were punished for sloppy defending as the Samoans ran in five tries to silence the 72,000 capacity home crowd.

Graham Henry's side laid siege to the Samoan line in the dying minutes but heroic defence kept them at bay, sparking scenes of wild celebrations amongst the Samoans at the final whistle.

The defeat overshadowed the achievement of Wales fly-half Neil Jenkins who wrote himself into the record books by becoming the greatest points scorer in the history of international rugby.  "We are very disappointed," said Wales coach Graham Henry.  "We made far too many mistakes but I think massive credit and respect should be given to the Samoans.  They played superbly -- often with limited possession.  "It's not the end of the world and we will learn from the experience.  We just have to take it on the chin."

Samoan captain Pat Lam, whose side had performed so poorly in Sunday's 32-16 defeat by Argentina, said memories of 1991 had fired his side.  "This is a very special day," said the giant number eight who plays with English club Northampton.  "You guys had all written us off and people gave us no respect, but we played with a lot of pride, a hell of alot of pride.  "The mood in the build-up to the match reminded us of 1991 and all the good luck faxes we received from back home really inspired us." The result means that the two teams will have to wait until the end of Argentina's match against Japan here on Saturday before the places for the quarter-finals and the quarter-final play-offs will be known.

Wales should still go straight to the quarter-finals -- probably against Australia back at the Millennium Stadium -- provided Argentina, who are expected to beat Japan do not score more than 70 points.

A day of Welsh celebrations seemed to lie ahead when Jenkins, level with Australia's Michael Lynagh on 911 points before the match, posted a simple conversion after Wales were awarded a penalty try early on to write himself into the record books.

The 72,000-capacity crowd in the Millennium Stadium exploded in delight and stood to hail the 28-year-old British Lion from the Welsh valleys.  But the celebrations were short-lived as the Welsh crowd realised that their team had a major battle on their hands against the crash-tackling Pacific Islanders.

It was a cruel irony that the normally metronomic Jenkins missed three penalties and a conversion that would have given Wales victory.  On a day of mixed fortunes for the man they call the "Ginger Monster", it was also his mistake early in the second period which led directly to Samoa's fourth try and restored their lead to seven points.

Wales trailed the Samoans 24-21 at half-time following two breakaway tries by fly-half Stephen Bachop in the dying minutes and an earlier close range effort from lock Lio Falaniko -- all converted by full-back Silao Leaega.  But after levelling the scores with a penalty three minutes after the turnaround, Jenkins gifted the Samoans another try as the Welsh surrendered the lead again.

His lazy pass was intercepted by Pat Lam who ran virtually the entire length of the field to score.  Leaega converted to restore Samoa's seven point lead.  Wales, though, were awarded a second penalty try after the Samoans collapsed the scrum a metre out as the Welsh drove forward.

Jenkins converted to make it 31-31 but two minutes later the Samoans went seven points clear again when Leaega muscled over in the right corner after good work by Brian Lima.  Leaga converted himself to seal another historic win.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young, 4 Gareth Llewellyn, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Brett Sinkinson, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Ben Evans, Andrew Lewis
Unused:  Jason Jones-Hughes, David Llewellyn, Geraint Lewis, Stephen Jones, Mike Voyle

Samoa:  1 Robbie Ale, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Brendan Reidy, 4 Lio Falaniko, 5 Lama Tone, 6 Craig Glendinning, 7 Junior Paramore, 8 Pat Lam (c), 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Stephen Bachop, 11 Brian Lima, 12 George Leaupepe, 13 To'o Vaega, 14 Inga Tuigamala, 15 Silao Leaega
Reserves:  Terry Fanolua, Earl Va'a, Onehunga Matauiau Esau, Mike Mika, Semo Sititi, Sene Ta'ala
Unused:  John Clarke

Attendance:  72000
Referee:  Morrison e

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Penalty Try 2, Thomas G. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 2
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 4

Samoa
Tries:  Bachop S.J. 2, Falaniko F.L. 1, Lam P.R. 1, Leaega S. 1
Conv:  Leaega S. 5
Pen K.:  Leaega S. 1

Australia 55 United States 19

Wing Scott Staniforth marked his test debut with a brace of tries as Australia trounced the United States 55-19 in their World Cup Group E match at Thomond Park on Thursday.

It was the third straight win of the tournament for the Wallabies, who finished on top of the pool.  Going into the match already assured of a quarter-final spot, the Australians fielded a second-string side that was still far too good for the game but outgunned American part-timers.

The Australians will now play either Wales, Samoa or Argentina in the quarters in Cardiff on October 23, while the United States failed to break a World Cup winless streak that stretches back to 1987 and will go home having lost all three of their matches in the tournament.

Fly-half Stephen Larkham, hooker Michael Foley, wing Matthew Burke, flanker Tiaan Strauss, fullback Chris Latham and scrum-half Chris Whitaker also scored tries for the Aussies, while Burke kicked five conversions and a penalty and Joe Roff a conversion in what was the first international to be played in Limerick for 101 years.

The Americans, who trailed by only 12 points at half-time, responded with a try to Juan Grobler, converted by Kevin Dalzell, three penalties from Dalzell and a drop goal from David Niu.

Larkham opened the scoring after just three minutes when the Australians burst down the middle.  Larkham, who had started the move, backed up to take a pass from Jim Williams just before the line.  Burke's conversion made it 7-0.  The Australians then survived some uncomfortable moments on defence close to their own line before Burke's 13th-minute penalty made the margin 10 points.  Niu, a former Australian rugby league player, got the first points for the Eagles with a drop goal after 15 minutes but the Australians stormed back with a sparkling passing movement that saw 21-year-old wing Staniforth mark his debut with a fine try in the corner.  Burke's kick made it 17-3.

The Americans were incensed when lock Alec Parker got over the line but was ruled by referee Andrew Watson not to have touched down Good work by Whitaker, then Latham, kept out the Americans as the Wallabies scrambled in defence but wing Grobler finally scored in the corner just a couple of minutes before halftime -- and Dalzell converted.  The Australian lead was reduced to seven points -- and the Wallabies had conceded their first try of the tournament.

Five minutes into injury time, the Australians got a pushover try to Foley, although Burke's kick missed.  The Wallabies began the second half in similar vein.  First Larkham's clever kick ahead set up Staniforth's second try and then, after lock Tom Bowman had a touchdown disallowed, Burke went over in the opposite corner to make it 34-10.  The game was already over as a contest.

A trio of Dalzell penalties briefly lifted American hearts but former Springbok Strauss scored the sixth try for the Aussies with 12 minutes remaining and Burke again converted to make it 41-19.

Latham's try with seven minutes and Whitaker's in injury time rubbed salt into the American wounds and eight tries to one was a harsh indication of the gap in class between the teams.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Dan Crowley, 2 Michael Foley, 3 Rod Moore, 4 Tom Bowman, 5 Mark Connors, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 Tiaan Strauss, 8 Jim Williams, 9 Chris Whitaker, 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Matthew Burke, 12 Nathan Grey, 13 Jason Little (c), 14 Scott Staniforth, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, David Giffin, Rod Kafer, Joe Roff
Unused:  George Gregan, Richard Harry, Jeremy Paul

Attendance:  13000
Referee:  Watson a

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Burke M.C. 1, Foley M.A. 1, Larkham S.J. 1, Latham C.E. 1, Staniforth S.N.G. 2, Strauss C.P. 1, Whitaker C. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 5, Roff J.W.C. 1
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 1

United States
Tries:  Grobler J. 1
Conv:  Dalzell K. 1
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 3
Drop G.:  Dalzell K. 1

Tonga 28 Italy 25

The Italian side was inconsolable at Welford Road tonight after an injury time drop-goal from Sateki Tu'ilupotu snatched a 28-25 win for Tonga, when an 80 minute penalty from Diego Dominguez looked to have earnt Italy a draw.

The Tongans started the game much the better side with Sililo Martens marshalling the game from scrum-half.  Taufahema and Tu'ipulotu both scored first half tries as Tonga went into the break 18-12 up, Diego Dominguez's four penalties keeping the Europeans in the contest.

In the second half the Italian pack took control of the game with captain Giovanelli spearheading his side's recovery.  Wing Vacarri made a number of telling breaks, as did the powerful centre Stoica.  The Tongan discipline began to slip and Dominguez punished them with a second-half penalty before hooker Moscardi crossed for a try which took the Italians into the lead.

But with 10 minutes, left Tonga launched a series of attacks which finally broke the brave Italian defence and Fatani plundered what appeared to be a match winning try with 5 minutes left.  Little did he, or anyone else at Welford Road know what drama was still to come.

Tonga:  1 Ta'u Fainga'anuku, 2 Latiume Maka, 3 Ngalu Taufo'ou, 4 Ben Hur Kivalu, 5 Falamani Mafi, 6 David Edwards, 7 Jonathan Koloi, 8 Kati Tu'ipulotu, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Brian Wooley, 11 Tauna'holo Taufahema, 12 Semi Taupeaafe, 13 'Elisi Vunipola (c), 14 Epi Taione, 15 Sateki Tuipulotu
Reserves:  David Tiueti, Isi Fatani, Isi Tapueluelu, Matt Te Pou
Unused:  Kuli Faletau, Damien Penesini, Sione Tuipulotu

Italy:  1 Andrea Castellani, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Alejandro Moreno, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Mark Giacheri, 6 Massimo Giovanelli (c), 7 Stefano Saviozzi, 8 Carlo Caione, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Fabio Roselli, 12 Sandro Ceppolino, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Paolo Vaccari, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Andrea Moretti, Nicola Mazzucato
Unused:  Orazio Arancio, Walter Cristofoletto, Francesco Mazzariol, Giampiero Mazzi, Franco Properzi-Curti

Attendance:  10244
Referee:  Mchugh d

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Fatani I. 1, Taufahema T. 1, Tuipulotu S. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 2
Pen K.:  Tuipulotu S. 2
Drop G.:  Tuipulotu S. 1

Italy
Tries:  Moscardi A. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 6

Argentina 32 Samoa 16

A brilliant second-half kicking performance by Gonzalo Quesada saw Argentina overcome a 13-point deficit for a crucial 32-16 win over Samoa in a rain-swept Group D match.

The 25-year-old fly-half struck seven penalties and a drop goal to add to a first half penalty as the Pumas came from 16-3 down at half-time to all but make sure of a place in the play-offs.

The Argentinian, nicknamed "Speedy Gonzales" because of the length of time he takes with his kicks, was composure itself as he slotted nine of his ten attempts at the posts.  His deadly accuracy saw the Pumas make a remarkable recovery in a match the big-hitting Samoans threatened to run away with as they adapted better to the heavy rain that made handling and footwork difficult.

Allejandro Allub scored Argentina's only try -- their first of the World Cup -- when the burly lock barged over from close range in the 66th minute.

Just 20 minutes earlier, the Pacific islanders seemed to have a World Cup play-off place in their sights after a try by flanker Junior Paramore and two penalties and a conversion from full-back Silao Leaega gave them a 13-point cushion at the turnaround.

In the first half, the Pumas, narrowly beaten 23-18 by Wales in the World Cup curtain-raiser, spurned a golden chance to open the scoring in the 11th minute when centre Eduardo Simone found a gap in the Samoan defence.

In a two-on-one situation a try seemed a certainty but with a clear run to the line from 10 yards winger Diego Albanese spilled a simple pass from Simone.

With the rain clealy affecting the players' handling and footing, the first points of the match did not arrive until the 19th minute when Leaega slotted a penalty from wide on the left.

The Samoans went 10-0 in front soon afterwards when powerhouse centre Va'aiga Tuigamala punched a hole though the Argentinian midfield to give Paramore a clear run under the posts.

Quesada reduced the deficit with a penalty before Leaega responded with two of his own to give Samoa the edge heading into the second period.  But it was a different story after the break as Gonzalez made the most of the Samoans' increasing ill-discipline with as good a kicking performance as any seen in the tournament so far.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Octavio Bartolucci, 15 Manuel Contepomi
Reserves:  Gonzalo Camardon, Miguel Ruiz, Martin Scelzo
Unused:  Agustin Canalda, Felipe Contepomi, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Lucas Ostiglia

Samoa:  1 Robbie Ale, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Brendan Reidy, 4 Opeta Palepoi, 5 Lama Tone, 6 Junior Paramore, 7 Sene Ta'ala, 8 Pat Lam (c), 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Stephen Bachop, 11 Brian Lima, 12 George Leaupepe, 13 Inga Tuigamala, 14 Afato So'oalo, 15 Silao Leaega
Reserves:  Isaac Fea'unati, Onehunga Matauiau Esau, Mike Mika, Kalolo Toleafoa, Tanner Vili
Unused:  John Clarke, To'o Vaega

Attendance:  11000
Referee:  Erickson w

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Allub A. 1
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 8
Drop G.:  Quesada G. 1

Samoa
Tries:  Paramore P.J. 1
Conv:  Leaega S. 1
Pen K.:  Leaega S. 3

Romania 27 United States 25

Despite a last-minute fightback by the United States, Romania held on long enough to record their first ever World Cup victory at Lansdowne Road in the Pool E clash.

In the early stages of the match it had been the USA who looked the stronger side with their skipper Dan Lyle, one of the few professional players in the Eagles ranks, crashing over for a try after a protracted period of American pressure.

But not long after his try, the influential flanker left the field with a shoulder injury and was replaced by Shaun Paga.  With their captain sidelined, the USA lost some of their composure that allowed the Romanians to edge their way back into the match.

The Eagles took the lead with a penalty from scrum-half Kevin Dalzell after just 12 minutes.  But that lead was to be short-lived as veteran centre Gheorghe Solomie broke through for a try that went unconverted.

Immediately after the break, the USA added a new urgency to their player, powering to another try through wing Brian Hightower after some brilliant inter-handling between the backs and forwards.

But this score seemed to galvanise the Romanians who began playing an excellent tactical game, pinning the USA back into their own half with a combination of forward power and the deft kicking of No.9 Petre Mitu.

Tries from skipper Tudor Constantin and Adrian Petrache maintained Romania's lead and the score as poised at 27-20 in the final frantic few minutes.

The USA mounted a furious last resort attack which resulted in fullback Kurt Shuman going over in the left-hand corner but Kevin Dalzell was unable to convert the try and Romania held on until the final whistle.

The Teams:

Romania:  1 Razvan Mavrodin, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Constantin Stan, 4 Tiberiu Brinza, 5 Tudor Constantin, 6 Alin Petrache, 7 Erdinci Septar, 8 Catalin Draguceanu, 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Roland Vusec, 11 Cristian Sauan, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac, 14 Gheorghe Solomie, 15 Mihai Vioreanu
Reserves:  Daniel Chiriac, Florin Corodeanu, Nicolae Dragos Dima
Unused:  Marius Iacob, Radu Fugigi, Laurentiu Rotaru, Ionut Tofan

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dan Lyle (c), 7 Tasi Mo'unga, 8 Rob Lumkong, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 David Niu, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Juan Grobler, 13 Mark Scharrenberg, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Kurt Shuman
Reserves:  Joe Clayton, Dave Hodges, Kirk Khasigian, Shaun Paga, Tomasi Takau, Richard Tardits
Unused:  UST8

Attendance:  3000
Referee:  Fleming j

Points Scorers

Romania
Tries:  Constantin T. 1, Petrache A.A. 1, Solomie G.L. 2
Conv:  Mitu P. 2
Pen K.:  Mitu P. 1

United States
Tries:  Hightower B. 1, Lyle D.J. 1, Shuman K.D. 1
Conv:  Dalzell K. 2
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 2

Fiji 38 Canada 22

Fiji were thoroughly good value for their lunchtime victory over a dull Canadian team.

Despite going 10 points up within the first quarter of an hour, the Canadians never had the answers for a more creative and determined Fijian side.

Both teams had an equal share of the ball and position but the Fijian back line used the ball to greater effect to win the try count 4-1 and record a thoroughly deserved victory, setting up a Group C decider against the French next week.

The one blot on the Fijian record book was the last minute dismissal of Vunibaka for a needless but obvious headbut.

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Dan Rouse, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Ilivasi Tamanivalu Tabua, 7 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 8 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Fero Lasagavibau, 12 Viliame Satala, 13 Waisake Sotutu, 14 Marika Vunibaka, 15 Alfred Uluinayau
Reserves:  Waisale Serevi, Apisai Naevo, Mosese Rauluni, Koli Sewabu
Unused:  Meli Nakauta, Manasa Qoro, Isaia Rasila

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 John Tait, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Alan Charron, 8 Mike Schmid, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Gareth Rees, 11 Dave Lougheed, 12 Scott Bryan, 13 Kyle Nichols, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Scott Stewart
Reserves:  Mark Cardinal, John Hutchinson, Duane Major
Unused:  Ryan Banks, John Graf, Joe Pagano, Bobby Ross

Attendance:  27000
Referee:  Morrison e

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Lasagavibau F.T. 1, Satala V. 2, Vunibaka M.D. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 3
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 3
Drop G.:  Little N.T. 1

Canada
Tries:  James M.B. 1
Conv:  Rees G.L. 1
Pen K.:  Rees G.L. 4
Drop G.:  Rees G.L. 1

Wales 64 Japan 15

Neil Jenkins equalled the world points-scoring record as his side overwhelmed a naive Japanese side 64-15.

Jenkins hit eight conversions and 30-metre penalty to take his international record with Wales and the British Lions to 511, equal with Australian legend Michael Lynagh.

Despite tries in the corners from wing Daisuke Ohasa and inside centre Pat Tuidraki, they just couldn't get into a a big, red machine, bayed on by a 72,000 crowd at the new Millennium Stadium.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young, 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Mike Voyle, 6 Brett Sinkinson, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Geraint Lewis, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Jason Jones-Hughes, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Allan Bateman, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  David Llewellyn, Ben Evans, Jonathan Humphreys, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis, Gareth Thomas, Chris Wyatt

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masahiro Kunda, 3 Naoto Nakamura, 4 Robert Gordon, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Greg Smith, 8 Jamie Joseph, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Andrew McCormick (c), 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Patiliai Tuidraki, 15 Tsuyoshi Hirao
Reserves:  Takeomi Ito, Wataru Murata, Toshikazu Nakamichi, Yoshihiko Sakuraba, Masaaki Sakata
Unused:  Terunori Masuho, Akira Yoshida

Referee:  Dume j

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Llewellyn D.S. 1, Penalty Try 1, Bateman A.G. 1, Gibbs I.S. 1, Howley R. 1, Howarth S.P. 1, Taylor M. 2, Thomas G. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 8
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 1

Japan
Tries:  Ohata D. 1, Tuidraki P. 1
Conv:  Hirose K. 1
Pen K.:  Hirose K. 1

Scotland 43 Uruguay 12

Scotland emerged victorious but with little glory from a barely-watched, error-strewn, hard-hitting encounter at Murrayfield.

It was the 69th minute before the Scots could add to their 29-6 halftime lead, Gregor Townsend cutting through a massive gap to score under the posts, and the hosts did little to impress, despite their attempt at expansive play.

A brutally high tackle from blindside flanker Martin Leslie proved the main talking point of a first half in which Scottish handling errors generally prevented them from capitalising on their territorial advantage.

A Murrayfield crowd which the Scottish Rugby Union were hard-pressed to describe at numbering 10,000 could have expected far more than the four tries which they witness.  The best of the four, though, was a run from the half-way line which resulted in Glenn Metcalfe crossing the line.  Scrum-half Gary Armstrong, who had scored the second try of the match, made a break.  He passed to winger Kenny Logan who, bogged down by South American tacklers, batted it back.  Fullback Metcalfe snatched the ball from the air and, in a move that could have been described as a second movement, went over in the left corner.

Leslie scored the first five-pointer of the match, the lucky beneficiary of a maul which pushed ten yards to the line before collapsing, although replays showed that the ball may have touched the floor before the scorer.  He caused more talk, though, when his shoulder met the face of fullback Alfonso Cardoso, knocking the latter straight to the floor.  Leslie received a yellow card for his effort and will surely be dealt with severely when the citing committee meet later in the week.

Uruguay, perceived as little more than whipping boys before this tournament, put in their second battling game north of the border.  Having out-battled Spain last weekend, they came up against supposedly far superior opponents and were certainly not over-awed.  If anything, Scotland were intimidated by the brutality of the South American tackles.  Martin Leslie payed for his first half transgressions by being upended and Armstrong had to be tended to on the field after a massive hit from 20-stone Bristol tighthead Pablo Lemoine.

If Scotland hope to progress beyond the initial stages of this tournament they must improve, and quickly.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 George Graham, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Gordon Simpson, 9 Gary Armstrong (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Jamie Mayer, 13 Alan Tait, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Shaun Longstaff, Dave Hilton, Bryan Redpath, Robbie Russell, Peter Walton
Unused:  Duncan Hodge, Doddie Weir

Uruguay:  1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Diego Lamelas, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Carlos Bado, 5 Mario Lame, 6 Nicolas Brignoni, 7 Martin Panizza, 8 Diego Ormachea (c), 9 Federico Sciarra, 10 Diego Aguirre, 11 Pablo Costabile, 12 Martin Mendaro, 13 Pedro Vecino, 14 Juan Menchaca, 15 Alfonso Cardoso
Reserves:  Eduardo Berruti, Francisco De Los Santos, Nicolas Grille, Agustin Ponce de Leon, Fernando Sosa Diaz, Guillermo Storace, Jose Viana

Attendance:  9463
Referee:  Dickinson s

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Metcalfe G.H. 1, Armstrong G. 1, Leslie M.D. 1, Russell R.R. 1, Simpson G.L. 1, Townsend G.P.J. 1
Conv:  Logan K.McK. 5
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 1

Uruguay
Pen K.:  Aguirre D. 3, Sciarra F. 1

France 47 Namibia 13

French fullback Ugo Mola celebrated a personal triumph of three tries but it simply flattered a unimpressive French side as they beat Namibia 47-13.

The French, booed off at half-time after a series of elementary errors that had left them just 23-13 ahead, outscored the Nambibian farmers by six tries to one but rarely showed the fluency required of a World Cup winner let alone a group winner.

Under fire captain Raphael Ibanez was replaced with 15 minutes to go.  France had extended their lead early in the second-half as recalled fly-half Christophe Lamaison fed Mola on the blindside and the 26-year-old, who had only retained his place because Thomas Castaignede was ruled out of the tournament on Thursday, touched down for his sixth international try in the corner.

Mola, who had been dropped from fly-half following the 54-7 thrashing by the All Blacks earlier this year, added a second seven minutes later after constant French pressure told on the the weary Namibians, who had repelled the French for five minutes on their own line.

A pumped up Mola, who had said earlier in the week that he thought he had blown his chance of keeping his place in the team, claimed his hat-trick minutes later cutting in to take a pass from winger Philippe Bernat-Salles and forced his way over despite the despairing tackle of Francois van Rensburg.

Bernat-Salles, who was France's outstanding player on a forgettable night for the team, fed Ntamack for the next try, his 24th in 37 tests, after Lamaison had delivered a clever defence splitting pass to the winger.

It had been Bernat-Salles who had given France some breathing space at the end of the first-half as he profited from a Namibian error to score a try and give a dreadful France a 23-13 half-time lead over the African minnows.

Earlier a try by winger Arthur Samuelson had rocked the French.

Bernat-Salles profited from a careless pass by Namibian fly-half Andre Zaayman to kick ahead and with no Namibian cover touch down.

It was a cruel blow to the Namibians who had looked the French equals particularly after the 24-year-old Samuelson burst onto a van Rensburg pass to get between the French centres and score under the posts in the 20th minute.

French scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, who had admitted that he had not played well in the first match against Canada, squeezed over the line aided by his pack to open the scoring for France -- Richard Dourthe converted it.

Namibia's classy full-back turned winger Leandre van Dyk reduced the deficit four minutes later when he ignored the booes of the French spectators to convert a penalty.

However despite Dourthe converting a penalty to restore the seven point gap it was the Africans who created the better opportunities as van Dyk intercepted a pass in his own half and after kicking ahead van Rensburg was only beaten to the line by a despairing French boot.

The French suffered another blow when number eight Thomas Lievremont went off injured after he had been brought to ground following a rampaging run in the 26th minute -- former captain Abdelatif Benazzi replaced him.

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Franck Tournaire, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Thomas Lievremont, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Stephane Glas, 14 Emile Ntamack, 15 Ugo Mola
Reserves:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Arnaud Costes, Marc Dal Maso, Cedric Desbrosses, Xavier Garbajosa, Cedric Soulette, Stephane Castaignede

Namibia:  1 Mario Jacobs, 2 Hugo Horn, 3 Joodt Opperman, 4 Heino Senekal, 5 Pieter Steyn, 6 Quinn Hough (c), 7 Thys Van Rooyen, 8 Sean Furter, 9 Riaan Jantjies, 10 Johan Zaayman, 11 Attie Samuelson, 12 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 13 Francois Van Rensburg, 14 Leane Van Dyk, 15 Glovin Van Wyk
Reserves:  Andries Blaauw, Herman Lintvelt, Cliff Loubscher, Eben Smith, Johannes Theron, Sarel Janse Van Rensburg
Unused:  Lukas Holtzhausen

Attendance:  34030
Referee:  White c

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Mola U. 3, Ntamack E. 1, Mignoni P. 1
Conv:  Dourthe R. 4
Pen K.:  Dourthe R. 3

Namibia
Tries:  Samuelson A. 1
Conv:  Van Dyk L. 1
Pen K.:  Van Dyk L. 2

Romania 9 Australia 57

Back-rower Toutai Kefu grabbed a hat-trick of tries as World Cup heavyweights Australia ran in nine to trounce Romania 57-9 in their Pool E match at soggy Ravenhill ground in Belfast.

Replacement wing Joe Roff grabbed a pair, while Tim Horan, Jason Little, substitute hooker Jeremy Paul and fullback Matthew Burke also crossed the line.  Burke landed five conversions and John Eales one.  The Australians dominated throughout.  They were simply too quick and too slick for their outgunned opponents in what was little more than a training run.

The one-sided proceedings were enlivened, however, by the late incursion onto the pitch of two Australian streakers -- one male and one female, who earned one of the biggest cheers of the night.  The Wallabies led after just 90 seconds after they won a 5-metre scrum and the ball passed through the hands of George Gregan and Rod Kafer to allow centre Horan to cross the line unchallenged.

Burke failed to add the extra points but Tongan-born number eight Kefu scored the second Australian try after seven minutes when he collected a clever reverse pass from Gregan.  This time Burke was successful and the Aussies led 12-0.  The pattern was set.

The Romanians got on the board after 13 minutes with a penalty from clever scrum-half Petre Mitu after he had been obstructed but it was a rare success for the eastern Europeans.  Kefu got his second try after 24 minutes when the Australians won another scrum and were able to push their way over the line.  Burke was again successful with his kick.

A crossfield kick from Horan was fumbled by wing Cristian Sauan and Jason Little turned to dot the ball down fully five minutes into time added on.  This time, Burke's kick missed.  The Australians made three changes at halftime and it took less than three minutes before Roff, on for Ben Tune, strolled over the line.  Burke's kick made it 31-3.  Roff took only six more minutes to add his second try.

The Australian survived a few uncomfortable moments before Paul scored his third test try in the 65th minute, followed by Burke crossing three minutes later.  Burke converted both.  Mitu then landed a pair of late penalties for the Romanians before Kefu completed his hat-trick with just a couple of minutes remaining.  Eales took over the kicking duties and was successful.

The Aussies made a late change when flanker Matt Cockbain withdrew with a left knee injury he suffered during the pre-match warm-up and was replaced by Owen Finegan -- but the change was academic given their superiority.

The Australians, world champions in 1991, are undoubtedly one of the tournament favourites after their Bledisloe Cup win over New Zealand five weeks ago.

The Teams:

Romania:  1 Laurentiu Rotaru, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Constantin Stan, 4 Tiberiu Brinza, 5 Ovidiu Slusariuc, 6 Alin Petrache, 7 Erdinci Septar, 8 Catalin Draguceanu, 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Roland Vusec, 11 Cristian Sauan, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac (c), 14 Gheorghe Solomie, 15 Mihai Vioreanu
Reserves:  Daniel Chiriac, Florin Corodeanu, Nicolae Dragos Dima, Razvan Mavrodin
Unused:  Marius Iacob, Radu Fugigi, Ionut Tofan

Australia:  1 Andrew Blades, 2 Phil Kearns, 3 Richard Harry, 4 John Eales (c), 5 David Giffin, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 David Wilson, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Rod Kafer, 11 Jason Little, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves:  Mark Connors, Dan Crowley, Nathan Grey, Jeremy Paul, Joe Roff, Tiaan Strauss, Chris Whitaker

Attendance:  12500
Referee:  Honiss p

Points Scorers

Romania
Pen K.:  Mitu P. 3

Australia
Tries:  Burke M.C. 1, Horan T.J. 1, Kafer R. 1, Kefu R.S.T. 3, Little J.S. 1, Roff J.W.C. 2
Conv:  Burke M.C. 5, Eales J.A. 1