England down Australia for perfect season

England were able to keep their incredible winning run going after beating Australia 37-21 at Twickenham on Saturday.

It has been a sensational year for the English team after going 13 games unbeaten, claiming victories over all the Six Nations sides and three of the Rugby Championship teams.  It is England's first year since 1992 that they haven't lost a single game to make it a perfect season.

This was a poor end to Australia's season after losing to England three times in their own backyard and then embarking on their European tour with the hope of claiming a Grand Slam, only to be beaten by Ireland last weekend and now England.

The first half was indicative of the furious competition between these two sides finishing 16-13 to the Wallabies.  Australia looked as though they were going to run England ragged after spreading the home side with quick recycling and wide play, which was typified by winger Sefa Naivalu.

But England were not about to disappoint their fans, and their defensive pressure eventually translated into a Jonathan Joseph try, before they took control in the second half.

Australia were set to get an early lead in the first three minutes where they had a penalty right front of the posts but Bernard Foley managed to fluff the kick to the right.

The visitors looked as though they made for up their mistake immediately after Owen Farrell was tackled behind his line and outside centre Tevita Kuridrani would have scored the five-pointer, but the try was disallowed after it was found that David Pocock fumbled the ball forward on the line.  It was an England scrum, but after a massive Australian hit the Wallabies turned the set-piece over and swung the ball wide to Naivalu who scored in the corner.

The Wallabies were close to compounding their lead with the another try after Israel Folau made a searing break down the left wing before Sekope Kepu almost charged over but England managed to hold the ball up.

Australia were then given a five-metre scrum which they utilised efficiently before explosive Kuridrani busted through only to be held up once again.  Foley kicked over a penalty making the score 10-0 after 15 minutes.

England finally got onto the scoreboard after inside centre Farrell knocked over a penalty to close the gap to seven points.

The hosts seemed to gain a lot momentum after the sniff of points and drove right up the field and almost finished the movement with a Marland Yarde try.  England couldn't break the Australian line though and settled with three points from a penalty.

England then took the lead for the first time in the game after Australian prop Kepu fumbled the ball backwards and Farrell managed to get to it first and toed the ball through, with Joseph then outrunning half the Australian defence to score under the posts.

Australia regained the lead after slotting two penalties in a row at the end of the first half, making the score 16-13 to Australia at half time.

The Six Nations champions then got back into the lead after they put pressure on the Australian line before chipping a kick through for in-form wing Yarde to finally get his deserved try.  The Harlequins player still had lots of work to do though as he had to beat Israel Folau to the ball but managed the pressure well, the TMO confirming the score.

Moments after England stretched their lead to 11 points Ben Youngs took a quick tap on the Australian five-metre line and left his opposite number for dead as he juked passed Nick Phipps and scored.

The game went quiet for awhile as both teams struggled to break through each other's line — until the evasive Folau cut through the English line and darted past three English players on the cover defence before being brought down.  Australia recycled quickly and the big number three Kepu scored in the corner after some confusion amongst England.

Australia's chances of claiming a late win however were dented after winger Dane Haylett-Petty was yellow carded for a late tackle on Mike Brown.

Their hopes were then finally stamped out by a late interception try from Joseph, who claimed his second try in the 75th minute to seal a perfect year for England and a fourth straight win over the Wallabies.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Joseph 2, Yarde, Youngs
Cons:  Farrell 3, Ford
Pens:  Farrell 3

For Australia:
Tries:  Naivalu, Kepu
Con:  Foley
Pens:  Foley 3
Yellow Card:  Haylett-Petty

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Henry Slade

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Sefa Naivalu, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Lopeti Timani, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 David Pocock, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tolu Latu, 17 James Slipper, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Henry Speight

Referee:  Jaco Peyper
Assistant Referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

All Blacks see off inspired France

A 24-19 victory at Stade de France on Saturday night gave New Zealand their 10th consecutive win over France.

The result means the All Blacks finish 2016 with just one defeat, while France failed to make amends for their narrow loss to Australia last week despite playing very well against the World Champions.

Indeed, the French will be asking themselves how they lost this game because they dominated all the key stats.  The scoreboard doesn't reflect just how good their performance was and they will be disappointed to come away with a defeat after dominating most of the game.

New Zealand once again showed their class when it mattered most, their ability to absorb pressure and punish oppoisiton mistakes setting them apart from the rest.  They were nowhere near their best and yet celebrated they 10th win in a row over France.

One look at the stats and France will be kicking themselves that they didn't come closer to win this game.  They had the upper hand at scrum time, dominated territory and possession throughout the game but especially in the first half, made 10 clean line breaks, executed 21 offloads and missed only four tackles.

The All Blacks missed 20 and conceded a whopping 13 penalties, and yet they never looked in danger of losing this game.

France lost this game at the breakdown, where they conceded 19 turnovers compared to five from the Kiwis and the hosts also lost four lineouts.  In the end, their failure to convert their domination into points when in the opposition 22 cost them dearly, with the final pass too often not going to hand.

Watching France it was like they took a leaf out of Ireland's book in the way they started the game.  They were clearly up for the challenge.  They generated quick front foot ball early on and tested the New Zealand defence, especially in the first half where they put the defence under immense pressure with their hard running.

But it was the All Blacks who scored first when Beauden Barrett, in another outstanding performance, gave a clever cross kick which Julian Savea collected before an inside pass to Israel Dagg saw the full-back have enough pace to cross the whitewash.

France continued to probe the Kiwi defence and their offloading saw them make several visits to the opposition 22.  However, they struggled to finish off promising field positions time and again and some desperate New Zealand defending along with that elusive final pass saw the hosts cough possession too many times.

Maxime Machenaud kept France in the game with two penalties which meant they only trailed 10-6 when the half-time whistle went.

The hosts would have been kicking themselves for nit making more use of their domination, especially since the All Blacks are known as a second-half team.

That was indeed the case as the Kiwis grew into the game as the second half progressed.  For the upteenth time France found themselves in New Zealand's 22 and they were on the attack out wide when Barrett intercepted a pass and ran 90 metres against the run of play to extend his team's lead to 17-6.

From there the All Blacks slowly started to take control of the game and when they found themselves in France's 22 they did what the hosts had struggled to do all game — score.

From a ruck in the 22 Kieran Read took the ball up and affloaded the ball to Charlie Faumuina who crashed over from close range to put the nail in France's coffin.

To their credit the hosts never gave up and once again made it to the brink of New Zealand's tryline, but the final pass wasn't there.  It told the story of their night.

However, they finally managed to score thanks to some quick thinking from Baptiste Serin.  France were awarded a scrum 5m out and when they won the penalty Serin took a quick tap and gave a brilliant no-look inside pass to Louis Picamoles who went over for the five-pointer.

Serin slotted the conversion which gave France renewed hope of getting a result.  A penalty with three minutes to play was nailed hy Serin which made it a five-point game, but France were stuck in their own half for the final few minutes which resulted in another disappointing loss for Les Blues.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Picamoles
Con:  Serin
Pens:  Machenaud 2, Serin

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg, Barrett, Faumuina
Cons:  Barrett 3
Pen:  Barrett

France:  15 Brice Dulin, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 6 Charles Ollivon, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sébastian Vahaamahina, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Guilhem Guirado (c), 1 Xavier Chiocci
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Julien Le Devedec, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Jean-Marc Doussain, 23 Gaël Fickou

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

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Federico Anselmi (Argentina), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Wales finish off poor Springboks

A late Justin Tipuric try sealed a comfortable 27-13 victory for Wales over South Africa in Cardiff on Saturday.

For Wales this will go down as a satisfactory win and their third victory of the November Test window.  It was only their third ever victory over South Africa and their second successive win over the Boks in Cardiff.

For South Africa, things can't get worse.  Allister Coetzee should do the honourable thing and resign.  It's difficult to be positive after their eighth defeat of the season and third on the bounce.

Coetzee gambled and rolled the dice by picking a young, inexperienced team for this game, but you can only play what's in front of you and Wales played well in patches to finish off the year with plenty of momentum going into next year's Six Nations.

Elton Jantjies got the Boks on the board with a penalty after an encouraging start, but Wales had the upper hand at the breakdown where they forced plenty of turnovers.  Leigh Halfpenny was spot on with his goal kicking and kicked three penalties in a row to give Wales a 9-3 lead.

Jantjies pulled one back, but Wales continued to find holes in the Bok defence, especially out wide.  Interestingly, both teams defended very well in the first half in terms of missed tackles — Wales missed only two and South Africa three.

Wales pounced on silly mistakes by the Boks.  Faf de Klerk, who's service and work rate was good in the first 40, three a wild pass from a scrum which found Ruan Combrinck, who didn't expect the ball but was standing in an offside position.  Halfpenny nailed the resulting penalty to further extend his side's lead.

The hosts were smart in contact, twice taking the ball off the opposition in the tackle while captain Gethin Jenkins was also responsible for two superb turnovers.

In the first instance Tipuric took the ball off Johan Goosen who was on the counter attack, while Dan Biggar did the same to debutant Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

The start of the second half was a nightmare for the Boks and probably where they ultimately lost the game.  De Klerk was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock down in the 42nd minute before Halfpenny slotted the penalty to extend the lead to 15-6.

South Africa's heads dropped and from there on in their performance got progressively worse.

Wales took full advantage when they were awarded yet another penalty and opted for touch.  From the ensuing lineout Ken Owens went over from a driving maul, but Halfpenny missed the conversion.

Debutant Uzair Cassiem scored South Africa's only try with 10 minutes left and Pat Lambies conversion meant the deficit was now only seven points.

However, Tipuric, who was outstanding all night, sealed the result when he ran a brilliant line from second phase to cut through the Bok defence, sidestep and beat the last defender for a deserved score.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Owens, Tipuric
Con:  Halfpenny
Pens:  Halfpenny 5

For South Africa:
Try:  Cassiem
Con:  Lambie
Pens:  Jantjies 2

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Cory Hill, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Jamie Roberts

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  Greg Garner (England), Tom Foley (England)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Ireland edge thriller against Australia

Ireland finished their 2016 campaign on a high when they claimed a hard-fought 27-24 victory over Australia in Dublin on Saturday.

The result is a momentous one for the home side as it means they are the first Northern Hemisphere side, since England in 2003, to beat the Southern Hemisphere's traditional powerhouses of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the same calendar year.

Ireland and Australia stayed true to their philosophy in a thrilling encounter, with both sides constantly looking to keep ball in hand, and the lead changed hands on several occasions during the second half after Australia launched a stunning fightback.

Both teams scored three tries apiece and the result was in the balance until the final minute when Ireland managed to put huge pressure on an Australian scrum inside the Wallabies' 22.

Ireland held the upperhand in the early exchanges but they had to wait until the 17th minute to convert their dominance into points when Paddy Jackson opened the scoring via a penalty after David Pocock infringed at the breakdown.

Five minutes later, the Wallabies were dealt a blow when Dean Mumm was sent to the sin bin for a tip tackle on Tadhg Furlong.  It did not take long for the the home side to capitalise on their numerical advantage as shortly afterwards Iain Henderson scored their opening try.

This after Keith Earls did well to gather a perfectly weighted grubber kick from Simon Zebo before offloading to Henderson who went over with a defender on his back.

Jackson added the extras and ten minutes later, it was more of the same when Garry Ringrose gathered a wayward Conor Murray pass close to Australia's tryline and waltzed past a couple of defenders before crashing over for a deserved try.

The Wallabies seemed shell-shocked by that score but to their credit, they picked themselves up and replied via a Dane Haylett-Petty try on the stroke of half-time after Israel Folau and Trevita Kuridrani did well in the build-up.

The second half saw the visitors continuing where they left off before the break and five minutes after the restart Kuridrani rounded off a flowing back-line move in the left-hand corner which put his side back in contention with the score at 17-14 to the home side.

Jackson extended Ireland's lead when he slotted a penalty in the 50th minute before the Wallabies' brilliant attacking play was rewarded when shortly after coming off the replacements bench, Sefa Naivalu ran a brilliant line before crossing for his side's third try.

Bernard Foley slotted the conversion, which put the Wallabies in front for the first time and on the hour-mark he added a penalty to increase their lead.

Ireland did not surrender and took the visitors on at their own game and after showing great patience, after taking the ball through several attacking phases, Zebo offloaded to Earls who went over for what would prove to be the matchwinnning try in the 65th minute.

The Wallabies continued to attack but in their bid to regain the lead they were reduced to 14 men again when Foley was also yellow carded for a lifting tackle on Devin Toner.

And although the visitors tried to fight back in the closing stages,Ireland were in control and held on for a memorable win.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Henderson, Ringrose, Earls
Cons:  Jackson 3
Pens:  Jackson 2

For Australia:
Tries:  Haylett-Petty, Kuridrani, Naivalu
Cons:  Foley 3
Pen:  Foley
Yellow Cards:  Mumm, Foley

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Garry Ringrose, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Peter O'Mahony, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Simon Zebo

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

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  JP Doyle (England), Craig Maxwell-Keys (England)
TMO:  Eric Gauzins (France)

Scotland down plucky Georgia

Scotland pulled off a spectacular first half display to beat Georgian 43-16 in Kilmarnock on Saturday.

It is great result for Scotland who finish off their November Series with two wins from three games, and their only loss came at the hands of Australia who could only beat Scotland by one point.

Georgia will be disappointed with the loss after scoring the first try and looking very competitive at the start of the game.  They finish their November series with two losses and a win against Samoa.

Scotland played some great running rugby after grabbing four tries in just the first thirty minutes including a penalty try.

Georgia scored the first try of the game through scrum-half Vasil Lobzhanidze.  The nippy scrum-half took the ball from the back of the maul and flew down the wing to score.  The try was reviewed by the TMO after Mamuka Gorgodze might have been crossing but the score was cleared.

Scotland replied immediately after as they played the ball wide and attacked up the midfield before full-back Stuart Hogg chipped the ball forward for Tommy Seymour to touch down on.

Scotland then received a penalty try after they started a driving maul and rumbled towards the opposition line.  The Georgians couldn't quite hold them back and after too many infringements, Scotland was given the try.

The home side then got their third try of the match after spreading the ball wide but the Georgian defence held strong.  Scotland then sent their big forwards into crash and sucked in the Georgian defence before spreading the ball wide again for Maitland to go over.

Hogg then picked up his first try after intercepting a wayward Georgian pass and had a clear run to the line to score the five-pointer.

Hamish Watson then scored a fantastic try when the home side set up a maul on the on the five metre and moved steadily forward after a line out.  Watson then ran a perfectly timed rapid banana run around the maul, the ball was popped to him before he broke the defensive line and scored.

Georgia weren't done yet though as they used a scrum well on the Scottish five metre line to push the home side right over.  Georgian number eight Beka Bitsadze tried to pick the ball up under pressure but knocked the ball back but Lobzhanidze was quick enough to dive on the ball and score.

Hogg had the final say when the full-back finshed a fantastic team try.  Scotland played it down field through some silky passing skills that ended with Hogg scoring.

The scorers:

Scotland:
Tries:  Hogg 2, Maitland, Seymour, Penalty Try, Watson
Cons:  Laidlaw 5
Pens:  Laidlaw

Georgia:
Tries:  Lobzhanidze 2
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 2

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw(c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Del
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Moray Low, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 John Barclay, 21 Ali Price, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Rory Hughes

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Giorgi Aptsiauri, 13 Merab Sharikadze, 12 Tamaz Mtchedlidze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Malaghuradze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze(c), 6 Vito Kolelishvili, 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements:  16 Badri Alkhazashvili, 17 Kakha Asieshvili, 18 Dudu Kubriashvili, 19 Lasha Lomidze, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Beka Tsiklauri, 23 Shalva Sutiashvili

Referee:  Matthew Carley (England)

Fiji blitz Japan in France

Fiji scored five tries to beat Japan 38-25 at Stade de la Rabine in France on Saturday.

Fiji finally got a win this series after taking heavy losses against the Barbarians and then England.

The Pacific Islanders were ruthless in their pursuit of a win after scoring five tries with inside centre Botia Veivuke scoring a brace.

Fiji scored the first try of the game after outside centre Albert Vulivuli dotted down in the 14th minute.  Japan fly-half, Yu Tamura's penalty in the 19th minute was sandwiched with another Fiji try scored by Talebula Maijaina.

Veivuke's second try came just before the second half which made the score 19-6 to the Fijians.  Veivuke's second try came just after the half, which made the score quite lopsided to the Fijians.

Japan finally got a try a of their own when full-back Kotaro Matsushima scored a five-pointer which was followed closely by another Japan try scored by Malgene Ilaua to make the score 35-13 after the conversion was made.

Nemani Nadolo had the final say with a penalty in the dying minutes of the clash.

The scorers:

For Fiji:
Tries:  Vulivuli, Maijaina, Veivuke 2, Nadolo
Cons:  Nadolo 5
Pens:  Nadolo

For Japan:
Tries:  Matsushima 2, Ilaua
Cons:  Tamura 2
Pens:  Tamura 2

Fiji:  15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Metuisela Talebula, 13 Albert Vulivuli, 12 Levani Botia, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Ben Volavola, 9 Niko Matawalu, 8 Akapusi Qera (c), 7 Peceli Yato, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Nemia Soqeta, 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Peni Ravai
Replacements:  16 Tuapati Talemaitoga, 17 Peni Ravai, 18 Leeroy Atalifo, 19 Api Ratuniyawara, 20 Naulia Dawai, 21 Eremasi Radrodro, 22 Seru Vularika, 23 Waisea Nayacalevu

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Shunsuke Nunomaki, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Samuela Anise, 4 Kyosuke Kajikawa, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Satoshi Nakatani
Replacements:  16 Takeshi Hino, 17 Kanta Higashionna, 18 Heiichiro Ito, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Amanaki Lotoahea, 23 Karne Hesketh

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Tonga upset Italy

Sonatane Takulua slotted an 81st minute penalty to clinch a dramatic 19-17 win for Tonga over Italy in Padova on Saturday.

Takulua was his side's hero as he finished with a 14-point haul, thanks to four penalties and a conversion, although the Azzurri outscored the Pacific islanders by two tries to two.

Italy dominated the early exchanges and raced into a 7-0 lead when Lorenzo Cittadini crossed for their opening try which Carlo Canna converted in the 13th minute.

Takulua added the first of his penalties in the 32nd minute which meant the hosts held a slender lead at the interval.  Five minutes after the restart, he slotted another three-pointer which made it a one-point ball-game and they soon took the lead when Siale Piutau scored their five-pointer in the 51st minute.

Italy did not take that lying down and regained the lead shortly afterwards when Tommaso Allan went over for their second try which he converted himself.

Takulua put his side back in front, when he slotted his third penalty in the 71st minute, but Italy clawed their way back when Edoardo Padovani converted a place-kick three minutes before the end.

The closing stages was a tense affair and Takula held his nerve to break Italian hearts with his matchwinning kick in injury time.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Cittadini, Allan
Cons:  Canna, Allan
Pen:  Padovani

For Tonga:
Tries:  Piutau
Con:  Takulua
Pens:  Takulua 4

Italy (revised):  15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Sami Panico
Replacements:  16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 George Biagi, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Thomas Allan, 23 Michele Campagnaro

Tonga:  David Halaifonua, 14 Nafi Tu'Itavake, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Latiume Fosita, 11 Fetu'U Vainikolo, 10 Kali Hala, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Tevita Koloamatangi, 7 Jack Ram, 6 Dan Faleafa, 5 Jon Tu'Ineau, 4 Steve Mafi, 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Tevita Mailau
Replacements:  16 Elvis Taione, 17 Paea Fa'Anunu, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Valentino Mapapalangi, 20 Kotoni Ale, 21 Tomasi Palu, 22 Tevita Taufui, 23 Cooper Vuna

Samoa see off Canada

D'Angelo Leuila's impressive night with the boot helped Samoa to defeat Canada 25-23 at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble on Friday.

Canada outscored Samoa by three tries to one, including a double for in-form wing DTH van der Merwe, but the boot of Leuila, on his first start for his country, proved to be the difference.

Paul Perez opened the scoring for Samoa with a converted try after eight minutes, and once Leuila had knocked over a drop goal not long afterwards Samoa held a commanding 10-0 lead.

Leuila and Canada fly-half Connor Braid then traded two penalties each, as Samoa went into half-time ahead 16-6.

The Samoa number ten kept up the pressure with another penalties on 52 minutes but his side were then reduced to 14 men, with Taiasina Tuifua sent to the sin-bin, as Canada capitalised on their numerical advantage by scoring through Evan Olmstead.

Canada were soon down to 14 themselves once Jamie Cudmore saw yellow but Van der Merwe's try helped Canada close the gap to 19-16.

Samoa rallied through another Leuila drop goal and penalty to make it 25-16, before Van der Merwe's second score came all too late to change the outcome.

The scorers:

For Samoa:
Try:  Perez
Con:  Leuila
Pens:  Leuila 4
Drop Goals:  Leuila 2
Yellow Card:  Tuifua

For Canada:
Tries:  Olmstead, Van der Merwe 2
Con:  Braid
Pens:  Braid 2
Yellow Card:  Cudmore

Samoa:  15 Albert Nikoro, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Paul Perez, 12 Winston Stanley, 11 David Lemi (c), 10 D'Angelo Leuila, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Genesis Mamea-Lemalu, 7 Greg Foe, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 5 Chris Vui, 4 Taiasina Tuifua, 3 Logovii Mulipola, 2 Elia Elia, 1 Sakaria Taulafo
Replacements:  16 Seilala Lam, 17 Nephi Leatigaga, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Jeff Lepa , 20 Oneone Faafou, 21 Danny Tusitala, 22 Opetera Peleseuma, 23 Ahsee Tuala

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Conor Trainor, 10 Connor Braid, 9 Phil Mack, 8 Admir Cejvanovic, 7 Matt Heaton, 6 Evan Olmstead, 5 Brett Beukeboom, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Rob Brouwer
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Conor Keys, 20 Clay Panga, 21 Andrew Ferguson, 22 Pat Parfrey, 23 Ben Lesage

Referee:  Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees:  David Wilkinson (Ireland), Gary Conway (Ireland)

French Barbarians get the better of Wallaby XV

The French Barbarians registered a deserved 19-11 victory over the Wallaby XV in an entertaining clash in Bordeaux on Thursday.

Both sides crossed for a try apiece but it was the accurate goalkicking of replacement back Romain Lonca, who finished with an 11-point haul courtesy of three penalties and a conversion, which helped the Barbarians secure victory.

Wallaby XV flyer Marika Koroibete impressed on his professional rugby union debut as he looked dangerous with ball in hand but the match ended on a sour note for Jono Lance who broke his arm three minutes into the match.

The Wallaby XV raced into an 8-0 lead after Nick Frisby slotted a penalty and Ben Mowen scored a try.  This, after running onto a pass from Koroibete but Romain Lonca added a penalty which narrowed the gap to five points at the interval.

Dumora added his first penalty in the 54th minute before adding two further three-pointers from the kicking tee which gave his side the lead before a Kyle Godwin penalty made it a one-point game.

The Baa-baas sealed victory three minutes before full-time when Raphael Lakafia crashed over for a deserved try.

The scorers:

For French Barbarians:
Try:  Lakafia
Cons:  Dumora
Pens:  Dumora 3, Lonca

For Wallaby XV:
Try:  Ben Mowen
Pens:  Godwin, Frisby

French Barbarians:  15 Arthur Bonneval, 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Pierre Aguillon, 12 Aurelien Rougerie, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Romain Lonca, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Camille Gerondeau, 6 Romain Sazy, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Julien Brugnaut, 2 Remy Bonfils, 1 Lucas Pointud
Replacements:  16 Jean Charles Orioli, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Loic Jacquet, 19 Jean Monribot, 20 Antoine Dupont, 21 Julien Dumora, 22 Julien Caminati, 23 Alexandre Menini

Wallaby XV:  15 Luke Morahan, 14 Marika Koroibete, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Jono Lance, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Jack Dempsey, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Will Skelton (c), 3 Tom Robertson, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Paddy Ryan
Replacements:  16 Andrew Ready, 17 Sef Fa’agase, 18 David Lolohea, 19 Scott Fardy, 20 Henry Vanderglas, 21 Nic Stirzaker, 22 Izaia Perese, 23 Andrew Kellaway 24 Henry Clunies-Ross

Referee:  Juan Sylvestre (Argentina)
Assistant Referees:  Laurent Cardona (France), Maxime Chalon (France)
TMO:  Arnaud Blondel (France)

Australia hold off France

Australia went a step closer to securing an unbeaten end-of-year tour as they got the better of France 25-23 at the Stade de France.

A penalty try and crossings from Bernard Foley and Tevita Kuridrani saw them end with the win, with Foley kicking 10 points on Saturday.

In reply, France's try-scorers were Virimi Vakatawa, Jean-Marc Doussain and Wesley Fofana, but they came up short in front of their fans.

Australia will now look to recover before facing an in-form Ireland and then England in back-to-back weeks for a difficult end to the year.

France will think they could have won this game and a wayward late drop-goal attempt made it even more painful for the locals watching.

It took them just six minutes to open their account when Maxime Machenaud kicked a penalty, and when in-form wing Vakatawa crossed 11 minutes later les Bleus were 0-8 to the good.  That was Vakatawa's fourth try in two internationals after his hat-trick against Samoa.

The lead didn't last long, however, as a Foley penalty and then a penalty try following a pulled down driving maul saw Australia move 10-8 in front in the blink of an eye.  Referee Glen Jackson also handed out a yellow card to flanker Charles Ollivon for the blatant offence.

Foley was on target again on 37 minutes to extend their lead to five points which, after a slow start, would have pleased Michael Cheika.  France though had other ideas and a scrum penalty, converted by Machenaud in the 40th minute, meant the score was 11-13 at the break.

The contest therefore was set up to go all the way in Paris when the two nations emerged for the second-half, with the Wallabies starting the brighter.  They snubbed a kickable penalty and were duly rewarded when Foley hit a short line from seven metres out to make it 20-11.

Australia almost moved further in front on 50 minutes when Luke Morahan's offload following a line bust almost found Sefanaia Naivalu but for great scrambling defence.  France were now skating on thin ice and one felt that another Wallaby try would mean curtains for them.

France did respond with a try out of nothing through Doussain but when Kuridrani finished brilliantly on the right wing Australia led 25-16.

The game was not over there as France sensed blood when on 66 minutes Fofana would dive over for a converted try that set up a grandstand finish before Lopez sat back in the pocket to agonisingly watch his kick go wide.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Vakatawa, Doussain, Fofana
Con:  Machenaud
Pens:  Machenaud 2
Yellow Card:  Ollivon (25 min)

For Australia:
Tries:  Penalty Try, Foley, Kuridrani
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 2

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kévin Gourdon, 6 Charles Ollivon, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sébastian Vahaamahina, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Guilhelm Guirado (c), 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Julien Le Devedec, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Camille Lopez, 23 Gaël Fickou

Australia:  15 Luke Morahan, 14 Sefanaia Naivalu, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 David Pocock (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Dean Mumm, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Jonno Lance, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Greg Garner (England)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

All Blacks get their revenge

New Zealand withstood a second-half onslaught from Ireland to grind out a 21-9 victory at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

It was always going to be a tough ask to beat the All Blacks twice in three weekends and even though they couldn't pull it off, Ireland should still feel pleased with their performance against the world champions.

The visitors had the better first-half, but Ireland came back strongly in the second.  Unfortunately for them, this New Zealand victory was built on an incredible defensive effort.

All eyes were on New Zealand to see how they would respond to their first ever loss to Ireland two weeks ago in Chicago.  They didn't wait long to make their intentions known.

It was another inspired, committed performance from the Irish, but this time they couldn't find the space and create the scoring opportunities that were so evident two weeks ago in Chicago.

The possession and territory stats were pretty even in the first 40, but New Zealand were again guilty of conceding too many penalties — eight alone in the first half.  Ireland, on the other hand, conceded only four in the entire game.

What makes New Zealand's victory even more impressive is the fact that they were twice reduced to 14 men and still managed not to concede a try.

The hosts were ravaged by injuries in the first-half, losing Johnny Sexton, CJ Stander and Robbie Henshaw throughout the first 40 minutes.

The visitors came out firing from the kick-off and made a statement of intent when Malakai Fekitoa scored in the corner after collecting a cross-kick from Beauden Barrett, who had an outstanding game.

The try was the result of 13 phases, but the Irish didn't wait long to get on the scoreboard too.  Jamie Heaslip and Sean O'Brien were brilliant for Ireland and their sniping runs around the fringes.  Twice Ireland went over the line and twice they were held up, and after Aaron Smith was shown yellow for another breakdown infringement Sexton slotted a penalty to get the hosts on the scoreboard.

What happened next you don't often see at the highest level, but Barrett scored New Zealand's second try directly from first phase.  A scrum just outside Ireland's 22 resulted in Barrett getting the ball at first receiver to run through a gap and score.

It was way too easy and with the conversion it gave the All Blacks the cushion they needed to ease the pressure and keep Ireland at bay.

Paddy Jackson added another three points for Ireland after a relentless attack on the All Blacks line resulted in only a penalty, despite them having been reduced to 14 men.

Ireland came out guns blazing in the second-half, but unlike two weeks ago they struggled to convert their increasing possession and territory into points.

New Zealand were forced to make 166 tackles in the game and was successful with 144 of them, compared to Ireland's 76.

That defensive effort was again tested when Fekitoa was sin-binned for a high tackle.  Yet Ireland couldn't make their numerical advantage count and it was during this period the game was essentially won for the Kiwis, their defence once again proving too strong to Ireland's onslaught.

Jackson added another penalty to reduce the deficit to just five.  But when Fekitoa went over for his second after some slick interplay by the backs it sealed the result.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Pens:  Sexton, Jackson 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Fekitoa 2, Barrett
Cons:  Barrett 3

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Garry Ringrose

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

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Mathieu Raynal (France), Ian Davies (Wales)
TMO:  Jon Mason (Wales)

Scotland pip Argentina at the death

Scotland returned to winning ways when they claimed a hard-fought 19-16 victory over Argentina at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The result was in the balance right until the end when Greig Laidlaw secured victory for the home side via a penalty with the final act of this Test, after Juan Manuel Leguizamon was penalised for an illegal tackle on Ross Ford.

In a thrilling affair, which came to life in the second-half, the home side thought their chance of securing the win had gone begging when a 77th minute penalty attempt from Laidlaw struck and upright.

They did well to regain possession after that miss and after Leguizamon's indiscretion on defence, the Scotland captain held his nerve to seal a memorable win.

Momentum between the two sides ebbed and flowed throughout but it was Scotland who got the rub of the green in the end after both sides crossed for a try apiece.

From the kick-off, Argentina conceded a couple of penalties at the breakdown and Scotland took a 3-0 lead as early as the third minute when Laidlaw opened the scoring from the kicking tee.

The next 25 minutes was a war of attrition as both sides went at each other hammer and tongs in a bid to gain the ascendancy, but poor decision making meant that neither side could add to their points tally during this period.

Scotland eventually doubled their lead when Laidlaw added another penalty after los Pumas' forwards were penalised for illegal scrummaging.  Just before half-time, Nicolás Sánchez slotted a penalty which meant Scotland held a slender 6-3 lead at half-time.

Sánchez added another penalty five minutes after the break and the visitors soon took the lead when Matías Orlando crossed for the opening try after gathering a cross-field kick from Juan Martín Hernández deep inside Scotland's 22.

Sánchez slotted the conversion which gave the visitors a 13-6 lead but Scotland didn't take that lying down though and struck back via a Sean Maitland try in the 54th minute.  This after Huw Jones displayed great determination and leg-drive in the build-up to shrug off a challenge from Orlando before offloading to Mailtand, who dived over in the right-hand corner.

Laidlaw showed his class as he landed the place-kick from close to the touchline, which meant the sides were deadlocked at 13-13.  Sánchez soon added another penalty which gave los Pumas a slender 16-13 lead but Laidlaw drew his side level again, with a 68th minute place kick, before sealing the win with his fourth penalty shortly before full-time.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Maitland
Con:  Laidlaw
Pens:  Laidlaw 4

For Argentina:
Try:  Orlando
Con:  Sánchez
Pens:  Sánchez 3

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 John Barclay, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements:  16 Ross Ford, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Ali Price, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Tim Visser

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Lucas Noguera
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Leonardo Senatore, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 23 Juan Pablo Estelles

Referee:  Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Thomas Charabas (France)
TMO:  Shaun Davey (England)

Romania see off Canada

Romania picked up a 21-16 victory over Canada in their November international fixture at Stadionul Arcul de Triumf on Saturday.

Canada led early on thanks to a penalty from scrum-half Gordon McRorie but on five minutes Florin Vlaicu responded to level in Bucharest.

Six minutes later the Romanians moved in front when fly-half Vlaicu crossed for a try which he converted, putting them 10-3 in the clear.

McRorie reduced matters down to four points on 15 minutes but when wing Ionu Dumitru scored Romania's second try the hosts were 15-6 ahead, before Vlaicu added another three points off the tee on 31 minutes.  That was how things ended going into the dressing rooms at the break.

It took 15 minutes from the resumption before the next score and it was via a Vlaicu penalty.  But McRorie responded soon after for 21-9.

Then came a morale-boosting try from Canada as replacement scrum-half Phil Mack crossed with Connor Braid's extras making it 21-16.  But Romania managed to see out the closing five minutes to claim the win.

The scorers:

For Romania:
Tries:  Vlaicu, Dumitru
Con:  Vlaicu
Pens:  Vlaicu 3

For Canada:
Try:  Mack
Con:  Braid
Pens:  McRorie 3

Romania:  15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Fonovai Tangimana, 13 Jack Umaga, 12 Vladut Popa, 11 Ionu Dumitru, 10 Florin Vlaicu, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Andrei Gorcioaia, 7 Stelian Burcea (c), 6 Viorel Lucaci, 5 Marius Antonescu, 4 Johannes Van Heerden, 3 Alexandru Tarus, 2 Eugen Capatana, 1 Mihaita Lazar
Replacements:  16 Andrei Radoi, 17 Ionel Badiu, 18 Alexandru Gordas, 19 Valentin Poparlan, 20 Cristian Chirica, 21 Valentin Calafeteanu, 22 Nicolas Onutu, 23 Stephen Shennan

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 DTH van der Merwe (c), 13 Conor Trainor, 12 Ben Lesage, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Connor Braid, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Admir Cejvanovic, 7 Matt Heaton, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Brett Beukeboom, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Conor Keys, 20 Clay Panga, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Pat Parfrey, 23 Ciaran Hearn

Referee:  Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
Assistant Referees:  Luke Pearce (England), Gary Conway (Ireland)
TMO:  Stefano Pennè (Italy)

Davies drop-goal saves Wales

A last-minute drop-goal from replacement fly-half Sam Davies helped save Welsh blushes on Saturday as they edged Japan 33-30 in Cardiff.

It looked like the Brave Blossoms had snatched a draw when Yu Tamura converted Amanaki Lotoahea's 74th minute try, but Wales went down the other end of the field, with Davies showing composure to slot the three points.

Wales will now go into their game against South Africa at least with a win under their belt but their performance left a lot to be desired.

They led 14-13 at the turnaround but handed seven points to Japan late in the half to give the Brave Blossoms hope of a shock victory.  Japan do deserve credit though as they remained in the match almost throughout.

Tamura put Japan 0-6 in front by nine minutes, via two penalties, but Wales then moved ahead thanks to Dan Lydiate crossing wide out.  Leigh Halfpenny made no mistake with the conversion as it had become 7-6.

The majority of those points came whilst Wales full-back Liam Williams was in the sin-bin for blocking so the hosts had to be pleased.

With Williams back on the field, Wales set about extending their lead and did just that on 23 minutes when Jamie Roberts went over after a strong initial carry from Jonathan Davies.  Halfpenny made it 14-6.

That would've been a somewhat pleasing half-time scoreline for Wales after such a sluggish start but when Gareth Anscombe's offload was gathered by Akihito Yamada, who set off for the line from his own half, just one point separated the two teams in the dressing rooms.

Halfpenny made it 17-13 two minutes after the break with a penalty and 10 minutes later the lead was up to 11 points when Sam Warburton crossed after a bust from Alun-Wyn Jones.  Japan's hopes looked to have been ended.

But two minutes later Kenki Fukuoka finished well on the left wing and with Tamura's touchline conversion, it was now 24-20 to Wales.

Halfpenny made it 27-20 on the hour mark before Tamura and the Welsh wing then traded efforts for 30-23 with just 10 minutes to play.

Then came the levelling score from the Brave Blossoms as replacement Lotoahea's try was converted by Tamura, with Wales needing to dig deep to prevail, which they did via Davies' cool drop-goal with seconds to play.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Lydiate, Roberts, Warburton
Cons:  Halfpenny 3
Pens:  Halfpenny 3
Drop-Goal:  S Davies
Yellow Card:  Li Williams (8 min)

For Japan:
Tries:  Yamada, Fukuoka, Lotoahea
Cons:  Tamura 2, Lotoahea
Pens:  Tamura 3

Wales:  15 Liam Williams, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Alex Cuthbert, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 James King, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Cory Hill, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements:  16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Keelan Giles

Japan:  15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Shunsuke Nunomaki, 6 Malgene Ilaua, 5 Samuela Anise, 4 Kyosuke Kajikawa, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Satoshi Nakatani
Replacements:  16 Takeshi Hino, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Heiichiro Ito, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Shuhei Matsuhashi, 21 Yuhimaru Mimura, 22 Keisuke Uchida, 23 Amanaki Lotoahea

Referee:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Craig Maxwell-Keys (England)
TMO:  Eric Gauzins (France)

England hammer Fiji

England kept their winning run going with a big 58-15 win over Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday.

The win means that England have now gone 11 games unbeaten and have won every game under Eddie Jones.  Fiji who were trying make up for a 40-7 clobbering at the hands of the Barbarians last weekend continue their losing run.

England were rampant in the first half scoring five tries through Semesa Rokoduguni, Jonathan Joseph, Elliot Daly, Joe Launchbury and Teimana Harrison.  Fiji though remained spirited throughout as star winger Nemani Nadolo and second-row Leone Nakarawa both scored in the last ten minutes of the second half to finish the first chukka 34-10.

The English were relentless with their attack as they used every opportunity wonderfully, after scoring a number of tries through the counter attack as well as utilising the driving maul well.  Despite the large scoreline, Fiji impressed on attack throughout the game, even to the last minute as they displayed eletric, running rugby.

England drew first blood when they found themselves sending it wide from the base of a centre field ruck, and they beat the Fiji defence for Joseph to go over in the corner.

The home side then got their second try of the match after they turned the ball over and kicked into the Fiji half, where it came off a Fiji hand and bounced straight into Rokoduguni who took the ball to ground before the ball was spread wide to Daly, who calmly drifted past a defender to score.

England scored their third try when they used an interesting line out move that saw Dylan Hartley float the ball over the lineout for Billy Vunipola to collect, who then swung it to his brother Mako who, through his crash ball, bundled up the defence.  The ball was recycled quickly and given wide to Rokoduguni who scored.

Harrison then grabbed himself a five pointer in this try-fest when England used their maul well to bulldoze over the Fijian line to score a try.  Shortly afterwards the home side get a maul on the 22-metre line and roll forward before Launchbury rumbled over.

Fiji then etched their name into the score sheet when they relentlessly pounded at the English line until the home side looked quite depleted.  Fiji sent it wide quickly and Nadolo scored.  The visitors then dotted down again in quick succession after they camped out on the England line before the ball was given short to the Nakarawa who dummied before falling over the line.

The Fijians kept their momentum going into the second half as they rumbled upfield through their forwards before swinging wide to Metuisela Talebula who broke the line through some clever foot work scored the five-pointer.

England full-back Alex Goode then got his name onto the score sheet when England score another after another electric run up field from Rokoduguni who was tackled just short of the line.  England then recycled quickly and sent it wide for Goode to score.  Joseph then got his second try after a long Fiji pass was skillfully intercepted by the centre.

The last twenty minutes was quieter from the dominant hosts but they did manage to score two more through Rokoduguni and Launchbury who both completed their own braces

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Joseph 2, Daly, Rokoduguni 2, Harrison, Launchbury 2, Goode
Cons:  Farrell 4, Ford
Pen:  Farrell

For Fiji:
Tries:  Nadolo, Nakarawa, Talebula

England:  15 Alex Goode, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Teimana Harrison, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Henry Slade

Fiji:  15 Metuisela Talebula, 14 Benito Masilevu, 13 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 12 Albert Vulivuli, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Josh Matavesi, 9 Seru Vularika, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Peceli Yato, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Api Ratuniyawara, 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Campese Ma’afu
Replacements:  16 Tuapati Talemaitoga, 17 Peni Ravai, 18 Leeroy Atalifo, 19 Nemia Soqeta, 20 Naulia Dawai, 21 Eremasi Radrodro, 22 Niko Matawalu, 23 Kini Murimurivalu

Referee:  Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant Referees:  Paul Williams (New Zealand), Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
TMO:  Gareth Simmonds (Wales)

Italy shock Springboks

Italy won their first ever Test against South Africa with a 20-18 victory at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence on Saturday.

So, this is what rock bottom looks like.  Or perhaps the Springboks were already there and didn't realise it.  South Africa's downward spiral is now complete.  Allister Coetzee must fear for his job.

Let's not forget about Italy.  They took 68 points against a second-string All Blacks side a week ago, but they were full of fight here, even if referee George Clancy allowed them to get away with murder when it came to their defensive lines at ruck time.

The truth is, the Italians deserved to win this game.  The defensive work they have been doing with consultant Brenden Venter paid off on another dark day for Bok rugby.  The sad reality for South Africa is there have been too many dark days over the last 18 months.

First it was a first ever loss at home to Argentina.  Then the shock against Japan in the World Cup.  That was followed by a first ever home defeat to Ireland in June and a first ever away defeat to Argentina in the Rugby Championship.

For months now Coetzee has insisted that the Springboks haven't lost their aura.  That argument no longer holds water.  It has been a spectacular fall from grace.

The game was devoid of intensity and full of mistakes on both sides.  The poor state of the playing surface nullified any advantage the Boks would have been hoping for at scrum time and their tactical kicking again was poor.

It was the visitors who started the game well when Bryan Habana went over in the corner.  South Africa went through seven phases before Willie le Roux, who was dangerous throughout, hit a gap and fed Habana on his outside.  The veteran winger did well to gather the ball which was almost behind him.

However, the hosts hit back almost immediately through Andries van Schalkwyk who crashed over from a driving maul.  The conversion gave Italy a slight 7-5 lead before Damian de Allende wrestled it back.

The inside centre had his best game of the season and benefitted from another piece of clever play from Le Roux.  The full-back created an overlap with a well-timed pass before De Allende beat his man on the outside for an easy run-in.

The half-time score of 12-10 for the Boks didn't reflect their dominance in the first 40 as they squandered several chances.  Italy's defence were suspect in broken play, but they were well organised when defending from phase play and around the breakdowns.

They flirted with the offside line throughout the game which put pressure on the Boks' attack.  Italy also successfully slowed down South Africa's ball at the breakdown, resulting in a difficult afternoon for Rudy Paige.

Italy started the second half on the back foot when lock Marco Fuser was sin-binned for taking a jumper out in the air for the third time.  The Boks were hardly better playing against 14 men.  Lambie slotted a penalty in the hosts 22 rather than kick for touch which summed up the lack of confidence among the players.

It was the only three points they managed in that 10-minute period.

Twice Italy were left off the hook when Bok attacks deep in the opposition 22 broke down due to poor passes.  The first time Habana failed to get a proper pass away to the oncoming Ruan Combrinck.  The second time Le Roux's inside pass went to ground as another try-scoring opportunity went begging.

The momentum shifted in Italy's favour when Giovanbattista Venditti exploited an overlap out wide to draw level before the conversion gave the home side a slight 17-15 lead.

Coetzee took off Lambie, Paige and both his props after 50 minutes but the changes made little impact.  Elton Jantjies slotted a penalty to edge South Africa ahead 18-17, but Carlo Canna slotted a three-pointer from the kicking tee in the 65th minute as the lead changed hands again, but this time they didn't surrender it again.

Italy dominated possession at the death and played all their rugby in the Boks 22.  They looked to have sealed a memorable win with a driving maul just before full-time, but replays were inconclusive and the try was disallowed.

In the end it didn't matter as Italy kept the ball and ended up making history.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Van Schalkwyk, Venditti
Cons:  Canna, Padovani
Pens:  Padovani, Canna
Yellow Card:  Fuser

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana, De Allende
Con:  Lambie
Pens:  Lambie, Jantjies

Italy:  15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Andries van Schalkwyk, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Sami Panico
Replacements:  16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 George Fabio Biagi, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Boni

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Teboho Mohojt, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Johan Goosen

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), David Wilkinson (Ireland)
TMO:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Georgia get the better of Samoa

Georgia returned to the victory trail when they registered a hard-fought 20-16 triumph over Samoa in Tbilisi on Saturday.

As the scoreline suggests, this was a tight contest and the home side's forwards deserve plenty of credit for the result as they laid the platform to victory with a dominant display in the tight exchanges.

Georgia outscored their visitors by two tries to one with both their five-pointers coming in the first half when they dominated scrums close to Samoa's try-line.

The visitors opened the scoring via a Patrick Faapale penalty before Georgia were awarded a penalty try in the 12th minute when Samoa's forwards capitulated at a scrum on their five-metre line.

Merab Kvirikashvili added the extras but Samoa regained the lead when George Pisi crossed for their only try in the 20th minute.  Georgia finished the half stronger thanks to a converted Beka Bitsadze try and a Kvirikashvili penalty, which meant they led 17-10 at half-time.

Samoa were more competitive in the second half and reduced the deficit to a point when Faapale slotted two penalties but Kvirikashvili secured victory for Georgia with a three-pointer from the kicking tee on the hour mark.

The scorers:

For Georgia:
Tries:  Penalty Try, Bitsadze
Cons:  Kvirikashvili 2
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 2

For Samoa:
Try:  G Pisi
Con:  Faapale
Pens:  Faapale 3

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Tamaz Mtchedlidze, 13 Giorgi Koshadze, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Malaghuradze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze (c), 6 Vito Kolelishvili, 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements:  16 Badri Alkhazashvili, 17 Kakha Asieshvili, 18 Dudu Kubriashvili, 19 Shalva Sutiashvili, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Revaz Jintchvelashvili, 23 Giorgi Aptsiauri

Samoa:  15 Albert Nikori, 14 Paul Perez, 13 George Pisi, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 David Lemi (c), 10 Patrick Faapale, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Alafoti Faosiliva, 7 Gregory Foe, 6 Jack Lam, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 Jeff Lepa, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Manu Leaiataua, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola
Replacements:  16 Elia Elia, 17 Hisa Sasagi, 18 Nephi Leatigaga, 19 Talaga Alofipo, 20 Genesis Mamea-Lemalu, 21 Oneone Faafou, 22 Pele Cowley, 23 D'Angelo Leuila

Referee:  Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant Referees:  JP Doyle (England), Tom Foley (England)

Maori All Blacks win well against Harlequins

The Maori All Blacks were comfortable winners in the fixture on Wednesday celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Premiership side Harlequins.

Chiefs wing James Lowe was a double try scorer for the touring side with back-to-back efforts for Colin Cooper's side, who raced out into a 26-3 lead.

Ihaia West missed with the first penalty attempt of the night, whereas his opposite man Tim Swiel succeeded to give a young Harlequins side a 3-0 advantage.

The visitors responded however with two quick tries from Lowe, first exploiting an overlap before cutting his way through the Harlequins' defence to double his tally.  West converted both scores to make it 14-3.

Feeding off the momentum the Maori All Blacks then scored two tries in three minutes, with flanker Shane Christie followed over by Sean Wainui to make it 26-3 and seemingly settle the result.

However the scored stayed to half-time and then well into the second half, as Harlequins hit back through a pick-and-go score from prop Dan Murphy to make it 26-10, which the score remained until the final whistle.

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Try:  Murphy
Con:  Swiel
Pen:  Swiel

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  Lowe 2, Christie, Wainui
Cons:  West 3

Harlequins:  15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Sam Aspland-Robinson, 13 Gabriel Ibitoye, 12 Henry Cheeseman, 11 Jonas Mikalcius, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Luc Jones, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Archie White, 6 Dan Leo (Guest), 5 Stan South, 4 Mark Reddish, 3 Adam Jones (c), 2 Joe Gray, 1 Dan Murphy
Replacements:  16 Charlie Piper, 17 Owen Evans, 18 Matt Shields, 19 Bill Harding (Guest), 20 Alex Bradley (Guest), 21 Josh Davies (Guest), 22 Luke Peters (Guest), 23 Alofa Alofa

Maori All Blacks:  15 James Lowe, 14 Ambrose Curtis, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Tim Bateman/Jason Emery, 11 Sean Wainui, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Akira Ioane, 7 Shane Christie, 6 Whetu Douglas, 5 Tom Franklin, 4 Leighton Price, 3 Ben May, 2 Ash Dixon (c), 1 Kane Hames
Replacements:  16 Joe Royal, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Marcel Renata, 19 Jacob Skeen, 20 Reed Prinsep, 21 Billy Guyton, 22 Otere Black, 23 Jason Emery/Marty McKenzie

Ireland see off plucky Canada

Ireland continued their winning run with a 52-21 win over Canada in Dublin on Saturday, with Tiernan O'Halloran scoring twice.

It was a hard-fought win for the home side as the Canadians shocked the Irish with a perfectly timed interception from Canada winger DTH van der Merwe and a roll over try from Taylor Paris to make the 14-14 half an hour into the game.

Despite Canada's emergence, Ireland kept control of the game after they went into the break with a 21-14 lead.

It was an incredibly positive performance for both coaches as Ireland's youngsters showed there is a lot of potential for the future for Irish rugby while Canada, regarded as a minnow nation, displayed an incredibly gusty performance.

Ireland scored the first points of the game after they set up a maul on the Canada five-metre line before passing out to Keith Earls, who had no one in front of him, to score.

Ireland then drove home their lead when Marshall went over, after some great running rugby which led to Earls straightening the line and finding Jackson, who set released a long pass for Marshall to score.

Canada got their first points of the game when Marshall threw a loose pass inside his own 22, and Van der Merwe showed some impeccable athleticism to intercept the pass and score.  They scored their second try moments after when Paris took it over the line from the maul.

Ireland restored their lead when Tiernan O'Halloran took the ball from a fantastic offload from Finlay Bealham to out sprint the cover defence for the hosts' third try.

Ireland were then given a penalty try after they opted for the scrum, with Man of the Match Ultan Dillane impressing as they went through the phases, ending with a penalty right in front of the posts when Canada failed to release.

Canada scored another try through full-back Matt Evans which brought down the deficit to nine points.  It was a fantastic defensive effort from Ireland as the ball looked to be held up, but was eventually called by the referee.

Ireland replied immediately after Earls was able to beat Van der Merwe on the one-on-one to claim the restart before the forwards took over and Dillane marked a superb personal display by crashing over.

Joe Schmidt's side then went wide from a lineout and Ringrose sliced his way through the line with a swerving run before finding Earls.  They recycled quickly while the Canadian defence was badly stretched which allowed O'Halloran to score and wrap up a half century of points on the scoreboard.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Earls, Marshall, O’Halloran 2, Penalty Try, Dillane, Marmion, Tracy
Cons:  Jackson 6

For Canada:
Tries:  Van der Merwe, Paris, Evans
Cons:  McRorie 3

Ireland:  15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Jack O’Donoghue, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Billy Holland, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements:  16 James Tracy, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Dan Leavy, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Niyi Adeolokun

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 DTH van der Merwe, 13 Conor Trainor, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Connor Braid, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Brett Beukeboom, 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Rob Brouwer, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Admir Cejvanovic, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Patrick Parfrey, 23 Nick Blevins

Referee:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

Wales grind past Argentina in Cardiff

Wales returned to the victory trail after grinding out hard-fought 24-20 victory over Argentina in Cardiff on Saturday.

The home side dominated for large periods and should have won this match by a much bigger margin, but they made several mistakes and were lucky to secure victory in the end.

Both sides crossed for two tries apiece but it was the goalkicking of Leigh Halfpenny which proved the difference for Wales as he finished with a 14-point haul courtesy of three penalties and a conversion.

The opening half was a slugfest with both teams battling to gain the ascendancy and neither side managed to score any tries during this period.

Nicolás Sánchez opened the scoring from the kicking tee in the third minute before Halfpenny drew the home side level with a penalty of his own 10 minutes later.

The rest of the half was a war of attrition as both sides tried to assert their authority but the only points of the half was another Halfpenny penalty in the 23rd minute.

Argentina suffered a setback just before half-time when Ramiro Herrera was sent to the sin bin after referee Angus Gardner had warned Los Pumas for continous infringements on defence close to their tryline.

Herrera's yellow card would prove costly as Wales made full use of their numerical advantage when, two minutes into the second half, Liam Williams crossed for the opening try after Dan Biggar and Halfpenny combined brilliantly in the build-up.

Halfpenny failed with the conversion attempt and the visitors soon had their opening five-pointer when Juan Martín Hernández dived onto the ball behind the home side's try-line after Martín Landajo had stabbed a teasing grubber kick through for him to chase.

Five minutes later, Wales went on a lineout drive deep inside Argentina's 22 and when the maul's mometum was halted close Los Pumas' try-line Gareth Davies showed great determination and leg drive before diving over for a deserved try.

Halfpenny's conversion gave the hosts some breathing space but it didn't take long for Argentina to strike back — Landajo barging over from close quarters, and when Sánchez slotted the conversion it was game on with Wales holding a slender 18-17 lead with less than 20 minutes remaining.

Halfpenny and Sánchez then traded penalties, which meant it was still a one-point game inside the final 10 minutes.

The home side would have the last laugh, however, as another Halfpenny penalty two minutes before the end sealed their victory.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  L Williams, Davies
Con:  Halfpenny
Pens:  Halfpenny 4

For Argentina:
Tries:  Hernández, Landajo
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pens:  Sanchez 2
Yellow Card:  Herrera

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins (c)
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Cory Hill, 20 James King, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Jamie Roberts

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

Referee:  Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees:  Mike Fraser (New Zealand), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO:  Shaun Davey (England)

France blitz Samoa in Toulouse

France got their November series off to a perfect start with a 52-8 win over Samoa in Toulouse on Saturday.

Les Bleus scored seven tries to Samoa's one to extend their unbeaten run over the Island nation after three previous meetings all ending in a French triumph.

France ran the bewildered Samoans ragged as they produced some excellent running rugby.  The Samoans tried to match them, but could not quite replicate their European rivals.

The half-time score was indicative of the flow of the game as it ended 26-3 to the hosts.

Wesley Fofana and Virimi Vakatawa produced impeccable performances, with the former seemingly involved in every try, while the latter bagged a hat-trick of tries.

Samoa drew first blood when Patrick Fa'apale struck a penalty to gain the early lead after France were pinged for holding on at the breakdown.

But the rest of the half was all France, their dominance ignited by the combination of a Maxime Machenaud penalty and a Vakatawa try two minutes later.  The French pulled off an incredible move led by Fofana, swinging wide to the big winger who broke through the Samoan defence to score.

Ten minutes later France produced a breakaway try after Fofana pulled off a fantastic offload to Yuget, who had plenty of space to easily burn the cover defence and dot down for the five-pointer.

Their next try came three minutes later through replacement Charles Ollivon as the Toulon back-row barged through the Samoan defence.

Samoa showed that they weren't down yet though, putting the ball through the hands in the third minute of the second half as David Lemi and Jack Lam did well in the build-up before Rey Lee-Lo got over for their first try of the game, making the score 26-8 to the hosts.

France then nabbed their third try of the game when they attacked from a lineout.  Ollivon breached Samoa's defence with a superb angled run before offloading to Gaël Fickou who got over for a deserved five-pointer.

Fofana then made another superb break and offloaded to Huget, who got the pass out to Vakatawa to outpace Paul Perez before diving over in the corner.

Two late scores were still to come, as after continual penalties France's attacking maul were rewarded with a penalty try.

Vakatawa then scored his third try when he found himself in the clear and showed the defence a clean pear of heels before going over, wrapping up a big victory.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Huget, Vakatawa 3, Ollivon, Fickou
Cons:  Machenaud 2, Serin 2
Pens:  Machenaud 3

For Samoa:
Try:  Lee-Lo
Pen:  Fa'apale

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Kévin Gourdon, 6 Louis Picamoles, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Julien Le Devedec, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Guilhelm Guirado (c), 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Sébastian Vahaamahina, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Baptiste Serin, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22 Gaël Fickou, 23 Rabah Slimani

Samoa:  15 Paul Williams, 14 Paul Perez, 13 George Pisi, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 David Lemi (c), 10 Patrick Faapale, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Genesis Mamea-Lemalu, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 Christopher Vui, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Manu Leaiataua, 1 Zac Taulafo
Replacements:  16 Elia Elia, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Jeff Lepa, 20 Gregory Foe, 21 Pele Cowley, 22 D'Angelo Leuila, 23 Ken Pisi

Referee:  JP Doyle (England)

Australia squeeze past Scotland

Australia came back from 16-22 down to claim a hard fought 23-22 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

In an entertaining and hard-fought encounter, the home side dominated for large periods against a Wallaby side who battled to get going and committed a plethora of errors on attack before a late Tevita Kuridrani try, which Bernard Foley converted, secured them the result.

Scotland outscored their visitors by three tries to one with centre Huw Jones leading the way with an impressive first-half brace.  Australia should actually consider themselves lucky for coming away with a positive result as they looked dead and buried until Kuridrani's 75th minute try.

Scotland opened the scoring via a Greig Laidlaw penalty in the third minute before Australia suffered a setback two minutes later when Adam Coleman was forced to leave the field through injury.

Scotland soon increased their lead emphatic fashion when Hugh Jones gathered a Finn Russell chip kick before outpacing the cover defence to cross for a deserved try and Laidlaw's conversion meant the hosts held a comfortable 10-0 lead.

The Wallabies didn't take long to respomd though and a brilliant backline move in which Israel Folau, Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley and Dane Haylett-Petty all handled in the build sawo Reece Hodge rounding off after beating a couple of defenders.

Bernard Foley added the extras and a 23rd minute penalty meant the scores were soon level.  It didn't take long for the hosts to respond though and once again it was Jones who crossed for a try after gliding through a gap in the Wallabies' defence.

Laidlaw's conversion meant the home side led 17-10 at the interval but the Walabies reduced the deficit when Foley landed a penalty early in the second half.

Five minutes later, Scotland increased their lead when Jonny Gray barged over from close quarters after Stuart Hogg did well with a strong run in the build-up.

Laidlaw's kick struck a post — a miss which would prove crucial in the end — but Scotland had their tails up with the score at 22-13 after 50 minutes.

The Wallabies replied via a Foley penalty five minutes later, but they were dealt a blow when Will Skelton was yellow carded in the 69th minute for a shoulder charge on an opponent.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors didn't panic and five minutes before the end, Kuridrani slipped past Peter Horne to go in under the posts before Foley added the extras to secure victroy.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Jones 2, J Gray
Cons:  Laidlaw 2
Pen:  Laidlaw

For Scotland:
Tries:  Kuridrani, Hodge
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3
Yellow card:  Skelton

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Moray Low, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 John Hardie, 21 Ali Price, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Rory Hughes

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Lopeti Timani, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 David Pocock, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tolu Latu, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Will Skelton, 21 Dean Mumm, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Quade Cooper

Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees:  Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand), Ian Davies (Wales)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

England sink Springboks to stay unbeaten

England ultimately cruised to a first victory in ten years over South Africa, scoring four tries in a 37-21 win under the rain at Twickenham.

Pat Lambie’s boot opened up an early 6-0 lead for the Springboks, however as the minutes ticked over England grew stronger, leading 20-9 at half-time thanks to tries from Jonny May and Courtney Lawes combined with the boots of Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly.

Johan Goosen did hit back for South Africa in the second half, however the result looked settled by then as George Ford and Farrell touched down either side of Goosen’s effort.

This was England’s tenth straight win this year, and they remain unbeaten ahead of the visit of Fiji next weekend.  Even today, off their best, they were impressive with South Africa no match for Eddie Jones's side once England found their groove.

England’s start to November was far from smooth, coughing up four penalties in around ten minutes, one of which Lambie converted for the first points of the game at 3-0.  Another infringement, this time turned into a kick to the corner, set him up for a well-taken drop goal to enhance the Springboks’ lead.

But when England did come alive they made Test rugby look simple.  From a lineout they flashed the ball from right to left, sucking in Lambie and De Allende towards their decoy runners before Marland Yarde, adding an extra man to the backline off his wing, and Mike Brown gave May the space he needed out wide to beat the covering Rudy Paige to score.

Lambie missed his second penalty attempt but the visitors were soon back well deep into England territory thanks to a break from Tendai Mtawaria, the subsequent penalty (another) from England allowing South Africa to attack through their maul, before Lambie chipped over from close-range to make it 9-7.

Farrell couldn’t match Lambie’s drop goal, after a scrappy passage even accounting for the poor conditions at Twickenham, before England began to make progress attacking South Africa’s defence around the fringes.

Play was stopped after Eben Etzebeth came off worse in a collision with Billy Vunipola, shortly before Farrell put England back ahead from a penalty at the scrum.

Courtney Lawes already had plenty of reason to celebrate on his 50th cap but he must have been beaming from ear to ear as he dove on a loose ball for his first Test try, coming after a comical score.

Ruan Combrinck and Willie le Roux coughed up a sliding ball after England chased Elliot Daly’s kick and from there Brown hacked forward, dribbling the ball towards the line.  Lambie did his best to prevent the score, only for Lawes to pounce for a first Test try.

There was still time before the end of the half for Daly to show off his long-range ability off the tee, landing an effort from 50 metres to hand England an 11-point cushion at the break, leading 20-9.

Just as England improved with every minute South Africa started to regress, and minutes into the second half the Six Nations champions landed what looked like the hammerblow.

Ben Youngs spotted space around the fringes of the visitors’ defence — there has often been far too much of that this year — and pounced, throwing a dummy and cutting through and slowing down to carefully choose the right pass before releasing George Ford under the posts.

Farrell brought up the 30-point mark soon after from a penalty, leaving South Africa desperately in need of a spark down by 21 points on the road.

Johan Goosen was the provider, on for Lambie after 54 minutes, as South Africa finally found some space out wide through Francois Venter and Warren Whiteley to put Goosen away.  Any suggestion of a forward pass by Venter was ruled out by referee Jérôme Garcès.

Farrell missed a penalty in reply but he was soon in for England’s fourth try, Youngs again sniping his way through around the fringe before his wide pass found Farrell to stroll over untouched.

South Africa did their best to take something forward into next week.  Instead they had Combrinck boot a penalty to touch dead beyond the try line, summing up a demoralising afternoon.

Le Roux touched down in the corner late on, but it meant little.  Meanwhile, England march on.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  May, Lawes, Ford, Farrell
Cons:  Farrell 3
Pens:  Farrell 2, Daly

For South Africa:
Tries:  Goosen, Le Roux
Con:  Combrinck
Pens:  Lambie 2
Drop Goal:  Lambie

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Danny Care, 22 Ben Te’o, 23 Jonathan Joseph

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Johan Goosen, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO:  Jon Mason (Wales)

10-try All Blacks return to winning ways

New Zealand put last weekend's loss to Ireland behind them as they claimed an emphatic 68-10 win over Italy in Rome on Saturday.

Italy had to face the anger of the world champions who bounced back strongly after that defeat in Chicago.  It was a comprehensive win for the All Blacks,who outscored their hosts by 10 tries to one in the end.

The game began with the All Blacks running the ball from all areas of the field and Malakai Fekitoa crossed for the first try in the fourth minute.

Aaron Cruden slotted in the conversion as New Zealand took an early seven point lead.  Italy replied via a penalty from Carlo Canna and the game looked even at 3-7 around the 15-minute mark.

But the floodgates soon opened and New Zealand kept offloading the ball at will while the Azzurri struggled to keep up with the pace and power of the world champions.

Tries from Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu and Israel Dagg took the game away from the hosts while Cruden delivered great performance and was impressive in the playmaker roles.  He also kicked all of his seven conversions to add to the home side's pain.

Wyatt Crockett scored next after some skilful handling as the Italians did not have an answer to the pace and intensity of the All Blacks.  Crockett had a good game in general and also helped to set up a couple of tries.

Italy were looking towards their captain, Sergio Parisse, to make an impact in the game but the hosts did not have continuous possession of the ball which meant they were always playing catch-up.  The New Zealanders were so good in defence that the Italians rarely played outside their own half.

The score at the end of the first half was 3-35, with the only points for Italy coming from Canna's penalty .

The All Blacks continued with their expansive play and prolific try scoring during the second half as they stepped up a couple of gears on attack.  A cross-field kick from Cruden towards Dixon set up the next try as the big loose forward ran 40 metres upfield before easily offloading the ball to Luatua who took it over the line.

Fekitoa scored his second try of the game close to the hour mark and then Dixon scored a try after Aaron Smith made an important break.

Another example of the All Blacks dominating the game was that they did not score any penalties.  They opted for the scrum or kicked for touch in a vid to score tries and were rewarded most of the time.  Their strength in the scrum was supreme and, as usual, pace with the ball on the field was a sight to behold.

Italy scored a late consolation try through Tommaso Boni after Edoardo Gori intercepted a loose pass and Boni ran more than 50 metres before dotting downe.  Tommaso Allan kicked the conversion perfectly to take Italy’s score to 10 points.

Two more tries from the All Blacks, who continued to dominate until the end of the game, and a couple of conversions from Sopoaga, who only missed one shot at goal, meant that the visitors sealed a resounding win in Rome.

Rieko Ioane, the 19-year-old debutant, showed his power as they scored the ninth try of the game after forcing his way through the Italian defence before Waisake Naholo crossed for the 10th try three minutes before full-time.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Try:  Boni
Con:  Allan
Pen:  Canna

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Fekitoa 2, Faumuina, Tuipulotu, Dagg, Crockett, Luatua, Dixon, Ioane, Naholo
Cons:  Cruden 7, Sopoaga 2

Italy:  15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Angelo Esposito, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Maxime Mbanda, 5 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Ornel Gega, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 George Biagi, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Boni

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Sam Cane (c), 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Wyatt Crockett
Replacements:  16 Liam Coltman, 17 Joe Moody, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Matt Todd, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Rieko Ioane

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Alex Ruiz (France), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO:  Eric Gauzins (France)