Boks and Wallabies end all square in Bloem

South Africa and Australia could not be separated as they played out a highly entertaining 27-27 draw in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

In a fast-paced and thrilling encounter, in which the lead changed hands several times, both sides gave the ball plenty of air throughout and each team scored three converted tries.

With the All Blacks on course to win the Rugby Championship again, this Test was a shootout for second place in the standings and both sides were competitive throughout although like the corresponding Test in Perth, they had to settle for a share of the spoils.

The Springboks showed their intent from the outset and opted to run the ball from all areas of the field.  This tactic seemed to surprise their opponents initially, but the Wallabies adapted quickly and soaked up the early pressure with a solid defensive effort.

And in the 11th minute, the Wallabies caught the Boks by surprise with a brilliant move which saw Israel Folau crossing for the opening try.

This, after an attacking scrum on the edge of South Africa's 22 saw Tevita Kuridrani running a superb dummy line, before Bernard Foley threw an inside pass to the on-rushing Folau, who glided through a huge gap in the Bok back-line before scoring next to the posts.

Foley added the extras, but the Boks were soon camped inside the visitors' 22 and five minutes later, they were rewarded when Ruan Dreyer shrugged off a couple of tacklers before barging over for his first Test try.

Elton Jantjies converted before a Foley penalty in the 23rd minute gave the Wallabies a 10-7 lead but Jantjies restored parity two minutes later with a penalty of his own, after Jack Dempsey was blown up for deliberately knocking down the ball when South Africa were on the attack deep inside Australia's half.

The Wallabies regained the lead in the 35th minute — Foley slotting a penalty after Dreyer was penalised for illegal scrummaging.

Both sides continued to show attacking intent as the half drew to a close, but no further points were scored during this period.  Folau was fortunate not to be yellow carded, however, as a rough challenge — in which he pulled Dillyn Leyds by the hair — led to some pushing and shoving off-the-ball between several players, just before the break.

The Boks made a superb start to the second half when, three minutes after the restart, Jan Serfontein crossed for his side's third try after Leyds and Siya Kolisi combined brilliantly in the build-up.

That score meant the Boks held the lead for the first time and although Jantjies slotted the conversion, the Wallabies gave the perfect response shortly afterwards when Foley made a telling break before offloading to Marika Koroibete, who outpaced the cover defence before crossing for his first Test try.

The topsy-turvy nature of this game continued as two minutes later, Serfontein made a telling break before getting a pass out to Courtnall Skosan, who crossed for his side's third try despite the attentions of two defenders.

Five minutes later, the Wallabies struck back — Koroibete rounding off in the left-hand corner after the ball was taken through several phases in the build-up.

Foley showed his class as he calmly slotted the conversion from close to the touchline which meant the Wallabies were now leading 27-24 with just over 20 minutes left on the clock.

The Boks were desperate to strike back and they did just that courtesy of a long range penalty from Jantjies in the 71st minute.  That meant the score was level again and although Jantjies had a chance to win the game for the hosts, he pushed a difficult penalty attempt wide of the posts in the dying moments.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Dreyer, Serfontein, Skosan
Cons:  Jantjies 3
Pens:  Jantjies 2

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau, Koroibete 2
Cons:  Foley 3
Pens:  Foley 2

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Marika Koroibete, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Jack Dempsey, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Ned Hanigan, 21 Lukhan Tui, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Samu Kerevi

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Wallabies secure bonus-point victory over Argentina

Australia secured a bonus-point 45-20 victory over Argentina in their Rugby Championship clash in Canberra on Saturday.

The Wallabies displayed brilliant interplay between forwards and backs and were lethal when presented with try-scoring opportunities.  An Argentinian yellow card ten minutes from time helped the home side run away with the win, scoring three more tries to secure the much-needed bonus point.

The home side opened the scoring through a penalty goal from fly-half Bernard Foley after Argentina were penalised for another offside offence.  After 14 minutes, fly-half Nicolas Sanchez levelled the score with a penalty goal of his own after a Wallaby entered a maul incorrectly.

Pumas scrum-half Martin Landajo scored the first converted try of this clash after he sold a fantastic dummy before diving over the line from a few centimeters out.

Wallabies full-back Israel Folau then scored a converted try in the far right corner after some fantatsic interplay from the Wallabies forwards and backs ended with Foley unleashing Folau, who brushed past a hapless Argentinian defender.

Sanchez slotted another penalty with 35 minutes gone after a Wallaby was caught offside to give the Pumas a 13-10 lead at half-time.

Wallabies prop Sekope Kepu scored a converted try early in the second 40 when he crashed over from close range after a few solid, patient carries from his fellow forwards.

Folau scored his second in the opposite corner after scrum-half Will Genia sent him a long pass which he gathered before shifting his feet to bamboozle the last Argentinian defender.  Foley converted the try and extended the Wallabies lead to 11 points.

Ten minutes before the final whistle, Argentina gave away another penalty after an early engagement and prop Enrique Pieretto was sent to the sin bin.  From the resulting scrum, Genia broke and dived in for his try before Foley converted to make the score 31-13 to the home side.

Australian number eigh Sean McMahon then broke before passing inside to reserve scrum-half Nick Phipps, who just had enough gas and arm stretch to score his side's bonus point try.

Pumas wing Matias Moroni chipped and gathered in sensational fashion down the right wing to score in the 77th minute before Sanchez added the extra two points.  But the home side hammered the final nail in Argentina's coffin after the final hooter had sounded when reserve hooker Jordan Uelese scored from a close-range leap before Foley's conversion sealed their bonus-point victory.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau 2, Kepu, Genia, Phipps, Uelese
Cons:  Foley 6
Pen:  Foley

For Argentina
Tries:  Landajo, Moroni
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pens:  Sanchez 2

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley (vc), 9 Will Genia (vc), 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Izack Rodda, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Samu Kerevi, 23 Marika Koroibete

Argentina:  15 Emiliano Boffelli, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Tomas Lezana, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel tatez Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Lucas Noguera
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Juan Martin Leguizamon, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Manuel Montero

Referee:  John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Rampant All Blacks blow Springboks away

New Zealand took a giant step towards winning the Rugby Championship when they claimed a 57-0 win over South Africa in Albany on Saturday.

The world champions were full value for their win and had the result in the bag in the first half as they led 31-0 at the break thanks to an early Beauden Barrett penalty and tries from Rieko Ioane, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Scott Barrett and Brodie Rettalick.

In the end, they outscored their hapless visitors eight tries to none with Milner-Skudder, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Lima Sopoaga and Codie Taylor also dotting down in the second half and the result is New Zealand's biggest ever triumph against their traditional rivals.

For the Springboks this was a sobering experience as it was their first defeat from seven Tests in 2017.  Allister Coetzee's charges looked a pale shadow of the side that beat France and Argentina, and drew with Australia last weekend.

They made a plethora of handling errors while their lineout — an attacking platform in their previous Tests this year — was a shambles with Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi missing their jumpers with regularity.

The result means the All Blacks now have an eight-point lead on the Boks, who are in second place, in the standings after four matches played.

The sides were evenly matched during the opening exchanges but the Springboks wasted a chance to open the scoring in the eighth minute when Elton Jantjies' penalty attempt struck an upright after Ioane was penalised for holding onto the ball on the ground.

Shortly afterwards, the visitors threw down the gauntlet at a scrum when they pushed their counterparts off the ball at the set-piece just inside the Bok half.

The All Blacks were soaking up the early pressure from their fired up visitors and eventually took the lead in the 14th minute courtesy of Barrett's penalty after Jesse Kriel was blown up for offside play on defence.

And three minutes later, the world champions increased their lead thanks to a well-taken try from Ioane.  This, after a moment of magic from Aaron Smith, who played quickly after his side were awarded a penalty inside the Springboks' half.

The diminutive number nine spotted a gap behind the visitors' defence and delivered an inch-perfect chip kick which Ioane gathered before crossing the whitewash.

South Africa tried gallantly to strike back but things went pear-shaped in the 21st minute when Milner-Skudder intercepted a wayward pass from Jean-Luc du Preez close to New Zealand's 22.

He was hauled in from behind by Courtnall Skosan but did well to offload to Barrett who returned the favour before the flyer went over for his side's second try.

The All Blacks further extended their lead in the 33rd minute when Beauden Barrett launched a teasing cross-field kick, deep inside the Boks' 22, which Skosan knocked on before Scott Barrett gathered the loose ball and cantered over for an easy five-pointer.

The Boks seemed shell-shocked and they were soon standing under their posts again when Retallick crossed for the All Blacks' fourth try after a brilliant break from the impressive Ioane in the build-up.

New Zealand continued to dominate after the restart and in the 53rd minute Milner-Skudder went over in the right-hand corner after gathering a long pass from Beauden Barrett.

The Boks were battling now but there was more to follow with the All Blacks' replacements coming on to complete the visitors' misery.  Ten minutes later, Tu’ungafasi gathered a pass from TJ Perenara before crashing over from close quarters for his first Test try.

New Zealand were not done yet and in the 74th minute Anton Lienert-Brown tore the Boks' defence to shreds with a mazy run before offloading to Sopoaga who dotted down next to the posts.

Barrett added the extras which brought up a half century of points for his side and just before full-time Taylor added the final nail in the Bok coffin when he dotted down from the back of a driving maul deep inside the visitors' 22.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Ioane, Milner-Skudder 2, S Barrett, Retallick, Tu’ungafasi, Sopoaga, Taylor
Cons:  B Barrett 7
Pen:  B Barrett

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Kane Hames
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Wallabies and Springboks draw in Perth

Australia and South Africa played out to a 23-23 draw in their Rugby Championship clash at nib Stadium in Perth on Saturday.

Both sides scored their points in identical fashion:  two tries, two conversions and three penalties each.

The away side opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a penalty from fly-half Elton Jantjies after the Wallabies were penalised once again for an early drive.  Four minutes later, the Wallabies fired back with a penalty of their own courtesy of fly-half Bernard Foley.

South Africa scored the game's first try.  Scrum-half Ross Cronje offloaded to outside centre Jesse Kriel, who hoofed the ball downfield for the galloping Raymond Rhule to chase.  He shouldered off Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper, giving Kriel space to collect his own kick and score unopposed in the right hand corner.

Moment later the Wallabies scored their reply try.  Full-back Israel Folau jumped and tapped back a kick-off to Adam Coleman.  The ball found inside centre Kurtley Beale, who utilised his vision and footwork to run around the Bok defenders to score.  Foley landed another penalty just before the half-time hooter to give the home side a three point advantage at the break.

A fantastic driving maul saw Australia hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau score a converted try early in the second half.  South Africa reduced the home side's lead to seven points after Jantjies slotted another penalty kick which was awarded after a Wallaby was caught offside.

The Springboks then scored a levelling converted try after a 20 metre maurauding maul resulted in a try for Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx.  After 67 minutes, a monsterous Bok scrum from five metres out resulted in a penalty awarded which Jantjies duely converted.

Foley responded with his third penalty conversion after South Africa illegally cleared out the scrum-half.  Posession was exchanged numerous times in the last five minutes but the drama ended with a 23-23 draw.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Beale, Polota-Nau
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3

For South Africa:
Tries:  Kriel, Marx
Cons:  Jantjies 2
Pens:  Jantjies 3

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kurtley Beale, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Samu Kerevi, 23 Curtis Rona

South Africa:  15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth (c), 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

All Blacks late surge puts Pumas to bed

The All Blacks made it three wins from three in the Rugby Championship with a 39-22 bonus-point victory over Argentina at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth on Saturday.

It was a valiant effort from Los Pumas who actually led 16-15 at half-time.  But they faded in the last quarter of the match with the scoreline slightly flattering the All Blacks by the time the final whistle was blown.

The All Blacks took the lead after eight minutes.  Vaea Fifita busted through a few tackles in midfield before the recycled ball was spread out left to Damian McKenzie who ghosted a through gap and timed his pass on the outside expertly for Nehe Milner-Skudder to dot down.

Los Pumas responded with a Nicolas Sanchez penalty after Kieran Read was penalised for having his hands in the ruck.

The next All Blacks try came off the back of an attacking scrum centre field.  The ball was switched to the left before Beauden Barrett's grubber kick was well gathered by Anton Lienert-Brown who dotted down just before the dead-ball line.

Emiliano Boffelli kicked a monster penalty to cut the deficit to four after Agustin Creevy did well to force the penalty as the All Blacks were penalised for holding on.

Sanchez then kicked a drop-goal to bring Los Pumas within one after 28 minutes.

Once again, the All Blacks scored courtesy of an attacking scrum.  Barrett didn't throw the best of passes over the top to Israel Dagg on the overlap but it was good enough as Dagg went over in the corner.

Argentina did excellently to steal an All Blacks' five-metre defensive lineout after the hooter had gone when the All Blacks were looking to control the lineout so they could kick the ball out and end the half.  Creevy made a good carry before the ball was switched out to Sanchez to step well off his left foot and evade the tackle of Fifita to dive over.  Sanchez converted his own try to give Los Pumas a 16-15 lead at the break.  Barrett's three missed conversions cost his side at the interval.

Boffelli kicked another monster penalty shortly after the resumption of the second-half to extend Los Pumas' lead to 19-15.  Sanchez missed a chance to extend the lead to seven after he shanked an easy penalty.

Barrett was then yellow-carded for being offside after repeated infringements from the All Blacks in the face of persistent Argentine pressure on the All Blacks' try-line.  This time, Sanchez slotted the resulting penalty.

Fifita then scored a magnificent individual try.  It came from Tomas Cubelli's attempted box-kick being charged down.  After the All Blacks had regathered the ball, the ball was switched to Fifita, who fulfilled all the pre-match hype when he showed electric pace to sprint 50 metres and dot down in the left-hand corner.  Lima Sopoaga, on as a substitute for Barrett, slotted the conversion to level the score at 22-22 after 53 minutes.

Persistent pressure from the All Blacks paid off when McKenzie dotted down in the left-hand corner after TJ Perenara did well to find him on the overlap with a skip pass.  Sopoaga added the extras as the All Blacks extended the lead to 29-22 with 15 minutes to play.

Sopoaga then slotted a penalty to extend the All Blacks lead to 32-22 with ten minutes to go.

After some relentless pressure from the All Blacks, Barrett put the icing on the cake scything through the Los Pumas defence after a good decoy run by Lienert-Brown.  Sopoaga added the extras to make it 39-22.  And that's how it ended.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Lienert-Brown, Milner-Skudder, Dagg, Fifita, McKenzie, Barrett
Cons:  Sopoaga 3
Pen:  Sopoaga
Yellow Card:  Barrett

For Argentina:
Try:  Sanchez
Cons:  Sanchez
Pens:  Sanchez 2, Boffelli 2
Drop Goal:  Sanchez

New Zealand:  15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Ngani Laumape

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Tomas Cubelli, 8 Benjamin Macome, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Lucas Noguera Paz
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto Heilan, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Tomas Lezana, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Matias Orlando

Referee:  Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)