Saturday, 5 December 2020

Taulupe Faletau stars as Wales beat Italy

Number eight Taulupe Faletau was in outstanding form as Wales finished in fifth place in the Autumn Nations Cup after overcoming Italy 38-18 in Llanelli.

Faletau and back-row colleague Justin Tipuric were excellent, but there was still little evidence to suggest that Wales will be a Six Nations force later this season.

It was just a third Test win under Wayne Pivac since he succeeded Warren Gatland 13 months ago, yet they have come against Italy twice, and Georgia.

Italy, without a victory over Wales for 13 years, led by a point until the 58th minute, so difficult did they make life for a team that once again made countless errors and conceded too many penalties.

Tries during the final 22 minutes by Gareth Davies, George North and Tipuric saw Wales home ― there were earlier touchdowns by Kieran Hardy and Sam Parry ― while fly-half Callum Sheedy kicked five conversions and a penalty.

Centre Marco Zanon and flanker Johan Meyer scored tries for Italy, with fly-half Paolo Garbisi booting two penalties and a conversion.

And while the history books will show a 15th successive win for Wales in the fixture, they laboured for so much of the contest, despite the best efforts of outstanding Faletau.

Pivac will now turn to Six Nations planning and while a number of players should be back after injuries, considerable improvements are required across the board.

Wales were forced into a late change after centre Johnny Williams was ruled out with calf muscle trouble, so fit-again Jonathan Davies replaced him in midfield alongside George North.

Italy, meanwhile, included Wales-born Stephen Varney for his first Test start at scrum-half and wing Monty Ioane made an international debut in a team captained by hooker Luca Bigi.

Wales were off and running after just seven minutes, taking the lead when Faletau’s brilliantly-timed pass sent Tipuric clear and the supporting Hardy crossed, with Sheedy converting.

It was a confident start by the home side and although full-back Liam Williams appeared fortunate to escape sanction after he charged into a ruck and caught Italy centre Carlo Canna high, Wales soon extended their lead.

This time it was solid work by the forward close to Italy’s line and Parry matched Hardy in scoring a first try for his country.

Sheedy’s conversion opened up a 14-point lead after just 18 minutes, bur Wales suffered an injury blow when Williams departed with what appeared to be an ankle problem and was replaced by Bristol’s Ioan Lloyd.

Garbisi opened Italy’s account through a 28th-minute penalty and then they caught Wales cold with a clinically-executed score.

Varney found Canna from the base of a scrum and his clever kick into space was gathered by his midfield partner Zanon, who surged away from a stunned Welsh defence.

Wales were suddenly all over the place and Garbisi followed his conversion with a penalty, cutting the deficit to one point following a superb Varney break.

And Wales also found themselves a player down as referee Wayne Barnes showed a yellow-card to wing Josh Adams after Varney was tackled, leaving Italy holding a temporary one-man advantage and trailing just 14-13 at the interval.

A Sheedy penalty calmed things down for Wales five minutes into the second period, yet Italy responded in thrilling fashion, spinning possession wide and Meyer scored in the corner, edging his team ahead.

Wales were rocked by the score and Pivac began making changes, sending on Davies, Aaron Wainwright, Wyn Jones and Cory Hill midway through the third quarter.

And Davies took just eight minutes to make a mark, breaking away to score his team’s third try before Sheedy’s touchline conversion made it 24-18.

North’s touchdown 11 minutes from time meant that Wales could finally breathe easily, with Sheedy’s conversion taking them past 30 points, but they have so much to work on ahead of a Six Nations campaign that begins in just nine weeks’ time.


Check out the video highlights from Wales' 38-18 victory over Italy in Llanelli on Saturday.

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Dominant Ireland ease past Scotland

Ireland produced an excellent second half display to seal third place in the Autumn Nations Cup following a 31-16 triumph over Scotland.

A pair of tries from Keith Earls, plus one from Cian Healy, helped Andy Farrell’s hosts overcome a slow start and end an inconsistent year in positive fashion.

Victory for the Irish was their seventh in succession against the Scots on home soil and a 20th win from the last 25 meetings between the countries, dating back to 2002.

Duhan van der Merwe’s second-half score and 11 points from the boot of debutant Jaco van der Walt helped keep Scotland in contention but, after early promise, they faded following Duncan Taylor’s 30th-minute sin-binning.

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton, back from a two-match injury absence, kicked 10 points on his return before he once again limped off with a fitness issue.

After a second defeat of the year to England and an underwhelming win over Georgia during an experimental period, Ireland were eager for a response in order to build momentum ahead of next year’s Six Nations, which starts in two months’ time.

Head coach Farrell, whose tenure began with a narrow 19-12 success over the Scots in February, named arguably his strongest available team by making six changes, which included the return of veteran fly-half Sexton.

Scotland also had a fresh face in their number 10 jersey as Gregor Townsend handed a maiden Test appearance to Edinburgh’s South Africa-born playmaker Van der Walt as one of his six alterations.

Ireland and Scotland went into the game as the only two sides with 100 per cent goal-kicking records in the tournament.

That statistic was wiped out inside 10 minutes as Sexton and Van der Walt each missed penalties, before the latter put the visitors 6-0 ahead by making no mistake with his next two attempts.

Scotland were all over their opponents and, after a Sexton penalty briefly halved their lead, Van der Walt restored the six-point advantage with another kick.

Townsend’s men were on a run of 12 successive games without receiving a yellow card but that sequence was abruptly ended on the half-hour mark when Taylor was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, allowing Sexton to again reduce the deficit to three points.

Having weathered the early storm, Ireland took advantage of their numerical advantage to go in 11-9 ahead at the interval courtesy of Earls’ 31st international try.

Sexton’s clever kick saw Henshaw challenge the flat-footed Darcy Graham behind the try line and, after the loose ball fell backwards, onrushing winger Earls was on hand to ground and become his country’s outright second highest try scorer, 15 behind Brian O’Driscoll.

Ireland extended their advantage early in the second period with two quickfire scores during incessant pressure.

Experienced prop Healy, with notable assistance from his fellow forwards, powered over to the right of the posts with Sexton adding the extras.

Having already moved one try ahead of retired winger Tommy Bowe, Earls then wasted little time in closing the sizeable gap to former Ireland captain O’Driscoll.

A flowing team move culminated in Peter O’Mahony moving the ball out to the left wing, allowing Earls to dive over in the corner and Sexton to make the scoreline more comfortable with a challenging conversion.

Scotland were in desperate need of a swift response and it arrived courtesy of Van der Merwe.

The winger burst through the challenge of Rob Herring and had sufficient speed to beat Jacob Stockdale to the line, with Van der Walt’s kick leaving the scoreboard at 25-16.

Sexton, who suffered a hamstring problem in the opening match of the competition, then departed in clear discomfort.

His deputy Ross Byrne slotted a couple of straightforward penalties to quash any hopes of an unlikely comeback, while Ireland were denied a fourth try in the closing stages when O’Mahony was adjudged to have carried the ball into touch.

While question marks remain over Farrell’s strategy going forward, Ireland’s strong second-half showing should help ease some of the mounting pressure.

Scotland, meanwhile, return home following another fruitless trip across the Irish Sea.


Check out the video highlights from Ireland's 31-16 victory over Scotland in Dublin on Saturday.

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Nemani Nadolo hat-trick sinks Georgia

Fiji ended their disrupted Autumn Nations Cup campaign in style when they sealed a 38-24 triumph over Georgia at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Pacific Islanders’ three previous games in the tournament were cancelled after they reported 29 coronavirus cases in their squad and they were highly motivated to deliver a good performance.

They did just that as tries from Johnny Dyer, Josua Tuisova, Mesulame Kunavula and a Nemani Nadolo hat-trick proved too much for the Lelos, who scored through Giorgi Melikidze and Beka Saghinadze (2).

Fiji’s other points came via the boot of Ben Volavola courtesy of four conversions, and Tedo Abzhandadze succeeded with a penalty and three conversions for Georgia.

The Pacific Islanders made a terrific start and were leading 12-0 inside the opening 10 minutes courtesy of early tries from Nadolo and Dyer.  Nadolo opened the scoring as early as the second minute when he crossed in the left-hand corner, after strong carries from Tuisova and Semi Radradra in the build-up, and five minutes later Dyer burrowed his way over the try-line from close quarters.

After failing to convert Nadolo’s try, Volavola made up for that miss by adding the extras to Dyer’s score before Abzhandadze opened the Lelos’ account with a penalty in the 10th minute.

Fiji continued to dominate, however, and after taking the ball through several phases in Georgia’s half, the ball was played out wide to Tuisova, who had an easy run-in for their third try.

The Lelos needed a response and that came in the 22nd minute, when Melikidze, who came on as a replacement for the injured Beka Gigashvili earlier in the half, went over for their first try, from close range.

There was nothing interesting to report during the rest of the half but the match was still evenly poised at the interval with the Pacific Islanders holding a 19-10 lead.

Like the opening period, Fiji had the better of the early exchanges in the second half and were soon camped inside Georgia’s half.  And in the 55th minute, Tuisova tore the Lelos’ defence to shreds with a powerful run down the right-hand touchline before throwing an inside pass to Kunavula, who dotted down.

That score boosted the Pacific Islanders’ confidence and in the 58th minute Nadolo scored his second try, after gathering a grubber kick from Volavola.  Five minutes later, the behemoth wing ran onto a pass from Sam Matavesi before busting through two tackles to score his third five-pointer.

Volavola converted which meant Fiji were holding a comfortable 38-10 lead and, with the game in the bag, they took their foot off the pedal during the final quarter.  To their credit, Georgia did not surrender and Saghinadze added some respectability to the final score when he scored his two tries during the game’s latter stages.


Check out the video highlights from Fiji's 38-24 victory over Georgia at Murrayfield on Saturday.

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Wallabies and Pumas end all square in Sydney

The Wallabies and Pumas had to settle for a 16-16 draw in their Tri-Nations encounter at Bankwest Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.

The previous Test between these sides ended in a 15-15 draw and it was a similar story in this Test which was played in horrendous weather conditions, with heavy rain prominent throughout.

In the end, both sides scored a try apiece with Bautista Delguy crossing the whitewash for the Pumas and Michael Hooper dotted down for the Wallabies.  Australia’s other points were scored by Reece Hodge, who added three penalties and a conversion.

Nicolas Sanchez kicked a penalty for Argentina, while Domingo Miotti succeeded with two three-pointers off the kicking tee and a conversion.

Both sides’ discipline let them down, however, and the Wallabies had to play the last 20 minutes with 14 men after Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was red carded for a dangerous challenge to Santiago Grondona’s face.

Australia did most of the early attacking but despite spending long periods camped inside Argentina’s half, they could not score points during the opening exchanges.

The Wallabies eventually opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Marcos Kremer was yellow carded for an illegal clear-out on James O’Connor.  Hodge slotted the resulting penalty before Sanchez restored parity with his three-pointer off the kicking tee in the 18th minute.

With rain pelting down, the next 10 minutes were scrappy, characterised by plenty of kicking for territory and both teams committed several handling errors in the wet.

In the 28th minute, it was the Wallabies’ turn to play with 14 men when Hooper was also sent to the sin bin, after he committed a similar foul to Kremer’s at a breakdown.

Sanchez was on the receiving end of Hooper’s illegal hit and the Pumas fly-half left the field for a HIA which meant Miotti came on as his replacement and on the half hour-mark the rookie pivot gave his team the lead courtesy of a penalty.

The match came alive in the 34th minute when the Pumas launched a lineout drive from inside their 22 and gained 30 metres before Felipe Ezcurra launched an attack from close to the halfway line.  He rounded Allan Alaalatoa, after selling him a dummy, before offloading to Delguy, who saw off the attentions of Hunter Paisami with a strong fend before crossing for the opening try.

That score seemed to stun the Wallabies and they went onto the attack during the closing stages of the half, but they were kept at bay thanks to a solid defensive effort from the Pumas.  Just before half-time, the visitors strayed offside on defence and Hodge added his second penalty which meant Argentina were leading 13-6 at the interval.

Ten minutes into the second half the Wallabies narrowed the gap to four points courtesy of another Hodge penalty, after the Pumas were blown up for illegal scrummaging.

However, things went pear-shaped for the hosts on the hour-mark, when Salakaia-Loto was sent off for that indiscretion on Grondona, and Miotti added his second penalty to restore his side’s seven-point lead.

Despite that setback, Australia continued to attack and they received a shot in the arm in the 66th minute when Lucas Paulos received a yellow card for a professional foul close to his try-line.  Soon after, the home side launched a lineout drive from which Hooper barged over for his try and Hodge was on target with the conversion which meant the sides were deadlocked at 16-16.

That set up a tense finish and the Wallabies had a chance to win the game, when they received a penalty in the 79th minute, but just like the corresponding Test in Newcastle a fortnight ago, Hodge pushed his kick wide of the mark and the sides had to settle for the draw.


Check out the video highlights from Australia's 16-16 draw with Argentina in Sydney on Saturday.

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