Springboks put innovation to one side in destructive victory over Georgia

The Springboks decided not to reveal too many more tricks as they went the direct route to secure a comfortable 55-10 victory over Georgia.

A week after Rassie Erasmus’ men caused another stir in the rugby world by bringing some innovation in their triumph over Italy, they were a bit more traditional in Mbombela.

South Africa were stunned early on as Vano Karkadze crossed the whitewash, but they soon asserted their dominance, particularly up front, as Boan Venter and Marnus van der Merwe touched down on debut.

The Boks went over twice more in the first half via Canan Moodie and Van der Merwe before the latter’s namesake, Edwill van der Merwe, went over early in the second period.

Wing Van der Merwe would also complete his brace, but not before Damian Willemse had scored as the hosts eased to the win.

They would then end the game in style as Kurt-Lee Arendse and Handre Pollard took them past the 50-point mark.

After nilling Italy last weekend, Erasmus would have set them the task of being just as ruthless against Georgia, but those plans went up in smoke in the opening mistakes.

Two mistakes from the kick-off — Grant Williams’ clearance going awry and a subsequent penalty — enabled the visitors to set up an opportunity in the 22.  The lineout went smoothly and their drive marched the Boks backwards before Karkadze crossed the whitewash

After seeing their pride dented by the Lelos’ maul score, the hosts responded and looked to inflict similar forward-oriented pain on the away side.

Initially, they attempted a variation on the Cam Roigard try for the All Blacks last weekend but, after Van der Merwe was shunted backwards, they decided to go route one.

It didn’t take long for the Georgian line to be breached as on debut loosehead prop Venter touched down from close range.

South Africa then began to create more opportunities via their talented backline with Williams and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu both testing the visiting rearguard, but there was no doubt that the direct route was giving them the most success.

They went back to their trusty maul, and Marnus van der Merwe followed his front-row colleague by going over on his Test bow.

After a slow start, it looked like the Springboks could move away from their opponents, and when they manufactured a brilliant try for Moodie, a dominant victory looked on the cards.

However, a mixture of Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s errant kicking and Georgian resilience kept the game in the balance for a while.

The fly-half missed his first three conversion attempts, which meant when Luka Matkava kicked a penalty, just five points separated the teams after half-an-hour.

Erasmus’ side would give themselves some breathing space at the break, though, when Marnus van der Merwe completed their brace and they built on that at the start of the second period.

South Africa touched down twice in the third quarter to put the game to bed and make sure that they would head into the Rugby Championship with consecutive victories.

Firstly, Edwill van der Merwe scored one of the easiest tries of his career when Williams’ bullet pass landed in his arms just two metres out from the line before Willemse crossed the whitewash after a set play from a scrum.

The clash then became scrappy, but South Africa finished with a flourish as Van der Merwe, Arendse and Pollard went over in the final 10 minutes.

The teams

South Africa:  15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Cobus Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Neethling Fouche 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Boan Venter
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian Willemse

Georgia:  15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 11 Alexander Todua, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Ilia Spanderashvili, 7 Beka Saginadze (c), 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 5 Lado Chachanidze, 4 Mikheili Babunashvili, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri, 2 Vano Karkadze, 1 Giorgi Akhaladze
Replacements:  16 Irakli Kvatadze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Demur Epremidze, 20 Sandro Mamamtvarishvili, 21 Tornike Jalagonia, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Tornike Kakhoidze

Referee:  Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant referees:  Hollie Davidson (SRU), Adam Leal (RFU)
TMO:  Andrew Jackson (RFU)
FPRO:  Tual Trainini (FFR)

All Blacks come from behind against France as debutant scores key try

New Zealand had to come from behind to defeat a dogged France 29-19 at FMG Stadium Waikato on Saturday in a result that wraps up a 3-0 series victory over Les Bleus.

Tries from Will Jordan, Anton Lienert-Brown, Du’Plessis Kirifi and Brodie McAlister, coupled by nine points from Damian McKenzie’s boot, saw the All Blacks prevail.

France were excellent for large parts in Hamilton with scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec scoring 16 points that included a crossing while Antoine Hastoy struck a drop-goal.

The All Blacks were looking to pick up a clean sweep in this series, which has been under the spotlight ever since rumours of France’s squad intentions were made clear.

Scott Robertson’s outfit had to deal with some late disruption to their line-up after Luke Jacobson pulled out injured in the warm-up, which meant Ardie Savea shifted to number eight and Kirifi was handed his first start on the openside.  That freed up a place on the replacements bench where Christian Lio-Willie wore jersey 20.

The game started in entertaining fashion and after an early All Blacks foray, it was in fact France who struck first on nine minutes, Le Garrec scrambling over at the back of a maul on the right wing before converting his own score.  That was an early marker thrown down, confirming that this France team in Test III was a genuine threat.

Clearly rattled, the hosts gift wrapped a further three points for Les Bleus after Savea attempted a chip kick in his own 22 that resulted in Le Garrec nudging it to 10-0.

That penalty took the scoring up a notch in its frequency as on 21 minutes, a smart kick into open space from Cortez Ratima saw wing Jordan win the foot race as New Zealand cut the gap to three points before Hastoy knocked over a smart drop-goal for the French soon after to make it 13-7.  Suddenly, every attack had real potential.

The concern for New Zealand was the frequency France were adding to their tally, as two further Le Garrec penalties after a McKenzie effort made it a nine-point cushion.

Crucially, though, the All Blacks struck with the clock in the red at the end of the opening half when Lienert-Brown slid over the whitewash to make it 19-17 at the interval.

France looked to keep the scoreboard ticking shortly after the restart, but this time Hastoy’s drop-goal attempt was dragged wide before New Zealand looked to counter.

However, tenacious French defence was evident again, typified by Gabin Villiere who won his side a ruck penalty that was also off-target from Le Garrec from distance.

Two lifelines for the All Blacks who then sent on front-row replacements including debutant McAlister at hooker, with boss Robertson eyeing a response from his side.

But France’s resolve in defence was something to admire as they continued to frustrate the hosts, Mickaël Guillard this time denying Patrick Tuipulotu a try out wide.

Finally, though New Zealand got their score when a McKenzie grubber caused chaos in-goal and Kirifi was on hand to gather and ground for the try before the hour.

At 22-19, the match was far from over, but the All Blacks had their noses in front for the first time in the contest.  Les Bleus though were still enjoying opportunities.

As time wore on, however, New Zealand were starting to gain dominance and Dalton Papali’i went agonisingly close to crossing as the hosts had a spell of territory.

Finally, they got their reward as debutant McAlister slid over for a game-sealing try that must have felt incredible after the All Blacks’ lineout had been struggling.

McKenzie would send over the conversion attempt to add the gloss as New Zealand had seen off an impressive France side to take this series in a 3-0 whitewash.

The teams

All Blacks:  15 Ruben Love, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Quinn Tupaea, 11 Sevu Reece, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea (c), 7 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 6 Samipeni Finau, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements:  16 Brodie McAlister, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Dalton Papali’i, 20 Christian Lio-Willie 21 Noah Hotham, 22 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23 Jordie Barrett

France:  15 Léo Barré, 14 Théo Attissogbé, 13 Nicolas Depoortère, 12 Gaël Fickou (c), 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Mickaël Guillard, 7 Joshua Brennan, 6 Alexandre Fischer, 5 Matthias Halagahu, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Baptiste Erdocio
Replacements:  16 Gaëtan Barlot, 17 Paul Mallez, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Romain Taofifénua, 20 Killian Tixeront, 21 Pierre Bochaton, 22 Thibault Daubagna, 23 Émilien Gailleton

Referee:  Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant referees:  Damian Schneider (UAR), Takehito Namekawa (JRFU)
TMO:  Brett Cronan (RA)
FPRO:  Damon Murphy (RA)

England secure 2-0 series win in Argentina thanks to late try

England claimed a famous 2-0 series victory over Argentina as a late Jack van Poortvliet try helped them to a 22-17 win at the Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario.

Tries from Seb Atkinson, Freddie Steward and that Van Poortvliet effort at the death were added to by seven points from George Ford as the series was won in San Juan.

Lucio Cinti and Ignacio Mendy crossed for Los Pumas who will be bitterly disappointed to come out on the losing side for the second straight week against their visitors.

There was a tweak to England‘s team for this game after Jamie George was called up by the Lions, which meant Theo Dan started and Curtis Langdon made the bench.

That was only the second alteration to the XV that won last weekend with head coach Steve Borthwick keeping the faith with the players that impressed seven days ago.

England started the match sprightly and were 7-0 up with just four minutes on the clock when Ford’s cross-kick found Tom Roebuck and the ball eventually made its way to Atkinson for the try.  Ford slotted the extra two points to extend the arrears before Santiago Carreras landed a long-range penalty soon after that reduced the gap.

Ben Curry was then issued a yellow card for making contact with the head of Argentina back-row Pablo Matera and fortunately for him there was no change in card colour.

Argentina managed to capitalise on the numerical advantage when scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz found a hole and had Cinti on his outside for a score that made it 10-7.

However, England struck back on 33 minutes as they showed good width in their attack which created space for the impressive Will Muir to find full-back Steward on the left wing for the score.  Ford was on-target from the touchline with the extra two and the visitors had their four-point buffer restored in front of a passionate crowd.

It looked like the English would take this cushion into the changing rooms at the turnaround but a fortuitous moment from Los Pumas saw them grab the lead late on.  A speculative chip over the top from Carreras clipped the post and bamboozled Steward in his in-goal and Mendy was sharpest to react to make it 17-14 to the hosts.

England came out for the second half with similar purpose to the first but were denied on more than one occasion by some stout Los Pumas defence near their own line.

Borthwick’s charges did get something for their dominance as a ruck offence handed Ford the opportunity to level matters from close range, which he did on 53 minutes.

Five minutes later Argentina were reduced to 14 players as Matera was sent the sin-bin following a series of team offences on their own try-line as England threatened.  However, that seemed to galvanise the home side as they came through that period unscathed thanks in part to some heroic defence which denied Van Poortvliet a score.

The match remained deadlocked at 17-17 as it entered the closing 10 minutes, with the series being on the line certainly adding to the tension and style of both countries.

But it was England who deservedly came out on top as replacement Guy Pepper’s line break and offload set up Van Poortvliet for a dramatic try that secured the series.

The teams

Argentina:  15 Benjamin Elizalde, 14 Matias Moroni, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Justo Piccardo, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Simon Benitez Cruz, 8 Pablo Matera, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements:  16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Pedro Delgado, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Benjamin Grondona, 22 Agustin Moyano, 23 Nicolas Roge

England:  15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Luke Northmore, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Will Muir, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ben Curry, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements:  16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Chandler Cunningham-South, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Alex Dombrandt, 22 Jack van Poortvliet, 23 Cadan Murley

Referee:  Luc Ramos (France)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO:  Mike Adamson (Scotland)
FPRO:  Olly Hodges (Ireland)

Second string Ireland humiliate Portugal with record-breaking 16-try rout

Ireland rounded off their two-match summer tour with a facile 106-7 win over Portugal in Lisbon that should have the authorities worried about the competitiveness of the expanded 24-team Rugby World Cup in 2027.

The Irish were 54-0 ahead at the break following a horrible eight-try defensive horror show by the hosts, and the chasm widened in the second to record-breaking proportions following eight more tries.

By the finish, a new mark has been set for the biggest win in their history, beating the 83-3 set in 2000 versus the USA.  The 16-try total also bettered the record of 13, also set in that American demolition at the turn of the millennium.

Interim Ireland boss Paul O’Connell, who was given the reins with Andy Farrell in Australia heading up the British and Irish Lions, had arrived at the Estadio Nacional looking to continue the depth-building mission impressively launched last weekend with a 34-5 win over Georgia in Tbilisi.

Here, he handed debut caps to starters Hugh Gavin, Shayne Bolton and Alex Kendellen and while two of them – Gavin and Bolton – struck for two first-half tries each, the lack of Portuguese fight meant that little or nothing could be taken by the Irish from this training-ground-like-runaround that was a terrible look for tier two international rugby in Europe.

Shambles

The Portuguese XV comprised seven local club players and eight earning a living in France’s Pro D2, but this team, marshalled by Simon Mannix, was a shambles compared to the side that flourished at the 20-team Rugby World Cup 2023 under Patrice Lagisquet.

There were a couple of fleeting reminders from two years ago; they still have some players committed to attempting to run it from anywhere and the sole try they scored was neat, but their unreliable in-structure play and their amateurish defence left much to be desired, and they looked well-beaten as early as the 13th minute following the concession of four early tries.

Ireland needed less than a minute to illustrate the gulf between the teams in what was the first Test between the countries.  A gallop from Jimmy O’Brien was the initial warning sign, and the danger became clear when Jack Crowley looked up and exploited the unfolding space.

He put in a well-placed kick ahead that bounced up into the hands of the scoring Stuart McCloskey, who benefited from Nuno Sousa Guedes’ hesitation.  Crowley converted from the touchline, and he also added the extras to his team’s other three early tries.

It was lineout ball that was the foundation for skipper Craig Casey to send Gavin racing through a massive gap on nine minutes.  Two minutes later, another break from full-back O’Brien set up his namesake, winger Tommy O’Brien, to sprint clear.

This early 28-0 surge was then completed by Bolton gathering a Casey box kick inside his own half, fighting off the resulting contact on landing and creating an unopposed run-in for himself from the halfway line.  Painfully, it was men against boys.

Even when they managed to raise a cheer on 20 minutes, the noise was quickly silenced by the TMO as the Sousa Guedes’ breakaway try they had been celebrating was chalked off due to a forward pass from Vincent Pinto.

The Portuguese cause was further damaged by the loss of Tomas Appleton, who exited injured on a stretcher following a lengthy stoppage for treatment.

Equipment malfunction

A communications issue added to this delay, referee Adam Leal returning to the field after a brief disappearance to explain there would be no more TMO in the game due to an equipment malfunction.  He insisted, though, that the Appleton incident had been checked and the Portuguese midfielder wasn’t the victim of foul play when cleared out at a ruck.

After play finally restarted, Ireland went on to usher Tommy O’Brien in for his second try on 24 minutes, the winger running the perfect support line on Crowley’s shoulder from a lineout move to take the pass and go in at the posts.

There was no staunching the Portuguese bleeding before the interval as three more tries were conceded.  A neat Cian Prendergast pass invited tighthead Thomas Clarkson to run free and round to score under the posts.

Next, Tom Ahern won an impressive breakdown turnover near his team’s 10-metre line and Casey went for a 50:22.  It looked like a poor kick but with two defenders idling and looking for the ball to roll out over the dead ball line, Bolton raced into the in-goal area to get the touch.

For once, Crowley didn’t have the accuracy off the tee to bag the extra points, but he was back on task less than two minutes later to make it 54-0.  A break from the back of a maul from Gus McCarthy scattered the Portuguese cover and when the ball came back infield, McCloskey gave the assist pass to Cooney for the try.

There was no let-up from the Irish when the second half began, as a scrum in their own 22 was the platform for Casey going in under the posts after a powerful Bolton break.

Tackling air

Crowley’s added points pushed the gap to 61, and it moved to 66 on 51 minutes when a low throw to the front of the lineout resulted in Prendergast successfully breaking down the short side off a resulting ruck.  Crowley scuffed his conversion, and he won’t want to be reminded either for tackling air two minutes later when Pinto breezed by him to set up Nicolas Martins for Portugal’s first converted try.

It wasn’t the cue for a consolatory fightback.  Within minutes, a Casey pass from scrum ball sent in sub winger Calvin Nash for an unconverted Irish score, and the 71-7 lead was added to by Ciaran Frawley’s converted try.  Next, Casey set up Prendergast and the records set in a 2000 hammering of the USA were now set to tumble.

Kendellen, the third debut starter in the Ireland XV, scored the record-making 14th try and another Crowley conversion left it 92-7, an 85-point margin greater than the 80 achieved in New Hampshire 25 years ago.  There was more to come, a converted Ben Murphy score and a penalty try completing Portugal’s humiliation.

The teams

Portugal:  15 Nuno Sousa Guedes, 14 Simao Bento, 13 Vincent Pinto, 12 Tomas Appleton, 11, Manuel Cardoso Pinto, 10 Hugo Aubry, 9 Hugo Gomes Camacho, 8 Diego Pinheiro Ruiz, 7 Nicolas Martins, 6 David Wallis de Carvalho, 5 Pedro Ferreira, 4 Antonio Rebelo de Andrade, 3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 2 Luka Begic, 1 David Costa
Replacements:  16 Abel da Cunha, 17 Pedro Santiago Lopes, 18 Martim Souto, 19 Guilherme Costa, 20 Francisco Almeida, 21 Vasco Baptista, 22 Antonio Campos, 23 Gabriel Aviragnet

Ireland:  15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Hugh Gavin, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Shayne Bolton, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey (c), 8 Cian Prendergast, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Tom Ahern, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Jack Boyle
Replacements:  16 Tom Stewart, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Cormac Izuchukwu, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Calvin Nash

Referee:  Adam Leal (RFU)
Assistant Referees:  Anthony Woodthorpe (RFU), Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
TMO:  Matteo Liperini (FIR)

Jaw-dropping tactics help seven-try Springboks demolish Italy

Seven-try South Africa sealed a 2-0 Test series victory over Italy with a 45-0 win in Gqeberha after innovation from Rassie Erasmus made light work of the numerical disadvantage of the 21st-minute permanent red card shown to Jasper Wiese for a headbutt.

The hosts were two tries ahead when Wiese made his premature exit, but rather than this decision unsettling them, they pressed on and had the match emphatically won after 51 minutes with a 31-0 lead.

The highlight was how tries number three and five featured the crazy sight of the Springboks setting up lineout mauls in open play, a tactic that resulted in the Italians collapsing and then conceding scores from the resulting plays off penalty advantage.

It was a genius trick that gave this fixture its highlight reel moments, a development that contrasted with last weekend’s frustrating series-opening win, where South Africa’s play left much to be desired after they had initially gone 28-3 up.

First-minute ruse

Erasmus’ reaction to seeing his team outscored 21-14 in the second half in Pretoria resulted in the alteration of 11 of the starting XV, and this breath of fresh air was seen right from the kick-off.

Rather than start the match in the usual way by sending the ball beyond the requisite 10 metres in the air, Manie Libbok purposely kicked the ball forward just a few yards into the hands of Andre Esterhuizen so that it would result in a scrum that the Italians would feed.  This first-minute ruse didn’t pay off as the Springboks had a free award against them for going early.

Then, after a Wiese knock-on during an attack that ended with a pile-up over the Italian line heralded a follow-up scrum in the first minute, another free-kick decision from referee Andrew Brace was turned into a penalty, getting the Italians up out of danger and up to their 10-metre line.

South Africa’s early issues continued with centurion Willie le Roux knocking on when trying to attack, but the game’s third scrum worked out perfectly in their favour.

Grant Williams’ put-in ignited the shove that generated a penalty advantage, and this offered the incentive for Williams to ignite a move that he ended himself over the try line after the sweep from inside their own half included some excellent footwork and speed from wingers Edwill van der Merwe and Makazole Mapimpi.

The ninth-minute score went unconverted, but a flurry of penalties, mainly at the breakdown, ensured momentum stayed with the Springboks.

After deciding to scrum five metres out following a further infringement, another penalty advantage from the set-piece sparked the flourish where Libbok’s lengthy pass had Van der Merwe successfully diving in at the corner for a 16th-minute try.

Again, the extra points weren’t added from the kicking tee, and the game’s early pattern had a dramatic twist in the 21th minute.

A penalty was whistled for Italy at a maul but, as the players disengaged, a bust-up featuring Azzurri prop Danilo Fischetti and Wiese ended with referee Brace brandishing a permanent red card to the South African for a headbutt.

The man-losing decision didn’t neutralised the Springboks scrum:  with midfielder Esterhuizen packing down at blindside and Marco van Staden switching to number eight, they were soon winning a set-piece penalty.

Then, with Ox Nche brought on for Thomas du Toit on 30 minutes, a penalty advantage at a halfway line scrum allowed Le Roux, the assist king, to strike again.  His chip kick bounced awkwardly, putting Giulio Bertaccini off the scent and allowing Van der Merwe to boot the ball onwards and win the race to regather over the line.

Off the charts

Libbok added the conversion, and he did likewise eight minutes later after Canan Moodie scored South Africa’s fourth try.  If the start to the match was bizarre with the tactic of forcing a scrum to happen straight away, the sight of a lineout happening in the middle of the pitch was off the charts.

After a ruck formed following a first-phase lineout attack, Williams made a pass from the breakdown to an airborne Ruan Nortje, who was lifted by his props as if jumping at the lineout on the side of the pitch.

It was a cunning plan, allowing the forwards to instigate a maul that was immediately collapsed and the penalty advantage was once more the cue for the South African backs to pounce, this time Moodie blasting through a defensive hole to make the line.

That made it 24-0 at the break and, unlike a week ago in Pretoria, there was no repeat of the second half lull on this occasion.  Italy’s so-called ‘grenade squad’ defused the ‘bomb squad’ at Loftus, but they pulled the wrong wire here, and the margin of defeat spun out to 45 unanswered points.

A 45th-minute yellow card for Wilco Louw for shoulder to head contact on Sebastian Negri made the contest a 13-versus-15 match, but Italy spoiled this advantage by having Fischetti yellow carded three minutes later following his team’s latest breakdown infringement.

This invited the Springboks to kick to the corner.  A forward pass by Le Roux denied Van der Merwe his hat-trick, but there was no stopping Malcolm Marx getting over on 51 minutes following the formation of another open play lineout lift, instigating a maul that couldn’t be stopped.

Libbok’s conversion stretched the lead to 31 points, but the game then became very scrappy, and it took a penalty advantage emanating from a lineout maul seven minutes from time to get the Springboks going again.

Some slick backline ending with Mapimpi scoring, and the rout was completed when Jan-Hendrik Wessels reached out in the final play to ground.  Libbok converted both tries.

The teams

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements:  16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker

Italy:  15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Jacopo Trulla, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone (c), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements:  16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 David Odiase, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

Referee:  Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees:  Matthew Carley (RFU), Hollie Davidson (SRU)
TMO:  Tual Training (FFR)
FPRO:  Andrew Jackson (RFU)

All Blacks clinch series with emphatic victory over France in Wellington

The All Blacks delivered a much improved performance as they clinched an emphatic 43-17 triumph against France in their mid-year international in Wellington on Saturday.

After notching a narrow victory over Les Bleus in Dunedin last week, there was pressure on All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and his troops but they were full value for this series-clinching win as they dominated for long periods and were more clinical in their execution.

The All Blacks eventually outscored their visitors by six tries to two with Cam Roigard, Ardie Savea, Codie Taylor, Tupou Vaa’i, Will Jordan and Rieko Ioane all crossing the whitewash.

Their other points came via four conversions and a penalty from Beauden Barrett while Jordie Barrett also succeeded with a two-pointer off the kicking tee.

For France, Léo Barré and Joshua Brennan scored tries while Nolann Le Garrec added a conversion and a penalty, and Antoine Hastoy also converted a five-pointer.

The opening exchanges were evenly contested and after absorbing some early pressure from the visitors, the All Blacks opened the scoring in the eighth minute courtesy of a Barrett penalty after Nicolas Depoortère strayed offside on defence.

Five minutes later, the home side extended their lead when Roigard crossed for his try after some brilliance from the All Blacks forwards.

From a lineout just outside France’s 22, the hosts flummoxed the visitors with a move from the set-piece which looked like it was straight off the training ground.

After delivering his throw-in, hooker Taylor came charging around the lineout and made like he was going to take a pass from Christian Lio-Willie only for Savea and Roigard to break around the blindside and the former offloaded to his scrum-half, who cantered in for his score.

Midway through the half, New Zealand were reduced to 14 men when fly-half Barrett was yellow carded for deliberately knocking down a pass from Le Garrec deep inside the hosts’ 22.

Le Garrec slotted the resulting penalty which meant the All Blacks held a 10-3 lead by the 20th minute before Savea went over for another converted try off the back of a lineout drive deep inside Les Bleus territory.

France were then dealt a massive setback when Brennan was sent to the sin bin in the 28th minute for a dangerous tip tackle on Jordie Barrett and the rest of the half was dominated by the hosts, who scored two further tries during that period.

On the half hour-mark, Taylor dotted down in similar fashion to Savea after a strong lineout drive from the All Blacks, before Vaa’i rounded off a spectacular try after the ball went through several pairs of hands in the build-up.

That meant New Zealand had their tails up with the score 29-3 in their favour at half-time.

🇳🇿🇫🇷 ALL BLACKS HAMMER FRANCE IN WELLINGTON TO CLINCH THE SERIES!#NZLvFRA pic.twitter.com/33z6GO6zjb

— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) July 12, 2025

France needed a response and that came eight minutes after the restart when Barré crossed for their first try after running a superb line deep inside the All Blacks’ 22.

The All Blacks did not panic though and in the 56th minute Jordan rounded off in style after Billy Proctor was stopped just short of the try-line in the build-up.

And in the 62nd minute, Ioane got over for his five pointer in the left-hand corner, after running onto a well-timed pass from Jordie Barrett, before Brennan added some respectability to the final score for Les Bleus when he crashed over for his try in the game’s closing stages.

The teams

New Zealand:  15 Will Jordan, 14 Emoni Narawa, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 7 Ardie Savea (c), 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements:  16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Samipeni Finau, 20 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23 Damian McKenzie

France:  15 Léo Barré, 14 Théo Attissogbe, 13 Nicolas Depoortère, 12 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 11 Émilien Gailleton, 10 Joris Segonds, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Esteban Abadie, 7 Jacobus Van Tonder, 6 Pierre Bochaton, 5 Matthias Halagahu, 4 Joshua Brennan, 3 Georges-Henri Colombe, 2 Gaëtan Barlot (c), 1 Baptiste Erdocio
Replacements:  16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Paul Mallez, 18 Régis Montagne, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Cameron Woki, 21 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 22 Thibault Daubagna, 23 Antoine Hastoy

Referee:  Christophe Ridley (RFU)
Assistant Referees:  Nic Berry (RA), Takehito Namekawa (JRFU)
TMO:  Brett Cronan (RA)
FPRO:  Damon Murphy (RA)

Wales pain ends with first victory since Rugby World Cup after Japan win

Wales ended almost two years of pain and claimed their first victory since the 2023 Rugby World Cup by securing a 31-22 triumph over Japan on Saturday.

They have gone on a run of 18 consecutive defeats, including last weekend’s reversal against the Brave Blossoms, but that anguish was finally over in Kobe.

The visitors were excellent in the first half, going 21-3 ahead through Josh Adams’ try and Kieran Hardy’s brace, but they had to withstand another Japanese fightback.

Shuhei Takeuchi, Warner Dearns and Dylan Riley all touched down to reduce the arrears to two points.  However, Wales would not be denied this time as Dan Edwards made sure of a victory which brought some positivity back to Welsh rugby.

Confidence must have been low in the Welsh camp after their latest dispiriting defeat, but it did not show in the opening period of the second Test.

Like they did in the opener, Matt Sherratt’s men began the match impressively and showed real intent with ball in hand.

In the first 10 minutes, Wales showed their willingness to shift the ball wide as off a turnover Ben Thomas received the ball, made a half-break and sent Blair Murray scampering clear.  The full-back then drew the final defender and enabled Adams to cross the whitewash.

Although the Brave Blossoms reduced the arrears with a Lee penalty, the visitors were creating the majority of the chances, while their maul was also working effectively.

A couple of dominant drives took them to within metres of the line and Hardy was on hand to reward their pressure by touching down.

With their opponents down to 14 men, Wales then went over for a third time as Adams made the break and found his scrum-half, who completed his brace.

Last week, Sherratt’s side moved found themselves in a dominant position before faltering in the second period and a try just shy of the interval from Takeuchi would have increased those fears of it happening again.

The start of the final 40 minutes was promising, however, as the visitors controlled the game and earned a penalty which Edwards kicked to move them 14 points ahead.

But, perhaps understandably, the Welsh players went into their shells and Japan came back into the contest, getting themselves over the line through Dearns.

Riley soon followed and just two points separated the teams going into the latter stages.  Worries of a 19th successive defeat would have crept into their minds but Wales showed impressive composure to get back on the front foot and get over for match-sealing try when Edwards dotted down to end almost two years of Welsh misery.

The teams

Japan:  15 Ichigo Nakakusu, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Shogo Nakano, 11 Halatoa Vailea, 10 Lee Seungsin, 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Faulua Makisi, 7 Jack Cornelsen, 6 Michael Leitch (c), 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Epineri Uluiviti, 3 Keijiro Tamefusa, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Yota Kamimori
Replacements:  16 Hayate Era, 17 Sena Kimura, 18 Shuhei Takeuchi, 19 Waisake Raratubua, 20 Ben Gunter, 21 Shinobu Fujiwara, 22 Sam Greene, 23 Kazuma Ueda

Wales:  15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Freddie Thomas, 3.Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements:  16 Liam Belcher, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Christian Coleman, 19 James Ratti, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Tommy Reffell, 22 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 23 Keelan Giles

Referee:  Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant referees:  Karl Dickson (RFU), Damian Schneider (UAR)
TMO:  Glenn Newman (NZR)
FPRO:  Ian Tempest (RFU)

Fiji claim big Scotland scalp as Darcy Graham sees red for visitors

Scotland’s summer tour of the South Pacific suffered a setback when they were handed a 29-14 defeat against Fiji in an entertaining international in Suva on Saturday.

In a fast-paced and exciting encounter, Fiji had too much firepower for their opponents who finished the match with 14 men after Darcy Graham, who missed out on selection to the British and Irish Lions squad, was red carded in the final quarter.

In the end, the home side delivered an outstanding performance and were deserved winners after outscoring the Scots by four tries to two.

Tevita Ikanivere, Kalaveti Ravouvou and Jiuta Wainiqolo crossed the whitewash for Fiji while they were also awarded a penalty try and Caleb Muntz slotted two conversions and a penalty.

For the visitors, Kyle Rowe and Tom Jordan scored tries and their other points came via the boot of Test debutant Fergus Burke who succeeded with a couple of conversions.

Fast start from Scotland

Gregor Townsend’s troops were fastest out of the blocks and opened the scoring as early as the third minute when Rowe dotted down and Burke’s conversion gave the visitors a deserved 7-0 lead.

Shortly afterwards, Ewan Ashman was yellow carded before Muntz opened Fiji’s account via a penalty midway through the half.

Things went pear-shaped for Scotland in the 33rd minute when Graham was yellow carded for foul play and Fiji made full use of their numerical advantage as Ikanivere and Ravouvou crossed for tries during the closing stages of the opening half which gave them a 15-7 lead at the interval.

Scotland made a bright start to the second half when Jordan crossed for a converted try in the 44th minute but that would be the last time they would score points as Fiji finished stronger.

Wainiqolo dotted down in the 57th minute and 10 minutes later things went from bad to worse for the Scots when Graham was red carded.

This, after he tried to intercept a pass deep inside his 22 but did so from an offside position.  He was also the last defender which resulted in referee Ben O’Keeffe issuing him his second yellow card as well as a penalty try to the hosts, which sealed their victory.

The teams

Fiji:  15 Salesi Rayasi, 14 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 13 Sireli Maqala, 12 Josua Tuisova, 11 Jiuta Wainiqolo, 10 Caleb Muntz, 9 Simione Kuruvoli, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Elia Canakaivata, 6 Lekima Tagitagivalu, 5 Temo Mayanavanua, 4 Isoa Nasilasila, 3 Mesake Doge, 2 Tevita Ikanivere, 1 Eroni Mawi
Replacements:  16 Samuel Matavesi, 17 Haereiti Hetet, 18 Samuela Tawake, 19 Mesake Vocevoce, 20 Albert Tuisue, 21 Sam Wye, 22 Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula, 23 Vilimoni Botitu

Scotland:  15 Kyle Rowe, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Cameron Redpath, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Kyle Steyn, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge (c), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements:  16 George Turner, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 George Horne, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Ollie Smith

Referee:  Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Jordan Way (Australia), Matt Kellahan (Australia)
TMO:  Richard Kelly (New Zealand)

Sam Prendergast guides Ireland to victory over Georgia as Paul O'Connell's short reign begins in style

Paul O’Connell’s short reign in charge of Ireland got off to the perfect start as their understrength side cruised to a 34-5 victory over Georgia in Tbilisi.

Tommy O’Brien, making his debut after a fine season for Leinster, scored a brace within the opening 10 minutes as the visitors signalled their intent.

To their credit, the Lelos did respond just before the break through Tornike Jalagonia, but Ireland dominated the second period and sealed the win through Craig Casey and Nick Timoney tries, while Sam Prendergast added two penalties and four conversions.

O’Connell’s men travelled to Eastern Europe shorn of stars, who are of course with the British and Irish Lions, but they were still able to field a very talented squad in Tbilisi.

Plenty of players were seeking to prove their worth and their class showed in the early stages as they moved into an early 14-point lead.

From the kick-off, the visitors made ground with ball in hand and were across the whitewash after just two minutes when Prendergast’s chip through resulted in O’Brien touching down on debut.

The Leinster fly-half was given the nod over Jack Crowley for this encounter and soon after he had his second assist when the playmaker’s pass was once again collected by wing O’Brien.

It was the perfect start for the Irishmen but Georgia would soon get into the game and their scrum caused problems for the visitors.

The Lelos pressurised the opposition line and created a few opportunities but the try would not come as solid Ireland defence, combined with Georgian profligacy, harmed their hopes of a comeback.

Their all-time leading try-scorer Akaki Tabutsadze didn’t help matters by surprisingly failing to ground the ball with the line begging and that would ultimately cost Richard Cockerill’s men.

Although Jalagonia touched down at the end of the first half, they were unable to build on that score and duly found themselves out of the contest in the early stages of the second period.

Georgia once again switched off at the start of the half, but credit must also go to Ireland who manufactured an excellent try.

Calvin Nash was the instigator as the wing broke down the left before he found Ryan Baird, who then combined with Casey to finish it off.

Prendergast converted for the third time in the match and then added a penalty as Georgia’s hopes of a shock victory dissipated.

The Lelos were not helped by missing another try-scoring opportunity, this time through Vano Karkadze, who like Tabutsadze failed to keep control of the ball in the act of scoring.

Even with half-an-hour still remaining that was their chance gone as the visitors managed to control the remainder of the encounter.

Prendergast rewarded their dominance with a second three-pointer before the fly-half converted Timoney’s try with 10 minutes left to complete the scoring.

The teams

Georgia:  15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Giorgi Kveseladze, 11 Alexander Todua, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 5 Vladimeri Chachanidze, 4 Mikheili Babunashvili, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri, 2 Vano Karkadze, 1 Giorgi Akhaladze
Replacements:  16 Irakli Kvatadze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Giorgi Javakhia, 20 Ilia Spanderashvili, 21 Mikheil Alania, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Tornike Kakhoidze

Ireland:  15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Darragh Murray, 4 Cormac Izuchukwu, 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Gus McCarthy, 1 Jack Boyle
Replacements:  16 Tom Stewart, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Thomas Ahern, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Calvin Nash

Referee:  Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant Referees:  Adam Leal (England), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO:  Matteo Liperini (Italy)

Springboks beat Italy but defused 'bomb squad' fail to build on convincing first-half lead

South Africa got their 2025 Test season underway on Saturday with a 42-24 win over Italy in Pretoria.

The Springboks, who can feel pleased with how the likes of Test debutant Vincent Tshituka went, deserve praise for the directness of their first-half attack as a four-try display had them 28-3 clear.

However, their second-half display wasn’t as clinical, and questions will be asked about the ineffectiveness of the bomb squad as the resolute Italians ‘won’ the second period 21-14.

This comeback was a match pattern different from what had been seen so far in 2025 from the visitors as Italy, under Gonzalo Quesada, don’t usually roll over in the first half of games.

The margins at the break in their recent Six Nations losses to Ireland, England and Scotland were two, four and 10 points respectively — and even in their 49-point hammering versus France, the gap at the break was just 18 after they managed a couple of tries of their own.

The blunted Italians folded early at Loftus Versfeld, though, paying a heavy price for their coach’s decision to travel with a tour squad minus a raft of experienced players.

Last weekend’s facile 73-6 win over Namibia in Windhoek was an insufficient prep for the intensity of the play generated by a Springboks XV showing five changes – including the long-awaited return of Damian Willemse – from the uncapped stroll versus the Barbarians in Cape Town seven days earlier.

The Italians, who hadn’t played the Boks since a November 2022 hammering in Genoa, came under immediate pressure in Pretoria, Eben Etzebeth charging down Alessandro Fusco’s attempted clearance kick just seconds into a contest the hosts soon went on to dominate at the scrum.

A monster eighth-minute set-piece turnover at an Italian put-in was a highlight, and this show of power was followed two minutes later by the opening score.  Skipper Jesse Kriel fastened onto a grubber kick from Damian de Allende on penalty advantage, and he nabbed the try converted by Handre Pollard.

Some handling errors delayed the Springboks extending their lead, but Lorenzo Cannone’s 23rd-minute yellow card was the cue for the hosts to immediately strike from the five-metre scrum they opted for from the resulting penalty.

With the Azzurri pack hurtling backwards under their posts, Morne van den Berg easily touched down and Pollard added the extras for a 14-point cushion.

Italy were in dire need of some possession and territory to stem the wound, and an offside from Tshituka allowed them a 28th-minute shot at goal from distance that Giacomo Da Re landed to reduce the margin.

This respite was fleeting, though, as lineout ball two minutes later was popped to Kurt-Lee Arendse on the 10-metre line and his excellent footwork bludgeoned the Azzurri defence.

With the steely-eyed Pollard converting, South Africa has ‘won’ the 10-minute sin-binning period 14-3, and further damage was inflicted before the break despite Cannone’s return to the field.

Another penalty was scrummed down five metres from the line and Van den Berg again proved unstoppable, fooling the defence with a dummy and darting over.

Pollard’s ensuing kick left it 28-3 heading down the tunnel and with the result already decided, the question when the teams returned for the second half was how wide the margin would ultimately be.  Incredibly, it was just 18 points, seven less than the 25 it was at the break.

The Italians breathed a sigh of relief as a Vincent Tshituka score just 97 seconds after the restart was scrubbed out on review due to the obstruction on halfway from Ox Nche that had illegally opened a corridor for Willemse to race through.

There was further cheer for the visitors when Manuel Zuliani wriggled over for a converted 46th-minute try after Malcolm Marx got his decision wrong defending at a ruck.

The ‘bomb squad’ that failed to go off

The pin was pulled two minutes later on the ‘bomb squad’, but this tactic of changing their pack’s entire tight five in one go soon didn’t convince on this occasion.  Vincent Koch was celebrating a 57th-minute converted try, but South Africa failed to push on.

Four minutes later, Arendse pulled off a superb try-saving tackle in-goal on Simone Gesi, but nothing could be done to stop the impressive 63rd-minute maul that ended with the debut making Pablo Dimcheff touching down and Da Re converting.

That shaved the gap to 18, and it was cut to 11 five minutes later with Niccolo Cannone rolling in under the posts for Italy’s third second-half try.  This was as close as they got, though, as Marco van Staden’s converted 73rd-minute try closed out South Africa’s six tries to three win.

The teams

Springboks:  15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux

Italy:  15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone (c), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements:  16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

Referee:  Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Assistant Referees:  Matthew Carley (RFU), Andrew Brace (IRFU)
TMO:  Andrew Jackson (RFU)
FPRO:  Tual Trainini (FFR)

All Blacks made to work hard for maiden 2025 victory against rookie French outfit

Scott Robertson’s All Blacks are up and running in 2025 after defeating a spirited France outfit 31-27 at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin to take a 1-0 series lead.

Much of the build-up to the series opener was dominated by France’s decision to send an inexperienced team to New Zealand, but the Les Bleus rookies rose to the occasion and put up a mighty fight against the All Blacks.

Ultimately, a Beauden Barrett penalty in the final 10 minutes of the match sealed the result for the All Blacks, with the veteran pivot knocking over all five of his kicks at goal.

He converted tries scored by Will Jordan (2), Tupou Vaa’i and Jordie Barrett before Robertson’s men held out a French onslaught to secure the victory.

Mickael Guillard and Cameron Woki crossed for Les Bleus, while Joris Segonds added three points from the tee with Nolann Le Garrec racking up a further nine, but ultimately, it was not enough.

The French were the first on the board as the All Blacks conceded a penalty in the seventh minute, providing Segonds with an easy shot at goal the pivot did not waste the chance to dissect the posts.

Jordie Barrett looked to have scored the opening try of New Zealand this year when the midfielder slid over the line after a marvellous attacking play, but the All Blacks were denied as prop Fletcher Newell was judged to have knocked on the ball in the build-up to the score.

From the ensuing scrum, the French struck as superb full-back Theo Attisogbe skinned Billy Proctor out wide, launching a stunning attack with Beauden Barrett making a great last-ditch tackle that seemingly denied a try.  However, France recycled the ball, and powerhouse forward Guillard thundered over the line to open up a 10-point lead after 17 minutes.

That try seemingly lit the spark for the All Blacks as captain Scott Barrett charged down a kick from Le Garrec, and that turnover of possession resulted in the first try of the year for Jordan, who benefited from a great long ball from fly-half Beauden Barrett, who added the extras.

New Zealand really started to turn the screws in the second quarter of the first half as they dominated the French scrum, earning a penalty for their efforts and subsequently kicked to the line which led to a score for Vaa’i who powered over from close range after several powerful carries from the French pack.

However, Vaa’i conceded a silly penalty at the lineout in the 32nd minute and Le Garrec made no mistake with his kick to make it a one-point game at 14-13.

That did not last long as Jordie Barrett would have the final say of the half as Jordan went from scorer to assister to send the centre over as the hosts led 21-13 at the break.

France came out of the blocks steaming in the second half as Villiere acrobatically dived over the line after an impressive 16 phases from the French.

Villiere produced another moment of brilliance to make a try-saving tackle and turnover, but that did not last long as Jordan scored a second try from the ensuing lineout.

Fabien Galthie started to empty his bench soon afterwards, and it immediately paid dividends as debutant Jaco van Tonder made a stunning linebreak with Woki rounding off the try.

Momentum looked to have swung back into the All Blacks’ favour when Jordan’s offload was judged to have been knocked down by Villiere, who was subsequently yellow-carded.  Robertson’s side went to work from the lineout and after a long passage of attack, Proctor reached out to dot the ball over the line, but he was denied upon review from the TMO, who judged that he spilt the ball over the line.

Again, the TMO would deny the All Blacks as Jordan’s hat-trick score was scratched off after Berry agreed that replacement tighthead Pasilio Tosi obstructed the French defensive line — the third time the All Blacks had been denied.

The All Blacks couldn’t breach the Shaun Edwards’ defence again in the second half as Barrett knocked over a penalty to extend the lead to four points, which sealed the victory.

The teams

All Blacks:  15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Billy Proctor, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Fabian Holland, 4 Scott Barrett (c), 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements:  16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Samipeni Finau, 20 Du’Plessis Kirifi, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Quinn Tupaea, 23 Damian McKenzie

France:  15 Theo Attissogbe, 14 Tom Spring, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Gael Fickou (c), 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Joris Segonds, 9 Nolann Le Garrec, 8 Mickael Guillard, 7 Killian Tixeront, 6 Alexandre Fischer, 5 Tyler Duguid, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Gaetan Barlot, 1 Giorgi Beria
Replacements:  16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Paul Mallez, 18 Regis Montagne, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Cameron Woki, 21 Jacobus van Tonder, 22 Baptiste Jauneau, 23 Antoine Hastoy

Referee:  Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Christophe Ridley (England), Takehito Namekawa (Japan)
TMO:  Damon Murphy (Australia)

Wales' misery continues as Japan condemns them to 18th successive loss

Japan made an outstanding start to their two-Test series against Wales when they clinched a 24-19 triumph in their first clash in Kitakyushu on Saturday.

The result is a momentous one for the Brave Blossoms as it is only their second-ever win in 15 matches against Wales and their first triumph in this fixture since 2013.

Japan‘s head coach Eddie Jones, who also masterminded that win in Tokyo, will be delighted that his side managed to repeat that feat and will be full of confidence ahead of next weekend’s second Test in Kobe.

Meanwhile, Wales‘ horrific run at international level continues as they have now lost a record 18 Tests in a row and they only have themselves to blame for this defeat as they held a 19-7 lead at half-time.

Japan launched a stunning comeback in the second half, however, and were deserved winners in the end.

Both sides scored three tries apiece with Takuro Matsunaga, Ichigo Nakakusu and Halatoa Vailea crossing the whitewash for the home side while Seungsin Lee finished with nine-point contribution after succeeding with three conversions and a penalty.

For the visitors, Ben Thomas and Tom Rogers dotted down while they were also awarded a penalty try while Sam Costelow added a conversion.

Wales were fastest out of the blocks and opened the scoring as early as the fourth minute when they won possession at a lineout deep inside Brave Blossoms territory.

From the set-piece, Taulupe Faletau launched an attack and drew in a couple of defenders before offloading to the on-rushing Thomas, who crashed over for a deserved try.

Costelow added the extras before Japan struck back in the 16th minute when Matsunaga crossed for his five-pointer after excellent work from Kippei Ishida in the build-up.

Midway through the half, Wales extended their lead courtesy of a penalty try after Ichigo Nakakusu deliberately slapped the ball out of Josh Adams’ hands close to Japan’s try-line and Nakakusu was also yellow carded for his indiscretion.

Two minutes later, Rogers got over for his try after finding himself in space down the left-hand touchline and showing the defence a clean pair of heels with a blistering run before dotting down.

The rest of the half was characterised by plenty of thrilling action but neither side managed to score further points until half-time.

The second half was a completely different story as the Brave Blossoms soon took control of proceedings and they were rewarded in the 59th minute when Nakakusu crossed in the left-hand corner.

Lee added the extras and slotted a penalty five minutes later which meant the match was evenly poised with Wales holding a slender 19-17 lead.

Japan continued to attack as the half progressed and in the 70th minute they went ahead when Vailea crossed for his converted try off the back of a maul deep inside the visitors 22.

That gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the match and although Wales tried desperately to strike back in the game’s closing stages, it wasn’t to be as the Brave Blossoms held for a deserved victory.

The teams

Japan:  15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Shogo Nakano, 11 Malo Tuitama, 10 Seungsin Lee, 9 Shinobu Fujiwara, 8 Amato Fakatava, 7 Jack Cornelsen, 6 Michael Leitch (c), 5 Warner Deans, 4 Epineri Uluiviti, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Yota Kamimori
Replacements:  16 Hayate Era, 17 Sena Kimura, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Waisake Raratubua, 20 Ben Gunter, 21 Shuntaro Kitamura, 22 Ichigo Nakakusu, 23 Halatoa Vailea

Wales:  15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Ben Carter, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements:  16 Liam Belcher, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 James Ratti, 20 Aaron Wainwright, 21 Tommy Reffell, 22 Rhodri Williams, 23 Joe Roberts

Referee:  Damian Schneider (UAR)
Assistant Referees:  Karl Dickson (RFU), Luke Pearce (RFU)
TMO:  Ian Tempest (RFU)