France 32 Argentina 33

History was made at Estádio de Vélez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires when for the first time ever Argentina won a series against France.  They have shared series in the past but this won they won.  The winning could not have been closer as it took a last-minute drop-goal by Gonzalo Quesada to win them the match 33-32.

Argentina had won a drab first Test 10-6.  This one was not drab -- certainly not the action of injury-time.  First Quesada put Argentina up 30-29.  Then France's replacement fly-half Frédéric Michalak goaled and made it 32-30.

Back came the Pumas and Quesada was well short with his third failed drop-goal attempt.  Pepito Elhorga cleared.  The Pumas just won a shoddy line-out and then they threw everybody into a frantic attack on the French who held their line.

Then came the drama of the end when the light changed and everything seemed to go into slow motion as Quesada lined up for a drop-goal -- at an awkward angle and seeming to face the wrong way, but over it went.

The French raced up, kicked off quickly but the Argentinians kicked the ball into touch and the match into history.

Joy unbounded in Buenos Aires!

Each side scored two tries.  In the end a drop-goal beat a conversion and won the match.

The first half was much better than either half of the first Test -- more structured and constructive.  The second half had a scruffy bit but not much can compensate for that ending.

As in the first Test, the Pumas were the first to score.  This time it took a minute longer for it to happen -- after two and a half minutes!

The half's scoring promised to go with kick-off.  Argentina kicked off and scored first.

After the initial kick-about Argentina won a line-out and drove.  The ball came back sweetly and Gonzalo Quesada gave to centre José Orengo who popped it up in the tackle to fullback -- Juan Martín Hernández, the glamourboy of Argentinian rugby.

Hernández easily beat a tottering Pepito Elhorga with a swerve and went over as Yannick Jauzion and Aurélien Rougerie tried to tackle him.  Surprisingly the matter was refereed to the Television Match Official who took surprisingly long in awarding the try.  Quesada converted, 7-0.

France kicked off and the Puma backs were penalised for being off-side.  Yann Delaigue goaled from in front.  Argentina kicked off and Sébastien Chabal, playing No.8, was penalised for using his hands in a tackle/ruck.  Quesada goaled.

France kicked off, but the score did not come immediately.  They forced a scrum in the middle of the Puma 22 and attacked right and left and right again.  Then the penalty came and Delaigue made it 10-6.

Inevitably in this match, the Pumas scored next.  Hernández countered well.  The ball was chipped ahead.  Elhorga made a rickety clearance, which Nicolás Fernández Miranda ran back from just inside the French half.  Lisandro Arbizu got himself into a good position to break and fed fellow-centre José Orengo with a flat pass and the strong young player surged over for a try.  Quesada missed the conversion, but it was 15-6 after 15 minutes.

France kicked off and should have scored, but Delaigue hit the upright from straight in front.  That was his last act of significance as Damien Traille took over the kicking till Michalak replaced Delaigue.  Traille's penalty goal was from about three metres inside the Argentinian half and he goaled it to keep France in touch at 15-9.

Now it was the Pumas' turn, though France had the first opportunity when they worked an overlap for flank Imanol Harinordoquy, but Hernán Senillosa mowed him down and in fact Argentina scored.  They attacked with a will.  Quesada missed a drop.  They attacked again and Arbizu goaled a drop -- 18-9.

That meant that France would score next and they did for two bits of Pumas silliness.  In the same bit of play prop Martín Scelzo hit -- in retaliation to be fair to him -- Fabien Galthié and was sent to the sin bin and fullback Hernández obstructed Elhorga late.  From an awkward angle Michalak goaled.  That made it 18-12 after two minutes of injury time.

There was still time for Argentina to kick off and score.  They duly did so when France were penalised at a tackle and Quesada goaled from in front.

That made the half-time score 21-12.

France looked as if they would run away with it in the second half as they started working many short passes and hard bursts.  They scored their first try in two hours of rugby against Argentina after 45 seconds of the second half.  First big Yannick Jauzion broke clean through.  Sébastien Labit carried it on.  Back the ball came and Michalak going right swivelled a pass infield to Jauzion who burst over.  The game was on at 21-19.

After young Hernández had hurt his leg and been replaced, Traille burst through and France went over in a heap.  The Television Match Official could not decide on a try and it became a five-metre scrum to France.  Scelzo was penalised at the scrum and Michalak lobbed the penalty over.

The Pumas kicked off, the touch judge reported David Auradou for obstruction and Quesada made it 24-22.

The pattern of scoring changed at this stage as the Pumas scored next -- again a penalty by Quesada -- 27-22 with 16 minutes left to play.

France attacked.  Michalak hit the upright with a penalty and lock Rimas Álvarez carried over.  From the five-metre scrum France did the 8-9-15 and 15 scored.  In fact Elhorga went through with consummate ease and round to the posts.  So France led by 29-27 with time exhausting itself.

Then came that frantic finish as the Pumas grabbed back the lead.  Then France grabbed back the lead.  Then -- for the last time -- the Pumas grabbed the lead -- and won!

Man of the match:  It's just not easy as team-work ruled.  Juan Martín Hernández was wonderful but was not around for long enough.  Diego Albanese was brave and energetic.  Gonzalo Quesada proved he could be as balanced as the next fly-half.  Nicolás Fernández Miranda and Fabien Galthié both did well even when the ball was untidy.  Damien Traille was a steadying influence, but for Planet Rugby it was the man who played with every bit of strength and energy he had and won that untidy ball to set up that historic drop -- indestructible veteran Rolando Martín.

Moment of the match:  There was that sweet pass from Frédéric Michalak for Yannick Jauzion's try.  There was Lisandro Arbizu's pass for José Orengo's try and Orengo's pop to Juan Martín Hernández.  But there was no moment to equal that dropped goal, that historic dropped goal when the world stood still and Gonzalo Quesada won the match for the Pumas.

Villain of the match:  Sadly it was Martín Scelzo.  All right, he was hit first, but he retaliated.  Any player who retaliates in this day of many watching eyes is silly.  It deprived his side of his services for 10 minutes.

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Yannick Bru, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 David Auradou, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Yann Delaigue, 11 Vincent Clerc, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Aurelien Rougerie, 15 Pepito Elhorga
Reserves:  Jean-Baptiste Rue, Frederic Michalak
Unused:  Thomas Castaignede, Olivier Milloud, Lionel Nallet, Clement Poitreneaud, Elvis Vermeulen

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Lucas Ostiglia, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Hernan Senillosa, 15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Reserves:  Felipe Contepomi, Bernardo Stortoni
Unused:  Matias Albina, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Santiago Phelan, Mauricio Reggiardo, Pedro Sporleder

Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Elhorga P. 1, Jauzion Y. 1
Conv:  Michalak F. 2
Pen K.:  Traille D. 1, Delaigue Y. 2, Michalak F. 3

Argentina
Tries:  Hernandez J.M. 1, Orengo J.R. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 1
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 5
Drop G.:  Arbizu L. 1, Quesada G. 1

Canada 11 United States 16

The USA Eagles beat Canada by 16-11 in an ill-tempered Churchill Cup clash in Vancouver, to claim only their third win in 20 matches on Canadian soil and their first win over their higher ranked North American rivals in three years.

The Eagles had Link Wilfley to thank with 11 points coming off his boot, the USA fullback kicking three penalties and a conversion of centre Phil Eloff's try in a game which saw five yellow cards, three for Canada and two for the USA as well as a late, disallowed Canadian try from referee Roy Maybank.

Canada were first out of the blocks when fullback Quentin Fyffe rounded off a neat backline movement to score his first Test try after just four minutes but fly-half Bob Ross was unable to convert.

The veteran Canadian fly-half did, however, manage a penalty just before half-time to send the home side into the break 8-3 in the lead but Wilfley narrowed the deficit to just two points soon after the break.

The USA then took the lead on 64 minutes thanks to Eloff's try and although Canada pulled a penalty back and pressed hard late on, it was the staunch defence of the Eagles which prevented the Canadians from driving over in the last few minutes when their lock James Cudmore was judged to have been held up at the try-line.

Eagles coach Tom Billups was ecstatic with his team's performance, saying:  "We studied hard and prepared well as a team, and it showed."

The win will also ring well with the USA's decision to continue with Billups as head coach of the Eagles for the next two years.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Garth Cooke, 2 Mark Lawson, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 5 Colin Yukes, 6 Ryan Banks (c), 7 Adam Van Staveren, 8 Phil Murphy, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 Marco Di Girolomo, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Quentin Fyffe
Reserves:  Aaron Abrams, John Cannon, Kevin Wirachowski
Unused:  Leif Carlson, Ed Fairhurst, Ed Knaggs

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Dave Hodges (c), 5 Alec Parker, 6 Conrad Hodgson, 7 lanker Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Cayo Nicolau, 11 David Fee, 12 Kain Cross, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Link Wilfley
Reserves:  Jason Keyter, Luke Gross, John Tarpoff
Unused:  Mark Griffin, John Buchholz, Kimball Kjar, Mose Timoteo

Attendance:  3200
Referee:  Maybank r.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Fyffe Q. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 2

United States
Tries:  Eloff P. 1
Conv:  Wilfley L.M. 1
Pen K.:  Wilfley L.M. 3

Argentina 10 France 6

Argentina got the better of the Latin dog-fight at the Vélez Sarsfield Stadium in Buenos Aires, battling their way to a 10-6 win over a weakened France side in a game littered by stoppages and errors.

The only try of the game went the way of the Pumas in the first minute, wing José María Nunez Piossek working a good angle to breach the French defence, while coach Bernard Laporte's tourists were left scratching their heads after an incohesive and stop-start display, in this first of two Tests ahead of next weekend's re-match.

Toulouse fly-half Yann Delaigue blew two crucial but easy first-half penalty attempts on his comeback, while their largely untested pack sorely missed the big names who had been spared the trip, with Fabien Pelous, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Raphael Ibanez, Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen all possessing the class which Saturday's eight sadly did not.

In fairness, Toulouse openside Christian Labit made a decent fist of his comeback opportunity with some good breaks and all-round endeavour, and lock David Auradou battled well, but the lightweight front row struggled against the seasoned snarlers in the Pumas pack, who were at their destructive and devious best as they slowed down attack after attack by both foul and fair means.

New Leinster fly-half Felipe Contepomi slotted a penalty and a conversion for his side to guarantee the win, with hooker Mario Ledesma, scrum-half Nicolás Fernández Miranda and wing Diego Albanese all taking the game by the scruff of the neck.

Despite Les Bleus being without a number of their stars up front, their make-up behind the scrum was not light years away from their best mix, the likes of centres Thomas Castaignède and Damien Traille attempting in vain to breach the gainline time and again, while fullback Clément Poitrenaud's attacking pace was not given sufficent exposure.

English referee Steve Lander exerted a big influence on the match with a whole string of penalties to both teams, although the players did little to help with their almost constant offending, as well as the archetypal Latin temperaments boiling over on occasion.

In an unspectacular first half it was the Pumas who had the most of the scoring chances, Piossek making the most of his as early as the first minute to send his side into an early lead with a well-taken try.

It was created by fly-half Felipe Contepomi -- whose brother Manuel was in the centres -- with a miss pass to the right, but it was very much Piossek's timely and clinical execution of a side-step from his right foot at pace which made the gap, Castaignède being wrong-footed as Piossek straightened the angle and dived under the posts spectacularly.

Contepomi converted, but only a minute later the French had a chance to get themselves back in the match with a penalty to the left of the posts, although Delaigue's composure deserted him at the vital moment as he missed to the right.

Some good clearing punts from fullback Ignacio Corleto and the odd break from backs Lisandro Arbizu and Albanese were the bright spots for Los Pumas early on, although messy scrums and a series of penalties from both sides marred the match.

Castaignède and Traille attempted to make forays into Pumas' territory, but their best chance of points was again spurned when Delaigue missed an even easier penalty attempt than his first, from right in front of the posts near the 22.

Just when it looked like Piossek's try would be the only score of the half, Contepomi added a penalty to make the half-time score 10-0 to the hosts, coming back for advantage after narrowly failing to put Piossek in the corner with a grubber kick, fullback Poitrenaud getting in the way at the vital moment.  But Contepomi made no mistake with the penalty from wide on the right wing.

What the first half had lacked in incident, the second also did, with some bruising forward play allowing clear chances in the backs, the French knocking on time and again when the line beckoned, memorably through lock Auradou near the end after a flowing move, Auradou cursing himself for spilling an easy chance right near the line.

But Les Bleus did get on the scoreboard earlier in the second half, with centre Traille taking over the kicking mantle after Delaigue's previous two blunders, striking a firm penalty high and true through the uprights to get his side to within seven points of the hosts.

And they could have drawn level some moments later were it nor for Scottish TMO Iain Ramage, who controversially ruled that wing Aurélien Rugerie had knocked on when touching down his hack ahead in the Pumas' try area after a 50-metre chase down the right flank.

When Les Bleus were handed a penalty in front of the posts soon after, it was back to Delaigue to do the kicking honours, and in his third attempt he finally made a decent connection and sent the simple kick over for three points.

With the clock working against them, France frantically went for the try, although a wonky line-out throw from Jean-Baptiste Rué in the dying minutes right near the Argentine line did not help their cause, to the audible delight of the sizable Buenos Aires crowd.

Contepomi had previously missed a penalty from right of the posts by the slimmest of margins as his own team mounted a foray into French territory, but referee Lander finally brought an end to a tight and unentertaining encounter, leaving many questions unanswered about this weakened French team, while the Pumas again proved that they are a seriously tough not to crack on home soil.

Man of the match:  It might seem odd to choose a back in a game which was so massively influenced by the forwards, so combative Argentina wing Diego Albanese is just beaten to our award by a tough performance by hooker Mario Ledesma, who was all over the field in loose play, solid in the line-outs and huge in the scrums.  On the French side, tighthead Pieter de Villiers made a solid return after his suspension, while Damien Traille was a handful in the centres.

Moment of the match:  In a game short of noteworthy moments, José María Nunez Piossek's splendid try in the opening seconds of the match showed that the Pumas do possess dangerous backs -- if only they could get the ball to them more.

Villain of the match:  Despite the odd bout of Latin fisticuffs there was no real nastiness in the game, leaving French fly-half Yann Delaigue as our villain for his two early shocking penalty misses, which cost his side dear in the end.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Mauricio Reggiardo, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Patricio Albacete, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Lucas Ostiglia, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Manuel Contepomi, 14 Jose Nunez Piossek, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves:  Santiago Bonnorino, Juan Martin Hernandez, Federico Mendez, Pedro Sporleder
Unused:  Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Matias Albina, Gonzalo Quesada

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Jean-Baptiste Rue, 3 Olivier Milloud, 4 David Auradou, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Christian Labit, 7 Patrick Tabacco, 8 Jean Bouilhou, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Yann Delaigue, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Thomas Castaignede, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves:  Imanol Harinordoquy, Sylvain Marconnet
Unused:  Yannick Bru, Pepito Elhorga, Yannick Jauzion, Frederic Michalak, Lionel Nallet

Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Nunez Piossek J.M. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 1

France
Pen K.:  Traille D. 1, Delaigue Y. 1

South Africa 28 Scotland 19

South Africa duly wrapped up a series triumph over Scotland courtesy of a 28-19 victory in the second Test at Johannesburg's Ellis Park on Saturday.  Both sides scored one try each in a bruising contest at altitude.

Unlike last week, the Springboks flew out of the starting blocks, running at their opponents from the word go, and, more importantly, they mixed up their play well.

Fly-half Louis Koen, who weighed in with 23 points, ran the ball well, making an early break, but taking the wrong option -- as he did in the first Test -- at the moment critique.

Koen did, however, set up a try just a few minutes later, but sadly for him it was for the wrong side as an attempted long ball to his outside backs found Scotland No.13 Andy Craig in the bread-basket.

The Orrell three-quarter put on the after-burners and he safely negotiated his dash across the field, with Bok wing Ashwin Willemse too late to stop him.

Right-wing Chris Paterson slotted the simple conversion, and a penalty goal less than five minutes, and suddenly the visitors, who had just been into SA's half on two separate occasions, held a commanding 10-0 lead.

Koen soon began chipping away at Scotland's lead, slotting a penalty from the re-start after Paterson's first three-pointer, while a Koen drop-goal saw the scoreline reduced even more.

At 10-6 the Boks allowed Scotland to add to their lead, with a host of penalties from Koen and Paterson leaving the half-time score at 16-12 in the visitors' favour.

The Boks began the second stanza in exactly the same fashion as the first, except this time they managed to breach Scotland's defence, scoring their opening -- and ultimately only -- try after a wonderful bit of work from fullback Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Firstly Van der Westhuyzen did well to collect a tricky high ball, before turning it into a counter-attack, with Ashwin Willemse and Joost van der Westhuizen both handling en route to Stefan Terblanché's finish.

Terblanché's try put SA in the lead for the first time, with Koen's conversion putting them ahead by three points at 19-16.

Another Koen penalty stretched the Boks' lead to 22-16, but, typically, the brave Scottish side managed to stay in touch through Paterson's boot and some poor Bok discipline.

The home side conceded silly penalties, all of which were well within Paterson's range, but Koen, who ended up kicking six penalties -- equalling the South African record for penalty goals in a match -- kept his side ahead when it mattered most.

The Springboks enjoyed some great attacking moments in the latter stages of the match, and although Koen had stretched his side's lead to 28-19 just as the final quarter began, that second try eluded the South Africans.

Curiously, Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli left game-breaker Brent Russell on the bench, despite rushing him back into his match-day squad once the little Shark had proved his fitness at the start of the week.

A converted try would have put Scotland right back into the game at that stage, but, and more importantly, a converted try would have put the Boks out of reach.  Russell, who does not need a second invitation to the tryline, could just have been the man to unlock Scotland's tiring defence.

So where does this match leave the two teams in a World Cup year?

Well, Scotland again deserve praise for their approach to the game -- Ian McGeechan's side doing their basics right and minimising contact against their bigger forwards.

For them this tour certainly was an improvement on their dismal RBS Six Nations campaign.  But one just gets the feeling that it won't be enough come World Cup time.

South Africa.

Well, the hosts won again -- as their coach was quick to point out -- but their finishing was poor and they relied on the boot of Koen, whose all-round performance did not convince enough to suggest that he will be the custodian of the No.10 jersey come November this year.

Man of the match:  Not many contenders in this department, but the likes of Victor Matfield, Ashwin Willemse and Jaco van der Westhuyzen stood out for South Africa, with Simon Taylor, Scott Murray, Bryan Redpath and Chris Paterson -- all of whom did well last week -- impressing for the visitors.  In the end, Planet Rugby's vote goes to Jaco van der Westhuyzen for his enterprising play from the fullback position.  Not a first-choice player this year, but given the chance through injury, the Bulls back looked dangerous with ball in hand and he showed wonderful composure under the high ball.  He probably should have made more of his breaks count, but it was his run that set-up his side's only try of the day.

Moment of the match:  The lead-up to Stefan Terblanché's try, the Boks' only score of the day.  Van der Westhuyzen won a high ball before setting off on a strong run, finding support in the shape of young Lions winger Ashwin Willemse, who, in turn, found his captain Joost van der Westhuizen, who did just enough to put Terblanché away.  It was simple, but, yet effective rugby.

Villain of the match:  Springbok front rower Robbie Kempson wins our vote here for his late shoulder charge on Scotland replacement Brendan Laney in the dying moments of the match.  It earned him a yellow card, the first, and only, of the match, although there was not too much in it from the Ulster forward.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Hendrik Gerber, 7 Wikus Van Heerden, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen (c), 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 Trevor Halstead, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves:  Juan Smith, Gcobani Bobo, Selborne Boome, Robbie Kempson, Cobus Visagie
Unused:  Craig Davidson, Brent Russell

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Craig, 13 Andrew Henderson, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Brendan Laney, Gordon McIlwham, Jon Petrie, Gordon Ross, Martin Leslie, Robbie Russell

Attendance:  55000
Referee:  Young s.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Terblanche C.S. 1
Conv:  Koen L.J. 1
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 6
Drop G.:  Koen L.J. 1

Scotland
Tries:  Craig A. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 4

New Zealand 13 England 15

England finally laid to rest their Antipodean travel sickness as they beat the All Blacks in their own back yard in Wellington, the boot of fly-half Jonny Wilkinson being the difference in a 15-13 victory which saw them bolster their status as the top-ranked team in the world.

A host of missed penalties from All Black first five-eighth Carlos Spencer cost his side dear in the Westpac Stadium wind, while the reliable Wilkinson mastered the elements to send over all but one of his five penalty attempts from far and wide.

It was the spectacle that rugby fans the world over had been waiting for, and while the heavy-handed approach of Australian referee Stuart Dickinson may have sucked much flow out of the game, lovers of forward play and sporting endeavour will have lapped up the fiery feast on show.

Four penalties and a drop-goal from Wilkinson saw the English home, although the critics may well make much of the fact that the tourists again relied on the boot of their youthful talisman, while the All Blacks crafted the only try of a tight and nervy game.

It was fullback Doug Howlett who scored it midway through the second half, but the dye had been cast by then after Spencer's horror show with the boot, the Blues No.10 hitting over two penalties and a conversion, but sending a series of vital penalties wide of the uprights.

Whether or not All Black coach John Mitchell can afford to persist with the supremely-talented ball-player in such a tight match must surely now be up for discussion, although despite drifting in and out of the match, he did weave his magic on occasion with ball in hand.

But the story of this match will be the steely English defence, which survived a 10-minute period in the second half with only 13 men on the field after the sin-binnings of back rowers Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio for killing the ball.  Despite coming under siege on their own line, the rearguard did not buckle, as the hosts failed to score a single point during that key spell.

New Zealand dominated the line-outs and made some sound breaks, but their speedy backline were starved of ball, debutants Ma'a Nonu and especially Joe Rokocoko consigned to mere bystanders for much of the game, as lock Chris Jack and openside Richie McCaw came to the fore.

In a keen English pack they had able adversaries, with Martin Johnson and Steve Thompson putting in massive performances, while Dallaglio and wing Ben Cohen were also among the standouts.

In the swirling wind, England pressured right from the kick-off, with Spencer having his clearance charged down by Ben Kay near his own line, but that was as near as the English were to come to the whitewash in the opening 40 minutes, as the hosts set up camp in the England half.

An early English foray into All Black territory down the left reaped rewards however when Wilkinson kicked his first penalty from out wide, negotiating the wind well to give his side the lead.

Opposite number Spencer erred from his first attempt moments later in a tense atmosphere, before composing himself to strike his second one over -- this after the ball had fallen over twice, eating into his allotted 60 seconds.

In a half littered with penalties -- mainly against the defending visitors -- the All Blacks hogged the ball in an attempt to strangle the English resolve, but some stout defending, especially in the backs, kept the hosts at bay, despite Ralph and Howlett both coming close down the left and right wings respectively.

A striking facet was the ease with which Chris Jack and Ali Williams got the better of Martin Johnson and Ben Kay in the early line-outs, with some wayward throwing by England's powerful hooker Steve Thompson not helping his side's cause as they searched for some degree of equilibrium in the possession stakes.

Despite New Zealand dominating territorially, England did have one or two breaks into the opposing half, and after Reuben Thorne was judged to have held Kyran Bracken after a tackle, Wilkinson beat the elements and drilled a massive penalty over from the right touchline, claiming a 6-3 lead despite his side being almost entirely on the back foot.

A last-ditch clearance from wing Jason Robinson again saved England as Spencer broke down the right after a Justin Marshall pick-and-go from the base of the scrum, but with five minutes left in the opening half Spencer levelled the scores with a penalty after Neil Back crossed the off-side line on the 22, right in front of his own posts.

And the hosts would have gone into the interval with a 9-6 advantage had Spencer not fired wildly right of the posts with a late penalty after Bracken failed to roll away from the tackle, but he missed, sending the teams in at 6-6.

But where Spencer had failed, Wilkinson succeeded, sending over his third penalty in the opening exchanges of the second half to take the lead for his side after Jack had not released the ball in a tackle, a booming penalty bissecting the posts as punishment for his indiscretion.

Jack was again in the thick of things as he spectacularly charged down a Wilkinson clearance in the England 22, but the covering Mike Tindall defused the ball in the dead ball area.

And just when the game looked like it might be developing as a contest, referee Dickinson reduced the English to 13 men with the sin-binnings of Back and Dallaglio in quick succession for killing the ball -- Back's offence in the New Zealand 22, while Dallaglio's was an altogether more cynical effort right under his own posts, after a quick All Black counter-attack which should have developed into a try.

Despite the constant barrage of attacks, the English defence miraculously held firm with two men down, No.8 Rodney So'oialo going closest as he crossed the line but was judged by TMO Peter Marshall to have made a double movement.

Back to their full compliment of players, the English pressured up front, and Wilkinson nudged them six points clear with a superbly-taken penalty into the wind from the right touchline, judging the gale to perfection.

Moments later, after some serious pressure and a series of rucks in the New Zealand 22, he dropped back into the pocket and struck a drop-goal with his right foot, as his side played an advantage from an earlier penalty.

Just when it looked like the Jonny Wilkinson show might send England further away from the home side, the All Blacks registered the only try of the match, Spencer showing brilliant vision from halfway to spot that England did not have a fullback.

His long and high kick was chased by fullback Howlett, who -- despite possibly being in an off-side position at the time of the kick -- was always the favourite to beat the retreating Dallaglio to the loose ball, Caleb Ralph also in close attendance.

Spencer converted, and the tension was palpable for the remaining 20 minutes as England hung on by three points, refere Dickinson struggling to exert authority at the contact area as he awarded a string of penalties against both sides, sapping the match of flow as the respective forwards battled for their cause.

But with 10 minutes left on the clock, Spencer was presented with a golden chance to seal the game, his penalty being bludgeoned heavily to the left of the posts in a passage of play which told the story of this match.

Wilkinson too finally showed that he is human with a late miss from the halfway line, but having survived a nervy last few moments, England held on for a historic win.

Does this now mean that the world rugby tide is changing?  Does the north now rule the roost?

While that might still be a bone of contention after such a tight see-saw match, one thing is for sure, the English have proved that they have grit aplenty, while the All Blacks' skill out wide still poses a definite danger to any side on the planet.

Bring on the World Cup!

Man of the match:  Despite Jonny Wilkinson's masterclass with the boot, this -- like the Grand Slam win in Dublin in March -- was one for the forwards, and there was no more exemplary a leader than captain Martin Johnson, with the Leicester lock's massive defence being vital during their spell with 13 men.  Steve Thompson and Lawrence Dallaglio also battled well, but Johnson gets our vote.  On the All Black side, Richie McCaw exerted his usual big influence, while lock Chris Jack was magnificent in the line-outs, stealing English ball on a number of occasions.

Moment of the Match:  The 10-minute spell of solid defence when England were down to 13-man was the segment on which ths game hinged.  They held out, and the rest is history.

Villain of the Match:  A blatantly cynical killing of the ball at a ruck under his own posts from England No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio saw him rightly binned for the professional foul.  Some whistle-happy play from referee Stuart Dickinson also sees him as a contender, but Dallaglio's deliberate intent was plain for all to see, so he gets the vote.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Doug Howlett, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Richard McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Caleb Ralph, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 13 Tana Umaga, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 15 Doug Howlett
Reserves:  Keven Mealamu, Jerry Collins, Steve Devine, Mils Muliaina
Unused:  Daniel Carter, Brad Thorn, Carl Hoeft

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Graham Rowntree, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Kyran Bracken, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Jason Robinson, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves:  Phil Vickery, Joe Worsley
Unused:  Andy Gomarsall, Paul Grayson, Dorian West, Steve Borthwick

Attendance:  37500
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Howlett D.C. 1
Conv:  Spencer C.J. 1
Pen K.:  Spencer C.J. 2

England
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Drop G.:  Wilkinson J.P. 1

Australia 30 Wales 10

There is a maxim that says "a good big one will always beat a good little one".  It is certainly what happened at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney, when the Wallabies beat Wales by 30-10, outscoring them by five tries to one in the process.

Let us give credit where credit is due.  The Welsh valiantly tried to stay in touch and even though their execution was poor, they played some really good rugby at times.  There is hope for the Six Nations Wooden Spoonists at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

But on the day, Australia were simply too quick, too strong and far too efficient for the Welsh tourists.

Wales created chances, but they often failed to put the last touches to promising moves.  The Wallabies, on the other hand, showed that they can create points out of almost nothing.

Wales made all the early play in the match and strung together some very impressive phases.  But their execution let them down badly and they wasted a number of chances.

In fact, in the first 15 minutes Australia were forced to make 30 tackles, whereas the Welsh needed to make only 17 tackles -- showing the dominance, in terms of possession, that the tourists enjoyed up till then.

And the first two tries of the match -- both going to Rugby League convert Wendell Sailor -- were totally against the run of play.

In the ninth minute Sailor picked up a loose ball inside his own in-goal area, after the Welsh were hot on the attack and then turned the ball over.  Sailor darted passed two very meek attempted tackles and then sprinted the full length of the field to score.

The next try also came from turnover ball, with fullback Chris Latham darting down the right-hand touchline, beating the defence with pure pace.  When the cross-cover eventually caught up with him, he put a kick ahead, while Sailor arriving just ahead of captain George Gregan to collect the ball and flop over for his second try.

Fly-half Elton Flatley, who missed both earlier conversions, then landed a penalty in the 17th minute to make it 13-0 in favour of the Wallabies.

The Welsh finally got some reward for their efforts on the quarter mark when fly-half Stephen Jones, who generally had a good game, landed a penalty to narrow the gap to 13-3.

But Latham's pace made the Welsh defenders look very pedestrian when he sprinted over in the left-hand corner in the 24th minute, with a brilliant run rounding off some great Australian phase-play.  Flatley missed his third kick (out of four attempts on the night) and the 18-3 margin was the lead the Wallabies took into the break.

Flatley had an early attempt to stretch his team's lead after the break, but his penalty from 25 metres out and almost right in front, bounced off the upright and the Welsh were able to clear their line.

Amazingly, it was the Welsh who opened the scoring in the second half.

It came from a line-out close to the Wallaby line, with the Welsh forwards driving and then setting up a ruck.  Some efficient phase-play then sucked in the defenders and the space opened out wide where centre Jamie Robinson went over for Wales's first try.

Jones added the conversion to narrow the gap to 18-10 after 54 minutes.

But the Wallabies hit back almost immediately and it was hooker Jeremy Paul who went over for Australia's fourth try.  It came from a line-out, with Toutai Kefu running at the Welsh defence to set up a ruck.  Quick ball to Gregan saw him off-load to Paul, who drove over.

Joe Roff took over the goal-kicking, but he too hit the upright as the Wallaby lead moved to 23-10.

The final nail in the Welsh coffin came with just 10 minutes to go, when replacement inside centre Nathan Grey went over after some more efficient Wallaby play.  From a scrum the Wallabies went right, where they set up a ruck and Gregan got some quick ball to the backs.  When Grey got his hands on the ball he beat some tired tacklers with good stepping and scored the fifth try.

This time Roff slotted the conversion and the score moved to 30-10 -- which was also the final scoreline.

Man of the Match:  This is a close call between Wallaby winger Wendell Sailor, who finally showed why he was so highly-rated in league, and Australia's fullback Chris Latham, who often carved up the Welsh defence with his quick bursts on the outside.  But we give it to Sailor for his two tries and a much improved all-round work rate.

Moment of the Match:  Australia certainly scored some fine tries and even Wales's solitary try was a well-constructed effort, but our vote goes to the opening score of the match -- Wendell Sailor's first try in the ninth minute.  Picking up a loose ball inside his own in-goal area, he raced the length of the field the break the Welsh hearts.  It showed just how dangerous he can be with ball in hand.

Villain of the Match:  No yellow or red cards and nothing serious to report.  No candidates.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 David Giffin, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Elton Flatley, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Steve Kefu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Nathan Grey, Daniel Heenan, Chris Whitaker, Ben Darwin, Daniel Vickerman, Lote Tuqiri

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Robert Sidoli, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 8 Colin Charvis, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Jamie Robinson, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Tom Shanklin, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Mefin Davies, Alix Popham, Chris Wyatt
Unused:  Gavin Henson, Dwayne Peel, Ceri Sweeney, Ben Evans

Attendance:  63688
Referee:  Lawrence m.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 1, Sailor W.J. 2, Paul J.A. 1, Grey N.P. 1
Conv:  Roff J.W.C. 1
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 1

Wales
Tries:  Robinson J. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 1

South Africa 29 Scotland 25

The Springboks managed a hollow 29-25 victory over Scotland at Durban's ABSA Stadium, but it could have been so different had the home team not launched a spirited fightback in the final quarter of the match against the adventurous Scots.

Scotland dominated the first 60 minutes of the match and will be kicking themselves all the way to Johannesburg for throwing away a match they deserved to win.

As was the case at Murrayfield last year it was more a case of the Boks making their opponents look like world-beaters on the day, but credit must go to Bryan Redpath and his men for taking their try-scoring chances.

The visitors had at one stage outscored their hosts by three tries to nothing as they gave the South Africans a lesson in playing as a unit on attack, with their blanket-like defence also giving the Boks no room to move in.

The Boks, on the other hand, seemed incapable of tackling, allowing the Scottish runners oodles of space on attack.  To add to their woes they were unable to hold onto the ball as they made a huge amount of handling errors in the first 60 minutes.  And, when they did hold onto the ball, their awkward body positions made them easy-pickings for the fired-up Scotland defenders.

With just 20 minutes remaining, Scotland held a 25-12 lead, with all SA's points having come from the boot of their fly-half Louis Koen.  Scotland's points, on the other hand, had come from two converted tries, one unconverted try and two penalties, silencing the moderate SA-heavy crowd at the ABSA Stadium.

But a try from experienced winger Stefan Terblanché in the 61st minute saw the Boks begin a comeback, with Koen's conversion narrowing the scoreline to 25-19.

Another Koen penalty took the scoreline to 25-22 as the Boks began to hold onto the ball, forcing Scotland to commit more defenders and just a few minutes later the home team forced another penalty, giving Koen the chance to level the scores.

Amazingly, the usually clinical Koen missed the relatively simple kick at goal, with the ball hitting the left-hand upright and falling into debutant Hendrik Gerber's hands.

Gerber went to ground and although his support was slow to get there, he had done enough to secure possession.  Koen was the first man there, he fired the ball out to acting fly-half Victor Matfield, who in turn threw out a long ball to Trevor Halstead, thumping a would-be tackler Glenn Metcalfe out of the way en route to the tryline.

Koen nailed the tricky conversion and at 29-25 the Scots had to score a try to regain the lead they had held since the 14th minute of the match.

In the end it was not to be for Scotland as they launched a massive raid on the Bok goalline, only for the SA defence to hold up well around the fringes under trying circumstances.

Scotland forced a string of penalties from close-in, with the Boks also having to survive the last 30 seconds of the game without their skipper Joost van der Westhuizen, who was yellow-carded for a professional foul.

Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli was disappointed with his overall team's showing, but was at pains to stress that the win -- after three successive losses in November last year -- was all that mattered.

Perhaps somebody should point out that this same Scotland team suffered huge losses to England, Ireland and France during the 2003 Six Nations, with eight-point home wins over Wales and Italy their only success.

Man of the match:  From the Springbok side Louis Koen gets a mention here, simply because of his 19-point haul, with the rest of our contenders all coming from the Scottish side.  Locks Scott Murray and Nathan Hines were superb, No.8 Simon Taylor showed why he is a British and Irish Lion, Redpath led his side well and wing Chris Paterson showed plenty of skill on attack and composure when kicking at goal.  In the end, Planet Rugby's vote goes to Nathan Hines, for a commanding line-out showing and a rousing performance in the loose, just edging out his second row partner Scott Murray.

Moment of the match:  Paterson's try in the 47th minute was a beauty, with wing Kenny Logan and centre Andy Craig doing excellent work in the build-up.  But our moment was Koen's penalty miss in the 72nd minute, which saw the ball rebound into Hendrik Gerber's hands before eventually ending up over the tryline and in Trevor Halstead's hands.  Before Halstead's try the score was at 25-22 in Scotland's favour.  The penalty would have tied the scores and given Scotland the chance of kicking a penalty to win.  Instead the converted try had the Scots playing catch-up for the final few heart-stopping moments.

Villain of the match:  The entire Springbok team until the 60th minute.  They played like a bunch of amateurs until they finally got their act together thanks to tries from Terblanché and Halstead, and, of course, two conversions from Koen.  There would have been hell to play had they lost to Scotland ...

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Hendrik Gerber, 7 Wikus Van Heerden, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen (c), 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 Trevor Halstead, 13 Andre Snyman, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Ricardo Loubscher
Reserves:  Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen, Juan Smith, Selborne Boome, Robbie Kempson, Cobus Visagie
Unused:  Craig Davidson, Gcobani Bobo

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Gavin Kerr, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Andrew Mower, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Bryan Redpath (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 Andrew Craig, 13 Andrew Henderson, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Jon Petrie, Martin Leslie, James McLaren, Robbie Russell
Unused:  Michael Blair, Gordon McIlwham, Gordon Ross

Attendance:  37528
Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Terblanche C.S. 1, Halstead T.M. 1
Conv:  Koen L.J. 2
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 5

Scotland
Tries:  Paterson C.D. 1, Craig A. 1, White J.P.R. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 2
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 2

Australia 45 Ireland 16

Australia made an impressive, and winning start to their 2003 international season when they smashed Ireland by 45-16 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth.  It was the kind of opener coach Eddie Jones and their millions of fans would have hoped for.

With Australia set to host the Rugby World Cup in October and November, they showed that they will be a force and a powerful one at that on their home grounds.

As would be expected from the first match of the season there were problems, certainly enough of them.  But they are the kind of problems coach Eddie Jones would be able to iron out quite easily in the weeks and months ahead.

Discipline, especially early on, was a problem against an Irish team that showed plenty of grunt.  While the Australian line-outs also left more questions than answers, the Aussies' scrumming was solid.

Continuity improved as the game wore on, suggesting that even inside the first 80 minutes of the year the Wallabies were already beginning to settle.  And their newcomers -- such as the centre combination of Steve Kefu and Morgan Turinui -- also showed they are a force to be reckoned with in the future.

But the early exchanges certainly belonged to the Irish, who kept the ball in hand very well and also tested the Australian defence out wide.  They were rewarded for their early dominance when captain David Humphreys slotted a penalty in the fourth minute for a 3-0 lead to the visitors.

In those early stages, especially the first 10 minutes, the Wallabies simply turned the ball over far too often.  Every time they came within striking distance they just coughed up possession.

But they did eventually get some hint of continuity going and after 15 minutes the Wallabies put their first points on the board.

It came through some handy picking-and-driving from the Australian forwards.  No.8 Toutai Kefu and lock Nathan Sharpe were prominent in this department, with Kefu making good ground.  Captain and scrum-half George Gregan picked his moment perfectly and when the gap opened he darted over for a try.

Elton Flatley added the conversion to put Australia into the lead -- 7-3.

But the Australian mistakes continued to come, with prop Pat Noriega the villain -- giving away the first three penalties going against his team, all for boring in on his opponent in the scrums.

The Irish continued with their ball-in-hand approach and often took it wide, trying to find a weakness in the Australian defence.

They certainly seemed better at keeping control of the ball and in the 30th minute they were rewarded for their effort when left-wing John Kelly went over for his team's first try.  It came after several phases, where they took it from one side to the other, kept switching direction and probing.

With the Irish runners coming at pace and from depth, it was Humphreys who eventually found a gap, only half a gap, and then put the men out wide away.  The self-same Humphreys added the conversion to put the Irish back in the lead.

But the Wallabies hit straight back.

They got the ball from the kick-off and it went quickly to Flatley, who dummied and then sprinted through a huge gap to go over for his team's second try.  He added the conversion of his brilliant individual try to put Australia back in the lead at 14-10.

Ireland managed to narrow the gap to just one point, when Humphreys slotted a penalty in the 34th minute.  This made it 14-13, which was also the score at the break.

Before the break the Irish had enjoyed 53 percent of the possession and an even bigger share (54 percent) of the territory -- but it did not show on the scoreboard.

The early exchanges of the second half certainly belonged to the Wallabies, as they started to take control of proceedings, with a 43rd minute penalty by Flatley stretching the lead to 17-13.

Ten minutes later the Wallabies went further ahead, after Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey was yellow-carded for a professional foul.  It was centre Steve Kefu who scored, a well-orchestrated try from a set-piece scrum, with Gregan making the early running and giving to Flatley, who put Kefu into the gap and over for the score.

Flatley again added the conversion for a 24-13 lead.

Ronan O'Gara, who replaced his skipper at fly-half at half-time, slotted a penalty in the 56th minute to narrow the gap to 24-16.

But after this it was all Australia, as Gregan and Flatley started to dictate terms behind a pack of forwards that also managed to limit their mistakes and turnovers.

With more ball to play with, the next score for the Wallabies came soon -- in the 61st minute.  It was a great little chip-and-chase from Gregan, after he received the ball from Toutai Kefu, which saw the captain score his second try.  Flatley, who had a faultless kicking performance, added the conversion for a 31-16 lead.

The next score was in the 65th minute, when the Irish -- hot on the attack -- lost control of the ball.  Fullback Chris Latham grabbed the ball and out-sprinted the lacklustre Irish, running all of 80 metres for his try.

The sixth and last Australian try should not have been awarded, with Welsh referee Nigel Williams awarding a penalty try to Australia for what he deemed an offence by an Irish player on Flatley.  Replays showed clearly that Flatley had, quite legally, used his shoulder to push the Irish defender out the way and simply tripped over his own feet.

It was one of a number of questionable decisions made by the Welsh match official on the day, but could not detract from what was an outstanding start to the year for the Wallabies.

Man of the Match:  A number of the Wallaby backline players put their hands up for this award.  Captain George Gregan (two tries and a solid service at the base of the scrum) was in the front of the queue and fly-half Elton Flatley (100 percent kicking record and great decision making) also followed closely.  But our award goes to centre Steve Kefu, who started a Test for the Wallabies for the first time and was outstanding on both defence and attack -- showing clearly that he has lost none of the endowment which saw him win his only previous cap as a replacement back in 2001.

Moment of the Match:  There were five outstanding Wallaby tries (the penalty try should not have been awarded) and Gregan's moment of magic (chip and chase), must come close.  But we go for Ireland's only try in the 30th minute.  John Kelly's score came after a period in which Ireland showed how dangerous they can be when they get their hands on the ball -- carrying it forcefully with the forwards and backs, cleverly changing direction and eventually wearing the otherwise rock-solid Australian defence down.  It was a great international try worthy of all the accolades it gets.

Villain of the Match:  We are tempted to give it to the rather pedantic Welsh referee Nigel Williams, but Irish fullback Girvan Dempsey got yellow-carded for a professional foul and he sneaks the award.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 David Giffin, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Lyons, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Elton Flatley, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Steve Kefu, 13 Morgan Turinui, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Nathan Grey, Chris Whitaker, Ben Darwin, Daniel Vickerman, Phil Waugh, Lote Tuqiri

Ireland:  1 Reggie Corrigan, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Keith Gleeson, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Victor Costello, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 David Humphreys (c), 11 James Topping, 12 Kevin Maggs, 13 Geordan Murphy, 14 John Kelly, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Emmet Byrne, Paul O'Connell
Unused:  Guy Easterby, Tyrone Howe, Eric Miller, Paul Shields

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Williams n.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 1, Flatley E.J. 1, Gregan G.M. 2, Kefu S. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Flatley E.J. 6
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Kelly J.P. 1
Conv:  Humphreys D.G. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 2, O'Gara R.J.R. 1

Japan 27 United States 69

The USA Eagles recorded a 69-27 win over Japan at the Matthew J Boxer Stadium in Balbao, San Francisco, opening their Super Powers Cup campaign in the best way possible.

With the half-time score at 17-all, the home team opened the floodgates in the second period, outscoring the visitors by 62-10, thanks to eight second-half tries, with the USA scoring just two tries in the second stanza.

USA inside centre Kain Cross scored a hat-trick of tries on the day, while South African-born left wing Riaan Van Zyl and fullback Link Wilfley weighed in with a brace of tries each.

Fly-half Mike Hercus converted seven of his team's 11 tries for a points-haul of 14.

Japan scored just four tries, with wing Daisuke Ohata opening his side's account with a well-taken try within the first 10 minutes, taking his tally to 27 tries in only 27 appearances.

The "Cherry Blossoms" found themselves ahead by 17-5 at one stage in the first half, after a try from Japan's fly-half Soshi Fuchigami, but tries from Cross and Van Zyl saw the teams go into half-time on level terms.

This will be the USA's last home match of 2003 and clearly the World Cup in Australia is very much in mind after the USA's strong performances in beating Spain in répechage.

Next month the USA plays Canada and England in the Churchill Cup, both matches in Vancouver.  In July the Eagles play the USA in a Superpowers Cup match.  In August it takes part in the Pan-American Championship in Buenos Aires, along with Argentina, Canada and Uruguay.

Japan have played this year against Sri Lanka and the Arabian Gulf, both matches producing big victories.  In addition they have spent time acclimatising in Australia where they beat Queensland "A" before losing to them, the Brumby Runners and Sydney.

The Eagles and Japan find themselves in Pool B -- alongside France, Scotland and Fiji -- at the Rugby World Cup later this year, with the teams set to meet in Gosford on Monday, October 27.

The Teams:

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Masahiko Toyoyama, 4 Kouichi Kubo, 5 Adam Parker, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Takuro Miuchi (c), 8 Takeomi Ito, 9 Wataru Murata, 10 Soshi Fuchigami, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Hideki Namaba, 13 George Konia, 14 Yohei Shinomiya, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Lautangi Vatuvei, Toru Kurihara, Yuji Sonoda
Unused:  Masao Amino, Yasunori Watanabe, Masato Yamamoto, Reuben Parkinson

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Dave Hodges (c), 6 Conrad Hodgson, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 David Fee, 12 Kain Cross, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Link Wilfley
Reserves:  Mark Griffin, Tasi Mo'unga, Cayo Nicolau, Shaun Paga, Mose Timoteo, Jacob Waasdorp
Unused:  Kimball Kjar

Attendance:  1852
Referee:  Kuklinski b.

Points Scorers

Japan
Tries:  Fuchigami S. 1, Ohata D. 1, Shinomiya Y. 1, Konia G.N. 1
Conv:  Fuchigami S. 2
Pen K.:  Fuchigami S. 1

United States
Tries:  Cross K. 3, Fee D.W. 1, Mo'unga F. 1, Nicolau C. 1, Timoteo M.A. 1, Wilfley L.M. 2, Van Zyl R. 2
Conv:  Hercus M. 7

Awesome England clinch Grand Slam

England buried the ghosts of past Grand Slam failures to seal their first championship clean sweep since 1995 with an emphatic win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

The mishaps at Wembley, Murrayfield and Dublin two years ago were consigned to history as Clive Woodward's side swept to victory in commanding fashion.

An early try from Lawrence Dallaglio and second-half scores from Mike Tindall, Will Greenwood (2) and Dan Luger proved more than sufficient to douse the Irish fire.

Jonny Wilkinson added 15 points from two drop goals, three conversions and a penalty to secure England's 12th-ever Grand Slam.

Victory was built on a rock-solid defence, which resisted every Irish effort to unhinge it as the powerful visiting pack ground their opponents into submission.

The home side could only manage a first-half penalty and drop goal from David Humphreys, as England reeled off 29 unanswered second-half points.

Aiming for a first Grand Slam in 55 years, Ireland were quickest out of the blocks.

Humphreys fell inches short with a penalty attempt from inside his own half, but they capitalised on their early pressure in the fifth minute.

Steve Thompson's wayward line-out throw was seized on by Keith Gleeson and taken on by Marcus Horan, and with England conceding a penalty, Humphreys landed a smart drop goal.

But the visitors responded with interest and were ahead within three minutes.

A wheeled Irish scrum allowed Richard Hill to pressurize Peter Stringer, Matt Dawson pounced and his break released Dallaglio to dive over unopposed under the posts.

Wilkinson converted for a 7-3 lead, but Ireland refused to be cowed and slashing breaks from Brian O'Driscoll and the dangerous Geordan Murphy tested England's defence.

Humphreys failed to convert the pressure with a bad penalty miss after 17 minutes, and another Murphy counter broke down when the full-back failed to release Denis Hickie.

Humphreys did reduce the arrears with a 40m penalty when England were penalised at a scrummage, but the visitors started to dominate possession.

Josh Lewsey showed his confidence with an inside-outside break and Wilkinson stretched the lead to 10-6 with a right-footed drop goal just before the half-hour.

He repeated the trick in first-half injury time to give England some breathing space as the frenetic pace continued unabated.

Hill and Matt Dawson both departed for running repairs in the first period, with Graham Rowntree also forced off before the interval, to be replaced by Trevor Woodman.

Wilkinson appeared to have followed suit as he clutched his notoriously fragile shoulder on the resumption, only to regain his feet and thump over what looked a sumptuous drop goal.

But the score was ruled out for an earlier offence on the advice of a touch judge, and Ireland remained within a converted score.

Wilkinson was forced off after 54 minutes, with Paul Grayson pitched into the fray, but returned seven minutes later just as Grayson was converting Tindall's match-clinching try.

Again the forwards did the hard yards, before Grayson and Greenwood created space for the Bath centre to barge his way through the remaining cover on an angled run.

Dallaglio was held up short as England went for the kill, but instead it was Greenwood who was bundled over by his pack after 65 minutes.

Wilkinson added a penalty 10 minutes from time and Greenwood intercepted Murphy's pass to stroll over for his second in injury time.

England's superiority was confirmed as Dan Luger added a final flourish with a fifth try, Wilkinson adding the extras to spark the red rose celebrations.

The scorers:

Ireland 6:
Pens:  Humphreys
Drop goals:  Humphreys

England 42:
Tries:  Dallaglio, Tindall, Greenwood 2, Luger
Cons:  Wilkinson 3 Grayson
Pen:  Wilkinson
Drops:  Wilkinson 2

Ireland:  Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester), J Bishop (London Irish), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster), D Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster), M Horan (Munster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), G Longwell (Ulster), V Costello (Leinster), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster).
Replacements:  F Sheahan (Munster), J Fitzpatrick (Ulster), P O'Connell (Munster), A Quinlan (Munster), G Easterby (Llanelli), R O'Gara (Munster), G Dempsey (Leinster).

England:  Josh Lewsey (Wasps), Jason Robinson (Sale), Will Greenwood (Harlequins), Mike Tindall (Bath), Ben Cohen (Northampton), Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle vice-captain), Matt Dawson (Northampton), Graham Rowntree (Leicester), Steve Thompson (Northampton), Jason Leonard (Harlequins), Martin Johnson (Leicester, captain), Ben Kay (Leicester), Richard Hill (Saracens), Neil Back (Leicester), Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps)
Replacements:  Dorian West (Leicester), Trevor Woodman (Gloucester), Danny Grewcock (Bath), Joe Worsley (London Wasps), Kyran Bracken (Saracens), Paul Grayson (Northampton), Dan Luger (Harlequins).

Scotland edge fierce Italy

Scotland gave coach Ian McGeechan the perfect Six Nations send-off with a hard fought but entertaining victory over Italy on Saturday.

The former Lions coach, who began his home championship career as centre for Scotland in 1973, retires at the end of the season.

And the Scottish team made sure he left Murrayfield smiling, thanks to tries from Jason White, James McLaren, Kenny Logan and Chris Paterson.

Italy hit back through Mirco Bergamasco, Ramiro Pez and Scott Palmer but the home side held out to secure fourth position in the Six Nations table.

The Azzurri started superbly and touched over with less than five minutes on the clock.

Alessandro Troncon made the best of some quick recycled ball inside the Scotland 22 and Bergamasco's strong run gave the home side a quick reality check.

Pez failed with the extras, before the two fly-halves swapped penalties.

Scotland finally found their composure and when Bryan Redpath opted to take a quick free-kick on the Italy 10 metre line, White powered over taking most of the visiting defence with him.

At 8-8 and with an inspired Logan cutting the visitors to shreds, it was no surprise when McGeechan's team finally grabbed the lead.

Another Logan run sent Italy backwards and Gregor Townsend's long, floated pass gave McLaren space to grab his fifth international try.

Paterson's second penalty lifted Scotland eight points clear, but a moment of genius from Pez caught the Scottish defence sleeping.

A show of the ball from the Rotherham number 10 was enough to send him underneath the posts and his conversion cut the deficit to just one point.

With both sides willing to play some free-flowing rugby in the afternoon sun, Logan improved on his already impressive performance just before the break.

Taking a quick tap penalty the Wasps veteran burst through four Italian tackles for a vital try that Paterson improved on in front of the posts.

Try-scorer White limped off after the break to be replaced by Ross Beattie, as Italy started to dominate possession.

For 10 minutes the visitors bombarded the Scotland line and they were rewarded with a straightforward penalty in front of the posts.

The five-point deficit set up an intense final quarter.

But when Simon Taylor released Paterson after striding away superbly from the back of the scrum, it secured some vital breathing space.

Paterson did well to finish off the move with a delicate chip and chase and then slotted the conversion but the 12 point lead did not last long.

As they have done all season, Italy finished the match on top and with just 10 minutes to go replacement back-rower Palmer strode over for the visitors' final seven pointer.

With the match in the balance, Paterson added his third penalty in injury time to dampen Italy's hopes and ultimately relegate them to fifth place in the championship table.

The scorer:

Scotland 33:
Tries:  White, McLaren, Logan, Paterson
Con:  Paterson (2)
Pen:  Paterson (3)

Italy 25:
Tries:  Bergamasco, Pez, Palmer
Con:  Pez (2)
Pen:  Pez (2)

Scotland:  G Metcalfe, C Paterson, J McLaren, A Craig, K Logan, G Townsend, B Redpath (capt), T Smith, G Bulloch, B Douglas, S Murray, N Hines, J White, S Taylor, A Mower.
Replacements:  R Russell, G Kerr, S Grimes, R Beattie, M Blair, G Ross, K Utterson.

Italy:  M Bergamasco, P Vaccari, A Masi, G Raineri, D Dallan , R Pez, A Troncon (capt), A Lo Cicero C Festuccia, R Martinez, C Bezzi, M Giacheri, A De Rossi, A Persico, M Phillips.
Replacements:  F Ongaro, L Castrogiovanni, S Dellape, S Palmer, M Mazzantini, G Peens, N Mazzucato.

France complete Wales whitewash

Wales were condemned to their first Six Nations whitewash after being outclassed by Bernard Laporte's side in the Stade de France.

The men in red had a bright opening 20 minutes and took the lead with a superb Gareth Thomas try.

But the French forwards gradually gained the upper hand, allowing scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili to direct the show and kick 18 points.

Thomas Castaignede, Vincent Clerc and Frederic Michalak ran in tries for the home side as they secured their first win over Wales at the stadium, and handed the visitors their first wooden spoon in eight years.

Wales tore into the French in the first 20 minutes, showing the confidence garnered from their undefeated record in two previous games at the Stade de France.

A France knock on in the third minute was run back from deep in Wales' half, Craig Morgan and Iestyn Harris combining well on the left.

Colin Charvis drove on from quick recycled ball and the ball was spun out for Thomas to convert the overlap on the right, Stephen Jones sending the conversion wide.

Wales were inches away from adding a second try in the sixth minute, Morgan catching opposite number Aurelien Rougerie sleeping following a Stephen Jones kick, outsprinting him, but failing to ground the ball.

It took until the second quarter for the French to settle, but then the visitors' line-out woes creeped back into their game and Gethin Jenkins came under presure on the tighthead of the scrum, gifting Bernard Laporte's side territory and possession.

Welsh tackling was heroic, but the constant pressure had to tell.  From a forward drive in the 27th minute the ball was sent back to Castaignede and the Saracens centre cut back on the angle to score under the posts, Yachvili converting.

The young scrum-half added a penalty, but Jones missed his third kick of the half to leave the score 10-5 at the break, much to the displeasure of the expectant home crowd.

France exploded out of the blocks in the second period, a Xavier Garbajosa break taking them to the Welsh line.

Borderline defence that toyed with the sin bin and a Raphael Ibanez knock-on restricted the home team to just another Yachvili penalty.

Five minutes later another French forward drive led to recycled ball being spun slickly through the backs, reaching Vincent Clerc whose nifty footwork saw him over on the right for a converted try.

Yachvili added another penalty before Colin Charvis was sin binned n the 65th minute for coming in from the side of a ruck.

The French forwards seized the chance to drive into 14-man Wales before delivering a try on a plate to fly-half Frederic Michalak.

France coasted for the final 15 minutes, looking as they have through much of this Six Nations - barely out of first gear as they ease towards the World Cup.

Their pragmatic approach yielded a late penalty in front of the posts by Yachvili, leaving the crowd baying for more tries.

The scorers:

France 33:
Tries:  T Castaignede, V Clerc, F Michalak
Cons:  D Yachvili (3)
Pens:  Yachvili (4)

Wales 5:
Try:  G Thomas

TEAMS

France:  C Poitrenaud (Stade Toulousain), A Rougerie (Montferrand), T Castaignede (Saracens), D Traille (Pau), X Garbajosa (Stade Toulousain), F Michalak (Stade Toulousain), D Yachvili (Biarritz), J-J Crenca (Agen), R Ibanez (Castres), S Marconnet (Stade Français), F Pelous (Stade Toulousain, capt), O Brouzet (Montferrand), S Betsen (Biarritz), O Magne (Montferrand), I Harinordoquy (Pau).
Reps:  J-B Rue (Agen), O Milloud (Bourgoin), D Auradou (Stade Français), P Tabacco (Stade Français), J-B Elissalde (Stade Toulousain), G Merceron (Montferrand), V Clerc (Stade Toulousain).

Wales:  R Williams (Cardiff), C Morgan (Cardiff), M Taylor (Swansea), I Harris (Cardiff), G Thomas (Bridgend), S Jones (Llanelli), D Peel (Llanelli), I Thomas (Llanelli), M Davies (Pontypridd), G Jenkins (Pontypridd), R Sidoli (Pontypridd), G Llewellyn (Neath), C Charvis (Swansea), M Williams (Cardiff, capt), D Jones (Llanelli).
Reps:  M Madden (Llanelli), S Williams (Northampton), G Thomas (Bath), G Cooper (Bath), M Watkins (Llanelli), G Williams (Bridgend), T Shanklin (Saracens).

Ref:  Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand)

France punish passionate Italy

France demolished Italy in a free-flowing game in Rome to finally show some of the form they were expected to display in this year's RBS Six Nations championship.

Tries from Serge Betsen, Damian Traille (2), Aurelien Rougerie (2), Frederic Michalak and Thomas Castaignede punished the Italians, who spent most of the first hour on the back foot.

Scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili enjoyed a superb day with the boot to finish the match with a personal tally of 18 points.

The home side did hit back through tries from Ramiro Pez, Mirco Bergamasco, Aaron Persico and Matthew Phillips.

But despite looking the better side for much of the second period were ultimately left with too much to do.

Italy struggled to gain any meaningful possession early on and the few scraps they did win were quickly turned over by an impressive French back-row.

The visitors opened the scoring after just three minutes when Traille fed Betsen who ran over for the first five pointer.

Yachvili added the extras and grabbed a further three points when Italy were penalised for hands in the ruck deep inside their 22.

At 10-0 down, John Kirwan's side looked helpless against a ferocious French onslaught.

But if the New Zealander thought it could not get any worse, Traille proved him immediately wrong with a quickfire double to punish some woeful Italian defending.

Two conversions and a late first-half penalty took Yachvili's total to 14 points before Aurelien Rougerie added France's fourth thanks to some strong running from number eight Imanol Harinordoquy.

Seconds later, Michalak added yet another after Olivier Magne charged down a poor Paolo Vaccari clearance.

With half-time approaching, Pez grabbed a consolation try after a superb individual break, but even his conversion could do little to dent an impressive French lead.

Any thoughts Italy had of regrouping were instantly dispelled when Castaignede scorched over seconds after the break.

Yachvili slotted his sixth conversion to push his side two points shy of their half-century, before Italy finally found some form.

For the best part of 10 minutes France struggled to get their hands on the ball and Bergamasco rewarded Italy's perseverance with his side's second try.

At 48-15 down there was never any doubt of an upset, but it did not stop the Azzurri from hitting back again when Persico grabbed a third for his side almost immediately from the re-start.

Pez's kick pushed his side up to 22 points -- before Rougerie ran over to ease the defending Six Nations champions past the 50-point mark.

Italy had impressed in the second-half, after a poor opening period and were not to be denied the last word, however.

With seconds remaining Philips exploited space on the blind side from a scrum on the French 10-metre line.

But depite their fightback they had let themselves down in the opening-half -- as they did against Twickenham -- a fact that will not be lost on Kirwan in the build-up to their final game against Scotland.

The scorers:

Italy 27:
Tries:  Pez, Bergamasco, Persico, Phillips
Pen:  Pez
Conv:  Pez (2)

France 53:
Tries:  Betsen, Traille (2), Rougerie (2), Michalak, Castaignede
Pen:  Yachvili (2)
Conv:  Yachvili (6)

Italy:  M. Bergamasco, Mazzucato, Vaccari, Raineri, Dallan, Dominguez, Troncon, Lo Cicero, Festuccia, Martinez, Bezzi, Giacheri, De Rossi, Persico, Phillips.
Replacements:  Ongaro, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Palmer, Mazzantini, Pez, Masi.

France:  Poitrenaud, Rougerie, Castaignede, Traille, Garbajosa, Michalak, Yachvili, Crenca, Ibanez, Marconnet, Pelous, Brouzet, Betsen, Magne, Harinordoqui.
Replacements:  Rue, Milloud, Auradou, Tabacco, Elissalde, Merceron, Clerc.

Referee:  Nigel Williams (Wales)

England sweep Scotland aside

England booked their Six Nations Grand Slam decider against Ireland in Dublin with a hard-fought win over a passionate Scotland at Twickenham.

It was not a performance to send their fans home in raptures but 18 points from the boot of Jonny Wilkinson and tries from Josh Lewsey, Ben Cohen and Jason Robinson (2) proved enough to maintain England's date with destiny.

Scotland, for their part, performed valiantly, but they never looked able to out-wit a well organised England defence at a stadium in which they have failed to register a try since 1999.

England never managed to set Twickenham alight.  But with all eyes on Dublin, they will be happy enough to have reached the final game of the championship unscathed.

The home side ran up a quick six point lead, courtesy of sloppy Scottish defending and Wilkinson made no mistake with the resulting penalties.

Already under pressure, Scotland received a double blow when they lost two players for some dreadfully cynical play in as many minutes.

Andrew Mower was the first to see the yellow card after a high tackle on Lewsey.  Seconds later, number eight Simon Taylor was sent on his way for a wayward tackle on Mike Tindall.

Struggling in the set piece and two men down, Bryan Redpath was handsomely rewarded for a superb darting run with a penalty outside England's 22.

Paterson brought his side back within three points and from the re-start Robinson did his bit to even things up numerically, when he became the third player sent to the bin for another high tackle -- this time on winger Kenny Logan.

A fine touch-line kick from Paterson levelled the scores.

But it also prompted England's best move of the half, allowing Lewsey to grab his third try in two games when the Scottish defence finally ran out of men in the left-hand corner.

At 13-6 down, Scotland may have been behind on the scoreboard, but led by Tom Smith and Gordon Bulloch they constantly broke the gain-line and put England on the back foot.

Another Paterson penalty reduced the arrears to just four points before Wilkinson replied from in front of the posts to end an action-packed 40 minutes.

If England stuttered in the first half, they came out roaring in the second.

Ten minutes of pressure resulted in a Scottish scrum deep in their 22 and when Redpath made a mess of his attempted clearance Cohen touched over for his easiest try of the season.

Wilkinson made no mistake with the conversion and added another three to his tally virtually from the re-start when Scott Murray was penalised for offside.

With the scoreline reading 26-9 England looked more at ease.

And when Jason Robinson extended the lead with a blistering midfield run to outpace a flagging Scottish defence, Clive Woodward even opted to give Wilkinson a well deserved rest.

The Newcastle captain, who slotted his final conversion with well-practised ease, was replaced by veteran Paul Grayson, making his first start for England since 1999.

In one last push, Scotland pressed hard to force England onto the back foot, only to concede yet another seven points when Matt Dawson released Robinson inside the Scottish 22.

With only the line in front of him, the Sale flyer duly touched down for his second and Grayson's conversion pushed England three points short of their previous record before the whistle was blown.

The scorers:

England 40:
Tries:  Lewsey, Cohen, Robinson (2)
Con:  Wilkinson (3), Grayson
Pens:  Wilkinson (4)

Scotland 9:
Pens:  Paterson (3)

Teams:

England:  Lewsey, Robinson, Greenwood, Tindall, Cohen, Wilkinson, Dawson, Rowntree, Thompson, Leonard, Johnson, Kay, Hill, Back, Dallaglio.
Replacements:  Regan, Woodman, Grewcock, J. Worsley, Gomarsall, Grayson, Luger.

Scotland:  G. Metcalfe, Paterson, McLaren, Craig, Logan, Townsend, Redpath, T. Smith, Bulloch, Douglas, Murray, Hines, White, Mower, Taylor.
Replacements:  Russell, G. Kerr, Grimes, Beattie, Blair, G. Ross, Utterson.

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland).

Irish pip Wales in thriller

An injury-time drop goal by replacement Ronan O'Gara kept Ireland's Grand Slam hopes alive at the Millennium Stadium.

The Irish looked to have blown their chances of a mouth-watering decider against England when Wales fly-half Stephen Jones flashed over a drop goal of his own in a pulsating final few minutes in Cardiff.

But O'Gara, showing immense coolness under pressure, won the day for the visitors with a vital three points inside 30 seconds of the restart.

Wales will take the plaudits for outscoring Ireland by three tries to two, but Steve Hansen's men remain bottom of the Six Nations table with one game left.

The game began as frenetically as it finished, but it was Ireland who nudged ahead after six minutes thanks to a penalty from David Humphreys.

The first try of the game came on 15 minutes, when Jones broke through from open play to scrambled over in the corner.

Jones added the touchline conversion, but within five minutes Humphreys had cut the lead to one point with his second penalty.

Humphreys pushed Ireland ahead in the 27th minute with his third penalty after another Welsh indiscretion in front of their posts.

But the visitors were not allowed to get into any sort of rhythm, with Wales playing the only decent rugby on show in the early exchanges.

Ireland finally wrestled free from the Welsh manacles in first-half injury time.

Brian O'Driscoll and Leo Cullen made tentative attempts to break through before Geordan Murphy swivelled past his defender to put flanker Keith Gleeson over in the left-hand corner.

Gleeson's second try immediately after the restart after Anthony Foley charged down a clearance kick by Tom Shanklin.

But Wales struck back on 52 minutes with a great try.

Good work by Colin Charvis and Rhys Williams allowed flanker Martyn Williams to go over for his first try for his country, with Jones adding the conversion.

O'Driscoll almost crossed before Ireland went further in front when Humphreys rifled over his fourth penalty to make the score 22-14.

Back came the home side again, with Gareth Thomas claiming his 29th try for Wales, with Jones slotting the conversion to make it a one-point game.

Jones saw a 47-metre penalty just drift wide of the right-hand upright.

But he made no mistake with a drop goal two minutes into injury time.

The kicks looked as though it had given Wales a morale-boosting victory, but Irish substitute O'Gara broke Welsh hearts with his last-gasp kick.

The scorers:

Wales 24:
Tries:  S Jones, M Williams, G Thomas
Dg:  S Jones
Cons:  S Jones 3

Ireland 25:
Tries:  Gleeson 2
Dg:  O'Gara
Pens:  Humphreys 4

Teams:

Wales:  R Williams (Cardiff), M Jones (Llanelli), M Taylor (Swansea), T Shanklin (Saracens), G Thomas (Bridgend), S Jones (Llanelli), G Cooper (Bath), I Thomas (Llanelli), J Humphreys (Bath, capt), G Jenkins (Pontypridd), R Sidoli (Pontypridd), G Llewellyn (Neath), C Charvis (Swansea), M Williams (Cardiff), D Jones (Llanelli).
Replacements:  M Davies (Pontypridd), M Madden (Llanelli), S Williams (Northampton), G Thomas (Bath), D Peel (Llanelli), I Harris (Cardiff), M Watkins (Llanelli).

Ireland:  G Murphy (Leicester), J Bishop (London Irish), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster), D Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster), M Horan (Munster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), L Cullen (Leinster), A Quinlan (Munster), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster).
Replacements:  F Sheahan (Munster), J Fitzpatrick (Ulster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), E Miller (Leinster), G Easterby (Llanelli), R O'Gara (Munster), J Kelly (Munster).

Referee:  Steve Lander (England).

England overpower brave Italy

England strolled to a six-try RBS Six Nations victory over Italy at Twickenham despite defending for most of the match.

Clive Woodward's side extended their winning streak at headquarters to 20 games, and stayed on course for a Grand Slam decider with Ireland on 30 March.

England raced to a 33-0 lead within 20 minutes but went into their shells as the plucky Italians dominated possession for over 50 minutes.

The home side scored tries through Josh Lewsey (2), Steve Thompson, James Simpson-Daniel, Mike Tindall and Dan Luger.

But in a chaotic start to the second half they lost fly-half and captain Jonny Wilkinson with a sore shoulder and his replacement Charlie Hodgson with a leg injury.

Italy scored a second-half consolation try through full-back Mirco Bergamasco but despite their possession, coach John Kirwan's side were never likely to trouble the Six Nations favourites.

England set off at a blistering pace and within two minutes they had put full-back Lewsey over in the left corner from an attacking lineout on the right.

Wilkinson converted and the home side soon scored again after opting to kick for touch from a penalty.

Number eight Lawrence Dallaglio and scrum-half Matt Dawson both sniped for the line before hooker Thompson squeezed over.

Italy were shellshocked and England came again inside three minutes when the backs combined to send over wing Simpson-Daniel after a perfectly timed pass from Lewsey.

Wilkinson was again spot on with the extras and before Italy knew what was happening, England's Lewsey had made it four tries.

The Wasps player broke a tackle in midfield and motored 40 yards, teasing Bergamasco in the process, to score just to the left of the posts, which Wilkinson converted.

Italy had still barely touched the ball but England went over for a fifth try on 20 minutes through centre Tindall, who took an inside pass at pace from Lewsey to roar over.

But despite a 33-0 deficit, Italy dominated the rest of the half and went close through Aaron Persico and Bergamasco.

Two minutes after the break England lost Wilkinson, who went off with a sore shoulder, to be replaced by Hodgson.

But the Sale fly-half was in turn injured, ushering in 20-year-old Leicester centre Ollie Smith, with Will Greenwood switching to number 10 and former captain Dallaglio taking charge.

Italy continued to attack, with England seemingly content to defend phase after phase.

Kirwan's side were eventually rewarded for their attacking efforts with a try in the corner from Bergamasco on the hour.

But after defending since the 20th minute, England scored a sixth try through Luger after a slick break from Smith.

And despite a merry-go-round of replacements, England were able to keep Italy at bay for the rest of the match without troubling the visitors' line themselves.

The scorers:

England 40
Tries:  Lewsey (2), Thompson, Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Luger
Cons:  Wilkinson (4), Dawson

Italy 5
Tries:  Bergamasco

Teams:

England:  Lewsey, Simpson-Daniel, Greenwood, Tindall, Luger, Wilkinson, Dawson, Rowntree, Thompson, Morris, Grewcock, Kay, J. Worsley, Hill, Dallaglio.
Replacements:  Regan, M. Worsley, Shaw, Sanderson, Bracken, Hodgson, Smith.

Italy:  M. Bergamasco, Mazzucato, Vaccari, Raineri, Dallan, Pez, Troncon, De Carli, Festuccia, Martinez, Bezzi, Giacheri, De Rossi, Persico, Phillips.
Replacements:  Ongaro, Castrogiovanni, Bortolami, Palmer, Mazzantini, Peens, Masi.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Scots punish woeful Wales

In a game that had been billed as a wooden spoon play-off, Scotland finally found their RBS Six Nations feet to bury Wales with a dominant forward display.

The defeat leaves Steve Hansen's heavily-criticised Wales side facing games against Ireland and France to restore some pride from a miserable campaign.

A powerful performance from Scotland's front five, coupled with dynamic displays from Simon Taylor, James White and Andrew Mower in the back row, was just enough to give the home side the much-needed victory.

The Welsh did rally in the second half -- and claimed two consolation tries at the death -- but it was a case of too little too late.

Scotland opened the scoring in the fifth minute when wing Chris Paterson slotted over a penalty after an infringement by Welsh prop Ben Evans.

Their slender lead took on a more substantial look when Scottish prop Bruce Douglas drove over following good work from the home pack.

Although it is unlikely to feature in many Six Nations highlights packages, Douglas' try was, nonetheless, the first Scotland had managed this year.

Paterson added the extras to make it 10-0 after 15 minutes.

Welsh fly-half Stephen Jones trimmed this lead by three points with a penalty of his own, but this was only temporary respite as Scotland immediately claimed their second try of the season.

Once again it was a forward who crossed the line, this time the impressive Taylor.  Paterson converted to make it 17-3 after 20 minutes.

But this sparked the Welsh into life and they scored a wonderful try of their own when scrum-half Gareth Cooper touched down after a flowing passage of play.

Jones converted to make it 17-10, but Paterson knocked over a penalty just before the interval to stretch Scotland's lead to double figures once more.

Paterson kicked his third penalty immediately after the restart to give the hosts a significant 23-10 margin before the game slipped into a 30-minute stalemate.

Wales pushed and probed -- creating a number of half chances -- but Scotland were able to soak up the pressure without too much difficulty.

The home side's only wobble came when centre James McLaren was sin-binned for a professional foul with 10 minutes remaining.

Wales, fortified by the arrival of Iestyn Harris from the bench, passed up kickable penalties and poured forward in search of a second try.

But the Scots held out, and Paterson, who was perfect with the boot, capped his day with an opportunist try when Rhys Williams made a mess of a Tom Smith grubber kick.

With the game lost, Wales claimed two injury-time tries through Mark Taylor and Williams.

But these consolation efforts were at least 10 minutes too late to alter the result or save their season.

The scorers:

Scotland 30:
Tries:  Douglas, Taylor, Paterson
Cons:  Paterson 3
Pens:  Paterson 3

Wales 22:
Try:  Cooper, Taylor, Rhys Williams
Con:  Jones 2
Pen:  Jones

Scotland:  G. Metcalfe, Paterson, McLaren, Utterson, Logan, Townsend, Redpath, T. Smith, Bulloch, Douglas, Murray, Grimes, White, Mower, Taylor.
Replacements:  Russell, G. Kerr, Hines, Petrie, Blair, G. Ross, Craig.

Wales:  K. Morgan, R. Williams, Taylor, Shanklin, G. Thomas, S. Jones, V. Cooper, I. Thomas, G. Williams, Evans, Sidoli, S. Williams, D. Jones, M. Williams, G. Thomas.
Replacements:  M. Davies, Jenkins, Llewellyn, Charvis, Peel, Harris, Watkins.

Referee:  Pablo Deluca (Argentina)

Heroic Ireland edge out France

Ireland confirmed their Grand Slam potential with a hard-fought 15-12 win over France in the RBS Six Nations at Lansdowne Road.

Twelve points from the boot of fly-half David Humphreys and an opportunistic drop-goal from Geordan Murphy edged out the French, whose points all came from Francois Gelez penalties.

But it was Ireland's incredible defence which won the game as they endured a torrid final five minutes with France throwing everything at them.

Murphy gave Ireland the ideal start with a sweetly-struck drop-goal in the opening minute.

The full-back demonstrated his astute rugby brain after a poor pass from scrum-half Peter Stringer left him no option but to go for the posts.

With a strong wind swirling around the ground, both sides initially struggled to put phases of play together before France sprung to life with a series of rolling mauls deep in Ireland's 22.

But a knock-on from hooker Raphael Ibanez with the line at his mercy cost them dear.

Another period of sustained French pressure was relieved where Malcolm O'Kelly intercepted Dimitri Yachvili's pass and sprinted 50 metres upfield to clear the danger.

Humphreys -- winning his 50th cap -- put Ireland further ahead on 10 minutes with a well-judged penalty, but Gelez's 15th-minute reply cut the lead to three points.

Ireland, kicking away possession needlessly, were grateful for Gelez's missed penalty in the 25th minute.

Humphreys extended his side's lead with another penalty after half an hour.

Kevin Maggs' powerful running and Brian O'Driscoll's dancing feet in the Irish midfield started to give the home side the advantage as the half developed.

Gelez spurned an opportunity to cut the defecit with another miss as half time approached.

And Humphreys quickly showed his opposite number how to do it with an excellent three-pointer from halfway.

Deep into first-half injury time Ireland survived a scare with Gelez's drop-goal attempt causing havoc after rebounding off the post, and it took an outstanding tackle from O'Driscoll on the line to deny Olivier Magne.

France started the second half with real attacking intent and Stringer's brave tackle on the rampaging Imanol Harinordoquy was vital.

With the rain starting to fall, Gelez punished Ireland for going offside with a penalty on 46 minutes

Five minutes later, Humphreys surprisingly missed in front of the posts as the conditions continued to deteriorate.

A superb break from Magne put Ireland under severe pressure and they were only saved by Keith Gleeson's tackle.

With the tension clearly getting to the players, both sides increasingly relied on bombarding the full-backs with high balls -- but both Murphy and Clement Poitrenaud dealt with the threat well.

After coming through a difficult ten-minute spell of sustained defending, Ireland began to exert some pressure of their own and Humphreys held his nerve with another penalty on 69 minutes.

Two minutes later though, Gelez's penalty again cut the lead to just three points.

After Ireland went desperately close to scoring a match-winning try, Humphreys left the crowd gasping when his penalty struck the post.

From the rebound, France nearly went the length of the pitch but last-ditch defending from Stringer and Hickie saved the day for Ireland.

The scorers:

Ireland 15:
Pens:  Humphreys 4
Drop goal:  Murphy

France 12:
Pens:  Gelez 4

Ireland:  Murphy, Kelly, O'Driscoll, Maggs, Hickie, Humphreys, Stringer, Horan, S. Byrne, Hayes, Longwell, O'Kelly, Costello, Gleeson, Foley
Replacements:  Sheahan, Fitzpatrick, Cullen, A Quinlan, G Easterby, O'Gara, Henderson

France:  Poitrenaud, Rougerie, Garbajosa, Traille, Clerc, Gelez, Yachvili, Crenca, Ibanez, Marconnet, Pelous, Brouzet, Betsen, Magne, Harinordoqui
Replacements:  Rue, Califano, Auradou, Chabal, Barrau, Merceron, Castaignede.

Referee:  Andre Watson (South Africa)