Australia 142 Namibia 0

When Australia played Namibia, it was the first Test ever at Adelaide Oval, though what it tested is uncertain.  It was no contest as the Wallabies ran out winners 142-0 and broke all sorts of records, amongst others the biggest winning margin in a Rugby World Cup match.

The biggest margin of victory previously had been New Zealand's 145-17 victory over Japan in Bloemfontein in 1995.

All kinds of "records" were on the cards at half-time already as the Wallabies led 69-0 after scoring 11 tries.  As a contest it was woeful.  In fact, the scoring would have been even bigger and faster if the Wallabies had just picked up the ball and run with it without wasting intricacies on an uninterested defence.  You have heard the stories of the team that played against the tackling bags and lost.  Tackling bags would probably have stood firmer than the Namibian defence on this Adelaide afternoon.

The first try came after just two minutes.  Namibia won a scrum, Hakkies Hüsselman kicked out on the full and Tuqiri went down the right-hand touchline beating tacklers with ease to send Chris Latham over for the first of his four tries in the half.

Namibia kicked the kick-off out on the full and the Wallabies did lots of phases, Justin Harrison produced a side-step and David Lyons scored.  Latham got the next one after many phases and a plunge into the corner.  Then Stirling Mortlock charged, bashed and ran away for a try.  That brought Australia the bonus point after just 12 minutes -- the fastest bonus point at the World Cup.  The Wallabies then led 26-0.

On and on the scoring went -- Tuqiri from a five-metre scrum after Lyons was held up over the line, a penalty try from a five-metre scrum when the Namibians disintegrated, Latham a third from a scrum, Rogers with a delicate stop and step inside after a long movement, Paul after all sorts of accurate passing, Tuqiri and Latham.  All that for 69-0 lead at half-time.

On and on it went in the second half.  There was no fun or exhilaration in it as it became, in many ways, painful as the Namibians lost pride and heart -- and players through injury.

As in the first half, so in the second half the Wallabies scored 11 tries.  They scored one more than the All Blacks scored in 1995.  Latham's try at 74 minutes gave him an Australian record of five tries in a Test.

Rogers scored 42 points, an Australian record.  (In 1995 Simon Culhane scored 45 against Japan.) Rogers kicked 16 conversions, an Australian record.  (Culhane kicked 20 in 1995).

Man of the Match:  It's silly to choose one from so many, but Chris Latham and Mat Rogers will be credited with most records.  Of the two, Rogers had the better all-round match and is our choice.  All of that said there were two Namibian battlers who deserved mention -- prop Kees Lensing and replacement flank Schalk van der Merwe who played in the backs as a stopper -- a stopper of limited effectiveness.

Moment of the Match:  There was Justin Harrison's side-step, but the Mat Rogers one wins it.  He skated along in his usual way, stopped dead and then stepped inside to score.

Villain of the Match:  The players behaved.  If there were villains, it was whoever put that Namibian team into the field in that frame of mind and called it a Test match.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Ben Darwin, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Matt Dunning, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 David Croft, 7 George Smith, 8 David Lyons, 9 Chris Whitaker (c), 10 Matt Giteau, 11 Mat Rogers, 12 Nathan Grey, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 14 Lote Tuqiri, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Matthew Burke, Matt Cockbain, David Giffin, John Roe, Morgan Turinui
Unused:  Brendan Cannon, Bill Young

Namibia:  1 Neil Du Toit, 2 Cor Van Tonder, 3 Kees Lensing, 4 Eben Isaacs, 5 Heino Senekal, 6 Herman Lintvelt, 7 Shaun Van Rooi, 8 Jurgens Van Lill, 9 Hakkies Husselman (c), 10 Mot Schreuder, 11 Jurie Booysen, 12 Du Preez Grobler, 13 Emile Wessels, 14 Deon Mouton, 15 Ronaldo Pedro
Reserves:  Melrick Afrika, Andries Blaauw, Sean Furter, Phillipus Isaacs, Niel Swanepoel, Schalk Van Der Merwe, Deon Grunschloss

Attendance:  33597
Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 5, Tuqiri L. 3, Mortlock S.A. 1, Grey N.P. 1, Rogers M.S. 2, Giteau M. 3, Paul J.A. 1, Lyons D. 1, Roe J.A. 1, Turinui M. 2, Burke M.C. 1, Penalty try 1
Conv:  Rogers M.S. 16

South Africa 46 Georgia 19

South Africa failed to impress in an uninspiring Rugby World Cup performance against Georgia at Aussie Stadium in Sydney.

The Boks won their Pool C game 46-19, but coach Rudolf Straeuli's decision to field 14 changes from the side that lost to England last week revealed that fullback Ricardo Loubscher was out of depth, centre Werner Greeff out of position and winger Stefan Terblanché out of gas.

Seemingly, the Springboks barely gave this fixture any recognition, but the Georgians showed that they were in Sydney to play the game and the fans did not take long to warm to the fiery European side.

The Boks managed to soak up the initial charge, but when they were adjudged to be off-side, Georgian fly-half Paliko Jimsheladze slotted the penalty to draw the scores level at 3-all after an earlier Derick Hougaard penalty.

The score seemed to sting the South Africans into action and they swamped all over the Georgian pack at the restart to turn the ball over.  The Boks swung the ball wide and hard-running flanker Danie Rossouw broke through the defence to pick up the first of his two tries.

All eyes may have been on the halfback pairing of Derick Hougaard and Neil de Kock before the game, but it was Rossouw, who stole the show with his tireless work on defence and powerful running on attack.

The South African's continued to make elementary mistakes, however, and their persistence to field forwards in the backline led to a large amount of possession resulting in very little.  The handling was amateurish in the backline, but with props and locks hanging around amongst the three-quarters, it was not too surprising.

Despite all this, however, the Boks scored a second try soon after when centre Jaque Fourie popped up a short pass to Hougaard to run over for his first international try.

Rossouw was involved again when he drew two defenders out wide and popped the ball up to No.8 Joe van Niekerk, who was open on the touchline, for the try.  Hougaard stretched the lead with the conversion.

The Boks then began to produce one of the poorest performances of the tournament and besides Rossouw and lock Bakkies Botha and perhaps Hougaard, nobody in the Springbok XV could be happy with their performance on the park.  They showed no vision on attack, their wingers were cut down quickly out wide and their discipline let them down on a number of occasions.  "Disappointing" would be too kind a word for their performance in the first half.

The second-half performance would do nothing to change that.

The South African team initially looked better when Rossouw and Van Niekerk again linked up to score.  This time, however, it was the No.8 who made the initial break and off-loaded to Rossouw, who barged his way through the defence and then cantered away over the tryline for the second time in the game.  But the resurgence was to be shortlived.

The South Africans were again let down by their handling and their night got worse when the Lelos swept down the field deep into the Bok half from the back of the scrum -- following a knock-on by South Africa -- and were stopped just a few metres short of the line.  Flanker Hendro Scholtz, who was barely visible in the first half, was sin-binned for constantly killing the ball at the breakdown and his exit sparked yet another bumbling display by the Boks.

Georgia, who had never stopped threatening throughout, took advantage of the extra man and barged over the line from the base of a ruck and suddenly South Africa's lead did not look so comfortable at 29-16.

The Boks fought back, however, and two more tries to Fourie and then Botha effectively ended the Georgia challenge.  Fourie gathered a chip through courtesy of Hougaard and was eventually awarded the try, although it took the TMO an awfully long time to mull over what was clearly a legitimate score.

The young fly-half then swung out a wide ball to Botha on the wing, where he spent most of his night, to run over.

Schalk Burger brought the Springboks' dismal display to an end with a last-minute try, giving the final scoreline some air of respectability, although the South African side did not deserve much for an extremely poor performance against a much weaker team.

Man of the match:  It was tempting to give this to the entire Georgia team, who played out of their skin against the Springboks, but ultimately it was Danie Rossouw who stole the show with an impeccable display for the Boks.  Initially a surprise selection for the tournament, Rossouw is one player deserving of a starting position in the bigger games to come.

Moment of the match:  The Georgia try was a highlight, but when Schalk Burger went over for a try on debut, you had to smile at his jubilation.  Burger's passion is something the South African team needs plenty more of.

Villain of the match:  Tempting as it is to give this to TMO Alan Lewis for taken an eternity to award an obvious try, it was Merab Kvirikashvili's high tackle on Stefan Terblanché that soured an otherwise positive performance from the European team.

Sin-bin:  Scholtz 52-62, Kvirikashvili 71-80

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Faan Rautenbach, 2 John Smit (c), 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Bakkies Botha, 5 Selborne Boome, 6 Hendro Scholtz, 7 Danie Rossouw, 8 Joe Van Niekerk, 9 Neil De Kock, 10 Derick Hougaard, 11 Breyton Paulse, 12 Jaque Fourie, 13 Werner Greeff, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Ricardo Loubscher
Reserves:  Schalk Burger Jr., Jorrie Muller, Dale Santon
Unused:  Victor Matfield, Christo Bezuidenhout, Louis Koen, Joost Van Der Westhuizen

Georgia:  1 Avtandil Kopaliani, 2 David Dadunashvili, 3 Aleko Margvelashvili, 4 Victor Didebulidze, 5 Sergo Gujaraidze, 6 David Bolghashvili, 7 George Tsiklauri, 8 George Chkhaidze, 9 Irakli Modebadze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Archil Kavtarahvili, 12 Otar Eloshvili, 13 Vassil Katsadze (c), 14 Gocha Khonelidze, 15 Irakli Machkhaneli
Reserves:  Irakli Abusseridze, Akvsenti Guiorgadze, Bessik Khamashuridze, Sosso Nikolaenko, Merab Kvirikashvili, Ilia Zedguinidze
Unused:  Gregoire Yachvili

Attendance:  34308
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Fourie J. 1, Hougaard D.J. 1, Botha J.P. 1, Van Niekerk J.C. 1, Rossouw D. 2, Burger Jr. S.W.P. 1
Conv:  Hougaard D.J. 4
Pen K.:  Hougaard D.J. 1

Georgia
Tries:  Dadunashvili D. 1
Conv:  Jimsheladze P. 1
Pen K.:  Jimsheladze P. 3, Kvirikashvili M. 1

New Zealand 91 Tonga 7

New Zealand's dominance of Pool D at the 2003 Rugby World Cup continued when they smashed a game, but hopelessly outclassed, Tonga by 91-7 in a rain-soaked Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

The Kiwis scored 13 tries -- including one penalty try -- to the one of Tonga.

The Kiwis were in total control of proceedings from the outset, not just dominating possession, but also running the Tongan defence ragged.  In fact, throughout the match the Kiwis enjoyed more than 70 percent of the possession stakes.

As a result, the Tongans had very few opportunities to play with the ball and most of those were deep inside their own territory.  Their only points came when fly-half Pierre Hola intercepted a Justin Marshall pass in the second half.

Other than that they spent most of the game defending, but even then they simply could not plug all the gaps as the Kiwi runners kept finding space out wide.

All Black captain Reuben Thorne said the margin of the victory was not important, but rather the manner in which the team performed.  "We went out there to focus on what we needed to do and most of those things worked for us," he said.

The Kiwi skipper added that they would now start to focus on their most difficult pool game -- against Wales at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney on November 2.

The All Blacks suffered a late setback when lock Chris Jack was forced to withdraw from the game after picking up an ankle injury at training on Thursday.  His place on the replacements bench was taken by Jerry Collins, who was not even required for duty as Ali Williams, in his first game back from a foot injury, showed no signs of discomfort.

After a tentative start to the game, the All Blacks scored their first try in the seventh minute.  From a line-out five metres out they simply drove it over and young openside Daniel Braid touched down.  Leon MacDonald added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

But it was the next try that really showed how the All Blacks can punish a team whose basics are not up to par.  From a sloppy Tongan line-out the Kiwis spun it wide quickly, where Howlett kicked the ball in-field.  Second five-eighth Daniel Carter was there to collect the kick and as he raced towards the tryline he fended off two half-hearted tackles.  This time Spencer -- for some reason or another -- slotted the conversion.

The Kiwis' scoring continued to keep up with the clock as a 21st minute try by hooker Corey Flynn, after some good interplay between forwards and backs, and a 27th minute try by winger Caleb Ralph -- again after some good work by the forwards -- saw the score progress to 28-0.  MacDonald added both conversions.

The final score of the first half came in the 34th minute, when the ball was kicked ahead and a Tongan defender failed to control the ball as he was tackled into his own in-goal area.  Spencer pounced on the ball and MacDonald converted for a 35-0 lead at the break.

It took the All Blacks less than a minute to open their account in the second half, when Tongan fly-half Pierre Hola failed to find touch and the All Blacks countered, with Ralph running through almost untouched.

MacDonald's conversion made it 42-0.

The rout continued throughout the second half, with prop Kees Meeuws the next to add his name to the scoresheet in the 46th minute.  That was followed by a penalty try to the All Blacks in the 50th minute -- before Tonga's only score came in the 53rd minute, when Hola intercepted and replacement Sateki Tu'ipulotu added the conversion.

This try sparked the Tongans back into life and it appeared briefly that they would make the Kiwis work harder for their tries.

However, five tries in the final 25 minutes -- with Leon MacDonald, Mils Muliaina (twice) and Doug Howlett (twice) going over -- saw the All Blacks continue the rout without too much resistance.

Man of the match:  It was so one-sided that it would be difficult to single out individuals, but All Black second five-eighth Daniel Carter was a creative genius in midfield and set up a number of opportunities for those around him.  Carter, who scored one of his team's 13 tries, gets our award.

Moment of the Match:  In 13 tries you can find many moments of brilliance, but our vote goes to the All Blacks' second try in the 16th minute.  Daniel Carter scored after the Kiwis showed how severely they can punish a team that is just slightly off-colour.  They stole a Tongan line-out and with quick hands it went wide, where winger Doug Howlett kicked the ball infield.  Carter collected and brushed aside two defenders to score.

Villain of the Match:  Argentinian referee Pablo Deluca seemed intent on leaving his mark on the game, but unfortunately he did it for all the wrong reasons and got a number of decisions badly wrong -- which was blatantly obvious even in a game as one-sided as this.  It makes one wonder how some of these match officials made it to the RWC, when there are far better referees around the world who are not present.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Greg Somerville, 2 Corey Flynn, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Brad Thorn, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Daniel Braid, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Daniel Carter, 13 Leon MacDonald, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Mils Muliaina
Reserves:  Ben Atiga, David Hewett, Marty Holah, Richie McCaw, Ma'a Nonu
Unused:  Keven Mealamu, Jerry Collins

Tonga:  1 Heamani Lavaka, 2 Viliami Ma'asi, 3 Kisi Pulu, 4 Usaia Latu, 5 Viliami Vaki, 6 Stanley Afeaki, 7 'Ipolito Fenukitau, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu (c), 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Pierre Hola, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Sukanaivalu Hufanga, 13 John Payne, 14 Tevita Tu'ifua, 15 Sila Va'enuku
Reserves:  Tonga Lea'aetoa, Milton Ngauamo, Edward Langi, Gus Leger, Ephraim Taukafa, Sateki Tuipulotu
Unused:  David Palu

Attendance:  47488
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Muliaina M. 2, Howlett D.C. 2, MacDonald L.R. 1, Carter D.W. 1, Ralph C.S. 2, Spencer C.J. 1, Meeuws K.J. 1, Flynn C.R. 1, Braid D.J. 1, Penalty try 1
Conv:  MacDonald L.R. 12, Spencer C.J. 1

Tonga
Tries:  Hola P. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 1

Fiji 41 Japan 13

Fiji retained their hopes of reaching the play-offs when they beat Japan 41-13 in their Rugby World Cup Group B match at the Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville.  Fiji now face Scotland in what will be a decisive game in Sydney on November 1.

Both Fiji and Japan got off to a nervous start in what was being billed as a highlight to an otherwise drab opening round of matches.  But Fijian Sevens master Waisale Serevi, starting Thursday's game at fly-half, helped settle his side down by putting them in front with an early penalty.

Japan began to settle down soon after as well and surprisingly it was up front, an area that has been a weakness for the Cherry Blossoms, where they took control.  Fiji coach Mac McCallion's decision to put monster prop Joeli Veitayaki on the bench was proving to be a mistake.

Serevi, who was picked in an effort to ignite the Fijian attack, left the field injured after kicking a second penalty and this compounding the Islanders problems.

Then when Japanese fly-half Andrew Miller leveled the score with a huge drop-goal from the half-way line the game was on.

Nicky Little, who replaced Serevi, had an almost immediate impact on the game.

While Japan looked to be the more structured of the two sides and enjoyed the most possession thanks to their forwards, it was Fiji who did the most damage on attack.

Centre Seru Rabeni opened up the Japanese defence like a can of beans in the 21st minute and after linking up with Little the Cherry Blossoms were stretched very thin on defence.  When Little was stopped just short, he had five supporters to choose from and fullback Norman Ligairi was on hand to dot the ball down.

Japan continued to show enterprise on attack, but they failed to make the final pass stick and it was here that Fiji stole the game away from the Asian team.

The two Fijian wingers Vilimoni Delasau and Aisea Tuilevu paired up to score the Islanders' second try, when Delasau got hold of a loose ball deep inside his own half and sped away down the touch-line.  Despite a poor pass from Delasau, Tuilevu managed to scoop the ball up and then danced his way through the defenders for the try.

Japan, however, struck back before the break when No.8 Takeomi Ito broke off the back of the scrum and charge into the Fiji half, popped it away in the tackle to skipper Takuro Miuchi, who in turn managed to find Miller out wide for the try.  Miller closed the gap to within three with the conversion.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the second-half would tell a different story.

Fiji began the second-half with far more verve than they had shown in the first and immediately Japan found their defence under pressure.  Fiji would have added another try to their tally less than a minute after the restart, but No.8 Alifereti Doviverata could only shake his head when he bulldozed his way over three defenders only to drop the ball over the line.

Tuilevu made no mistake ten minutes later, however, when he scorched his way down the right wing leaving the Japanese in his wake to pick up his second try of the night.  Little extended the lead for the Islanders with the conversion.

Japan continued to squander their chances with vital handling errors and a brilliant piece of individual play by Ligairi effectively ended the Cherry Blossoms' challenge.

The Fiji fullback crossed for arguably the most spectacular try of the tournament with a chip and chase from 70m out.  The ball somehow sat just inside the sideline.  Ligairi took advantage of a bewildered Japanese defence, who presumably expected the ball to go out.

The flying fullback kicked ahead again, chased and then scooped the ball up superbly to go over for the try.

Man of the match:  For Japan, Andrew Miller continued to impress and No.8 Takeomi Ito was a tireless performer all night, but the award would have to go to Fiji winger Aisea Tuilevu, who proved to be the difference between the two sides, whether he was attacking out wide or delivering some bone-jarring tackles on an unlucky Japanese ball carrier.

Moment of the match:  Andrew Miller's massive drop came close, but Fiji's Norman Ligairi's individual brilliance with a phenomenal chip and chase was a great way to end a fantastic night for the fullback.

Villain of the match:  There was very little niggle and despite Japan's poor finishing on the night this award has to go to referee Nigel Williams for some very poor decisions against both teams, but none more so than when he failed to notice that Andrew Miller dotted down behind his own goal-line.  Williams made Miller play on and the move eventually resulted in a penalty against Japan.  Replays revealed Miller did indeed dot the ball down.

Yellow card:  Bill Gadolo (Fiji, 78)

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Isaia Rasila, 2 Greg Smith, 3 Naka Seru, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Kele Leawere, 6 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 7 Koli Sewabu, 8 Alifereti Doviverata (c), 9 Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, 10 Waisale Serevi, 11 Vilimoni Delasau, 12 Seru Rabeni, 13 Epeli Ruivadra, 14 Aisea Tuilevu, 15 Norman Ligairi
Reserves:  Vula Maimuri, Bill Gadolo, Sisa Koyamaibole, Nicky Little, Mosese Rauluni, Joeli Veitayaki, Marika Vunibaka

Japan:  1 Masahiko Toyoyama, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Masahito Yamamoto, 4 Hajime Kiso, 5 Adam Parker, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Takuro Miuchi (c), 8 Takeomi Ito, 9 Takashi Tsuji, 10 Andy Miller, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Yukio Motoki, 13 Reuben Parkinson, 14 Hirotoki Onozowa, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Masao Amino, Ryota Asano, Shin Hasegawa, Toru Kurihara, Koichi Kubo, Yuji Sonoda, George Konia

Attendance:  17269
Referee:  Williams n.

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Ligairi N. 2, Tuilevu A. 2, Vunibaka M.D. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 2
Pen K.:  Serevi W.T. 1, Little N.T. 3

Japan
Tries:  Miller A.J. 1
Conv:  Miller A.J. 1
Pen K.:  Miller A.J. 1
Drop G.:  Miller A.J. 1

Argentina 50 Romania 3

Argentina beat Romania 50-3 at Aussie Stadium, in Sydney.  Playing with what was almost a second team, the Pumas were simply too strong for the Romanians in an unrhythmic match.

The Pumas have their forwards to thank for the victory.  They dominated, despite Mario Ledesma's erratic throwing at the line-out.  And with the exception of young centre Martín Gaitan, their backs were poor, tending to run across the field and clumsy in catching, especially anything that looked like a high ball.

The Argentinians started their forwards march slowly in the first half against the resolute Romanians, but eventually their destruction got into gear and, predictably, it started at the scrum.  They scored two tries from pushover scrums, both credited to No.8 Pablo Bouza.

From the start the Romanians defended with a will.  From a five-metre scrum after a penalty they drove the Argentinian invaders back further and further till Juan Fernández Miranda tried a feeble attempt at a drop, which looked almost like surrender.  He tried again later in the half, also unsuccessfully.

For all their determination, the Romanians were their own worst enemies as their hands let them down time and again.

In the first half the Argentinians enjoyed over 70 percent of possession and territory.  The Oaks had to give.

They gave first when Gaitan, the young inside centre, cut back at speed from just inside the Romanian half and sped clean through for a try at the posts.

It took nearly 20 minutes for their next try which had a little luck to accompany it.  Juan Fernández Miranda grubbered and the ball suddenly bounced up high leaving the Romanian fullback Gabriel Brezoianu, normally a wing, waiting for the ball to arrive.

The third try of the half happened just before half-time when the Romanians looked set to exploit an overlap.  Instead they dropped the ball and Manuel Contepomi picked up, wiggled, sped and scored.

The half-time score was 24-0 to the Pumas.

It took the men from South America 21 seconds to score their first try in the second half.  From the kick-off the Romanians passed the ball back to Ionut Tofan, who took his time in executing a clearing kick.  Scrum-half Nicolas Fernández Miranda charged down the kick, gathered the bounce and scored.

Argentina drove from a five-metre line-out but Pedro Sporleder was held up, which gave them a five-metre scrum which they shoved over.

Romanian still had some determined moments and Tofan goaled a penalty for their only score.

There were many substitutions at this time, but the Pumas bulldozed another agonising scrum over the line for Bouza to get his second try and then young Juan Martín Hernández did in like manner when he cut in from a blindside move from a scrum.  Quesada's second conversion made it 50-3 with 14 minutes to play.  They were 14 cumbersome minutes.

Man of the match:  Martín Gaitan, who came into the Argentinian squad only because of the injury to Lisandro Arbizu.  He looked, of all the backs on the field, the only one with life, energy and speed.  And he ran straight.

Moment of the match:  There were two special moments -- for the first try and for the last try, but really it was the sudden definition of Martín Gaitan's try that was the best Moment of the match.

Villain of the match:  The Romanians were penalised 21 times.  That is the most any team has been penalised in a World Cup match in 2003.  But there seemed no malice, rather desperation in their actions.  The truth is nobody was villainous.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Rodrigo Roncero, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Patricio Albacete, 5 Pedro Sporleder, 6 Martin Durand, 7 Santiago Phelan (c), 8 Pablo Bouza, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Juan Fernandez Miranda, 11 Jose Nunez Piossek, 12 Manuel Contepomi, 13 Martin Gaitan, 14 Hernan Senillosa, 15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Reserves:  Omar Hasan Jalil, Rolando Martin, Agustin Pichot, Gonzalo Quesada
Unused:  Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Federico Mendez, Jose Orengo

Romania:  1 Silviu Florea, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Cristian Petre, 6 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Marian Tudori, 8 George Chiriac, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Ioan Teodorescu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Mihai Vioreanu, 15 Gabriel Brezoianu
Reserves:  Vasile Ghioc, Iulian Andrei, Ion Paulica, Augustin Petrechei, Cezar Popescu, Cristian Sauan, Florin Tatu

Attendance:  33673

Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Hernandez J.M. 2, Gaitan M. 1, Contepomi M. 1, Fernandez Miranda N. 1, Bouza P. 2
Conv:  Fernandez Miranda J. 4, Quesada G. 2
Pen K.:  Fernandez Miranda J. 1

Romania
Pen K.:  Tofan I.R. 1

Italy 19 Canada 14

Italy overcame a late Canadian fightback to squeak past 19-14 in a laboured Pool D game, the win unconvincing but nevertheless setting up the Azzurri for a crunch game with Wales.

Not a match that is likely to be talked about in years to come for its quality, the Pool D clash between the two nations was nevertheless an intense, passionate affair which demonstrated just how much was at stake for these two nations.

On this showing, neither side is likely to get their hands on the Webb Ellis Trophy for quite some time (decades? Centuries?), but both teams demonstrated that they would be major contenders if RWC bonus points were dished out for sheer heart and dogged persistence, particularly in the furious finale to this error-strewn match, with Italy barely holding on for the victory after a magnificent last barrage from Canada.

But in the final analysis, Canada will rue the yellow card handed out to centre Marco di Girolamo in the 50th minute, Italy making their one-man advantage count during that ten-minute period to rack up an 10 unanswered points and put the game out of the Canucks' grasp -- just.

First of all, Rima Wakarua converted Di Girolamo's indiscretion into three points and then just four minutes later, Italy No.8 Sergio Parisse picked up a loose ball after a handling error from Canadian scrum-half Morgan Williams to dive over in the left for a try.

With Wakarua adding the extras, it looked as if Italy were home and dry, given that up until that point a Canada try had looked a highly unlikely prospect.  The Canucks, as is their wont, had different ideas though and played their best rugby of the match in that last quarter.

After winning clean ball, they launched a crisp, precise move down their backline to put Quentin Fyffe in space.  The fullback stretched his legs and scorched over for an excellent try that put the Canucks right back into the match.

With their forwards leading the way, Canada laid siege to the Italian half, gaining another penalty which, agonisingly, bounced off the woodwork.

But Italy were able to hold off the challenge of the Canucks, even when they lost hooker Fabio Ongaro to the sin-bin with just two minutes left on the clock, to keep them in sight of that second qualifying spot behind New Zealand.

They will take heart from that fact that they came out of such a desperately close game with the win and did not self-destruct as has in similar circumstances in previous matches.

It was a stop-start affair from the first whistle as the greasy conditions at Canberra Stadium caused major problems for both sides, particularly in regard to ball retention which was uniformly poor all night.

In skipper Alessandro Troncon, Italy had the best player on the pitch by some margin during the first half, but his team-mates were unable to match the scrum-half's compusure in the face of the typically aggressive challenge presented by Canada.

And when they lost the services of their captain at half-time -- Matteo Mazzantini stepping in at scrum-half -- Italy for a time lost all sense of shape in their game as Canada managed to run them close.

All too often, Italy pushed down into the Canadian 22 but when the pressure came on, found their handling skills deserting them as unforced knock-ons handed the initative straight back to their opponents.

It was Canada who actually got off the mark first, fly-half Jared Barker slotting a penalty in the 11th minute after Italian loosehead Andrea lo Cicero was penalised at a scrum near his own tryline.

That spurred Italy into action and, with Troncon exercising some excellent kicking options from halfback, the Azzurri pushed deep into Canadian territory, No.10 Rima Wakarua drawing his side level with a penalty in the 23rd minute.

There was nothing to separate the two sides at half-time, both kickers kicking three penalties apiece and there was absolutely no hint of the drama that was to come in that nail-biting final quarter.

Man of the Match:  Not too many candidates for this category, given the scrambling nature of the match but the Italian lineout can take plenty of the credit for the win, not least Marco Bortolami who looked extremely sharp until his untimely exit.  But we'll go for No.8 Sergio Parisse who, as well as winning good off-the-top lineout ball, showed great power to score his side's only try.

Moment of the match:  Given the quality of rugby that came before it, Quentin Fyffe's second-half try was an unexpected pleasure -- like walking into a greasy spoon cafe and being served up a meal by a Michelin-starred chef.  After a fluent and precise backline move, the Canadian fullback showed tremendous pace to breach the last line of defence and score one of the best tries of RWC 2003 to date.

Villain of the match:  We could have gone for Canadian centre Marco Di Girolamo or Italy hooker Fabio Ongaro who both earned yellow cards for pretty blatant ball-killing offences, but then we clapped eyes on Italy flanker Aaron Persico's bizarre, Hannibal Lecter-style face bandage and changed our mind.  Whoever wrapped that ridiculous (and pretty scary) gauze around Persico's mug gets our vote in this category.

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Mirco Bergamasco, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Carlo Festuccia, Matteo Mazzantini, Scott Palmer, Carlo Checchinato, Francesco Mazzariol, Andrea Masi
Unused:  Salvatore Perugini

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Mark Lawson, 3 John Thiel, 4 Alan Charron (c), 5 Colin Yukes, 6 Jamie Cudmore, 7 Jim Douglas, 8 Ryan Banks, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Dave Lougheed, 12 John Cannon, 13 Marco Di Girolomo, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Quentin Fyffe
Reserves:  Josh Jackson, Kevin Tkachuk
Unused:  Aaron Abrams, Sean Fauth, Jeff Reid, Bobby Ross, Matt King

Attendance:  24500
Referee:  O'brien p.

Points Scorers:

Italy
Tries:  Parisse S.M. 1
Conv:  Wakarua-Noema R. 1
Pen K.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 4

Canada
Tries:  Fyffe Q. 1
Pen K.:  Barker J. 3

Scotland 39 United States 15

Winger Simon Danielli scored two first-half tries to help a stop-start Scotland subdue a battling US Eagle side by 39-15, in their Pool B clash at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

But Scotland took their time to warm to the task with their forwards having little luck in their attempt to take on a very physical US Eagle pack.  It was only when the ball was spun wide -- via the magical hands of fly-half Gregor Townsend and out to the like of Chris Paterson -- that Scotland's superiority became apparent.

The Scots looked like they would run away with it after scoring three first-half tries, but the US Eagles fought back by using their strong forwards to punch holes around the fringes.  But their hard work was persistently let down by a string of elementary mistakes from their backs who failed to take advantage of their second-half possession.

After a shakey performance against Japan, Scotland needed a good game to silence their detractors and they duly delivered with a good first-half display of sharp running lines and instinctive back play.

But their free-flowing form failed to materialise in the second-half and they struggled to gain parity with a determined USA side in a scrappy and disappointing second 40 minutes.

Scotland's inability to attain any level of consistancy or apply sustained pressure will worry coach Ian McGeechan and that fact will exercise his grey cells ahead of Scotland's crunch Pool match against Six Nations rivals France on Saturday.

Scotland managed to run in three first-half tries but it took the Scot a little time to crack the code after early attempts to take on the hulking US forwards failed.

During the opening stages, the half-back pairing of Mike Blair and Gregor Townsend were reduced to watching their pack chase up dead-ends, and it was only when they finally managed to lay their hands on the ball it became obvious that the Scotland had been pursuing the wrong game plan.

After that the Scots span the ball wide as much as possible and 1997 Lion Townsend dusted off his spell-book to launch a series of searing breaks that stuck fear into the hearts of the back-pedalling Americans.

Scotland wing Chris Paterson opened the scoring with a penalty goal four minutes into the game after some good early Scottish pressure but USA fly-half Mike Hercus added two penalties of his own to take the US into a 3-6 lead after 13 minutes.

With both sets of fowards seemingly content to knock lumps out of each other it soon became obvious that a change of plan was needed should either side wish to score, and the first moment of clear and present danger for the US came when scrum-half Mike Blair spun the ball wide to Paterson who kicked ahead and forced the USA to take the ball dead behind their posts.

The cogs started to whizz in the minds of Scotland's half-backs as they eyed the disorganisased state of the US backs and after Ross Beattie broke a tackle in midfield, Daneilli-out stripped the defence over 40 metres to slide into the corner to regain Scotland's lead and boost their confidence in their running play.

Paterson added a good conversion for a wide angle.

A series of good runs confirmed that Scotland held total superiority out wide and they set about taking advantage of this fact.  It was Daneilli again who punished the US for some week defensive shaking off a poor tackle from Hercus to slide into the corner after a good Townsend break down the centre turned the Eagles on their heels.

Scotland prop Gavin Keer then added to Scotland's team by charging down a clearance for US fullback Paul Emerick to touch down in somewhat dubious fashion under the posts.

Scotland had broken loose but the Americans dug deep and launched a lightning raid on the Scotland line just before half-time that proved to lift their confidence to a higher plain.

The move saw some excellent recycling work and the speed and vision of scrum-half Kevin Dalzell was world-class.  After a series of thumping runs Dalzell span the ball went wide but the attackers got tangled up in a desperate Scottish ruck.

After the ball failed to materialise, Lions prop Tom Smith was pulled from the bottom of the pile by referee Jonathan Kaplan who sent him to the sin-bin for deliberately killing the ball.

The professional foul by the wily prop may have saved his team from conceding a try, but Hercus stepped up to cut the deficit by three points leaving the half-time score 24-9.

Scotland started the second-half as hesitantly as they started the first and the USA muscled them back towards their line.

A Hercus penalty hit the post and rebounded into the path of USA centre Phillip Eloff, but with the flat-footed Scots reduced to bystanders the Eagle failed to control the ball as he crashed over the line and his try was disallowed after more work by the video referee.

The American pressure was now rattling the Scots who were having grave problems finding first gear and some cynical saw a number of Scottish players kill the ball.

The American forwards had to wrestle the intiative from the Scots and set about winning some good ball courtesy of some very atheletic line-out work.

But their backs let them down by succumbing to a series of knock-ons and bad passes and they never looked like scoring.  It was left to Hercus to put points on the board via a well-struck penalty 10 minutes into the half.

Scotland's early confidence had evaporated and Paterson elected to extend the lead with a penalty kick, but Hercus was equal to the task and added three points of his own soon after.

With time and the chance to add an important bonus point slowly ebbing away form Scotland they attempted to raise their game and clawed back terrority as their superior fitness began to tell.

A string of scrappy but effective raids took them beyond the gain-line and US fullback Emerick was finally forced to take drastic action and was sin-binned mid-way through the second-half for killing a Scottish move.

But Scotland had trouble taking advantage of their numeric advantage and were reduced to launching raids born from fly-hacks, charge downs and American knock-ons.

Finally, in the 71st minute, the Scottish try bonus point was secured.  Following more scrappy play from both sides the ball reached the impressive Paterson who came infield to create space on the short side, Townsend appeared to take the pass but he jinxed his way inside to record the bonus point.

American heads didn't drop but the Scots were determined to end their day's work on a high, and a frenzied all-out attack at the death stretched the US on either side of the field before space was found for Patterson to slide in to add a try to his tally of kicks.

Man of the Match:  Scotland wing Simon Danielli's two tries were both well taken, but his sharp 10-point performance was eclipsed by the 19 scored by fellow wing Chris Paterson.  His kicking helped Scotland remain above water during a difficult second-half, but it was his running and his eagerness for work that got him noticed.  He came off his wing several times to take the ball up the middle and committed several Eagles on each occasion.

Moment of the match:  After the stilted opening exchanges, a try gave Scotland's talented backs the confidence to pull the strings.  For Scotland's second try, Gregor Townsend shook himself out of his strait-jacket -- like the true magician that he is -- to dart through the first line of American defence before having the presence of mind to set up a move that lead to Danielli's second.  Vintage Townsend!  Lovely.

Villain of the match:  Had the US scored during their dramatic raid prior to the break the second-half could have shaped up very differently so Tom Smith gets our reward for ruining it for the Americans.  The veteran prop knew exactly what he was doing when he scooped the ball out of the ruck with his hand -- it was a professional foul from a model professional.  But he may have saved the try and would be regarded more as a hero than a villain by his team mates.

The Teams:

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

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges (c), 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 Paul Emerick
Reserves:  Jason Keyter, Richard Liddington, Olo Fifita, Jurie Gouws, Kimball Kjar, Link Wilfley
Unused:  Matt Wyatt

Attendance:  46796
Referee:  Kaplan j.

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Danielli S.C.J. 2, Paterson C.D. 1, Townsend G.P.J. 1, Kerr G. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 4, Paterson C.D. 2

United States
Pen K.:  Hercus M. 5

Samoa 46 Georgia 9

Samoa beat Georgia by 46-9 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth to move to the top of Pool C, the Islanders scoring a total of six tries in the victory, including one from inspirational skipper Semo Sititi.

As you would expect from two teams renowned for their overtly physical style of play, it was a bruising encounter that kept the team physios on their toes all night, but the game also had plenty to recommend it from a quality rugby point of view.

Admittedly, most of that quality was supplied by the free-running Samoans, their dynamism and pace proving too potent a mix for the more staid Georgians, but both sides contributed in their own inimitable ways to the spectacle.

Samoa, a team well known for their previous World Cup heroics, predictably strove to keep the ball alive and escape the clutches of a raw-boned Georgian forward pack and were rewarded with a clutch of tries for their industry.

The victors saw out some rocky opening moments in the match, Georgia actually taking the lead through a fourth minute penalty goal by Paliko Jimsheladze.

But, as against Uruguay, Samoa proved that their wide-out attack is their most effective way of scoring points, soon making their running prowess count with a try.

From a midfield attack, the ball was crisply moved left down the line, winger Sailosi Tagicakibau breaking two tackles to finish off the move, fly-half Earl Va'a adding the extras.

Jimsheladze put his side within a point in the 20th minute as the Georgians threatened the Samoan line with a succession of close-quarter drives.

Then, after Samoa had attempted to take on their opponents in a driving maul just yards from the tryline, they made a more typical wide attack down the right, Va'a with enough pace to go all the way.

He converted his own try and Samoa were firmly in the driving seat at 14-6.

That lead was stretched when Samoa capitalised on an elementary error on the part of their opponents -- Georgia stacking too many men in a lineout -- scrum-half Steven So'oialo taking the quick tap and haring off downfield.

As he set up the ruck on the Georgian 22, Vano Nadiradze was penalised for coming in from the side, allowing Va'a to kick his first penalty of the evening.

Georgian worked their way back into Samoan territory from the restart, their forwards setting up a field position to enable Jimsheladze to slot a neat drop-goal.

In the 33rd minute, Samoa made another breakthrough, So'oialo breaking from the base of a ruck to score a simple try.

With Va'a's conversion, that made it it 24-9, but Georgia were far from ready to roll over.

For the third quarter, Samoa found themselves frustrated again and again at the breakdown -- despite some promising long-range moves -- as Georgia stuck to their task.

Indeed, Samoa only scored their fourth try, through skipper Sititi -- thus securing a bonus point -- in the final quarter following a period of stalemate.

While, they also created late scores from Dominic Feaunati and Brian Lima, on this evidence Samoa are unlikely to give Pool rivals South Africa and England too much resistance in their forthcoming matches -- the Islanders lacking the kind of forward stability to impose their gameplan on oppositions.

Man of the Match:  The Georgian forwards battled for the full 80 minutes -- prop Goderdze Shvelidze the pick of the crop -- but it was Samoa who provided the best individual performances of the night, none better than the one from livewire scrum-half Steven So'oialo who kept Georgia guessing throughout.

Moment of the match:  Samoa's fourth try was down to the individual brilliance of skipper Semo Sititi, the No.8 taking the ball in the Georgian 22, weaving around several opponents before straightening his stride to romp over for the try that brought his team a well-deserved bonus point.

Villain of the match:  The Georgians indulged in a fair amount of ball-killing in the face of a pacy Samoan attack, replacement Bessik Khamashuridze committing the most obvious transgression early in the second half to earn a 10-minute spell in the bin.

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Ron Fanuatanu, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Dominic Feaunati, Simon Lemalu, Mahonri Schwalger, Denning Tyrell, Siaosi Vaili, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen

Georgia:  1 Sosso Nikolaenko, 2 Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 3 Goderdzi Shvelidze, 4 Vano Nadiradze, 5 Zurab Mtchedlishvili, 6 Guia Labadze, 7 Gregoire Yachvili, 8 Ilia Zedguinidze (c), 9 Irakli Abusseridze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Makho Urjukashvili, 12 Irakli Guiorgadze, 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 14 Vassil Katsadze, 15 Badri Khekhelashvili
Reserves:  David Bolghashvili, Victor Didebulidze, Bessik Khamashuridze, Merab Kvirikashvili, Irakli Machkhaneli, Aleko Margvelashvili
Unused:  David Dadunashvili

Attendance:  21507
Referee:  Rolland a.

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Lima B.P. 1, Tagicakibau S. 1, Va'a E.V. 1, So'oialo S. 1, Sititi S. 1, Feaunati D. 1
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 5
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 2

Georgia
Pen K.:  Jimsheladze P. 2
Drop G.:  Jimsheladze P. 1

Namibia 7 Ireland 64

Ireland raced to the top of Pool A at Rugby World Cup 2003 when they thumped a brave, but hopelessly outclassed, Namibia 64-7 in the rain in Sydney.  The Irish scored 10 tries to one in a game in which they dominated all aspects of play.

It is the second game in which the Irish scored a full-house of five points and they now head Pool A with 10 points -- ahead of hosts Australia on nine and Argentina on five.

The game produced a number of records for the Irish.

The first is that this is their biggest score and their biggest-ever victory in a RWC match, while the 10 touch-downs were also the most they have scored in a World Cup match.

But the atrocious conditions, with pouring rain accompanying play throughout the match, contributed to a litany of mistakes and detracted from the match as a spectacle.

This certainly helped the Namibians limit the damage on a day when they surely would have faced a 100 points if the skilful Irish were enjoying such dominance in dry and sunny conditions.

In fact, the Irish pack completely dominated proceeding to send a steady stream of quality possession to their backs.  The Namibians managed to win hardly any set-piece ball, as the Irish had them under pressure in the scrums and constantly stole their ball in the line-outs.

The statisticians said Ireland had 70 percent of the ball, but at times it seemed a lot more.  And with so much possession it was not surprising that they enjoyed a huge territorial advantage as well.

The Namibians were left to defend for most of the game and this they did bravely, but they were never going to be able to plug all the gaps -- even given the testing conditions.

And on the few occasions the Namibians did get the ball to play with, they were opposed by a strong Irish defence.

The Namibians looked naive in their option-taking and could never cope with the pace and power of the Irish runners, looking like a team that is merely making up the numbers at RWC 2003.

As usual, one or two of the Namibian players tried their best, but on the whole they were badly outclassed.  Another game that is a case for those who are proposing a two-tier RWC, where the big guns play each other and the minnows compete in a second division.

Man of the match:  The Irish pack was so dominant that almost all the forwards come into the picture, with lock Paul O'Connell leading the way.  But our vote goes to winger Denis Hickie, who showed that you can handle the ball in difficult conditions, while he was a slippery customer to handle when he went on the run, always troubling the defence.

Moment of the match:  There were 10 tries, but surely the most noticeable moment was the try in the 32nd minute, awarded to Irish prop Marcus Horan.  It showed how badly match officials can get it wrong, even with technology at their disposal.  Horan tackled an opponent just on the Namibian tryline and forced him over the line.  It was referred to the TMO, who then awarded a try to Ireland.  But television replays showed that the Namibian's forearm forced the ball on the ground, before it slipped out and under the body of the Irish prop.  The first "downward pressure" was clearly by the Namibian.

Villain of the match:  This one has to go to Namibian lock Heino Senekal for his yellow card in the 20th minute for repeated offences.

The Teams:

Namibia:  1 Neil Du Toit, 2 J.M. Meyer, 3 Kees Lensing, 4 Heino Senekal, 5 Archie Graham, 6 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 7 Wolfie Duvenhage, 8 Sean Furter (c), 9 Hakkies Husselman, 10 Emile Wessels, 11 Deon Mouton, 12 Du Preez Grobler, 13 Corne Powell, 14 Vincent Dreyer, 15 Ronaldo Pedro
Reserves:  Melrick Afrika, Andries Blaauw, Herman Lintvelt, Niel Swanepoel, Mot Schreuder, Cor Van Tonder, Jurgens Van Lill

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Eric Miller, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Shane Byrne, Guy Easterby, Simon Best, John Kelly
Unused:  Victor Costello, David Humphreys, Donncha O'Callaghan

Attendance:  35382
Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers

Namibia
Tries:  Powell C.J. 1
Conv:  Wessels E. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Dempsey G.T. 1, Horgan S.P. 1, Hickie D.A. 1, Horan M. 1, Miller E.R.P. 2, Quinlan A. 2, Easterby G. 1, Kelly J.P. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 7

Wales 27 Tonga 20

Wales scraped home 27-20 against ardent Tonga on a rainy evening in Canberra.  The "Sea Eagles" from the South Pacific outscored Wales by three tries to two and ended the match on hectic attack.  In the end, kicking won it for the Welsh.

The kicking was erratic -- more so by Tonga than by Wales.  Stephen Jones missed three in a row for Wales, but they were harder than the three Pierre Hola missed for Tonga.

Already in the first half it looked as if Tonga were about to set up an upset.  Down 11-3 they had a period of determined attack which ended when Pierre Hola grubbered through, Rhys Williams could not hold onto the ball and Hola scored to make it 11-10.

Soon afterwards Hola had a kick from in front but sent it sailing left.  A blow for the men from the Friendly Islands.

Tonga certainly gave as good as they got in the first half as they flung their shoulders into Welsh flesh, but penalties lashed them.  In that first half the penalties flowed 9-3 against them.  Things got better in that regard late in the second half as the Welsh strained for survival.

Stephen Jones scored from the second penalty when the Tongans were ruled off-side when they snagged Gareth Cooper's hand after the Welsh scrum-half had picked up behind a ruck.

Five minutes later Hola levelled the scores when Dafydd Jones doubly deserved a penalty -- slapping the ball as he lay on the ground at a tackle and slapping it into touch.  With his left foot Hola goaled the difficult kick.

Wales attacked with vigour and Ben Hur Kivalu was penalised for not moving off a tackle and Stephen Jones made it 6-3.

The rugby was scrappy on the slippery evening, except for three incisions by the fullbacks -- two by Sila Va'enuku of Tonga and one by Rhys Williams of Wales.

Then, from a scrum Cooper went scuttling away on an unmarked blindside for a try in the corner.  That made it 11-3 after 26 minutes, and Wales looked set fare for comfortable victory.  That is when their troubles started.

Outside centre Sukanaivalu Hufanga had an exciting dash down the Tonga right and footed ahead but the situation was saved for Wales when the wicked ball broke right into touch.  Tom Shanklin came close to scoring just before half-time, but Wales had to be satisfied with a penalty to go into the break leading 14-10.

From the kick-off it became 17-10 as the Tongans knocked the kick-off and then played it in an off-side position.

There was a thrilling moment when big Gareth Llewellyn had a run but sparkling fullback Sila Va'enuku intercepted and raced down the Tongan right.  But as for Hufanga in the first half, the ball did the wicked thing and broke into touch.

Wales nearly got their second try when they sent the ball left from a line-out and Rhys Williams, up from fullback, lunged at the line with Sione Fonua clinging to him with help from lively Sililo Martens.  The Television Match Official examined the evidence several times before deciding on a five-metre scrum.

Wales kept up the attack and when the referee declared advantage, replacement flank Martyn Williams kicked a wobbly drop-goal from close-in -- 20-10.

Then the Tongans scored a marvellous try of effort and cohesion.  Replacement forward Milton Ngauamo won a line-out and the Tongans marched it on and on and on and over the goalline for a try credited to captain Kivalu.  Hola missed again but the score was 20-15 with 16 minutes to play.

Wales extended their lead soon afterwards when Iestyn Harris, who was not meant to be starting in this game, floated a long pass over the heads to Martyn Williams who scored on the right.  Stephen Jones converted -- 27-15 with 13 minutes left.

This was a time of grievous anxiety for the Welsh as Viliami Vaki, athletic lock, broke down the middle and the Tongans flung themselves into the attack till eventually powerful prop Heamani Lavaka plunged over in the corner.  It was 27-20 with two minutes left.

Oh, how the Tongans tried.  But though they appeared filled with nervous agitation the Welsh managed to hang on and heaved a deep sigh of relief when the final whistle went.

Man of the match:  The choice is entirely Tongan.  Scrum-half Sililo Martens, surely the only Welsh-speaking Tongan in the world, was full of effort, skill, strength and determination, but really it cannot but go to Sila Va'enuku, the fullback who was originally chosen on the bench.

Moment of the match:  That massive, marching maul that took the Tongans to Ben Hur Kivalu's try.  Even the halves joined in.  The "Sea Eagles" enjoyed that.

Villain of the match:  None, not even Stanley Afeaki who wobbled a ball towards a Welshman and incurred a talking to for Ipolito Fenukatau who looked nothing like Afeaki!

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Robert Sidoli, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Dafydd Jones, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Alix Popham, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Tom Shanklin, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Dwayne Peel, Martyn Williams, Chris Wyatt
Unused:  Shane Williams, Garan Evans

Tonga:  1 Heamani Lavaka, 2 Viliami Ma'asi, 3 Kisi Pulu, 4 Usaia Latu, 5 Viliami Vaki, 6 Stanley Afeaki, 7 'Ipolito Fenukitau, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu (c), 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Pierre Hola, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Sukanaivalu Hufanga, 13 John Payne, 14 Tevita Tu'ifua, 15 Sila Va'enuku
Reserves:  Tonga Lea'aetoa, Milton Ngauamo, Nisifolo Naufahu, Ephraim Taukafa
Unused:  Gus Leger, David Palu, Sateki Tuipulotu

Attendance:  19806
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Cooper G.J. 1, Williams M.E. 1
Conv:  Jones S. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S. 4

Tonga
Tries:  Hola P. 1, Lavaka H. 1, Kivalu D.B.H. 1
Conv:  Hola P. 1
Pen K.:  Hola P. 1

France 51 Japan 29

French right-wing Aurelien Rougerie scored two tries as his side stuttered past a determined Japanese outfit in Townsville.  Don't be fooled by the scoreline of 51-29, Japan gave Les Bleus a serious go in their Rugby World Cup Pool B clash.

It was a stuttering performance from the French, who on several occasions needed to move out of neutral with the Japanese threatening to cause an upset.

While the French forwards were always too strong and the French backs always to quick and classy for their opponents, credit must go to the Japanese for continuing to play positive and entertaining rugby and never reverting to negative and spoiling tactics to stem the tide.

France completely dominated possession from the outset and in the first 10 minutes they had 80 percent of the ball.  By half-time that statistic had settled on 63 percent in favour of the French and at the end that is where it evened out.

But despite seeing most of the quality possession, France did not enjoy such a huge advantage in the territorial stakes.  This was largely due to those periodical lapses when they would either waste opportunities with poor handling or some determined Japanese defence.

French captain Fabian Galthié admitted afterwards that his team was nowhere near where they should be.  "We need to be more consistent in what we do and not play in fits and starts," he said.

Japan, who looked lively from the start, certainly got plenty of reward for their effort and in the fourth minute fullback Toru Kurihara kicked a penalty from 40 metres out to give Japan a 3-0 lead.

But France hit straight back with tries by fly-half Frédéric Michalak (in the fifth minute) and wing Aurélien Rougerie (eighth minute).  Michalak added the conversions to take the score out to 14-3.

In the 11th minute Kurihara slotted another penalty to narrow the gap to 14-6, but two Michalak penalties -- in the 16th minute and 27th minutes -- saw the score move out to 20-6.

But then the French went to sleep again ...

From a line-out, George Konia -- who plays club rugby in Japan with French centre Tony Marsh's twin brother -- sliced through the French defence after getting an inch-perfect pass from fly-half Andrew Miller on the angle, powering over for a score, much to the delight of the crowd.

The conversion by Kurihara and a penalty by the Japanese fullback in the 40th minute narrowed the score to 20-16 at the break.

Another Kurihara in the 45th minute narrowed the gap to just one point -- 20-19.

But then tries by Fabien Pelous (from a maul in the 48th minute) and wing Christophe Dominici (a brilliant inside pass in the 52nd minute), along with two Michalak conversions and a penalty saw the French race out to a 37-19 lead.

A 64th minute penalty by Kurihara, however, which saw him maintain his 100 percent kicking record, made it 37-22 to France.

But then followed another brilliant French try, when Dominici fed Rougerie, who cut inside and ran through four tackles to power in from 22 metres out in the 68th minute.  Michalak added the conversion for a 44-22 lead.

The Japanese scored their second try in the 71st minute when wing Hirotoki Onozawa attacked down the left.  The French fumbled his kick ahead, and the Japanese pounced, moving the ball out to the other wing for Daisuke Ohata to score in the corner.  Kurihara maintained his brilliant kicking form to narrow the gap to 44-29.

But it was the French who had the final say when replacement prop Jean-Jaques Crenca crashed for his team's sixth try in the 76th minute.  Gérald Merceron, who came on for Michalak at fly-half, kicked the conversion.

Man of the match:  In most games your Man of the match would come from the winning team, but the Japan's fighting spirit was encapsulated by fly-half Andrew Miller's performance.  His kicking out of hand was brilliant, with 60-metre touch-finders not uncommon.  His footwork was as brilliant, if not better, than anything the French had to show and he often troubled their defence, while his defence never faltered.

Moment of the match:  The French scored six great tries and some of them had typical French brilliance written all over them.  But in the 32nd minute Japanese centre George Konia sliced through the French defence after getting a wonderful pass from Miller.  The angled run is as good a try as you ill ever see.

Villain of the match:  No cards, very few penalties and no incidents of real note.  No villain(s).

The Teams:

France:  1 Olivier Milloud, 2 Yannick Bru, 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves:  David Auradou, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Raphael Ibanez, Gerald Merceron, Sebastien Chabal
Unused:  Pepito Elhorga, Yannick Jauzion

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Ryo Yamamura, 4 Adam Parker, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Takuro Miuchi (c), 8 Takeomi Ito, 9 Yuji Sonoda, 10 Andy Miller, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Hideki Nanba, 13 George Konia, 14 Hirotoki Onozowa, 15 Toru Kurihara,
Reserves:  Ryota Asano, Koichi Kubo
Unused:  Masao Amino, Yukio Motoki, Takashi Tsuji, Masahito Yamamoto, Takashi Yoshida

Attendance:  21309
Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Rougerie A. 2, Dominici C. 1, Michalak F. 1, Pelous F. 1, Crenca J-J. 1
Conv:  Michalak F. 5, Merceron G. 1
Pen K.:  Michalak F. 3

Japan
Tries:  Ohata D. 1, Konia G.N. 1
Conv:  Kurihara T. 2
Pen K.:  Kurihara T. 5

South Africa 6 England 25

England remained on course for a World Cup quarter-final clash against Six Nations rivals Wales after defeating South Africa by 25-6 in Perth, centre Will Greenwood scoring the only try of a closely-fought battle.

For the first half of this encounter it was just like old times, as a much-hyped England team failed to perform on the big occasion, their performance totally at odds with their exalted position at the top of the Zurich World Rankings.

For Perth, read Lansdowne Road in 2001, Murrayfield in 2000, as the "must-win" match which was supposed to speed England on their way to the Final went awry in the face of limited, but highly-motivated opposition.

Much of this game was eerily reminiscent of the RWC 1999 quarter-final clash between these two proud rugby nations, as the South African forwards put immense pressure on their counterparts, rattling them to their very core.  If only the Springboks had a kicker of the calibre of Jannie de Beer in their ranks, they could have caused the biggest upset of this World Cup to date.

As it was, South Africa will rue the poor kicking form of fly-half Louis Koen, the No.10 missing with three penalty attempts in the first half to let England off the hook despite an alarmingly long catalogue of schoolboy errors and careless play.

As so often before, it was the boot of England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson which really made the difference between the two sides, the Newcastle Falcon as faultless as ever with his shots at goal, including two drop-goals in the second half.

It is hard to overstate how much England missed the authority of Richard Hill in the back row.  His replacement, Lewis Moody, is a fine player, but is not in the same league as the doughty Saracen when it comes to the trench warfare of a closely-fought RWC encounter.

Moody's natural over-exuberance got the better of him on several occasions in the first half, as England struggled to come to terms with a Springbok pack who fought tooth and nail at the breakdown, the flanker finding himself stripped of the ball after the tackle on three separate occasions by his opponents and giving away at least two avoidable penalties.

Admittedly, Moody finished the match in credit, having charged down the attempted clearance kick by Koen to set up a try for team-mate Will Greenwood in the 62nd minute.  That was the crucial score of the entire match and having made that break-through, the pressure seemed to lift off the English players as they sensed the shift in power.

But still, coach Clive Woodward will be instructing his medical staff to pull out all the stops to get Hill back in action for the latter stages of the tournament in the hope that he will help to eradicate the messiness at the breakdown which so afflicted them on this outing.

South Africa had clearly come to the Subiaco Oval in the hope of putting major pressure on the England halfbacks and this tactic appeared to be reaping dividends in the opening exchanges, some early clearance kicks going awry to allow the Springboks to press deep into English territory.

While England took the lead as early as the fourth minute after South Africa had held onto the ball fractionally too long after a tackle, Jonny Wilkinson kicking the ensuing penalty, the Men in White were made to work hard for every inch of territory and every scrap of territory.

When they did escape the Green and Gold strait-jacket and shifted the ball wide, England made some telling breaks through the likes of Jason Robinson and Ben Cohen -- the latter nearly creating a first-half score for Mike Tindall in the 11th minute.

But South Africa, with their muscular forwards leading the way, held their defensive line and were rewarded for their industry some moments later when Koen was able to get them off the mark with a penalty to draw level.

With the sides matching each other step-for-step and tackle-for-tackle, England forced another penalty and took the lead through the boot of Wilkinson.

Koen missed a chance to equalise in the 31st minute following a late tackle by Moody, the ball bouncing off the woodwork to allow England hooker Steve Thompson to drive up field and relieve the pressure on his side, but the Springbok fly-half did compose himself for a second successful penalty kick in that first half.

No doubt given a rousing half-time team talk by skipper Martin Johnson and coach Clive Woodward, England were in a much more determined state of mind after the break, immediately going on the offensive and settling into their all-action, high-tempo attacking game.

The South African's found themselves desperately trying to nullify England's enterprise in the backs, Robinson, Cohen and co. looking increasingly dangerous as the match went on.

This endeavour helped England to rack up 19 unanswered points in a far more satisfactory second half and reassert their status as near-favourites to hoist the Webb Ellis Trophy on November 22.

For the losers, things are not as bleak as it may seem, with South Africa's first-half performance giving them genuine hope of proceeding past the last eight, despite the fact that they have a likely winner-takes-all appointment with the All Blacks in Melbourne on November 8.

Man of the match:  Not a particularly entertaining encounter, but a few players did manage to stand head and shoulders above their peers.  For South Africa, the back row trio of Juan Smith, Joe van Niekerk and Corné Krige were exceptional, particularly in broken play where they tested England's defence to the full.  But for the Man of the match it is impossible to overlook England No.10 Jonny Wilkinson who, despite looking somewhat below his best in the opening exchanges, still managed to exude grace under pressure in the goal-kicking stakes to seal the victory for his country.

Moment of the match:  The highlights were few and far between, with the intensity of the occasion seemingly getting to both sets of players and created a high error-count.  Will Greenwood's try was not a classically crafted effort, created by a charge-down so we'll go for the flowing South African move which nearly resulted in a first-half try for lock Bakkies Botha.

Villain of the match:  The predicted blood-bath did not materialise, with these warriors generally staying within the laws of the game -- quite a novelty for England v South Africa clashes.  But the citing commissioner could well be concerned by the apparent punch landed on Springbok left-wing Thinus Delport by England No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio in a second-half ruck.  The experienced back rower should be above such petulance -- particularly at such an early stage of a World Cup -- and therefore gets our vote for this dubious award.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Christo Bezuidenhout, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Corne Krige (c), 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Juan Smith, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Jorrie Muller, 14 Thinus Delport, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves:  Derick Hougaard, Werner Greeff, John Smit, Lawrence Sephaka
Unused:  Neil De Kock, Selborne Boome, Danie Rossouw

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Lewis Moody, 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:  Jason Leonard, Dan Luger, Joe Worsley
Unused:  Martin Corry, Andy Gomarsall, Paul Grayson, Dorian West

Attendance:  28834
Referee:  Marshall p.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 2

England
Tries:  Greenwood W.J.H. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 1
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Drop G.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

Australia 90 Romania 8

Romania were thrashed 90-8 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the biggest win of the 2003 Rugby World Cup so far.

It took the Wallabies 18 seconds to win the game..

That's how long it took them to score the first of their 13 tries in the match as their backs proved to fast and too strong for the battered Romanians.  From the kick-off, lock Nathan Sharpe palmed the ball back to hooker Brendan Cannon, who drove ahead.  Back the ball came to Elton Flatley who stepped and scored.  Eighteen seconds is all that took.

By half-time the Wallabies led 38-8 but it was during the last 22 minutes that they really cut loose, scoring 52 points.

After that first try the Romanians attacked neatly and forced a line-out well inside the Wallaby 22.  But the throw was judged skew and a free-kick was awarded against them when Bill Young bent downwards and the Wallabies were back on the attack for Flatley to goal a penalty.

Next Flatley stepped and bashed through a gap to send Mat Rogers skating over.  After 13 minutes Australia led 17-0.

The Oaks -- wonderful to relate -- scored next.  A Wallaby throw at a defensive line-out went astray.  Big George Chiriac picked up and drove at the Wallaby line.  Another bash and then the pack drove Petriscor Toderasc over for a try in a good position.

Winning the line-out was not altogether a surprise as the Wallabies conceded many turnovers and committed several handling errors in this match of many points.

By half-time Burke had scored two tries.  His second came as he surged through an opening and then went on a long run.  For a while he wandered in search of support.  Finding none he did it on his own.  That brought the end of his match as he was substituted at half-time for Stirling Mortlock to replace his punch at outside centre.

There was a strange replacement at the break as young Matt Giteau came on for George Gregan, who enjoyed an afternoon as captain become spectator.  There was an even stranger one later in the match when wing Lote Tuqiri came on in the place of Phil Waugh and played flank -- and scored a try.  Both sides used all their replacements as the match ceased to be a contest.

Romania started the second half well as captain Romeo Gontineac, playing his 50th Test, created a break from another strong tackle.  Sorin Socol thought he had scored and would probably been disappointed when the Television Match Official was not brought into play.  Instead, Romania were awarded a penalty and attacked again but then lost the ball in a knock-on.  This was the end of their serious attempts to score.

An ankle-tap stopped Wendell Sailor from scoring, but a penalty ensued which a tap and stretch by Stephen Larkham brought a try, heralding a try-scoring spree.

Mortlock broke and ran a long way, Waugh sent Joe Roff on a long trot, Larkham surged over for a second after an execrable clearance attempt by the Oaks, Rogers scooted for a hat-trick from some 70 metres out, which he found tiring, Giteau sped away on a long swerving run, Tuqiri stretched over form a close-in bash and, finally, George Smith scored when the Wallabies shoved the broken Romanians off their ball at a scrum.

Man of the Match:  Lucian Sirbu, Romeo Gontineac, Gabriel Brezoianu and Ovidiu Tonita were brave for Romania, but they were simply no match for the bigger, faster Wallaby backs with their luxurious possession and found it hard to make the early tackle that initiated the long-range try.  The most obvious candidates for Australia were Mat Rogers, Elton Flatley, Stephen Larkham, George Smith and Nathan Sharpe.  Our vote goes to Flatley for those early breaks which broke the Romanians and for his smooth goal-kicking.

Moment of the Match:  There were many, many moments to saviour -- so many that they became cloying.  Probably the best Australian moment was the sheer joy of Matt Giteau as he picked up and went gleefully off to score.

Villain of the Match:  Valentin Maftei was sent to the sin bin for a critical infringement.  It was born of desperation not malice.  He thus does not qualify as a villain.  The only other incidents of note were Wendell Sailor's hefty tackle and Mat Rogers's emotional outburst in a match where players did their best to play the game as the laws require.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Alastair Baxter, 2 Brendan Cannon, 3 Bill Young, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 5 Daniel Vickerman, 6 George Smith, 7 Phil Waugh, 8 David Lyons, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Elton Flatley, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Mat Rogers
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, Matt Giteau, Stirling Mortlock, Jeremy Paul, Ben Darwin, Justin Harrison, Lote Tuqiri

Romania:  1 Silviu Florea, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Cristian Petre, 6 Marius Nicolae, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 8 George Chiriac, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Cristian Sauan, 15 Dan Dumbrava
Reserves:  Bogdan Tudor, Cristian Podea, Cezar Popescu, Marcel Socaciu, Ioan Teodorescu, Marian Tudori, Mihai Vioreanu

Attendance:  48778
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Rogers M.S. 3, Burke M.C. 2, Flatley E.J. 1, Roff J.W.C. 1, Larkham S.J. 2, Smith G.B. 1, Giteau M. 1, Mortlock S.A. 1, Tuqiri L. 1
Conv:  Flatley E.J. 11
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 1

Romania
Tries:  Toderasc P. 1
Pen K.:  Tofan I.R. 1

New Zealand 68 Canada 6

New Zealand beat Canada 68-6 in their Pool D clash but not before being made to answer some searching first half questions by a brave and busy Canuck performance, a strong second half effort and four tries from winger Malili Muliaina showing the way.

The New Zealanders, with a number of their first line players rested, were caught on the hop early doors by a brave and energetic Canadian side who exploded into the match and made the All Blacks pay for any complacency that had crept in with some strong play although the final touch always seemed to be lacking.

Under the closed Dockland Stadium roof in Melbourne, a number question marks appeared over the ability of the All Black pack to enforce themselves on a game during the first quarter.

The big Canuck forwards managed to gain an early upper hand by forcing the All Blacks off the ball at the break-down and managed to turn over a few useful balls as mistakes began to annoy the All Blacks.

If he had any, John Mitchell would have been pulling out his hair at the amount of unforced areas that his forwards committed in the first half.  Yes, their were a few new men in the line-up but that can't excuse some elementary mistakes in the line-out and some hesitant work at the break-downs.

But credit must go this Canadian XV, they had nothing to lose and seized the early initiative by some surprisingly brave play that put the All Blacks on the back foot.

Suddenly the All Blacks knew they were in a game and reverted to basics by opting to kick a go for goal when awarded with a penalty after 10 minutes.  The Melbourne crowd showed their discontent that such a talent bunch of runners were going with the "safety-first" option and were happy to see Daniel Carter's effort sail wide.

There are also rumblings concerning the All Blacks kicking ability but that miss, though perhaps Carter's easiest, was one of only his two misses for the day out of 11 attempts at the posts surely suggests that the All Blacks have found their first choice kicker.

How John Mitchell fits him in to his talented backline is another matter altogether.

Despite the mis-fires early on, it was somewhat inevitable that the All Blacks would break the deadlock, and predictably it came courtesy of their flying backs -- but not until the 17th minute of the match.

Carlos Spencer put boot to ball in his 22 after a turn-over, an awkward bounce found Spencer again on the follow up who kicked ahead again and into the path of the flying wing Caleb Ralph who beat the covering defence.  Daniel Carter added the conversion to put the All Blacks 7-0 up.

Jared Barker got the Canucks some deserved points with a penalty kick soon after but by now the All Blacks had found their running shoes and it wasn't look before they added another five points.

An impressive break from centre Ma'a Nonu took the All Blacks to the Canadian line but more stout defending held them up.  But before the defenders had time to regroup behind their own line, the All Black No.8 Rodney So'oialo picked up from the base of the ruck and stretched through the Canadian defense line to score, Carter added the two points.

With a tight Canuck defence, the All Blacks opted to try and get over them with a series of short chips.  One from fullback Leon MacDonald fell into the grateful arms of wing Malili Muliaina who raced away to score for his first try of the day and Carter added a well taken conversion from the touch-line.

It was leg work after that, the next try coming via a Carter inside pass to Spencer who looked up to find the red shirts of Canada had parted and he shot though from the 22 before feeding out a pass out to the supporting So'oialo who raced home from 40 metres to score under the post.  The resulting conversion was easy for Carter, and the ref soon blew for halftime.

The All Blacks starting the second looking like men who had just sustain a grilling and looked to extend their lead immediately, but Caleb Ralph was denied an early try after a good Canadian cover tackle took him into the corner flag.

They soon made amends via a lovely switch pass from an inspired reverse flick from lock Brad Thorn wrong-footed the Canucks and sent Muoliana screeching through the gap on a good angle to score.  Carter added the conversion.

The wing soon recorded his hat-trick after coming off his wing to receive a pass from Nonu on the half-way;  Carter added another fine conversion.

But Canada hadn't giving up and, to the roar of the crowd, went around attempting to punch their way thought the All Black Defense.  But their relative inexperience showed as they were unable to string together enough passages to threaten the All Black line and at times outran their support.

But after a short but sustained period of pressure midway through the second-half, Canada were rewarded with three points courtesy of a Barker penalty.

Finally the All Blacks' forwards managed to get on the score-sheet without the help of their backs when a rolling maul at the edge of the Canuck 22 allowed prop Kees Meeuws to break off the back and score a record-braking try -- Meeuws now has more tries than any other prop in International history.

After a great hour the Canadians began to look a little ragged and they were unable to keep up with when the ball was span wide and into the hands of Ralph who shrugged off a weak challenge to score;  Carter again with a suburb touch-line conversion.

Muliana soon touched down for his fourth try of the match after the All Blacks spread it wide and the Canucks ran out of cover in the corner, but Carter missed his first conversion of the game.

It was All Zealand for the last 10 minutes, with Nonu soon adding his first Test try for New Zealand after breaking through exhausted tackles and Carter recovered his timing to score the conversion before referee Tony Spreadbury blew for full time.

Man of the match:  Not one to agonise over -- with four tries All Black wing Malili Muliaina goes straight to number one in the RWC top try scorers list.  But it was not the quantity that impressed, it was the quality -- each relied on good vision, some nice support work and on moving extremely quickly!  Muliaina just pips lock Brad Thorn who outdid his fellow forwards by popping up everywhere, even putting in a cheeky reverse pass that opened up the Canuck defence to send Muliaina through to score.

Moment of the Match:  Not really a moment -- more the first ten minutes where the Canucks took the game to the startled All Blacks with some surging runs and some great turn-overs.  New Zealand really didn't know what had hit them, but unfortunately this time Goliath managed to regain his balance and crush David.  Bah!

Villain of the Match:  A pretty clean affair to be honest.  Lots of big hits from both sides but with New Zealand too busy trying to find first gear in the early stages, and too busy scoring tries in the later part, no time was had for any handbags.  So no villains this time -- although I imagine a certain cameraman might beg to differ, the touch-line techie was taken out by a tackle and was lifted from the turf bleeding from the face.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Carl Hoeft, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Brad Thorn, 6 Marty Holah, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 9 Steve Devine, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Mils Muliaina, 12 Daniel Carter, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Leon MacDonald
Reserves:  Corey Flynn, Doug Howlett, Richie McCaw, Daniel Braid
Unused:  David Hewett, Greg Somerville, Byron Kelleher

Canada:  Garth Cooke, 2 Aaron Abrams, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 5 Ed Knaggs, 6 Ryan Banks (c), 7 Jim Douglas, 8 Jeff Reid, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 John Cannon, 13 Marco Di Girolomo, 14 Matt King, 15 Quentin Fyffe
Reserves:  Rod Snow, Adam Van Staveren, Nik Witkowski, Colin Yukes, Ryan Smith
Unused:  Mark Lawson, Morgan Williams

Attendance:  38889
Referee:  Spreadbury t.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Muliaina M. 4, Nonu M. 1, Ralph C.S. 2, Meeuws K.J. 1, So'oialo R. 2
Conv:  Carter D.W. 9

Canada
Pen K.:  Barker J. 2

Italy 36 Tonga 12

In their second Rugby World Cup match Italy beat the ardent Tongans 36-12 at Canberra Stadium.  The winners scored three tries to the losers' two and were flattered by the scoreline.  In the end it was superior kicking which set Italy on the way to victory -- that and their scrumming.

Italy ended the first half leading 9-7, thanks to three kicks by their sturdy debutant, the New Zealand-born, Rima Wakarua.  But the Tongans had done the attacking which looked most likely to produce a try.  They attacked right from the kick-off, lost a turnover and then lost flank Ipolito Fenukitau to a neck tackle on Gonzalo Canale which may well have been late.

When his 10 minutes in the sin bin were over, Fenukitau was replaced and sat on the bench with that offending left arm in a sling.

Wakarua, however, kept Italy nudging up with three impeccably struck penalties to put his side up 9-0 after 28 minutes.  The next 12 minutes were Tongan.

They attacked through many phases and opted for a five-metre line-out, but lost the ball.  Italy had a scrum, from which Sergio Parisse drove but in his drive the ball squirted from under his armpit and the Tongans were back on phased attack and John Payne cut through for a try, which Sateki Tulip, the most erratic kicker at the World Cup so far, converted from touch to make it 9-7.

The Dallan brothers got three tries in the second half for Italy.  In all there were three brotherly pairs on the field in the match -- the Afeakis, separated by sad injury in the second half, and the Ngauamo brothers for Tonga.

Manuel Dallan got the first try 10 minutes into the second half.

Not long after that Inoke Afeaki got his head on the wrong side of massive Andrea Lo Cicero in a tackle and was stretchered off, not looking healthy.  His Tongan team-mates, bless them, then threw in a bigger effort which ended when Tevita Tu'ifau tiptoed down the left-hand touchline and scored a try of splendid skill -- 16-12 with 21 minutes to go.

Those 21 minutes were all Italy.  Two penalties by Wakarua made it 22-12, the second coming after a hectic attack and a second yellow card for a Tongan, this time lock Milton Ngauamo.

An Italian got a yellow card soon afterwards -- hooker Fabio Ongaro for a swinging arm -- which missed!  But they got a try when Manuel Dallan did well in setting up a maul.  Brother Denis got the ball off him and ran through for a try seemingly simple.

On time, aerodynamic Denis Dallan completed the family hat-trick when replacement centre Andrea Masi slipped through a sympathetic grubber which the wing picked up in the dive and scored.

Man of the Match:  There were the lively scrum-halves Alessandro Troncon of Italy and Tongan Sililo Martens with the fancy haircut.  There were the Italian loose forwards, Sergio Parisse, Aaron Persico and Andrea Rossi.  There were the shaven-headed Italian wings Denis Dallan and Nicola Mazzucato, determined on attack and defence.  And there was our choice -- Andrea Lo Cicero who did all prop things with power and found time to put in a charge or two.  His efforts had a great effect on the outcome.

Moment of the match:  You held your breath as Tevita Tu'ifua ran down a millimetre in from touch to score.  But the best was the clever sympathy of Andrea Masi's kick and the confident skill of the diving Denis Dallan in collecting the ball for the try.

Villain of the match:  There were three yellow cards -- for Ipolito Fenukitau, Milton Ngauamo and Fabio Ongaro.  The worst offence was clearly Fenukitau's, which makes him our Villain of the match.

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Carlo Festuccia, Mirco Bergamasco, Carlo Checchinato, Andrea Masi, Salvatore Perugini
Unused:  Matteo Mazzantini, Francesco Mazzariol

Tonga:  1 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 2 Ephraim Taukafa, 3 Heamani Lavaka, 4 Milton Ngauamo, 5 Viliami Vaki, 6 'Inoke Afeaki (c), 7 'Ipolito Fenukitau, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Sateki Tuipulotu, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Gus Leger, 13 John Payne, 14 Tevita Tu'ifua, 15 Pierre Hola
Reserves:  Johnny Ngauamo, Stanley Afeaki, Usaia Latu, Viliami Ma'asi, Kisi Pulu, Sila Va'enuku
Unused:  Tony Alatini

Attendance:  18967
Referee:  Walsh s.

Points Scorers:

Italy
Tries:  Dallan M. 1, Dallan D. 2
Conv:  Wakarua-Noema R. 3
Pen K.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 5

Tonga
Tries:  Payne J. 1, Tu'ifua T. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 1

Samoa 60 Uruguay 13

Samoa lived up to their reputation as RWC entertainers, scoring a bagful of tries -- including two from flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu -- to beat Uruguay by 60-13 in Perth.

It was a fairly satisfactory start to the tournament for the Islanders and will give them huge confidence ahead of the "David v Goliath" pool battles to come against South Africa and England, although they will need to make vast improvements around the set-piece if they are to cause an upset on the scale of the one they dished out in Wales back in 1991.

Their scrum and line-out were just about adequate against their heavier South American opponents, but it was the Samoan's mastery of broken-play situations which helped them rack up their mighty tally of points.

At times, it was almost like watching a game of Sevens, as a succession of Samoan runners stepped out of first-up tackles, pinned their ears back and scored from long-range without a hand being laid on them by the opposition.

It was a different story when they were tied up in the middle of the field by Los Teros, whose static upperbody strength and efficent mauling techniques helped keep the scoreline down.

The Samoans were also undone at times by their lack of discipline, particularly in diving off their feet at the ruck.  They were also the recipient of the only yellow card in the match, wing Lome Fa'atau earning censure from the referee in the dying moments for an illegal challenge on a Uruguay player.

Samoa were on the all-out attack from the very kick-off, fly-half Earl Va'a signalling his side's intentions by standing flat and firing out several bullet-passes to his strike runners out wide to make some early incursions into Uruguayan territory.

Uruguay battled on, harrying their opposition and forcing several turnovers of possession.  The South Americans also had some success with the kick-and-chase game, hoofing the ball forward to create some disarray in the Samoan ranks, but could not match their oppponents for sheer rugby skill and attacking pace.

The South Americans also managed to piece together some excellent continuity play in the dying minutes of the match, although in truth the match was well beyond their reach by then.

It took a while for Samoa to hit their stride, rustiness or opening match nerves causing them to make several unforced errors in the handling stakes.

But when their gameplan did click into place, Uruguay were left clutching at shadows as a moment of individual genius saw Samoa open their account, flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu breaching the first line of defence just outside his own half and then putting on the after-burners to score some 40 metres downfield.

Va'a missed the conversion, but with Samoa on song there was to be no respite for Uruguay and just a few minutes later, the South Americans' defence was again stretched to breaking point.  As Samoa attacked down the right, the scoring pass was given to centre Brian Lima, the veteran of four World Cups making no mistake to touch down.

Uruguay were hit by another blow in the 24th minute, Sailosi Tagicakibau making a delightful pick-up down by his bootstraps, the winger barely missing a beat before racing off downfield for his side's third try.

From there on, Samoa were on their way to full points after racking up 10 tries against their opponents, and after this opening engagement will relish the chance to test their sinews against the bigger fish in their pool.

Man of the Match:  Some excellent work from Uruguay's Rodrigo Sanchez, Rodrigo Capo and Emilian Ibarra, particularly in the first half, but it was Samoan fullback Tanner Vili who was the class act of the match, his invention in attack and solidity under the high ball making him a key man in the victory.

Moment of the match:  Rodrigo Capo's first-half try.  Despite looking down for the count after a flurry of first-half tries from Samoa, Uruguay struck back just before the break with an excellent score from Rodrigo Capo, the burly No.8 crashing over in the left-hand corner to score Los Teros' first try of the tournament.  The sheer joy on Capo's face was a sight to behold.

Villain of the match:  While their brave players would never utter a word of complaint about the RWC schedule, it is pretty disgraceful that a minor nation like Uruguay found themselves facing both South Africa and Samoa within the space of four days.

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Dominic Feaunati, Des Tuiali'i, Simon Lemalu, Mahonri Schwalger, Denning Tyrell, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen

Uruguay:  1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Diego Lamelas, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Alzueta, 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 6 Nicolas Grille, 7 Marcelo Gutierrez, 8 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 9 Juan Campomar, 10 Bernardo Amarillo, 11 Carlos Baldassari, 12 Diego Aguirre (c), 13 Martin Mendaro, 14 Joaquin Pastore, 15 Juan Menchaca
Reserves:  Juan Alvarez, Nicolas Brignoni, Juan Machado, Jose Viana, Ignacio Conti, Joaquin De Freitas, Juan Andres Perez

Attendance:  22020
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Vili T.A. 1, Fa'atau L.M. 1, Lima B.P. 2, Tagicakibau S. 1, Palepoi O. 1, Fa'asavalu M. 2, Lemalu S. 1, Feaunati D. 1
Conv:  Vili T.A. 2, Va'a E.V. 3

Uruguay
Tries:  Lemoine P.A. 1, Capo Ortega R. 1
Pen K.:  Aguirre D. 1