France break Wales' run

Wales' run of eight consecutive Six Nations victories came to an end in Paris on Friday, as France finally stitched all the component parts of their game together and produced a terrific second half of rugby to win 21-16.

The hosts went 51 minutes without conceding a penalty following Lee Byrne's 24th minute try which gave the Welsh a 13-3 lead, notching 18 unanswered points before holding off a fierce late Welsh onslaught.

"If we win we'll be right, and if we lose you can say that we are incompetent and pass us off as idiots," Marc Lièvremont said to reporters who had questioned the wisdom of playing with no specialist goal-kicker, no specialist fly-half starting, and an untried 20-year-old in the middle.

In the event, the fly-half did just fine before he went off injured and the 20-year-old had a more than passable debut.  As for the goal-kicker:  Morgan Parra joins Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Dimitri Yachvili on the list of French international scrum-halves who could boot a ball through an archer's slit from 50 yards.  Lièvremont was right.  If the French back this up with similar domination of England in a fortnight's time -- not unthinkable -- it could herald a new era.

If France had all the problems and pressure before the game, Wales have a few after it.  An uncharacteristic indiscipline undermined their efforts; in that period the French didn't concede a penalty, the Welsh gave away nine.  It's not worth a panic yet -- better teams have lost in Paris when the French are on song -- but by Wales' own high standards, this was a step down.

Whatever it was to the teams, it was the game of the tournament to all of us watching, full of fluidity, endeavour, tactical nuance and surprise.  Did France win because they wised up to the lack of Welsh bodies at rucks?  Will the Welsh feel hard done-by from the referee?  How good was Imanol Harinordoquy?  Should the Welsh have speeded the game up sooner?  How much more room do the French have to develop from this point, or was this the benchmark performance Lièvremont had demanded?  All rugby fans watching had plenty to both admire and ponder, the perfect rugby experience.

Certainly the answer to the first of those questions is a resounding "yes".  In the first few minutes the Welsh got themselves into a 6-3 lead courtesy of two penalties.

The French had opted not to contest rucks in defence early on, perhaps hoping that the Welsh might over-run themselves with ball in hand and get isolated.  Instead, they were caught offside once and pinged once for playing the ball on the ground.  But eventually the Welsh were lulled into a false sense of security; the French later turned over oodles of ball by sending bodies into the thick of it in defence, blue shirts often outnumbering red by two to one.

The Welsh in defence were even more reticent; frequently a French ruck would be marked with one Welsh tackler and two Welsh pillars, with the other twelve strung across the pitch in rigid defensive formation and five or six blue shirts piled up to secure possession.  Again, the French got streetwise and adapted, starting hitting the ball at pace and from deeper, and got the upper hand.

On the basis of all that, Wales were their own worst enemies.  Being outnumbered at a ruck in an age where referees are encouraged to whistle any attempt to steal ball that lasts longer than a nanosecond is not particularly clever.  There may be grumbles about refereeing consistency but they'll find short shrift from most watching, particularly after what Wales' defence did to England a fortnight ago.

Still, they led 13-3 after 24 minutes after a magnificent try from Lee Byrne, who sliced through a gap at full tilt on an unstoppable angle from 40m with not a fingernail laid on him.

That should have been the cue to speed things up.  France had already struggled with direct running from deep, especially from Tom Shanklin.  Instead, the Welsh backs remained infuriatingly flat, removing their ability to create such gaps.

Instead, the game belonged to France from that moment on.  They had already shown signs of their in-game development when Bastareaud's break had taken the french to the line and Harinordoquy had touched the ball down, only for the move to be whistled for excessive usage of the hand in presenting the ball -- an extraordinary harsh call given some of the leeway allowed for ball presentation at times.

That was on 21 minutes.  That was the last time the French conceded a penalty before Harinordoquy was caught going into the side of a ruck on 72 minutes.  That was the difference between the teams.

Five minutes before half-time Maxime Médard's break resulted in a penalty which Parra converted effortlessly to make it 13-6, right on the stroke of half-time Harinordoquy picked off the base of a scrum and drove to 2m out, stopped short by a brilliant tackle from Shane Williams.  Two picks and drives and a conversion later, Thierry Dusautoir and Parra had levelled the scores at the break.

Wales started the second half brighter, with a Mike Philips box-kick causing consternation in the French defence and Tom Shanklin driving close.  Here the difference became apparent again:  French bodies there tempted the Welsh to drive in off their feet and give the position away.

France took the lead on 53 minutes, swinging the ball left after Harinordoquy had made the hard yards and scoring through Heymans despite doing their best to butcher a four on two overlap.  Parra blotted his copybook with the conversion and a penalty ten minutes later, both of which shaved the post, but by now France had the game in control.

Bastareaud made another break which Heymans nearly capitalised on, Parra put his side two scores ahead with a penalty for an early tackle as Wales struggled to cope with the depth of the French support runners.

Finally the veneer of French discipline broke on 71 minutes, with Harinordoquy, of all people, caught going into the side of a ruck.  James Hook, whose introduction had been long overdue, made it 21-16.

Cue some frantic Welsh catch-up rugby -- reminiscent of four years ago at the very same venue.  Cue another mad scramble for the line off a ruck from Martyn Williams.  But there was no magical ending this time as the French piled bodies into a ruck on the line and turned the ball over.

Man of the match:  King of the line-outs and the loose, Imanol Harinordoquy was a colossus, the benchmark player of a top-notch game.

Moment of the match:  That late turnover sealed the deal, a super piece of defensive graft under heavy pressure.

Villain of the match:  Tom Shanklin was lucky not to get a yellow card for a mid-air tackle on Harinordoquy, but that bit of villainy was cancelled out by the meal the Frenchman made of his landing.  No award.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Dusautoir, Heymans
Con:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 3

For Wales:
Try:  Byrne
Con:  S.  Jones
Pens:  S.  Jones 2, Hook

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Benoit Baby, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Clement Poitrenaud.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Gavin Henson

Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Disjointed Ireland account for Italy

Ireland followed up last week's win over France with a 38-9 victory over Italy at the Stadio Flaminio to keep the pressure on Wales at the top of the Six Nations standings.

Put the result to one side and there will be major areas of concern for both coaches, in what was a tale of two halves.  In the opening forty minutes it was Italy who controlled events whilst Ireland floundered, and then the roles were reversed after the break.

Declan Kidney will be the happier of the two coaches, after all his side came out of this brutal encounter with the win, but Nick Mallett will also draw from Italy's ability to take the game to Ireland, albeit only for forty minutes.

Paul Griffen, whilst not spectacular, showed the true worth of having a recognised half-back at this level, and Italy's game benefited for it.  How Mallett must be wishing he had never even entertained the idea of playing a flanker at nine, let along actually going through with it.

There was a fluidity to their rugby that was missing at Twickenham last week, and that coupled with Ireland's ill discipline allowed them to settle early on -- even with 14 men.  No sooner had the game started than Andrea Masi was in the sin-bin for a disgraceful swinging arm that caught Rob Kearney high.

Despite having Masi off the field Italy went about their task with plenty of vigour, perhaps a little too much at times as tempers came dangerously close to boiling over.  Hell bent on rectifying last week's forgettable forty minutes, Mauro Bergamasco was a menace at the breakdown, often slowing Ireland's ball down enough for any promising attacks to fizzle out.

Kidney will be alarmed that his side coughed up more penalties in the opening fifteen minutes of this game than they did in eighty minutes against France.  Italy had their own infringers, but Ireland were feeling the wrath of Chris White's whistle all too often.  The end result was a six point margin courtesy of Luke Mclean's boot.

Their luck changed after eighteen minutes when Tommy Bowe snapped up a loose pass, before skipping out of two despairing tackles, and showing a clean set of heals to go in under the posts.  O'Gara converted and suddenly Ireland were leading having spent the opening quarter on the back foot.  The lead didn't last though as Mclean soon slotted his third straight penalty.

With the penalties continuing to flow it was always a matter of time before we saw another yellow card, and in fact two came in quick succession.  First O'Gara went, albeit slightly harshly, for tackling a player without the ball, and then it was Salvatore Perugini's turn, his more deserved for taking Paul O'Connell out in mid-air.

Ireland continued to struggle, as they had for much of the half, until they finally turned some pressure into points.  Italy were holding firm, with the half at an end, until Jamie Heaslip slipped a great pass to Luke Fitzgerald, and the wing did the rest.  With O'Gara off Kearney slotted the extras and Ireland went into the break with an undeserved lead.

Kidney will have been livid at half-time, and Ireland's performance after the break suggested they had taken much of what was said on board, or at least Heaslip did.  It was his surge down the middle of the pitch that lead to David Wallace scoring, although the laboured manner in which the try was eventually taken will not go unnoticed.

From there it seemed as if Italy lost their belief, at the same time Ireland began to find some success from playing to their game plan.  The structure enabled them to go through the phases and put pressure on Italy's defence, and when O'Gara slotted a penalty on the fifty minute mark it was clear there would only be one winner.

Sadly the game began to fade, as errors became increasingly more common, effectively ending the game as a spectacle and contest.  Both sides still went about their business in keeping with the physical nature of the game, just both had a sense that the game was up.  Fitzgerald's second try, and O'Driscoll's first, the icing on the cake for Ireland and the final nails in Italy's coffin.

Italy's frustrating affair with the Six Nations continues, and one wanders if they will ever compete on a weekly basis.  At present one senses they have the ability to win a one-off game, but there is little evidence to suggest they could sustain such form.

Despite claiming victory there will be cause for concern in the Ireland camp, as if they are to mount a serious challenge this season they can ill-afford to turn in such a sub-standard first-half again.  On the flip side they did what they needed to win, and really that is what matters.

Man of the Match:  Having had a stormer against France last week Jamie Heaslip backed it up with another all-action display here in Rome.  Be it bursting through tackles, doing the hard work at the breakdown, or setting up tries, all that Heaslip did had a touch of class to it.  A few more outings like this and there will be talk of a British and Irish Lions spot for him.

Moment of the Match:  With Italy starting to believe they could cause an upset in the first half the telling blow was Luke Fitzgerald's try on the stroke of half-time.  It gave Ireland the lead, despite having done little to deserve it, and left Italy trailing at the break -- a position from which they would never recover.

Villain of the Match:  Tempers were simmering over throughout, but it took just 41 seconds to hand this gong out.  Hang your head in shame Andrea Masi for a horrendous high swinging arm.  Had it not been the first minute of a Test match it would have been red.

The Scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Mclean 3

For Ireland:
Tries:  Bowe, Fitzgerald 2, Wallace, O'Driscoll
Cons:  O'Gara 4, Kearney
Pen:  O'Gara

Yellow cards:  Masi (1st minute -- dangerous tackle), O'Gara (32nd minute -- early tackle), Perugini (36th minute -- taking the man out in the air).

The Teams:

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke Mclean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Tommaso Reato, 4 Santiago Dellape', 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Andrea Bacchetti.

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Chris White (England)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Romain Poite (France)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

France ease to victory over Scotland

France got their Six Nations off to a belated start on Saturday with a 22-13 win over Scotland in the Stade de France, in a game which will do little to alleviate the pressure on either coach to get their team going.

In the end, France won because their pack managed to get more of the possession and because Lionel Beauxis was a little more wily with the boot in open play;  neither principle pleased the crowd one jot.

The match was punctuated by a chorus of boos from a demanding French public beginning to develop more than a mite of irritation at their new team's inability to get it completely together.

French discipline was much better -- they didn't concede a penalty until the 26th minute and conceded only seven all game -- but it was their gameplay in general that let them down this time.  Where last week in Ireland they had conceded penalties at the rate of one every four minutes, this time the rate of handling errors exceeded that mean, certainly in the first half.

Scotland weren't much better with their handling errors, so it was a frustrating match of rugby to watch.  Both sides promised much but delivered very little.  Both coaches will have to knuckle down under a hail of criticism and spend the next fortnight on execution lessons: neither game-plan was flawed, neither side lacked quality, neither side seemed capable of catching a train, never mind a rugby ball.

Max Evans and Simon Danielli justified their selections by being the brighter sparks outside the Scottish scrum;  they benefitted from the openness of the Scottish game-plan which saw the visitors try to open the ball from side to side even when ensconced in their own 22.

The French also limited their use of the boot to start with, although as the first half wore on and frustration at the lack of continuity grew, a number of garryowens became the plan B.

Both sides looking to open the ball, neither executing with mnuch success.  So what separated the two teams was the set piece skirmish, and once again the Scots scrum let itself down, being turned this way and that, once being memorably driven some 10m backwards and generally being dominated.

Had the French line-outs been anything like as good as the scrum the men in white could have been further ahead than just 6-3 at the break, but Dimitri Szarzewski was imprecise with his throwing, Jim Hamilton, Jason White and later Kelly Brown eager with the contest, so French line-out became a source of Scottish possession more often than not.

The clearest opportunity either team had to score a try in the first half was when Lionel Beauxis hacked through a dropped ball in the French midfield, but when he tried to hack ahead the second time, the ball took an unruly bounce over his boot and the danger was thwarted.

Beauxis also missed two easy shots at goal which could have had France in a comfort zone.  He landed two out of four to Phil Godman's one from one: 6-3 at half-time it was, after a forgettable half of rugby.

France opened the second half with more of the same: a dire line-out, the defence forcing a handling error from the Scots, a hack ahead by Médard where the bounce cost the French a try.

Moments later though, we did have a try as Médard jinked his way through and offloaded to Fulgence Ouedraogo for the score.  Beauxis found his range, 13-3.

Godman replied with a penalty on 50 minutes after some handbags from Szarzewski and at last, blessed relief!  The game began to open up!  France's backs found their rhythm and Médard was once again nearly on the end of a chip kick.  On 53 minutes, Benoit Baby was high-tackled in midfield and Beauxis landed his kick from 50m to make it 16-6.

Scotland butchered the best move of the game by gawping at their own ability to do something good.  John Barclay and Mike Blair exchanged four passes between each other as they shredded the French midfield, the nearest Scottish support man was about 20m behind.  Barclay was tackled and held on, France cleared from the penalty.  On the hour mark, the Scottish scrum creaked too much for referee George Clancy's liking and Beauxis made it 19-6.

Thom Evans emulated his brother's try-scoring feat of last week by slicing through the 10-12 channel after a series of Scottish rucks near the French line with twelve minutes to go, with Paterson bringing the Scots back to touching distance at 19-13.

Three minutes later, Beauxis clipped over his fifth to put his side more than two scores ahead again, and seal the deal.

Man of the match:  Max Evans was Scotland's brightest spark, with Mike Blair and John Barclay also playing well.  For France, Maxime Médard was a source of creativity, but it was Imanol Harinordoquy whose work-rate kept his side going forward.

Moment of the match:  The inter-passing move between Mike Blair and John Barclay that petered out for lack of support.  Super handling and running angles, something few others managed all afternoon.

Villain of the match:  The French crowd deserves to be frustrated, but to boo so vociferously when your team is winning?  Come on ...

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Ouedraogo
Con:  Beauxis
Pens:  Beauxis 5

For Scotland:
Try:  Thom Evans
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Godman 2

The teams:

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Renaud Boyoud, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Julien Malzieu

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Thom Evans, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Moray Low, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson ), 22 Nick De Luca.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Wales break brave English hearts

Wales held off a much improved England side to record their second consecutive Six Nations victory of the season, running out eventual 23-15 winners at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

It was meant to be a cakewalk for Wales, but England had different ideas, very different ideas.  The question must be asked, was this England finally turning the corner from what has been a long straight road of directionless rugby, or was this England spurred on by the occasion -- Wales in Cardiff?

The opening twenty minutes suggested not much had changed from last week, in either camp.  Wales were full of endeavour and organised attack, whilst England were a little lost, all too dependent on the boot and up to their old tricks with a lack of discipline.  End result, Wales 9-0 to the good and seemingly in position to kick on and record the comfortable victory most had them down for.

And then, rather unexpectedly England came to life and began playing with something that looked suspiciously like structure, and more than a fair share of direction.  Joe Worsley, deployed to shackle Andy Powell and Jamie Roberts, worked himself into the ground.  Even Mike Tindall, ten minutes in the bin aside, was making his hits and stopping quick ball for the Welsh.

It was his desire to slow Welsh ball down that got him ten in the bin, but that is when England were at their best.  Once Stephen Jones slotted the resulting penalty the Tindle-less England scored against the run of play.  Riki Flutey showed a glimpse of his brilliance before sending Andy Goode free, and Paul Sackey won the race to the chip ahead.

When Goode slotted a drop goal on the half hour mark Wales looked shell-shocked.  It was as if they had believed all the pre-match hype, billing them as clear favourites and runaway winners, and forgotten to play rugby in the process.  Their insistence of attacking the same way until the space was gone worked against them on several occasions, too many players waiting for the swing in action and not enough in the rucks.

Credit to England, who for so long have lacked anything other than yellow cards (although they got their usual two this time out), for it was their aggression at the breakdown that caused Wales their problems.  Suddenly with a lack of quick ball Wales didn't look so clever, lacked a little shape and consequently lost control of the game.

Goode handed the hosts a perfect start to the second half, as he was sent to the bin and Wales made England pay the ultimate price.  First of all Jones slotted the resulting penalty, and then seconds later Leigh Halfpenny, who seems to know no bounds, was racing away for a great try from turnover ball.  Was that to be the spark Wales needed?  Was that to be the start of what we had all expected?  The answer was a resounding "no".

In fact England grew in stature as they realised they had a fighting chance, and when Delon Armitage broke free to dive in under the posts there only seemed to be one winner.  Wales were looking lost with Powell nullified, hence he was withdrawn on the hour, and Roberts being contained, just.

Although with Roberts under the microscope Tom Shanklin was left to roam free.  Shanklin has never needed a second invite, and once again he proved to be a real threat with ball in hand.  In fact he was one of the few Welsh players to make an impact on England's resolute defence, a defence that finally looked worthy of the Test arena.

Whilst the record books will show an English defeat, this could be the turning point a nation has been hoping and praying for.  Or it could be a much improved performance fuelled by passion and emotion.  Either way it will keep the wolves from the door for another week, and with their barks getting increasingly louder of late the peace will be welcome.

For Wales there is plenty to ponder, and they will be glad this wake-up call came now, for if they went to France in this state it could be a messy day.  We now know there isn't much when the ball is slow, which means Gatland and co.  need to devise "plan B".  "Plan A" is good, and works well, now lets see what Wales can do when not given free reign and quick ball.

Man of the Match:  First let's give Jonathan Kaplan a well deserved mention.  A lot has been said of the standard of the officials of late, but this was a fine display from the South African.  He controlled the breakdown and allowed the game to flow.  Well done sir, take a bow on behalf of referees.  Now to the real heroes.  Andrew Sheridan answered his critics in style, whilst Riki Flutey finally showed he can play Test rugby.  Honourable mentions for Jamie Roberts and Leigh Halfpenny, but the award is split between Tom Shanklin and Joe Worsley.  Shanklin was Wales' rock, in attack and defence, with plenty to offer.  Worsley, question marks over his ability as an international openside, turned in one of his best ever England performances.  He tackled like a man possessed and enabled England to play to a gameplan, something they haven't done since 2003!

Moment of the Match:  Two moments stick out the most, England's yellow cards.  Had it not been for the yellows England may have won this game.  When Tindall was off they won 5-3, but when Goode was off, and the game was in the balance, they coughed up ten points.  One day England will learn it is very difficult to win a Test match with fourteen men for sixty minutes.

Villain of the Match:  Nick Kennedy had a few wild swings, which thankfully amounted to nothing more than air shots, and apart from that this was a good old fashioned game of rugby.

The Scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Halfpenny
Pens:  S.Jones 5, Halfpenny

For England:
Tries:  Sackey, Armitage
Con:  Flood
Drop goal:  Goode

Yellow cards:  Tindall (15th minute -- slowing the ball down), Goode (42nd minute -- killing the ball).

The Teams:

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Mark Jones, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (captain), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Wales conquer Murrayfield

Wales navigated the potential banana skin of Scotland at Murrayfield with ease on Sunday, opening the defence of their Six Nations title with a confident 26-13 victory over the luckless locals.

It was the near-perfect start for the reigning champions and they will return home to plot England's downfall with heads and tails held high.

Scotland will rue what might have been.  Two game-ending injures in the first half coupled with a yellow card to debutant prop Geoff Cross killed off what had been an enterprising start and any real chance of an upset.

Much has been made of Wales's confidence following their Grand Slam heroics of 2008 and they showed their mettle by shrugging off the eleventh-hour loss of their captain, Ryan Jones, to gallop to a 21-3 lead in just over 40 minutes of rugby.

But perhaps Wales are just a little too confident at present.

With the game all but won they coasted home in second half, allowing the Scots back into the game.

Shaun Edwards's face bent into apoplectic rage as Max Evans snatched a consolation try for the men in blue.  It was a vivid indication that such bouts of navel-gazing will be beaten out of the Welsh in the next few days -- sides better equipped than resource-challenged Scotland would have taken full advantage of such complacency.

But perhaps also the Welsh are entitled to feel good about themselves.  Their handling skills, game perception, defence, organisation and fitness are a cut above everything else we have seen this weekend.

Indeed, the only discernable chink in the red armour seems to be the line-out.  It is a weakness that England will seek to exploit at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday -- it could be their only hope.

The Scots exploded into the game, making mincemeat out of the Welsh in the game's first scrum.  But it proved to be an illusion -- Scotland's pack doubled and creaked without the twin tonnage of the injured Nathan Hines and Euan Murray.

The visitors, who have won only once on their last five visits to Edinburgh, soon settled into the stride, with Lee Byrne causing the locals all sorts of problems with his sinewy lines of running.

Simon Webster came off his wing to kill a promising raid with a great hit on Martyn Williams, but the Scotsman came off second best -- and the intervention led to a penalty which Stephen Jones duly dispatched between the upright.

It was a passage of play that summed up the hosts' day:  plenty of hearty endeavour but precious little reward.

And worse was to come.

This time it was Cross who came off second best in a challenge.  He took out the airborne Lee Byrne and earned concussion and a yellow card for his troubles.

Webster was then ordered off the pitch after a delayed reaction from his own knock saw him introduce his lunch to the Murrayfield turf during the break in play.

Wales made the most of the Scotland's woes by scoring immediately after the resumption of play, launching a flowing back move that saw Shane Williams and Byrne link menacingly before Tom Shanklin powered over in his usual inimitable fashion.

Jones botched the conversion attempt, yet Wales were good value for their 8-0 advantage during what had been a stop-start affair during the first 25 minutes.

And matters soon deteriorated further for Scotland, as Wales cashed in on disrupting the seven-man blue scrum to launch a Stephen Jones-inspired raid before scrum-half Mike Phillips delivered the scoring pass to Alun-Wyn Jones.

Chris Paterson, on for the stricken Webster, opened Scotland's account with a penalty nine minutes before the break, but Wales were in no mood to concede further points.

A Welsh defence that conceded just two tries during last season's entire Six Nations tournament thwarted Scottish adventure, highlighted through a stunning try-saving tackle by number eight Andy Powell on Paterson.

With the ball failing to emerge from the ensuing melee, Scotland were awarded a scrum on the red line.  Manna from heaven for any attacking team -- but not a under-powered Scottish scrum.  Ross Ford won the hook but Wales simply shunted the Scots off the ball and Powell ran to safety from the base of the accelerating scrum.

Wales charged upfield in pursuit of their ramapaging anchorman and Stephen Jones struck his second penalty with the half's final kick, securing a 16-3 interval advantage.

Wales began the second half as they ended the first, with the impressive Jamie Roberts cutting a line down the middle of the field.  The ball was sent right at pace and a delicious back-door pass from Shane Williams offered up the line to Leigh Halfpenny and the youngster touched down in the corner with textbook precision.

Stephen Jones missed the conversion but it hardly mattered:  Wales had clear water and the Scots were all at sea.

Inevitably, Shane Williams soon got in on the act, sneaking through following a period of sustained pressure.  Again, Stephen Jones failed to add the extras.

With the job done, Wales boss Warren Gatland rang the changes.  It seemed the stationary warm-up bicycles would offer the Welsh replacements more of a work-out than the Scots, but the hosts had other ideas.

They mounted a late challenge with Martyn Williams in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-down and a consolation try duly arrived on 71 minutes with the impressive Evans wriggling through to score.

The try lifted the crowd and their team continued to press.  Paterson almost scored, but he could not ground the ball ahead of a scrambling Byrne.

The truth is that a second Scottish try would have added nothing but cosmetic value -- Wales had comfortably done enough, winning a Test match they never remotely looked like losing.

Man of the match:  Not much from the Scots, to be painfully honest -- but one senses that they are just a game or two away from getting it together -- one has sensed that for a while, actually.  All the usual stars shone for Wales, but it was the intelligent play of the unsung Jamie Roberts that stood out.  How Scotland must envy their victors' deep reserves of talent!

Moment of the match:  Surely the demolition of Scotland's scrum on the Welsh line -- it was a hammer blow to any lingering Scottish hopes.

Villain of the match:  Alain Rolland was reluctant to wave a yellow card over the prone body of Geoff Cross and we are reluctant to hand him this hideous gong.  It might have been a tad cynical, but we'll put it down to over-exuberance -- his tears during Flower of Scotland showed just what a first appearance for his country meant to him.  It seems a pity that he won't remember any of it!  No award.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Evans
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 2

For Wales:
Tries:  Shanklin, AW Jones, Halfpenny, S Williams
Pens:  S Jones 2

Yellow card(s):  Cross (Scotland) -- dangerous tackle, 20;  M Williams (Wales) -- deliberate knock-down, 66.

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Ally Hogg, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Jason White, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alastair Dickinson, 18 Kelly Brown, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Max Evans.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), Rob Debney (England)
TMO:  Geoff Warren (England)

Ireland turn the tide

Ireland got their 2009 Six Nations campaign off to a winning start on Saturday with a 30-21 victory over France in an enthralling, high-paced encounter at Croke Park.

Despite playing entertaining rugby and having the lion's share of possession, France were unable to repeat their last-minute victory of two years ago at the same venue as Ireland triumphed over Les Bleus for the first time in six years.

Declan Kidney's team cashed in on every opportunity that came their way to outscore their visitors three tries to two.

In stark contrast to England's dour display at Twickenham earlier in the day, no one could complain that the teams didn't entertain.  France came good on their promise of playing enterprising rugby and Ireland's backs finally came up with the spark that has been missing for so long.

As expected, Ireland's win was built on the hard graft of their ever-efficient pack, but a few flashes of class from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Gordon D'Arcy kept the scoreboard ticking over.

But it was the Irish loose trio that stood out.  A try for Jamie Heaslip was just reward for a tireless effort.  On numerous occasions, possession was ripped from French hands at vital times.

Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for the home side after just two minutes with a penalty from 35 metres out after Lionel Faure was penalised for not rolling away.

France had not yet touched the ball and were three points down but dominated possession for the rest of the half.

The visitors scored the first try on the quarter-hour mark with a piece of flowing rugby.

Maxime Médard had the Irish defence scrambling with a chip down the left touch line and Sébastien Tillous-Borde had the presence of mind to send a long cross-field pass out to Sebastien Chabal.  The big lock rumbled forward before finding Julien Malzieu, who did well while skirting the touchline to offload to Imanol Harinordoquy and the French number eight charged over to put his side ahead.

Lionel Beauxis' conversion was almost immediately countered by a second penalty from O'Gara, when Dimitri Szarzewski was adjudged off-side.

Apart from the opening foray, it had been all France for twenty minutes, but the home side were just one point adrift.

Five minutes from the half-time a break from Kearney turned the game on its head.  The full-back beat a couple of tackles as the Irish back-line produced it's most fluid move in many moons.

Kearney's break led to the supporting Tommy Bowe carrying on the charge.  The recycled ball found Jamie Heaslip, and a big step from the number eight wrong footed the defence before he sprinted over for a vital score.

Being behind didn't put France off their enterprising game as Chabal made a barnstorming run to put his team back on the attack.  With the referee playing advantage for an Irish offside, Beauxis struck one of his trademark drop goals from 40 metres out to make the score 13-10 to the hosts as the teams trotted off at half time.

Ireland started the second period in perfect fashion to move further ahead as skipper O'Driscoll scored a fantastic try.  It was classic BOD -- straight running to beat his man -- Beauxis -- followed by a clean step to get around the last line of defence- Julien Malzieu.

France struck right back as Maxime Médard scored thanks to an inch-perfect cross-field kick-pass from Beauxis after Harinordoquy had grabbed a loose ball.

Beauxis followed up with his second drop goal.  Three points it might have added, but one could not help feel that it was a waste of quality possession at that moment.  What exactly the fascination with drops is in French rugby is beyond me, overkill is the word that springs to mind.

At 20-18 it was anyone's game but Ireland once again nicked the advantage.  A clever chip ahead from O'Driscoll put the blue line-out jumpers and their fly-half under pressure, setting up an attacking line-out for the home side.

D'Arcy rounded off a few phases from the heavies by twisting himself over the line for a well deserved try.

A penalty from Beauxis with four minutes to play made the scores 27-21, setting up a tense finale.  But O'Gara's sixth successful place-kick a minute later put the game out of the visitors' reach.

France will head home obviously disappointed with the result, but showed enough to maintain hopes of victory in this year's tournament.

For Ireland, their first victory in eight games against France has confirmed their status as genuine title contenders.  A fascinating month awaits us -- as does that game in Cardiff on March 21!

Man of the match:  Imanol Harinordoquy was the stand-out player for the visitors with an excellent display in both the line-outs and loose play.  Sebastien Chabal deserves a mention, as does Beauxis in his first game in Blue since the World Cup.  For Ireland Brian O'Driscoll silenced his critics with his best display in a long time and Rob Kearney was exciting on attack.  But Jamie Heaslip gets our vote.  His try was awesome but his night was summed up by winning a penalty for O'Gara to slot in the dying minutes by wrapping up Cedric Heymans, who was forced to hold on in the tackle.

Moment of the match:  Both O'Driscoll and Heaslip's tries were gems, but Gordon D'Arcy's try on 66 minutes put the Irish ahead at a vital time and forced the French to loose their composure a little.

Villain of the match:  No serious mischief to report.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Heaslip, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy
Cons:  O'Gara 3
Pens:  O'Gara 3

For France:
Tries:  Harinordoquy, Medard
Con:  Beauxis
Drops:  Beauxis 2

Ireland:  15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.

France:  15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Benoit Baby, 22 Cedric Heymans.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:  Dave Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO:  Giulio de Santis (Italy)

England stumble to lifeless win

England got their Six Nations off to the anticipated winning start on Saturday, with a 36-11 win over an Italian side hamstrung by both injuries and backfiring tactical ploys.

But make no mistake, this was not the dawn of a new England era.  It was not even bright enough for a false dawn.  It was, in fact, dull enough to make a chink of light seem rabbit-paralysingly bright.

England's shape and structure was as robust as damp flint:  often crumbly, threatening to be sharp but never dangerously so, and with very few bright sparks.  What gave the score its imbalance was the sheer awfulness of Italy, exacerbated by the misery endured by Mauro Bergamasco in the number nine jersey.

Bergamasco was not just thrown into the deep end, he was thrown into a hurricane-whipped Atlantic.  He never had a chance.  He was culpable for all three of England's first three tries, a number which could have been five if England had not been so rubbish.  I won't go on, for he's a terrific player, but playing him at nine is an experiment that should be consigned to camera 101.

The first gave Andy Goode roughly four minutes of redemption, four minutes in which English fans dared to think that he might yet be able to transpose his undisguiseable talent onto the international stage.  Goode took the ball three phases after Fabio Ongaro had overthrown his first line-out by a mile, grubbered through, sprinted on and scored, converting for good measure.  Had Bergamasco been running a usual scrum-half defensive line, Goode would never have been near a try, but fair play for seeing the gap.  Goode had an excellent first four minutes back;  he spent the next 76 minutes lumbering some way below that benchmark.

The second try came because -- not for the first time -- Bergamasco had obeyed his rucking instincts and joined into the breakdown contest.  the ball squirted out the side, and with no scrum-half there to mop it up, James Haskell nicked it and popped it up for Harry Ellis who stormed home.

The third was the coup de grace for Bergamasco's scrum-half career, a long looping floating pass to his fly-half which found the gap between ten and twelve and was hacked ahead and dotted down by Riki Flutey.  That -- plus two Goode conversions -- made the score 19-0 after half an hour and was the end of the game as a contest.

The other area of worry for Italy was the line-out, where Ongaro often seemed to be aiming for a jumper on the other side of the pitch, so far did he occasionally throw it.  It would have been a problem in a close game.

Back to England, for they have much more to worry about.  Considering Italy's disarray, the white pack ought to have clambered in and set the bulldozers rolling.  It should have been attacking practice.  Instead, Italy won the last ten minutes of the first half 6-3 as England conceded penalty after penalty and kicked away possession after possession.

Typifying the disinterested arrogance was Haskell's trip on Andrea Marcato and subsequent ludicrous pantomime display of petulant arm and head-shaking as he was admonished and yellow-carded for his sin.  It was like watching an eight-year-old being denied his daily can of tartrazine, a playground bully being chastised by his own mother.  Pathetic on every level, not the actions of a man who would seek to be a British and Irish Lion.

The second half was no less turgid than the first.  Bergamasco was put out of his misery by the introduction of Giulio Toniolatti, whose debut was perfectly respectable and made you wonder why on earth he was not given a go in the first place.

Italy's scrum kept up its good work, the defence tackled with its usual tenacity.  England continued to kick heir way down into Italy's half and then attempt to break the Italian line with unwieldy mallets rather than surgical scalpels.

Goode aded to a catalogue of first-half misses -- two penalties and a conversion -- with a skied drop goal on 50 minutes, which was all England could muster until Italy gave away a try by attacking.  A terrific counter-attack led by Masi and continued by a sweeping move left where Mirco Bergamasco should have been given the ball to finish off, instead ended up being turned over in the middle by England's defence.  Ellis took it off the fringe and scampered home from 50m.

A catalyst for improvement?  An inspiration to bigger and better things?  The key that unlocked England's desire to play, crunch and run their ragged opponents silly?

Good grief.  Goode and Ellis continued to kick away ball after ball despite England's complete physical domination.  Shane Geraghty, on for barely five minutes, was sin-binned for a mid-air tackle that even superseded Haskell's trip for stupidity.  Not one of the matchday 22 stood up and took control.  Pub teams playing with ashtrays on the way home after closing time have communicated and handled better.

In the end, Italy finished stronger, snapping round the fringes well, the pack forging hard yards forward.  Parisse's cheeky pass nearly yielded a try for Alessandro Zanni, but for Zanni's ball-in-hand blinkers, it could have been a try for someone else.

With ten minutes to go, Luke McLean -- who was a much improved figure from the bedraggled young debutant in Cape Town last year -- made a terrific break to the left corner but just didn't have the gas to take Delon Armitage.  Out the ball went right to Gonzalo Canale, then Kane Robertson, and finally to Mirco Bergamasco who got a try that he most likely dedicated to his misused brother.

Mark Cueto finished off a late score that added some undeserved brasso to the scoreline.

Man of the match:  Tempting not to give one at all for such a poor game, but if forced, we'd probably say that Sergio Parisse was the one looking to get the most going.  A couple of cheeky bahind-the-back passes, one chip and regather, a couple of storming runs and steps all tallied up to a few bright moments on a gloomy afternoon.

Moment of the match:  Mirco Bergamasco's try finished off the best move of the match.

Villain of the match 1:  Take a slapped wrist/stand in the corner/go to your room/no pocket money for a week James Haskell.  For goodness' sake, grow up and act your age, and don't let us ever catch you tripping someone like that again.  And for crying out loud, stop sulking like that!

Villain of the match 2:  The idiot, the dribbling, cloth-brained, soccer-watching idiot, who feels it necessary, every time England score, to pump out music that would be dismissed in one of Tenerife's least reputable nightclubs as a monotonous caterwaul.  If we want to cheer, we will, and we will do it properly.  Don't you trust us to do so?  Are you worried people might not think England are good or something?

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Goode, Ellis 2, Flutey, Cueto
Cons:  Goode 2
Pen:  Goode

For Italy:
Try:  Mirco Bergamasco
Pens:  McLean 2

Yellow cards:  Haskell (37, tripping), Geraghty (64, dangerous tackle)

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Ben Foden, 21 Shane Geraghty, 22 Mathew Tait.

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kane Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Mauro Beragamasco, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellapé, 3 Martin Castrogiovani, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Tommaso Reato, 19 Jean-Francois Montauriol, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Luke McLean, 22 Matteo Pratichetti.

Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Joel Jutge (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

Wales finish November on a high

Wales finally got what they had been after, a Southern Hemisphere scalp, when they beat Australia 21-18 in a vintage game of rugby at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

The home side, desperate to be recognised as one of the world's top sides, came into the game on the back of morale-sapping defeats at the hands of South Africa and then New Zealand.  Australia knew a win would see them finish their European tour unbeaten -- as it was that eluded them, but what a game of rugby!

After a series of one-sided and kicking-orientated Test matches in November, both sides served up a fine Test match packed full of excitement and tension.  More than that it proved Wales have the ability, if not always the application, to mix it with the top dogs of world rugby.

The early omens favoured Wales, first Stirling Mortlock departed with barely two minutes on the board, and then two minutes later Wales scored with such ease from a well-constructed move.  Shane Williams started and finished the move by freeing Lee Byrne and Jamie Roberts before popping up on the wing to score his 44th Test try.

But any hopes of a bright start yielding anything more than Williams' try were dashed when Mark Chisholm raced over sixty metres for a try against the run of play, silencing the crowd in the process.  Moments later and Jamie Roberts, who had collided with Mortlock in the opening minutes, also left the field of play, and suddenly the pendulum had swung the way of Australia.

Matt Giteau added a clever drop goal, after Wales held firm under a barrage of attacks, and it seemed as if Australia were slowly taking control.  Despite defeats against South Africa and New Zealand, Wales retained a positive mindset and refused to let the Wallabies settle into a rhythm, attacking at every chance.

Wales' ability to offload in the tackle had Australia at sixes and sevens and following a barnstorming run from Andy Powell they were off and running again.  There was no try, but a yellow card to Stephen Moore and three points from the boot of Stephen Jones allowed the home side to retain their grip on the game, despite a few areas of concern.

An over-throw at the line-out allowed Chisholm to get Australia going, and continued problems for hooker Matthew Rees hampered Wales as they looked to maintain their tempo and intensity with ball in hand.

Despite problems at the line-out, and a lack of impact in the midfield without Roberts on the field, Wales found their attacking intent again and reaped the rewards with a fine try.  Powell started the move, jinking past several hapless Wallaby defenders, before charging forward to give Wales the impetus they so badly needed.

On the back of Powell's run Wales stretched Australia across the width of the pitch, before Byrne picked a sublime angle off Shane Williams' shoulder to slice through under the posts.  The belief was restored as Wales went into half-time with a five-point cushion, and they had only played in patches.

A fluffed Jones penalty in the opening minute of the second half denied Wales the chance to extend their lead, followed by a successful effort from Giteau to narrow the gap to two points.  Jones then proceeded to miss another relatively simple chance as Wales continued to pressure their opponents.

With the game hanging in the balance, both sides continued to chance their arm, adding to what was already a tremendous Test.  Powell, as superbly as he was playing with ball in hand, was beginning to haemorrhage penalties which slowly began to cost Wales valuable field position.  Warren Gatland, not wanting to take any risks, hauled Powell off to rousing applause as Wales looked to capitalise on a golden opportunity.

Finally, after two failed attempts in previous weeks, Wales showed the composure and discipline to close out a game, and in some style.  Jones kicked his second penalty, following another spell of solid defence from Wales, to give Gatland's troops a two-score margin -- a priceless commodity in Test rugby when the clock is ticking.

However, never ones to go quietly into the night, Australia rallied for one last attack and, finding Wales wanting in defence eventually, scored to set up a grandstand finish.  Giteau missed his drop-kick conversion and despite the hooter sounding Alan Lewis insisted the restart was taken.

Cue three minutes of frantic rugby as Australia looked for an unlikely win, and Wales defended as if their lives depended on it.  Knowing the way Gatland reacted to defeat against South Africa you wouldn't blame them for thinking exactly that.

The tackles continued to fly in and eventually Wales forced the all-important error that sealed a memorable victory.  With the Six Nations looming on the horizon Gatland will be full of confidence that his side can defend their crown, and will want them to raise the standards once again -- at least if he wants to see them beating the world's best on a regular basis.

Man of the Match:  So many candidates from both sides after a superb game.  Matt Giteau was full of life, if not a little lost without Stirling Mortlock by his side, whilst Nathan Sharpe and Mark Chisholm got through a huge amount of work in defence and attack.  Wales too had their heroes, Stephen Jones was as strong as ever at fly-half, Gareth Cooper finally delivered a performance worthy of Test rugby and Andy Powell was back to his all-action best.  But Lee Byrne, full of running, tireless in defence and lethal with ball in hand wins this award.  A worthy mention to the rest of those who took part, for all played their part.

Moment of the Match:  With twenty minutes still to play Australia were pressing hard for a decisive score, with Wales hanging on for dear life.  As the phases mounted so did the pressure on Wales, until somehow Martyn Williams won a vital turnover that was greeted with a roar as if Wales had just won the game.

Villain of the Match:  Plenty of tension but nothing that detracted from this classic game of rugby.

The Scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  S.Williams, Byrne
Con:  S.Jones
Pens:  S.Jones 2
Drop goal:  S.Jones

For Australia:
Tries:  Chisholm, Ioane
Con:  Giteau
Pen:  Giteau
Drop goal:  Giteau

Yellow card:  Moore (Australia -- 28th minute;  deliberate killing of the ball)

The teams:

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

Australia:  15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Stirling Mortlock (c), 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Adam Freier, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Lote Tuqiri/Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Dave Pearson (England), Romain Poite (France)
Television match official:  Peter Allan (Scotland)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

England sink in a mire of indiscipline

They came, they saw, they conquered.  Even when New Zealand were bad, England made them look good, as the All Blacks cantered to a 32-6 win at Twickenham on Saturday, handing them their second Grand Slam within four years.

The All Blacks were not at their polished best, nothing like the level they were at in Dublin and Cardiff.  Yet once again, their mastery of the basics carried them through.  Their killer try came as a result of a wonderful scrum which humped England's pack of its own put-in, a textbook straightening of the line in the centres, followed by a raw pace finish.  The other points came mostly as a result of the continued indiscretions committed by England that New Zealand just would not commit.  Then came the finishing-off tries that have been trademark for the tourists in general this November.  Who says fitness is not an issue up north?

It could have been much worse for England;  the danger in saying that it was only 12-6 with 20 minutes to go looms large.  Dan Carter landed only five from ten kicks in total, three of them penalties he would normally bang over blindfold.  A far more realistic assessment of England's display comes from the penalty count:  after 20 minutes it was 5-5, after 65, England had conceded fifteen penalties to the All Blacks' seven -- lest we forget, England also had four men sent to the sin-bin.  England clung on to an improbable dream, but reality nabbed them in the end.

Other pertinent stats arising from this game:  England scored only 26 points in three matches against the Tri-Nations and only one try.  New Zealand did not concede a single try against any one of the home nations, and did not concede a single second-half point all tour.  The gap has never been wider.

James Haskell said determinedly in the immediate aftermath that any England fan should know that English rugby is building something and will bounce back from this.  How?

You build upon foundations, and England do have a couple of bits and bobs of raw material hanging about.  Nick Kennedy did enough to earn himself an extended run at lock in the coming Six Nations, nicking a couple of opposition line-out balls and making a nuisance of himself in the loose.  Toby Flood might not have covered himself in glory at fly-half, but his strong running ought to put him in the frame for a second five-eighth role outside Danny Cipriani.  Danny Care is the future but revealed his greenness at two crucial moments, Delon Armitage continued to shine, and Haskell and Tom Croft did noticeable things.  It's not all bad.

It's all good for New Zealand.  Bar Brad Thorn, not a one of the 2008 Grand Slammers will be beyond active service come 2011.  One or two might be a bit long in the tooth by then but they said that about England's squad in 2003.  The biggest problem this All Black team faces is striving not to go stale in the next three years.  Given the way they toy with teams for fun at times before finishing them off, that's not likely soon.  Plans A, B, C, and D have all been on display this series;  each time the All Blacks are challenged they seem to find a new rise within themselves.  Even now, World Cup 2011 has the look of being New Zealand's for the losing.

The English both on and off the field did not lack enthusiasm for this.  The haka was neither faced up to nor scorned on the pitch, it was drowned out by a fervent bout of swinging low and sweet charioting from the stands.

On the pitch, the English made a terrible nuisance of themselves around the contact area, and the defence was admirably organised.  New Zealand could not garner any sort of continuity during the first quarter and the result was a scrappy affair, punctuated by authoritative blasts from Alain Rolland's whistle.

Toby Flood missed an early penalty, Riki Flutey marred England's one clean break by holding on in the tackle, Danny Care betrayed his youthful over-exuberance by diving through a ruck and handing Carter a pop at goal for a 3-0 lead, Flood replied when New Zealand were caught collapsing a scrum.  New Zealand were slow out of the blocks and rattled by England's aggression, never more apparent than when Thorn gave Steve Borthwick a slap to the chops while Rolland was admonishing the pair.

Unfortunately, England -- and more specifically Borthwick -- followed Thorn's example.  Lee Mears was sent to the bin for killing the ball, Care once again strayed offside and enabled Carter to make it 6-3.  Borthwick should have set the example, instead he opted to try and push Richie McCaw away from Rolland when the Irishman wanted to speak to both of them, inflaming the volatile situation further.  A tiny detail, which everybody noticed.

Haskell followed Mears to the bin for a stupid forearm charge on So'oialo, Carter landed further penalties for standing up in the scrum and handling in the ruck and the curtain came down on the half, in the second part of which England conceded six penalties and nine points.

The second half started with England's finest moment:  a bullocking break by Nick Easter towards the line.  Here we saw the worst of old England:  Easter should have been looking for support but instead his head stayed firmly down.  Here we saw the worst of new England too, when Care took the ball off the quick ruck after Easter had been brought down, but dithered over the pass while crabbing out to the right and gave New Zealand's defence the crucial moments to regroup.  The All Blacks turned the ball over, Cowan broke, and was halted in mid-stride by a plain stupid high tackle from Toby Flood, who became the third yellow card recipient.

New Zealand re-asserted authority, then, once again, tore away in the final quarter.  The scrum shoved England off their own ball, Jimmy Cowan pinched it, Conrad Smith straightened and found Nonu on the loop, Nonu fed Muliaina on the sprint for the corner.  Simple.  17-6.

Five minutes later, after Carter had landed another, Muliaina was again the tryscorer, taking a deft chip from Carter on the fly and once again out-stripping the defence.  Then Keven Mealamu broke off the back of a ruck, linked with Rokocoko, and Nonu was away, flying in from 50m.  Carter made it 32-6 with the extras.  Five from ten for him on the day, but six out of six for his team.

Man of the match:  Honourable mentions in white shirts to Nick Kennedy and Delon Armitage.  Keven Mealamu excelled, as did Ma'a Nonu and Ali Williams once more.  A cut above them was Conrad Smith, who broke England's backs all day and tackled like a demon in defence.

Moment of the match:  Muliaina's first try.  Having struggled for so long, Smith's straight line, the loop and the finish was as perfect an execution as you will see, and dropped English heads.

Villain of the match:  A few bits and pieces here as tempers frequently simmered over, but James Haskell's elbow charge on Rodney So'oialo was a little too wanton to put down to mere over-aggression.

The scorers:

For England:
Pens:  Flood, Armitage

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Muliaina 2, Nonu
Con:  Carter
Pens:  Carter 5

Yellow cards:  Mears (24, killing the ball), Haskell (32, elbowing), Flood (44 high tackle), Rees (76, killing the ball) -- all England

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Tom Rees, 20 Harry Ellis, 21 Danny Cipriani, 22 Dan Hipkiss.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Hikawera Elliot, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), George Clancy (Ireland)
Television match official:  Tim Hayes (Wales)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Japan double up against the Eagles

Having won the first Test last week Japan made it two from two against the USA Eagles on Saturday, beating them 32-17 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground.

The two sides have played each other eighteen times before, and this was the first ever time the Cherry Blossoms have recorded successive victories over the Eagles.

However, the game didn't start well for Japan, as Chris Wyles opened the scoring with a try after just two minutes.  But the hosts were not to be outdone and soon hit back through Kensuke Hatakeyama's drive on the back of a powerful maul.

That was the tonic Japan needed and from there their backs took control with Koji Tomioka and Shaun Webb going over for tries.

If Japan thought they could relax they were sorely mistaken, and when Yusuke Aoki and Bryce Robins were sent to the sin-bin within two minutes of each other they let the Eagles back into it.

Zimbabwean born Takudzwa Ngwenya made the advantage tell as he sprinted in for a simple try to make it 19-10 at the break.

Ryan Nicholas continued the Japan scoring after the break, slotting a simple three points, before another historic moment -- the first try in Japan to be awarded by the television match official as Van Der Giessen won the race to touch down a charged down kick.

A final try came from captain Takashi Kikutani sealed the victory, leaving coach John Kirwan delighted.

"Kiku has really stood up and taken on the leadership role.  This has been a really positive month for us," he said.

"I am very, very proud of the players.  We talked about history and beating them in consecutive games.  That was a really tough physical and mental performance."

Eagles' coach Scott Johnson said:  "It was an entertaining game.  There were some good tries.  If I was a spectator I would have enjoyed it.  But I am a coach;  so I didn't."

Scorers:

For Japan:
Tries:  Hatakeyama, Tomioka, Webb, Kikutani
Cons:  Nicholas 3
Pens:  Nicholas 2

For USA:
Tries:  Wyles, Ngwenya, Van Der Giessen
Con:  Hercus

The Teams:

Japan:  15 Kaoru Matsushita, 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Bryce Robins, 12 Ryan Nicholas, 11 Koji Tomioka, 10 Shaun Webb, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Takashi Kikutani (captain), 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Toshizumi Kitagawa, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Yusuke Aoki, 1 Hisateru Hirashima.
Replacements:  16 Naonori Mizuyama, 17 Naoki Kawamata, 18 Luke Thompson, 19 Masato Toyoda, 20 Tomoki Yoshida, 21 Masakazu Irie, 22 Piei Mafileo.

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Junior Sifa, 11 Gavin DeBartolo, 10 Mike Hercus, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Pat Quinn, 7 Todd Clever (captain), 6 Inaki Basauri, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John VanderGiessen, 3 Brian Lemay, 2 Mark Crick, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements:  16 Joe Welch, 17 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 18 Courtney Mackay, 19 JJ Gagiano, 20 Chad Erskine, 21 Thretton Palamo, 22 Valenese Malifa.

Referee:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Ruthless Boks end tour unbeaten

It was a case of mission accomplished for South Africa as the world champions ended their end-of-year tour undefeated after posting an emphatic 42-6 victory over hosts England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Never before have the touring Springboks recorded a winning margin as big as this in London, as the visitors ran in five tries to nil, keeping the home side scoreless in the second half.

Likewise, never before have the English conceded a losing margin as big as this in their own back yard.  Fly-half Danny Cipriani's two penalties were their only reward for a humiliating day at the office.

It was billed as England's chance for revenge on the South African side that beat them in the World Cup final, but just as in Paris last year the outcome was the same.

For England manager Martin Johnson, who now has two defeats from his three matches in charge, the most disappointing aspect may not only be the comprehensive defeat but also how easily the South Africans achieved it.

The Springboks, who had already beaten Wales and Scotland, made pre-match suggestions that they were too tired look laughable with a performance of classy opportunism in attack and dogged determination in defence.

South Africa had previously stuttered to victories over Wales and Scotland before this match, and coach Peter de Villiers claimed during the week his side were mentally fatigued and struggling for motivation.

It proved to be the smokescreen many expected, as South Africa produced a ruthless attacking performance.

Tries by Danie Rossouw, Ruan Pienaar, Adrian Jacobs, Jaque Fourie and Bryan Habana followed up by assured goal-kicking by Pienaar after the break, completed a hugely satisfying European tour with South Africa's sixth win in a row against England.

On a day that marked the fifth anniversary of England's 2003 World Cup triumph, the home side were given a stark reminder of how far they have fallen since their glorious night in Sydney and the heady days of seven successive wins over the Springboks.

Disorganised was one word for England's contribution to vast swathes of this repeat of last year's World Cup final.  Shambolic perhaps summed it up better.  England were out-passed, out-kicked, out-thought and out-manoeuvred.

South Africa broke the England gain line swiftly and easily.  Even when prop Tendai Mtawarira and then full-back Conrad Jantjes were sin-binned for cynical infringements, England could not find a way through the green and gold jerseys.

England did manage to disrupt South Africa at the set pieces with the absence of Andrew Sheridan detracting very little from the home effort at scrum time.  They stole a few off the Springbok throw at the line-out, and managed several turnovers on the deck.  But the difference between England and South Africa was the hosts could produce little when presented with a scoring chance.

England opened brightly enough, Cipriani drilling over an early penalty when South Africa impeded off the game's first movement.  Pienaar equalised after six minutes, but the Springboks battled to get their hands on the ball.

An unforced error by England skipper Steve Borthwick forced a five-metre scrum for the visitors which then resulted in the game's first try.  Rossouw bashed his way past several would-be tacklers from close range to give his team the lead, an advantage Pienaar extended with his accurate boot.

Just minutes earlier, it was South Africa defending their chalkdust from an England put-in from five metres out, but John Smit and his men dug their boots in deep to ward off any English threat.

Pienaar was on hand -- literally -- to post more points on the board for the tourists, snatching South Africa's second try after 18 minutes when he collected and scored a charged-down Cipiani clearance.

It was the third time in six Tests Cipriani has conceded a try from a charge-down.  The same happened against Italy in the Six Nations and the Pacific Islanders a fortnight ago.  Needless to say, it was another poor showing by the celebrity pivot, who kicked poorly and failed to generate any penetration on the part of the hosts.

The Springboks protected their 17-3 lead gallantly when Danny Care's quick-tap penalty unleashed Delon Armitage down the right-hand touchline, only for lock Bakkies Botha to steam across and make the try-saving tackle.

Pienaar's second penalty followed shortly afterwards and although Cipriani replied ten minutes before the interval, England could not make any more progress despite South Africa losing their "Beast" to the sin-bin for impeding at the ruck after 29 minutes.

The magic moment that broke the back of England arrived in the 51st minute with Adrian Jacobs jetting in for a spectacular try.  A solid line-out laid the platform for Pienaar to run, and a great back-line move saw the space opening up for winger JP Pietersen in midfield.

Jacobs ran a great supporting line and stepped the last man for a climatic finish.  It was the kind of move South African supporters have been waiting for all year, as it was born from structure and finished by flair.

Pienaar's conversion left England 27-6 down with nearly half-an-hour remaining and a further penalty thirteen minutes later put the visitors out of sight.

South Africa then lost full-back Jantjes to another yellow card for blocking Armitage as he chased his own chip ahead, but the English still couldn't find a way through against some determined defending with Botha once again outstanding.

The Springboks added two late tries through a length of the field finish by replacement centre Jaque Fourie, followed by a patient build-up that ended with the out-of-sorts Habana hammering the final nail in England's coffin.

Man of the match: Not many contenders from the English camp, so we'll move swiftly along to the conquerers of Twickenham.  Once again, flanker Schalk Burger was superb in the loose, lock Victor Matfield assured his presence was felt all over the park, while Pienaar orchestrated matters quite delightfully at fly-half.  Adrian Jacobs capped a fine year with another flawless -- if not spectacular -- display, particularly on defence.  But after much consideration, our vote goes to Bakkie Botha, the giant in a Test that suited his in-your-face style of play.  Botha's tackling and ruck cleaning ensured some England players won't get out of bed easily on Sunday morning.  And let's not forget his two try-saving tackles that, had he missed, may have given the England scoreline a bit more respect.

Moment of the match: All of South Africa's tries had their own appeal, but for us, a counter-attack-ending try from a side's own line, albeit through a hack ahead, takes the cake.  Jaque Fourie's 90-metre sprint emphasised the Springboks' determination to end this tour on the highest note possible.

Villain of the match: Two yellow cards, both in the direction of South Africa's ill-discipline at the breakdown and in defence.  Whilst Mtawarira was on the receiving end of mutiple warnings to the Bok forwards, Conrad Jantjes' shoulder charge (if you could call it that) on Delon Armitage could have -- and should have -- been avoided.

The scorers:

For England:
Pens: Cipriani 2

For South Africa:
Tries: Rossouw, Pienaar, Jacobs, Fourie, Habana
Cons: Pienaar 3, Steyn
Pens: Pienaar 3

Yellow cards: Mtawarira (South Africa, diving in the ruck), Jantjes (South Africa, blocking)

England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Tom Rees, 6 James Haskell, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Harry Ellis, 22 Toby Flood.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira,
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Brian Mujati/CJ van der Linde, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Heinrich Brussow, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Jaque Fourie.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges: Alan Rolland (Ireland), Romain Poite (France)
Television match official: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Ireland control heat to stay in pot two

Ireland shrugged off both factors of a tournament three years away and also the grunt of Argentina to seal their spot in rugby's second tier as they prevailed 17-3 at Croke Park on Saturday.

It was a low-scoring affair that had very little excitement and panache, but what it lacked in tries this clash made up for in nail-biting subplots and heat between these tempestuous rivals.

Wanted or not, the International Rugby Board's new qualification points system for Rugby World Cup 2011 was simmering under the surface.  Add to that pot a dash of Pool history and regularity of fixtures between these two and the Test promised and delivered plenty of spice.

However, in a low-scoring affair it was the boot of Ronan O'Gara and a late try from wing Tommy Bowe which claimed victory for Declan Kidney's side in Dublin.

The Pumas, who were without the experience of injured goal-kicking centre Felipe Contepomi, suffered further woe just minutes before kick-off as talisman Juan Martín Hernández pulled out with a groin problem -- excuse the cliché but was the luck with Ireland?

Replaced by the similarly named Santiago Fernandez, the 22-year-old fly-half seemed desperate to grab his opportunity with both hands as he scooped a nervous looking drop-goal high, but not handsome, short of the posts before a scuffle developed on eight minutes.

That attempt was as good as it got for the spectators as Argentina continued with their fractured autumn kicking show, which ultimately hurt their general attacking effort.  That is not to say Ireland weren't following a similar style with the boot as the early stadium atmosphere that had set alight the All Blacks' visit seven days ago seemed so far away.

Of course, the game was always going to be played out in a knockout manner as both had RWC fate in their own hands.  So it was no surprise that any form of score was going to be hard to come by with O'Gara's missed penalty goal on 24 minutes the only highlight as Ireland enjoyed the lion's share of possession.

Talking of Lions and the return to the green jersey of full-back Geordan Murphy was one major plus for Ireland in the opening stages as he was faultless under the high ball and with clearing efforts.

However, as the game moved over half-an-hour there still remained very little intent from either side until Fernandez, who plays his rugby for the Hindu club, managed to send over a penalty to finally trouble the scorers.

That mini joy was short-lived for the Pumas though, as O'Gara also found his range just a minute before the interval with Ireland going in with slightly the upper hand -- a welcome ten-minute break as one sensed both countries were somewhat paralysed by the IRB pressure.

Upon their return and Santiago Phelan's men stumbled across an immediate opportunity to edge themselves ahead again from the tee, but Fernandez was off-target.  And as in the first half, Munster general O'Gara responded with three points of his own to push the Irish 6-3 in front, keeping them in the vital top eight.

Elsewhere, second tier rivals to Ireland, Scotland, were enjoying a stroll against Canada that added further cement to the hosts being in control of their own destiny.

But still there remained a lack of risk or intent from either side.

That was until a period of sustained Irish pressure and territory seemed to have lifted the cloud of off-the-field subplots.  A further O'Gara drop-goal put some daylight between the two sides and although only a six-point cushion, it was to prove hefty in such a game.  And when the fly-half added a further three points before finding Bowe on the wing for the game's only try, the game was sealed.

In typical fashion, however, there were fireworks right up until the final whistle as the Pumas seemingly took turns in gauding a fired up O'Gara.  Prop Roncero was the man to pay the price though, as he led with an fist when taking contact before back-chat saw him sent from the field.

Man of the match:  No-one stood out in Dublin in what was a cagey affair but against a feared pack the strength and experience of John Hayes did not go unnoticed.

Moment of the match:  Nothing to note in the 80 minutes at all at Croke Park.  Therefore, the pre-game loss of Puma fly-half Juan Martín Hernández as his swagger and direction may have altered where the result eventually ended up.

Villain of the match:  The air under which this game was played maybe?  One could see and sense the nervousness on the faces of both sides during the contest and the ramifications of what could materialise ahead of a tournament that takes place three years into the future.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Bowe
Pen:  O'Gara 3
Drop:  O'Gara

For Argentina:
Pen:  Fernandez

Yellow card:  Roncero (Argentina) -- verbal to assistant referee on 80 minutes

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Luke Fitzgerald, 11 Robert Kearney, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Malcolm O'Kelly, 19 A.N. Other, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Keith Earls.

Argentina:  15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Francisco Leonelli, 13 Federico Martin Aramburu, 12 Miguel Avramovic, 11 Rafael Carballo, 10 Juan Martin Hernandez, 9 Nicolas Vergallo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (c), 6 Martin Durand, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Esteban Lozada, 19 Alvaro Galindo, 20 Agustin Figuerola, 21 Santiago Fernandez, 22 Bernardo Stortoni.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa), Rob Debney (England)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Wallabies burgle Stade de France

Australia scraped home with a narrow and somewhat fortunate 18-13 victory over France on Saturday to remain unbeaten on their November tour of Europe.

France provided most of the playing but an absolutely disastrous display from the kicking tee by fly-half David Skrela, who missed five kickable goals, handed the visitors victory.

The Wallabies did produce the occasional flash a decent rugby, but generally fed off the hosts' mistakes.

Do France have a confidence problem?  Where is the flowing French flair that Marc Lièvremont has been promising?  Les Bleus seemed almost panicked from the first minute, and more often than not chose to kick ahead rather than back their themselves to attack the Australian line with ball in hand for most of the opening three quarters.

On a number of occasions an overlap went a-begging as the first receiver punted.  It seemed the only time les Bleus wanted to run it was when they were in deep trouble in their own 22, or when than had no other choice in the dying stages because it had become clear that Skrela wasn't going to do the business from the kicking tee.

As Yannick Jauzion hinted during the week France came out with the distinct intention over tackling their visitors back to Australia.  Sebastien "Caveman" Chabal was at his very bruising best, putting in loads of big hits and looking positively scary when charging forward in possession.

But for all their aggro on defence, Lièvremont's troops were masters of shooting themselves in the foot on attack.  Forgive me for harping on about what the French did, or did not, do but the truth of the matter is the hosts did more to hand the game to Australia than the tourists did to win it for themselves.

Time after time the blue-clad forwards would provide their backs with quality ball, and while a lot can be said for the merits of putting a defending back three under pressure, the way the home side squandered possession was criminal.

As for Australia, well they can take one line out of South Africa's phrase book and say "a win is a win".

After the rugby world sang their pack's praises for getting the better of England, the French scrum pulverised their opposition on a couple of occasions, as will be eluded to later.

The main talking point of this November Test series has been the interpretation of the laws at the breakdown and once again we saw the inconsistencies in world-wide refereeing as Craig Joubert was lenient to the point of indulgence compared to some of his colleagues this month and George Smith did not hesitate to take full advantage of the situation.

France's lack of belief in their own ability to beat a defensive curtain was clear as day inside the first ten minutes when Skrela attempted a drop goal rather than send the ball out wide, despite the fact that the French had laid siege to the Wallaby line and were generally going forward.

Skrela had already missed one penalty attempt and his failure was a sign of things to come.

Matt Giteau opened the scoring close to the half-an-hour mark with a three-pointer and hooker Stephen Moore would soon increase the lead.  From close range, Moore stayed low and bashed through two defenders to stretch and arm out over the whitewash.  Giteau added the extras to make gap ten points.

Skrela would miss two more penalties before his side got onto the scoreboard.

A shocking pass from Wallaby scrum-half Luke Burgess sailed over the dead-ball line to give the home side a five metre scrum.  A massive push from the French forwards earned their team a penalty try on the stroke on half-time as the blue pack went straight through the Wallaby heavies.  George Smith dived in, completely unbound and referee Joubert had no choice but to award five points to the home side.

Skrela couldn't have missed the conversion if he tried and France were still very much in the game as Australia led 10-7 when the teams headed for the sheds.

Lièvremont's side had mentioned before the game that the felt Giteau was the danger man and they heaped the pressure on the fly-half.  Three times he was charged down.

The opening stages of the second half belonged to France as Skrela hit the target for once and full-back Maxime Medard slotted an audacious drop from nearly 50 metres out to put side ahead.

The French defence let itself down soon afterwards though as they failed to number up and Peter Hynes raced down the touchline on the blindside to score Australia's second try.

Just two points behind, Skrela had the fans at the Stade de France whistling their disapproval as he missed two more kicks and then earned himself a yellow card for a clumsy high tackle.  He will go down as the villain of the night, which is a shame since he didn't have a bad game at all in general play.

Giteau had had no problems to kick his team into a five-point lead from in front of the posts a few minutes earlier in what turned out to be the last score of the game.

Man of the match:  It's not convention to name a player on the losing side, but Sébastien Chabal gets our nod.  He left a lot of Aussies with very sore bodies and broke through the gain line with brute force every time he had his hands on the ball.

Moment of the match:  Australia didn't have a lot of meaningful possession, but they made it count when they did.  Peter Hynes' try was pretty soft one, but it epitomised the fact that it just wasn't going to be France's night.

Villain of the match:  Whoever decided to schedule the kick-off time for 21h00 in the middle of November.  Brrrr....

The Scorers:

For France:
Try:  Penalty try
Con:  Skrela
Pen:  Skrela
Drop:  Medard

For Australia:
Tries:  Moore, Hynes
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2

Yellow card:  David Skrela (France - 75th minute - high tackle)

The teams:

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Benoit Baby, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 David Skrela, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sébastien Chabal, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Benoit Lecouls, 18 Romain Millo Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Alexis Palisson.

Australia:  15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Stirling Mortlock (c), 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Hugh McMeniman, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Digby Ioane.

Venue:  Stade de France, Paris
Weather:  -2°C and clear, but with a strong north-westerly wind possibly bringing the odd flurry of snow later
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Scotland freeze out Canada

Scotland did what they wanted and needed on Saturday, beating Canada 41-0 in an icy Pittodrie in Aberdeen.

Nikki Walker (2), Ben Cairns, John Barclay, Alasdair Strokosch and Rory Lamont also all crossed for tries as Scotland put behind them the disappointment of their meek surrender at the hands of New Zealand's second string and the missed opportunity against South Africa.

Coach Frank Hadden made four changes to the side defeated by South Africa last Saturday with two new wings in Walker and Simon Webster while Simon Taylor and Strokosch came into the back row.

Two of the incoming players were heavily involved as Scotland made a red-hot start on a freezing day at Pittodrie in Aberdeen.

Walker, who was born in Aberdeen, slid over in the left-hand corner on two minutes after being fed by Phil Godman following a succession of purposeful drives from the forwards.

Scotland were denied a second try in the 17th minute when Barclay put a foot into touch as he dived over under pressure from Canada's last defender, lock Tyler Hotson.

Although Scotland remained on the front foot, a combination of Canada's brave defence, some streetwise tactics from the visitors at the breakdown and an all too familiar lack of finishing power from Hadden's men kept the score at just 5-0.

Having earlier turned down two kickable penalties, captain Mike Blair decided to take a simple three points from the boot of Godman to make it 8-0 just after the half-hour mark.

And the first half closed in the same manner as it had begun, Nick De Luca's incisive break and offload to centre partner Cairns paving the way for a simple try.  Godman added the extras to put his side 15-0 at the break.

Scotland added a third try at the start of the second half when the forwards powered Barclay over for the score, referee George Clancy awarding it without reference to the TMO.

Godman converted to make it 22-0 after 42 minutes and Hadden, sensing the result was already secure, replaced Barclay and Allan Jacobsen -- both of whom had started all three November Tests -- with Scott Gray and Alasdair Dickinson.

It remained one-way traffic, the hosts' fourth try arriving on the hour mark when Strokosch plunged over from close range and Godman again landed the extra two points.

Hadden continued to introduce his bench, Dan Parks and Rory Lawson came on in the half-back berths in place of Godman and Blair, and as a result his side lost some of its earlier fluency.

It took a piece of individual brilliance from Walker to put the next score on the board when the former Borders winger scythed through the tiring Canada defence to touch down unopposed with 12 minutes remaining.

Canada, having defended stoutly for most of the game, were now falling off tackles regularly and more good work in midfield from Cairns and De Luca allowed Lamont to power over for his sixth Test try as Scotland reached the 40-point mark.

"We were able to right a few wrongs we have had in the previous weeks," Scotland captain Mike Blair told BBC Sport afterwards.

"We were clinical in patches.  We have not been scoring many and there were some cracking tries today.

"It is a good reward for the autumn Test series.  This capped it off nicely."

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Walker 2, Cairns, Barclay, Strokosch, Lamont
Cons:  Godman 3, Parks
Pen:  Godman

Scotland:  15 Rory Lamont, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 John Barclay, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Dougie Hall, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Matt Mustchin, 19 Scott Gray, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Max Evans.

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Sean Duke, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Justin Mensah-Coker, 10 Matt Evans, 9 Ed Fairhurst (c), 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Josh Jackson, 4 Tyler Hotson, 3 Scott Franklin, 2 Mike Pletch, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements:  16 Dan Pletch, 17 Frank Walsh, 18 Mike Burak, 19 Sean Michael Stephen, 20 Morgan Williams, 21 Nathan Hirayama, 22 Bryn Keys.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Steve Terheege (England)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

Pacific Islands end on a high

The Pacific Islanders claimed the first Test victory of their four-year existence with a 25-17 success over Italy in Reggio Emilia.

Vilimoni Delasau scored two tries in the first half to set the platform for the visitors' success.

The Fijian winger dived over in the corner in the third minute at the end of a turnover-rich opening exchange and added a second from close range after a series of rucks close to the half hour.

Kameli Ratuvou also touched down and fly-half Seremaia Bai kicked 10 points for the combined Tonga, Fiji and Samoa side, who had lost their previous eight Tests.

Italy mustered tries of their own from forwards Leonardo Ghiraldini and Mauro Bergamasco, supplemented by seven points from fly-half Andrea Marcato's boot.

The Azzurri responded swiftly to Delasau's opening try with Marcato kicking a penalty and slotting a conversion after Ghiraldini barged over the whitewash in the 13th minute.

But the Pacific Islanders soon regained the lead with a Bai penalty and Delasau's second try, which came despite Bai having been sent to the sin bin minutes earlier for a late and high tackle on Mirco Bergamasco.

And the visitors extended their advantage to 22-10 when full-back Ratuvou broke through a gap and went all the way to the line from close to half-way line.

After Bai extended the Islanders' lead with a penalty at the start of second period, Italy started to control of possession but they were frequently let down by the last touch.

They gained their reward for a sustained period of pressure in the 65th minute when flanker Bergamasco went over after captain Sergio Parisse's clever flick pass behind his back.

The result of Italy's first match in the northern city of Reggio Emilio leaves them without a win from the November Test programme, having lost 22-14 to Argentina and 30-20 to Australia.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Ghiraldini, Bergamasco
Cons:  Marcato 2
Pen:  Marcato

For the Pacific Islands:
Tries:  Delasau 2, Ratuvou
Cons:  Bai 2
Pens:  Bai 2

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Mirco Bergamasco, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Pietro Travagli, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Tommaso Reato, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Salvatore Perugini, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Pablo Canavosio/Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Luke McLean, 22 Riccardo Pavan

Pacific Islands:  15 Kameli Ratuvou, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 Seilala Mapusua, 12 Epi Taione, 11 Vilimoni Delasau, 10 Seremaia Bai, 9 Sililo Martens, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Nili Latu (Tonga, captain), 6 Viliami Vaki, 5 Paino Hehe, 4 Filipo Levi, 3 Kisi Pulu, 2 Tanielu Fuga, 1 Justin Va'a.
Replacements:  16 Sunia Koto, 17 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 18 Semisi Naevo, 19 Hale T-Pole, 20 Mosese Rauluni, 21 Seru Rabeni, 22 Gavin Williams.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges:  Christophe Berdos, Hugh Watkins (Wales)
TMO:  Geoff Warren (England)