O'Connor treble deflates Azzurri

Teenage full-back James O'Connor continued his meteoric rugby rise on Saturday as his hat-trick saw the Wallabies beat Italy 31-8 in Canberra.

Still at the tender age of only eighteen and with a hefty international future sure to follow, O'Connor supported well for his first two scores but saved the best until last by bumping off the mighty Sergio Parisse in the first of this two-Test series.

It's difficult to gauge the Wallabies at this early stage -- particularly as they have only played a jet-lagged Barbarians outfit and a nation who have not won for a year -- but what they do possess is a host of attacking weapons and solid defence that will serve them well in the 2009 Tri-Nations.

But while Robbie Deans will of course be pleased with how O'Connor took his chance, Italy's usual strangling tactics did make life difficult for the hosts to find any fluidity in the cold conditions.

Their first score did take just four minutes to arrive when an unmarked Lachie Turner was utilised well from his blindside wing to feed the young debutant.  So everything seemed to be going to the pre-match script with more five-pointers on their way, surely?

But that wasn't the case as the steely resolve of the Azzurri became prominent, with Mauro Bergamasco and captain Parisse made their presence felt -- the former's accidental knee collision with Lachie Turner's head leaving the back motionless for a period.

Unfortunately for the touring side though, who play the Wallabies again in Melbourne next week, their attacking arsenal did not match their tackling.  And with George Smith at his breakdown best throughout alongside the tactical kicking of you know who, Italy's efforts were few and far between as the scoreline remained at 5-0 on 25 minutes.

But from that moment up until the break the Wallabies finally clicked into some sort of rhythm to demonstrate the kind of form that did for the Barbarians last weekend.

First it was the in-form Giteau's late change of direction from behind the ruck that saw him pierce a gap before freeing his arms to send O'Connor over for his second.  Then his partner in crime, Berrick Barnes, was then on hand to set up the fly-half for a slightly fortuatest try under the posts on 33 minutes.

But from that moment up until the break the Wallabies finally clicked into gear and showed the kind of form that did for the Barbarians last weekend.

First it was the in-form Giteau's late change of direction from behind the ruck that saw him pierce a gap before freeing his arms to send O'Connor over for his second.  They weren't done there though as his partner in crime, Berrick Barnes, was then on hand to set up the fly-half for a slightly fortuitous try under the posts on 33 minutes.

Italy did respond before the interval with three points from the boot of Luke McLean, who had been pushed into the full-back role due to Australian-born Craig Gower's inclusion at ten, and they were also starting to look much more impressive on the turnaround.

And it was in fact Bayonne's 31-year-old that set up the Azzurri's first and only try on 43 minutes when his drop-goal dummy saw took him down the touchline before a switch with Kaine Robertson closed the gap to just nine points.

But the winger's score served only as false hope for Nick Mallett's side as Australia regrouped to dominate the second period with two more tries putting the game beyond doubt.  Stirling Mortlock's now typical surge against the grain got them going before O'Connor's crafty footwork left Parisse and Italy slightly embarrassed.

Man of the match:  We're not going to fall into the trap of building up a youngster to the point of stupidity but credit where credit is due, James O'Connor was impressive on debut.  However, the game award goes to Berrick Barnes after he once again went about his business alongside Matt Giteau.  His tactical kicking was faultless and the centre's calmness in possession was a big factor in the result.

Moment of the match:  It has to be when James O'Connor bumped off an unbalanced Sergio Parisse to claim his third score of the evening.  One feels the youngster should run and hide when they meet again in Melbourne.

Villain of the match:  Nothing huge to report but at a push Mauro Bergamasco's knee might appear in Lachie Turner's clouded thoughts later tonight.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  O'Connor 3, Giteau, Mortlock
Con:  Giteau 3

For Italy:
Tries:  Robertson
Pen:  McLean

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (capt), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Peter Kimlin, 19 David Pocock, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Adam Ashley-Cooper.

Italy:  15 Luke McLean, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Mirco Bergamasco, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Alberto Sgarbi, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Pablo Canavosio, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Fabio Staibano, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Tito Tebaldi, 21 Kristopher Burton, 22 Gonzalo Garcia.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  Marius Jonker (South Africa), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)

Ruthless Pumas send England packing

Argentina enacted revenge for their defeat to England in Manchester last week, with a bullying 24-22 win in Salta on Saturday.

Having cured their disciplinary ills of last week, the Pumas' aggression counted for far more, as did Juan Hernandez's boot, which might be of interest to Kim Jong-Il as he ponders a response to Nato sanctions.

Hernandez landed a stream of first-half penalties to compound an early English error at the line-out that led to a simple try for Juan Manuel Leguizamon, with Andy Goode only able to reply with one as the Pumas held their line and their nerve.

That last bit was also important, in the face of some stiff provocation from the English side, whose loss of discipline under presasure will have likely infuriated Martin Johnson more than the result.

Leguizamon's early try came as a result of two early lost line-outs for England, with Patricio Alabcete and Rimas Alvarez making the intercepts look effortless.  From the second, Leguizamon ran a glorious scything line as the rest of his runners drifted, taking him through the gap without a hand being laid on him.

Goode replied with a penalty for England, struck courtesy of an off-the-ball tackle from the otherwise impressive Santiago Fernandez, but it was a brief pause in otherwise one-way traffic.  One move, sparked by the effervescent Hernandez, ought to have yielded a second try, but Leguizamon carried the ball too long and ran out of options.

Instead, Hernandez goaled two of a steady flow of penalties resulting from England's sloppiness at the rucks and another one for a high tackle by Danny Care.  He was not the only one to be aiming his shots a little high, Mark Cueto was lucky to stay on the field after 21 minutes.

Hernandez controlled the game with the boot, with his chasers ceaseless in their speed and dilligence at closing down the recipients.  The fly-half produvced a mesmeric sequence at one point, with an up and under, a clearance, then a deft grubber to the corner all pulled off within a couple of minutes with awe-inspiring precision.

Half-time was marked with a penalty miss from Goode, then the second half was started by a brilliant Argentina try.

Horacio Agulla steamed through a yawning midfield gap before sending a magnificent 20-yard pass out to Gonzalo Camacho, who showed Harlequins what they will be getting next season with a scintillating sprint finish.

But it was a blip.  Whatever Martin Johnson said in the dressing room at half-time, he must have hammered home as he would, say, crashing a fist into a Twickenham desk.

England became the ruthless punishers at the ruck, England dominated the possession, Andy Goode dictated the play with clever kicks.

Gode chipped away at the lead, 21-6, 21-9, 21-12, 21-15, each penalty coming roughly five minutes after the last, so we headed into the final ten minutes with less than a converted try between the teams, and referee Alan Lewis reminding Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe of the need for discipline.

But cheekily from first phase at a scrum, Hernandez restored a two-score lead with a drop goal.

Cueto dropped a ball on a simple overlap as England threatened and then, after Vesty had come on and added a bit of zip, Delon Armitage's cheeky flick sent Matt Banahan away down the left and then under the posts to make it 24-22.

But too late.  Argentina's pack marched out the final moments and secured a precious and treasured win.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Leguizamon, Camacho
Con:  Hernandez
Pens:  Hernandez 3
Drop goal:  Hernandez

For England:
Try:  Banahan
Con:  Vesty
Pens:  Goode 5

Argentina:  15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Francisco Leonelli, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fernández, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 Juan Fernández Lobbe (c), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Rimas Álvarez Kairelis, 3 Marcos Ayerza, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Esteban Lozada, 20 Nicolás Vergallo, 21 Miguel Avramovic, 22 Lucas González Amorosino.

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Tom May, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Louis Deacon, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Julian White, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements:  16 George Chuter, 17 David Wilson, 18 Ben Kay, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Simon McDowell (Ireland), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
Assessor:  Arrie Schoonwinkel (South Africa)

French curse strikes NZ again

France scored their second consecutive win against New Zealand with a well deserved 27-22 victory on their first ever visit to Carisbrook on Saturday.

The visitors scored first and never trailed, eventually outscoring an under-strength All Blacks three tries to two.

A massive defensive display from France was contrasted by a below-par performance from the home team, who were dominated for most of the match.

But nothing should be taken away from France who attacked decisively and made very few errors to record their highest-ever Test score in New Zealand.

France got the scoreboard ticking after enjoying the better of the opening exchanges.  The French maul was functioning well and earned the visitors a penalty in accordance with the return to the "old laws" as the All Blacks pulled it down.

Julien Dupuy opened his account in international rugby without a problem but Stephen Donald leveled the scores ten minutes later after a late tackle from French skipper Thierry Dusautoir.

Les Bleus were competing well in the set pieces, dominating the territory stats in the first quarter and they would be first to cross the whitewash.

A scything run down the inside channel from Francois Trinh-Duc saw the fly-half bounce off four tackles to crash over.  Dupuy added the extras to give France a deserved 10-3 lead.

As the French confidence grew, so did the momentum they were gathering.  When number eight Louis Picamoles ran a kick back from deep just before the half-hour mark, there was trouble brewing.  A wonderful flowing movement in the best traditions of French rugby would follow as the Toulouse back three showed their class, taking the ball up to the corner.  Hooker William Servat's bulk did the rest putting the All Blacks further behind.  Dupuy was on target from the touchline with the conversion to give the visitors a fourteen-point lead.

The All Blacks had been their own worst enemies and never looked like touching down in the first half-an-hour.  They struggled to string any phases together and the tackling just wasn't up to scratch.

The home side looked certain to score when they laid siege to the French try-line with series of drives after Isaac Ross secured possession at an attacking line-out.  But all the forwards' hard work in retaining the ball was wasted when Isaia Toeava knocked-on as the ball went wide.  It seemed to sum up the All Black performance in the first half.

New Zealand were thrown a lifeline just before the break however.  First Donald slotted a penalty on 39 minutes before a try from Liam Messam after the hooter put the All Blacks back in the game.

The French were caught flat-footed when Jimmy Cowan chipped ahead, and not out as they expected as the siren went.  Cory Jane plucked the ball from the air to break.  Messam was up in support to round off the 70m move and Carisbrook could breathe again.  Donald's conversion attempt was wide, leaving the score 17-11 as the teams heading for the changing rooms.

There was a distinct change in momentum in the second period.  The All Blacks displayed much more urgency and were rewarded with an early penalty to reduce to gap to three.  Donald's next attempt soon afterwards bounced off the post but his third kick in twenty minutes found the mark to level the scores at 17-all.

The All Blacks brought Luke McAlister on at inside centre for the last quarter but it was Dupuy who would put France back in the lead with fifteen minutes to play.  His penalty provided France's first points in 37 minutes.

The knock-out blow was soon to follow when full-back Maxime Medard intercepted a pass from McAlister and then outpaced him to score under the posts to give France a ten-point lead.

The home side fought back well and Mils Muliaina's first line-break of the game provided the impetus for Ma'a Nonu to score in the corner with four minutes to play.

But it was too little to late as, once Donald had missed the conversion, the French forwards were able to run down the clock at the death and hand France an historic victory.

Man of the match:  Francois Trinh-Duc's running of the game proved decisive.

Moment of the match:  Being as Trinh-Duc already has a mention, we'll plump for Maxime Medard's winning intercept try -- an inauspicious return for Luke McAlister.

The scorers

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Messam, Nonu
Pens:  Donald 4

For France:
Tries:  Trinh-Duc, Servat, Medard
Cons:  Dupuy 3
Pens:  Dupuy 2

The teams:

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina (c), 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Cory Jane, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Adam Thomson, 6 Kieran Read, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Afoa, 18 Bryn Evans, 19 Tanerau Latimer, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Lelia Masaga.

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Cedric Heymans , 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Sebastien Chabal 19 Julien Puricelli, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Alexis Palisson.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia),
Television match official:  George Ayoub (Australia)

England respond against Pumas

England recorded an immediate response to last week's Barbarians upset by edging past Argentina 37-15 at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The ever-rebuilding hosts, who were one place below the Pumas in the IRB rankings pre-game, provided more in both attack and defence as Martin Johnson was left to enjoy an evening that did not climax in frustration.

Both nations were without several of their regular pillars in Manchester -- England due to British & Irish Lions commitments while the Top 14 Final weakened the Pumas -- but there was ample talent on show as Juan Martín Hernández proved.

The Stade Français playmaker was in fine fettle against the flowing locks of Brive's number ten, with Goode only winning the drop-goal battle by leading England past the side that ended Andy Robinson's reign in November 2006.

For England, Delon Armitage scored twice while winger Matt Banahan was named man-of-the-match after marking his Test debut with a try to Goode's personal tally of 22 points.

Old Trafford has been England's home away from home before -- in 1997 they were beaten by New Zealand after Richard Cockerill decided to antagonise Norm Hewitt during the haka -- but today they were officially the visitors.

Despite their bronze medal finish at the 2007 World Cup, Argentina are trying to drag themselves into professionalism and convince the SANZAR nations they deserve a place at the Tri-Nations table.

A crowd of 40,521, sponsorship and a television deal with Sky will have helped raise an estimated £500,000 for the UAR's cause -- if not the result against an England side shorn of nine Lions and featuring three Test debutants.

Argentina were strengthened by the availability of their three-strong contingent and Hernández, the masterful fly-half, stroked them into the lead after 70 seconds with a nonchalant drop-goal.

Hernández had pinned England back into their own corner with a pin-point kick and then profited when Dylan Hartley overthrew the lineout.

But the ten missed the chance to extend Argentina's lead with a penalty soon after and as hard as 'El Magico' tried to weave his magic, the first half was dominated by Goode's boot and a ferocious breakdown battle.

Steffon Armitage and James Haskell competed well on the floor and Goode's tactical kicking took the sting out of Argentina's early thrust and he edged England 9-3 ahead with a two simple penalties and a long-range drop-goal.

Danny Care zipped around the base but the breakdown arm-wrestle left him with slow ball, which did not help England's attacking cohesion and the Old Trafford crowd grew frustrated with the aerial approach.

When England did piece together a slick attack it resulted in the opening try, with Banahan powering onto Armitage's grubber kick and through two defenders to touch down under the posts.

Goode, Dan Hipkiss and Mark Cueto had combined to send Armitage away with quick hands in a tight space and although the England full-back was taken out off the ball, Banahan pounced to score with a celebratory punch to the air.

Hernandez slotted a penalty in reply but England were gathering momentum.

Tom May blew one golden opportunity when his attempted miss-pass flew straight into touch when he should have kept it short and sent Armitage clear.

But powerful surges from Nick Easter and Hartley set the platform for Goode to strike his second drop-goal of the half and secure England a 19-9 half-time lead.

Goode extended England's lead with another penalty shortly after the restart and Hernández responded with two of his own to keep Argentina in touch.

The Old Trafford crowd grew increasingly impatient by England's approach, greeting Steve Borthwick's decision to go for the posts with boos and slow handclaps.

When Goode made a pass to Cueto inside his own 22, it was greeted by ironic cheers.

The crowd soon got what they wanted with a try for Armitage after Care had launched a sizzling midfield break.

Care's pass to Cueto was poor but the England wing showed football skills suitable for the occasion by volleying the ball back infield and Armitage pounced for the second try.

Argentina full-back Horacio Agula was sin-binned for a professional foul but England failed to take advantage, not only because Goode missed a simple penalty but because Julian White soon followed him to the bin.

White had only been on the field for six minutes after coming off the bench to win his 50th Test cap.

But England rounded off the victory with a scintillating try from Armitage, who raced through the gears to chase down another volley from Cueto.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Banahan, Armitage 2
Con:  Goode 2
Pen:  Goode 4
Drop:  Goode 2

For Argentina:
Pen:  Hernández 4
Drop:  Hernández

England:  15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Tom May, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 James Haskell, 5 Louis Deacon, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne,
Replacements:  16 Julian White, 17 Steve Thompson, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Jordan Crane, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Mathew Tait.

Argentina:  15 Horacio Agulla, 14 Federico Martín Aramburu, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Miguel Avramovic, 11 Gonzalo Camacho, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Nicolás Vergallo, 8 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe (c), 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Álvaro Galindo, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Eusebio Guiñazu, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Esteban Lozada, 19 Alejandro Abadie, 20 Alfredo Lalanne, 21 Santiago Fernández, 22 Lucas González Amorosino.

Referee:  Christophe Berdos (France)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Hugh Watkins (Wales) (Wales)
Television match official:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Assessor:  Brian Stirling (Ireland), Brian Campsall (England)

Wales cruise in Chicago

Wales made it two wins from two on their North American tour as they demolished the United States 48-15 at Toyota Park on Saturday.

The under-strength visitors enjoyed the majority of possession in Chigaco, with impressive Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies claiming a brace of tries to accompany eighteen points from the tee.

USA now head into the 2009 Churchill Cup on the back of a couple of defeats under new coach Eddie O'Sullivan and will be keen to start the tournament in better form against the Argentina Jaguars this coming Wednesday.

Robin McBryde's side were forced to cope with an early injury to captain Ryan Jones as they finished their season on a high to claim success in what was their 600th international match.

Playing in front of a 6,262 crowd the majority of whom appeared to be Welsh supporters, had expected a physical encounter with the Americans, just as they had experienced in beating Canada 32-23 a week earlier in Toronto.

They got exactly what they expected early when Eagles prop Will Johnson landed a big hit on Jones in the opening minute.  He needed a lengthy spell of treatment before returning to the action.

He was still in trouble though, and twice needed further attention before being forced to leave the field in the 20th minute, his replacement Sam Warburton of Cardiff Blues coming on to earn his first cap.

By then Wales were on top at 13-3, thanks to two opening penalties from Nicky Robinson, Gavin Debartolo replying for USA, and a try from Mark Jones, who finished off a move started by Deiniol Jones off a ruck.

Jones had also scored a try in Wales' 500th international, eight years ago in Osaka against Japan and Robinson added the conversion to send Wales 13-3 up.

It got better for Wales moments later when Robinson collected from scrum-half Peel and chipped over the top, collecting the ball and off-loading on the halfway line for outside centre Davies to run in for his first international try.

There was more collateral damage as flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor joined fellow back rower Jones on the bench after tweaking a hamstring.

Reserve hooker Richard Hibbard was sent on at blindside with Warburton already at openside, Dafydd Jones having taken over at number eight when Jones went off to form a very unfamiliar back row, with prop Duncan Jones taking over the captaincy.

American zeal strayed over into indiscipline when back row Louis Stanfill was sin-binned by referee Matt Goddard for bringing down a maul and a minute later the Australian official awarded a penalty try to Wales when Dafydd Jones was denied a try as his pack pushed over.

Eagles back rowers Peter Dahl and Nic Johnson both went deliberately offside to prevent the touchdown.  Robinson converted from in front of the posts and Wales went in at the break 27-3 up and well in control.

Mike Hercus replaced Ata Malifa at half-time while Wales rejigged their pack further in the 49th minute with Craig Mitchell replacing tighthead prop John Yapp and Luke Charteris coming on for Gough in the second row.

The USA had lost 27-10 to Ireland in California last Sunday and there was still life in the Eagles in Chicago as they nullified the Welsh threat and started to gain territory of their own.

Their reward came in the 53rd minute when centre Alipate Tuilvuka crashed through tackles from substitute lock Luke Charteris and Peel to give the USA their first try of the game.  Debartolo added the conversion and Wales' lead had been cut to seventeen points.

Jonathan Spratt came off the Wales bench for full-back Daniel Evans and nearly had a hand in a fourth try for the tourists only for his pass outside to Tom James, who subsequently went over the line, to be ruled forward in the 59th minute.

James did get his try four minutes later, pouncing on a ball that ricocheted off his boot near the USA 22 to pick up on the try line and touch down.  Robinson converted with his last kick of the game before making way for Dan Biggar at fly-half with the score at 34-10.

Cooper replaced James and he got on the scoresheet when Biggar kicked ahead, the 30-year-old scrum-half beating the 19-year-old fly-half to the ball to touchdown.

Biggar was left to kick the conversion as Wales moved 41-10 ahead.

Davies added his second try of the afternoon with two minutes to go, Biggar converting again for another perfect outing from the Wales kickers.

The Americans, building for a World Cup qualifying tie with Canada next month, added their second try in the final minute when sub JJ Gagliano got over the line, referee Goddard having the score confirmed by video review.

The scorers:

For USA:
Tries:  Tuilevuka, Gagiani
Con:  DeBartalo
Pen:  DeBartalo

For Wales
Tries:  Davies 2, penalty, James, Jones, Cooper
Con:  Robinson 3, James, Biggar 2
Pen:  Robinson 2

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Gavin DeBartalo, 13 Alipate Tuilevuka, 12 Roland Suniula, 11 Kevin Swiryn, 10 Ata Malifa, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Peter Dahl, 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John Van Der Giessen, 3 Will Johnson, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Matekitonga Moeakiola.
Replacements:  16 Brian McClanahan, 17 Mike MacDonald , 18 Courtney Mackay, 19 JJ Gagiani, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Mike Hercus, 22 Junior Sifa.

Wales:  15 Daniel Evans, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Tom James, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones (capt), 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Ian Gough, 4 Deiniol Jones, 3 Duncan Jones, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 John Yapp
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Craig Mitchell, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Sam Warburton, 20 Gareth Cooper, 21 Daniel Biggar, 22 Jonathan Spratt.

Referee:  Matt Goddard (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Rob Debney, Dave Smortchevsky
Assessor:  Douglas Kerr (Scotland)

Baa-Baas no match for Wallabies

Australia opened their international season by smashing the Barbarians 55-7 in Sydney on Saturday, running in eight tries past the visitors in the famous white and black hoops.

Most pleasing for Wallabies fans was the fact that their were clearly picking up where they left off last year -- playing like a side that had been together for six months, not six days.

The Barbarians started well, a penalty putting them deep into Wallabies territory and it was almost a dream international rugby debut for Sonny Bill Williams as he charged through a tackle of Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock only to be stopped inches short from a superb tackle from Luke Burgess.

Mortlock got his revenge just minutes later hitting Williams in a huge tackle that brought cheers from the packed Sydney Football Stadium crowd and a rye smile from the former Rugby League star.

It was the Wallabies turn to attack soon after when a clever kick ahead from Burgess saw his team-mates turn over possession just metres from the Barbarians' line.

A few phases later lock James Horwill ran a sharp angle to cut through the Barbarians' defence and crash over for the opening try for the Wallabies' 2009 season. Matt Giteau missed the conversion, but the hosts were up 5-0 after six minutes.

An offside penalty gave the Wallabies another scoring opportunity, and Mortlock showed how serious they were taking the Barbarians threat by pointing to the posts where Giteau duly obliged.

Mortlock put in a powerful run soon after and it looked like the Wallabies were in again but a crunching tackle from All Blacks legend Jerry Collins dispossessed the Wallaby skipper.

But just a minute later the home side were in after a superb scything run from winger Drew Mitchell, who picked up a loose ball in the Barbarians 22 and went through the tackles of centre Seilala Mapusua, prop B J Botha and Williams to score wide out -- just managing to ground the ball over the line despite the attention of scrum-half Chris Whitaker.

Giteau again missed the conversion but after 16 minutes the Wallabies were in control at 13-0.

The gap was almost bigger just four minutes later when breaks from inside centre Berrick Barnes and Burgess saw winger Lachie Turner sprint away before being tackled into touch just a metre from the line.

It was a momentary reprieve for the visitors, with Giteau selling two dummies to a perplexed Barbarians backline before strolling over untouched next to the posts. Giteau converted his own try and after 23 minutes the men in green and gold were out to a 20-0 lead.

The Barbarians looked to strike back shortly after with Mapusua finding a gap before Whitaker sent a long pass to winger Iain Balshaw, whose neat grubber was just gathered in time by Burgess.

Strong defence and speedy attack had the Wallabies well in control -- and the Baa-Baas were further disrupted when Mapusua limped off to be replaced by Saracens fly-half Glen Jackson, with Luke McAlister moving to inside centre.

But the Barbarians struck back just before half-time with McAlister making a break on his own 22 before Whitaker popped up twice to put Balshaw away on a sprint down the left touchline. McAlister converted wide out to give the Baa-Baas something to smile about.

The Barbarians launched the second half with a superb long range attack after replacement Ben Blair was away on a superb break, but some quick work from Mitchell saw the ball turned over deep into Wallabies' territory.

Moments later the Wallabies were on the attack. Flanker George Smith popped the ball back into replacement half-back Josh Valentine who then fed the ball inside to hooker Stephen Moore who charged away on a twenty metre burst to the line.

Giteau again converted and the Wallabies were well clear at 27-7 up with just over twenty minutes left to play.

The Barbarians then launched another attack with replacement hooker Schalk Brits (on for Sebastien Bruno) making a break before feeding inside to another replacement, prop Greg Somerville (on for Clarke Dermody).

Williams, who was having an impressive international debut, was then upended in a huge hit by Turner. Barbarian's captain Phil Waugh then received a huge ovation as he went off after a tireless performance to be replaced by French legend, Serge Betsen. Lock Chris Jack was also replaced by the Baa-Baas with Martin Corry coming on for his last game.

Ben Alexander showed the backs how it was done on 65 minutes running a superb angle from a Berrick Barnes pass to dive over under the posts for his first try for the Wallabies. The try coming after a strong burst up the middle from Mortlock.

Another conversion to Giteau and the Wallabies were up 34-7.

Polota-Nau, now on as full replacement for Moore, set up the next Wallabies try with a powerful burst. The ball came to O'Connor then to Giteau who put through a neat grubber for Mitchell to follow up and score his second try for the night.

Giteau again converted wide out and the Wallabies were out to a commanding 41-7 with just under ten minute remaining.

Pocock edged the Wallabies towards the half century, barging over for a try with four minutes to go. Mortlock converted and the Wallabies were up 48-7. Then Polota-Nau and Horwill combined to put James O'Connor away on a thirty metre sprint, outpacing the cover to score his first try for the Wallabies.

Mortlock converted and the Wallabies had laid down a marker for a daunting season ahead with one of the biggest losses in Barbarians history.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries: Horwill, Mitchell 2, Giteau, Moore, Alexander, Pocock, O'Connor
Cons: Giteau 3, Mortlock 2
Pen: Giteau

For Barbarians:
Try: Balshaw
Con: McAllister

Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith, 6 Matt Hodgson, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 James O'Connor

Barbarians: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Iain Balshaw, 13 Sonny Bill Williams, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Josh Lewsey, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Chris Whitaker, 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh (c), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Paul Tito, 4 Chris Jack, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 Martin Corry, 19 Serge Betsen, 20 Justin Marshall, 21 Glen Jackson, 22 Ben Blair.

Ireland stutter past USA

London Irish captain Bob Casey scored his first Test try for Ireland in a 27-10 win over the USA on an afternoon of few highlights for Declan Kidney's side in Santa Clara, California.

The Grand Slam champions, missing a host of first-choice players due to the Lions tour and Leinster's Heineken Cup success, finished off their two-match tour of North America with an uninspiring victory over the USA Eagles.

Casey barged over off a 13th-minute lineout maul to hand Ireland an early lead, which they boosted to 13-0 in first-half injury-time when new centre Ian Whitten finished off a breakaway attack.

But the US, who included six debutants in their starting line-up, were very keen to impress new coach Eddie O'Sullivan and they proved sticky opponents for an off-the-boil Ireland.

A lot of their good work was undone by a very poor place-kicking display from their number ten Mike Hercus, who missed four kickable penalties.

Referee Chris White awarded the tourists a penalty try, 13 minutes into the second half, to almost put the game beyond the Americans' reach.

But, inspired by replacement out-half Ata Malifa, they launched a spirited fightback.  Malifa dropped a goal and then set up centre Roland Suniula for a converted try.

With the gap down to 20-10 and both sides tiring, Ireland needed a final score to secure their second tour win and they got it when replacement scrum-half Eoin Reddan freed up tour captain Rory Best for a muscular burst to the line.

More than 10,000 spectators packed into the Buck Shaw Stadium to watch the Eagles takes on Ireland for the first time since they met at Lansdowne Road in 2004, when current Lion Tommy Bowe marked his debut with a try in a 55-6 home win.

O'Sullivan, who was in charge of Ireland back then, is beginning afresh as Eagles coach now and he said he was "honoured" to take on his native country, and his successor as Ireland coach Declan Kidney, in his first match at the helm.

Kidney's new-look squad had failed to fire in last weekend's 25-6 defeat of Canada and it was thought that with an extra week's training and the team largely unchanged -- Mike Ross came in for Tom Court in the front row -- they would muster a much better display.

The early signs were positive with Best marshalling an impressive lineout and Casey and Mick O'Driscoll pressuring the American set piece into errors, but Ireland were never able to build on that.

Ian Keatley missed an early penalty chance before O'Driscoll picked up a loose ball at an American ruck and almost put his Munster colleague Ian Dowling over for a try.

Off a subsequent penalty, Ireland engineered a lineout maul which the Eagles could not cope with and Casey emerged from under a pile of bodies after being shunted over the line.

Keatley missed the conversion but was able to fire a left-sided penalty through the posts on 24 minutes, as Ireland continue to struggle to put phases together.

Ireland were lacking accuracy around the pitch but so too were American hooker Chris Biller, who had a nightmare time in the lineout, and Hercus.

The former Sale Shark missed penalty efforts after 30, 34 and 35 minutes to let Ireland off the hook for some poor discipline.

The home side paid the price for a failure to find touch from Hercus late in the first half when Keatley spotted a mismatch in midfield and ghosted through the gap before Whitten took it on to dive over for his second try in as many games.

Keatley's missed conversion left it at 13-0 in Ireland's favour but the try gave the Irish some encouragement for the second period.

Still, it was the US who took the initiative on the restart.  But that good work was undone when Hercus missed his fourth penalty chance and another powerful lineout maul, with Casey and Tony Buckley to the fore, handed Ireland a penalty try which Keatley converted.

The Irish management tried to inject some pace to their game, with Eoin Reddan and debutant Denis Hurley coming on, but O'Sullivan's side were beginning to show their potential.

A turnover and quick break through the middle from Suniula showed have led to a try.  Malifa settled for a drop goal, amid groans from the crowd.

Even better followed when Malifa ran past replacement Court in midfield and looped a pass out for the supporting Suniula to skip past Darren Cave's last-ditch tackle and crash over the line.

However, the Leinster-bound Reddan then hit Malifa with a strong tackle, his pack duly supplied turnover ball and the scrum-half spun a quick pass out for Best to burrow his way over from close range.

The scorers:

For USA:
Try:  Suniula
Con:  Malifa
Drop:  Malifa

For Ireland:

Tries:  Casey, Whitten, Penalty try, Best
Cons:  Keatley 2
Pen:  Keatley

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Kevin Swiryn, 13 Junior Sifa, 12 Roland Suniula, 11 Justin Boyd, 10 Mike Hercus, 9 Mike Petri (capt), 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Peter Dahl, 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John Van Der Giessen, 3 Will Johnson, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements:  16 Joe Welch, 17 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 18 Courtney Mackay, 19 JJ Gagiani, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Ata Malifa, 22 Alipate Tuilevuka.

Ireland:  15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Barry Murphy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Bob Casey, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Mike Ross.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Ryan Caldwell, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Niall O'Connor, 22 Denis Hurley.

Referee:  Chris White (England)
Assistant referees:  Greg Garner (England), Dave Smortchevsky (Canada)

Wales conquer Canada

Wales held off a stiff Canadian challenge on Saturday to beat the Canucks 32-23 in a one-off Test in Toronto on Saturday.

An under-strength Wales side, featuring only five players with more than 10 international caps and two debutants in Scarlets pair Jonathan Davies at centre and Daniel Evans at full-back, came from 6-0 down after 14 minutes to lead 16-9 at half-time and then shipped an early second-half try before regaining their composure to run out winners.

It was another hard-fought victory against a side which had troubled the Welsh at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff last November before eventually going down 34-13.

The margin was closer this time, with Wales failing to withstand early Canada pressure and going behind early to two penalties from full-back James Pritchard.

Wales found their rhythm and struck in the 17th minute when wing Chris Czekaj went over for the opening try.

Scrum-half Gareth Cooper kicked over the top and when Canada wing Sean Duke came under pressure from centre Andrew Bishop, he spilled the ball to Czekaj in the corner, leaving the Wales wing to scoop up the ball and run over.

Fly-half Dan Biggar slotted home the conversion and added a penalty soon after as Canadian lock Mike Burak was sin-binned following an infringement at a ruck as Wales took a 10-6 lead.

Biggar added another after 27 minutes and restored the seven-point advantage with his fourth successful kick of the opening half after Pritchard kicked his third to leave Wales leading 16-9 at the break.

Dwayne Peel replaced Cooper at scrum-half for the start of the second half but it was Canada who started brightest.  A loose pass from Robin Sowden-Taylor inside the home side's half fell into Canadian hands, allowing Nanyak Dala to carry the ball into Welsh territory before finding scrum-half Ed Fairhurst who took out full-back Evans with a pass to Duke for the try.

Pritchard converted and the sides were level again at 16-16.

Again Wales took time to find their feet but when they did they looked impressive as wing Tom James collected a high ball deep in his own half and broke through to the Canadian 22.

Biggar nearly touched down in the corner only for a saving tackle from Duke.  The ball went back along the Welsh line and James popped up on the left to earn his reward with his first try for Wales.  Biggar converted and added another penalty and Wales were back in front, 29-16.

The tourists allowed Canada back into it on the hour when, to the delight of the 8,450 crowd, Fairhurst finished off a great move from former All Black Kieran Crowley's side with a try, Pritchard converting to bring the score to 29-23.

Wales grafted for the remainder of the game and thought they had a try when substitute front row Gareth Williams appeared to burrow over the line in the 72nd minute, only for a video review to disallow the score.

Wales still added points as Australian ref Matt Goddard brought the play back for a penalty in front of the posts which Biggar converted for the final score of the game.

Wales next travel to Chicago for a Test next Saturday against the USA.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Tries:  Duke, Fairhurst
Cons:  Pritchard 2
Pens:  Pritchard 3

For Wales:

Tries:  Czekaj, James
Cons:  Biggar 2
Pens:  Biggar 6

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Ciaran Hearn, 13 DTH van der Merwe, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 Sean Duke, 10 Ander Monro, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Kleeberger, 7 Adam Carpenter, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Luke Tait, 4 Mike Burak, 3 Andrew Tiedemann, 2 Pat Riordan (capt), 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements:  16 Mike Pletch, 17 Doug Wooldridge, 18 Tyler Hotson, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Matt Evans, 21 David Spicer, 22 Phil Mack

Wales:  15 Daniel Evans, 14 Tom James, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Andrew Bishop, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Ryan Jones (captain), 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Deiniol Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 John Yapp, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Duncan Jones,
Replacements:  16 Gareth Williams, 17 Craig Mitchell, 18 Ian Gough, 19 Sam Warburton, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Nicky Robinson, 22 Jonathan Spratt.

Referee:  Matt Goddard (Australia)
Assistant referees:  Rob Debney, Chris Draper (USA)

Barbarians hold on at Twickenham

England were taught a harsh first-half lesson in running rugby on Saturday as the Barbarians held on for an 33-26 victory at Twickenham.

It proved the perfect send-off for Martin Corry and Josh Lewsey to English rugby as Martin Johnson's youthful side shipped five tries -- including two for the former red rose wing Iain Balshaw.

The hosts were outclassed for much of the game by a Barbarians team boasting seven former All Blacks and a total of 632 international caps.

Although Johnson should have the likes of Mark Cueto and Ben Kay available for next Saturday's first Test against Argentina, he will have major concerns over the state of England's flimsy defence heading up to Old Trafford.

Corry and Lewsey were key figures as the Barbarians opened a 14-0 lead with tries from Balshaw and Chris Jack before Ben Foden -- one of six players making his first senior England start -- produced a strong finish to score in the corner.

The Barbarians surged clear after the interval with embarrasing ease as Rocky Elsom and Gordon D'Arcy touched down either side of Balshaw's second try.

Jordan Turner-Hall, Tom May and Matt Banahan notched debut tries as the Barbarians wilted and England hit back in the closing stages to avoid a record defeat and regain some pride.

But England were too far behind and in the end they were mere consolation scores on a day reserved for the retiring World Cup-winning duo of Corry and Lewsey.

Both players head for Australia with the Barbarians tonight.  For Corry it was a victorious end to his English career after missing out on Leicester's Guinness Premiership triumph a fortnight ago.

And as Lewsey left the field to a standing ovation he would have been justified to feel as though a point had been proved to Johnson, who made it clear earlier this season that his England career was over.

The Wasps centre created the opening try with a deft kick in behind the England defence and although Balshaw was offside it was not spotted by the officials and he scooped up the loose ball to score.

After an uninspiring start, including a missed penalty from Goode, that sparked England into action.

Armitage sliced through the Barbarians defence and Goode almost creating a try for himself with a neat chip over the top only to be denied by a finger-tip interception by Justin Marshall.

Jamie Noon scorched around the outside of Glenn Jackson but he was felled just short of the line as the Saracens fly-half recovered well to catch him with an excellent tap-tackle.

But in defence England were disorganised and that allowed the Barbarians' more enterprising approach to pay dividends.

Jack galloped over in the corner and Ben Blair converted to open a 14-0 lead after Corry's barnstorming run through the middle.

England responded positively and finally worked a breakthrough after 33 minutes when Danny Care and Chris Robshaw combined to send Foden over in the corner.

The versatile Northampton back, playing today on the right wing, is renowned more for his pace and footwork than his power but he held off two tacklers after latching onto Robshaw's inside pass to score in the corner.

Johnson made one change at the interval with May replacing Noon in midfield but the second half was barely two minutes old when England were ripped apart again.

The rampaging Elsom, who is heading back to Australia after helping Leinster win the Heineken Cup, burst onto a pass from the brilliant Blair and outpaced Nick Easter to score.

Blair missed his first conversion attempt of the afternoon but was soon presented with another touchline opportunity after Balshaw touched down for his second try.

D'Arcy was given the freedom of Twickenham by some more weak England defence and hooker Schalk Britz sent the Biarritz-bound winger ghosted over untouched.

This was now embarrasing and it got worse.  Lewsey danced around both Louis Deacon and Steve Borthwick before supplying the scoring pass to D'Arcy, who sauntered under the posts.

Armitage, whose class at full-back stood out despite the failings of those around him, saved England the ignominy of conceding a 50-metre to a hooker when he executed a brilliant last-ditch tackle to haul Britz into touch just as the South African reached for the line.

England managed to avoid a record defeat with a glut of three tries in quick succession as the Barbarians began to tire in the closing stages.

All three were created by kicks from Goode, who picked out Turner-Hall, May and then Banahan as England closed to within one score with five minutes remaining.

Lewsey was given a rousing farewell as he was replaced Mike Catt in what could also prove to be the veteran fly-half general's final big-match appearance at Twickenham.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Foden, Turner-Hall, May, Banahan
Con:  Goode 3

For Barbarians:
Tries:  Balshaw 2, Jack, Elsom, D'Arcy
Con:  Blair 4

England:  15 Delon Armitage (London Irish), 14 Ben Foden (Northampton), 13 Jamie Noon (Newcastle), 12 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), 11 Matt Banahan (Bath), 10 Andy Goode (Brive), 9 Danny Care (Harlequins), 8 Nick Easter (Harlequins), 7 Lewis Moody (Leicester), 6 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), 5 Louis Deacon (Leicester), 4 Steve Borthwick (Saracens, capt), 3 David Wilson (Newcastle), 2 Dylan Harltey (Northampton), 1 Tim Payne (Wasps).
Replacements:  16 Steve Thompson (Brive), 17 Nick Wood (Gloucester), 18 Chris Jones (Sale Sharks), 19 Steffon Armitage (London Irish), 20 James Haskell (Wasps), 21 Paul Hodgson (London Irish), 22 Tom May (Newcastle).

Barbarians:  15 Ben Blair (Cardiff Blues & New Zealand), 14 Doug Howlett (Munster & New Zealand), 13 Josh Lewsey (London Wasps & England), 12 Gordon D'Arcy (Leinster & Ireland), 11 Iain Balshaw (Gloucester Rugby & England), 10 Glen Jackson (Saracens), 9 Justin Marshall (Saracens & New Zealand), 8 Rocky Elsom (Leinster & Australia), 7 Serge Betsen (London Wasps & France), 6 Jerry Collins (Toulon & New Zealand), 5 Chris Jack (Saracens & New Zealand), 4 Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers & England, captain), 3 Greg Somerville (Gloucester Rugby & New Zealand), 2 Schalk Brits (Stormers & South Africa), 1 Clarke Dermody (London Irish & New Zealand).
Replacements:  16 Sebastien Bruno (Sale Sharks & France), 17 B J Botha (Ulster & South Africa), 18 Paul Tito (Cardiff Blues), 19 Phil Waugh (Waratahs & Australia), 20 Chris Whitaker (Leinster & Australia), 21 Mike Catt (London Irish & England), 22 Ratu Nasiganiyavi (Waratahs).

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Television match officials:  Brian Abrahams (England), Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Assessor:  Ed Morrison (England)

Ireland see off Canada

Declan Kidney's new-look Ireland side began their tour of Canada with an unconvincing 25-6 victory in Vancouver.

The success was comfortable enough thanks to tries from Barry Murphy, Ian Whitten and Tony Buckley -- however, the lack of their Lions players and those of Heineken Cup winners Leinster did not help their cause.

The tourists led 7-3 at the interval thanks to Murphy's penalty, which was converted by Ian Keatley -- who had missed an early penalty by some distance.

But James Pritchard kicked his second penalty following the resumption to move Canada to within a point of Ireland and lift their hopes of an unexpected success.

However, Ireland took control of the game with another penalty from Connacht fly-half Keatley, followed by tries from debutant Whitten and Buckley.

Canada hooker Adam Kleeberger was sin-binned on the hour for a professional foul and Keatley took advantage with the penalty.

And the tourists moved further clear soon after the hour mark when Danny Cave sent Ulster team-mate and fellow debutant Whitten clear for a third try.

Buckley wrapped up the scoring when he surged over in the corner following a pass from Ulster team-mate Peter Stringer, although Keatley was off target with his conversion attempt.

Kidney's men are next in action on May 31, when they take on the United States in California.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Pens:  Pritchard

For Ireland:
Tries:  Murphy, Whitten, Buckley
Cons:  Keatley
Pens:  Keatley

Canada:  15 James Pritchard, 14 Dean van Camp, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Ryan Smith, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 David Spicer, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Adam Kleeberger, 6 Chauncey O'Toole, 5 Mike Burak, 4 Tyler Hotson, 3 Scott Franklin, 2 Pat Riordan (c), 1 Kevin Tkachuk
Replacements:  16 Andrew Tiedemann, 17 Luke Tait, 18 Jebb Sinclair, 19 Nanyak Dala, 20 Sean Michael Stephen, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Ander Monro.

Ireland:  15 Gavin Duffy, 14 Barry Murphy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 Niall Ronan, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Bob Casey, 3 Tony Buckley, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Tom Court.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Mike Ross, 18 Ryan Caldwell, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Niall O'Connor, 22 Denis Hurley.

Ireland claim their slice of history

The Ireland class of 2009 became only the second from the Emerald Isle to claim a European clean sweep of rugby on Saturday, beating Wales 17-15 in Cardiff for the first Irish Grand Slam since 1948, courtesy of Ronan O'Gara's late drop goal.

An extraordinary finale saw Wales fly-half Stephen Jones miss a late long-range penalty to hand Ireland their crown in a gripping game of rugby.

By the end, most were on their knees.  Some Irish even kissed the turf!  The entirety of Irish rugby, save a few octogenarians in the stands, experienced a new level of sporting euphoria, shared an experience hitherto only dreamed about.  They all now know what it is to be a Grand Slam champion -- and having been a matter of inches away from losing it!  Most looked as though they didn't know how to react or what to do.

Welsh were also on their knees, heads bowed at some accursed luck.  They had played it right, got themselves into a winning position, but fallen foul of fate and all her little ways and wiles.  The Grand Slam class of 2008 ends up fourth in this Six Nations, a bizarre result for a team that many believe were only a couple of rough breaks away from winning the two matches they lost.

The Six Nations served up a finale of pure tactical rugby, played at a level of intensity that only the truly best can produce.  Ireland kept it cool, prodding for territory and nurturing the charity from a creaky Welsh line-out.  In all, they nicked nine Welsh throws, probably the key statistic, especially considering the territory and possession Wales could have had with their 14-5 penalty count.

The Welsh played flatter and wider and with the hands, moving it back and forth across the Millennium Stadium expanses and waiting their turn.  Something had to give.

The intensity boiled over in the first minute.  Ronan O'Gara collided vaguely with Ryan Jones but went down as though struck by an iron bar.  Donncha O'Callaghan raced to his fly-half's aid and there were two huge men eyeball to eyeball, each clutching fistfuls of the other's jersey, neither to be persuaded to let go.

Referee Wayne Barnes -- once again, exemplary -- eventually managed to break the strangleholds and award the penalty, but O'Gara pulled it left.

It could have been just a random act, but it soon became very apparent that "turnstile", as many fans have nicknamed Ireland's pivot, was the target of some special Welsh care and loving attention.  Three very distinct times one of the more sizeable Welsh runners was given a ball while on a bee-line towards than number ten channel.  O'Gara coped well enough, but two subsequent kicks straight to touch belied a shaken core.

So with O'Gara stuck in his pocket, the Welsh wrought control.  They forced more penalties and began to make inroads into Irish territory -- the visitors had dominated the territory early on with O'Gara's and Kearney's kicking.  There were clean breaks by Lee Byrne, Mike Phillips and Gavin Henson, there were half-breaks from others, final passes which never stuck but which promised to.  While Ireland contented themselves with a patient holding operation, the Welsh went in search of the win.

The pace and width to the Welsh game never broke the green line, but it stretched it enough for the discipline to crack.  Ireland ended up conceding seven first-half penalties, five in the final thirteen minutes of the half.  Stephen Jones converted two of them for a 6-0 half-time scoreline.

The second half started with a green flourish, one which opened the game gloriously up for five short minutes.  First O'Driscoll burrowed over in the manner of the darkest dirtiest hooker from the base of a ruck, then Tommy Bowe latched onto a nasty bounce and steam through a turnstile-like Henson tackle and go under the posts.  Not only did it leave Ireland well in Grand Slam position, but it left the Welsh needing 21 points to secure the Six Nations.

Fourteen points in four minutes.  The momentum had swung to Ireland and the title was theirs.

Wales kept it open.  Mark Jones went for a run before being bundled into touch.  Again, Ireland started to ship penalties.  Again, Jones landed two of them to reduce the arrears to 14-12.  The longer Wales could keep the pace up, the more you felt that Ireland might crack one or two times too many.

But Wales could not keep the pace up.The kicks to deep became more speculative, the power fell away from the charges.  Ireland's pack stuffed the ball up-jumper and bided their time.  Welsh runners descended deeper into isolation and the stream of penalties began to flow the other way.  You could feel the forces of nature turning with it.

Ireland maintained their tactical kicking, also looking to chip to Bowe's wing on many an occasion -- just the number of occasions Bowe seemed to be left unmarked.  Geordan Murphy came on for the final 20 minutes, bringing his brilliant boot into play.

But then the old heads went missing.  Murphy spilled a pass from Stringer which he should never have had to take.  Wales earned a scrum and breaks from Phillips and Mark Jones helped Stephen Jones land a drop goal with five to go.

But fate was not yet done toying with the Celts.  The Irish marched their way into the Welsh 22, once again with the line-out as their weapon of choice.  Back came the ball to O'Gara in the pocket and he struck as clinical a drop goal as you could imagine over the posts.

Back came Wales, sweeping this way and that and heading upfield.  They got into Ireland's half.  Wayne Barnes stuck out his arm.  A penalty!  A chance for the Welsh to spoil the Irish party.

Stephen Jones teed it up, from 48 metres out, from where he had landed on in the first half.  He struck it well.  It rose.  It carried.  But it began to fade.  As if the ghosts of failures past themselves were blowing it back, the ball dropped slowly, excruciatingly for the Welsh, gloriously for the Irish, from the air and drifted a yard under the bar.  Geordan Murphy caught it and ran towards the side of the pitch, eating up every last nanosecond of time before hoofing it into an enraptured crowd.  Grand Slam!

Man of the match:  The officials gave it to Brian O'Driscoll but that strikes us as a cliched cop-out.  Instead we give it to the man who did so much damage to the Welsh challenge by ruining their line-out: Paul O'Connell.

Moment of the match:  No possible candidate other than the moment the goal-kick from Stephen Jones dropped under the bar.  Relief and Joy all rolled into one.

Villain of the match:  Hmmm -- we'll refrain from giving it to Ronan O'Gara for his theatrical tumble in the first minute on sentimental grounds.  No award.

The scorers: 

For Wales: 
Pens:  S.Jones 4
Drop goal:  S.Jones

For Ireland: 
Tries:  O'Driscoll, Bowe
Cons:  O'Gara 2

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (capt), 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 Warren Fury, 21 James Hook, 22 Jamie Roberts.

Ireland:  15 Robert Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 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 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges:  David Pearson (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official:  Romain Poite (France)

England recover Calcutta Cup

England followed up last weekend's earth-shattering improvement with a bitty 26-12 win over Scotland as they reclaimed the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham on Saturday.

It was hardly one for rugby's purists as frustrating handling errors coupled with both side's keenness not to lose scuppered the contest as Ugo Monye, Riki Flutey and Mathew Tait's scores ultimately proved the difference.

Judgement day for Frank Hadden had already been set pre-game and with their fifth-place finish just above the Azzurri falling below the board's minimum requirement, it could well have been the last time he led his loyal troops.

England, meanwhile, were left to consider what might have been after away defeats in Wales and Ireland cost them any chance of playing for the title this afternoon.

This may have been just a prelude to the day's main event in Cardiff but it was of no less importance to Martin Johnson in his attempts to rebuild "Fortress Twickenham".

Scotland, who had not won at Twickenham since 1983, started both halves well and kept in touch with three penalties from Chris Paterson and a long-range strike from Phil Godman.

Hadden's men succeeded where France failed last week, by absorbing England's early attacking threat and briefly turning the tables to ask questions of Martin Johnson's men.

Mark Cueto had a break snuffed out by Max and Thom Evans down one wing and Delon Armitage, whose pace ripped France to shreds last weekend, was expertly shepherded into touch by Paterson.

In between time, Paterson had given Scotland a 3-0 lead after Harry Ellis was penalised for not rolling away and Thom Evans came within a metre of scoring a brilliant breakaway try.

The Glasgow winger sprinted clear after Ellis had tried to snipe down the blindside.  He left Flood in his wake and looked for all the world like scoring a 70-metre special.

But Evans had not banked on the electric pace of England's former schoolboy sprinter Monye, who raced diagonally across field and pulled off one of the great tackles to deny him in the corner.

England conceded five penalties in the first sixteen minutes and they also lost Phil Vickery and Ellis to injuries.

Vickery looked dazed when he went off but play was halted for around ten minutes after Ellis was knocked out in a tackle on Simon Danielli and eventually taken off the field on a stretcher.

He required stitches to a gash behind the ear but was back on the England bench smiling before the end of the game.

England would not have asked for a break under such circumstances, but they made the most of it and emerged from their huddle to dominate the rest of the half.

England soon took the lead with a slick move featuring Flutey and Flood creating the chance for Monye to slip out of Paterson's cover tackle and score his first Test try.

It had taken just over 22 minutes but England had regained their swagger from last week and they scored again after Scotland made a mess of a lineout just five metres out.

England spread the ball left and Flutey cut between two defenders and wriggled his way to the line for a try confirmed by the television officials.

Mike Blair then wasted a golden opportunity for a quick Scotland reply when he failed to spot Danielli screaming for the inside pass having spun clear of England's defence.

It was a only brief respite for Scotland.  Simon Shaw charged down a kick from Blair and Flutey injected some pace into the attack before being hauled down just short of the line.

The forwards took over but Julian White was ruled to have been held up after a tunnelling drive for the line before England finished the half with a penalty for Flood.

The half-time statistics did not make happy reading for Scotland.  England had enjoyed 62 per cent possession, 68 per cent territory and won ball in their opponent's 22 on 22 occasions to Scotland's nil.

And with Johnson urging England to "out-work and out-enthuse" their opponents, nor did the full-time figures show Scotland in a good light.  England made twice as many passes and forced Scotland into twice as many tackles.

England, though, lost the penalty count again -- poor discipline has cost them dear in this championship -- and that allowed Scotland to chip away at their lead in the second half with Paterson slotting two more efforts to finish the tournament with a 100 per cent record.

Godman joined in on the act with a long-range strike but Scotland could not get close enough to England.

Care slotted a drop goal to make it 21-12 and Tait rounded off the victory with a neatly-taken try in the corner.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Monye, Flutey, Tait
Con:  Flood
Pen:  Flood 2
Drop:  Care

For Scotland:
Pen:  Paterson 4

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

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

Referee:  Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Christophe Berdos (France), Simon, McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Carlo Damasco (Italy)

France run riot in Rome

France banished the ghost of Twickenham past at the first time of asking as they demolished Italy 50-8 in a classy showing at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday.

So much their pride was dented after going down by 24 points at English rugby's HQ, sleepless nights had marred Les Bleus' build-up for their final Six Nations fixture of 2009.

But in blustery yet sunny conditions, Marc Lièvremont's side were completely unrecognisable from last week as they cut loose with a blistering seven tries erasing any lasting memories of that horror defeat.

Four changes were made in preparation for the contest but it could be argued that none really made much difference as all members involved six days ago had scores to personal matters to settle...and that they did in emphatic style with Italy having no answers to the men in blue.

The visitors got the ball rolling early on as they took the early steam out of the usual Azzurri fight with the assured Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc acting as puppeteers for a thoroughly entertaining show.

Bourgoin's number nine knocked over two penalties before sixteen minutes had past as he beat the slightly testing elements to open up a 6-0 lead whilst putting his pack in the correct places.

Then on the other side of an Andrea Marcato three points, France were back into their stride with a moment of brilliance lifting the game to new heights.  First it was the size of Yannick Jauzion who rose well to claim a Garryowen before unleashing Sebastien Chabal down the left wing.  The second row had 20 metres separating him from five points and with the ball in one hand like a small child, he crashed over with Parra's conversion soon to follow.

Chabal's score proved to be the catalyst of something memorable in Rome -- for everyone other than the hosts -- as two quick-fire tries were not too far in coming.  From a lineout on halfway, it was fly-half Trinh-Duc who answered his critics with a glorious dummy and step before racing to the whitewash before less than a minute later, Maxime Medard added his name to the list as he finished off Thierry Dusautoir's good work.

France were doing what England had done to them as the possession stakes read an unbelievable 78 per cent in favour of the visitors!

Things did not get any better for the Italians moments after the turnaround though, as flanker Mauro Bergamasco reinacted his own Twickenham nightmare with a shocking pass that was gobbled up by Cedric Heymans as the fourth try was posted.

Before kick-off a punter could have got France at a tempting 100/1 to finish the tournament in second place as a healthy win coupled with Scotland and Ireland winning later in the day was the task.

And with captain Lionel Nallet getting in on the act on 55 minutes, the more conservative among us were left on tenterhooks.

More woe was to come for Italy in the end though, as a second try for Medard and one for replacement winger Julien Malzieu brought up the half-century to add extra gloss to what was another wooden spoon for the hosts.

Man of the match:  Despite leaving the procession midway through the second period, Morgan Parra was superb at the base and wider out.  However, the man one out from him was even better as Francois Trinh-Duc's individual score was great reward for his performance.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Parisse
Pen:  Marcato

For France:
Tries:  Chabal, Trinh-Duc, Medard 2, Heymans, Nallet, Malzieu
Con:  Parra 3
Pen:  Parra 3

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Giulio Rubini, 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 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Roberto Quartaroli.

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 William Servat, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Frederic Michalak, 21 Mathieu Bastareaud, 22 Julien Malzieu.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)

England blow shapeless France away

It was supposed to be Le Crunch.  It ended up as Le Crash.  France, victors over Grand Slam champions Wales a fortnight ago, fell 34-10 to England at Twickenham on Sunday, blown away by the hosts' enthusiasm and clinical finishing.

It was the day England had been searching for all tournament.  Limited against Italy, awkward against Wales, tighter against Ireland, the English brought all the defensive attributes they had developed over the past month, added to it some precise and high-speed running lines and zippy handling, and removed the stupidity which had dogged them at breakdowns.

They also got the rub of the green on countless occasions.  50-50 passes stuck unerringly.  Andy Goode dropped a pass in the second half and managed to volley it into a team-mate's hands.  A downfield kick, bounding its way into in-goal and possibly dead, instead struck a post and forced Cedric Heymans to clear under pressure.  You can't buy or train that kind of thing;  even in terms of good luck, England completely outplayed the French.

France just didn't want to know.  Perhaps they had expected England to do what everybody thought they had been doing over the past few weeks:  lose their discipline, hand the game to the opposition on a plate, soak up the abuse.  Perhaps they believed the press, that England were already dead and buried merely by dint of taking to the pitch.  Perhaps they thought ... who knows what they thought?  Who knows what they had been told beforehand?  How do you account for such a lifeless display?

Whatever it was, they came into the game with none of the forward gusto that had served them so well against the Welsh, nor any of the imagination, nor any of the commitment.  Picks and drives, the initial tactic of choice, didn't work and what was worse, England were so effective at the breakdown they pretty much turned that into a source of go-forward ball.

Line-outs belonged exclusively to England too.  Steve Borthwick will never have enjoyed any other of his games in an England jersey as this one.

Any other method of attack from the French was just not discernible.  Martin Johnson was the one suffering from the ills of the press before this game, but like many tourists, Lièvremont will be the one feeling sick when he heads for home.  Having seen his side set a benchmark two weeks ago, they set another one here, one which was too low ever to be repeated again.

As with Wales in Rome yesterday, France got sucked into playing an inferior game which made their team, better on paper, vastly inferior on the park.  They took on the English at England's game.  Big mistake.  Huge.

Where do England go from here?  If Ireland beat Wales next week and England trounce Scotland -- not unthinkable any more -- Martin Johnson's pilloried squad could yet end this Six Nations in second spot behind Grand Slam champions Ireland, to whom they lost by a single point in Ireland's own back yard.  We'll leave it to you to imagine the smugness of those England players who will have to face their heckling press if that transpires.

Johnson had heard his side booed from the field following recent Twickenham performances and he reiterated during the week that England had to give the crowd something to shout about in order to regain their faith.

England did so from minute one.  Flutey spotted the perfect mis-match and sliced past Sebastien Chabal before sending Cueto away to touch down the opening try with just 70 seconds on the clock.

France, having picked a side reliant on power rather than panache, were looking for the more direct route and they ate into England territory with powerful runs from the destructive centre Mathieu Bastareaud and dynamic number eight Imanol Harinordoquy.

Simon Shaw hit a ruck from the side to offer Francois Trinh-Duc a shot at goal, which he missed, but otherwise England's defence was defiant.

Twice they snatched turnover ball as Les Bleus threatened to build pressure in England's half and, in a key turnaround to recent weeks, it was France who were falling foul of referee Stuart Dickinson.

If England were dominant without the ball they were incisive with it.  Flood extended the lead to 10-0 after Harinordoquy was ruled offside before a slick attacking move sent Flutey over for a second try.

A similar training ground move had sent Mathew Tait clear in Dublin a fortnight ago -- but on this occasion England were able to provide the finishing touch.

From the back of an attacking lineout, Flood slipped an inside pass for Cueto to carve through the French line before returning the favour with the scoring pass for Flutey.

Tom Croft thought he had got in on the action when Harry Ellis whipped play right following another of Nick Easter's powerful carries but play was called back for a marginally forward pass from Lee Mears.

Not that the now excitable Twickenham crowd had to wait long.  France were wobbling and England hammered home the advantage with two tries in the last three minutes of the half.

After Chabal had been stripped of possession by Flutey, England piled forward and pitched camp in the French 22.  Shaw's charge was halted short of the line but Armitage was on hand to provide the finishing touch.

England were now attacking in waves.  Ellis chipped ahead and Flood came within inches of the line before slipping but the ball was shipped wide for Worsley to secure England a quite remarkable 29-0 lead at the interval.

Half-time did nothing to dilute England's dominance or halt their momentum and when Yannick Jauzion spilled the ball after a brilliant tackle from Ellis, Armitage raced clear on the counter-attack and Flutey was on hand to finish a sparkling 75-metre try.England began to ring the changes and, unable to maintain their complete dominance, France eventually got on the scoreboard with hooker Szarzewski tunnelling over the line after France had earned two penalties deep in England's 22.

England's bad habits began to creep back in and referee Dickinson issued a warning as France cranked up the pressure at the scrum before winger Malzieu was able to saunter over for a simple try.

But England finished on a high with another powerful carry from Easter sending Armitage on another blistering break into the French half.

This one didn't quite end in the score england wanted but little matter.  Boring England.  Win ugly England.  Now, top tryscorers in the competition England.  Quite a turnaround, non?

Man of the match:  He's been on the painful end of the sharpest criticism of all over the past few weeks, but Steve Borthwick was immense from start to finish today.

Moment of the match:  All from England, but our gobs were smacked hardest by the free running and incisiveness of England's first try.

Villain of the match:  We've said it before and we'll say it again.  We - do - not - need - that - cretinous - song - playing - over - the - tannoy - to - have - a - good - time - when - someone - scores.  Go - back - to - soccer - you - utter - utter -

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Cueto, Flutey 2, Armitage, Worsley
Cons:  Flood 3
Pen:  Flood

For France:
Tries:  Szarzewski, Malzieu

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

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Françios Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Sebastien Chabal, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayzer, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Louis Picamoles, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Florian Fritz, 22 Damien Traille.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

Italy give Wales a scare

Wales set up a championship showdown with Ireland in Cardiff next week, beating Italy narrowly 20-15 in Rome and leaving themselves with a bigger job to do next week than ought to have been necessary.

Wales now have to win by 18 points against Ireland in Cardiff next week -- and that's before Ireland play Scotland this afternoon.

Tom Shanklin's late cameo try bales Wales out, and Italy might once again reflect that with a little more finesse they would have had a result here.  Wales might reflect that they were dashed lucky, plain and simple.  On this form, an Irish Grand Slam is a near-formality (late Saturday results notwithstanding).

Wales are, in fact, in a bit of a trough.  Warren Gatland's attempt to shake things up after a slightly stale performance in Paris simply didn't work, with ring rust causing problems in a number of instances.  Up front, the scrum was shoved around tamely, while neither Gavin Henson nor James Hook were anything like the free-running talented players we know they can be.

Hook in particular was very quiet, getting drawn into a dour kicking game when his mandate had surely been to speed and open the game up as much as possible.

That Hook and co. were off-form and out of kilter was even more open to criticism because Italy offered no more than their usual mixture of territorial kicking and gear grinding up front.  In stark contrast to previous weeks the Azzurri did keep their penalty count down, not letting Wales get a toehold in their half at all.  Wales must have been prepared for a forward onslaught, but they didn't seem it.

On the two occasions Wales did manage sustained pressure, they scored tries.  That was the difference.  italy also had a couple of spells of possession in the Welsh 22, but once came away with a penalty and once, just before half-time, nothing after a botched drop goal attempt.  There, in fact, was the difference between the teams.

Otherwise, it was a nothing game.  Barely any clean breaking in the backs, a hail of aerial balls, a series of ugly thudding forward charges.  There were a few techincal bits and bobs for the puritan to chew over, a couple of admirable handling moments from props who simply don't look like they can do that sort of thing, a fabulous all-action display from the irrepresible Sergio Parisse and ... erm ... that's it.

Italy took a deserved sixth-minute lead when full-back Andrea Marcato slotted a penalty.

Andrea Marcato's kick came after referee Alan Lewis penalised the Wales front row, which was a totally changed unit from the one on duty in Paris two weeks ago.

Wales looked to move possession wide, but they also had to remain patient, biding their time in the hope scoring opportunities would present themselves later.

The visitors had expected an early Azzurri onslaught, and so it proved, with Marcato sacrificing a kickable penalty for territory in the corner when Wales lock Luke Charteris was punished for killing possession.

And Italy closed out an impressive opening quarter by launching another attack, as Mirco Bergamasco chased a kick that Wales full-back Lee Byrne smothered.

Wales should have drawn level in the 21st minute, but Hook missed a penalty from in front of the posts that confirmed an error-strewn team performance.

The visitors had to start making their presence felt, yet they struggled for fluency, forcing passes and misdirecting kicks that merely played into Italian hands.

Wales boss Warren Gatland would have been infuriated at what was unfolding in front of him, but his team gave him cause for optimism 14 minutes before the break.

A belated spell of Wales pressure produced its reward when Henson cleverly switched attacking direction and wing Shane Williams scored a simple overlap try.

It was his Wales record-equalling eighth try against Italy, and left him one short of matching Gareth Edwards' Wales best of 18 in Five or Six Nations rugby.

Hook atoned for his earlier error by slotting the extras, giving Wales a 7-3 lead, but the visitors still had plenty of work to do.

And there were further problems for the Wales front-row, as they conceded a second penalty that Marcato kicked, cutting the deficit to one point.Marcato completed his hat-trick five minutes before the break after Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones took out Azzurri scrum-half Paul Griffen off the ball, and Wales were back to square one.

And they had a lucky escape on the stroke of half-time, when wing Mark Jones just managed to ground possession behind his own line under pressure from Italy flanker Alessandro Zanni.

It meant Italy ended the opening 40 minutes with an attacking scrum, and only more impressive defensive resilience by the heavily-worked Jones kept them out.

Gatland opted against making any interval substitutions, retaining belief in a team which had produced easily the worst 40-minute performance of his nine Six Nations Tests in charge.

But there was no sign of Italy losing their conviction either, with fly-half Luke McLean keeping his team in the ascendancy by cleverly mixing and matching his kicking game.

And with skipper Parisse offering a box of tricks off the back of the scrum, Wales had their hands full.

Italy deserved to be more than two points ahead, and it was Azzurri head coach Nick Mallett who made the first changes, sending on Castrogiovanni and lock Carlo del Fava after 50 minutes.

Wales were patternless -- and often clueless -- lacking the collective nous to tighten up their game.

As a frantic third quarter edged towards its close, so the Italian forwards stepped up a gear after Castrogiovanni's arrival and Marcato booted his fourth penalty for a 12-7 advantage.

Gatland then began to use his bench, sending on three reinforcements up front in prop Gethin Jenkins, hooker Matthew Rees and back-row ace Ryan Jones, before a Hook penalty narrowed the deficit again to two points.

A Hook penalty after 65 minutes inched Wales ahead, but the game remained poised on a knife edge.

Byrne was then replaced by Tom Shanklin, yet Shanklin's first contribution was to concede a penalty 35 metres out and Marcato made it five kicks out of five.

The unthinkable prospect of defeat continued to loom large for Wales, trailing 15-13 with nine minutes left.

But it was the cue for Shanklin to make amends by scoring a quality try, dummying Marcato as he crossed the line after superb approach work by Hook.  Hook converted -- the sighs of relief at the final whistle echoed round the valleys.

Man of the match:  Sergio Parisse is fast becoming a legend.

Moment of the match:  Tom Shanklin's try was the one moment of pure class in a patchy game.

Villain of the match:  Nothing to report.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Marcato 5

For Wales:
Tries:  S. Williams, Shanklin
Cons:  Hook 2
Pens:  Hook 2

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Giulio Rubini, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canovosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Roberto Quartaroli.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Roberts,12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Dafydd Jones, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 John Yapp
Replacements:  16 Matthew Rees, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Tom Shanklin

Referee:  Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges:  David Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)

Dream still on for Ireland

Ireland's dream of ending 61 years of Grand Slam hurt remains on the cards as they eked out a scrappy 22-15 win over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

There wasn't much to separate these two in-form nations in the end, but Declan Kidney's men provided sufficient grit and determination to muscle past their opponents with substitute Jamie Heaslip's try proving the difference.

Scotland had started the stronger as they looked to add to their own improving efforts over the past six months.  And with a late switch to the right-hand side just five minutes in, powerful winger Simon Danielli looked set to open the scoring until a stray Irish hand brought him to his knees ten metres from the whitewash.

The early barrage continued for the seemingly nervous away outfit as the hosts started to set up camp downfield with points not too far away as record-breaking referee Jonathan Kaplan spotted a breakdown offence on seven minutes, allowing the metronomic Chris Paterson to master the testing wind at the first time of asking.

Offences continued to dog the Championship-chasing visitors efforts though, which started to bring a sense that Scotland were increasingly on top in several aspects.

But just as captain Mike Blair looked to press home the advantage with a bouncing kick into the Irish corner, it was a case of "nice idea but shame about the execution" as Luke Fitzgerald ushered the attempt out in-goal.

Ireland subsequently clawed themselves back onto level terms two minutes later with a penalty of their own as their soon-to-be record holder, Ronan O'Gara, slotted one through the posts during a shift in territory.

Having under-performed against England a fortnight ago, the Emerald Isle seemed to be stuck in a similar Dublin rut as David Wallace proved the catalyst in gifting Paterson a chance to stretch the gap before the two kickers traded blows.

But one felt that despite their lack of fluency, Ireland would largely be encouraged by their 12-9 deficit after a distinctly average showing up until now.

However, before any long whistle blowing could take place, Ireland were left with hearts in their mouths as the strengthening Thom Evans announced himself on proceedings.  The young winger, who has set the tournament alight on several occasions, spotted some space behind the away defence and re-gathered his own kick before Tommy Bowe saved his side with a vital tackle.

Was that to be something for Declan Kidney to use during his half-time team-talk?  Well, something seemed to inspire the men in green as Peter Stringer shrugged off an earlier knock to dart through an unexpecting Scottish defence before feeding replacement Heaslip to score the game's only try.

And with the scores 16-12 in favour of the now dominant travelling side, momentum had definitely changed hands from the first period as Ireland's forwards took a stranglehold on the match.  Enter under-fire fly-half O'Gara, who showed all of his experience to sit back and repel Scotland from the one-score margin with a well-taken drop-goal on 57 minutes.

The gutsy hosts were certainly not done on their home patch though, as a fifth Paterson penalty-goal moved them back within touching distance -- a strong finish possibly in the offing at Murrayfield?

But that was to be the Edinburgh full-back's final meaningful act as Ireland showed Six Nations-winning form to grind out their fourth-straight victory as another three points sets up an intriguing clash against reigning champions Wales next weekend.

Man of the match:  These sort of contests are won by individual moments of intelligence and what Peter Stringer showed when setting up Jamie Heaslip's score was just that.  The recalled Munster scrum-half, who had shrugged off an earlier shin injury in the game, broke through to switch with his supporting number eight and the rest is history ... welcome back Peter.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Heaslip
Con:  O'Gara
Pen:  O'Gara 3
Drop:  O'Gara

For Scotland:
Pen:  Paterson 4

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

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

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)