No shocks as Ireland put away Georgia

Ireland had to wait but finished with a six-try win over visitors Georgia with a 49-7 victory at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Sunday.

The hosts showed plenty of endeavour in the opening half but struggled to finish off plenty of opportunities, as Joe Schmidt rested leading stars such as Paul O'Connell and Jonathan Sexton for the clash with European Nations Cup champions.

Dave Foley and Dominic Ryan were both handed debuts in the pack, with Robin Copeland another player to win a first cap when he came on as a replacement.

In the end Ireland's accuracy shone through after the break, when they racked up all of their six tries.

Georgia showed impressive resilience in defence early on as Ireland continually broke the line, before the Lelos rallied to slow down the ball at the ruck and use their power to drive Ireland backwards.

Multiple chances were missed by Ireland and they showed respect opting for the posts rather than the corner, Madigan adding two penalties and missing one in an industrious but unsuccessful first half.

The major talking point surrounded openside flanker Vito Kolelishvili, who with a lazy leg caught the eye of Dominic Ryan at the bottom of a ruck.

The incident wasn't refereed to the TMO and there was no penalty, but it looked nasty as Kolelishvili was lucky to escape possible punishment even though his action could be deemed as accidental.

Had that not been the case, he would have been in big trouble and the citing officer may take a closer look.

Dave Kilcoyne was prominent for Ireland, coming up with a rampaging run in the first half, and he followed it up with Ireland's first try just after half-time when he powered through two tacklers to dot down.

Scrum-half Giorgi Begadze had paid the price for his team's mounting penalty count just before the interval and by the 43rd minute Ireland led 16-0.

Capitalising on Georgia's lack of numbers and sensing the ascendancy with their maul, Richardt Strauss was the next man to benefit as Ireland's pack got to work again and finished in the right corner.

Georgia to their credit refused to give up and were justly rewarded following an injection of impetus from their replacement front row.

Begadze, back on the field after his yellow card, scampered down the blindside and setup the lock Giorgi Nemsadze for a fine try.

Simon Zebo couldn't be stopped after Ireland created a huge overlap to score their third try, seconds after Dimitri Basilaia became the second Georgian player sent to the bin.

There was real concern however over the condition of Lasha Malaguradze, who took a nasty head knock and was attended to by medical staff before being stretchered off and encouragingly waving his arms to the crowd.

Not by any surprise, Georgia's worst moments came when down to 14 men and Felix Jones pounced for Ireland's fourth try with too much space and time in the corner.

Jones didn't have to wait long for a second, Robin Copeland's rip in the tackle making room for Ireland's replacements — Kieran Marmion, Ian Keatley and Sean Cronin — to all surge upfield and hand Jones the chance to score.

Stuart Olding got in on the act for a weaving try as Georgia's defence lost their shape and Ireland lined up to add more scores, with debutant Foley named Man of the Match to cap off a strong first outing.

Job done for Schmidt, who will now begin planning for the visit of the Wallabies next weekend as Ireland look to end November unbeaten.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Kilcoyne, Strauss, Zebo, Jones 2, Olding
Cons:  Madigan 5
Pens:  Madigan 3

For Georgia:
Try:  Nemsadze
Con:  Kvirikashvili
Yellow Card:  Begadze, Basilaia

Ireland:  15 Felix Jones, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Eoin Reddan (c), 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Dominic Ryan, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Dave Foley, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Dave Kilcoyne.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Stuart Olding.

Georgia:15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 13 David Kacharava , 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Dimitri Basilaia, 7 Vito Kolelishvili, 6 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements:  16 Simon Maisuradze, 17 Zurab Zhvania, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Levan Datunashvili, 20 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaguradze, 23 Muraz Giorgadze

Referee:  JP Doyle (England)
Assistant Referees:  Luke Pearce (England), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Les Bleus hold on against Wallabies

Teddy Thomas' wonder try helped France to a thrilling 29-26 win over Australia in a bruising encounter at the Stade de France.

France were hanging on at the end but this was a deserved win for Les Bleus, and much-needed for under-fire Philippe Saint-André.

Camille Lopez controlled the game from fly-half, while in Thomas, France have a born finisher.  On another day Australia might have nicked it, but just when his team needed him most, Thierry Dusautoir produced two decisive tackles in the last five minutes to secure the win.

Saint-André had chosen to stick with the same starting lineup that beat Fiji in Marseille and was rewarded in the first 30 minutes as Les Bleus played with real intensity in both attack and defence.

Tries from Sébastien Tillous-Borde and Thomas saw France lead 17-6, but from there Australia fought back through Bernard Foley and an Adam Ashley-Cooper try and trailed by just a point at half-time.

As well as France had started, Michael Cheika's team looked much the stronger going into the break and it seemed as if they would power away in the second half.  Instead Les Bleus tightened things up, opened up a lead thanks to the boot of Lopez, and despite Rob Simmons' late try, held on for the win.

It was Australia who almost made the perfect start though when Scott Spedding's clearance kick was charged down and Simmons touched down inside a minute.  The second row had knocked on while picking up the ball, however, and France's blushes were spared.

In an entertaining opening Les Bleus came within inches of crossing themselves after some great work by Yoann Huget.  The winger collected Lopez's cross-kick before beating two men and feeding Spedding inside him only for the full-back to be nudged into touch at the last second by the covering Foley.

Australia then tried to play their way out of trouble from the resulting lineout, and when James Horwill knocked on, Alexandre Dumoulin's wide pass was just too high for Thomas.

France didn't have to wait long for their try though, from the scrum Lopez made a half-break, and with the Australian defence scrambling, Tillous-Borde spotted a gap and darted over from the back of a ruck.  Lopez was injured in the move but shrugged that off to convert and make it 7-0.

Just as they had done repeatedly last week against Wales, Australia hit back straightaway, earning a penalty when Tillous-Borde was isolated from the restart.  Foley made no mistake to cut the lead to four.

France were almost in again soon after, Lopez again ghosting through a gap before a grubber had Joe Tomane scrambling but the winger just managed to get back into time to palm the ball into touch with Huget lurking.

A Lopez penalty from the next lineout was immediately cancelled out by Foley, with the visitors doing just enough to stay in touch.

Lopez was playing well in general, but for the second time in a row his restart went straight out, giving Australia a scrum on halfway and handing them back possession.

France were nullifying the Australian attack, but the Wallabies had clearly singled out Thomas as a weakness under the high ball and he was twice caught out to give away lineouts in French territory.

But while the winger was struggling in defence, he showed just why he was selected with a sensational individual try.  He collected the ball out wide under pressure, before beating Christian Leali'ifano, Ashley-Cooper, Saia Fainga'a and Nick Phipps to go over for his fourth Test try in just his second appearance.  Lopez converted again to make it 17-6.

While France deservedly led, the one bright point for Australia was their scrum, which had the upper hand on their French counterparts and even earned a penalty just after the half-hour.  Unfortunately for the Wallabies the same could not be said for their misfiring lineout.

When they did manage to secure one though, they sucked in the French defence with a maul before spreading the ball to the right.  Foley slipped out of Tillous-Borde's tackle, before finding Ashley-Cooper, who was too strong for Spedding and notched up his 30th Test try.  Foley's conversion from out wide made it 17-13 with half-time approaching.

France looked to be running out of steam and when Pascal Papé was caught offside, Foley gratefully accepted three more points to make it a one-point game at the break.

With his team tiring, Saint-André made some changes at half-time, with Uini Atonio and Mathieu Bastareaud both entering the fray, and the centre showed all his power in the opening seconds breaking three tackles to force Australia back on to their own line.  When the Wallabies were caught offside a couple of phases later, Lopez stretched the lead back to four.

The momentum was back with the home side and Michael Hooper caught Guilhem Guirado high a couple of minutes later, but wasn't made to pay as Lopez's penalty didn't quite have the legs.

France didn't have to wait long to stretch the lead again though, with Sean McMahon penalised for lifting Bernard Le Roux after the whistle had gone, and this time Lopez made no mistake.

The seven-point lead was back to four almost immediately, a French kick-chase setting off a fraction early giving Foley an easy penalty.

The French scrum was still struggling, but the introduction of Xavier Chiocci for Menini had an instant impact, shunting the Australians back and earning penalty just before the hour.

The resulting lineout was lost but Rory Kockott, on for Tillous-Borde, charged down Foley and the Wallabies barely survived with Rob Horne's clearing kick giving France a lineout five metres out.

Unfortunately for Les Bleus they were then penalised for offside when trying to set up a maul, blowing a golden opportunity to open up a gap between the sides.

The tide had certainly turned in the scrum though, with Sekope Kepu, on his 50th appearance, given a torrid time by Chiocci and conceding another penalty which Lopez converted.

It was getting scrappy, but France were in control, and when Will Skelton was penalised in a lineout, Kockott stretched the lead to ten with eight minutes remaining.

The game looked up but Australia worked an overlap to send Ashley-Cooper away and after going straight through Spedding he was dragged down just short of the line.  Rémi Talès thought he'd secured a decisive turnover but he was deemed to have done so illegally and was sin-binned as a result.

Australia were right back in it, but a huge tackle and rip from Thierry Dusautoir on Skelton forced the Wallabies to start again.

It was only temporary respite however.  Israel Folau, having barely featured all game, made a searing break and while he couldn't finish, a couple of phases later, Quade Cooper slipped the ball out of a tackle for Simmons to go over.  This time there was no knock-on and Foley's conversion cut the lead back to three with three minutes remaining.The visitors were flying and Foley went straight through once more as Australia looked certain to score.  Yet again Dusautoir was in the right place and the right time, making a perfect tackle on Ben Alexander to force a knock-on five metres out.

That left France with a final scrum to negotiate and they did precisely that, earning some measure of revenge for June's 3-0 whitewash.  It wasn't easy, and they are far from the finished article, but it was an important step for their under-fire coach.

For Australia, there was disappointment, with the likes of Tevita Kuridrani and Folau, in particular, struggling to have a real impact in the game.  Foley was outstanding once more, but overall the Wallabies turned over too much ball in contact to emerge victorious.

Man of the match:  There were a number of candidates:  Teddy Thomas for his solo score alone, Thierry Dusautoir for his captain's performance at the death and Bernard Foley for keeping Australia in it.  In the end though, we're going to go for Camille Lopez.  He ran the show for France, showing great decision-making and helping them turn things around after a sticky end to the first half.  We'll even forgive him his two fluffed restarts.

Moment of the match:  How can we not go with Teddy Thomas' try?  Saint-André said in the build-up that Thomas has weaknesses in defence but makes up for them with his attacking threat.  This game was proof of that, but as a finisher he is something else.

Villain of the match:  It was fiery and the tackles came flying in, but overall it didn't quite boil over.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Tillous-Borde, Thomas
Cons:  Lopez 2
Pens:  Lopez 4, Kockott
Yellow Card:  Talès

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Simmons
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 4

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Xavier Chiocci, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 James Horwill, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Matt Hodgson, 21 Will Genia, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Rob Horne

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

England too late again as Boks triumph

Emerging on top in a physical, flawed tussle, the Springboks rebounded from defeat in Dublin to win 31-28 at Twickenham.

South Africa's issues against Ireland were well documented but there was no arrogance at Twickenham, just trademark power and commitment in defence in a brutal battle.  They weren't perfect by any stretch, but got the job done.

If you like your mauls, you were in for a treat.

From 20-6 up they will have been bitterly disappointed to let England back into the contest, but their greater experience and composure shone through.

Nerves jittered out of both camps and into the stands before kickoff.  Back-to-back losses for either side would have been disastrous and now it's England who are taking a long look at themselves.

Their reliance on Billy Vunipola for any go-forward is a burden, as the Boks licked their lips and chopped down England's slow ball carriers time and again.

Owen Farrell had been demanded to deliver an authoritative performance yet he failed, putting his future as England's long-term number ten in doubt with the efforts of his forwards in the second half covering up England's flaws with successive tries from rolling mauls.

England had not beaten the Boks since 2006, coincidentally the last time South Africa lost back-to-back matches to Northern Hemisphere sides.

Stuart Lancaster's reign is now under more scrutiny than ever before since he took charge in 2012.

When called upon to beat the best, England fell short and just like against the All Blacks they left it too late.

Kyle Eastmond's footwork showed promise against the All Blacks and nearly undid the Springboks early on, a burst through the space between defenders handing England a half-chance before his offload fell to ground.

Farrell's lack of composure in his 22 handed Pat Lambie the chance for the game's first points with a well-struck penalty.

Handling errors were compounding England's progress with the Boks defence standing firm and then pouncing on Danny Care's indecision.  Jan Serfontein burst away for his first Test try after latching onto an absolute gift of a misdirected pass.

England were a shambles, but the Springboks showed ruthlessness and all of a sudden sat 10-0 up.

Early dominance of the scrum and line-out gave England a set-piece but they did little with it, with no runners crashing up from deep after any initial progress before Marcell Coetzee pounced at the breakdown.

Half chances for Anthony Watson and Jonny May fell by the wayside but South Africa's telegraphed clearance kicks were holding them back, a second chargedown ending with Farrell's opening points for the home side.

Lambie responded following strong work from South Africa's rolling maul in the ongoing battle of strength versus strength, England's scrum responding with a free-kick ending in a second penalty for Farrell.

Careless penalties were a trend, Tom Wood following up Duane Vermeulen's second ruck offence by playing Eben Etzebeth in the air.

Lambie let England off the hook just as his team had in general, only letting the hosts trail by a converted try at the break despite England dominating possession and territory.

There was no leniency after half-time;  Cobus Reinach blazed over after combined brilliance from Lambie's initial chip and then Willie le Roux's perfect pass onto the rapid scrum-half.

The timing was critical — England were put into desperation mode and assaulted the Springbok line with a rampaging maul that careered from the left touchline to finish up under the posts through Davey Wilson.

In between England's maul attempts the Boks were reduced to 14 men with Victor Matfield's yellow card for pulling it down illegally.

England were now red hot and an error from the officials sprung them for their second try.

Bryan Habana's clever lineout catch with feet either side of the line was incorrectly deemed to be ill-timed, giving England a throw-in that culminated with a rampaging score for the replacement Ben Morgan at the end of another monster maul.

From 6-20 to 20-20 in three minutes, England couldn't capitalise on the yellow card against the All Blacks but made sure of it seven days on.

The Springboks counter-punched in similar style, the work of Schalk Burger standing out as South Africa bullied their way over in the corner to restore their lead.

Dylan Hartley's yellow card was an unnecessary problem England didn't need as he trampled over Vermeulen on the deck.

Coetzee continued to reign supreme at the breakdown, generating a third Lambie penalty, before George Ford instantly cancelled it out with his first three-pointer in Test rugby.

Tantalisingly poised with England returning to the corner and back to a full compliment, Vermeulen's line-out steal came at a crucial time with the clock running out and Twickenham growing behind their side.

Just as Habana was unlucky earlier, so was Courtney Lawes as he attempted to sneak around the back of the maul — with the Boks going to the corner from the resultant penalty and confirming the result with a drop-goal from Lambie in the pocket.

Brad Barritt's try, just like against the All Blacks, came too late as the English inquest begins into another near miss — character and composure from the Springboks shining through.

Man of the Match:  Outstanding at the breakdown, Marcell Coetzee won a number of penalties.

Moment of the Match:  The line-out England shouldn't have had.  From it Ben Morgan drove over to level the game up at 20-20.

Villain of the Match:  Was it the right call?  Dylan Hartley's yellow card will split opinion but his careless action could have been avoided.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  Wilson, Morgan, Barritt
Cons:  Farrell 2
Pens:  Farrell 2, Ford
Yellow Card:  Hartley

For South Africa:
Tries:  Serfontein, Reinach, Burger
Cons:  Lambie 2
Pens:  Lambie 3
Drop Goal:  Lambie
Yellow Card:  Matfield

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements:  16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 George Kruis, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Marland Yarde.

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Teboho Mohoje, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handr

All Blacks survive Scotland scare

Jeremy Thrush's late try finally killed off a valiant Scottish challenge as New Zealand scrapped to a 24-16 win at Murrayfield.

The Scots performed exceptionally, acquitting themselves with more grit and more aptitude than in any recent encounters with the World Champions, keeping pace with a much-changed, but nonetheless exemplary All Blacks unit until the 74th minute, and recording their narrowest defeat in this fixture for 23 years.

Second-row Thrush barrelled over to quash the hopes of those among a 66,000-strong home crowd who, with time ticking and Scotland trailing by a point, began to believe the impossible - a first-ever victory over New Zealand - might be imminent.

Though it is rather a benign clich・ in truth, their performance, building upon last week's success against Argentina would always bear greater significance to Vern Cotter and co than the final outcome.

In that regard, the Kiwi coach must be delighted, though more than a touch rueful that, with ten minutes remaining, Greig Laidlaw spurned the opportunity to kick his side ahead.

This was a weakened All Blacks XV, but that must be clarified through the prism of the best team in the world - by any other standard, it was awesome.

And then there was the bench:  where Scotland could call upon Duncan Weir and Sean Lamont to bolster their backline, New Zealand had Sonny Bill Williams and Julian Savea ready and waiting.  If there exists a more lethal reserve double anywhere in the game, I haven't seen it.

Yet while it is easy to saturate one's dialogue with superlatives when eulogising the All Blacks, and particularly these All Blacks, they are fallible.  Steve Hansen's side didn't quite click in attack, and credit must go to Scotland for exerting pressure, and pouncing when presented with opportunities, Tommy Seymour's interception try a prime example.

The waves of cautious optimism lapping at these shores is well-documented, and right from the off, there was a sense the hosts would not crumble as they have done so many times before, that they would not be pushed around by their illustrious guests - even born-again Christian Euan Murray was in the thick of the early handbags.

For all the Scots' defiance, however, the omens were not promising when with ten minutes gone, Victor Vito, harnessing loose skills honed during his sevens days, dummied, shrugging off Ross Ford's limp tackle, broke forty metres down the left side and powered through Stuart Hogg to finish brilliantly in the corner.

World rugby's leading Test marksman, Dan Carter, on his return from injury, was wide for the second time to the delight of most of Murrayfield, having pulled a penalty attempt two minutes prior.

In years gone by, Vito's strike would probably have spelled the beginning of the end for Scotland, and indeed it might well have done, had Richie McCaw, of all people - while Mark Bennett was prone and receiving treatment - with overlap and opportunity beckoning, not seen his pass plucked from the air by Seymour, the winger racing clear to score his second interception in as many weeks under the sticks.

Laidlaw converted, and Bennett was sadly carted off, a hamstring injury ending his game, with Lamont his replacement in midfield.

And having been comprehensively flattened by the hulking Thrush, fly-half Finn Russell joined his fellow youngster on the bench, albeit temporarily, Weir stepping in for ten minutes to allow his teammate to undergo concussion assessments.

Carter, the deity, the magician who dazzled on his last visit to Edinburgh, was still looking a tad rusty as he spilled a couple of passes, and miscued the odd punt, but knocked over a pair of straightforward penalties to put the Kiwis back ahead.

The Scots were holding their own, but the bruising collisions took their toll;  Murray was the third in garish red to hobble off before half-time, replaced by Geoff Cross.

Laidlaw struck again to cut the gap to a point as the interval loomed, but Carter once more slotted from the tee to cancel out the captain's goal with the last kick of the half.

Scotland started the second period with incision, thanks to another Seymour interception and two line breaks from Hogg and Sean Maitland, yielding a second penalty for Laidlaw.

Hansen rolled out his big guns on 55 minutes, with Savea and Williams replacing Carter and Malakai Fekitoa, the giant winger showing glimpses of his power from midfield, and after Scotland tried and failed repeatedly to run the ball from deep, Colin Slade punished them with three more points, taking over the kicking duties.

Straight from the restart, however, New Zealand were penalised, and Laidlaw once more kept Scotland a single point adrift.

When the Blacks strayed offside two minutes later, the scrum-half stepped up, and suddenly, remarkably, with ten to play, the hosts had a chance for the lead.  Murrayfield dared to dream.  Laidlaw's kick skewed wide.

Then the All Blacks did what the All Blacks do.  They won back possession, put themselves in their opponents' 22, and patiently cycled through the phases.  The red line of defiance finally creaked, and Thrush, a real presence in the loose, forced his way to the whitewash from close range;  the look on his face betrayed his sense of relief that this game had finally been put to bed.

Slade converted, and though Scotland threw everything at the Kiwis in the final three minutes, they could not cut the deficit any further.

That said, they trooped off with heads aloft, and took the acclaim from supporters that, in the space of two weeks, feel an awful a lot better about the state of their rugby.

Man of the match:  Jeremy Thrush made yards aplenty in the loose, tackled fiercely, was at the coalface throughout a dominant scrummaging display and scored the all-important try.

Moment of the match:  Greig Laidlaw's miss.  Ten minutes is a long time to play against New Zealand, but with the scoreboard and the crowd behind them, who knows what might have been ...

Villain of the match:  A few spats, but nothing too sinister to report.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Try:  Seymour
Con:  Laidlaw
Pens:  Laidlaw 3

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Vito, Thrush
Con:  Slade
Pens:  Carter 3, Slade

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 David Denton, 20 Johnnie Beattie, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Sean Lamont.

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Colin Slade, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Dan Carter, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Richie McCaw (c), 5 Dominic Bird, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Sonny Bill Williams, 23 Julian Savea.

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
TMO:  Gareth Simmonds (Wales)

Goromaru boots Japan past Romania

Japan full-back Ayumu Goromaru knocked over six penalties to give his team the win over Romania in Bucharest on Saturday.

Romania picked up the game's only five-pointer with a penalty try to put the hosts 10-3 ahead after half an hour, before the Brave Blossoms pulled through.

Japan started brightly and had the bulk of the possession but could not convert their overwhelming dominance into points.

Goromaru opened the scoring with a penalty after 16 minutes but the Oaks responded in style, taking a 10-3 advantage after fly-half Florin Vlaicu scored a penalty, before the home pack earned the only try in the game during an impressive 10-minute spell.

The visitors reduced the deficit to only one point at halftime after Goromaru slotted two more penalties and he confirmed his fine kicking form with three more penalties after the break.

Vlaicu made it 18-13 less than 10 minutes from time before missing another penalty in the closing stages at the Arch of Triumph National Rugby Stadium.

Romania host Canada next Saturday while Japan visit Georgia on the following day.

The scorers:

For Romania:
Try:  Penalty Try
Con:  Vlaicu
Pens:  Vlaicu 2
Yellow Card:  Sirbe

For Japan:
Pens:  Goromaru 6

Romania:  15 Catalin Fercu 14 Dorin Manole, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Robert Dascalu, 11 Ionut Botezatu, 10 Florin Vlaicu, 9 Valentin Calafeteanu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Mihai Macovei, 6 Ovidiu Tonita 5 Valentin Popirlan, 4 Marius Serbs, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Andrei Radoi, 1 Andrei Ursache,
Replacements:16 Otar Turashvili, 17 Mihaita Lazar, 18 Horace bags, 19 Alin Coste, 20 Stelian Burca, Grigoras 21 Diaconescu, 22 Florin Ionita, 23 Robert Neagu

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Kotaro Matsushima, 12 Male Sau, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Shoji Ito, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements:  16 Keita Inagaki, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Hayden Hopgood , 21 Yuki Yatomi, 22 Harumichi Tatekawa, 23 Toshiaki Hirose.

Referee:  Stuart Berry (South Africa)

Late Tonga charge sinks Georgia

Tonga scored three tries in the final quarter as they came from behind to beat Georgia 23-9 in Tbilisi on Saturday.

Trailing 9-6 on the hour mark, the Islanders turned on the gas, scoring three unanswered tries in 12 minutes to kick off their European tour with a bang.

Replacement scrum-half Taniela Moa came off the bench to score two tries while full-back Vungakoto Lilo added the final nail in the coffin.

Georgia led 6-3 at the interval thanks to two penalties from full-back Kvirikashvili.

Tonga pivot Kurt Morath leveled the scores from the kicking tee soon after the break before Kvirikashvili nudged his side ahead again with half an hour to play.

It was all Tonga in the closing stages though.

The scorers:

For Georgia:
Pens:  Kvirikashvili 3
Yellow card:  Tkhilaishvili

For Tonga:
Tries:  Moa 2, Lilo
Con:  Fosita
Pens:  Morath 2

Georgia:  15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Irakli Machkhaneli, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze, 11 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Giorgi Begadze, 8 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 7 Viktor Kolelishvili, 6 Giga Tkhilaishvili, 5 Levan Datunashvili, 4 Konstantin Mikautadze, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements:  16 Simon Maisuradze, 17 Zurabi Zhvania, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Giorgi Nemsadze, 20 Lasha Lomidze, 21 Vazha Khutsishvili, 22 Lasha Malaguradze, 23 Sandro Todua.

Tonga:  15 Vungakoto Lilo, 14 David Halaifonua, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Hemani Paea, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Kurt Morath, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Viliami Ma'afu, 7 Nili Latu, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Joe Tu'ineau, 4 Tukulua Lokotui, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Tevita Mailau.
Replacements:  16 Elvis Taione, 17 Siua Halanukonuka, 18 Paea Fa'anunu, 19 Lisiate Fa'aoso, 20 Hale T Pole, 21 Taniela Moa, 22 Latiume Fosita, 23 Otulea Katoa.

Venue:  Mikheil Meshki Stadium, Tbilisi
Referee:  Pascal Gauz

Italy claim victory over Samoa

Italy came from 3-10 down to defeat Samoa 24-13 in their November Test at Stadio Cino e Lilio Del Duca in Ascoli.

New Zealand-born fly-half Kelly Haimona kicked 14 points to inspire Italy to the hard-fought win as they ended a nine-match string of defeats.

Haimona was making his full Azzurri debut after being called up for the November Tests two weeks ago alongside Fijian Samuela Vunisa.

And the Zebre fly-half proved a useful addition to Jacques Brunel's stuttering side as they look to put a disastrous Six Nations and June tour of the South Pacific behind them.

Italy will face Argentina and South Africa later this month and Brunel's men, whose last victory was a 37-31 win over Fiji last November, will take some heart from a performance that nevertheless took time to come together.

A shaky Italy went in for the half-time interval trailing 3-10 after flanker Jack Lam touched down for the Samoans just after the half hour, with fly-half Tusi Pisi converting having levelled Haimona's third-minute penalty with a penalty on 26 minutes.

It looked as though the Italians might suffer their third consecutive defeat to the Samoans, who whitewashed the Azzurri 15-0 in Apia last June after a crushing 39-10 defeat a year earlier in Nelspruit.

Italy's last beat Samoa in Ascoli in 2009 and a much-improved second half performance revived memories of that 24-6 victory.

Haimona reduced arrears with a penalty in front of the posts three minutes into the second half and minutes later the Azzurri pulled ahead after a well-worked move from a line-out deep in Samoan territory.

Joshua Furno jumped high to collect and after the ball was fed to Simone Favaro, one of several key players returning to the fray after injury absence, he was driven to the line by a maul before touching down.

Italy remained ahead 11-10 after Haimona missed the conversion, but a Pisi penalty minutes later put the Samoans back in front.

Pisi skewed another penalty attempt just wide of the near post from the left wing just before the hour, and then a seemingly spot-on Haimona penalty from 40 metres out fell just short.

Two minutes later a great run to the try line by centre Michele Campagnaro set Italy up for their second try.

Scrum-half Edoardo Gori dug the ball out to feed Haimona, who looked up before sending a delightful chip over the Samoan defence for Parisse to catch with both hands as he fell unchallenged over the line.

Haimona kicked the easy conversion to give the Azzurri a 21-13 lead with a little under quarter of an hour on the clock.

Another penalty by Haimona gave Italy an 11-point lead with seven minutes remaining and the hosts survived a series of charges late on to claim a morale-boosting win.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Tries:  Favaro, Parisse
Con:  Haimona
Pen:  Haimona 4

For Samoa:
Try:  Lam
Con:  Pisi
Pen:  Pisi 2

Italy:  15 Andrea Masi, 14 Luke Mclean, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Joshua Furno, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Matias Aguero
Replacements:  16 Andrea Manici, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Giulio Toniolatti.

Samoa:  15 Fa'atoina Autagavaia, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 David Lemi (c), 10 Tusiata Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Piula Fa'asalele, 5 Fa'atiga Lemalu, 4 Kane Thompson, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements:  16 Ole Avei, 17 Albert Toetu, 18 Viliamu Afatia, 19 Teofilo Paulo, 20 Maurie Faasavalu, 21 Pele Cowley, 22 Michael Stanley, 23 Winston Stanley.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Greg Garner (England)
TMO:  Gareth Simmonds (Wales)

NZ master conditions to beat England

Winning by three tries to two, New Zealand controlled the appalling conditions in the second half to defeat England 21-24 at Twickenham.

Nowhere near their best but so effective in the way they handled the weather, the All Blacks put away a spirited England side to make it six wins out of the last seven In London.

A penalty try for the home side came too little too late as England paid for losing their way in the second half, when New Zealand rose to the fore in a chaotic second period where multiple refereeing decisions were questionable.

England though will learn a lot from this, despite the loss.  They kept New Zealand honest, proving they can compete.  Inexperience in the end cost them as the penalties crept up and their composure was washed away with the flood from above, not to mention a weak kicking performance.

Examining the draw for next year's Rugby World Cup before Saturday, a final between these two appears likely.  New Zealand will have taken plenty from this contest, England too.

The home side might have lacked Tests caps in comparison but they weren't intimidated.  Twickenham has become the venue Stuart Lancaster has always wanted in their last three games, truly deafening.

Jonny May's solo extravaganza caused delirium.  Even the best can't account for pace and Conrad Smith has played enough Tests to know that, as the Gloucester wing burned him and had too much speed for Israel Dagg to cover across.

Back in 2012 a fast start rattled the All Blacks and England went for it again - Farrell pumping an early penalty into the corner in a sign of intent, even if no points came from it, as New Zealand defended for their lives.  Kyle Eastmond's pass was perfect, but Mike Brown couldn't gather it in.

May was everywhere, gunning to prove a point but so where the All Blacks as they soaked up England's attack and then repelled it back at them.

All starting from Ben Smith's magic aerial take, a missed tackle on Jerome Kaino created the field position for Aaron Cruden to power over and just do enough with the grounding.  Like Farrell before him, he couldn't convert.

Successive penalties from Farrell countered by a late hit by Dylan Hartley on Cruden left the score at 11-8.

Not often do New Zealand squander chances but the customary offload out the back from Sonny Bill Williams found grass instead of hands, with England warned.

Penalties however flowed the home side's way, Owen Franks was bemused at best by the scrum penalty decision of Nigel Owens but there was no further punishment as Farrell missed a drop goal.

Chris Robshaw's discrepancy at the breakdown let Cruden levels things up, but Farrell had the final say, three more points giving England a deserved lead at half-time.

Key players fell by the wayside with Courtney Lawes and Brodie Retallick departing early as Cruden missed a penalty to tie the scores at the start of the second half, England keeping their nervy, slender advantage.

A silent Twickenham is normally a sign of the things to come and Richie McCaw rounded off a superb break from Kieran Read and Franks into space.  Even with Dagg's poor pass, New Zealand were never going to let that chance slip away.

McCaw's score lit a match under his side as they picked up the pace, surging forward with ball in hand as England threatened to let all their good work be wiped out.

Increasingly scrappy as each breakdown sucked up the clock, Sam Whitelock nearly picked England's pocket with the ball waiting on the line.  The giant snuck through the ruck but his contact with the ball was judged to be forward rather than downward, an almighty narrow call with the score at 14-16.

A rush of blood from Dane Coles put New Zealand down to 14 men, kicking out on the floor after Hartley cynically pulled him back into the ruck.

Heavy rain made tactical kicking essential with the All Blacks winning the battle, as Care and Farrell struggled.

Cruden's cross-field kick and then Savea's chip over the top had Semesa Rokoduguni scrambling, not for the first time on a quiet but solid debut.

A five-metre scrum in the left corner put the All Blacks in prime position to strike, however Savea uncharacteristically let the ball drop off his fingertips as England escaped again.

You'd have never known England were the team with 15 men at this point.  New Zealand's grip on the contest was tighter than ever but Beauden Barrett produced a howler of a penalty attempt to keep the gap at only two.

A second chance came shortly after when Sonny Bill Williams flew through the defence but England were only punished with three points, Barrett this time making no mistake.

The try from Charlie Faumuina shortly after though, his first for the All Blacks, epitomised New Zealand's dominance of the conditions as he burrowed over from close range and looked to seal the match.

England tried to get a late try to have something to take into next weekend's clash with the Springboks and the World Cup beyond and a penalty try was the result, after one too many offences by their visitors.

Thirty seconds remained with England down by three - a glimmer of hope at least.

There was to be no miracle though, as New Zealand extended their winning run over next year's World Cup hosts to five straight games.

Man of the Match:  An early departure but the impact of Jerome Kaino was enormous, starting the build-up for Cruden's score.

Moment of the Match:  Three minutes in and Jonny May's screaming run showed that England meant business.

Villain of the Match:  The age it took for a decision to be made was unnecessary but a yellow card was the right call for Dane Coles. Even with your shirt pulled, you can't do that.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries:  May, Penalty Try
Con:  Farrell
Pens:  Farrell 3

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Cruden, McCaw, Faumuina
Pens:  Cruden 2, Barrett

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Brad Barritt, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Danny Care, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements:  16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 George Kruis, 20 Ben Morgan, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 George Ford, 23 Anthony Watson

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Liam Messam, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ryan Crotty.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Wales fall to Wallabies

Australia held off a spirited effort from Wales to condemn their hosts to yet another defeat against their visitors, going down 33-28 on Saturday.

If it wasn't before, it is now a worrying trend for Wales one year out from the World Cup as they went down to their upcoming Pool A rivals.

They had a chance to win but in the end first-half errors and late ill-disciplined saw Australia prevail.

There were no penalties on the board during the first-half as both teams enjoyed lots of space to unleash their dangerous runners in back play.

And it was a player who deserved his start at the base who got the ball rolling as the Osprey Rhys Webb capitalised on space around the ruck after captain Sam Warburton's break, running through untouched from 20 metres out before Leigh Halfpenny landed the successful conversion.

It set the tone for a try-happy half as then Wallaby captain Michael Hooper ran hard at Dan Biggar before offloading to Israel Folau to level.

20 minutes had been played when Folau doubled both his personal and team's account, intercepting a speculative pass from Webb as he set off to the try-line from his own 22.  Bernard Foley sent over the extras as it was a 14-7 ball game on the new hybrid surface.

Wales again displayed tenacity to bounce back and when George North broke on halfway before finding wing Alex Cuthbert for the run-in, we were level at the Millennium Stadium.

The pattern continued on the half-hour mark as in-form centre Tevita Kuridrani powered through the tackles of lock Alun-Wyn Jones and Cuthbert for a strong run to the uprights.  With Foley's two points the Wallabies had once more moved into a seven-point lead.

With Halfpenny having hobbled off, Wales though made some pressure count before half-time as Jones picked from one metre out to make it 21-21 at the break with Biggar's kick.  Fortunately for Wales, it didn't go to the TMO as it looked like double movement.

Upon the turnaround it was Australia who began the stronger as Foley made it 24-21.

Wales meanwhile could have levelled from distance but went for the corner with replacement Rhys Priestland's first touch due to Biggar hobbling off.  Webb soon followed.

Foley continued his great game with a further three points on 56 minutes that made it a 27-21 lead for the Wallabies but thus followed a purple patch for Wales in the visitors 22.  They turned the screw at scrum-time and eventually got their reward with a penalty try for the lead.

However, as so often has been the case for Wales against the southern hemisphere giants, they could not finish the job as a smartly taken Foley drop and then then his third penalty of the game saw the Wallabies to victory.  Wales, again, wonder what might have been.

Man of the match:  He directed Australia superbly well, with his points key to the victory.  Hats off to fly-half Bernard Foley, with mentions going to Sam Warburton and Israel Folau.

Moment of the match:  Poor Rhys Webb.  He started strongly with a try but his intercept pass to Israel Folau was a sucker punch to Wales in the first-half.  A gift seven points.

Villain of the match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Webb, Cuthbert, AW Jones, Penalty
Con:  Halfpenny 2, Biggar, Priestland

For Australia:
Tries:  Folau 2, Kuridrani
Con:  Foley 3
Pen:  Foley 3
Drop:  Foley

Wales:  15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 George North, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Cory Allen.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 James Horwill, 20 Will Skelton, 21 Matt Hodgson, 22 Will Genia, 23 Rob Horne.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), JP Doyle (England)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Maori All Blacks squeeze past Japan

A late Dan Pryor try secured the Maori All Blacks a hard-fought 20-18 victory over Japan in Tokyo on Saturday.

The Maori All Blacks went in to this match full of confidence after they thrashed the Brave Blossoms 61-21 in Kobe last weekend but, as the scoreline suggests, things did not go as smoothly in this encounter.

Pryor's try came in the 80th minute, after the visitors took a quick throw-in at a line-out inside Japan's half and after the ball went through several pairs of hands the dreadlocked flanker dived in at the right-hand corner to break Japanese hearts.

That was a cruel ending for the hosts, who fought back from a 15-5 half-time deficit to take an 18-15 lead shortly before Pryor's matchwinning try.

Earlier, Japan started brightly and had the bulk of the possession during the game's opening quarter but could not convert their dominance in to points.

The Maori All Blacks battled to get their hands on to the ball during those early stages and when they were trapped inside their 22 they slowed the ball down cynically at the rucks which led to them conceding several penalties.

New Zealand's indiscipline at the breakdowns eventually led to referee Angus Gardner brandishing a yellow card as early as the eighth minute.  Tom Franklin was the guilty party after he failed to roll away at a ruck close to his 10-metre line.

Japan took a shot at goal but Ayumu Goromaru's effort was unsuccesful.

Shortly afterwards, the visitors made them pay when Cody Taylor scored against the run of play.  The Canterbury hooker ran on to a pass from Pryor, midway between the halfway line and Japan's 22, before showing a superb turn of speed to outrun the cover defence before crossing over.

Ihaia West added the extras and in the 24th minute the Maori All Blacks notched their second try when Nehe Milner-Skudder dotted down in the right-hand corner after joining his backline at pace and gliding past two defenders.

West missed that conversion but slotted a penalty shortly afterwards, after Shinya Makabe infringed at a ruck.  Japan then got their first points on the scoreboard, just before half-time, via a well-taken try from Akihito Yamada.

He scored in the left-hand corner after beating Milner-Skudder with a deft side-step inside the visitors' 22.  This after Goromaru did well in the build-up to draw in Kurt Baker before offloading to Yamada.

Japan started the second half like they did in the opening period and were soon on the attack deep inside the Maori All Blacks' 22.  The Brave Blossoms' strength at scrum-time was rewarded when they were awarded a penalty try in the 47th minute.

Goromaru added the conversion and drew his side level at 15-15 with a penalty in the 55th minute.  West then had an opportunity to restore the visitors' lead, after Luke Thompson was penalised for going off his feet at a ruck, but the Maori All Blacks fly-half's kick struck an upright and the home side gained a reprieve.

The rest of the half saw Japan gaining the upperhand and they did well to restrict play mostly to the forwards before striking out wide with their backs.

The visitors — who thrived on Japan's errors in Kobe — seemed shell-shocked by the intensity of the Brave Blossoms' forward effort which was eventually rewarded when Goromaru slotted another penalty in the 74th minute after Pryor was penalised for not releasing a tackled player.

That gave Japan the lead for the first time but they were denied a series clinching win by Pryor's five-pointer at the end.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Tries:  Yamada, Penalty try
Con:  Goromaru
Pens:  Goromaru 2

For Maori All Blacks:
Tries:  Taylor, Milner-Skudder, Pryor
Con:  West
Pen:West
Yellow Card:  Franklin

Japan:  15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Karne Hesketh, 13 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Male Sau, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shinya Makabe, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Keita Inagaki.
Replacements:  16 Yusuke Nagae, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Hitoshi Ono, 20 Hayden Hopgood , 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Harumichi Tatekawa, 23 Ryohei Yamanaka.

New Zealand Maori:  15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Kurt Baker, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Charlie Ngatai (c), 11 James Lowe, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Chris Smylie, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Dan Pryor, 5 Blade Thomson, 4 Tom Franklin, 3 MIke Kainga, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Chris Eves
Replacements:  16 Joe Royal, 17 Brendon Edmonds, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Hayden Triggs, 20 Mitch Crosswell, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Joe Webber

Referee:  Angus Gardner (Australia)

Canada hold on against Namibia

Nanyak Dala's second-half try proved just enough for Canada as they hung on for a 17-13 win over Namibia in Colwyn Bay.

After going down to a Championship XV last week, the Canadians were pushed very hard by Namibia, for whom Jacques Burger scored late on.

Gordon McRorie was the star of the show in the first half for Canada, slotting two early penalties to make it 6-0.

Theuns Kotze hit back for Namibia with a penalty of his own, with both kickers adding a further three-pointer before the break to make it 9-6 to Canada at half-time, while Namibia were down to 14 after a sin-binning for flanker Rohan Kitshoff.

Another McRorie penalty early in the second half stretched the lead back to six, before flanker Dala grabbed his fourth Test try on the right after sustained pressure.

McRorie missed the conversion but Canada were in complete control leading 17-6.

They were not able to add to that score though, and with five minutes remaining, Saracens flanker Burger went over from a five-metre lineout and the conversion made it 17-13 with time running out.

Namibia couldn't find their way through for a winning score though, as Canada held on ahead of a clash with Samoa next weekend.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Try:  Dala
Pens:  McRorie 4

For Namibia:
Try:  Burger
Con:  Kotze
Pens:  Kotze 2
Yellow Cards:  Kitshoff

The teams:

Canada:  15 DTH van der Merwe, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Conor Trainor, 12 Ciaran Hearn, 11 Sean Duke, 10 Connor Braid, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 John Moonlight, 7 Nanyak Dala, 6 Kyle Gilmour, 5 Jebb Sinclair, 4 Tyler Hotson, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Hubert Buydens (capt).
Replacements:  16 Doug Wooldridge, 17 Ryan Hamilton, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 Brett Buekeboom, 20 Aaron Carpenter, 21 Sean White, 22 Patrick Parfrey, 23 Jordan Wilson-Ross.

Namibia:  15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Darryl de la Harpe, 12 Johan Deysel, 11 David Philander, 10 Theuns Kotz

All Blacks put 70 points on USA

Inevitably the event mattered more than the scoreline as New Zealand dispatched the USA with a 74-6 win in Chicago at Soldier Field.

Taking the sport to the United States is a necessity for the future of rugby and there’s no doubt with national TV coverage, strides will have been made with regards towards the development of the game in a country that truly loves its sport.  Denying that is foolish.

With the greatest respect to the USA though, the outcome of this one was already known before kickoff.  In the end the All Blacks finished with 12 tries.

Too strong, too clinical.  In a sense the All Blacks made a statement, not that they really need to.  Many new fans will have been won along the way, with at one stage a century of points feeling likely before the USA stemmed the tide.  Better to embrace the occasion than tune in expecting a nailbiter.

Everything initially was a little bit different for both your seasoned fan and New Zealand, starting with some questionable anthems, but after some initial jitters the All Blacks played as expected.

The USA have some quality players, exemplified by Samu Manoa, Chris Wyles and most of all Blaine Scully, whose tenacity with blood coming out of his face set the tone.  They just don’t have enough of those players yet.

The exposure of this match will go towards changing that, with the possibility of a Rugby World Cup in the USA in the future being something which holds great appeal.

A try on debut for Nathan Harris set the All Blacks on their way and lived up to the script.  The hosts could either wilt or rally.

A long attack with the USA retaining the ball well inside New Zealand’s 22 ended with a penalty and some points for young Adam Siddall after 11 minutes.

Israel Dagg’s offload out the back released Cory Jane to add New Zealand’s second try and silence a crowd that had been growing in confidence the longer the USA held onto the ball inside Kiwi territory.

Some brilliance from the restart by Scully led to Siddall’s second penalty to keep the USA in touch, but New Zealand simply counterpunched with another try, Patrick Tuipulotu going over next.

Now they were scoring at will.  Sonny Bill Williams dotted down after good work from Ryan Crotty to cap his return to Test rugby.

Charles Piutau, Williams again and Julian Savea, from a ridiculous offload by captain Kieran Read, all added further tries before the half was out as the USA’s tackling sadly wasn’t up to scratch.

SBW was denied a hat-trick at the beginning of the second half after a forward pass but Joe Moody’s short-range score kept the momentum going the way of the world champions.

If there was a pointer for the All Blacks, Aaron Cruden’s kicking wasn’t perfect (not that it mattered.) Four of nine conversions went over on his return to Test action after being stood down in the middle of the Rugby Championship.  Luckily they had a replacement by the name of Dan Carter to come on.

Dagg brought up try number ten, deserved after his assists earlier on, as Carter looked to lay down a marker before facing England next weekend at Twickenham.

Sam Cane got in on the act for try number 11 and you could have forgiven the fans for deciding to head for the exit, but no one did.  A beautiful second try for Savea wrapped things up with the crowd rising to their feet.

For all parties, mission accomplished.

Man of the Match:  Showing touches of class throughout, Kieran Read was exceptional in the absence of Richie McCaw.

Moment of the Match:  Rather than any of the action, the pre-match build-up was truly special as both teams were given a rousing reception.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For USA:
Pens:  Siddall 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Harris, Jane, Tuipulotu, Williams 2, Piutau, Savea 2, Moody, Cruden, Dagg, Cane
Cons:  Cruden 4, Carter 3

USA:  15 Chris Wyles, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Brett Thompson, 10 Adam Siddall, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Danny Barrett, 7 Scott Lavalla, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Hayden Smith, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Olive Kilifi, 2 Phil Thiel, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements: 16 Tom Coolican, 17 Nick Wallace, 18 Mate Moeakiola, 19 Tai Tuisamoa, 20 Louis Stanfill, 21 Benjamin Tarr, 22 Folau Niua, 23 Troy Hall.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Augustine Pulu, 22 Daniel Carter, 23 Julian Savea.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referee:  Chris Assmus (Canada)

Wallabies pip Barbarians in classic

Michael Cheika's reign as Australia coach got off to a winning start as the Wallabies edged to a 40-36 win over the Barbarians.

It was a thrilling encounter with both teams prepared to throw the ball around and the backlines looking dangerous throughout.

In Cheika's first game in charge he'd chosen to rest a number of players, while handing Reds half-backs Will Genia and Quade Cooper recalls at Twickenham.

And after the Barbarians threatened to cut them open for much of the first half, the Wallabies finally got the upper hand and eventually took control, holding on despite a late Baabaas comeback.

It was certainly a spectacle though, and the Barbarians were largely responsible for that, staying true to the famous black and white jersey's traditions.

They showed their intentions from the off, with an American football-style throw-in at the first lineout from Steven Luatua.

From their first penalty in kickable territory they set up a rolling maul and thought they had scored, but Jaco Peyper called it back for an infringement in the build-up.  Still, Australia had already been penalised and soon after the Baabaas had their first try, John Kirwan's team had their first try.

Using all the tricks in the book, it was Colin Slade's delightful pass out of the tackle that set Nick Cummins on his way.  The former Wallaby winger crashed into Quade Cooper but when the ball came back right, the Barbarians had an overlap and Frank Halai was able to step in and cross.

It took until just before the half-hour for Australia to hit back, but they were on the mark when Sam Carter crashed over but after Cooper converted, the Barbarians hit straight back.

Adam Thomson, part of a hugely impressive back row, finished off a move which started through the excellent Luatua, and again featured Halai in the build-up.  Slade's conversion made it 12-7 to the Baabaas but Australia were back in front before half-time.

It came thanks to some great work from Tevita Kuridrani, who caused the Barbarians trouble all game, with Benn Robinson eventually the man to go over.

Having helped his time to a 14-12 half-time lead, Kuridrani got on the scoresheet himself early in the second half, crashing through for a great individual try.

At 21-12, the Barbarians could have just collapsed, but they came back once more thanks to Francis Saili, who had enjoyed a fantastic day.  Slade converted before adding another penalty to put Kirwan's team back in front.

Australia reacted with a try from Rob Horne, who was served by Matt Toomua, and when Bernard Foley went over two minutes later it seemed over as a contest.

Sean McMahon, on his first Wallaby appearance, then went over and Bernard Foley, on for Cooper, converted to make it 40-22.

It looked all over but the Barbarians hit back with Cummins earning the biggest cheer of the afternoon when he ran on to Tim Nanai-Williams' exquisite delayed pop pass.

And two minutes later it was Marnitz Boshoff who went over to get the Barbarians back within a score.

Australia, to their credit, kept attacking, and even when the 80 minutes were up, they didn't initially kick it out.

But after both sides had given it a go in search of a final try, the Wallabies decided enough was enough and settled for an entertaining victory.

Man of the match:  There were so many people who impressed, particularly for the Barbarians, but there's no question that Tevita Kuridrani was the difference between the teams.  A menace with ball in hand, he scored one, set up another and was everywhere.

Moment of the match:  How to choose?  In the end we're going to go with Nick Cummins' try that got the Baabaas back into it.  The Honey Badger was the man everyone wanted to see, and he looked to enjoy that try.  It also sparked the dramatic late comeback!

Villain of the match:  No-one in a game like this.  Played as Baabaas matches should be.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Carter, Robinson, Kuridrani, Horne, Foley, McMahon
Cons:  Cooper 3, Foley2

For Barbarians:
Tries:  Halai, Thomson, Saili, Cummins, Boshoff
Cons:  Slade 2, Boshoff 2
Pen:  Slade

The teams:

Barbarians:  15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Frank Halai, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Francis Saili, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Steven Luatua, 7 Matt Todd, 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Al Kellock, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Angus Ta'avao, 2 James Parsons, 1 Matt Stevens.
Replacements:  16 Mahonri Schwalger, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Heinrich Brussow, 20 Matías Alemanno, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Joaquín Tuculet, 23 Marnitz Boshoff.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Matt Hodgson (c), 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 James Horwill, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nic White, 22 Bernard Foley, 23 Christian Leali'ifano

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  JP Doyle (England), Gregory Garner (England)
Television match official:  Rowan Kitt (England)

Ruthless Maori thrash Japan

The Maori All Blacks put on a counter-attacking masterclass to hammer a brave but error prone Japan side 61-21 in Kobe on Saturday.

A run of 10 successive Test victories had propelled the Brave Blossom into the world's top 10 for the first time but they offered little resistance to the visitors, who entertained a crowd of 21,000 with a new haka before the game.

Far from being outmuscled, the hosts enjoyed plenty of possession and territory but were made to pay for every mistake as the Maori ran in a number of long-range tries.

Indeed, Japan dominated the statistics in all the key areas, but they were no match for the power and speed of the Kiwi attacking as the Maori outscored their hosts eight tries to three.

In the first game of a two-match series, the visitors led 35-7 at half time with Jason Emery scoring two of the Maori's four tries before the interval.

As a sign of their improvement up front, the Brave Blossoms earned two penalty tries — one for having a rolling maul pulled down and another at scrum time.

But the Maori were sublime with ball in hand, ruthlessly ripping the Japanese defence at every opportunity.

The visitors raced to a 25-0 lead early on.  Ihaia West got off to a shaky start from the kicking tee but rampaging loosehead prop Chris Eves, showed great pace to charge over for the first try.

Eves also produced a great off-load to put Manawatu team-mate away for a try from 50m out before Auckland flanker Sean Polwart score under the posts as Japan looked shell-shocked.

The hosts came storming back however and deserved the penalty try as their rolling maul looked sure to rumble over before it was dragged down.

The Maori All Blacks scored again before the break as the impressive Emery latched onto Robbie Robinson's kick ahead.

Japan started the second half well but conceded another long-range try when James Lowe raced away before offloading to West, who finished the 90m effort.

Japan's second try was a top effort as Tongan-born Amanaki Lelei Mafi scored under the posts but the visitors struck straight back when Nehe Milner-Skudder, scored in the corner.

Maori skipper Charlie Ngatai raced away from try number seven before Japanese scrum was rewarded with penalty try.

James Lowe added a the cherry on the cake with fine individual effort in the dying minutes.

The visitors raced to a 25-0 lead early on.  Ihaia West got off to a shaky start from the kicking tee but rampaging loosehead prop Chris Eves, showed great pace to charge over for the first try.

Eves also produced a great off-load to put Manawatu team-mate away for a try from 50m out before Auckland flanker Sean Polwart score under the posts as Japan looked shell-shocked.

The hosts came storming back however and deserved the penalty try as their rolling maul looked sure to rumble over before it was dragged down.

The Maori All Blacks scored again before the break as the impressive Emery latched onto Robbie Robinson's kick ahead.

Japan started the second half well but conceded another long-range try when James Lowe raced away before offloading to West, who finished the 90m effort.

Japan's second try was a top effort as Tongan-born Amanaki Lelei Mafi scored under the posts but the visitors struck straight back when Nehe Milner-Skudder, scored in the corner.

Maori skipper Charlie Ngatai raced away from try number seven before Japanese scrum was rewarded with penalty try.

James Lowe added a the cherry on the cake with fine individual effort in the dying minutes.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Tries:  Penalty try 2, Lelei Mafi
Cons:  Goromaru 3

For NZ Maori:
Tries:  Eves, Emery 2, Polwart, West, Milner-Skudder, Ngatai, Lowe
Cons:  West 6
Pens:  West 3
Yellow card:  McKenzie

Japan:15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Kotaro Matsushima, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa, 12 Male Sau, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Atsushi Hiwasa, 8 Hayden Hopgood, 7 Michael Leitch, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Shoji Ito, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Takeshi Kizu, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements:  16 Keita Inagaki, 17 Hiroki Yuhara, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Karne Hesketh.

New Zealand Maori:  15 Robbie Robinson, 14 Matt Proctor, 13 Jason Emery, 12 Charlie Ngatai (c) 11 James Lowe, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Chris Smylie, 8 Elliot Dixon, 7 Sean Polwart, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Tom Franklin, 3 Mike Kainga, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Chris Eves.
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Brendon Edmonds, 18 Nick Barrett, 19 Nick Crosswell, 20 Dan Pryor, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Nehe Milner-Skudder.

Venue:  Noevir Stadium, Kobe
Referee:  Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardne (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)
Television match official:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Namibia power past Germany

Namibia's national team, the Welwitchias, secured a convincing 58-20 victory over Germany in Windhoek on Wednesday.

The Welwitchias led 36-6 at the break.  Watched by 3000 spectators the match produced 11 tries, nine of which were scored by Namibia.

The hosts' centre Johan Deysel opened the scoring as early as the third minute after Namibia won a line-out on Germany's 22 and went through a number of phases before Deysel crossed.

Two penalties from Germany's fly-half Christopher Hilsenbeck gave the visitors a 6-5 lead on the 10 minute mark, but that was the last time Germany looked like winning the match.

Led by Western Province Currie Cup flanker Rohan Kitshoff, the Namibian pack dominated and secured quality possession for their backline and had too much pace for their opponents to cope with.

In the 11th minute try-scorer Deysel turned provider for left wing Johan Tromp who crossed for the second try of the match.

This was pretty much the trend for the remaining 25 minutes of the first half.  Namibia's forwards were in complete control with Germany finding the pace too hot to handle.

The Welwitchias added three more first half tries through their captain Kitshoff who scored back to back tries and Ryan de La Harpe.

The England based scrum-half dealt Germany a hammer blow just before the break when the visitors were on the attack but de le Harpe intercepted and ran 70 meters for the try.

Namibia started the second half in the same fashion as they did the first and when loose forward Thomasua Forbes and full-back Danie Dames both scored inside the first eight minutes of the second half, a record score looked a strong possibility.

The handy lead allowed Namibian coach Danie Vermeulen the opportunity to give his replacements bench a run.  This lead to the inevitable loss of momentum and the rest of the second half was pretty much uneventful.

Namibia reached the half century mark when left wing Tromp scored his second of the evening.

The next 20 minutes saw the German team playing with more composure and they were rewarded with two tries, the first by loose forward Kehoma Brenner after an impressive line-out drive and the second by their captain Sean Armstrong.

New cap JC Greyling scored Namibia's ninth try of the match four minutes before the end.  Germany were on the attack when the final whistle went, victory to Namibia and an important confidence booster before they leave for their three-match northern hemisphere tour this weekend.

The match was refereed by South Africa's Marius Jonker who after the final whistle confirmed that he had retired from first class refereeing and that this was his last match in charge.

The Scorers:

For Namibia:
Tries:  Johan Tromp 2, Rohan Kitshoff 2, Thomasua Forbes, Ryan de la Harpe, Danie Dames, JC Greyling
Cons:  Shawn Kaizemi 5
Pens:  Kaizemi

For Germany:
Tries:  Kehoma Brenner, Sean Armstrong
Cons:  Christoper Hilsenbeck 2
Pens:  Hilsenbeck 2

Last-minute All Blacks edge Wallabies

Malakai Fekitoa scored a try in the last minute as the All Blacks overturned a 10-point deficit to beat the Wallabies 29-28 in Brisbane on Saturday.

Written off before kick-off following a tumultuous fortnight off the field, the Wallabies answered their critics in defiant fashion and looked on course to end a three-year losing streak against their rivals from across the 'ditch.'

But rugby is a game of 80 minutes.  And once again the All Blacks showed they are the masters of the fast finish.

Ewen McKenzie's side produced arguably their best performance of 2014 and willing be kicking themselves for not closing out from a winning position as they failed to match the Kiwis' intensity in the last quarter.

The result means New Zealand win the 2014 Bledisloe series at 2-0.

Australia led 15-12 at half time thanks to tries from half-backs Nick Phipps and Bernard Foley while New Zealand replied through scores from wing Cory Jane and hooker Dane Coles.

Centurian Adam Ashley-Cooper scored for the Wallabies in the second half but an Aaron Smith try for the All Blacks ensure the game went down to the wire.

The Wallabies drew first blood when Phipps scored in the 14th minute.  Christian Leali'ifano stepped inside Fekitoa to break clear and combine with Israel Folau to set up the attack.  Phipps dummied right and then sniped on the side of a ruck for the opening try.

Bernard Foley added the conversion but New Zealand replied immediately, scoring from the restart as Conrad Smith regathered the kick-off before Kieran Read's offload found Jane, who did well to evade two defenders and the touchline to dive into the corner.

Beauden Barrett's excellent conversion levelled the scores at 7-all at the end of the first quarter.

Wallaby skipper Michael Hooper turned down a couple of kickable penalties in favour of chasing a try but the hosts' set piece was not secure enough for the gamble to pay off.

When Richie McCaw was penalised for not rolling away the sensible thing to do was take the points and Foley duly put the Wallabies in front.

But once again the All Blacks hit back immediately as Coles sold Ashley-Cooper an audacious dummy before showing an impressive turn of pace to race home.  Barrett missed the conversion.

The Wallabies' were doing great work in keeping ball in hand and moving the point of attack.  Hooper was stopped just short but Foley was on hand to dive into the corner.

The fly-half couldn't convert his try though, meaning Australia led by just three points at the interval.

The hosts stretched their lead after the break though as Ashley-Cooper became the first Wallaby to score a try in his 100th Test, finishing off good work from Folau and Tevita Kuridrani.  Foley added the extras.

Barrett pulled three back following a ruck infringement but Foley could restore the 10-point margin when the All Black replacement front row buckled at scrum time approaching the hour mark.

Hopes of a Kiwi comeback were dealt a blow when Patrick Tuipulotu saw yellow for taking Rob Simmons out in the air but the visitors were next to score, despite the numerical disadvantage, as Aaron Smith took a penalty quickly and caught the Aussies napping to sneak over.

Barrett's conversion cut the deficit to three points and set up a grandstand finish.

McCaw was the guilty party once again at a ruck allowing Nic White to land a long-range penalty to give Australia some breathing room.

But six points were enough as Fekitoa found a gap after a period of sustained pressure and Colin Slade made no mistake from the tee to crush Wallaby hearts.

Man of the match:  Richie McCaw gave away a few penalties but was a tackle machine, as was Brodie Retallick.  A mention for Michael Hooper for pulling his side together and contributing massively as a ball carrier but we'll go for Bernard Foley, not only for his 15 points, but his tireless work in getting back in defence.

Moment of the match:  There can only be one candidate.  Malakai Fekitoa's try at the death broke Aussie hearts.

Villain of the match:  No real nasty stuff to report

The scorers:

For Australia: 
Tries:  Phipps, Foley, Ashley-Cooper
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 2, White

For New Zealand: 
Tries:  Jane, Coles, A. Smith, Fekitoa
Cons:  Barrett 2, Slade
Pen:  Barrett
Yellow card:  Tuipulotu

The teams:

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 James Horwill, 20 Matt Hodgson, 21 Nic White, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Rob Horne.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Sam Cane, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Colin Slade, 23 Charles Piutau

Venue:  Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Pumas fight back for historic win

Argentina came back from a 14-0 deficit to record their first-ever Rugby Championship victory, 21-17 over Australia in Mendoza.

Tevita Kuridrani and Scott Higginbotham went over early for Australia as they threatened a rout, but Argentina fought back with two tries of their own.

Leonardo Senatore and Juan Imhoff crossed either side of half-time, as the Wallabies paid the price for their indiscipline, losing Nick Phipps and Michael Hooper to yellow cards.

There was some controversy however as Bernard Foley missed an easy shot at goal late on that would have put Australia back in front as a result of a laser being shone in his eyes.

A year ago in Rosario it was the Israel Folau show with the full-back helping himself to a hat-trick as the Wallabies stamped all over Argentina.

Australia had made two changes for this game, with Higginbotham and James Horwill coming into the team, but the bigger news was the absence of Kurtley Beale, who is currently under investigation for an incident with a team manager on the plane trip to Argentina.

And with Juan Martin Fernandez-Lobbe absent for the birth of a child, and the odd decision to drop Marcelo Bosch and Ramiro Herrera to the bench, there were fears that it could be the same again when they conceded two tries in the first quarter of an hour.

But from there the Pumas dominated possession and territory, and were able to take advantage of Australian infringements to work their way back into the game, and they eventually came away with a famous win.

Under Daniel Hourcade, Argentina have shown a lot of ambition and a desire to play with ball in hand and they were rewarded for that enterprise in this game as they weathered an early Wallaby storm.

Argentina showed their intent from the off, running the ball out of their 22 but it was Australia who got the first try with their first possession of the game.

Hooper snaffled the ball in midfield from a forward pass and after making ground up to the 22 he fed Higginbotham who was in support.  When Australia recycled, the Pumas defence was stretched and with a huge overlap, Kuridrani was on hand to finish after being fed by Folau.  Foley, who had made his debut in this fixture a year ago, converted to make it 0-7 after just three minutes.

The game was being played a frenetic pace and while Argentina looked dangerous with ball in hand, they seemed to be at sixes and sevens in defence.

Every time Folau got the ball he made ground, and Phipps at scrum-half was getting such quick ball that Australia were constantly finding gaps.

The second try came after 12 minutes, with Phipps picking out Saia Fainga'a in the Pumas 22, and he popped it to Higginbotham outside him.  The returning number eight had far too much power and broke through some desperate tackles to dive over.  Foley was again on target from in front.

Argentina's already stretched back-row stocks were then dealt another blow with Benjamin Macome forced off and replaced by Javier Ortega Desio.

Australia were looking ominous, but on their first incursion into the visiting 22, Argentina earned a five-metre scrum.  The first set-piece saw an infringement from the Wallabies, but they got a let-off at the second when Higginbotham forced Martin Landajo into a knock-on.

Nicolas Sanchez had the chance to get Argentina on the board when Higginbotham was penalised at a ruck, but his effort from 45 metres out fell short.

And there was more frustration when Hooper produced a vital turnover on the Australian line after Sanchez had got the Pumas on the front foot in Australian territory.

Still, Argentina had clearly weathered the storm and they were able to set up in the Australian 22 once more when Rob Horne, who had come on for a groggy Matt Toomua, failed to roll away at a ruck.

The Pumas then produced 13 phases of ferocious charges, with bodies flying all over the place.  In the end the try came with Australia's players sucked in tight and Argentina spread it wide to Senatore for a simple finish in the corner.  Sanchez's conversion from the touchline was well wide.

Australia were struggling to cope with the intensity of their hosts, and after another penalty conceded by James Horwill, Sanchez slotted three points to make it 8-14 at the break, with the Wallabies facing the threat of a yellow card for persistent infringements.

It took just two minutes of the second half for that threat to come to fruition, with Phipps sin-binned for kicking the ball out of a ruck in an offside position.  Sanchez converted the simple penalty to bring the Pumas back to within three points.

But that didn't stop Australia getting back into Argentinian territory, with Sanchez dropping the ball under no pressure, and Kuridrani thought he'd scored his second try after an acrobatic pass from Folau.

The full-back flipped the ball back inside as he was being pushed into touch on the right, but with no clear evidence of Kuridrani touching down after he'd scooped up the ball, they came back for a penalty which Foley slotted to stretch the lead back to six.

The Pumas clearly had the upper hand in the scrum though and after a Horne drop in his 22, they used a powerful scrum to set up their second try.

With an extra man in the backline they played the overlap perfectly, with Horacio Agulla delivering the final pass for Imhoff on the right wing.  Sanchez converted from the touchline to give Argentina the lead for the first time.

The try came just before Phipps' return, but they were nearly back to 14 men immediately when Folau was shown a yellow card for taking out Joaquin Tuculet in the air.  Nigel Owens called him back, however, after it became clear that the contact came following a push from Agulla.

Still, the Australians were getting on the wrong side of Owens, and another penalty, conceded by Scott Fardy, gave Sanchez a shot at goal, but this time his effort drifted wide.

Three minutes later it was Foley who had the chance to put Australia back in front after a Pumas scrum infringement, but his effort from nearly halfway was well off.

With 12 minutes remaining Argentina were penalised for failing to roll away when Horne carried in midfield, but again Foley was off-target with a much easier shot with clear footage of a green laser on his eyes as he stepped up for the kick.

The ball came back off the posts but Argentina were alive to it and secured possession and got out of trouble.  And when Will Skelton was penalised for a high tackle, Bosch had the chance to extend the lead, but he was also off-target from halfway.

However it got worse for Australia with seven minutes left when Hooper was sin-binned for taking out Sanchez after an up-and-under, the Australian skipper perhaps a touch unfortunate having gone for the charge-down.  To add insult to injury, Sanchez added the three points from where the penalty landed to make it 21-17.

Australia tried to come back, but came up against a wall of Argentinian defence.  A scrum on halfway proved to be their last chance, but in a rather unsatisfactory finish a succession of reset scrums ended with a Pumas penalty and they were able to kick the ball into touch to seal the win.

It wasn't enough to lift Argentina off the bottom of the table but the result marks the Pumas' first success in the Rugby Championship at their eighteenth attempt, and comes after a number of promising displays this year.

And while Australia were not at their best in Mendoza, the Pumas did enough to deserve the win with a committed display.

Man of the match:  Israel Folau was very dangerous for Australia once more, and the Wallabies probably would have won if they'd brought him into the game more.  It was a real team effort from Argentina with a number of players chipping in.  But for his leadership and cool head, we're going to give the nod to Agustin Creevy.  Very active around the park, and as consistent as ever in the set-piece, Creevy kept his head when Australia took an early lead and captained his team to landmark victory.

Moment of the match:  Australia were under pressure at the end of the first half, but the loss of Nick Phipps early in the second really proved decisive.  The scrum-half thought he was within his rights to play a ball in a ruck as the tackler, but given the warning issued by Nigel Owens just before the break, it was a gamble that didn't need to be made.  Argentina scored ten points in his absence to take control of the game.

Villain of the match:  Whoever the idiot in the crowd was with the laser.  One suggestion offered was that the kicker should be allowed another shot at goal in those circumstances.  You could go one step further and just give the team the points, maybe that will convince these knuckleheads to stop this nonsense.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Senatore, Imhoff
Conversion:  Sanchez
Penalties:  Sanchez 3

For Australia:
Tries:  Kuridrani, Higginbotham
Conversions:  Foley 2
Penalties:  Foley 2
Yellow Cards:  Phipps, Hooper

The teams:

Argentina:  15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Juan Imhoff, 13 Horacio Agulla, 12 Juan Martin Hernandez, 11 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martin Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Benjamin Macome, 6 Rodrigo Baez, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Mariano Galarza, 3 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 2 Agustin Creevy (c), 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:  16 Matias Cortese, 17 Bruno Postiglioni, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Jeronimo De la Fuente.

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Jake Schatz, 21 Matt Hodgson, 22 Nic White, 23 Rob Horne.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO:  Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)

Sensational Springboks topple champs

South Africa ended New Zealand's 22-game unbeaten streak on Saturday with an incredible 27-25 victory in Johannesburg.

The result also sees the Springboks break a three-year losing streak against the world champions and Rugby Championship winners, claiming their first win against the All Blacks at Ellis Park in ten years.

The sides scored three tries apiece but a Pat Lambie penalty from 55 metres out in the 78th minute gave the Boks an epic win and laid down a marker ahead of next year's World Cup in England.

It was hard to imagine that this year's showdown could even come close to the thriller of twelve months ago at the same venue but we were wrong.  The Boks took on the world's number-one ranked side at their own game, playing with volume and pace.

It was breathtaking.

The Springboks led 21-13 at half thanks to brilliant tries from half-backs Francois Hougaard and Handré Pollard, who scored twice.

Deprived of territory and possession, New Zealand typically converted every chance presented to them and Malakai Fekitoa's try on the half-hour meant they were still in the contest at the interval.

The second half became a much tighter affair as Richie McCaw's team concentrated on keeping ball in hand and their patience paid off as Ben Smith and Dane Coles both crossed in the final fifteen minutes to take a one-point lead into the dying minutes.

The rest is history.

The Boks kept everyone guessing over the participation of the influential Duane Vermeulen until the very last minute but the big number eight ran out with the home side as Jean de Villiers hit 50 Rugby Championship caps and McCaw set a new record for All Blacks appearances.

Kieran Read conceded the first kickable penalty for not rolling away but Pollard missed the target from long range.  Beauden Barrett had no such troubles to open the score after eight minutes.

The Boks were first to cross the whitewash, however, with a sensational length-of-the-field try finished off by Hougaard.  The hosts were rewarded for their enterprise as they spread it wide from deep inside their 22 metre area.  Cornal Hendricks collected De Villiers' chip ahead before offloading to Jan Serfontein, who provided the link for his scrum-half to race home and score under the sticks.  Pollard added the easy extras.

The All Blacks had hardly seen the ball as the first quarter drew to a close but Barrett could close the gap to a single point after Marcell Coetzee was penalised for not allowing the ball out of a ruck.

South Africa's second try was as good as the first.  Again it started in the hosts' half with Bryan Habana making good ground.  The finish was out of the top drawer as Pollard slalomed his way past three defenders to score.  The fly-half's conversion from dead in front took the scores to 14-6.  The Boks were simply bubbling with energy.

In typical fashion, New Zealand struck back as Julian Savea, chasing his own chip ahead, charged down the blindside touchline to open up the Bok defence.  Barrett found Fekitoa on a great line and he jinked his way over for a superb try.  Barrett's conversion was a formality.

Pollard had the last laugh though, beating his opposite number and twisting through McCaw's tackle to get the ball down on the line.  The young fly-half's conversion gave the Boks an eight-point lead at the break.

Conrad Smith's fingertips denied De Villiers a try in a footrace back soon after the restart but Pollard could extend SA's lead from the kicking tee after a deliberate knock-down from Jerome Kaino.

The All Blacks thought they had a try on the hour mark but Coetzee was able to get it down in-goal at the bottom of a ruck.

The Boks were running out of gas though and when Conrad Smith split De Villiers and Serfontein to put Ben Smith over in the corner, the words Déjà vu were whispered around the stadium.

Barrett held his nerve to slot the conversion from the touchline to set up a grandstand finish with the scores at 24-20 and twelve minutes on the clock.

Three minutes latter, with the Springboks looking dead on their feet, Dane Coles crossed in the corner to give the world champions a one-point lead.

Lambie tried a drop goal with four minutes, but unlike at Newlands a week ago, he would not snatch the lead back for his team.

He was on target from his own half with the match-winning penalty though as Liam Messam paid the price for a high tackle on Schalk Burger.

Man of the match:  A mention for Duane Vermeulen, who defied injury to make an outstanding contribution.  But we'll go for 20-year-old Handré Pollard, who not only scored two tries but belied his tender years with a mature performance.

Moment of the match:  Plenty of great moments but Hougaard's try marked a new age in Springbok rugby.  Box kicks?  No, tries from 90 metres!

Villain of the match:  No one nasty enough for this award.  What an advertisement for rugby.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Hougaard, Pollard 2
Cons:  Pollard 3
Pens:  Pollard, Lambie

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Fekitoa, B. Smith, Coles
Cons:  Barrett 2
Pens:  Barrett 2

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handrè Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Tebo Mohoje, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Colin Slade, 23 Ryan Crotty

Referee:  Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees:  Pascal Gauzere;  JP Doyle
TMO:  Graham Hughes