Australia beat sloppy Argentina

Australia ended the Rugby Championship with a victory as they overcame Argentina 33-21 at Twickenham on Saturday to finish in second spot.

48,515 fans were in attendance for a fixture that the Pumas will have nightmares over as they lost a game they probably should have won.

Early missed penalties from Santiago González Iglesias — in for the injured Nicolás Sánchez at fly-half — coupled by two Australia yellow cards and a contentious try will leave the Pumas wondering what might have been.  Ultimately they finish with the Rugby Championship wooden spoon.

Australia, in contrast, will be thankful for Bernard Foley's boot while Adam Coleman, Samu Kerevi (2) and Dean Mumm picked up tries.

It was a nightmare first 10 minutes for Argentina as they had a try chalked off due to offside against Iglesias and then the TMO, Rowan Kitt, controversially allowed Wallaby second-row Coleman a try after Dane Haylett-Petty looked to have lost the ball in an earlier phase.

With Foley adding a penalty a minute later, Australia were in a good position at 10-0 to the good.  The Pumas meanwhile were rightly upset.

Seeing flanker Michael Hooper sent to the bin for a high-tackle improved their mood on 17 minutes and when Matías Alemanno crashed over from close-range they were back in the game.  Unfortunately Iglesias missed his second attempt at goal from the conversion so it remained 5-10.

Foley was having no such trouble off the tee as his second penalty moved Australia into a 13-5 lead before Hooper returned to the fray.

Iglesias' woes continued before the half-hour when another penalty kick went awry.  One feared that not even a second yellow card for the Wallabies, this time going the way of Coleman for a high tackle, would result in Argentina winning if they didn't sort out their kicking.

Their next issue was the line-out and an overthrow from Agustín Creevy that led to Kerevi powerfully finishing off a try to make it 18-5.  But fortunately for the Pumas Kerevi offended from the resulting restart, allowing Iglesias to fire over his first points before the break.

It was game on six minutes into the second-half as Martin Landajo's quick thinking from five metres out saw him tap before he sent De la Fuente over the whitewash.  With Iglesias kicking the conversion suddenly the Pumas were right back in the game at just 15-18 behind.

But then came a moment that took the wind out of Argentina as a fumble in midfield led to Kerevi racing over for his brace on 49 minutes.  Iglesias did hit back via a scrum penalty five minutes later but they were down by seven points, lamenting that earlier handling mistake.

It was perhaps fitting that a Pumas error led to the final score of the game as this time a loose pass was gobbled up by Mumm, who set off for the unconverted try that gave the Wallabies a bonus-point victory.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Alemanno, De la Fuente
Cons:  Iglesias
Pens:  Iglesias 3

For Australia:
Tries:  Coleman, Kerevi 2, Mumm
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3
Yellow Cards:  Hooper (16 mins — high tackle), Coleman (30 mins — high tackle)

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Santiago González Iglesias, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Leonardo Senatore, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Lucas Noguera
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Gabriel Ascarate, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Lopeti Timani, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Leroy Houston, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Tevita Kuridrani

Referee:  Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees:  JP Doyle (England), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

All Blacks humiliate Springboks to equal Test record

New Zealand equalled the record of 17 consecutive Test wins with a 57-15 victory over the Springboks at Kings Park on Saturday.

This was as one-sided a game as you will see at Test level.

It was a record Test defeat for South Africa and New Zealand's fourth win in a row over the Springboks as they finished the Rugby Championship unbeaten with six bonus-point victories.

It was a phenomenal second-half performance by the All Blacks who scored 45 points in the second 40 and conceded only six.

For the Boks it doesn't get much worse than this.  Adriaan Strauss will want to forget his final Test on home soil as soon as possible.

They say statistics don't lie and there certainly is nowhere for the Springboks to hide.

No team can hope to win a Test against any team, let alone the All Blacks, when you miss 33 tackles (85 out of 118), have to contend with 31 percent possession while playing more than 70 percent of the game in your own half.

It was a comprehensive display by the world champions against a Bok side who, like a week ago against Australia, offered absolutely nothing on attack despite making 14 turnovers.

South Africa were forced to defend the whole game and whether they wanted to or not it was never going to be sustainable for 80 minutes.

The start was encouraging as the Boks showed plenty of energy and drive which was rewared with two Morné Steyn penalties.  Steyn again kept South Africa in the game and they were extremely lucky to only be trailing 12-9 at half time.

New Zealand were far from their best in the first 20 minutes and made some uncharacteristic mistakes as a few offloads didn't go to hand while they were also guilty of too many handling errors.

Despite not being very clinical early on the All Blacks dominated the ball and played all their rugby in the Springboks half.

They were relentless on the attack and tested the Bok defence constantly which was too passive as they failed to keep the All Black ball carriers behind the advantage line.

Israel Dagg opened the scoring for the All Blacks after sustained pressure on the hosts' try line.  It all started when Steyn failed to find touch from inside his 22.

Three missed tackles allowed New Zealand back in Springbok territory as Dagg jogged over unapposed despite some desperate Bok defence.

Another Steyn penalty gave the hosts a 9-5 lead before TJ Perenara scored a controversial try to win back the lead.  The scrum-half was brought down just before the Bok line and seemed to have lost the ball forward before regaining control and grounding it over the line.

After numerous replays the try was awarded which gave the All Blacks the lead for the first time in the match which they never surrendered.

New Zealand ran 758 metres in this Test compared to the 174 the Boks managed to make and they were rewarded with nine tries, seven in the second half, as Israel Dagg, Perenara and Beauden Barrett scored a brace each.  Codie Taylor, Ben Smith and Liam Squire also got on the score sheet.

What is clear for the Boks is that their gameplan simply isn't working.  It's also difficult to see Chean Roux stay on as defence coach.

Allister Coetzee is not known as an attack-minded coach and will need to bring in some outside help for the end-of-year tour.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Pens:  Steyn 5
Yellow Card:  De Jager

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg 2, Perenara 2, Barrett 2, Taylor, Smith, Squire
Cons:  Barrett 4, Sopoaga 2
Yellow Card:  Taylor

South Africa:  15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Stephen Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Willie le Roux

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Matt Todd, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 George Moala

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Clinical win for New Zealand

New Zealand made it five bonus-point victories out of five in this year's Rugby Championship as they beat Argentina 36-17 on Saturday.

The comfortable nature of the win came as a result of a four-minute spell at the end of the first half that saw the visitors score three tries.

In total they crossed five times — through Anton Lienert-Brown, Ryan Crotty, Dane Coles, TJ Perenara and Ben Smith — with Lienert-Brown having a hand in Crotty, Coles and Smith's tries to cap an impressive solo performance.

Facundo Isa was again a rock for the Pumas and was rewarded with a try for his team while Joaquín Tuculet added their other score late on.

As previously said, it was a wonderful first half for the All Blacks, who ran in four tries through Lienert-Brown, Crotty, Coles and Perenara for a 29-3 lead.

Things had started fairly positively for Argentina as they stood up well in the early exchanges and they will feel hard done to when they re-watch the game and find captain Agustín Creevy was denied a try on 18 minutes when the referee thought Isa had knocked on.  In fact the impressive number eight had the ball ripped from his grasp in contact by a New Zealander which meant Jaco Peyper's call was incorrect.

Boy did the All Blacks make them pay from then on as, despite only leading by three Barrett points, they opted for scrums, not shots at goal in the red zone.  That led to their first try as the aforementioned fly-half found Lienert-Brown who crashed over to make it 10-0.

Nicolás Sánchez got Argentina on the board on 34 minutes following a ruck offence, but then came a triple combination that floored Argentina.

After Israel Dagg was denied brilliantly by Pumas outside centre Matías Moroni on the right wing, New Zealand pounced on a loose line-out and Lienert-Brown was this time the provider, setting up midfield partner Crotty for a converted try that made it 17-3 after 36 minutes.

Lienert-Brown was involved again two minutes later as Santiago González Iglesias' charged-down clearing kick led to Dagg finding his centre who in turn offloaded to Coles.  At 24-3 behind the Pumas would have been desperate for the sanctuary of the changing room.  It wasn't over.

New Zealand struck again before the turnaround, arguably their best try of the half, as a breakout from their own 22 saw Perenara go over.

The onslaught continued soon after the break and again it was Lienert-Brown heavily involved as his tackle bust and offload sent in Smith.  The full-back's try was converted by Barrett as New Zealand moved 36-3 in front with 34 minutes still to play at Estádio José Amalfitani.

New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen knew there was surely no coming back for Argentina, which meant the debut of full-back Damian McKenzie happened sooner than originally predicted.  He replaced Crotty as Smith moved forward to outside centre in a reshuffle to the backline.

That however prompted a much-improved spell for the Pumas as, with Joe Moody sin-binned for a swinging arm, the hosts turned the screw at scrum time five metres out.  Eventually their power told and it was Isa picking and dotting down under the post to reduce matters to 36-10.

Buenos Aires was rocking and the volume further increased as they pressed for their second try, Sánchez denied by a last-ditch tackle from Patrick Tuipulotu which was deemed high by the officials.  He wasn't sin-binned but Liam Squire was soon after for persistent team offsides.

Somehow though New Zealand survived that sustained period on their line thanks to a determined and streetwise effort which they used as a springboard to go down to the other end of the field and almost score.  It was Julian Savea who went close but lost the ball over the line.

Perhaps fittingly, due to their physical performance in the second-half, Argentina did have the final say on the scoreboard as Tuculet got hold of a cross-field kick to dive over in the right-hand corner, Iglesias adding the touchline conversion that saw them finish within 19.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Isa, Tuculet
Cons:  Sánchez, Iglesias
Pen:  Sánchez

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Lienert-Brown, Crotty, Coles, Perenara, B Smith
Cons:  Barrett 4
Pen:  Barrett
Yellow Cards:  Moody (52 min — swinging arm), Squire (65 min — offside)

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Ramiro Moyano, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo (c), 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Jerónimo De la Fuente, 23 Matías Orlando

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Samuel Whitelock, 20 Elliot Dixon, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Damian McKenzie

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
TMO:  Johan Greeff (South Africa)

Springboks return to winning ways

South Africa returned to the victory trail when they secured a deserved 18-10 triumph over Australia in their Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria on Saturday.

An accomplished kicking display from Morne Steyn, who scored all his team's points, guided the home side to victory although the Wallabies scored the game's only try early in the first half when Scott Sio went over the whitewash.

The result means the Boks ended a three-match losing streak and they move above the Wallabies into second place in the standings.

Despite their win, there are still question marks about the Boks though as the Wallabies dominated the territorial stakes and spent large parts of the game in the home side's half.

Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee's decision to go with a six/two, forwards/backs split backfired on him as the Boks lost the services of Jesse Kriel in the first half as well as Bryan Habana and Rudy Paige early in the second half.

This meant that the Boks were forced to play with Jaco Kriel on the left wing during the game's final quarter.  But to their credit, the Boks showed great character and a solid defensive effort in the second half secured them this result.

The home side's captain Adriaan Strauss deserves special praise as he led from the front in what was by far his best Test of the season.  He was named the official man of the match.

The Boks made a bright start and after taking the ball through several phases with their forwards, Steyn opened the scoring with a well-taken drop goal in the fifth minute.

The Wallabies were soon level, however, when Bernard Foley landed a penalty after Eben Etzebeth was penalised for taking Sean McMahon out off the ball midway between the halfway line and South Africa's 22.

Five minutes later, Habana failed to find touch and Israel Folau launched a counter-attack from inside his 22.  The ball went through several pairs of hands and the Wallabies were soon close to the home side's try-line.

Will Genia then threw a long pass to Sekope Kepu who did well to offload to his front row partner Sio,who went over under the posts for his first Test try.

Australia had a chance to increase their lead in the 23rd minute, when Vincent Koch was blown up for a scrum infringement midway between the halfway line and the visitors' 22, but Reece Hodge's monster effort landed just short of the cross-bar.

Three minutes later, Steyn narrowed the gap to four points with a penalty, after several Wallabies went off their feet at a ruck.  South Africa were then handed a lifeline in the 35th minute when Folau was yellow carded for taking Habana out off the ball after the Bok flyer had chipped ahead, close to the Wallabies' 22.

Steyn made no mistake with the subsequent place-kick which meant the game was evenly poised with score at 10-9 to the visitors.  South Africa upped the ante on attack but couldn't round off their attacking chances but they regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Steyn added his third penalty after Australia strayed offside on defence.

There wasn't much to report during the early exchanges in the second half although the Wallabies had two golden opportunities to take lead but Hodge missed two shots at goal in quick succession.

Steyn also had an opportunity to extend his side's lead on the hour mark but his penalty attempt, from 55 metres out, was also off target.

The rest of the half was a war of attrition as both sides tried to gain the ascendancy but although the Wallabies spent large parts of the half camped inside the Boks' half, they committed a plethora of handling handling errors which proved costly in the end.

Steyn scored the first points of the half in the 76th minute when he landed a penalty from close quarters after the Wallabies were penalised for a ruck infringement and the pivot sealed the result when he slotted his second drop goal in the game's closing stages.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Pens:  Steyn 4
Drop goals:  Steyn 2

For Australia:
Try:  Sio
Con:  Foley
Pen:  Foley
Yellow Card:  Folau

South Africa:  15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Stephen Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Willie le Roux, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 James Hanson, 17 James Slipper, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tevita Kuridrani, 23 Sefa Naivalu

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland), George Clancy (Ireland)
TMO:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)

Australia too strong for spirited Argentina

Australia scored five tries to two in their 36-20 bonus-point victory over Argentina in Perth on Saturday.

This result was secured in the first 12 minutes of the contest after a three-try blitz by the Wallabies left Argentina shell-shocked, and it proved too big a task for them to pull this one back.  It also confirmed New Zealand as this year's Rugby Championship winners with two Tests left to play.

One look at the statistics for this game makes it difficult to believe Argentina lost.  Apart from the first 15 minutes they dominated territory (68 percent) and possession (67 percent) and comfortably won the penalty count by conceding just seven and winning 16.

It was a open yet sloppy game and one which suited someone of Quade Cooper's talents perfectly.  The Australian fly-half was a menace on attack and twice he created tries with clever inside passes.

But few teams can expect to concede 21 points in the first 12 minutes and still expect to win the game.  The Wallabies started the game at a brisk pace and it took just 45 seconds for them to score the first try of the match when quick hands down the line created space for Samu Kerevi to score in the corner.  Eight minutes later Cooper received the ball from a line-out inside Argentina's 22 and without looking threw a clever inside pass to Dane Haylett-Petty who ran a great line to score.

The third try followed four minutes later when Will Genia, back to his best here, dislodged the ball while making a tackle on Nicolás Sánchez.  The scrum-half reacted quickly, kicked the ball forward and had enough pace to recollect while diving over the line.

Suddenly the home side were 21-0 up and one sensed that it would take something special from los Pumas, and a rather spectacular implosion from Australia, to get them in a position where they could win the game.

It never happened despite the Wallabies twice being reduced to 14 men.  The visitors could only add three points in the 10 minutes that Scott Sio spent in the sin-bin as they trailed 21-6 at half time.

Argentina needed to score first in the second 40 to give themselves a chance and they did just that when Santiago Cordero stepped inside running down the touchline to score after a break by Joaquín Tuculet took them into the Wallabies 22.

But a second try for Genia and another clever inside pass by Cooper to put Michael Hooper away secured the result despite Cooper's yellow card in the 68th minute for a no-arms tackle.

Argentina managed a consolation try with their numerical advantage but in the end those fatal first 12 minutes killed off the visitors and the contest.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Kerevi, Haylett-Petty, Genia 2, Hooper
Cons:  Foley 4
Pen:  Hodge
Yellow Cards:  Sio, Cooper

For Argentina:
Tries:  Cordero, Isa
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pens:  Sanchez 2

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Sean McMahon, 22 Nick Phipps, 23 Tevita Kuridrani

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Santiago González Iglesias, 11 Lucas González Amorosino, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Javier Ortega Desio, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Gabriel Ascarate, 23 Matías Orlando

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Nick Briant (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

New Zealand trounce error-ridden Boks

The All Blacks scored 26 points in the second half for a comprehensive 41-13 victory over South Africa in Christchurch on Saturday.

The victory all but secures New Zealand the Rugby Championship trophy with two rounds left in the tournament.

This was South Africa's best first-half performance of the year against a New Zealand side who struggled to stamp their authority on the game early on.  They lost steam in the second half while the All Blacks predictably grew stronger as the match went on.

As good as this All Blacks team is, they weren't at their best here and while they still played well in patches it has to be said that the Boks made it easy for them at times by making silly mistakes at crucial times.

The home side never really had to get out of third gear to win this Test, thanks to costly errors by the Boks which allowed New Zealand to pull away in the second 40 because as good as the Boks were in the first half, so bad were they in the second.

Indeed it was the Boks who scored first after Bryan Habana ran a superb line to receive a well timed pass from Warren Whiteley to go over, after some good phase play on the front ball.

Signs that this Bok team is still some way off their best was evident when New Zealand hit back straight afterwards when Israel Dagg jogged over the line to open his team's account.

It all started when Elton Jantjies knocked the ball on from the kick-off.  A scrum on the visitor's five-metre line saw the All Blacks move the ball wide with some slick, flat passing which left Dagg wide open for an easy try.

South Africa's biggest shortcoming and indeed Allister Coetzee's biggest concern will be their defensive organisation, especially in the wide channels, which resulted in quite a few tries.  Julian Savea exploited this when he scored his first try against South Africa for another easy run-in.

Dane Coles, who had an outstanding night, gave his first of three try-scoring passes with an offload to Savea after he had received a long pass from Aaron Smith.

After a promising start, the first signs were there that the Boks were starting to fall apart.  And fall apart they did.  After doing well to stay in the game by only trailing 15-10 at the break, they disintegrated in the second half and gifted the New Zealand too many try-scoring opportunities.

Jantjies arguably had his worst Test of the season and made another error at the restart which led to another try for the Kiwis, this time Ben Smith going over after some quick hands created a gap on the outside for the full-back to run through.  Jantjies pulled three points back to reduce the deficit to 22-13, but that was the last time South Africa managed to score any points as New Zealand switched to a higher gear.

Ardie Savea scored the bonus-point try after Aaron Smith was again afforded too much space around the fringes, exploiting South Africa's defence out wide.

Further tries by Sam Whitelock and TJ Perenara rounded off the second half demolition to hand the Boks their third defeat in a row.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg, J Savea, B Smith, A Savea, Whitelock, Perenara
Cons:  Barrett 4
Pen:  Barrett

For South Africa:
Try:  Habana
Con:  Jantjies
Pens:  Jantjies 2

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 James Parsons, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Damian de Allende

Referee:  Angus Gardiner
Assistant Referees:  Pascal Gauzere, Marius Mitrea
TMO:  George Ayou

Wallabies win scrap with South Africa

Australia ended a run of six Test defeats by coming from behind to beat South Africa 23-17 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.

Tries from Warren Whiteley and Johan Goosen handed South Africa a double-digit lead, but the boot of Bernard Foley and an Adam Coleman try meant that South Africa only led by a point at half-time, up 14-13.

A Foley penalty then put the Wallabies ahead for the first time before his solo try edged Australia further into the lead.

And despite a Morné Steyn penalty putting the Springboks within a converted try of the win, they couldn't find the breakthrough in the closing stages, to make it back-to-back losses for Allister Coetzee's side.

Considering the two teams' form prior to Brisbane this fixture was unsurprisingly scrappy, with handling errors aplenty.

Questions regarding what South Africa are trying to achieve tactically on attack will continue to persist as long as they only score tries off turnovers, as was the case here in Brisbane.

And while the Wallabies attack at times showed plenty of rhythm, that also disappeared for large swathes of the match.  Both outfits are truthfully some way off their best, and will be underdogs for their respective fixtures against Argentina and New Zealand next weekend.

Some credit must go to South Africa for the way they made the most of Wallaby mistakes for their two tries in the first half, pouncing on the errors and turning them into points.

A Jantjies break produced the first score, Whiteley finishing off a sustained attack by going over from metres out after great runs in the build-up from Faf de Klerk and Oupa Mohoje.

Foley cut the lead to four with a first penalty before the Wallabies' intent in attack, especially from Quade Cooper with an incisive break at the touchline, came to nothing and turned into a disaster.

Adriaan Strauss produced an athletic interception and from there the Springboks broke, Goosen winning the race to Jantjies' chip ahead to score under the posts, making it 14-3 with the conversion.

That scoreline felt harsh on the Wallabies and they eventually crossed themselves through lock Coleman, finishing in the corner from a looping Foley pass as Bryan Habana failed to haul in a possible interception.  Foley's touchline conversion made it 10-14.

And another penalty from the Wallaby number ten cut the gap to just a point at the break, with Jantjies pushing an effort of his own to the right to leave South Africa ahead 14-13 at half-time.

Not long after Eben Etzebeth had run back onto the field for the second half he was soon trudging off it again, yellow carded for cynical play in his 50th Test after a break from Samu Kerevi.  Foley converted the resulting penalty to put Australia ahead for the first time at 16-14.

A prolonged TMO referral then eventually denied Kerevi a finish in the corner, the big Reds centre's knee touching the whitewash milliseconds before he appeared to have done enough to ground the ball despite the tackle of Goosen.

Finely poised for over 20 minutes after that, with South Africa riding out the sin-bin period, both sides were guilty of squandering chances either by failing to make the most of overlaps or through turnovers.

Foley stopped the rot.  Shaping to pass wide in the middle of the field before cutting in-between Jantjies and Pieter-Steph du Toit to score by the posts for a sharp finish.

Steyn cut the gap to six with a penalty to set up an intriguing final few minutes, but South Africa couldn't find the score required, giving Australia a long-awaited victory and their first of the year.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Coleman, Foley
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 3

For South Africa:
Tries:  Whiteley, Goosen
Cons:  Jantjies 2
Pen:  Steyn
Yellow Card:  Etzebeth

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tevita Kuridrani, 23 Drew Mitchell

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Steven Kitshoff, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Lionel Mapoe

Referee:  Nigel Owens
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes, Pascal Gauzère
TMO:  Ben Skeen

All Blacks turn it on in Hamilton

New Zealand claimed a third successive bonus-point victory in the Rugby Championship on Saturday as they defeated Argentina 57-22 in Hamilton.

The scoreline doesn't tell the full story of how this game played out as the Pumas were very much in the contest for 50 minutes, before the All Blacks replacements bench gave the world champions a real shot in the arm.

Julian Savea, Ben Smith (2), Beauden Barrett, Ryan Crotty (2), Charlie Faumuina and Luke Romano scored New Zealand's tries and with Warren Gatland watching, it was also a message to the 2017 British and Irish Lions.

Gatland would have been intrigued to see Argentina enjoy a strong first half, however, as they went in just 24-19 behind against a clearly rattled New Zealand side, with Santiago Cordero having crossed the try-line first.

It was an outstanding start for the Pumas when Cordero raced over after the visitors had bust through the middle of the All Black defence.  Nicolás Sánchez landed the simple extras from in front and it was game on in Hamilton as, like at Wembley, Argentina scored the first try.

New Zealand missed the chance to cut the gap when Barrett struck the upright from a penalty but their drought was short-lived as from a scrum five metres out, a lovely pull back pass sent Savea under the posts untouched.  Barrett made no mistake this time so it was 7-7.

Argentina were proving a hard nut to crack though and were also offering plenty in attack, which resulted in two penalties from Sánchez.

Barrett was not as deadly in front of goal as he missed an attempt but would make no such mistake from in front after Smith finished off a nice try on 23 minutes.  It came following another carry from Savea, who was playing well, before the ball came right to the full-back.

That made it 14-13 to New Zealand but again Sánchez was chipping away, pushing his side back in front two minutes later from 40 metres.

Israel Dagg would then slot a penalty from range as again the lead changed hands before a touch of brilliance from Ben Smith saw his grubber through sit up perfectly for Barrett on the left wing, allowing the fly-half to show his speed to score under the uprights for 24-16.

Argentina though deservedly went into the interval within one score when Sánchez struck again and could have cut the gap to two but for a wayward strike late in the half, his first miss of the night.  Despite this they had definitely made the All Blacks a concerned team.

The Pumas continued to press their claims early in the second period and were rewarded for their efforts with another Sánchez three points on 50 minutes.  Perhaps another positive for the visitors was the fact that coach Steve Hansen made big changes, including replacing Aaron Smith, so early in a Test match.  TJ Perenara was the player coming on while Ardie Savea, Charlie Faumuina and Codie Taylor also made early arrivals.

It worked, partly due to Barrett's quality as he followed up a brilliant break with a beautiful offload to Crotty for a try under the posts.

New Zealand had clearly turned the corner and were motoring, with Faumuina next to cross on 57 minutes as the score was now 38-22.

The game was gone for Argentina as New Zealand, with the bonus point already next to their name, went in search of more tries.  Their next went to Crotty thanks to a slick set-piece move off the back of a five-metre scrum, with Perenara's well-timed pass sending him over.

They weren't done there as full-back Smith showed his class once again on 68 minutes with a lovely slalom run to the line from 40 metres out to make it 52-22, leaving opposite number Joaquín Tuculet turned inside out.  Somehow the game had turned into a procession for the home side.

Even ricochets were going for New Zealand at this point as a cross-kick from Cruden out to Dagg bounced off the wing's chest for Romano, who had the final say on a quite brilliant second half from the hosts.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  J Savea, B Smith 2, Barrett, Crotty 2, Faumuina, Romano
Cons:  Barrett 6, Cruden
Pen:  Dagg

For Argentina:
Try:  Cordero
Con:  Sánchez
Pens:  Sánchez 5

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Matías Moroni, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Matías Alemanno, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Marcos Kremer, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Argentina edge out South Africa

A 78th minute Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias penalty goal helped Argentina battle past South Africa 26-24 in their Rugby Championship clash in Salta.

This was only Argentina's second victory ever over the Springboks and they deserved it.

This victory was a long time coming.  Argentina were the better team overall and this time the Boks' luck ran out even though they missed quite a few penalties.

The result is a reflection of where South African rugby finds itself at the moment and it doesn't look pretty.  The first half especially was atrocious and one of the worst first 40 minutes in recent memory from the Boks.

Argentina led 23-13 after 55 minutes and it felt like deja vu from last week's Test in Nelspruit, but this time Argentina held their composure in the final minutes to clinch the win.

The first half was terrible, especially from South Africa who just didn't play with any conviction, structure or fluency.  What will be of massive concern for Allister Coetzee is the team's defence which was all over the place.

The Boks gave away too many possession in the first 40, their game plan consisting of box kicks which always went too far.  They didn't have the defensive discipline to cope with the counter attacks los Pumas launched which kept South Africa on the back foot.

Argentina blundered an early opportunity to score when Manuel Montero lost the ball over the line after a desperate tackle from Lionel Mapoe.

Elton Jantjies, who was substituted after 50 minutes, slotted a penalty to get South Africa on the scoreboard after Ramiro Herrera was sent off for a late tackle on Francois Louw.  It was the only points the Boks managed to get while they were playing against 14 men.

A penalty by Nicolas Sanchez was followed by a superb try for Joaquin Tuculet.  Starting in their own 22, Argentina moved up the field and when Vincent Koch shot out of the defensive line it created the space the home side needed to create space on the outside before Tuculet took an inside pass to dive over for a 13-3 lead.

Argentina dominated possession and territory in the first half as the Boks looked clueless.

The second half was slightly better as Coetzee almost emptied his entire bench to try and influence the game.

It worked in patches.  Jantjies slotted a penalty before Bryan Habana scored his 20th Rugby Championship try and 65th of his career for a new Tier-one Test record, surpassing David Campese in the process.

The revival was short lived when Juan Manuel Leguizamon collected a cross kick in the Boks 22 and managed to get the ball down despite colliding with Habana on the way down.  It gave Argentina a 20-13 lead and left the Boks in deep trouble.

Morne Steyn missed a penalty which would have relieved some pressure before Juan Martin Hernandez extended the lead to 23-13 after 55 minutes.

Steyn pulled three points back 10 minutes later and when Pieter-Steph du Toit, who made an excellent impact off the bench, barged his way over the line four minutes later South Africa only trailed by two points.

Steyn gave his team the lead with six minutes to play and the feeling was that the Boks might just pull off another comeback victory, but it wasn't to be.

With two minutes left Argentina won a penalty in the Springbok half which Hernandez converted to give his team their first ever win on home soil over the Springboks.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tuculet, Leguizamón
Cons:  Sánchez, Hernández
Pens:  Sánchez 2, Hernández, Iglesias

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana, Du Toit
Cons:  Goosen
Pens:  Jantjies 2, Steyn 2

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julian Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel

Referee:  Jerome Garces (France)
Assistant Referees:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia

All Blacks too good again for Wallabies

New Zealand secured a bonus-point win over Australia in the second week of the Rugby Championship, triumphing 29-9 in Wellington.

It was a far closer game than their previous encounter in Sydney last weekend after Australia displayed a much tighter defence compared to their performance last weekend.

However, Israel Dagg scored a brace for his side as New Zealand frequently took advantage of the overlaps they fashioned after some quick recycling.

The win sees the All Blacks consolidate their lead on the overall table after their bonus point last weekend and now sit on top with 10 points.

Unfortunately for Australia, they languish at the bottom of the table after not picking up a single point in either game.

New Zealand inside centre Anton Lienert-Brown vindicated his coach's faith in the player as he provided a fantastic link between the ever imaginative Beauden Barrett and the outside-backs on debut.

The All Blacks led at the break 15-9 after a far more defensively orientated game from the Australians.

But not much changed for the Australians in the second half as it was all New Zealand, when they scored two tries through Sam Cane and Julian Savea.

The statistics are indicative of the scoreline as New Zealand won in almost every facet of the game.  The men in black pipped the Wallabies in defence as they made ten more tackles than their near rivals, while the Wallabies missed a horrendous tally of 30 tackles.  What is even more impressive is that New Zealand made more tackles while actually having 10 percent more possession, with 55 to Australia's 45 percent.

New Zealand started off the try scoring after Aaron Smith made a beautiful break down the midfield.  The scrum-half was tackled and the ball was recycled quickly while the Australian defence was still in disarray.

New recruit Lienert-Brown showed great composure to suck the Australian cover defence in before giving a basketball pass over the last defender for Dagg to gather and cross the line.

After neither side could break the line and both sides' discipline started to slack there was a period of penalty exchanges.  Foley got his side into the game with a shot at goal just outside the All Black 22-metre line, shortly followed by a three-point reply from Barrett.  Foley then took another kick to narrow the points gap.

Dagg grabbed the second try of the game when New Zealand played a well worked set play off the lineout, where Barrett got the ball going at pace and running laterally across the field.  He then gave a perfectly weighted wide pass, which was collected by Ben Smith who gave a short pass to Dagg who cantered over the line for the try.

Australia's luck didn't get any better after they went down to ten men after Scott Fardy hunted down the elusive Ben Smith.  Unfortunately for the Australian blindside, the full-back had already given the pass and the tackle was deemed very late and Fardy was given a yellow card.

Julian Savea was the first scorer of the second half.  Dagg contested for a high ball in the air with Quade Cooper that set up a fantastic field position for New Zealand to attack from.

While the Australian defence was still sucked in, Aaron Smith spread the ball wide with haste for Savea who had inches of space as the cover defence were trying to close him down.  Savea had enough pace to make it past the encroaching Australian wall and dived over.

Sam Cane then bagged a five-pointer of his own after New Zealand surged towards the try line from ten metres out.

Ben Smith darted through the Australian defence before being taken down inches before the white wash.  The ball was then given to Cane who muscled through the defence to put the stamp on another convincing display.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Dagg 2, Savea, Cane
Cons:  Barrett 3
Pen:  Barrett

For Australia:
Pen:  Foley 2, Hodge
Yellow Card:  Fardy

New Zealand:  15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 James Parsons, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Seta Tamanivalu

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Dane Haylett-Petty, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Ala’alatoa, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Will Skelton, 21 Tevita Kuridrani, 22 Reece Hodge, 23 Nick Phipps

Referee:  Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Boks leave it late to edge Argentina

South Africa faught back from 13-23 down to beat Argentina 30-23 in their Rugby Championship opener in Nelspruit on Saturday.

Nerves of steel are becoming a mandatory requirement for players and fans alike in the Allister Coetzee era after Warren Whiteley scored a last minute try to complete a strong comeback by the hosts.

There certainly were moments when South Africa must have feared the worst in losing only a second ever home game against the Pumas.  But like they showed in the series against Ireland, this Bok team can grind out a win even if they looked wholly unconvincing for large parts of this contest.

Argentina gave everything and will be kicking themselves that they allowed the Springboks back into the game after taking an imposing ten-point lead with 12 minutes to play.  The wet conditions definitely played a part in the standard of the game but Argentina will still feel they had a great chance to secure a memorable victory in South Africa.

In the end it wasn't to be thanks to some sublime combination play at the death.  The Boks took the ball through the phases from a line-out inside Argentina's 22.  Jaco Kriel and Juan de Jongh carried the ball well before the ball went out wide.  Eben Etzebeth and Bryan Habana both drew defenders before Habana offloaded to Whiteley, who beat his man to crash over in the left-hand corner.

South Africa started the game strongly and looked up for the game.  Jantjies missed an early penalty but soon made up for it when he exploited a gap in broken play.  The ball was recycled quickly to Johan Goosen who found himself in space before putting Ruan Combrinck away for a try in the corner.

Argetina were reduced to 14 men when Manuel Montero was sent off for a tip tackle on Damian de Allende, but the Boks failed to capatalise on their numerical advantage.  Instead they conceded 10 points during that period through a penalty and a try.

Some thrilling running rugby by los Pumas, which started inside their own 22, resulted in a brilliant try for Matias Orlando which Nicolas Sanchez converted for a 13-10 lead.

South Africa had a great chance to take the lead and ease the pressure when Lionel Mapoe went over after some build-up play following a five-metre line-out.  However, replays confirmed he lost the ball going over and the try was disallowed.

The second half didn't start well for the hosts when Habana received a yellow card after slipping and taking out Cordero in the air.  Still, Jantjies managed to level the score with a penalty despite Argentina enjoying a greater percentage of the possession throughout the game.

The Boks were guilty of too many basic mistakes, especially in the second half and didn't do enough with the ball when they did have it.  Cordero punished some poor tactical kicking by Jantjies to stretch the lead to 23-13 after Argentina launched a counter-attack following a pointless up-and-under by Jantjies.

Etzebeth made a great cover tackle but the visitors recycled quickly before Sanchez chipped the ball over the Bok defence for Cordero to pounce.

South Africa looked down and out at this stage, just like they did in the second Test against Ireland, but they composed themselves and hit back with a try through Goosen to get back into the game.  From a scrum, the excellent Faf de Klerk gathered the ball and ran down the blind side, sucking in three defenders in before giving the inside pass to Goosen who timed his run well to run through unapposed.

A Jantjies penalty levelled things at 23-23 before Whiteley finished off with the match-winning try to spare the home side an embarrassing defeat.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Combrinck, Goosen, Whiteley
Cons:  Jantjies 3
Pens:  Jantjies 3
Yellow Card:  Habana

For Argentina:
Tries:  Orlando, Cordero
Cons:  Sanchez 2
Pens:  Sanchez 3
Yellow Card:  Montero

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Juan de Jongh, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Juan Martín Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomás Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano.

Date:  Saturday, August 20
Venue:  Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-off:  17:05 local (15:05 GMT)
Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Jérôme Garcès (France), Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Awesome All Blacks embarrass Australia in Sydney

A breathtaking performance by New Zealand saw them demolish Australia 42-8 in a one-sided Rugby Championship opener on Saturday.

While few gave Australia a chance of winning this game, no one expected them to go down at home with the third highest margin ever against their arch rivals.

As scary as the scoreline seems, it's worth remembering that New Zealand left quite a few points on the field considering Beauden Barrett missed three conversions while a try was also disallowed in the first half.

On this evidence it will take something special to prevent the All Blacks from reclaiming the trophy they lost to the Wallabies in 2015.

The build-up to the game was spiced up with the revelation that a listening device was found in a meeting room in New Zealand's Sydney hotel, but on the evidence of the match the question should be asked — who bugged who?

The All Blacks dominated all facets of play.  Their superior handling skills put the Australian defence under immense pressure as they couldn't cope with the line speed and offloading of the men in black.

The Wallabies played into New Zealand's hands by too often kicking possession away aimlessly.  They also lost too many line-outs on their own throw which further underlines their naive tactical approach.

New Zealand were all over the hosts in the first half as they placed an emphasis on keeping the ball, resulting in them enjoying 61 percent possession in the first 40.  Australia couldn't handle the onslaught and slipped 15 tackles during this period, a sure sign that they were in for a very tough night.

Australia's troubles got worse as the game went on.  They lost inside centre Matt Giteau in the 12th minute through an ankle injury.  Matt Toomua replaced him but didn't last the half as he had to go off with concussion.

His replacement Rob Horne was forced off the field shortly before half-time with a wrist injury which forced Nick Phipps onto the field.

New Zealand's rush defence put a lot of pressure on the Australian ball carriers when they did have the ball but the defensive line was caught offside a few times which relieved the pressure on the home side.

Ryan Crotty scored the opening try after some clever play by his captain Kieran Read who pulled a defender and got the ball away quickly to the centre who beat his man on the outside to score.

The second All Black try was a direct result of a second consecutive lineout steal.  After taking play to the opposite side of the field Beauden Barrett took a gap and run over to give his side a commanding 20-3 lead.

The visitors sealed the bonus point before half time through tries by Jerome Kaino, who charged down a Bernard Foley kick, recollected the ball and scored, and Waisake Naholo who ran a clever line to receive an inside pass from Barrett.

Naholo injured himself in the process but it was of little consequence as it gave New Zealand a 32-3 lead going into the break.

The second half was less lively and for a while it looked as if Australia would be able to limit the damage, but another basic error saw Dane Coles reach over for a try after Julian Savea had pounced on a loose ball which Tevita Kuridrani dropped with his team on the attack.

Savea himself celebrated his 40th Test try shortly after before Phipps scored a consolation try for Australia against 14 men after read had been sent off.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Phipps
Pen:  Foley

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Crotty, Barrett, Kaino, Naholo, Coles, J Savea
Cons:  Barrett 3
Pens:  Barrett 2
Yellow Card:  Read

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Dane Haylett-Petty, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Ben McCalman, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Rob Horne.

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Dane Coles, 17 Kane Hames, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Julian Savea.

Referee:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Romain Poite (France), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Italy edge past a spirited Canada

A second half penalty from replacement playmaker Carlo Canna saw Italy snatch an emphatic 20-18 victory over Canada on Sunday in Toronto.

The replacement fly-half kicked one of five Italy penalties which saw the visitors outscore Canada by one try to zero.

Scrum-half Gordon McRorie scored the home side's only points via six penalty conversions while hooker Ornel Gega scored the only try of the match.

The win extends Azzuri's unbeaten streak over the Canucks to six consecutive wins with their last victory against Italy coming back in 2000.

The second half performance from the visitors saw them edge past their hosts as the scores were tied on 9-all as the players headed into the tunnel.

Azzuri's forwards laid the platform for a powerful display of rolling mauls that could not be contained by the home side.

Canna's penalty kick was the difference in the end but it was the fly-half who put in a dangerous tackle on Dan Moor, a few minutes from the final whistle, which meant the visitors finished the match with just 14 men.

This one man advantage seemed to have given Canada the confidence boost needed, but it was the 13th ranked Italy that held on for a two-point win.

Conor O'Shea's men finished their June international window with two wins, last week's 24-20 victory over the USA and the 20-18 win over Canada, and a 30-24 loss to Argentina while Canada finished their June Test period with two losses – one against Azzuri and a 26-22 loss to Japan – while they outclassed Russia and claimed a 46-21 victory last week.

The scorers:

For Canada:
Pens:  McRorie 6
Yellow Card:  Hearn

For Italy:
Try:  Gega
Pens:  Allan 4, Canna
Yellow Cards:  Canna

Canada:  15 Matt Evans, 14 Dan Moor, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Pat Parfrey, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Aaron Carpenter, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Kyle Baillie, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Jamie Cudmore (c), 3 Jake Ilnicki, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Djustice Sears-Duru
Replacements:  16 Eric Howard, 17 Tom Dolezel, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Paul Ciulini, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Jamie Mackenzie, 22 Liam Underwood, 23 Brock Staller

Italy:  15 David Odiete, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori (c), 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Maxime Mbanda’, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Sebastian Negri Da Oleggio, 20 Jacopo Sarto, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Giulio Bisegni

Referee:  Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant Referees:  Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Kurt Weaver (USA)

USA defeat scoreless Russia

Six AJ MacGinty penalties helped the USA to a 25-0 victory over Russia at Bonney Field in Sacramento on Saturday.

MacGinty kicked six penalty goals and converted the home side's only try which was scored by Mike Te'o.

The win means that the USA extend their unbeaten record against Russia to seven matches since 2004.

Todd Clever was in impressive form in his record-breaking 68th appearance for the Eagles.

John Mitchell's men enjoyed the territorial advantage with James King and Tony Lamborn playing an integral part in their second caps for the home side by dominating the breakdowns.

Lamborn's physical prowess at the set pieces resulted in the home side receiving an early penalty which MacGinty slotted.

The playmaker doubled the advantage after Russia strayed offside, only a few minutes later taking the score to 6-0.

A true testament to the clinical defence from the home side as they kept a spirited Russia attack at bay, with the visitors setting up a few promising attacking phases.

MacGinty added three more penalties before the break as the players headed into the paddocks with the home side firmly in the lead on 15-0.

The scoring frustration continued for the visitors which was dealt a blow in the 48th minute when Andrei Garbuzov saw yellow, but the home side failed to add any points against a 14 men side.

Replacement Langilangi Haupeakui's powerful runs made an immediate impact and added his weight on defence, that helped to set up the only try of the match in the 65th minute.

MacGinty's slick handling skills allowed the pivot to offload to an inside running Mike Te'o.  The right wing beat one defender and burnt the defence to dive over for his third career try before MacGinty added the extras to take the final score to 25-0.

The scorers:

For USA:
Try:  Te'o
Con:  MacGinty
Pens:  MacGinty 6

For Russia:
Yellow Card:  Garbuzov

USA:  15 Will Holder, 14 Mike Te'o, 13 Thretton Palamo, 12 Shalom Suniula, 11 Blaine Scully (c), 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Todd Clever, 5 Nate Brakeley, 4 James King, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements:  16 Joe Taufete'e, 17 Ben Tarr, 18 Angus MacLellan, 19 Harry Higgins, 20 Langilangi Haupeakui, 21 Stephen Tomasin, 22 Chad London, 23 Luke Hume

Russia:  15 Ramil Gaisin, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Vasily Artemyev (c), 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Rushan Iagudin, 8 Anton Rudoi, 7 Pavel Butenko, 6 Viktor Gresev, 5 Denis Antonov, 4 Andrei Garbuzov, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Evgeny Matveev, 1 Alexey Volkov
Replacements:  16 Nazir Gasanov, 17 Azamat Bitiev, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Evgeny Elgin, 20 Danila Chegodaev, 21 Alexey Shcherban, 22 Evgeny Kolomiitsev, 23 Anton Ryabov

Referee:  Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees:  Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Chris Assmus (Canada)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

France outclass scoreless Argentina

France bounced back in emphatic style to level the two-Test match series when they beat Argentina by 27-0 in Tucumán on Saturday.

Les Bleus put in a dominating allround display in unfavourable wet conditions to outscore their hosts by three tries to nil with Los Pumas failing to score any points.

Hugo Bonneval, Rémi Lamerat and Loann Goujon got over for the visitors while scrum-half Baptiste Serin converted three tries and along with two penalties took his personal tally to 12 points.

As expected, given the wet weather in Tucumán, it was a tightly contested match in the opening quarter with the visitors enjoying most of the possession and playing the rugby inside Argentina's half.

The visitors' defensive effort resticted the home side from getting any quality go-forward ball which saw France miss zero tackles in the first quarter, Les Bleus made sure that the threatening Argentinian attack never gained any form of momentum.

Serin added the first points of the half through a penalty conversion, after 26 minutes, following an earlier failed attempt from him and fly-half François Trinh-Duc.

The first try of the match came right at the end of the first half with the late call-up to the starting XV, Boneval going over after Serin caught the defence off-guard on the blindside and offloaded to the inside running wing, the scrum-half added the extras as the players headed into the tunnel with France enjoying a 10-0 lead.

The half time talk seemed to have inspired Los Pumas to fight their way back into the match, it was however the clinical defence from the visitors that frustrated Daniel Hourcade's men throughout the second 40.

A well-timed offload from Trinh-Duc put his inside centre Lamerat into a half gap and the midfielder crashed over from close range with Serin adding the extras taking the score to 17-0.

Argentina introduced their replacements in a bid to gain some form of momentum, but once again it was the relentless attacking prowess and clinical defence from the visitors that was rewarded with their third try via loose forward Goujon.

The third score for Les Bleus was also converted by Serin which took the game well out of the reach of the home side and was to be the final score as Argentina failed to score any points for the first time in 16 years since losing 19-0 to England in 2000 at Twickenham.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Yellow Card:  Lavanini

For France:
Tries:  Bonneval, Lamerat, Goujon
Cons:  Serin 3
Pens:  Serin 2

Argentina:  15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Tomás Cubelli, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (c), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro
Replacements:  16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Tomás Lezana, 20 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 21 Martín Landajo, 22 Matías Orlando, 23 Lucas González Amorosino

France:  15 Maxime Médard, 14 Hugo Bonneval, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 Djibril Camara, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kevin Gourdon, 6 Loann Goujon, 5 Yoann Maestri (c), 4 Julien Ledevedec, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Rémi Bonfils, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements:  16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Lucas Pointud, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Kélian Galletier, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Julien Rey

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees:  Johnny Lacey (Ireland), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO:  Johan Greeff (South Africa)

Boks edge past Ireland to clinch Test series

Two second half penalties from the Springboks saw them beat Ireland 19-13 to clinch the three-match Test series in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

The Boks' clinical set pieces throughout the opening 40 allowed them to advance deep into Ireland's half and with only 33 percent possession, it was a pretty remarkable feat to head into the break with a slender 13-10 lead.

Despite both sides scoring one try each, it was the boot of fly-half Elton Jantjies as well as Lions teammate Ruan Combrinck which saw the home side over the winning line in the end.

Those two scores in the first half came through JP Pietersen for South Africa, while Luke Marshall got over the whitewash for Ireland.

The home side were reduced to 14 men after Sharks full-back Willie le Roux saw yellow for a dangerous aerial challenge on his opposite number Tieran O’Halloran, the visitors added their converted try during this time.

The resilient attack and patient defending from the visitors was however not enough to contain the home side's discipline on defence, and it was Allister Coetzee's troops' overall physical prowess at the set pieces that saw them outsmart their opponents in the end.

Early pressure from both sides on attack and defence saw them cop a penalty apiece in the opening minutes.

The home side's penalty, which Tendai Mtawarira won when he overpowered Mike Ross at the scrum, was within the range of fly-half Elton Jantjies and the Lions number ten made no mistake, making the score 3-0 after just six minutes.

Ireland hit back hard and showed real patience with both ball in hand and on defence, allowing to build on the Boks' mistakes and it was this resilience that allowed Marshall to break an attempted tackle from Jantjies to crash over by the posts, with Paddy Jackson adding the extras and giving the visitors a slender 7-3 lead.

The power and execution of their scrum and lineout was a display of pure strength and skill from the home side as they dominated those areas throughout the opening half.

Frans Malherbe, in similar fashion to Tendai Mtawarira, outmuscled his opposite number in Jake McGrath winning another scrum penalty for the hosts which allowed Jantjies to reduce Ireland's lead to 6-10 after an earlier penalty from Jackson.

Soon after some brilliant vision led to a Jantjies cross kick which veteran wing JP Pietersen gathered and dotted down on the stroke of half-time, Jantjies' conversion from a difficult angle handing the home side a three-point lead.

The home side's second half performance was a clinical and disciplined display of making use of their 32 percent possesion and 27 percent territory despite Ireland making all the runs.

Earlier in the week Coetzee mentioned that Combrinck's inclusion in the starting XV gave his side a right-fooedt kicker and not only an alternative to Jantjies' left boot but also a long range one at that, given it was Combrinck who kicked a 50 metre penalty conversion before Jantjies' third penalty to give the home side a 19-10 lead as we headed into the final quarter.

Jackson added a penalty ten minutes from time that reduced the home side's lead to just six points, 19-13, as Ireland rolled out their bench in an attempt to find some extra energy.

But it was a brilliant defensive effort from the home side on their own try line just minutes from the final whistle which clinched both the game and series.

Outstanding throughout, scrum-half Faf de Klerk made a try-saving interception near his own line and then also sealed the win with a last-gasp tackle to deny Ireland at the end.

Man of the Match:  Lots of players stood out for the home side, but in the end it has to the experience of veteran utility back JP Pietersen.  His brilliant gather of Jantjies' cross kick on the stroke of half-time was the highlight of the match.

Moment of the Match:  The defensive effort from the Boks right at the end testified of their brave discipline effort throughout and capped off a well deserved win and claiming the three-match Test series, 2-1.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Pietersen
Con:  Jantjies
Pens:  Jantjies 3, Combrinck
Yellow Card:  le Roux

For Ireland:
Try:  Marshall
Con:  Jackson
Pens:  Jackson 2

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Lwazi Mvovo

Ireland:  15 Tieran O’Halloran, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements:  16 Sean Cronin, 17 Finley Bealham, 18 Tadgh Furlong, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Matt Healy

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Angus Gardner (Australia), Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)

England clinch Sydney battle for 3-0 series win

England completed an outstanding 3-0 series in Australia after coming out on top in a barnstormer of a third Test, winning 44-40 in Sydney.

A late score for Taqele Naiyaravoro meant the Wallabies edged the try-scoring battle five to four, after equally clinical attacking and some tired defending by both sides, but in the end it came down to the points off the boot of Owen Farrell, 24 overall as he knocked over six penalties and three conversions.  He finished with 23 kicks out of 26 attempts over the three Tests.

After the one-way demolition that New Zealand dished out in Dunedin this refreshingly was a proper Test match, both sides swinging blows at the other to tip the scoreboard back and forth.

A record crowd for Allianz Stadium of 44,063 were treated to some contest, and one which the Wallabies had to win after two confidence-sapping losses.  Instead they became only the fourth team in history to score 40 points in a Test match and lose.

England's defence wasn't the sensational force from seven days ago but they showed real tenacity to keep coming back at the Wallabies when in the past their heads might have dropped.

Australia hadn't been defeated 3-0 in a home series since South Africa in 1971.  Now England head home with their chests puffed out having changed that.

England's early approach was so controlled, directed excellently by Ben Youngs through a series of short pop passes which culminated with Dan Cole crashing over for his third try in 68 Tests.

Australia's response though was instant, Israel Folau breaking up the touchline before passes to Matt Toomua and then Bernard Foley saw the fly-half canter over.  A possible knock-on in the build-up was ruled out by the TMO, allowing Foley to convert to make it 7-7.

It was a decent response from Stephen Moore's side, forcing England to miss tackles which they made in Melbourne to get over the gain line.

The improvement in the width of their play thanks to Matt Toomua's return was obvious, stretching England far more than last week and subsequently rewarded with a second try.

Dane Haylett-Petty has enjoyed an outstanding series and now has a first Test try to his name, waiting patiently on the wing for Australia to send the ball wide until the overlap was found and Folau put his winger over in the corner.  Foley couldn't convert, leaving the Wallabies ahead 12-7.

England's scrum hit back by winning a penalty, knocked over by Farrell, only for the tourists to hold on at the restart for Foley to counter with three points of his own.

Big hits from the Australian defence were forcing handling errors out of England but a moment of skill from Anthony Watson unlocked the defence.

Chipping over the top of Haylett-Petty, it was Mike Brown who won the race to the ball following up to score and tie the game, Farrell's touchline coversion then putting England ahead 17-15.

Immediately after that happened the new face in England's XV, Teimana Harrison, was hauled off and replaced by Courtney Lawes on 31 minutes, with Maro Itoje moving to six, in a move similar to Luther Burrell's early substitution in the first Test.

Foley missed a penalty to restore the lead, after a late tackle from Cole, as a quality Test match headed towards half-time with Foley nudging the Wallabies back ahead after Maro Itoje went offside.  Adam Coleman was a half-time replacement for Will Skelton as he made his Wallabies debut.

A curious start to the second half followed, a high kick from George Ford hitting the spider-cam above but with play carrying on Youngs pinned Australia right back in their corner.

Stephen Moore overthrew from the subsequent lineout five metres out but Chris Robshaw couldn't ground the ball, held up and handing the tourists a close-range scrum, from which there was no stopping Billy Vunipola as England scored their third try.  Farrell couldn't convert, but England led 22-18.

There was nothing wrong his next effort, a superb long-range penalty by Farrell stretching England's lead to seven.

Typical of the contest Australia's response was almost instant, Coleman on debut bursting through the middle only to be hauled down short of the line.

Now it was the Wallabies' turn to have a five-metre scrum and they stretched England one way and then the next before Michael Hooper went through the tackle of Brown and reached out to try and ground the ball on the line.  Foley converted, levelling things up at 25-25.

England freshened up with the arrival of Danny Care and Jack Clifford off the bench to add some pace and the pack was still working away, James Slipper penalised for not binding square before Farrell landed his third penalty to restore the lead.

It didn't last long.  Toomua busted through a tired tackle attempt from Billy Vunipola and had Folau on his inside to score Australia's fourth try.

A penalty against Fardy for playing the ball on the floor helped Farrell to chip back again, cutting the gap to one point at 32-31, as England never gave up.

Jamie George, the super sub from Melbourne, came back off the bench and struck again with his golden boot, although this time luck played a huge part as a trickling ball ricocheted forward off his legs and the hooker pounced on it to score.  Farrell again converted, giving England a six-point lead.

A moment of madness from Nick Phipps loosely flicking the ball backwards started off the chain of events which led to that score and now Australia had to keep their heads, down by nearly a converted score with time ticking away.

Farrell had a shot at another penalty won from England's driving maul and typical of a series in which he's come so far he landed it from some way out, taking England over the 40-point barrier for a 41-32 lead.

Straight away Foley responded with three points from right out in front to bring the Wallabies back within a converted score but now the hosts were fighting against the clock as England noticeably took their time, bringing on Elliot Daly into the back row as the legs began to tire.

Farrell hammered home the result, his sixth penalty confirming not just the win, but a series whitewash against the team who dumped them out of their own Rugby World Cup last year.

Naiyaravoro had the final say with a try after the siren, but this was England's night.  They have completely deserved to win the series, and this will go right up near the top as one of their finest achievements.

Man of the Match:  Plenty of standout performers on both sides, Dane Haylett-Petty and Sean McMahon for Australia, but the composure of Owen Farrell decided both the Test and the series.

Moment of the Match:  He might have been a touch fortunate with the way the ball bounced his way but Jamie George's try gave England the margin they needed.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Foley, Haylett-Petty, Hooper, Folau, Naiyaravoro
Cons:  Foley 3
Pens:  Foley 3

For England:
Tries:  Cole, Brown, B Vunipola, George
Cons:  Farrell 3
Pens:  Farrell 6

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Adam Coleman, 20 Wycliff Palu, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Christian Leali’ifano, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

England:  15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Jack Nowell, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Teimana Harrison, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements:  16 Jamie George, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Jack Clifford, 22 Danny Care, 23 Elliot Daly

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Scotland squeeze past Japan

Scotland were made to work hard before securing a narrow 21-16 victory over Japan in Tokyo on Saturday.

Just like last weekend's first Test, Japan held the upper hand early on, and led 13-9 at the break but Scotland progressively got into their stride though and took control of the game and the result secures them a 2-0 series victory over the Brave Blossoms.

As the scoreline suggests, this was an even affair and although Scotland secured victory thanks to the goalkicking of Henry Pyrgos and Greg Laidlaw, Japan scored the only try.

The first half was a stop-start affair characterised by several handling errors, especially from the visitors who stuttered with ball in hand during this period.

The match started at a frenetic pace with both sides giving the ball plenty of air before Pyrgos gave the visitors the lead via a penalty in the third minute, but Yu Tamara replied with a three-pointer of his own, from the kicking tee, shortly afterwards.

Pyrgos added his second penalty 10 minutes later before the game came alive in the 20th minute when the Brave Blossoms launched an attack from inside their half and were rewarded with the opening try, after the ball went through several pairs of hands.  Shoukei Kin was prominent throughout and eventually offloaded to Kaito Shigeno who rounded off the score.

Tamura added the extras but Pyrgos narrowed the gap to four points by the half-hour mark and although both sides launched several attacks towards the end of the first half, neither side could add to their tally during this period.

The second half was a more subdued affair but both sides continued to concede penalties.  Tamura added his third three-pointer in the 49th minute after Scotland were blown up for taking Shigeno out, off the ball, at a ruck.

The visitors had replaced Pyrgos with Laidlaw at half-time and he soon made his presence felt when he landed a penalty after Japan infringed at a ruck.

Laidlaw made it a one-point ball-game with his second successful penalty on the hour-mark and the visitors looked stronger during the game's latter stages.

The hosts were then penalised for illegal scrummaging in the 71st minute, and Laidlaw slotted another three-pointer from the kicking tee before securing victory with another penalty, three minutes before full-time, after Rikiya Matsuda was pinged for holding onto the ball on the ground.

Man of the Match:  Several Japanese players worked themselves into the ground during the game, both defensively and going forwards.  Amanaki Mafi tackled everything that moved and scrum-half Kaito Shigeno was a livewire.  Both Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw arrived onto the pitch after 50-minutes and used all of his experience to galvanise the side together and his boot kicked them to victory.

Moment of the Match:  Not often does this award get handed to the losing side but the only try of the game deserves this.  Japan ran in a length of the field score showing miss passes, steps and pace all around.  Almost every Japanese player was involved and Kaito Shigeno had the luck to finish off the score, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For Japan:
Try:  Shigeno
Con:  Tamura
Pens:  Tamura 3

For Scotland:
Pens:  Pyrgos 3, Laidlaw 4

Japan:  15 Rikiya Matsuda, 14 Male Sa'u, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamara, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Shoukei Kin, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie (c), 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements:  16 Takeishi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Ryu Kolinasi Holani, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Mifi Poseti Paea

Scotland:  15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Barclay, 6 Josh Strauss, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Moray Low, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements:  16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 John Hardie, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Sean Lamont

Referee:  Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant Referees:  Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand), Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ian Smith (Australia)

All Blacks thrash Wales to clinch series whitewash

New Zealand produced a masterclass of attacking rugby on Saturday as they demolished Wales, running out 46-6 winners in Dunedin.

In a thrilling display of enterprising rugby in which they stayed true to their attacking roots but also showed tremendous discipline on defence, the world champions outscored their visitors by six tries to zero with Beauden Barrett leading the way with a superb all-round display, finishing with a 26-point haul via two tries, five conversions and two penalties.

The victory secures a 3-0 series whitewash for the All Blacks and stretches their unbeaten run against Wales to 29 matches.

The result also means the world champions have now stretched their winning run on home soil to an incredible 41 consecutive matches and Wales are now the fourth country – along with Australia, France and South Africa – against whom the world champions have wracked up more than 1000 points.

Wales were impressive during the early exchanges but unlike the two previous Tests – in Auckland and Wellington – when they were still in the game at half-time, they faded badly on this occasion and had no answer for the All Blacks' dominance on attack.

The visitors made the brighter start and took the lead via a Dan Biggar penalty in the sixth minute, after Sam Cane infringed at a ruck, before Barrett drew the home side level from the kicking tee when Wales' back-line went offside on defence.

Dane Coles was then blown up for obstruction in the 17th minute and Biggar restored the visitors three-point lead when he landed his second penalty.

Shortly afterwards Ben Smith ran onto a pass from Barrett close to Wales' 10-metre line and went on a mazy run before Rhys Patchell halted his progress with a desperate tackle close to the visitors' try-line.

From the ensuing scrum, the All Blacks set up some phases with their forwards before Aaron Smith threw a long pass to his namesake, Ben Smith, who got over in the right-hand corner for the opening try.

Barrett missed with the conversion attempt but soon made it 11-6 with his second successful penalty.  The All Blacks continued to dominate and spent large periods camped inside Wales' half with the two Smiths – Aaron and Ben – and Israel Dagg prominent as they launched several attacks from inside their half.

And on each occasion they got over the gainline with ease, leaving defenders floundering as they soon found thmselves deep inside Wales' 22.  One such attack saw Brodie Retallick, Julian Savea, Dane Coles, Ryan Crotty, Barrett, and Dagg all handling the ball before the latter was stopped just short of the try-line, but George Moala did well to gather before barging over for his second Test try in as many appearances.

Barrett added the extras which meant the home side were sittting pretty at 18-6 as the teams changed sides at the interval.

Wales tried to take on the All Blacks at their attacking game but their decision to run the ball from their own try line, soon after the restart, backfired when they were called back for a forward pass from Jonathan Davies to Hallom Amos.

That error had calamitous consequences as Barrett took a flat pass from Aaron Smith from the resulting scrum on Wales' five-metre line, and the direct route had the desired effect as he flattened Biggar on his way over the whitewash.

Shortly afterwards, the world champions were reduced to 14 men – Sam Cane receiving his marching orders for continually infringing at the ruck area, but that setback had little impact on the match an Wales failed to add to their tally.

The All Blacks rang the changes and in the 57th minute Lima Sopoaga, shortly after entering the fray, put Barrett in the clear on the edge of Wales' 22 before he slipped past two defenders and got over for his second try.

The hosts had the game in the bag but didn't take their foot off the pedal and five minutes later Coles got his name onto the scoresheet after running onto a flat pass from Cane.

Wales upped the ante in a bid to add some respectability to the score, but shortly before full-time they conceded a turnover inside New Zealand's half and Dagg sealed the win when he outpaced the cover defence before clinching the result with his side's sixth try.

Man of the Match:  Several All Blacks put their hand up with Aaron Smith, Ben Smith and Israel Dagg particularly outstanding but, in the end, Beauden Barrett gets our vote for a superb allround showing.

Moment of the Match:  Although New Zealand held a comfortable 18-6 lead at the interval, Barrett's first try, shortly after the restart, hammered home his side's dominance and there was no looking for the world champions after that.

Villain of the Match:  Nothing nasty to report.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Barrett 2, B Smith, Moala, Coles, Dagg
Cons:  Barrett 5
Pens:  Barrett 2
Yellow Card:  Cane

For Wales:
Pens:  Biggar 2

New Zealand:  15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 George Moala, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements:  16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Liam Squire, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Waisake Naholo

Wales:  15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Rob Evans
Replacements:  16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Aaron Jarvis, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Scott Williams

Referee:  Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees:  Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Andrew Lees (Australia)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)