United States 8 Ireland 53

Dynamic hooker Keith Wood led the way with four tries as Ireland swamped the United States 53-8 in the opening World Cup Pool E match for both teams at Lansdowne Road on Saturday night.

The fiery Irish had too much pace, too much poise and too much power for their largely part-time opponents and Wood completely demolished the feeble American defence.

Ireland's points came from tries to wing Justin Bishop, centre Brian O'Driscoll, four to Wood and a penalty try, while fly-half David Humphreys kicked four conversions and two penalties and replacement Eric Elwood kicked two conversions.  Wood scored three of his tries in a sensational five-minute burst late in the game as the Americans wilted.

The United States got a try from scrum-half Kevin Dalzell, who also landed a penalty, but the Americans dropped too much possession to be a serious threat and spent most of the match on the back foot in their own half.  The United States, trying to bounce back from 106-8 loss to England at Twickenham five weeks ago, were without back-rower Rob Lumkong, who was ruled out by a knee injury.  They were more competitive this time, but their tendency to overelaborate on attack, and to bunch their backline, proved expensive against a well-disciplined Irish side.

Ireland, who led 24-8 at halftime, have now won all three meetings between the teams.  The Irish stormed onto the attack from the kick-off and took a 3-0 lead through a Humphreys penalty within two minutes.

The fly-half also set up the first try with a clever pass after seven minutes that gave Bishop a clear run to the line.  Humphreys converted to make it 10-0.  The Americans bounced straight back when Dalzell took an interception in midfield and scored in the left-hand corner to reduce the margin to five points.

Ireland took control after 15 minutes when American centre Tomasi Takau spilled the ball 40 metres out and the Irish quickly spun the ball wide for the pacy O'Driscoll to score.  Humphreys again converted and it was 17-5.  The Americans added three points through a Dalzell penalty after 26 minutes after Irish lock Jeremy Davidson was penalised for throwing a punch in the ruck -- but the home side controlled play for long periods.

The Irish increased their lead after 29 minutes when they scored a pushover try after winning a 5-metre lineout.  British Lions hooker Wood, who is becoming a prolific try-scorer, was the man who got the ball down.  Humphreys' kick appeared to go wide, but both touch judges ruled the conversion was good and the Irish led by 16 points at halftime.

It didn't take the Irish long to increase their lead after the break, Dume awarding a penalty try after peristent American infringements on their own line.  Humphreys again converted to make it 31-8.  American captain Dan Lyle earned a caution for a professional foul with 15 minutes left and Humphreys banged over another penalty.

Wood bullocked his way over the line with nine minutes left to rub salt into the Americans' wounds then repeated the dose two minutes later and, remarkably, again a minute later when he collected a kick over the top to score in the corner.

American Luke Gross and Ireland's Paddy Johns earned cautions for a late flare-up, but by that time it was academic.

Ireland have made the quarter-finals of each of the three previous tournaments and will be favoured to at least repeat that performance, while the Americans -- making their third finals appearance -- have never made it past the first round.

The Irish fans were clearly not tempted by the match and there were several thousand empty seats in the famous old stadium.

The Teams:

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges, 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mark Williams, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Juan Grobler, 13 Tomasi Takau, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Kurt Shuman
Reserves:  Kirk Khasigian, Tasi Mo'unga, David Niu, Shaun Paga, Mark Scharrenberg
Unused:  Joe Clayton, Jesse Coulson

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood, 3 Paul Wallace, 4 Jeremy Davidson, 5 Paddy Johns, 6 Trevor Brennan, 7 Andy Ward, 8 Dion O'Cuinneagain (c), 9 Tom Tierney, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Matt Mostyn, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Justin Bishop, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves:  Jonathan Bell, Eric Elwood, Eric Miller, Ross Nesdale, Malcolm O'Kelly, Brian O'Meara, Justin Fitzpatrick

Referee:  Dume j

Points Scorers:

United States
Tries:  Dalzell K. 1
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 1

Ireland
Tries:  O'Driscoll B. 1, Wood K.G.M. 4, Bishop J.P. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Elwood E.P. 2, Humphreys D.G. 4
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 2

Fiji 67 Namibia 18

The magical Sevens-style of the Southern Seas came to Beziers as Fiji clocked up a national record 67 points over the brave Namibians.  Included in their nine tries were two from flying right winger Fero Lasagavibau, but the influence of coach, former All Black front row Brad Johnstone was also evident in an amount of forward power that would never have been expected from the side before his reign.  That forward power was most obvious in the set piece, where Namibia won just 52 percent of their own lineouts and lost three scrums against the head.  Behind this dashing performance was the old retainer, mercurial fly-half Waisale Serevi, who made ten of eleven attempts at goal, several of which were touchline conversions after dashing scores down the flanks.  Fiji racked up 43 points before the break and, despite allowing two scores from the Southern Africans early in the second period, stepped on the gas when it was needed in order to preserve a comfortable cushion.  A try from Jacob Rauluni finished off the scoring three minutes into time added on and the Fijians must now be favourites to go at least as far as the quarter-final playoffs.  Tomorrow's game between Canada and pool hosts France will give a better indication of which teams are strongest in this, the weakest of groups.

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Dan Rouse, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 7 Apisai Naevo, 8 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 10 Waisale Serevi, 11 Fero Lasagavibau, 12 Viliame Satala, 13 Waisake Sotutu, 14 Imanueli Tikomaimakogai, 15 Alfred Uluinayau
Reserves:  Lawrence Little, Epeli Naituvau, Meli Nakauta, Koli Sewabu
Unused:  Mosese Rauluni, Isaia Rasila, Ifereimi Tawake

Namibia:  1 Mario Jacobs, 2 Hugo Horn, 3 Joodt Opperman, 4 Heino Senekal, 5 Pieter Steyn, 6 Quinn Hough (c), 7 Jaco Olivier, 8 Sean Furter, 9 Riaan Jantjies, 10 Johan Zaayman, 11 Dirk Farmer, 12 Attie Samuelson, 13 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 14 Deon Mouton, 15 Lean Van Dyk
Reserves:  Andries Blaauw, Herman Lintvelt, Eben Smith, Johannes Theron, Glovin Van Wyk, Sarel Janse Van Rensburg, Francois Van Rensburg

Attendance:  10000
Referee:  Mchugh d

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Katalau E.S. 1, Lasagavibau F.T. 2, Mocelutu Vuibau A. 1, Rauluni J. 1, Satala V. 1, Smith G.J. 1, Tawake Naivaluwaqa S 1, Tikomaimakogai I. 1
Conv:  Serevi W.T. 8
Pen K.:  Serevi W.T. 2

Namibia
Tries:  Jacobs M. 1, Senekal H. 1
Conv:  Van Dyk L. 1
Pen K.:  Van Dyk L. 2

Argentina 18 Wales 23

Two tries illuminated an otherwise dull tournament-opener which never looked like living up to the pre-tournament hype.  The margin of Wales' victory was somewhat closer than predicted and the Dragons will need to make vast improvements in the next few weeks if they are to avoid the humiliation of being the first RWC hosts to be spectators at the Final.

Following the highlights of Max Boyce in full cry, Shirley Bassey's frock, a perfunctory speech from the Prince of Wales, the retracting roof and a resounding "Land of our Fathers" from the near-capacity 72,000 at the brand new Millennium Stadium, the opening match in the 1999 World Cup, a traditional kicking game was the order of play- as it was in the opening match of the only other World Cup held in the northern hemisphere back in 1991.  Nerves obviously played a part in proceedings as pass after pass went astray and moves broke down into confusion.  By the end of the match, a crowd who had been in full cry accompanying Catatonia's Cerys Matthews in the pre-match entertainment were reduced to a state of near-silence by a war of attrition that went all the way to the wire.

A try by Colin Charvis was the best moment of the first half, a minute into injury time after the Welsh had been shocked at finding themselve 9-6 down.  Hooker Garin Jenkins found himself out of place on the right wing, slipped but managed to retain the ball in order for Howley to fling the ball inside.  Charvis was there in front of the posts to cut through some non-existent Argentinian defence to put Wales into the lead for the first time.

Eight minutes after the break, Swansea centre Mark Taylor ran onto a ball from Gareth Thomas to split the Argentinian defence and touch down underneath the posts.  Apart from these flashes of inspiration, the rest of the game turned into a duel between the two fly-halves, Neil Jenkins and Gonzalo Quesada who traded penalties throughout the match with Quesada achieving the unusual feat of landing more successful kicks than Jenkins with six well-taken penalties.  The Welsh points machine will have to wait a while longer before he overtakes Australia's Michael Lynagh as the world's top points scorer, but his three penalties and two conversions were nonetheless valuable.  Most of the penalties resulted from the strong running of the centres backed up by Wales' major ball-carrier Scott Quinnell.  A lack of quick ball from both sides meant that a lot of possession had to be kicked away and the stop-start nature of the match definitely favoured the one-paced Argentinians.

Still, one area of Welsh play did live up to its advance billing with the front row in absolutely rampant form.  The trio of Rogers, Jenkins and Young completely destroyed their opponents to such an extent that the Pumas front row were intermittently in danger of inspecting the Millennium Stadium's retractable roof at very close quarters as they were muscled skywards by the strongarm Welshmen.

The crowd was also treated to their first sight of Australian-born centre Jason Jones-Hughes who came on for Scott Gibbs in the second half and the former New South Wales back immediately made his considerable presence felt with a massive tackle on Octavio Bartolucci.  On this showing he is likely to be given more of a starring role during the rest of Wales' World Cup campaign.

So, a result for Wales but the inevitable question remains, "Have they got a chance of winning the tournament?".  It would appear not on their performance against a very one-dimensional Puma side.  The Dragons have a mighty scrum but are not the complete outfit quite yet -- as coach Graham Henry has been telling everyone who cares to listen for the past month.  It appears he wasn't playing mind games, indulging in devious psychology, or trying to reclaim underdog status for his side.  He was telling God's honest truth.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Lucas Ostiglia, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Octavio Bartolucci, 15 Manuel Contepomi
Reserves:  Gonzalo Camardon, Omar Hasan Jalil, Rolando Martin
Unused:  Agustin Canalda, Felipe Contepomi, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Raul Perez

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young, 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Fly Half Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Jason Jones-Hughes
Unused:  David Llewellyn, Ben Evans, Jonathan Humphreys, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis, Mike Voyle

Attendance:  72500
Referee:  O'brien p

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 6

Wales
Tries:  Charvis C.L. 1, Taylor M. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 2
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 3

Romania 19 Scotland 60

Scotland recovered from a sluggish start to run in seven tries in an emphatic 60-19 win win over Romania at Hampden Park on Saturday.

Winger Kenny Logan bagged two tries, five conversions and a penalty to complete a personal points tally of 26 points and centre Alan Tait grabbed his 16th international try to set the Five Nations champions on their way.

Tait's opening try was the highlight of a first half Scotland struggled to impose themselves on the East Europeans.

In the second half, centre James McLaren was able to celebrate his debut with a try when he barged in from close range before Scotland grabbed two tries in 60 seconds from Martin Leslie and Logan.

Romanian scrum-half Petre Mitu scored Romaia's only try which he converted himself and also struck four penalties.

The Teams:

Romania:  1 Dragos Niculae, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Constantin Stan, 4 Daniel Chiriac, 5 Catalin Draguceanu, 6 Florin Corodeanu, 7 Erdinci Septar, 8 Alin Petrache (c), 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Roland Vusec, 11 Radu Fugigi, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac, 14 Cristian Sauan, 15 Mihai Vioreanu
Reserves:  V. Chirita, Cristian Hildan, Marius Iacob, Aurel Popean, Ovidiu Slusariuc, Gheorghe Solomie, Dan Tudosa

Scotland:  1 George Graham, 2 Robbie Russell, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Martin Leslie, 7 Peter Walton, 8 Gordon Simpson, 9 Gary Armstrong, 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Shaun Longstaff, 12 James McLaren, 13 Alan Tait, 14 Kenny Logan, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Dave Hilton, Craig Joiner, Cameron Mather, Bryan Redpath, Doddie Weir
Unused:  Gavin Scott, Craig Chalmers

Attendance:  6807
Referee:  White c

Points Scorers:

Romania
Tries:  Mitu P. 1
Conv:  Mitu P. 1
Pen K.:  Mitu P. 4

Scotland
Tries:  Penalty Try 1, Grimes S.B. 1, Leslie M.D. 1, Logan K.McK. 2, McLaren J.G. 1, Smith T.J. 1, Tait A.V. 1
Conv:  Hodge D.W. 2, Logan K.McK. 5
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 2

Canada 11 England 36

Freed from the six-month scandal that has dogged his rugby career, former captain Lawrence Dallaglio was in outstanding form as England were made to work for their win over Canada at Twickenham.

Dallaglio was awarded the man-of-the-match award as England were made to fight for every point in their final full international warm-up game before the start of the World Cup on October 1.

England ran in a total of five tries with a brace from recalled centre Will Greenwood, wing Dan Luger, full-back Matt Perry and scrum-half Matt Dawson with Johnny Wilkinson hitting four conversions and a penalty.

Canada's points came from a breakaway try by Winston Stanley who beat Dan Luger to touch down in the corner and two penalties from veteran fly-half Gareth Rees.

Canada proved infinitely tougher opposition than the USA the previous weekend, defending bravely and trying to spoil England's attempts at play running rugby at every turn.

England captain Martin Johnson was shown the yellow card for the third time in seven matches after fighting with Canadian flanker Dan Baugh who was also carded for starting the incident punching Richard Hill in the face.

Johnson said he was very disappointed that England failed to convert their overwhelming domination into more points:"It was very frustrating," said the Leicester lock.  "It has brought us back to earth with a bump after the America game but maybe that's what we needed.  "There were dozrens of overlaps and chances but too often the ball went to ground.  But you have to credit the Canadians for their defence even if their tactic were a little borderline," he added.

Dallaglio took the field three days after being fined 15,000 pounds for bringing the game into disrepute following a 10-week investigation into newspaper allegations he took drugs during a British Lions tour.  He was greeted by rapturous applause by the small Twickenham crowd.

"Lawrence was outstanding," said England coach Clive Woodward."With Richard Hill and Neil Back they are a world-class back row."

Woodward was also disappointed by the number of opportunities England missed.  It was encouraging to create so much but annoying to convert so little.  If we had kicked everything we probably would have won by another 20 points but that would have been a waste of time in terms of preparation."

The teams:

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 John Tait, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Ryan Banks, 8 Alan Charron, 9 Half Morgan Williams, 10 Gareth Rees (c), 11 Courtney Smith, 12 Scott Bryan, 13 Dave Lougheed, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Scott Stewart
Reserves:  Mark Cardinal, John Hutchinson, Duane Major, David Penney, Bobby Ross, Mike Schmid
Unused:  John Graf

England:  1 Graham Rowntree, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Danny Grewcock, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Jerry Guscott, 14 Dan Luger, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Nick Beal, Mike Catt, Richard Cockerill, Martin Corry, Darren Garforth, Jason Leonard, Tim Stimpson

Referee:  Dume

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Stanley W.U. 1
Pen K.:  Rees G.L. 2

England
Tries:  Dawson M.J.S. 1, Greenwood W.J.H. 2, Luger D.D. 1, Perry M.B. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 1

Wales 34 France 23

Welsh fly-half continued to close in on the all-time scoring record of Michael Lynagh as hes scored 29 points in Wales eighth straight win a row over a woeful looking France.

Wales' record point scorer Jenkins struck nine penalties, to equal the world record held jointly by Andrew Mehretns and Keiji Hirose, and a conversion as the powerful Welsh pack dominated their French counterparts in front of 63,000 fans.

Winger Dafyyd James crowned the win with an excellent try in the corner towards the end as Wales made up for a poor first half with an impressive display after the turnaround.

But coach Graham Henry said his team were lucky not to have been punished for their sloppiness and must improve for the opening match of the World Cup against Argentina.

Henry said:  "If we played the same as we did in the second half we could beat Argentina but if we played the way we did in the first half they would put 30 points on us.

"We cannot afford to play like that in the World Cup.  The first half was poor but the second half was pretty good.  I think we should be pleased with our six months.  Winning eight games in a row.  But that's a worrying situation.  You have to look at everything.  If we go on winning nine or 10 matches, that tends to be your Achilles heel."

France, desperate to rediscover their Five Nations form of 1998 with the World Cup under five weeks away, were the better side early on and should have had considerably more than six points on the board by half-time.

Jenkins, who is set to overhaul Michael Lynagh's world record of 911 points in the coming weeks, kept the Welsh in the game with four penalties to give the home side a 12-6 lead going into the second period.

Wales were a different proposition after the break and their relentless pressure forced a string of errors from the French which Jenkins exploited with a further five successful penalties.

Wales were growing in confidence by the 73rd minute, when James raced clear to score in the left corner to seal victory.

The French camp later claimed that the Welsh had been guilty of foul play in an explosive opening to the match.

French fly-half Thomas Castaignede did not say what he believed the Welsh were doing but he put two fingers in the air towards his eyes indicating gouging.

Castaignede said:  "I think that some Welshmen did some bad things to us.  It's difficult for us to play with that."

French backs coach Pierre Villepreux supported his player's claims, adding:  "There was intimidation during the opening of the first half by the Welsh team.At the beginning of the game the Welsh players were doing bad things to us but we will not worry about looking at a video of the match."

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Peter Rogers, 2 Garin Jenkins, 3 Dai Young, 4 Craig Quinnell, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Brett Sinkinson, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Mike Voyle
Unused:  David Llewellyn, Allan Bateman, Ben Evans, Jonathan Humphreys, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Pieter De Villiers, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Marc Lievremont, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Thomas Lievremont, 9 Stephane Castaignede, 10 Thomas Castaignede, 11 Ugo Mola, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Stephane Glas, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  David Auradou, Marc Dal Maso, Christophe Lamaison, Lionel Mallier, Emile Ntamack, Cedric Soulette, Pierre Mignoni

Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  James D.R. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 1
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 9

France
Tries:  Mallier L. 1, Mignoni P. 1
Conv:  Dourthe R. 1, Lamaison C. 1
Pen K.:  Dourthe R. 2, Lamaison C. 1

Argentina 24 Ireland 32

Ireland brought a confident Argentina back down to earth after running in four tries and surviving a late fightback to hold on for a 32-24 win at Lansdowne Road.

The South Americans, in confident mood after beating Scotland the weekend before and being unbeaten on their UK tour so far, trailed 32-3 at one point before they rallied in the final quarter as Ireland eased the pressure.

Hooker Keith Wood scored the first try of the game when he went over from short range before winger Matt Mostyn scored a hat-trick of tries to leave the Pumas in disarray.

Stand-off David Humphreys missed all four conversions but struck four penalties to add to the rout.

Ireland, showing three changes to the side which narrowly lost the second Test to Australia in Perth in June, relaxed towards the end but never looked in danger of seeing their lead overhauled.

Argentina scrum-half Agustin Pichot, a 47th minute replacement for Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, scored two tries while Martin Scelzo scored another.  Stand-off Gonzalo Quesada converted all three tries and a penalty.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Agustin Canalda, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Lucas Ostiglia, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Octavio Bartolucci, 15 Manuel Contepomi
Reserves:  Fernando Diaz Alberdi, Rolando Martin, Agustin Pichot, Martin Scelzo
Unused:  Ignacio Corletto, Felipe Contepomi, Raul Perez

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood, 3 Paul Wallace, 4 Jeremy Davidson, 5 Paddy Johns, 6 Trevor Brennan, 7 Andy Ward, 8 Dion O'Cuinneagain (c), 9 Tom Tierney, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Matt Mostyn, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Justin Bishop, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves:  Eric Elwood, Eric Miller, Mike Mullins, Malcolm O'Kelly, Justin Fitzpatrick
Unused:  Ross Nesdale, Brian O'Meara

Attendance:  15000
Referee:  Bevan

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Pichot A. 2, Scelzo M. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 3
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Mostyn M. 3, Wood K.G.M. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 4

Australia 28 New Zealand 7

Australia put their World Cup hopes firmly back on track with an efficient 28-7 win over the dreaded New Zealand All Blacks in front of a world record crowd of 107,042 in the Stadium Australia.

The crowd eclipsed the 104,000 which saw Scotland play Wales at Murrayfield in 1975 and Australia's previous highest rugby crowd was 90,119 who saw the Bledisloe Test in 1997 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

A Wallaby pack revamped after their 10-9 defeat to South Africa, secured victory made possible by full-back Matthew Burke's seven penalties.  Burke also converted lock Mark Connors' try right on half-time for a win which left the All Blacks asking themselves a lot of qestions.

However, New Zealand had already secured the Tri Nations tournament with two wins over South Africa and a 34-15 defeat of the Wallabies at Auckland earlier in the month.  New Zealand fly-half Andrew Mehrtens scored a sensational try he converted for the All Blacks who failed to win back the Bledisloe Cup they lost to the Wallabies last year.

"It was a huge wake-up call," said New Zealand coach John Hart afterwards.  "If it's going to happen it's better it happens now rather than at the World Cup.  There were no positives.  We were outpassioned by a very good team who dominated the advantage line and they got more players to the breakdown."

"The boys showed a lot of courage, a lot of determination," said Australia captain David Wilson who added he was particularly pleased with the pack.

Australia coach Rod Macqueen said New Zealand were still the team to beat at the World Cup: "It was important for us to perform well today.  It wasn't a pretty exhibition but we showed passion and pride.  But New Zealand will be very, very competitive and the team to beat in the World Cup."

Desperate defending by Australia stopped three almost certain All Black tries in the first-half but even the introduction of Jonah Lomu at half-time could not ignite a strangely error-prone New Zealand side as the rain crashed down after the interval.

Burke kicked two penalties before Mehrtens sold a dummy and accelerated between left wing Jason Little and scrum-half George Gregan in a 50-metre dash for the line.  His route was finally cleared when Little ran into Burke as the full-back came over to cover.

Little, brought in for Joe Roff after the 10-9 defeat to South Africa, made amends when he intercepted a Jeff Wilson pass with two All Blacks on the overlap.

Then Tim Horan, back at inside centre after three matches at fly-half, got back across to cut out a high-speed passing move down the left between right wing Christian Cullen and left wing Tana Umaga.

Nathan Grey next stopped Umaga after six phases of All Black play had threatened to rip the heart out of the Wallaby defence.

Burke added three more penalties as Scottish referee Jim Fleming came down hard on All Black infringments in the loose before the revamped Wallaby scrum won an enormous push on the All Black line and Connors squirmed over for a deserved try.

New Zealand brought on Lomu for inside centre Daryl Gibson at half-time.  Umaga went to the right and Cullen went to centre.  And Andrew Blowers replaced Dylan Mika at blindside flanker.

But the Olympic stadium was hit by a heavy shower making attackig rugby all but impossible and a bedraggled All Black side saw Burke kick his seventh penalty on 80 minutes.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Andrew Blades, 2 Phil Kearns, 3 Richard Harry, 4 Mark Connors, 5 David Giffin, 6 Matt Cockbain, 7 David Wilson (c), 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan, 10 Rod Kafer, 11 Jason Little, 12 Dan Herbert, 13 Tim Horan, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Matthew Burke
Reserves:  Owen Finegan, Michael Foley, Nathan Grey, Patricio Noriega, Joe Roff, Tiaan Strauss, Chris Whitaker

New Zealand:  1 Carl Hoeft, 2 Anton Oliver, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Robin Brooke, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Josh Kronfeld, 7 Dylan Mika, 8 Taine Randell (c), 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Christian Cullen, 12 Daryl Gibson, 13 Alama Ieremia, 14 Tana Umaga, 15 Jeff Wilson
Reserves:  Andrew Blowers, Tony Brown, Craig Dowd, Byron Kelleher, Jonah Lomu, Royce Willis
Unused:  Mark Hammett

Attendance:  107042
Referee:  Fleming

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Connors M. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 1
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 7

New Zealand
Tries:  Mehrtens A.P. 1
Conv:  Mehrtens A.P. 1

United States 8 England 106

England ruthlessly exposed the USA's shortcomings in their World Cup warm-up at Twickenham, crushing the tourists 106-8 for their biggest win at the venue and their second biggest in their history.

Veteran centre Jeremy Guscott led the way with four scores as England rapidly extended their 31-8 half-time lead with Jonny Wilkinson hitting 13 conversions.

The USA side found themselves totally outclassed as England found gaps across the field, Guscott galloping in from long-range for all four of his scores, while full-back Matt Perry, wing Dan Luger and flanker Neil Back each grabbed a brace of scores in front of a desperately low Twickenham crowd of around 15,000.

The game also marked the return of former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio although he has still to face a RFU disciplinary to answer a disrepute charge.

England coach Clive Woodward had wanted a "full-on" game for his players as they began the final six-week stage of their World Cup preparations.

The opposition were unable to give them a real test, however, despite going 3-0 ahead through a penalty from scrum-half Kevin Dalzell before England opened their account in the 16th minute through flanker Richard Hill.

After that, the floodgates opened wide as England piled up the points as the Americans tried unsuccessfully to limit the damage, the only respite being the visitors' sole try in the 33rd-minute from prop George Sucher.  Fittingly it was Guscott who brought up England's first century at Twickenham, sprinting clear from inside his own half, and Wilkinson converted with the game's final kick.

After sizing up the opposition in the first period, Perry and Guscott continued the tries spree before skipper Johnson recorded only his second touchdown in England colours.

The only setback for England was a knee injury sustained by Perry which forced him off on the hour, yet England were now into an irresistible rhythm and further tries followed from Guscott, Back, Greening, Luger, de Glanville and two more via the imperious Guscott.

USA coach Jack Clark said after the game:  "I feel like we were hit with a lethal cocktail:  one part world-class team, one part perfect form, and one part something to prove."

The Teams:

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges, 7 Tasi Mo'unga, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 David Niu, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Juan Grobler, 13 Tomasi Takau, 14 Tini Saulala, 15 Kurt Shuman
Reserves:  Kirk Khasigian, Marc L'Huillier, Rob Lumkong, Chris Morrow, Shaun Paga, Mark Williams
Unused:  Britt Howard

England:  1 Graham Rowntree, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Phil Vickery, 4 Danny Grewcock, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Austin Healey, 12 Phil De Glanville, 13 Jerry Guscott, 14 Dan Luger, 15 Matt Perry
Reserves:  Neil McCarthy, Will Green, Tim Rodber, Tim Stimpson, Trevor Woodman
Unused:  Mike Catt, Paul Grayson

Referee:  Paul Honiss (NZ)

Points Scorers:

United States
Tries:  Sucher G. 1
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 1

England
Tries:  Back N.A. 2, Dawson M.J.S. 1, De Glanville P.R. 1, Greening P.B.T. 1, Guscott J.C. 4, Hill R.A. 1, Johnson M.O. 1, Luger D.D. 2, Perry M.B. 2, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 13

Canada 19 Wales 33

Italy returned to winning ways with a comfortable 49-17 win over Uruguay in the first match of the four-team tournament in Aquila.

The Italians, playing under new coach Massimo Mascioletti for the first time, scored seven tries in all with two from veteran winger Paolo Vaccari who was making his long-awaited return from injury.

However, in a tight first-half Uruguay kept the score close with two tries from captain Diego Ormaechea although in the second half the Azzurri raced away with the game.

Further tries from former Wallaby Matt Pini, Stefano Saviozzi, Christian Stoicca and two from Fabio Roselli secured Italy's first win in seven games.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Richard Bice, 2 Mark Cardinal, 3 Rod Snow, 4 Mike James, 5 John Tait, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 John Hutchinson, 8 Alan Charron, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Gareth Rees (c), 11 Courtney Smith, 12 Scott Bryan, 13 Dave Lougheed, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Scott Stewart
Reserves:  Ryan Banks, Bobby Ross, Mike Schmid, John Thiel
Unused:  Dale Burleigh, Julian Loveday, Brian McCarthy

Wales:  1 Ben Evans, 2 Jonathan Humphreys, 3 Peter Rogers, 4 Andrew Moore, 5 Craig Quinnell, 6 Geraint Lewis, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley (c), 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Nick Walne, 12 Leigh Davies, 13 Scott Gibbs, 14 Allan Bateman, 15 Shane Howarth
Reserves:  Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis, Gareth Llewellyn, Chris Wyatt, Dai Young
Unused:  David Llewellyn, Neil Boobyer

Attendance:  50000
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Lougheed D.C. 1
Conv:  Rees G.L. 1
Pen K.:  Rees G.L. 3
Drop G.:  Rees G.L. 1

Wales
Tries:  Walne N.J. 1, Jenkins N.R. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 1
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 7

Tonga 37 Fiji 39

Fiji winger Manueli Tiko grabbed a hat-trick of tries as his side ran in a total of five scores to edge out Tonga 39-37 in the Epson Cup Pacific Rim match in front of a capacity crowd in the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa.

Fiji led 29-13 at half-time but had to fight off a strong Tongan second-half comeback with tries from lock Kuli Faletau, Katilimoni Tu'ipulotu and Tevita Tiueti who got his second of the game.

However, a try from Samisoni Rabaka meant Fiji keep their hopes of snatching the 1999 Epson Cup title from the grasp of Japan.  Tonga now need to beat Samoa at home next week and also score four tries to gain the vital bonus point.

The results mean Tonga are without a win in this year's tournament and are bottom of the table on points difference.

The Teams:

Tonga:  1 Puku Faletau, 2 Fe'ao Vunipola, 3 Ngalu Taufo'ou, 4 Isi Fatani, 5 Kuli Faletau, 6 David Edwards, 7 Ben Hur Kivalu, 8 Kisione Ahota'e'iloa, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 'Elisi Vunipola, 11 David Tiueti, 12 Siua Taumalolo, 13 Salesi Finau (c), 14 Semisi Faka'osi'folau, 15 Sateki Tuipulotu
Reserves:  Fepiko Tatafu, Kati Tu'ipulotu, Manu Vunipola

Fiji:  1 Niko Qoro, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Apisai Naevo, 7 Koli Sewabu, 8 Ilivasi Tamanivalu Tabua, 9 Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Fero Lasagavibau, 12 Viliame Satala, 13 Waisake Sotutu, 14 Imanueli Tikomaimakogai, 15 Alfred Uluinayau
Reserves:  Waisale Serevi, Lawrence Little, Dan Rouse, Ifereimi Tawake

Attendance:  10000
Referee:  Aiolupo a.

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Tiueti T.L. 1, Ahota'e'iloa K. 1, Faka'osi'folau S. 1, Faletau K. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 4
Pen K.:  Tuipulotu S. 3

Fiji
Tries:  Lasagavibau F.T. 1, Rabaka Nasagavesi S. 1, Tikomaimakogai I. 3
Conv:  Serevi W.T. 1, Little N.T. 3
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 2

Samoa 27 United States 20

Samoa scored four tries but threw away several other chances through lack of composure with the try line open during their 27-20 win over the United States Eagles in a Pacific Rim clash at Apia Park Saturday.

Samoa led 14-3 at half-time in their first ever test against the Eagles thanks to converted tries by centre George Leaupepe and winger Brian Lima.

Though relieved to win coach Bryan Williams said:  "I think we made hard work of it.  We bombed lots of tries."

"And I felt a bit sorry for our wingers there today because they were thirsting for work and for one reason or another we didn't give them enough good ball," said Williams.

Lima worked hard on defence and in looking for opportunities, like fellow winger Afato Sooalo on the other flank, slicing at midfield to set up Leaupepe's try and engineering one for himself with his characteristic step and speed.

But mishandling and rushed, unthinking passes cost the Samoans more points as well as creating stoppages that made it easier for the Eagles to compete at the resulting slower pace.

"There were times when we could have just delayed our pass and put people into space but too often we tried to throw that 50-50 ball before it was necessary," said Williams.

"You know there were probably five, six tries went begging.  It could have been a really comprehensive victory by 50 or 60 points."

The Eagles' scrum was in constant trouble from the Samoans, but recovered well from a screwing scrum to drive over for a try.

They also exposed defence weaknesses around the fringes taking advantage of one such gap for replacement forward Juan Grobler to run in a fine solo try.

But the Eagles also had their share of handling errors which led to several promising moves breaking down.

The Samoan backs showed glimpses of their abilities with strong running notably by Va'aiga Tuigamala who took the field to replace injured John Schuster early in the game.

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Fosi Pala'amo, 2 Tani Fuga, 3 Brendan Reidy, 4 Lio Falaniko, 5 Lama Tone, 6 Craig Glendinning, 7 Sene Ta'ala, 8 Pat Lam (c), 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Stephen Bachop, 11 Brian Lima, 12 George Leaupepe, 13 John Schuster, 14 Afato So'oalo, 15 Mike Umaga
Reserves:  Inga Tuigamala

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dan Lyle (c), 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Shaun Paga, 9 Britt Howard, 10 Mark Williams, 11 Andre Blom, 12 Tini Saulala, 13 Mark Scharrenberg, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Vaea Anitoni
Reserves:  Chip Curtis, Kevin Dalzell, Juan Grobler, Dave Hodges, Bill LeClerc, Tasi Mo'unga

Referee:  Ian Haideley (Canada).

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Leaupepe G.E. 1, Lima B.P. 2, So'oalo A. 1
Conv:  Bachop S.J. 2
Pen K.:  Bachop S.J. 1

United States
Tries:  Grobler J. 1, Lyle D.J. 1
Conv:  Dalzell K. 2
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 1, Williams M.A. 1

United States 31 Japan 47

Japan finished their 1999 Epson Cup in style as Terunori Masuho scored three tries in the first half and Daisuke Ohata added two more to help Japan to a 47-31 win over the United States.

Japan completed the six-team, round-robin tournament with a 4-1 mark, losing only to Fiji.  The US team, 2-1 like Fiji, still has away matches at Canada and Samoa.

The hosts, playing before 3,900 here Saturday in Hawaii's first international rugby match, trailed by 20 points before Brian Hightower and Tom Billups scored tries to pull within 37-31 with 12 minutes to play.

Keji Hirose's penalty goal and Ohata's try at the final whistle sealed the victory for Japan.

"Credit Japan.  They outhustled us and deserved to win," US captain Dan Lyle said.  "We never got going on defense and it showed."

The US Eagles took a 10-6 lead on Kevin Dalzell's 16th-minute try before Masuho's three tries within 16 minutes put the visitors ahead to stay, although Mark Scharrenberg's try closed the half-time gap to 27-17.

The Teams:

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Philippe Farner, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Dave Hodges, 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 David Niu, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Juan Grobler, 13 Mark Scharrenberg, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Kurt Shuman
Reserves:  Kirk Khasigian, Bill LeClerc, Tini Saulala, Jason Walker, Mark Williams

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masahiro Kunda, 3 Naoto Nakamura, 4 Naoya Okubo, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Greg Smith, 7 Yasunori Watanabe, 8 Jamie Joseph, 9 Wataru Murata, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Terunori Masuho, 12 Andrew McCormick (c), 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Jyunji Hiratsuka, Takeomi Ito, Masaaki Sakata

Referee:  Tonga e.

Points Scorers

United States
Tries:  Billups T.W. 1, Dalzell K. 1, Hightower B. 1, Scharrenberg M.A. 1
Conv:  Dalzell K. 2, Williams M.A. 2
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 1

Japan
Tries:  Masuho T. 3, Ohata D. 2, Smith G. 1
Conv:  Hirose K. 4
Pen K.:  Hirose K. 3

Canada 13 Samoa 17

Samoa bounced back from their surprise defeat against the Japanese to record their first win of the 1999 Epson Cup Pacific Rim, as they beat Canada 17-13 in Vancouver on May 29.

Despite trailing 3-10 at the break, the Samoans fought back for the win with second-half tries from George Leaupepe and Pat Lam to inflict Canada's third straight loss in this year's Championship.

The loss will be all the more disappointing for the Canadians as they controlled the game for much of the first half with veteran stand-off Gareth Rees excelling in a tough, physical encounter.  Almost from the kick-off the game was characterized by big hits, with Canadian winger Courtney Smith sidelined by a chest-high tackle after just two minutes.

It was Canadian Winston Stanley who scored the first try of the game as he touched down to record his 13th international try as they Canadians moved out to a seven point lead at the break.  Samoa's only reply was a penalty from fullback Tanner Vili.

However, after the break the Samoan's moved up a gear and Canada soon found themselves chasing the game after Pat Lam's try put the Samoans in the clear after 72 minutes.  The loss of captain Gareth Rees with a knee injury after 63 minutes did not help the Canadian cause and despite late pressure, the Samoa defence held out on the goal line to secure the win.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Richard Bice, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 Rod Snow, 4 John Hutchinson, 5 Mike James, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Ryan Banks, 8 Alan Charron, 9 John Graf, 10 Gareth Rees (c), 11 Courtney Smith, 12 Scott Bryan, 13 Kyle Nichols, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 Scott Stewart
Reserves:  Jeremy Cordle, Julian Loveday, Bobby Ross, Mike Schmid, John Tait, John Thiel

Samoa:  1 Kepi Faiva'ai, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Fosi Pala'amo, 4 Stephen Smith, 5 Lama Tone, 6 Pat Lam, 7 Sene Ta'ala, 8 Craig Glendinning, 9 Joe Filemu, 10 Stephen Bachop, 11 Filipo Toala, 12 Mepi Faoagali, 13 George Leaupepe, 14 To'o Vaega, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Semo Sititi, Fa'apulou So'olefai, Malua Tipi

Attendance:  6500
Referee:  Sinichi Iwashita (Japan).

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Stanley W.U. 1
Conv:  Rees G.L. 1
Pen K.:  Rees G.L. 1, Ross R.P. 1

Samoa
Tries:  Lam P.R. 1, Leaupepe G.E. 1
Conv:  Vili T.A. 2
Pen K.:  Vili T.A. 1

United States 25 Fiji 14

Second-half tries from Brian Hightower and David Niu carried the United States to a 25-14 victory over favored Fiji in an Epson Cup match today before 3950 at San Francisco's Boxer Stadium.

In a match tied into the 72nd minute, stingy American defense and three Kevin Dalzell penalty goals kept the hosts in the contest.  Dalzell's fourth three-pointer, a short-range shot, put the US ahead for the third time in the game.

After a delay to attend to injured US prop Bill LeClerc, Dalzell landed a fifth penalty goal, before flyhalf Niu chipped over the defense to score a 79th-minute try.

Number eight Koli Sewabu scored to give Fiji a 7-3 lead in the first half, and center Waisake Sotutu's second-half try gave the visitors a 14-9 advantage.  But Fiji couldn't score in the game's last 25 minutes.

"We knew if we stuck to our gameplan things would come into place," Dalzell said of the US comeback.  "The guys have been very focused on our team's goals, and our discipline has improved and it shows."

The US, now 2-0, pulls into second place behind Epson Cup leaders Japan.  1-1 Fiji, 40-29 winners over defending champion Canada last weekend, remains in third place.

The Teams:

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges, 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 David Niu, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Juan Grobler, 13 Tini Saulala, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Kurt Shuman
Reserves:  Philippe Farner, Bill LeClerc, Mark Scharrenberg, Jason Walker
Unused:  Britt Howard, Kirk Khasigian, Chris Morrow

Fiji:  1 Niko Qoro, 2 Isaia Rasila, 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Emori Katalau, 5 Simon Raiwalui (c), 6 Ilivasi Tamanivalu Tabua, 7 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 8 Koli Sewabu, 9 Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, 10 Opeti Turuva, 11 Fero Lasagavibau, 12 Waisake Sotutu, 13 Alfred Uluinayau, 14 Imanueli Tikomaimakogai, 15 Viliame Satala
Reserves:  Billy Cavubati, Nicky Little, Dan Rouse, Ifereimi Tawake, Jope Tuikabe
Unused:  Lawrence Little, Mosese Rauluni

Attendance:  3950
Referee:  Shinichi Iwashita (Japan)

Points Scorers:

United States
Tries:  Hightower B. 1, Niu D. 1
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 5

Fiji
Tries:  Sewabu K. 1, Sotutu W.R.R. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 1, Turuva O. 1

Tonga 11 Canada 29

Canada started their 2000 Epson Cup tournament with a convincing 29-11 victory over Tonga before an appreciative and often vocal home crowd of 4,000 in Vancouver.

Canada opened the scoring with fly-half Jared Barker kicking a penalty just three minutes in.  But that was the only action he would see as he was knocked out of the game four minutes later with a fierce Tongan tackle.

Mark Irvine came on as a substitution moving to inside centre with Nichols vacating to the fly-half position and taking the kicks at goal, a role he is not used to.

"The way we play the game, the way our team is structured any one of the three backs can take that ball at (fly-half) with no problem," said the Ajax, Ontario native.

Canada got across the tryline at the 17 minute mark as they applied useful rucking pressure and 8 man Phil Murphy sprung speedy scrumhalf Morgan Williams from a metre out.  Nichols converted to make it 10-0.

Canadian coach David Clark, in his first official match since taking over the job in January was pleased with how his young team played, but had especially glowing comments for his veteran captain Al Charron.

"When you sit up in the stands, and the reserves up there are saying "the man is unbelievable, how can he keep doing this".  He lead the team extremely well."

Charron was a vacuum in defence at the back of the scrum, a place he would not have been, but for three key injuries at that position coming into the match.  When he wasn't tackling any and all Tongans in the area, he lead wave after wave of attack from the scrum and in the loose, very much putting coach David Clarks stamp on the new mobile brand of rugby.

While he was happy with his young teammates and their level of play, the 33 year old veteran in his 55 appearance for Canada was upset at some of the spilled ball he that resulted in Tongan counter attacks.

"I don't really appreciate losing the ball into contact like I did in the second half.  That will haunt me.  That was the black mark on the game for me.  I was reasonably pleased with the way I played, but there are always things to improve on," conceded Charron.

Tongan coach David Waterston was not nearly as complimentary about Charron's game, particularly the way he felt that the mobile flanker was lining up in the offside position in defense.

"Look he got away with it, good luck to the guy, so I am not moaning.  You can't play offside like that," said the South African, who only met his new team Thursday in Vancouver.  "If he does that against South Africa, they'll kill him.  But he got away with it today.  When you scavenge for the ball, you're one of those animals."

Canada extended their lead to 13-0 with a 15 metre penalty from Nichols, but on the stroke of half time the Tongans got one of their own from the foot of wing Tevita Tiueti, to reduce the gap to 10.

The Tongans got their first try of the game six minutes into the second half, after Kyle Nichols mishandled a ball around midfield that got scooped up by wing Aisea Kaufusi who won a 60 metre sprint to the line.  Tonga missed the conversion attempt to make the score 13-8.

Canadian number 8 Phil Murphy, who provided exceptional mobility from the back of the scrum had a rollicking couple of runs in the loose, and was awarded for his hard work with a try from 3 metres out following a Tongan offside penalty.  Nichols missed the conversion the score 18-8 at the 57 minute mark.

Tonga switched their kicker to Taunaholo Taufahema, who got them on the board with a 40 metre pelt that lowered the gap to 18-11.

As some light rain began to fall in earnest the Thunderbird stadium pitch became greasy for both sides resulting in a number of dropped balls and quick counter attacks.  Winston Stanley, playing at fullback for the first time in a Canadian jersey made up for some less than sharp kicking from the hand with a sprint to the line from 12 metres out to extend the Canadian lead to 23-11.  Nichols added two more penalties to round out the scoring for 11 points on the day.

Waterston pointed to a weak back row combination he had on the field as a major problem for his side, something he will address before their next match in Suva, Fiji in one weeks time.

"I would change our back row.  It was in-experienced and it showed.  Guys with their first tests today in the back row, and that really cost us any chance of competing in the game," said Waterston frankly.

David Clark was immensley pleased with his first win, and especially the play of his two rookie wings Fred Asselin and Sean Fauth who played his plan of keeping the Tongans chasing after loose ball to a tee.

"That was part of the plan.  We wanted to put the ball behind them.  We knew the Tongans had pace, and while we've got international pace on the wing, we had to do something to make them scramble," revealed Clark, adding "We definitely made them scramble.  We put the ball behind him, we put it along the ground, they had to deal with it."

With the victory, their first in the Pacific Rim tournament since June 21, 1998, Canada join Fiji at 1-0 in the tournament table.  The Fijians had an impressive 47-22 victory over Japan earlier in the day.

The Teams:

Tonga:  1 Hotili 'Asi, 2 Latiume Maka, 3 Ta'u Fainga'anuku, 4 Isi Fatani, 5 Ben Hur Kivalu, 6 Kisione Ahota'e'iloa, 7 Christopher Hala'ufi, 8 'Apai Kaitu'u, 9 Sione Tuipulotu, 10 'Elisi Vunipola (c), 11 David Tiueti, 12 Keni Fisilau, 13 'Epafasi Ta'ufo'ou, 14 'Aisea Kaufusi, 15 Tauna'holo Taufahema
Reserves:  Osaoasi Filipine, Viliami Ma'asi, Fakataha Molitika, Sioeli Nau, Movete 'Oto'ota

Canada:  1 Garth Cooke, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 4 Ed Knaggs, 5 John Tait, 6 Alan Charron (c), 7 Adam Van Staveren, 8 Phil Murphy, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 Kyle Nichols, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves:  Mark Irvine, Duane Major

Attendance:  4000
Referee:  Klemp a.

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Kaufusi A. 1
Pen K.:  Tiueti T.L. 1, Taufahema T. 1

Canada
Tries:  Murphy P. 1, Stanley W.U. 1, Williams M. 1
Conv:  Nichols K. 1
Pen K.:  Barker J. 1, Nichols K. 3

Canada 29 Fiji 40

Despite an impressive performance from the Canadian forwards, it was day for the Fijian backline to show an array of dazzling running and handling skills, with wing Fero Lasagavibau snatching two interceptions in the first half to set up a try for himself and Alfred Uluinnayu that condemned Canada to playing "catch-up" rugby for the rest of the game.

As you'd expect from two sides as athletic as Canada and Fiji, this was a physical contest of the highest order with the big hits coming fast and furious throughout and the pace never letting up.  It was a rewarding day's entertainment for one of the biggest rugby crowds seen at the Thunderbird Stadium for many years and the Fijian backs, in particular, thrived in the dry, sunny conditions and hard pitch.  The Canadians attempted to keep to their game-plan but a number of errors opened the door to Fiji whose backs looked extremely dangerous in broken play.  Two interceptions from Fero Lasagavibau -- who was without question the outstanding back on the field -- led to a score by him and by Alfred Uluinayau to give Fiji an early 12-0 lead at ten minutes.  Perhaps surprisingly the extremely dangerous Marika Vunibaka had a fairly quiet afternoon, receiving few passes and being effectively contained by his Canadian counterpart Jeremy Cordle who also showed well in attack until he was forced to leave the field during the first half with concussion.

It was the Canadian forwards who dominated throughout and the pressure they put on the Fijian tight-five kept them in the hunt right until the very end of the match.  The back row of Dan Baugh, Al Charron and John Hutchinson was extremely effective in defence, as time and time again they snuffed out promising Fijian attack.  The contribution of the breakaway trio was not limited to defensive duties, however, as they launched some fine drives and were always on hand to add continuity to the Canadian effort.  It was no surprise that Baugh had to depart early with a sore shoulder, such was his commitment in the tackled.  They battled hard and came back with two consolation tries late in the second half.  It was not enough to deny Fiji a deserved victory.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Richard Bice, 2 Mark Cardinal, 3 Rod Snow, 4 John Tait, 5 Chris Whittaker, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 John Hutchinson, 8 Alan Charron, 9 John Graf, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Jeremy Cordle, 12 Kyle Nichols, 13 Winston Stanley, 14 Courtney Smith, 15 Joe Pagano
Reserves:  Fred Asselin, Ryan Banks, Scott Bryan, Pat Dunkley, John Thiel

Fiji:  1 Niko Qoro, 2 Isaia Rasila, 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Simon Raiwalui, 5 Ifereimi Tawake, 6 Ilivasi Tamanivalu Tabua, 7 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 8 Koli Sewabu, 9 Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Fero Lasagavibau, 12 Waisake Sotutu, 13 Alfred Uluinayau, 14 Marika Vunibaka, 15 Viliame Satala
Reserves:  Billy Cavubati, Emori Katalau, Waisiki Masirewa Loco, Opeti Turuva

Attendance:  6500
Referee:  M McLemore (United States).

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Hutchinson J.R. 1, Nichols K. 1, Smith C.D. 1, Whittaker C.M. 1
Conv:  Ross R.P. 3
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 1

Fiji
Tries:  Lasagavibau F.T. 2, Sotutu W.R.R. 1, Tawake I. 1, Uluinayau A.B. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 3
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 3

Tonga 10 United States 30

In a thrilling match at Balboa Park, San Francisco, the United States were in rampant form, scoring three tries to beat an enterprising Tongan team by 30-10.

Scrum-half Kevin Dalzell's first-half try sent the United States to a 16-3 half-time lead, en route to a good win over Tonga in their Epson Cup Pacific Rim match.

Finding room out wide, Alatini Saulala and Brian Hightower scored second-half tries for the Eagles, 1-0 after their opening match of the 1999 season.  Mark Williams chipped in two penalty goals, before leaving the bruising encounter with an arm injury.

Fullback Sengili Tu'ihalamaka scored all the points for Tonga, with a try, a conversion, and a penalty goal.

Back from an injury-wracked 1998 season, Chris Morrow sparked the US offense, repeatedly finding running room out wide.  The fullback was key to Dalzell's score, a 60-yard movement.

Saulala's try, an 85-yarder sparked by wing Vaea Anitoni and Dan Lyle, featured more of the open-field attack, but several dropped balls and bad passes stopped several good scoring chances.

"Tonga is a fierce team that gives you trouble for 80 minutes, but we competed the whole way so I was pleased with the result," US coach Jack Clark said after the match.  "We left some things undone and plenty to work on, so it was a good start."

The Teams:

Tonga:  1 Puku Faletau, 2 Latiume Maka, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 Isi Fatani (c), 5 Falamani Mafi, 6 Matt Te Pou, 7 Kati Tu'ipulotu, 8 Va'a Toloke, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Brian Wooley, 11 Jonathan Koloi, 12 Keni Fisilau, 13 Isi Tapueluelu, 14 Etuate Manu, 15 Sengili Tuihalamaka
Reserves:  David Edwards, Manu Vunipola

United States:  1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Philippe Farner, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Dave Hodges, 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Dan Lyle (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mark Williams, 11 Vaea Anitoni, 12 Tini Saulala, 13 Mark Scharrenberg, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Chris Morrow
Reserves:  Doug Gillies, Bill LeClerc, David Niu, Kurt Shuman, Jason Walker

Attendance:  4600
Referee:  Bruce Kuklinski (Canada)

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1
Conv:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1
Pen K.:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1

United States
Tries:  Dalzell K. 1, Hightower B. 1, Saulala A. 1
Conv:  Dalzell K. 1, Morrow C.G. 2
Pen K.:  Dalzell K. 1, Williams M.A. 2

Tonga 17 Japan 44

In a world record performance, Japan's stand-off Keiji Hirose kicked nine penalties from nine attempts, a conversion and scored a try for a total points tally of 34 as Japan crushed Tonga 44-17 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground.  Hirose becomes the first man in international test match rugby to kick nine penalties in a game.  Seven players previously held the old record of eight.

Tonga started the game badly conceding eight penalties in the first 20 minutes which enabled Hirose to kick Japan to a 15-0 lead.  Five minutes later Japan moved the ball wide from a scrum and wing Patilai Tuidraki chipped the ball into Tonga's in-goal area and beat the defence to the touch-down.  Hirose converted to give the home side a 22-0 lead.

The Tongan forwards responded well, however, and a long period of pressure in the Japanese 22 resulted in a penalty try for Tonga after referee Kevin Hanley from the United States judged Japan's repeated offside infringments to be professional fouls.

After the break, the Tongans maintained their furious powerful driving play in the forwards until after a series of rucks, stand-off and captain Elisi Vunipola scored the try to bring them back into the game at 22-12 as fullback Sengili Tu'ihalamaka converted.  Unfortunately the indiscipline Tonga had shown in the opening quarter resurfaced and it was this which was ultimately to cost them to game.  Firstly they had a try disallowed on 63 minutes after the referee had brought them back on the advice of the tough-judge after foul play had been spotted.  They then lost wing Fepiko Tatafu who was dismissed for a dangerously high tackle.

Japan put the game out of reach with a two try burst in the last 15 minutes.  Hirose scored after the Japanese forwards had stolen a Tongan lineout and then wing Daisuke Ohata crossed to take the score to 44-12.  Isi Tapueluelu's score in the final minutes was nothing more than a consolation for the Tongans.

Note:  Nine pens is a new Test record.  Eight in the same game has been recorded on 7 previous occasions

Mark Wyatt for Canada v Scotland at Saint John, Newfoundland on 25 May 91
Neil Jenkins for Wales v Canada at Cardiff on 10 Nov 93
Diego Dominguez for Italy v Romania at Catania on 1 Oct 94
Santiago Meson for Argentina v Canada at Buenos Aires on 10 Mar 95
Gavin Hastings for Scotland v Ivory Coast at Pretoria on 30 May 95
Thierry Lacroix for France v Ireland at Durban on 10 Jun 95
Paul Burke for Ireland v Italy at Dublin on 4 Jan 97

The Teams:

Tonga:  1 Puku Faletau, 2 Maikolo Kaihea, 3 Tevita Taumoepeau, 4 Isi Fatani, 5 Falamani Mafi, 6 Jonathan Koloi, 7 Matt Te Pou, 8 Kati Tu'ipulotu, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 'Elisi Vunipola, 11 Fepiko Tatafu, 12 Etuate Manu, 13 Semi Taupeaafe, 14 Isi Tapueluelu, 15 Sengili Tuihalamaka
Reserves:  Aleki Lutui, Latiume Maka, Feleti Mahoni, Brian Wooley

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Naoto Nakamura, 4 Naoya Okubo, 5 Yoshihiko Sakuraba, 6 Jamie Joseph, 7 Yasunori Watanabe, 8 Greg Smith, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Andrew McCormick, 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Patiliai Tuidraki, 15 Goshi Tachikawa
Reserves:  Tsuyoshi Hirao, Takeomi Ito

Attendance:  14000
Referee:  Kevin Hanley (United States).

Points Scorers:

Tonga
Tries:  Penalty Try 1, Tapueluelu I. 1, Vunipola E. 1
Conv:  Tu'ihalamaka S. 1

Japan
Tries:  Hirose K. 1, Ohata D. 1, Tuidraki P. 1
Conv:  Hirose K. 1
Pen K.:  Hirose K. 9

Canada 21 Japan 23

Japan became the first country to record a victory in the new Epson Cup Pacific Rim tournament after defeating Canada 23-21 in the Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground, Tokyo.

The Canadians looked as if their superiority in the forwards would set the foundation for a victory, until some astute substistutions in the Japanese front-five brought the home side back into the game after trailing 10-11 at half-time.

The new found stability of the Japanese forwards set the foundation for former All Black Jamie Joseph to score on 68 minutes to add to an earlier try by captain Andrew McCormick.  Stand-off Keiji Hirose contributed 13 points with the boot, converting both tries and adding three penalties.  In reply Canada scored tries through left wing Courtney Smith and openside Dan Baugh with stand-off Bob Ross kicking three penalties but one conversion.  His second conversion attempt would have tied the scores.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Tony Healy, 5 John Tait, 6 Ryan Banks, 7 John Hutchinson, 8 Dan Baugh, 9 John Graf, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Jeremy Cordle, 12 Kyle Nichols, 13 Winston Stanley, 14 Courtney Smith, 15 Joe Pagano
Reserves:  Richard Bice, Rob Robson, Chris Whittaker

Japan:  1 Kenji Kasai, 2 Shin Hasegawa, 3 Toshikazu Nakamichi, 4 Robert Gordon, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Jamie Joseph, 7 Yasunori Watanabe, 8 Greg Smith, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Terunori Masuho, 12 Andrew McCormick (c), 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Kensuke Iwabuchi, Naoto Nakamura, Yoshihiko Sakuraba, Masaaki Sakata

Attendance:  13000
Referee:  Masunu Talapusi (Samoa)

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Baugh D.R. 1, Smith C.D. 1
Conv:  Ross R.P. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 3

Japan
Tries:  Joseph J.W. 1, McCormick A. 1
Conv:  Hirose K. 2
Pen K.:  Hirose K. 3