England 80 Italy 23

It took them time to get going, but hot Six Nations favourites England scored 47 unanswered second-half points to finally see off an inexperienced and unfancied Italy 80-23 in their Six Nations game at Twickenham.

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson scored 35 of them including 30 of them with 13 successful kicks out of 14, as England recorded their biggest score in the tournament and remain along with Ireland -- who downed France 22-15 in Dublin -- the only sides capable of landing the 2001 Grand Slam.

By the time Wilkinson deservedly scored a last minute try of his own and Lawrence Dallaglio added an extra-time try England were almost playing exhibition rugby against an exhausted Italy.

But earlier Italy had refused to play the role of sacrificial victims in the first-half matching England almost score for score, the home team not looking like 150-1 odds-on winners.  Indeed England, after arrogantly spurning a kickable penalty chance in the opening minute, were made to pay when the visitors opened the scoring.

Following an England offide Italy kicked the penalty to touch for a lineout close to the England line.

Lock Andrea Gritti caught the throw, the forwards drove and the ball was fed out to Denis Dallan, who had moved across from the left to the right wing.

He burst through three tackles before touching down in the corner.  New full-back Andrea Scanavacca converted, suggesting injured points machine Diego Dominguez might not be such a big loss after all.

England responded, three minutes later through the boot of Wilkinson who was on target with all seven of his first-half kicks at goal.

Gradually England's forwards gained a measure of control, allowing the England backs to show the same quick skillis that finished off Wales in Cardiff.

Dallaglio, whose father was born in Italy, made good ground up the middle, the No.8, passing to speedy full-back Iain Balshaw.

He returned the pass before Dallaglio sent in right wing Austin Healey in the 14th minute.  A Scanavacca enalty levelled the scores at 10-10 before more flowing play from the England backs produced another try.

This time Balshaw's eleusive pace started the move after the ball had been spun wide to the right.

He passed to Healey and the Leicester man was almost over the line when he was tackled by opposing wing Luca Martin of English side Northampton.

Australian referee Stuart Dickinson was not certain Healey had grounded the ball and called on video referee Clayton Thomas to make the call.

The Welsh official took an age to decide, receiving a slow handclap from the crowd, before confirming the score.

The ever accurate Wilkinson made light of a tricky conversion and England were 17-10 ahead.  Italy, who had reshaped their backs completely after a 41-22 defeat by Ireland in Rome, came roaring back.

Balshaw knocked on centre Cristian Stoica's high kick, the rebound taken by prop and Italy captain Alessandro Moscardi.

The pack supported and the ball was moved to the blindside where No.8 Carlo Checchinato was on hand to score from close range.

After 25 minutes the scores were level at 17 apiece and England must have wondered what had hit them.

A penalty exchange saw parity maintained before another England try took them clear again.  A quick Matt Dawson tap penalty caught Italy on the backfoot and Healey's long loop pass left Balshaw with a clear run in on the left.

Scanavacca and Wilkinson then shared more penalties to leave England 33-23 up at half-time.  Almost immdediately from the restart England gave themselves breathing space when Northampton wing Ben Cohen crashed through some tired-looking tackles for a score under the posts.

Italy were physically wilting, although England were still making plenty of errors.

Front-rower Mark Regan finished off another overlap move before Italy centre Walter Pozzebon was sin-binned for persistent offside.

Substitute forward Joe Worsley added to Italy's misery when after an inside pass from Balshaw he too scored a try.

The Teams:

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Dorian West, 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 Mike Catt, 13 Will Greenwood, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Kyran Bracken, Martin Corry, Mark Regan, Jason Robinson, Joe Worsley, Trevor Woodman
Unused:  Mike Tindall

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Andrea Muraro, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Carlo Caione, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Juan Manuel Queirolo, 10 Giovanni Raineri, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Walter Pozzebon, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Luca Martin, 15 Andrea Scanavacca
Reserves:  David Dal Maso, Marco Rivaro, Giampiero De Carli, Tino Paoletti
Unused:  Matteo Mazzantini, Andrea De Rossi, Ramiro Pez

Attendance:  75000
Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Dallaglio L.B.N. 1, Greenwood W.J.H. 1, Healey A.S. 2, Regan M.P. 1, Worsley J.P.R. 1, Balshaw I.R. 2, Cohen B.C. 1, Wilkinson J.P. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 9
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4

Italy
Tries:  Dallan D. 1, Checchinato C. 1
Conv:  Scanavacca A. 2
Pen K.:  Scanavacca A. 3

Ireland 22 France 15

Brian O'Driscoll lived up to his pre-match hype to star in a historic 22-15 Ireland win over France in Saturday's Lloyds TSB Six Nations clash at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, scoring the only try for the Irishmen -- albeit a dubious one -- in a fierce and committed display.

In combination with the equally cunning Rob Henderson in the centres, O'Driscoll's outstanding run down the left wing early in the second-half was reward for a varied display from the Irish, which also saw five penalties for stand-off Ronan O'Gara.

France applied pressure at stages, but were an incohesive and often wasteful unit when in possession, although their two second-half tries from Pelous and Bernat-Salles set up a thrilling end to a superb advert for Six Nations rugby -- often derided for its predictability.

A fiery and fascinating first 40 minutes produced no tries, but plenty of drama as Ireland dominated possession and territory, but crucially could not reflect their dominance fully in the score, going to the interval at only 9-3 in front.

France's excursions in to the Ireland half were restricted mainly to the long punts of Christophe Lamasison, that was before his sin-binning in the 32nd minute for a high arm in the face of Tyrone Howe -- which in truth was more clumsy than malicious as Howe changed direction and the reflex grab from the Agen stand-off saw him catch the Ulster wing in the face.

A typically noisy sell-out Lansdowne Road crowd had to wait all of four minutes for their first score of the day, when Ronan O'Gara struck a penalty, but a cagey first 20 minutes from both sides saw Lamaison tie the game at 3-3 after 18 minutes, before Ireland really started to carry out their threats to throw the ball around in their potent backs division.

O'Gara missed a kickable penalty on 20 minutes, before Brian O'Driscoll gave the fans their first glimpse of his lightning acceleration, jinking with quick feet through the French back line before streaking away down the left wing.  With support dwindling though, he was forced to punt forward, and although an impressive kick found the corner, Ireland ultimately came away scoreless.

O'Gara put his side six points up in first-half injury time with a hammer blow of a kick, a penalty from fully 50 metres which flew over with some to spare -- and for once the Dublin wind did not have much to do with it as the sides went in with Ireland 9-3 up, and in the ascendancy.

The Munsterman started the second half where he had left off the first, striking over another penalty to nudge Ireland further past an increasingly disorganised and apparently stunned French side.

But the biggest break was yet to come.  From midfield just inside the France half, the ball was worked right through the hands to inside centre Rob Henderson -- whose hat-trick put Italy to the sword last week.

Henderson jinked his way past one tackle before having the good sense to wait and recycle the ball back as the numbers came.  From the crowd of bodies Brian O'Driscoll suddenly burst clear, with that trademark acceleration plain for all to see, and as he burnt away down the left wing it looked as if he would be bundled in to touch.  However the Leinster man ducked under the attempted tackle and apparently downed the ball before taking the corner flag with him in to touch.

The video referee controversially confirmed the crowd's view of the replay -- which appeared to show O'Driscoll bounce the ball as he went to touch it down, and Lansdowne Road exploded in to life as Ireland led 19-3 after O'Gara's outstanding conversion from the touchline.

Another O'Gara penalty saw Warren Gatland's side extend their lead, but with the French resolve apparently gone, they summoned up a try of true Gallic grit, turning down a kick at goal from short range to go for a powerful rolling maul, which also needed video adjudication before captain Fabien Pelous could claim the score, with lamaison converting to set up a thrilling last 20 minutes at 22-10 down.

With a try now vital if they were to salvage anything from the match, France coach Bernard Laporte brought in strike runner Christophe Dominici for the last ten minutes, and from virtually the play after the visitors nearly scored, when scrum-half Carbonneau -- in for the suspended Galthie -- broke from five metres out, but kicked when it looked like the try was on and wasted the chance.

France did however get the crucial try a minute later when the ball was worked right to the lively Bernat-Salles, who in the same manneras last week against Scotland, accelerated in to the corner from ten metres out for a try, and in the same blow almost doubled the average blood pressure in Dublin with the score at 22-15 and five minutes to go, but Lamaison scuffed the conversion from the touchline to slightly ease the pressure as Ireland summoned on Kevin Maggs to tighten the midfield for the impressive but tired Rob Henderson.

Ronan O'Gara missed another penalty attempt as France piled on the pressure, but Ireland's willingness to run the ball saw them keep the majority of possession as injury-time approached.

Australian referee Scott Young finally put the Lansdowne Road crowd out of their misery after nearly four minutes of added time, in a game which saw Ireland firmly establish themselves as the main rivals to England in the quest for the Six Nations Championship, with the March 24 meeting between the two sides in Dublin pencilled in already as a potential championship decider.

Ireland coach Warren Gatland, who has repaid the faith shown in him by the selectors after many were demanding his head when Ireland conceded 50 points to England in last year's Six Nations opener, was understandably elated.

"We justified the confidence shown in us and showed real backbone when we came under pressure for 15 minutes in the second-half," the 37-year-old Kiwi said.  "I am delighted both with the result and the manner in which we achieved it," added the quietly spoken former All Black reserve hooker.  His French counterpart Bernard Laporte, who is faced with a second successive Six Nations failure, suggested rather lamely that if O'Driscoll had been in their side they would have won.  "The Irish have an extraordinary attack and put us under a lot of pressure," the bespectacled 35-year-old said.

"However, if O'Driscoll had been on our side then we would have won the match," he added.  Laporte, did, though praise his side in the excellent defence they mounted against a furious Irish onslaught.

"We gave away too many balls particularly in the first-half but I thought the defence did really well in stopping the Irish attacks," he said.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 David Wallace, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Tyrone Howe, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Gary Longwell, Emmet Byrne, Kevin Maggs, Andy Ward
Unused:  David Humphreys, Brian O'Meara, Frankie Sheahan

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 David Auradou, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Moni, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Philippe Carbonneau, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Franck Comba, 14 David Bory, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Serge Betsen Tchoua, Christian Califano, Christophe Dominici
Unused:  Olivier Azam, Gerald Merceron, Christophe Laussucq

Attendance:  50000
Referee:  Scott Young (Australia),
Touch Judges:  Chris White (England), Iain Ramage (Scotland).

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  O'Driscoll B.G. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 5

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Pelous F. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 1
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 1

Scotland 28 Wales 28

Murrayfield witnessed one of the great international comebacks on Saturday, when Scotland fought back from 25-6 down to earn a memorable 28-28 draw with Wales in the Lloyds-TSB Six Nations Championship.

Duncan Hodge held his nerve to strike the decisive conversion with only one minute to go, after Ian McGeechan's Scotland side produced a monumental effort to come up with two tries in the last five minutes when the game looked well beyond them, with Wales' man-of-the-match Neil Jenkins conceding afterwards, "We blew it."

James McLaren and Tom Smith earned the two last gasp tries, adding to Chris Paterson's earlier effort, but it was the poor kicking display of Scotland's Kenny Logan which will have the Murrayfield crowd rueing the one that got away.

On at least three occasions Logan missed easy shots at goal, and when the decisive shot came up at the death he passed the buck to Duncan Hodge to take the applause.

Wales scored only one try on the day, with Mark Taylor's interception score coming just after the break, which had seen his side go in at 18-6 up.

Speaking after the game, Scotland scrum-half and captain Andy Nicol hailed the "never say die" attitude of his battlers.

"This team has a lot of belief, and we're disappointed we didn't win," said the Glasgow Caledonian Reds star.

"Giving Wales a big lead made it very difficult, but we showed a lot of guts."

Wales fly-half Neil Jenkins -- who hit 23 of Wales' 28 points with the boot spoke of the despair in the Welsh dressing room after going in to such a big lead.

"We blew it, absolutely blew it," he said.

"We thought the game was under control, but we let ourselves down defensively again.  No disrespect, but we lost it rather than Scotland winning it.  Hopefully we can build on this."

The difference between the two kickers was obvious right from the start of a try-less forst half, with Jenkins drop-goal in the very first minute flying over to set the scoreboard in motion, and Kenny Logan's first penalty attempt for Scotland going wide, when in truth it was an eminently kickable chance.

It was the two kickers who dominated the first half, or to be more precise one kicker -- Neil Jenkins.  His penalty on seven minutes put Wales 6-0 up, hit back with a penalty from straight in front outside the 22.

Possibly learning their lessons from their Cardiff abomination against England, Wales took the points when they were on offer, with a second drop-goal from Jenkins following, before a third penalty and then another drop goal as the backs struggled to engineer gaps.

One of the attacks which may have yielded the first try was stopped illegally by giant lock Richard Metcalfe, when he curtailed Scott Gibbs' chip-and-chase by body checking him as he ran to retrieve the ball.

In a fairly scrappy half the last word went to Kenny Logan who pulled the scores slightly back with an easy penalty from inside the 22 for an 18-6 half-time score.

The second-half saw both teams come out with tries in mind, and it was Scotland's willingness to throw the ball around in the backs which led to the first try of the match -- unfortunately it went to Wales.

With Scotland in possession in midfield John Leslie saw the space out wide and launched a loop pass, but Wales and Swansea centre Mark Taylor had anticipated the mistake, and as Leslie's pass failed to clear Taylor he stuck his arms in to the air and claimed the ball for a free run-in from the halfway line for the try, which Jenkins converted from under the posts.

Scotland hit back virtually straight away when fullback Chris Paterson set away down the left wing from halfway, but with men to beat it looked as if his progress would be limited to the 22.  A shocking attempted tackle by fullback Rhys Williams -- a late addition for the injured Stephen Jones -- saw Paterson breeze in under the posts for the converted try, and the was deficit brought back to 25-13.  All this in the five minutes after the break.

Normality was soon restored to Murrayfield as Logan went about missing his third kickable penalty of the afternoon, but he got the next one with 20 minutes left on the clock as Scotland applied the pressure.

The normally reliable Jenkins then proved that Logan was not the only player capable of missing easy points, as he sliced a penalty wide of the posts, and there was a real charge on from both teams, but Jenkins composed himself to slot over his fourth penalty as the match went in to the last 10 minutes with Graham Henry's Wales 28-16 up.

Scotland probed the Welsh line, and after the video referee had denied them a score from a pile-up over the Welsh line, it was down to centre James McLaren to do the honours with a crashing try as he barged over the line on the burst after the the ball had been moved left, but again, Logan produced a diabolical kick to miss the extra points.

Scotland were not done though, and as prop forward Tom Smith broke down the left from the Welsh 22 it seemed incomprehensible that he could beat Llanelli flyer Mark Jones for pace, but the British Lion threw a dummy and accelerated past the wing for a precious try -- but Scotland were still two points down.

Kenny Logan shirked the responsibility of the testing conversion from between the posts and the left touch line, and it was down to Duncan Hodge to strike the extras to tie the game.  The Edinburgh star sent Murrayfield in to delirium as he nailed the kick, but missed a late drop goal which could have won the match outright.

One man who will be feeling the strain from Murrayfield is Wales coach Graham Henry, who spoke after the game of the mood in the Welsh camp.

"We've come a long way in a week, and we've got to be positive, but yeah we're disappointed," he said.

"It's always a worry when you concede that many points, and we need to work harder.  There's no magic wand though."

Att:  67,500
Referee:  Steve Lander (Eng)
Touch Judges:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand), Joel Jutge (France).

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Richard Metcalfe, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Andy Nicol (c), 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 John Leslie, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Gordon McIlwham, James Craig, Stuart Grimes
Unused:  Alan Bulloch, Bryan Redpath, Steve Scott, Jason White

Wales:  1 Darren Morris, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Andrew Moore, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Dafydd James, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Spencer John, Rupert Moon, Craig Quinnell
Unused:  Geraint Lewis, Allan Bateman, Garin Jenkins, Gareth Thomas

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  McLaren J.G. 1, Paterson C.D. 1, Smith T.J. 1
Conv:  Hodge D.W. 1, Logan K.McK. 1
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 3

Wales
Tries:  Taylor M. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 1
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 4
Drop G.:  Jenkins N.R. 3

France 16 Scotland 6

Biarritz wing Philippe Bernat-Salles managed to produce the only moment of excitement at the Stade de France, Paris, as his try helped France to an uninspiring and error-ridden 16-6 win over Scotland in the Six Nations Championship.

Bernat-Salles' try immediately after half-time had looked like bringing to life a poor advert for rugby, which yielded 28 handling errors, 33 turnovers and 27 penalties, but unfortunately failed to do so, as a capacity 80,000 crowd showed their disapproval by booing their victorious side on the final whistle.

Harsh critics may lay some blame with Australian referee Stuart Dickinson's apparent pedantry, but in truth it was an inept 80 minutes of rugby from every player on the pitch which conspired to produce one of the dullest and most incohesive Six Nations matches in recent memory.

Scotland defied their tag as extreme underdogs by holding Les Bleus 6-6 at the interval, but with France tipped as England's main rivals for the championship, Clive Woodward's men can sleep easy if France play out the rest of the competition in the manner they did this game.

Speaking after the game, Scotland coach Ian Mcgeechan spoke of where exactly the game was lost:  "We had one casual minute after half-time, and that was ultimately the difference.  We're all very disappointed, and thought we played well.  We created opportunities in the first-half, and thought we were very competitive, but it didn't show on the scoreboard.

"The crowd weren't too happy about what was going on, and that worked in our favour."

The band's decision to play two verses of "Flower of Scotland" before the match caught players and fans alike by surprise, but a bigger shock was on the cards for the Scots as the game got underway.

Cameron Murray chipped ahead down the right wing in to the French 22 after only two minutes, and from the resulting ruck near the line, their creative centre-piece Gregor Townsend felt the full weight of the French pack, with his knee buckling, and an early exit for the Castres fly-half, who spent the remainder of the game under ice on the bench.

Duncan Hodge was summoned on to fill the breach, and the more structured conservative approach of the Edinburgh star may have helped Ian McGeechan's side, as the French struggled to break them down from the first and second phase, and Hodge probed the French fringes around the base of the rucks.

Scrum-half Andy Nicol shouldered much of the attacking burden for the Scots, breaking succesfully on more than one occasion with a dummy and burst of pace, but ultimately resulting in no first-half tries, with the sides going in tied at 6-6 at the break.

On paper that score may well have flattered Scotland, but in an atmospherically lacking Stade de France they were every bit as threatening as their opponents, taking the lead after 11 minutes with a Kenny Logan penalty.

Christophe Lamaison -- largely deprived of quick ball from Fabien Galthie -- levelled the scores minutes later, only for Logan to once again put Scotland ahead with a penalty.

Nicol's sniping runs got the large Scottish travelling contingent going midway through the half, and when he broke from the 22 to face a one on one with fullback Garbajosa it looked as if a score might be on, but with support visibly lacking he threw away possession for France to counter through the strangely quiet Olivier Magne, who worked the ball in to the Scotland half and subsequently inside down the right.

It fell to Bernat-Salles who thought he had a shout for a try, but a superb last ditch intervention from Kenny Logan's left thigh meant that the video referee had no option but not to award the score.

A penalty from Lamaison brought the scores to 6-6 minutes before the break, but the last act of the first-half was the sin-binning of flanker Martin Leslie for Scotland after what at first appeared to be a blatant clothes-line on Bernat-Salles near the Scottish line, but on later inspection revealed a spot of amateur dramatics from the Frenchman, who although collared was merely tackled at shoulder height.

Lamaison missed the chance to send his side in ahead at half-time with the resulting penalty, but the first minute of the second period saw that elusive French spark finally rear its head.

Stade Francais' Franck Comba broke from midfield outside the 22, and after a weaving crossfield run found the lively Bernat-Salles outside him on the right flank.  Looking like the Scottish cover would be enough to bundle him in to the advertising hoardings, the Biarritz flyer side-stepped Kenny Logan and then jinked his way past Stuart Grimes over the line for the try, converted by Lamaison for a 13-6 lead.

A huge up and under from Lamaison caused further tremors in the Scotland rearguard, with the impressive Chris Paterson taking his eye off the ball on the edge of the 22, and Andy Nicol scurrying back to touch down under pressure from the French runners.

France rang the changes, and the presence of former captain Abdelatif Benazzi inspired the pack, as Magne charged for the Scotland line from the 22.  He was held short and Bernat-Salles tried to pick up and dive over but to no avail.  With a whole back line waiting Scotland sensiby conceded a penalty by killing the ruck, and as the wedge failed to break down the now organised Scotland, the danger was averted.

Captain Fabien Pelous was the next to have a go, when he threw a dummy on the 22 and broke for the line.  When a direct sprint for the try seemed the more fruitful option, Pelous looked out wide for the added gas of Bernat-Salles, but the looping pass gave the Scots time to regroup, and the winger was bundled in to touch.  Referee Stuart Dickinson -- unnecessarily pedantic on a number of occasions -- went back for an earlier penalty, which Lamaison struck wide from the right touch line.

Scotland had to endure the last 15 minutes without their scrum-half and captain Andy Nicol due to injury, with Sale Sharks' Bryan Redpath on to try and spark some life in to what had materialised in to an extremely dull and error-ridden match.

Kenny Logan went about trying to do just that, breaking from halfway through the French centres and offloading to Chris Paterson at pace down the left wing.  Paterson snaked inside and as a gap opened up for Jon Petrie, the Glasgow No.8 couldn't hold on for what could well have been a try, with Garbajosa's frailties at fullback once again exposed as he slipped over for Paterson to glide past him.

The Toulouse fullback went some way to making up for 78 minutes of ineptitude when he tore away from the defence down the left wing from 40 metres out.  With only Paterson to beat, the Scotsman raced across the pitch to bundle him in to the corner flag, followed by Olivier Magne clattering in to Cameron Murray as he shaped up to take a quick lineout.

The French crowd finally came to life at the end of the game as Lamaison slotted over an 85th minute penalty, only to boo their side, who had won the game, but lost French respect after a dull and unco-ordinated showing.

Man of the match:  Philippe Bernat-Salles (France)

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 David Auradou, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Moni, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Christophe Lamaison, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Richard Dourthe, 13 Franck Comba, 14 David Bory, 15 Xavier Garbajosa
Reserves:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Serge Betsen Tchoua, Christian Califano, Gerald Merceron
Unused:  Olivier Azam, Philippe Carbonneau, Christophe Dominici

Scotland:  1 Tom Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Richard Metcalfe, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Budge Pountney, 7 Martin Leslie, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Andy Nicol (c), 10 Gregor Townsend, 11 Kenny Logan, 12 John Leslie, 13 James McLaren, 14 Cammie Murray, 15 Chris Paterson
Reserves:  Gordon McIlwham, Alan Bulloch, Stuart Grimes, Duncan Hodge, Bryan Redpath, Robbie Russell, Jason White

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch Judges:  Scott Young (Australia), Mark Lawrence (South Africa)

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 1
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 3

Scotland
Pen K.:  Logan K.McK. 2

Ireland 41 Italy 22

The opening game of the 2001 Six Nations saw Ireland rally in the second-half to a 41-22 win over Italy in Rome, with a hat-trick from centre Rob Henderson.

After a first-half which saw Italy stun Ireland with a try from wing Corrado Pilat, centre Rob Henderson got one in injury time before the break for a half time advantage of 19-15 to the visitors.

Ireland recorded their first opening day win since 1988, and afterwards their coach Warren Gatland said:  "We came here to get a result and we got a result.  Obviously we are happy -- we would have been happy with a one-point win.  We nearly let it slip before half time."

Captain and hooker Keith Wood added:  "I'm pretty bloody happy.  We got a win."

The pre-match news that talismanic fly-half Diego Dominguez was absent from the Italian line-up must have Ireland licking their lips, and as deputy Ramiro Pez -- also born in Cordoba, Argentina was visibly nervous, it looked as if an Irish romp was on the cards.

Not to be though in the first-half, as a penalty exchange from Italian wing Pilat, and Ronan O'Gara for the visitors saw Ireland nosing ahead at 6-3 after a scrappy opening ten minutes.

The loss of Dominguez was an expensive one, for as well as Diego Dominguez kicks usually and kicked in the opening Six Nations match in 2000 so Italy kicked poorly in this match.  Indeed Italy were behind at half-time only because of failed kicks.  By half-time Italy had scored two tries to Ireland's one.

Italy were surprisingly better than Ireland in the forwards.  They were better at set pieces -- putting pressure on Ireland at scrum time, winning their own line-outs and pinching two of Irelands -- and in driving play.  But outside of the forwards Italy were no match for the Irish, even without start centre Brian O'Driscoll who was out because of injury.  At first O'Gara used a barrage of Garryowens to upset the Italians but it was the Irish running which finished them off.

The first scoring was came from penalties to make the score 9-3 to Ireland when Christian Stoica, the Italian centre a suprise selection at fullback for this match, cut through the Irish defence and despite Ireland's manful efforts to recover, he was there to take a return pass and then float one out to Corrado Pilat on the Italian right wing.  Pilat scored in the corner.  He was injured in the effort and replaced.  He had also been Italy's first-choice kicker for the match and was replaced by Pez for the rest of the match.

At this stage Italy lost prop Alejandro Moreno to the sin bin after a report from touch judge Bob Dickson.  While he was away, Rob Henderson, the man of the match, burst through the fragile Italian middle on a long surging run for a try which Ronan O'Gara converted.  O'Gara added another penalty to make the score 19-8, and it looked as if Ireland was running away with it.

But the Italians, sparked by stocky scrumhalf Alessandro Troncon, came back and eventually went over in a bundle.  Jonathan Kaplan was unsighted and referred to the television match official, Ed Morrison.

The process was long but eventually the telly ref found that Paulo Cecchinato had scored, to the roared approval of the Italian supporters.  Pez converted and half-time brought a score of 19-15 to Ireland, not a comfortable lead.

Warren Gatland, the Irish coach, probably had harsh things to say to the Irish at half-time for they came out firing in the second half.  In no time Henderson was over for his second try, which O'Gara again converted.  Then some clever play by Tyrone Howe on the left wing brought Henderson his third.  First Howe skilfully beast his man.  Then confronted by Stoica he kicked a beautifully weighted kick some 30m into the Italian in-goal area where Henderson outstripped the Italians to score.  Stoica in the meantime had blocked Howe's passage with a dropped shoulder.  The try was the result of good advantage by the referee, Jonathan Kaplan.

The Italian forwards continued to strive manfully and the Irish backs continued to score skilfully.  It was not long before Shane Horgan was over on the right wing.

Peter Clohessy, not for the first time in his career, incurred the referee's displeasure and a yellow card for putting studs on an opponent's body.  Malcolm O'Kelly was fortunate that the same fate did not befall him for the same reason at the same incident.

The Italians went one better in ill-discipline.  Peter Stringer pulled Alessandro Trocon's jersey as the Italian scrumhalf was striving to get close to the action not far from the Italian goal-line.  Troncon swung round, swung a punch and laid Stringer out.  For this Troncon was given a red card.

Ireland enjoyed his absence, and O'Gara, who had had a wonderful afternoon, tiptoed through the Italian defence to make the score 41-15.

Just before the end, the strong Italian flank, Mauro Bergamasco, burst straight down the field from a maul to score, untouched by the fanned Irish defence, under the posts.  Pez converted to make the final score 41-22 to Ireland.

Afterwards Keith Wood said:  "We are bloody pleased to have won."

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 David Wallace, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Tyrone Howe, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Mike Mullins, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Jeremy Davidson, David Humphreys, Brian O'Meara, Emmet Byrne, Kevin Maggs, Frankie Sheahan, Andy Ward

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Andrea Muraro, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Carlo Checchinato, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Carlo Caione, 8 David Dal Maso, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Ramiro Pez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Giovanni Raineri, 14 Corrado Pilat, 15 Cristian Stoica
Reserves:  Filippo Frati, Ezio Galon, Walter Pozzebon, Giampiero De Carli, Giuseppe Lanzi, Tino Paoletti, Aaron Persico

Referee:  Kaplan j.

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Henderson R.A.J. 3, Horgan S.P. 1, O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 2
Pen K.:  O'Gara R.J.R. 4

Italy
Tries:  Bergamasco M. 1, Checchinato C. 1, Pilat C. 1
Conv:  Pez R. 2
Pen K.:  Pilat C. 1

Wales 15 England 44

Will Greenwood helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in half an hour on Saturday as England empahtically put Wales to the sword in the Six Nations clash at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, running out 44-15 winners.

Had it not been for Scott Quinnell's second-half try then it would have been a record, but even so, the manner of this defeat must send shudders through the Welsh Rugby Union, as a clinical, organised, and more importantly attacking England seemed to back up Wales coach Graham Henry's claims that they are now truly among the elite of world rugby.

It took England only 11 minutes to register their first score of the day, when man of the match Greenwood touched down in what was to be the start of an avalanche of tries in the first half, which saw England 29-8 up at half time, after Greenwood's first two, and a pair for scrum-half Matt Dawson, who was a constant threat in the No.9 shirt.

The only cheer of the day from the Welsh fans was when Neil Jenkins reached the 1000 point mark in Test rugby (including his 41 for the Lions), but by then the result was well beyond their reach.

Clive Woodward's men proved that their autumn wins over Australia and South Africa were no flukes, with the other try on the day coming from Northampton wing Ben Cohen, whose pre-match build up had been dominated by the repercussions from that "Shane who?" quote about Shane Williams -- who did not earn a place in the squad this time round.

Wales themselves salvaged two tries from the game, both as a result of scrum-half Rob Howley's acceleration at the base of the ruck, with one try for the man himself, and one created by him for Scott Quinnell in the second half.

England manager Clive Woodward denied after the game that it had been a completely one sided affair, saying:  "We expected Wales to come out hard, and they did.

"Will Greenwood and Mike Catt were outstanding for us, and it's refreshing to talk about the England back line for a change.

"We gave full respect to Wales, and it was a brilliant start for England, although we could have got a couple more in the second-half."

Hat-trick hero Will Greenwood said after his afternoon to remember:  "We knew the kitchen sink would come at us right from the start, and we had to take the crowd out of the equation.

"Jonny Wilkinson got right in their faces, and made a lot of space out wide.  All of my tries were team tries, and it was a lot of fun out there.  We're building a good squad at the moment, but we're not going to go around saying how good we are."

Despite the end result, Wales nearly got the ideal start when after two minutes of solid pressure in the England 22, Scott Gibbs floated over a delicately weighted chip which caught the England defence on the back foot.

The ball took a vicious backspin when it landed in the try area, and as Balshaw scurried back he appeared to fail to ground it properly, and with Dafydd James for Wales and Ben Cohen for England both going down on the ball in a heap, it was down to the video referee to adjudicate that Cohen had got the first downward pressure, saving his side from conceding an early score.

Neil Jenkins tried to break the deadlock on his home patch with a 52 metre penalty, but unfortunately for the Welshman it dropped just short.

England had just the answer to silence the Millennium Stadium crowd, and when Jonny Wilkinson broke from halfway, the Welsh defence magnetically drew to him as he streaked away down the left wing.

Wilkinson had the composure to look round and assess the support, and it was the timely inside run of Will Greenwood which caught Wilkinson's eye as he lobbed an inside pass over the head of the retreating Welsh in to the arms of the Harlequins centre to breeze under the posts for the converted try.

Before Wales had even had chance to draw breath the misery was compounded even further, as a run from England fullback Iain Balshaw down the right wing saw him beat his opposite number for pace, before being hauled back five metres short of the line.

Once again it was the superb support play of Will Greenwood which saved the day, as it was he who had started the move in midfield with a long loop pass.  Balshaw presented the ball for Greenwood on a plate, and with shouts of "double movement" from the crowd, Greenwood legally grounded the ball just over the line, with Wilkinson missing the conversion, and hitting a penalty soon after.  But Wales had a trick up their sleeve as the game restarted.

Scrum-half Rob Howley picked up from the base of a ruck on the England 22 and shaped to pass out wide on the right.  Both Phil Vickery and Richard Hill took the bait, and as Howley held on himself, he accelerated through the gap at a speed the critics doubted that he still had, with a diagonal burst in to the right corner sealing the try, which Jenkins failed to convert for his 1000 points in Test rugby (including British Lions).

It was Howley's opposite number Matt Dawson who touched down the next try of the game on the half hour, in what was shaping in to a more expansive England game.

Wilkinson changed the direction of play ten metres out with a long pass to Mike Catt, but with the Wales defence offside the penalty was given just right of the posts.  Dawson turned down the kickable three points and tapped quickly to go himself from five metres.  Chris Wyatt on the Welsh line went in too high for the tackle as Dawson slid under him for the try, which Wilkinson had no problems in converting.

Neil Jenkins then once again missed the 1000 point mark as his long penalty struck the left upright, and England cleared with the midfield ruck seeming to bring play to a halt.  Not so as Dawson picked up from the base, and like Howley ten minutes before sucked in the Wales forwards with a calculated dummy.

From fully 50 metres he raced away, and with only new fullback Stephen Jones to beat stepped first off the right foot, then the left, leaving Jones in a hypnotic daze as the Llanelli man fell backwards, with Dawson jogging in to place the ball for his second try of the half, and England's fourth as Wilkinson converted for a 29-8 half-time lead.

Wales weren't given any breathing room as the second-half started, when only two minutes in a charged down clearance by Wales was snapped up by Ben Cohen, who found Greenwood in space for the centre to complete his hat-trick and go over for the try in the right corner, with Wilkinson missing the conversion.

England were flying, with passes finding men out wide, and a renewed imagination from Clive Woodward's side, demonstrated perfectly when Austin Healey dropped two sidesteps on halfway before the ball found its way to Iain Balshaw on halfway down the right wing.

The Bath star chipped ahead and made a mockery of opposite number Stephen Jones in a footrace to the ball under the posts.  With the attentions of Colin Charvis the only obstacle between Balshaw and that dream try, the England man hacked in to the try area but made a hash of the touchdown as he dived, palming the ball, but unfortunately for England not in to the ground.

Another penalty from Wilkinson nudged England further ahead with 24 minutes to go, before Ben Cohen steamed through the Wales back line on a diagonal run to power over for another try.

With Wales well and truly on the rack, they produced a spark of inspiration to earn one of the truly great milestones in Rugby history.

With a seemingly innocuous scrum just inside their own half, Howley broke from the base and sped through the dawdling England line.  With the defence flocking round him Howley threw a superb reverse scissors pass for Scott Quinnell on the burst from 30 metres out to run the try in.

With the scoreline irrelevant, Neil Jenkins finally kicked over his 1000th point in Test rugby, a monumental landmark for a player whose consistency has never wavered, but a brief aside from this otherwise dour afternoon for the Welsh game.

Man of the match:  Will Greenwood (England)

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Darren Morris, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Chris Wyatt, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Rob Howley, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Stephen Jones
Reserves:  Mark Jones, Allan Bateman, Spencer John, Rupert Moon, Andrew Moore
Unused:  Geraint Lewis, Garin Jenkins

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Dorian West, 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 Dan Luger, 12 Mike Catt, 13 Will Greenwood, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Martin Corry, Austin Healey, Matt Perry, Mike Tindall, Trevor Woodman
Unused:  Mark Regan, Julian White

Referee:  Dume j.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Howley R. 1, Quinnell L.S. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 1
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 1

England
Tries:  Dawson M.J.S. 2, Greenwood W.J.H. 3, Cohen B.C. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

England 25 South Africa 17

Date:  02 Dec 2000
Venue:  Twickenham
Attendance:  Not Recorded
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Let there be no doubt about it, England have come of age.  If there was ever any reservation -- following a win in South Africa and a victory over Australia a fortnight previously -- that England was not a member of the exclusive "top three in the world club", it was completely overcome at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.

Having led 19-9 at the break, England held off a concerted South African effort early in the second half to prove that that win in Bloemfontein in June was no fluke.  As expected, they were hard and uncompromising, and although the rugby on display was not terribly exciting, it was unquestionably passionate.

For South Africa, it was not to be another great escape.  Both Ireland and Wales had their chances, but on both occasions the Springboks hauled out something special at the end to keep their tour on a winning track.

At Twickenham that late spark failed to ignite as England closed down the slightest break and smothered anything loose.

Speaking after the game England manager Clive Woodward saluted his side, who made it two wins over southern hemisphere opposition in two weeks.

"That was a big, big win for us today," he said.

"The marks out of ten won't be fantastic.  Our front five were excellent, and the captaincy of Martin Johnson has proved really strong.  It was a good performance but we could have played better."

Kicking hero of the day Jonny Wilkinson said after the match which saw him split his head in the opening minute:  "The first 15 minutes were impossible.

"We could have quite easily gone back in to our shells but we took the challenge."

Wilkinson also dismissed recent criticism of the Twickenham turf, after the mud-bath surface for the Argentina Test last Saturday.

"The pitch was as good as I have ever seen it, and kicking wasn't really a problem."

Much of the early going was South Africa's, but it was of little value as far as points were concerned.  First Percy Montgomery, back to the familiar role of fullback, failed to find touch with a penalty, and then Robbie Fleck threw a hopelessly forward pass to Stefan Terblanche when the try looked decidedly on.

So it was England who opened the scoring through Jonny Wilkinson with a 40-metre strike, and then Braam van Straaten put the Boks on the board with another penalty.

Wilkinson had restored the three-point lead when South Africa finally found a way through the English defence, via Breyton Paulse's pace and through kick.  The Boks were awarded a scrum and Montgomery dashed through, only to be held up on the line.

The homeside, however, were offside and again Van Straaten levelled matters.  In that period England lost the services of both their flanks, with Martin Corry coming on for Richard Hill, and reserve hooker Mark Regan taking over at the side of the scrum from Neil Back.  Regan's spell in the unknown was gratifyingly short though, with Back returning just before the break.

Wilkinson, in the meantime, was growing in confidence.  He pushed and prodded with that deft left foot of his, always pressing the Boks back.

In a desperate effort to fall back and defend, South Africa inevitably went offside, with England scrumhalf Matt Dawson taking a string of quick taps.  In between that, a rolling battle continued amongst the more robust and less focused.  The net result was another three points to Wilkinson, and Japie Mulder having to receive attention for a bloody gash.

Perhaps Mulder's absence created the gap, but Will Greenwood pounced on the opportunity.  He collected a short pass from Wilkinson and split the Bok midfield defence for the opening try.

Van Straaten and Wilkinson exchanged penalties to end the half with England in front 19-9.

South Africa's brightest hope came in the unlikely form of Van Straaten.  So often derided for his cumbersome running, his one dimensional play and unimaginative options, the stand off darted through a gap, broke three tackles and crashed over for a try four minutes into the half.

The score gave rise to a period of sustained Bok pressure, but the visitors could find no way through.  England's defence held firm and then Wilkinson began working his magic once more.

24 minutes after Van Straaten's touchdown, Wilkinson threaded a ball through that ended up just metres from the Bok tryline.  South Africa, once again on the back foot, transgressed and again Wilkinson punished them.

Van Straaten, en route to scoring all 17 of South Africa's points, pulled one back but Wilkinson held his nerve at the seething stadium to slot his sixth penalty and seal the win.

Speaking after the game, England try-scorer Will Greenwood outlined the renewed enjoyment of this campaign, and admitted that the first half score had surprised himself as well as the Springbok defence.

"I'm delighted to be back playing for England, and we've been doing a lot of work between the stand-off and the first centre this week."

"I didn't even realise that I had a left-foot sidestep in the cupboard," he added.

Man of the match:  Close competition from Will Greenwood, but Jonny Wilkinson was superb.  As he proved against Australia, he is a man for the big occasions.  He was South Africa's undoing in Bloemfontein, and he did so again on Saturday night.  In all, the pivot scored 20 points on top of his clever kicks and sending his line away with good ball.

Moment of the match:  Greenwood slicing through the middle.  Until then, the match had threatened to be a rather dour and solely physical affair.  Alternatively, England hooker Phil Greening with a huge pin-point kick for touch under pressure in his 22 in the second half which raised a smile from everyone in the ground.

Villain of the match:  Far too many candidates to choose from.  With so many off the ball incidents -- from both sides -- it would be unfair to single out just one offender.

England 25 South Africa 17 (H-t 19-9)

England:  Matt Perry (Bath);  Ben Cohen (Northampton), Mike Tindall (Bath), Will Greenwood (Harlequins), Dan Luger (Saracens);  Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle), Matt Dawson (Northampton);  Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps), Neil Back (Leicester), Richard Hill (Saracens);  Danny Grewcock (Saracens), Martin Johnson (Leicester, capt);  Julian White (Saracens), Phil Greening (Wasps), Jason Leonard (Harlequins).
Replacements used:  Martin Corry (Leicester), Mark Regan (Bath), Iain Balshaw (Bath), Phil Vickery (Gloucester), Austin Healey (Leicester)

Try:  Greenwood.
Conversion:  Wilkinson
Penalties:  Wilkinson (6)

South Africa:  Percy Montgomery (Western Province);  Breyton Paulse (Western Province), Robbie Fleck (Western Province), Japie Mulder (Golden Lions), Stefan Terblanche (Natal);  Braam van Straaten (Western Province), Joost van der Westhuizen (Blue Bulls);  Andre Vos (Golden Lions, capt) Andre Venter (Free State), Corne Krige (Western Province);  Mark Andrews (Natal), Albert van den Berg (Natal);  Willie Meyer (Golden Lions), John Smit (Natal), Robbie Kempson (Western Province)
Replacements used:  Grant Esterhuizen (Golden Lions), AJ Venter (Natal), Ollie le Roux (Natal), Dan van Zyl (Western Province), Warren Brosnihan (Natal)

Try:  Van Straaten
Penalties:  Van Straaten (4)

Referee:  David McHugh (Irl)
Att:  75,000

Wales 13 South Africa 23

Date:  26 Nov 2000
Venue:  Cardiff-Millennium Stadium
Attendance:  Not Recorded
Referee:  Walsh s.jnr

At a packed Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Sunday afternoon, South Africa scored 10 points in injury time to not only keep new Springbok coach Harry Viljoen's hundred per cent Test record, but extract revenge for last year's shock loss to Wales in Cardiff with a 23-13 victory.

In a desperately tight match, that perfect Viljoen record looked in constant threat as his side battled to come to grips with the wet conditions and an uncompromisingly physical Welsh side.

Viljoen's request for the stadium roof to be shut fell on deaf ears, and the rain-soaked Cardiff pitch was more reminiscent of the classic 1970s bogs of the old Cardiff Arms Park, resulting in a stifled game for the expansive Boks, and a plethera of handling errors.

That South Africa won by ten points seems a travesty given the relentless probing and commitment of the Welsh, who went in at the break deservedly 10-6 in the lead, and tied at 13 - 13 with less than five minutes to go.

The Springbok rally came despite being a man down after Robbie Fleck was eventually sin-binned for his constant and needless illegal challenges.

In that period, Breyton Paulse, who had barely seen the ball the entire game, finally sniped through the defence and ultimately set up a penalty that Braam van Straaten converted from point blank range.

Three minutes later he sealed the win when he sliced the Welsh defence in two with one of his characteristically jinxing runs.

All this excitement though, only came at the end.  On Saturday, Viljoen warned that the game would degenerate into a kicking exercise.  After this performance, he is certainly a man of his word.

Apart from the kicking though, South Africa made far too many mistakes.  Were it not for England's sub-standard performance against Argentina the day before, Viljoen would have been an extremely worried man going into next Saturday's Test in London.  As it is, he is probably merely worried at the moment.

South Africa opened the scoring through Van Straaten in the fourth minute with a penalty after a string of rolling mauls was only halted 10 metres from the Welsh line when the visitors were blown up for going over the top.

Wales had a chance to respond eight minutes later when South Africa, under immediate pressure in the scrums, were blown up for the second time for scrumming up.  Neil Jenkins, uncharacteristically, pushed the kick wide, but two minutes later Jenkins did equalise when the Boks were penalised for going off-side.

South Africa countered immediately.  Despite three golden opportunities to score though, they failed to capitalise.  First, Delport's scorching run down the left touchline was stopped less than a metre from the tryline by a magnificent covering tackle from Gareth Thomas.

Albert van den Berg spoilt the resultant lineout, but when South Africa swung it wide, they knocked on.

Fortune was still egging them on though.  The Boks won the tighthead, but Joost van der Westhuizen dropped the ball and Rob Howley hacked it forward.

The Boks, in turn, were called upon to put in some desperate tackles.

They hung on and Van Straaten restored them to the lead with his second penalty.

In the meantime, Chester Williams had replaced Pieter Rossouw on the left-wing.  He first managed to lose the ball in the tackle, and then kneed the ball into touch in his own 22 when it was clearly going there, unaided, from a Welsh boot.

From the lineout, Wales punched through the midfield and Scott Gibbs, enroute to the tryline, shoved Van der Westhuizen into the mud before diving over.  The Jenkins conversion gave the Welsh a 10-6 lead as they ran up the tunnel.

South Africa, having soaked up much of the early second half pressure induced by the Welsh, started playing with a conviction they had failed to show in the first half.

They won a number of five metre scrums and eventually Van der Westhuizen found a way over after Andre Vos had picked from the base of the scrum and driven forward.

Arwel Thomas, much to the crowd's delight, replaced Jenkins and within a minute of his coming on, stepped up to slot a 40 metre penalty to level the scores.

Buoyed by that early success, Thomas attempted two drop kicks and a penalty from slap in front of the poles, all of which missed by some margin.

As injury time ticked away, those misses were to prove particularly costly.

Man of the match:  Andre Venter.  So often the unsung hero of the South African cause.  Venter was brilliant in the wet conditions.  He never missed a tackle, always made ground when on the drive and, when AJ Venter replaced Albert van den Berg, took his ball in the lineout.  To top it all, it was his initial beak that set up the penalty that put the Boks into the lead in the 81st minute.

Moment of the match:  Venter breaking at least two tackles and surging through the gap.  His break finally gave the Boks the thrust to strike the knockout blow.

Villain of the match:  Definitely Robbie Fleck.  He behaved like a hyper-active child on the field and his foul play was not only palpably in bad taste, but immensely daft as well.  He is far too talented a player to be reduced to that level.

The scorers

Wales:  Try by Scott Gibbs.  Neil Jenkins kicked one conversion and one penalty and Arwel Thomas kicked one penalty.

South Africa:  Tries by Joost van der Westhuizen and Breyton Paulse.  Braam van Straaten kicked two conversions and three penalties.

England 19 Argentina 0

Date:  25 Nov 2000
Venue:  Twickenham
Attendance:  60000
Referee:  Lewis a.

After a troubled week off the field, England put in an uninspiring performance in poor conditions to beat Argentina by 19-0.

Like the week that preceded it, this match is probably best forgotten by all true fans of English rugby.  While shocking conditions at Twickenham probably contributed to the lack of spectacle, the England team -- who days earlier had threatened to withdraw their labour over a pay dispute with the Rugby Football Union -- looked listless, unfocused and generally off their game.  In fact, had their fee for his outing been strictly performance related, the men in white would have been in receipt of a sum approximating to a round of beers in one of the stadium's many bars.

But it would be churlish to criticise England too harshly as it belittles the efforts of a battling Argentina side who refused to be swept aside and battled for every inch on the muddy Twickenham turf.  While they looked a little one-dimensional at times with their brand of 'up-the-middle', driving rugby, it was only the poor kicking performance of Gonzalo Quesada which had prevented the Pumas from drawing level

It was only when they were reduced to 14 men after Felipe Contepomi was yellow-carded that the Pumas' defensive wall started to show cracks.  In the 69th minute, a solid England scrum in the Pumas 22 allowed Wilkinson to grubber the ball behind the Puma defence.  The ball bounced off the post and Ben Cohen was on hand to seize on the ball and drive over for the only try of the contest.  Wilkinson was on target with the conversion to make it 19-nil and with his efficient personal display put himself into the history books as the youngest Test player to reach the 300 points barrier.

Just five minutes later England replacement Will Greenwood put Dan Luger in space and he flew down the left hand touchline.  It seemed that nothing could stop the hero of last week's victory over Australia, but a brilliant tackle from Ignacio Corletto stopped the Saracen in his tracks.

England had actually started at a fair pace, storming into the opposition's territory to enable fly-half Jonny Wilkinson to put his side up by 3-0 after just a minute when the Pumas came up offside.  But after that flying start, a litany of penalties went against them but the normally metronomic Quesada clearly hadn't packed his kicking boots and missed three penalties in the first half.

England who could only add a further Wilkinson penalty plus a drop goal to go into the break 9-0 to the good.

England continued to exert pressure throughout the second half and were laying siege to the Argentine line for the final quarter before running out of time.  It was not a vintage performance but one they will take satisfaction from, especially given the off-field happenings and the fact they succeeded in preventing the Pumas from registering any points.  Argentina could conjure few scoring opportunities of their own, although Ignacio Corletto did have one scorching run in the 61st minute, wrong-footing Cohen and dancing down the left touchline -- only a despairing Mike Catt tap-tackle preventing England's blushes.

But there are serious question marks hanging over England's creative ability in the backline.  They clearly have a number of exciting strike-runners in the likes of Iain Balshaw, Dan Luger and Ben Cohen but seem unable to craft scoring opportunities for them.  Balshaw, in particular, was particularly under-utilised in this match, more often receiving the ball from Argentine kicks rather than a team-mate's pass.

That said, the Bath flyer did squander a certain try during the second half, opting to go for individual glory in a two-on-one situation rather than pass to an unmarked Cohen on his outside.  That is the sort of decision which will need to addressed in the run-up to the upcoming Springbok Test.

England skipper Martin Johnson offered no excuses for the lacklustre efforts by his team.  "It was an extraordinary game.  Conditions were terrible and our skill let us down.  It was very difficult but there are no excuses.  It was not good enough.  A few overlaps went begging on a day when it was difficult to control the ball.  We could have moved it a lot more but kicked it.  What happened this week happened and there are no excuses for our performance."

Man of the Match:  Backrower Richard Hill was one of the few England players to consistently breach the gain-line against the Pumas and made a number of telling breaks before he was replaced late in the second half.  Hill also did a magnificent job in stopping the big Argentine forwards charging up the middle.

Scorers:
For England:  Try:  Ben Cohen.  Jonny Wilkinson kicked one conversion, three penalties and one drop-goal.

Italy 19 New Zealand 56

Date:  25 Nov 2000
Venue:  Genova
Attendance:  33000
Referee:  Davies r.

The touring New Zealand side ended their European tour on a winning note on Saturday, beating Italy 56-19 in a keenly contested Test in Genoa.

While the All Blacks won with ease, scoring eight tries to two, it was not a vintage performance and Italy, who lost their best player, scrum-half, Alessandro Troncon in the opening minute to a head injury, can take some pride in their show.

It was a vast improvement on their 101-3 defeat to the All Blacks in last year's World Cup, especially since they were hit by a hammer blow in the opening minute of the match when Troncon was injured in a ruck on his own 22 metre line.

He was attended to on the pitch for two minutes and was clearly confused by a blow to the head but there was no way he could continue and he was replaced by Filippo Frati.  His performance in a previous international with Canada was so indifferent that coach Brad Johnstone was forced to swallow his pride and recall Troncon whom he had dropped on a matter of principle.

So it was no surprise when stand-off Carlos Spencer, taking over from all-time leading New Zealand points scorer Andrew Mehrtens, popped over two early penalties to give the All Blacks a 6-0 lead.

Ramiro Pez, who had earlier missed a simple attempt, reduced the score to 6-3 with a penalty of his own for Italy but then the All Blacks scored the first try of the match with their first fluent back move of the half.

Centre Pita Alatini's pass found the opening, setting up winger Bruce Reihana who touched down for a try converted by Spencer.

That put the All Blacks 13-3 ahead but Pez quickly reduced arrears with two penalties as Italy's forwards put their opponents under real pressure.

They came close to a try with Welsh referee Robert Davies eventually awarding New Zealand a scrum on their own five-yard line just as it looked as though Italy would find the gap.  Even Frati was doing his bit with a far more convincing performance than against Canada.  Pez too had missed two relatively easy kicks for Italy although his positional kicking from hand was much better.

But while the half-backs were not quite up to the task Italy's front row of Andrea Muraro, Alessandro Moscardi and Andrea Lo Cicero -- much improved under the tutelage of former All Black prop Johnstone -- were excelling.

But six minutes before the break the All Blacks finally imposed themselves with two tries, the first of which sparked a furious brawl.

Scrum-half Justin Marshall made the initial break down the middle and flanker Filo Tiatia reaped the benefit touching down under a rough tackle from Frati.  That prompted the brawl with virtually all the players involved and boots, punches and headbutts flying around though no-one was penalised.

Then the All Blacks pulled further clear with their best passing move yet eventually letting in Auckland's Doug Howlett, who breached the line with this time the points being added by Spencer, who had led his team in the Haka just before the kick-off.

After the interval Italy centre Luca Martin was sin binned and the Kiwis quickly took advantage with Reihana, who replaced the injured Jonah Lomu for the second Test with France last Saturday, dummying full-back Christian Stoica and touching down in the corner for his second try.  Finally it was beginning to look as one-sided as had been predicted before the match and Spencer set up Ron Cribb for another try which this time was converted.

But Italy then delighted the big crowd at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium by scoring a try.  It was no surprise that it was the forwards who produced the score with the pack driving over from a penalty and Lo Cicero coming up with the ball under a pile of players.

Although then a solo try from half-back Marshall, who ran in unopposed, finally quietened the crowd down.  Now the All Blacks were beginning to showboat and man-of-the-match Christian Cullen created the opening for Spencer to score a try which he then converted.

No. 8 Cribb grabbed his second -- also converted -- before the match ended on a high note for the hosts as replacement Stefano Saviozzi touched down after another pack move in injury time.

It was Italy who took a lap of honour after a gutsy performance which will only further be boosted by the return of talismanic fly-half Diego Dominguez for the Six Nations Tournament in January.

Italy 19 All Blacks 56 (H-t: 9-25)

Italy:  Cristian Stoica; Massimiliano Perziano, Luca Martin, Giovanni Raineri, Denis Dallan; Ramiro Pez, Alessandro Troncon; Riccardo Piovan, Carlo Caione, Maurizio Zaffiri; Wilhelmus Visser, Andrea Gritti; Andrea Muraro, Alessandro Moscardi (capt), Andrea Lo Cicero Replacements used:  Giacomo Preo, Filippo Frati, Stefano Saviozzi, Andrea De Rossi, Luca Mastrodomenico, Tino Paoletti,
Replacement not used:  Nicola Mazzucato

Tries:  Lo Cicero, Saviozzi, Penalties:  Pez (3)

New Zealand:  Christian Cullen; Doug Howlett, Tana Umaga, Pita Alatini, Bruce Reihana; Carlos Spencer, Justin Marshall; Ron Cribb, Scott Robertson, Filo Tiatia; Tory Flavell, Todd Blackadder (capt); Greg Somerville, Anton Oliver, Greg Feek
Replacements used:  Andrew Mehrtens, Jason O'Halloran, Taine Randell, Norm Maxwell, Gordon Slater
Replacements not used:  Mark Hammett, Byron Kelleher

Tries; Reihana (2), Tiatia, Howlett, Cribb (2), Marshall, Spencer.  Conversions:  Spencer (5).  Penalties:  Spencer (2)

Sin Bins Italy -- Martin 44, Lo Cicero 70

Attendance:  33,000
Referee:  Robert Davies (Wal)

South Africa 28 Ireland 18

Any Ireland hopes of a first victory over South Africa in 35 years were dashed as they were beaten 28-18 in an entertaining encounter at Lansdowne Road.

It was an enthralling match.  Sometimes the enthralment was just to see how the Springboks would disentangle themselves from their quick little passes in desperate straits.  They passed near their line, they passed going backwards -- it was a case of carry on passing.

It was magnificent but was it rugby?  At times it seemed that the pass was an achievement of its own, instead of a means to improvement, to going somewhere.  At times there was a desperate need for something direct.  There were wonderfully direct moments, Thinus Delport running with acceleration and deception out of defence, Pieter Rossouw racing downfield at all sorts of angles from his own corner-flag, Braam van Straaten hoofing ahead and with great determination winning the ball that became Corné Krige's try.

In the midst of so many passes there shall not want error and that happened and yet the forwards somehow managed to get possession back.  Which was just as well as the Irish were telling on the run.  Both their tries were moments of splendour on the turf.  Their running was more organised than that of the Springboks with Brian O'Driscoll to add the spark.  An repeatedly they attacked the Springboks' right flank where Chester Williams found it hard to keep up.

The Springboks struggled with bits of organisation, especially at line-out and kick-off time.  The Irish line-outs were immaculate, those of the Springboks a matter of hit-and-miss.

As penalties proliferated at the start, the Springboks, wind at their backs, exerted pressure and Percy Montgomery's left boot put them ahead 6-0.  The Springboks did well at picking and driving and when held up on the Irish line, Joost van der Westhuizen squirreled over for a try which Montgomery converted.  It seemed that the Springboks were on course for a sound victory as, surely, the Irish defence could not last forever.

Last it did.  The Springboks bungled a kick-off and the Irish got back into the game.  Ronan O'Gara kicked a penalty of dubious validity as it seemed to veer outside the right upright, but Ed Morrison said it was over.  Later he got entangled in the Irish goal area when the ball struck him and Pieter Rossouw may have scored.  But by then the Irish were back.

They sped down the left wing, chipped and chased and Dennis Hickey easily won the sprint for the try.  They nearly had another in similar fashion, but the ball went too far at the kick ahead.  Thinus Delport's action after the kick landed him in the sinbin, where Peter Clohessy and Robbie Kempson had been before him.  Till the fullback's return the Springboks operated with only six backs.

After the interval Braam van Straaten came on for Robbie Fleck who later came back for Grant Esterhuizen.

Van Straaten and Esterhuizen combined to produce the next Springbok try as Van Straaten hoofed a dropped ball through, pounded after it, dived to won it.  Eventually Esterhuizen did a scrumhalf dive to Rossouw who turned inside before giving to Krige on his outside for the trough, hard-working flank to squeeze over in the corner.  South Africa led 18-13.

Then the Irish broke again when Dennis Hickie came round form the right wing and Tyrone Howe went down the left touchline to score -- a simple move straight from a line-out, no frills, just direct, well-organised rugby.

And so it came to pass, sure, that the score was 18-18 and the crowd was excited.  At that score the Springboks were awarded a penalty in front of the Irish posts, close in.  Symbolic of the modern Springbok approach, Albert van den Berg tapped and legged it to the Irish line, where it became a scrum.  But there had been something naughty and back they went to a penalty some 6m from touch.  And, yet again, Braam van Straaten kicked it over.

Back came the Springboks with a sudden burst of enthusiasm to batter at the Irish line till a pass went wide to Venter who lunged over at the posts.

The match ended soon afterwards and the rainbow came down behind the Irish posts.

It was a match, not a war, where the Springboks' main battle was to master the skills to play the thrilling game they want to play.

Afterwards Keith Woods, great but comparatively subdued as the Springboks kept tabs on him, said:  "I'm not happy.  We could have won it."

Man of the match:  Hard to call -- Joost van der Westhuizen was on the way back to being his effective best.  André Venter was so determined and with a new-found ability to distribute.  Thinus Delport had magic though he blotted his copybook with a yellow card.  Robbie Kempson who scrummed with dedication also spoilt his performance with a yellow card.  Brian O'Driscoll with the dancing feetis a centre of rare ability in world rugby, as he showed, but then it was his mistake thagt led to Corné Krige's try.  And that is our man of the match -- firm in the tackle, strong in the drive running well and being in exactly the right place to score a most telling try -- Corné Krige.

Villain of the match:  Not the three holders of yellow cards, for it was a match without malice.  Perhaps there were ageing folk who were on the field who were not up to standard, but then they did not put themselves there.  Perhaps there were no villains.

Defining moment:  The try which Braam started and Corné ended.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Robbie Kempson, 2 John Smit, 3 Willie Meyer, 4 Mark Andrews, 5 Albert Van Den Bergh, 6 Corne Krige, 7 Andre Venter, 8 Andre Vos (c), 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Percy Montgomery, 11 Pieter Rossouw, 12 Grant Esterhuizen, 13 Robbie Fleck, 14 Chester Williams, 15 Thinus Delport
Reserves:  Ollie Le Roux, Braam Van Straaten
Unused:  A.J. Venter, Deon Kayser, Hottie Louw, Charl Marais, Dan Van Zyl

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Eric Miller, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Rob Henderson, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Tyrone Howe, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Shane Horgan, David Humphreys, Justin Fitzpatrick, Andy Ward
Unused:  Paddy Johns, Brian O'Meara, Frankie Sheahan

Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Krige C.J.P. 1, Van Der Westhuizen J. 1, Venter A.G. 1
Conv:  Montgomery P.C. 1, Van Straaten A.J.J. 1
Pen K.:  Montgomery P.C. 2, Van Straaten A.J.J. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Hickie D.A. 1, Howe T.G. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R. 1
Pen K.:  O'Gara R. 2

France 42 New Zealand 33

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Marseilles
Attendance:  Not Recorded
Referee:  Kaplan j.

The golden boot of Christophe Lamaison finally tipped this enthralling international at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles in favour of France, allowing the home team to square the series against New Zealand with a 42-33 victory.

In this often breathtaking encounter, France had a 17-0 advantage after 10 minutes, wiped out by the enterprising All Blacks who established a 30-26 lead going into the final quarter.

But it was the unpredictable French who produced the smarter, more effective rugby in the closing stages.

After halfback Fabien Galthie had sent the French fans into raptures by being driven across for a try from an attacking lineout, a superbly engineered effort that restored France's lead, Lamaison provided the trimmings.

First he slotted the wide-angle conversion, then he slammed over a magnificent penalty goal from halfway and, in the tense final stages, as the All Blacks sought desperately to conjure up a matchwinning try, he coolly slotted two dropped goals.

In a magnificent game of rugby, the French and the All Blacks scored three tries each with Lamaison's haul of 27 points (he didn't miss once from 10 attempts) representing the difference at the finish.

It was one point fewer than Lamaison scored in France's stunning World Cup semi-final victory at Twickenham last November when he also scored a try to go with his nine goals.

The French were irresistible in the opening stanza, rocking the All Blacks with tries by Xavier Garbajosa (who started on the wing after David Bory was a late withdrawal) and Olivier Magne in the first eight minutes.

When Lamaison, who slotted both conversions from wide angles, then added a penalty goal the All Blacks were in big trouble, 17 points down.

All Blacks relish back-to-the-wall situations and over the next 40 minutes they turned the match so comprehensively, scoring three tries and making capital off Andrew Mehrtens' astute kicking, that a repeat of their Paris victory the previous weekend appeared inevitable.

However, the French weren't spent.  The introduction of experienced internationals Christian Califano and Olivier Brouzet for the final 30 minutes made a significant difference.

The All Black backs were slicker and more dangerous but in the final quarter of the game they saw precious little possession going forward as the French forwards lifted their effort.

The French should have wrapped up the game at 36-30 but inside centre Franck Comba went alone with players unmarked outside him and was hauled down metres from the goalposts with arguably the tackle of the match by hooker Anton Oliver.

That allowed the All Blacks to stay alive but although they tried everything in the final stages they couldn't find a way through the French defence and eventually the lineout problems, which have beset them throughout the year, proved their undoing.

When replacement hooker Mark Hammett's throw five metres from his own line plopped sweetly into Brouzet's hands it set up Lamaison's first droppie and another botched lineout in the final seconds presented Lamaison with another match-sealing three pointer.

The All Blacks undoubtedly missed Jonah Lomu on the left wing.  Although his replacement Bruce Reihana was enterprising, he lacked the power and dynamism that Lomu brings to the position.

However, Doug Howlett on the other wing was one of the stars of the game, using his speed and elusiveness to set up New Zealand's first try for Justin Marshall and outsprinted the defence for No 2.

In the final assessment, it was the strength and commitment of the French forwards, where captain Fabien Pelous, No 8 Christophe Juillet and flanker Magne were outstanding, complemented by Lamaison's boot that brought about a memorable victory.

MAN OF THE MATCH:  Has to be Christophe Lamaison who aggregated 27 points with a 100 per cent goalkicking and dropkicking record and who also controlled play intelligently from flyhalf.  A top performance also from captain Fabien Pelous.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH:  Although there were more spectacular tries, with Marshall's effort after an 80-metre counter attack the best, halfback Galthie's try after he was brilliantly driven across the goalline from an attacking lineout represented the major turning point in the game.  Not that there weren't several turning points prior to that as the All Blacks came back from nil-17 to lead 30-26.

VILLAIN OF THE MATCH:  A couple of hot-headed displays from the French, with centre Richard Dourthe the major villain, which could have proved costly.  Far from acknowledging that the pile-driving tackle on him by Tana Umaga was a masterly effort, Dourthe responding by attacking him physically.

Scorers:

France:  Tries by Xavier Garbajosa, Olivier Magne and Fabien Galthie; Three conversions, five penalty goals and two dropped goals by Christophe Lamaison.

New Zealand:  Tries by Justin Marshall, Doug Howlett and Gordon Slater; Three conversions and four penalty goals by Andrew Mehrtens.

Italy 37 Romania 17

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Benevento
Attendance:  3260
Referee:  Jutge j.

Despite a run of poor form, Italy pulled off a fine 37-17 win over Romania in Benevento to give their beleaguered Kiwi coach Brad Johnstone a shot in the arm.

In a much improved performance from last week's 22-17 defeat by Canada at Rovigo, Italy, who scored seven tries to Romania's two, will now approach next week's Genoa meeting with mighty New Zealand in much better shape.

The victory was built on the successful half-back pairing of scrum-half Alessandro Troncon and stand-off Ramiro Pez and only dreadful kicking by Italy -- who managed to put just one conversion between the posts -- prevented a more humiliating scoreline for the visitors.

Troncon was recalled for this match by Johnstone who had hitherto refused to pick the Montferrand player since the Six Nations Championship because he had snubbed a summer tour of the south Pacific.

The New Zealander had no doubts about the number nine's ability -- he admits he is the best player at his disposal -- but after Troncon's replacement against Canada Filippo Frati was clearly out of his depth Johnstone decided to swallow his pride and recall the player.

But there was also some encouraging work by the forwards who have benefited from the advice of Johnstone, a prop when he played for the All Blacks.

The front three of Andrea Lo Cicero, hooker and skipper Alessandro Moscardi and Andrea Muraro are beginning to look a formidable unit -- Italy have traditionally struggled in the scrum and line-out.

And the first-half saw all three Italian tries come from the forwards.  Flanker Carlo Caione grabbed a brace and tight-head prop Lo Cicero one as the hosts romped to a 15-3 interval lead with only a Petre Mitu penalty in reply.

In the second period it was the turn of Italy's backs to prosper and a minute after the resumption Giovanni Raineri crossed the line, shortly followed by another touchdown, this time by Pez.

Luca Martin got in on the act after 55 minutes with his try converted by Giacomo Preo -- Italy's only successful conversion -- to make it 32-3.

That finally stirred Romania into life and Erdinci Septar grabbed his side's first try, converted by Mitu.

Troncon then snatched the try he had deserved before Vasile Ghioc came up with a late touchdown, also converted by Mitu, to give the score a semblance of respectability for Romania.

Scotland 31 Samoa 8

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Murrayfield
Attendance:  43447
Referee:  Hyde-lay i.

Scotland, showing four changes from the side beaten by the Wallabies last week, bounced back this week to ease to a 31-8 victory against Samoa.

The Scots scored four tries through John Petrie, Alan Bulloch, Tom Smith, and the recalled Kenny Logan, who had another disallowed early on.

The other points were all kicked by fly-half Gregor Townsend with the Scots keeping Samoa pointless afterleading 14-8 at the interval.

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan revealed a tactical switch at the interval helped his side run out 31-8 over Samoa at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Scotland were only 14-8 ahead at half-time but three second-half tries saw the home side emerge fairly comfortable winners.

He said:  "We tried to force the game in the first half and sometimes lost our momentum as a result.  We changed things at half-time and I thought we took the game away from Samoa.

"We were playing too much in front of them in the first half and wanted to turn them and move them from front to back and also from side to side.  We did that well and chose good options around our 22."

McGeechan believes his pre-match prediction that the Pacific Islanders would be a tough nut to crack proved correct.

He said:  "I am very pleased with the end result.  I said yesterday Samoa were somewhere between the USA and Australia and I think that has been proved to be right.

"In difficult conditions we conducted a good tactical game.  We don't have a roof we can close so we have to play with conditions as they are.

"The weather loses two seconds out of the game so I thought we made the best of them.  We were very organised without the ball.  Once we got a chance of a turnover we got the ball away well.  Alan Bulloch's try was a very good proactive, reactive try."

McGeechan is also very positive for the future development of his side.

He said:  "If you add the New Zealand game to these three we are a long way to where we want to be.  The players are more comfortable with our way of playing and we have a good prop of players.  The nice thing is that the players are asking when the next training session is.  Mind you that might be so they can avoid it!"

Samoa captain Onehunga Matatauiau believes Scotland can mount a successful Six Nations challenge next year after seeing his brave side go down at Murrayfield.

He said:  "I think they'll go well in that competition.  They are getting better and better with every game.  I played against them last year at Hawkes Bay so I can compare.

"The forwards are very hungry for the ball and half-back Townsend and John Leslie are going well together.  They are on the right track.

"The Scots were very much harder to play than Wales.  Last week (against Wales) we had so many players playing for the first time it was so difficult.  Scotland have got so much more up their sleeves in attack and defence."

Wales 42 United States 11

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Cardiff-Millennium Stadium
Attendance:  33000
Referee:  Ramage i.

At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales laboured to an unconvincing 42-11 victory over the United States in their final game before their daunting Test match with South Africa.

Coach Graham Henry had warned his side to give him an 80 minute performance following a stop-start display against a weakened Samoa last time out.

But this was hardly the response he was looking for with angry fans calling for his head close to the end.

Also in the spotlight was fly-half Arwel Thomas, who bore the brunt of Henry's criticism last week and the pressure told with the Swansea man missing one penalty and one conversion.

Wales were given an early scare when Grant Wells put a 30-yard penalty wide after just five minutes from in front of the posts.

That was the cue for Wales to wake up from their early lethargy and Chris Wyatt burst through a crowd of players before being thwarted by a last-ditch tackle after eight minutes.

But Dafydd James went over in the corner after 11 minutes following a pass from Thomas only for the fly-half to then send his conversion wide of the far post.

The Eagles continued to defend bravely but could not prevent skipper Mark Taylor scoring Wales second try after 25 minutes.  He squeezed just inside the touchline and this time Thomas made no mistake with the conversion, stroking the ball over from a tight angle.

Before the break, Thomas scored two more penalties, the first a long-range effort, and Wells notched three points in between.

The USA trailed 18-3 at the interval but quickly reduced that when Malakai Delai outstripped the Welsh defence after 44 minutes and ran the ball home Although Wells hooked his conversion wide, he made amends with a penalty after 53 minutes.

Two minutes later, Thomas showed a flash of brilliance as he confused the American defence with a feint before finishing the move off and then converting.

Wales then stepped up the tempo with Rhys Williams scoring after 59 minutes.  Thomas skied the conversion and that was his last significant act as he was brought off and replaced by Neil Jenkins with 14 minutes to go.

Jenkins' first act was to skew a conversion wide following James' second try of the afternoon but Wales' record point scorer had the final say.

The Cardiff man converted his own try in stoppage time to put a flattering gloss on the scoreline -- but the result could not hide Wales' many deficiencies.

England 22 Australia 19

Date:  18 Nov 2000
Venue:  Twickenham
Attendance:  74000
Referee:  Watson a.

In a match that went all the way to the wire, England effected an unlikely last second 22-19 victory over Australia to lift the Cook Cup for the first time.

Surely no match could have ended in such dramatic fashion.  Deep into injury time the match seemed to be following a familiar script of brave England running out of steam and succumbing to the hyper-efficient Wallaby machine.  But after a full five minutes of injury, a few seconds of brilliance by replacement wing Iain Balshaw and Dan Luger enabled England to snatch an unlikely victory and win the Cook Cup for the first time in their history.

With seconds of the match left, Balshaw chipped ahead into the left hand corner behind the Wallaby line and Luger outpaced Wallaby scrum-half Sam Cordingley to make the touchdown as Twickenham erupted in celebration.  But there followed an agonising wait as referee Andre Watson called for video ref Brian Stirling to make a decision.  Stirling duly rubber-stamped the score and, after Wilkinson's brilliant touchline conversion, the celebrations could begin in earnest.

It was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but England coach Clive Woodward will not mind one iota, as England's development takes another giant step following the drawn series in South Africa over the weekend.

Australia, under pressure from England for most of the first half as the men in white dominated both territory and possession, knuckled down to their game-plan and patiently soaked up a battering from the opposition.  The Australian defence was once again awesome, England continually forced to kick away posssession as the Wallaby midfield trio kept a tight rein on them.

At times Australia had looked ragged in the first half, but in the second it was a completely different story.  The introduction of Nathan Grey and Damian Smith galvanised the Wallaby effort with the World Champions clicked into gear.  Roff, making his 61st appearance in the green and gold jersey, was the best player on the pitch by quite some margin, his lines of running and general all-round athletic ability making him every Englishman's nightmare all afternoon.

It was the veteran who broke the defensive stalemate for the first time, racing away down the left, throwing off the tackle of Austin Healey before deftly slipping the ball to Matt Burke for the first try of the match.  That made it 16-12.  A penalty moments later put Australia up to 19-12 and the alarm bells were ringing for England as the vistors looked like getting away.

England responded well with Wilkinson making a break in the Australian 22, only for a knock on to stunt a promising move.  Bracken scragged Cordingley from the ensuing scrum before Wilkinson launched a kick.  It was a great passage for England as they battered the Wallaby line through the likes of Hill, Johnson and Dalaglio.

A penalty eventually came their way and Wilkinson made it 19-15 after 55 minutes.  With fresh legs on the wing in the shape of Bath's Balshaw, it was England's turn to attack.  But time and time again the Australians were able to scrabble away the ball to nullify the English threat.

Part of the problem was the absence of quick ruck ball, Bracken having to wait what seemed like an age at the base of rucks before he could swing it out.  Some of England's passing also left much to be desired, too many times players having to slow down in order to take the pass.  In contrast the Australia strike runners were able to explode onto the ball thanks to pinpoint passing from the likes of Cordingley and Kafer.

Dawson entered the fray for England in the final quarter and his presence gave England more impetus around the base, keeping the Australian back row constantly on their toes with his sniping runs and laying off intelligent short pops to his forwards that made inroads into the Wallaby defence.

In the dying moments of the match, tension reached fever pitch with Wallaby fullback Chris Latham sin-binnned for repeated "professional fouls".  A lineout just yards from the Australian line ended in another penalty for England and Twickenham suddenly came alive as the English supporters got behind their men.  But Greening -- as he had done on too many occasions during the afternoon -- lofted the throw straight into a Wallaby hand.  It could have proved a crucial miss and while he had a fine game in open play, Greening must rectify his deficiencies in throwing or risk heading out into the international wilderness.

Many England supporters must have felt their chance had slipped away as Australia seemingly cleared their lines but those who left early to beat the rush missed the thrilling, if a little controversial ending.

England manager Clive Woodward believes the win could be a defining moment for English rugby:  "It's very significant.  It would have been a masive setback if we had lost here today.  But there's a lot to work on as we didn't play well -- perhaps that makes it all the better, that we didn't play that well but can still get a win."

Skipper Martin Johnson was pleased with his side's last ditch victory but also had some reservations over England's total performance.

"I've got mixed feelings at the moment as we didn't play well in the second half and thought we'd blown it.  We failed to make the most of some opportunities."

"We've had some bad video calls in the past so I was quite pessimistic even though Dan was certain he had scored it.  But great respect for Australia as they've had a long 12 months of rugby and came here with four of five players missing," he added.

England 22 Australia 19 (12-9)

England Try:  Luger
Conversion:  Wilkinson
Penalties:  Wilkinson (4)
Drop Goals:  Wilinson (1)

Australia Try:  Burke
Conversion:  Burke
Penalties:  Burke (4)

South Africa 37 Argentina 33

An at times exhilarating and at times haphazard Springbok team scraped to a hard fought 37-33 win over Argentina in a one off Test played at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires.

River Plate Stadium is usually a venue for soccer and in an encouraging sign for Argentinean rugby the stadium was packed with over 45,000 fans as enthusiastic and colourful as any soccer crowd.

Coming into the cauldron just before kick off the Boks must have felt what it's like to be the visitors at Ellis Park as they were met by a deafening wall of sound which only increased minutes later with the entry of the beloved Los Pumas.

With buckets of confetti raining down on to the field and large flags unfurling in the breeze the Boks would have been well aware they were in for a match.

From the kick-off it was clear the Springbok's new coach Harry Viljoen had given the team clear directions to hold onto the ball at all costs with South Africa opting to run the ball out from their own line through five phases when a clearing kick would have been a much safer option.

Eventually a long Joost van der Westhuizen pass across his posts saw André Venter trapped five metres out and forced to concede a penalty.  Flyhalf Gonzalo Quesada goaled for the Pumas to take a well received 3-0 lead.

Despite the disastrous start the Boks stuck to their game plan and seven nmiutes later their high risk approach paid off with a try to Western Province wing Breyton Paulse.

From a Bok line-out on their own 10 metre line, half breaks from Van der Westhuizen and new flyhalf Percy Montgomerey, saw fullback Thinus Delport away on the left hand side before sending Paulse in for the try.

Montgomery missed the conversion but two minutes later Paulse was over again.

Again from a line-out and a good throw from hooker John Smit, surprisingly preferred in the line-up to Charl Marais, found lock Albert van den Berg with a pinpoint throw.  Again a half break from Montgomery saw Smit set up a ruck about 20 metres out from the Pumas line.

Van der Westhuizen put Venter through a gap before he linked with fellow flanker Corné Krige who once again found Paulse in support for the Province speedster to go over for his second try.  Montgomery landed the conversion to put South Africa out 12-3.

The no kicking, keep the ball at all costs, high risk Viljoen game plan was clicking into overdrive and it seemed the Pumas were in for a drubbing.  But it was the Pumas who were to strike back immediately.

From the deep kick off South Africa again refused to kick the ball out of trouble and after several phases prop Robbie Kempson spilt the ball on his own 22.  Clever work from live wire Pumas scumhalf Agustin Pichot put centre Jose Orengo down the right touchline before crashing through Bok winger Chester Williams to score.

Quesada landed the conversion from near the touchline and the Boks new game plan had scored 12 points but conceded ten in just the first 14 minutes.

With the Boks playing such a high tempo ball in hand approach the Pumas dreaded "bajada" (eight man shove) in the scrum was taken out of the equation giving South Africa free reign to express their creativity.

Everytime the Boks went wide they seemed to rip holes in the flimsy Pumas defence with centre Robbie Fleck, Williams and Delport all prominent.  With good service from Van der Westhuizen and Montgomery dangerous with the ball in hand it seemed only a matter of time till the Boks scored again.

And in the 28th minute it was Delport who broke away after some good lead up work once more from Smit.  Delport's pass was knocked down but smart work from Paulse saw the ball scooped up and fed to lock Mark Andrews who had a free run to the line.

It was a fitting moment for Andrews in his record 65th Test, scoring his first try since the Tri-Nations in 1997.  Montgomery landed the conversion to take the Boks out to a 19-10 lead.

Seven minutes later the Boks extended their lead after a Pumas line out ball was pinched by Van den Berg.  The ball came wide to Williams who linked with Krige.  The ball came back mid-field and centre Braam van Straaten, who had come on only minutes before for Grant Esterhuizen, crashed over.

Montgomery missed the conversion but at 24-10 up after 35 minutes the Boks were cruising.  Two penalty goals fromn Quesada pegged the Boks lead back to 24-16 at the half time break.

Some bright, enterprising rugby in the first half from the Boks and with the rare distinction of not resorting to one kick in the entire period the instruction from Viljoen to his men must have been more of the same in the second stanza.

But straight from the kick off the Boks grip on the game began to slip, due mainly to a far more spirited performance from the Pumas who finally gave their home crowd something to cheer about.

It may also have been due to the planned substitutions of Pieter Rossouw for Williams and Marais for Smit that seemed to disrupt the Bok pattern.

The substitution of Marais seemed particularly odd as it was thought Marais would be used in the first half to give the Boks extra strength in the scrum and that the second half, as the game opened up, would far better suit the mobile Smit.

The young Natal hooker had held his own in the scrums in an impresive display and indeed some of the Boks' first half flair seemed to disappear with him.

Quesada landed another penalty in the second minute of the half to bring the Pumas to 24-19 but the Boks were to go further ahead ten minutes later.

With his first real chance Rossouw cut through the Argentinean line to send Paulse and then captain André Vos towards the Pumas tryline.  The ball came across field to Venter, who ran nicely out wide for large sections of the match, who found Fleck coming at pace at the perfect angle.

He went in under the posts to put the Boks out to a 29-19 lead, 31-19 with Montgomery's conversion.  From here it seemed the script read the Boks to run away with it but that would not be counting on the resolve of the Pumas, sparked into life by the brilliant Pichot.

In fact that was to be the Boks last try of the match as they lost their nerve and their shape as the half wore on, resorting to pointless kicks that gave the Pumas back the ball in good attacking positions.

It was 25 minutes into the second half before the Boks kicked the ball for the first time but after that they were to nearly reach double figures in kicks as the new born baby of Viljoen's game plan well and truly went out with the bathwater.

The Pumas ball retention improved markedly keeping the ball for long stretches with a relentless short passing, hard driving game.  Their patience were rewarded when substitute Felipe Contemponi burst onto a Pichot pass before brushing off Van Straaten and Delport to score under the posts.

The conversion from Quesada and the Pumas were within a try at 31-26.  Sensing an upset the crowd began to urge their heroes on more and more with the cacophony inside the ground rising to deafening levels.

Van Straaten gave the Boks breathing space with a penalty goal but the increased lead was short lived with Pichot again sparking a third try.  A half break down the right saw Quesada freed before making a beautiful flick pass to substitute Eduardo Simone who beat the cover defence with a superb angled run to the line.

The Quesada conversion brough the Pumas within a point with only minutes to play.  Another van Straaten penalty under extreme pressure took the Boks back out to a four point lead but the Pumas were not done yet.

Repeatedly they drove at the Bok line in the final minutes with only the strength of Andrews, Venter and substitute Ollie le Roux keeping them at bay.  A clever turnover from Krige snubbed out the Pumas last chance with Paulse almost increasing the lead in the final seconds, narrowly missing out on an opportunist try after a Marais kick through.

In the end the Boks had achieved a victory but in the process they conceded a record 33 points to Argentina and gave Viljoen the first of many heart failures.

If the Boks were guilty of anything it was a lack of confidence, as it was only when they wavered and departed from their original game plan that the Pumas came back into the match.

The old problems still remain -- Vos' leadership under pressure (at times in the second half it seemed Andrews was the captain), Van Straaten's lack of creativity, Montgomery's unpredictability and Van der Westhuizen's reduced speed -- but among the negatives there were also some positives in the first foray of the Viljoen era.

The Boks have much to do and as they depart for Britain tomorrow, the traditional powers of Ireland, Wales and England will fancy their chances of a rare win against the tentative super power.

The next month is make or break time for the Springboks and they will need to be at their best if they are to return to South Africa with pride intact.

Man of the match:  Although on the losing side, Puma scrumhalf Agustin Pichot was a constant threat making the most of limited opportunities with some darting runs and clever distribution.  With his excellent vision, pace and quick silver service Pichot is fast establishing himself as the number one scrumhalf in world rugby.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Robbie Kempson, 2 John Smit, 3 Willie Meyer, 4 Mark Andrews, 5 Albert Van Den Bergh, 6 Corne Krige, 7 Andre Venter, 8 Andre Vos (c), 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Percy Montgomery, 11 Breyton Paulse, 12 Grant Esterhuizen, 13 Robbie Fleck, 14 Chester Williams, 15 Thinus Delport
Reserves:  Ollie Le Roux, Charl Marais, Pieter Rossouw, Braam Van Straaten
Unused:  A.J. Venter, Hottie Louw, Dan Van Zyl

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

Attendance:  60000
Referee:  Young s.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Andrews M.G. 1, Fleck R.F. 1, Paulse B.J. 2, Van Straaten A.J.J. 1
Conv:  Montgomery P.C. 3
Pen K.:  Van Straaten A.J.J. 2

Argentina
Tries:  Arbizu L. 1, Contepomi F. 1, Orengo J. 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 3
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 4