United States 31 Uruguay 28

The USA Eagles held off a late charge by the Uruguay Teros at Fletcher's Fields, Markham on Saturday to claim third-place in the Finals the 2001 PARA Tournament.

With the US ahead 31-16 with only eight minutes of regular time to play, Uruguay threw everything into the attack to claim a brilliant individual try by outside-half Bernardo Amarillo at 77 minutes and a penalty-try at 79 minutes to bring the final score to 31-28.

The Eagles began well, playing a wide-open, enterprising rugby with San Francisco's Grant Wells trading penalty kicks with Uruguay's Juan Menchaca.  6-6.  Then at 30-minutes the US won a Uruguayan ball deep in its own end, and set centre Phillip Eloff on a long run.  Using wing Maklakai Delai as a foil, Eloff ran seventy- metres to score.  Wells converted, but Menchaca hit another penalty to bring the half-time score to 13-9.

At 47-minutes US number 8 Kort Schubert fielded a poor Uruguay clearance and took the ball up, he passed to wing Jovesa Naivalu who rounded his man and scored from 25-metres, 18-9.  Uruguay came back in its usual fashion mauling, mauling, mauling until it put wing-forward Nicolas Brignoni over at 50 minutes.  Menchaca converted 18-16.  A minute later Naivalu again took matters into his own hands, taking a wing-in pass and weaving through the South American defense to score under the posts, Wells converted 25-16.

Wells accounted for two penalties at 70- and 72-minutes bringing the US to its widest differential, 31-16.  Then Uruguay mounted its last ditch scoring drive that nearly saw it claim victory, almost in the same fashion as it had against Canada on Wednesday night in Hamilton.

"We played well for 70-minutes," said US coach Duncan Hall, "but Uruguay played well for 80 minutes.  It was a great relief to hear the final whistle.

"Uruguay are such a tough side to play against," he continued "But, I thought we played with more variety in our game today than we have all tournament.  Though there was one try by Eloff that could be considered opportunistic, we constructed tries today, and looked threatening with the ball in hand."

"We had control for most of the match," said US Captain Dave Hodges.  "We made hard work of it.  We need more maturity and experience to learn how to hold onto leads and not let games get away from us.  But, we had the heart to stick it out and I think the guys did well."

Uruguay, unlucky not to come away with a victory in its last two matches, proved tough opponents losing closely in all its games:  to Argentina 32-27, Canada 14-8 and the USA 31-28 to earn tournament bonus points in all games for losses within 7-points.

The Teams:

United States:  1 Mike MacDonald, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Paul Still, 4 Dave Hodges (c), 5 Tom Kelleher, 6 Olo Fifita, 7 Alex Magleby, 8 Kort Schubert, 9 Mose Timoteo, 10 Grant Wells, 11 Malakai Delai, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Link Wilfley, 14 Jovesa Naivalu, 15 Kurt Shuman
Reserves:  Robbie Flynn, Juan Grobler, Tim Kluempers, Eric Reed

Uruguay:  15. Juan Menchaca 14. Juan Martin Marquez 13. Pedro Vecino 12. Joquain De Freitas 11.Emiliano Ibarra 10. Bernardo Amirillo 9.Martin Mendaro (Caffera 71 mins) 8.Juan Carlos Bado 7.Nicolas Grille 6.Nicolas Brigonini 5.Rodrigo Capo (Ponce De Leon 60 mins) 4. Juan Alzueta 3.Juan Machado (Storace 60 mins) 2.Francisco De Los Santos (Lamelas 64 mins) 1. Rodrigo Sanchez
Replacements:  16. Diego Lamelas 17. Guillermos Storace 18. Eduardo Berrutti 19. Augustin Ponce De Leon 20. Pablo Pagani 21. Emiliano Caffera 22. Hillario Canessa

Referee:  Ian Hyde-Lay (Canada)
Touch Judges:  Santiago Borsani (Argentina), Mr. Berry (Canada)
Attendance:  2,400

Points Scorers:

United States
Tries:  Eloff P. 1, Naivalu J. 2
Conv:  Wells G. 2
Pen K.:  Wells G. 4

Uruguay
Try:  Nicolas Brignoni, Bernardo Amarillo, Penalty try
Penalties:  Juan Menchaca (3)
Conversion:  Juan Menchaca

Argentina 20 Canada 6

Fuelled by three Juan Fernandez Miranda drop-goals the Argentina Pumas defeated Canada 20-6 to capture their fourth Pan American Rugby championship at Fletcher's Fields in Markham, Ontario in front of 2,400 fans on Saturday.

It was a predicatably physical affair that saw a total of two sinbins and a red card on Canada and a yellow card on Argentina's flanker Rimas Alvarez, who in the fifth minute was called for punching.  Canada could do nothing with the advantage, and the Pumas mounted wave after wave of attack.  Canada were well organised in defense and brought each attack to a halt.

Argentina opened the scoring at the nine minute mark when Miranda struck a well placed left footed drop goal 40 metres for the 3-0 lead.

Argentina added to that with a Felipe Contepomi penalty goal and the 6-0 advantage.

It was a clever up and under, inside the Canadian 22 that had prop Rod Snow leaving earth to go after the high ball.  Fullback Bernardo Mario Stortoni jumped a little higher, and gathered in the ball, dishing it right where a maul quickly formed, and then second row Leonardo Roldan rolled right, and in the grasp of Canadian scrum-half Ed Fairhurst, touched down for the unconverted try -- Argentina 11-0.

Scott Stewart finally got Canada on the board in the 28th minute with a penalty kick from 23 metres.

A moment later Canadian wing Fred Asselin was called for throwing a punch, leaving Canada shorthanded for ten minutes.

The South Americans began to play in the Canadian end, winning a penalty at the five metre line, but following two Puma scrums the Canucks were awarded a penalty for Argentina not coming into the scrum straight.  Scott Stewart kicked a long ball down the park to relieve the pressure.

The Pumas almost got an interception try following a Canadian break at their own 22, but USA referee Al Klemp called it back for an offside infringement and Canada had dodged another bullet.

Canadian team coach David Clark was not upset at the number of send-offs, saying, "we wanted to be quite forceful out there.  That's what we needed against a team like Argentina.

"We kept them to one try which was another very good defensive effort.  The field-goals they scored were a bit of a kick in the backside -- they always are."

Argentina's first shot at goal in the second half came from an obstruction call in a lineout.  Contepomi got some leg on the attempt, but it was short and the Canadians restarted from a 22 dropout.  The Pumas counter attacked, Ed Fairhurst misplayed the ball and Argentina had an attacking position from the 8 metre line.  A knock-on by Fernandez gave Canada a scrum and the relief they needed.

In the 48th minute Miranda used the wind to adavantage slotting his second drop goal of the game, and the Pumas led 14-3.

Coach for Argentina Marcelo Loffreda admitted the Canadian defense was well settled and that the best route would be through the air.

"We had to figure out other ways to score points, and our number ten had a good afternoon with the drop-goals," said Loffreda.

"I think that Canada is a very good team.  I think that it was very difficult for us to break the (Canadian) defense and in some parts of the game Canada also broke our defense."

A moment later Klemp awarded Canada a penalty after talking from the Pumas caused a reversed call.  Stewart had a shot from left of the posts 22 metres out, and made no mistake about it cutting the South American's lead to 14-6.

In the 57th minute Canada received their second sinbin of the day when hooker Pat Dunkley was shown the gate for 10 minutes, causing Dale Burleigh to come on as a front row substitute and Fred Asselin coming off for the second time that day to even the numbers.

Despite the shortage of manpower Canada managed to shift the flow of the game when Puma fullback Stortoni gathered in a Scott Stewart clearing kick at the Canadian 35 metre line and met the one man welcoming committee of Al Charron, who cleared the back off his feet in a thunderous tackle that momentarily winded the Argentinean.

The tackle by Charron seemed to embolden the rest of the team, and despite being shorthanded they controlled the ball and tackled well, rattling the Pumas.

Coach Clark said that kind of thing is why Charron is so important in galvanizing his young team.

"I think it's marvelous -- it rubs off on the other players.  That just gives you the desire to do something to match him and catch up with him," said Clark.

Al Charron said that while he regrets the number of yellows and the red, he doesn't think the Canadian aggressiveness neccessarily left the team in peril.

"I don't think we got ourselves into real trouble when we were short a man," said the big flanker -- in for his record setting 63rd appearance for Canada.

He said that there was no rhythm in the Canadian pattern in the first half, and that is something they, as a team will have to sort out in short order.  "We can't wait until the second half to try and find that rhythm.  The first half is where we need to have a bit more rhythm."

In the 68th minute Canada guessed wrong about a ball being out of a lineout giving Contepomi his second penalty goal of the day from 22 metres, giving the Pumas an 11 point edge 17-6.

Canada finally tired of yellow cards, with number 8 Ryan Banks getting a red in the 74th minute for an errant elbow on Pumas scrumhalf Augustin Pichot, and it appeared the cause was lost.  A moment later Miranda got his third drop goal of the afternoon from 25 metres and Argentina led 20-6.

Miranda, who matched Pumas legend Hugo Porta for most drop goals in a match said "kicking drops is one of the things I like most.  On every opportunity I saw that the forwards were on the floor, I didn't have many options and I tried and they went."

Pumas scrum-half Augustin Pichot commended Miranda for the job he did on the afternoon.  "It was a better opportunity, it was what we were looking for.  I think it was a tough game and we had to kick sometimes, play sometimes."

The game stepped up physically another notch, and the Pumas trainers were spending more time on the field then some of the Canadian players.

Clark feels it was a successful tournament for his team, noting "we sorted a couple of things out -- though we still haven't got it right.  We've got to get a settled back line -- it was lot better today.  We got the breaks, got the ball to the edges of field but we're just short one or two players."

Canada showed a late flourish, with just 14 men, recycling the ball after an excellent John Cannon run, bolstered by large charges up the field from Rod Snow and his front row partner Jon Thiel.  They finally ran out of space and steam and Klemp blew the whistle to close the 2001 Pan American championships.

Argentina finish the tournament a perfect 3-0, with Canada runners-up at 2-1.  Earlier in the day the USA got their first win of the tournament 31-28 over Uruguay to take third place, just edging the Teros who had three bonus points from losing games by 7 points or less each game.

Canada now prepare for a two test tour from England, beginning in Toronto next Saturday.  They will be without the services of Ryan Banks, who just after the conclusion of the match attended a hearing with match commissioner Bob Latham of the USA who handed the flanker a one week suspension for throwing an elbow during the match.

Yellow Cards:  Fred Asselin (Canada), Pat Dunkley (Canada), Rimas Alvarez (Argentina)

Red Card:  Ryan Banks (Argentina)

Attendance:  2,400

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Leopoldo De Chazal, 2 Juan Jose Villar, 3 Santiago Gonzalez Bonorino, 4 Leonardo Roldan, 5 Mariano Sambucetti, 6 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 7 Rolando Martin, 8 Hugo Dande, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Juan Fernandez Miranda, 11 Octavio Bartolucci, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Bernardo Stortoni
Reserves:  Agustin Canalda, Martin Durand, Gustavo Morlaes Oliver

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Ed Knaggs, 5 John Tait, 6 Alan Charron, 7 Gregor Dixon, 8 Ryan Banks, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Scott Stewart, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 John Cannon, 13 Mark Irvine, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Jeff Williams

Referee:  Al Klemp (USA)
Touch Judges:  David Steele (Canada), Bernardo Blengio (Uruguay)

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Roldan L. 1
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 2
Drop G.:  Fernandez Miranda J. 3

Canada
Pen K.:  Stewart D.S. 2

Canada 14 Uruguay 8

Canada came away with an uninspiring win over Uruguay, 14-8, to secure second place after two rounds of the 2001 Pan American rugby championships at Hamilton, Ontario Wednesday night.

It was a game that neither team really wanted to win, rife with errors, jerky play, and poor decision making that had the 1,200 fans at the edge of their seats -- trying decide whether to head to the beer tent or not.

Canada got on the board first courtesy of a Bob Ross penalty from 24 metres, his first international points since "retiring" in 1999.

The Teros began to test Canadian fullback Scott Stewart, launching high balls that he took on the trot each time to great effect.  The crowd roared their approval when he knocked Uruguayan second row Augustin Ponce De Leon back before getting stopped by multiple opposition tackles.

Wing Fred Asselin made a break from several knock ons giving the crowd something to cheer about as he zoomed for a 40 metre break before the Teros defence shut him down.

The first half became as exciting as watching two guys play chess in a darkened room, with kicks on the full, chips knocked on, and scrums wheeling on both sides.  Ross scored a second penalty from 26 metres but that would be the only offense from either team.

Teros fullback Juan Menchaca missed two shots at goal and the chance at an even scoreboard heading into the dressing rooms.

"It was a dreadful display on many people's parts," said Canadian coach David Clark.  "We weren't allowed to get in our rhythm, there were a number of penalties which I thought were very, very severe.  Their driving maul was a problem to us, and the touch judges should do something about it.

"We didn't do it well, too many mistakes, dropped balls, turned the ball over.  We looked dangerous when we went wide and could hang onto the ball, but we didn't get enough of it."

Uruguayan coach Daniel Herrera felt that his team was beaten not by Canada, but by Argentinean referee Santiago Borsani, saying his team could have won the game had it not been for the officiating.

"I think in the second half the only team on the field was Uruguay, and unfortunately we are a little team and some persons are under pressure and only watch one side, otherwise we could have won this game," said Herrera.  "We are accustomed to this person, and these things happening-- we know him -- we were prepared for him."

Of concern to the Canadians must have been the fact the scrum was being moved by the short but stocky Uruguayans.  With that in mind Clark inserted John Tait into the engine room, giving Ed Knaggs the rest of the night off.

Jeff Williams began to explore some of his options, moving around the park from his right wing position and finding the occasional gap.  The Canadians began to stretch the Teros defense and were awarded a five metre scrum from a Uruguayan knock on.  The scrum worked hard, benefited by the fresh legs of Ryan Banks, and new cap, hooker Dale Burleigh dropped on the ball for his first international try.  Banks and a few of the Teros began to exchange opinions following the score before the veteran trotted away to the admiring whoops of the home crowd.

Canadian captain Al Charron marked his return to international duties with some big hits, and useful work cleaning up ball at the back of the lineout.

Ross added a third penalty, and it appeared Canada were in safe 14-0.  But those feelings of security were premature as the Uruguyans mounted a counter attack in the 63rd minute ending with a maul at the Canadian five metre line.  A moment later flanker Nicolas Brignoni found the space he needed scoring the crucial try.  Menchaca could not convert, and the Teros trailed 14-5 and plenty of time to work with.

Uruguay got on the scoreboard again with Menchaca penalty from 38 metres and the South Americans were within a converted try of tying the match.

Bob Ross had the chance to extend the Canadian lead, but missed from 37 metres and both teams dug in for the dash to the finish line.

With full time approaching, hostilities heightened around the Canadian ten metre line, with a number of punches thrown on both sides and the Uruguayan coaches screaming for a sinbin.  Instead Canada were awarded a penalty, kicked for touch and Santiago Borsani blew the whistle to end a dreary night of rugby.

Following the match Charron was bitingly honest about the quality of the spectacle.

"To be honest I didn't come out of that game very tired, and that's a sin really to say that, but there was so many stoppages you were getting breaks," said the flanker who made his team leading 62nd appearance for Canada.  "No matter how much running you do to get things going it was stop/start and a sorry display of rugby -- It must have been painful to watch."

Argentina now lead the round robin tournament with a 2-0 record and 10 points, with Canada second at 8 points, Uruguay in third with 2, and the USA in last with 0 pts.

On Saturday Uruguay take on the US in the first match of a rugby doubleheader, while Argentina and Canada will decide the Pan American championship starting at 4:00 p.m at Fletcher's Fields in Markham, Ontario.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Duane Major, 2 Dale Burleigh, 3 Boris Stoikos, 4 Ron Johnstone, 5 Ed Knaggs, 6 Alan Charron, 7 Jeff Tomlinson, 8 Mike Schmid, 9 Marco Di Girolomo, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 Kyle Nichols, 13 Colin Robertson, 14 Jeff Williams, 15 Scott Stewart
Reserves:  Ryan Banks, John Tait, Kevin Wirachowski, Colin Yukes

Uruguay:  Juan Menchaca, Bernardo Saenz, Pedro Vecino, Hilario Canessa, Emiliano Ibarra, Bernardo Amarillo, Augustin Urrestara, Eduardo Berrutti, Diego Lamelas, Guillermo Storace, Augustin Ponce De Leon, Nicolas Brignoni, Sebastien Mosquera, Juan Carlos Bado
Replacements:  (16-22) Francisco Santos De Los (49 mins for Lameuas), Sanchez Rodrigo (Berrutti), Juan Machado, Juan Alzueta, Another, Martin Mendaro, Joaquin De Freitas

Attendance:  1200

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Burleigh D. 1
Pen K.:  Ross R.P. 3

Uruguay
Try:  Nicolas Brignoni
Penalty:  Juan Menchaca

Canada 19 United States 10

Attempting to stop a two game win streak by the visiting USA, Canada came away with a defensive minded 19-10 victory in front of 7,100 fans at Richardson stadium in Kingston, Ontario.

The win also gave Canada a berth in the 2001 Pacific Rim tournament in Japan, and also possesion of the Can-Am cup which goes to the winner of the annual encounter between the two countries.

Canada began the attack from the start, enjoying long passages of play and quickly getting to the US end.  An offside by the Americans gave Scott Stewart his first shot at goal from 23 metres, which he made for the 3-0 lead at the four minute mark.

The Canadians maintained the pressure and showed remarkable control with nine phases from five metres out before referee Santiago Borsoni showed advantage to Canada.  Prop Jon Thiel saw the ball squirt out from a ruck picked it up and dropped over the line for the try.  Stewart converted to make the score 10-0 and it looked like it would be a long day for the Eagles.

In the 33rd minute a US kick to touch looked to be an opportunity for a quick throw in but scrumhalf Kevin Dalzell raced up reading the situation and intercepted the ball, going 60 metres for the try.  Grant Wells, who had missed two earlier penalty attempts made good on the conversion to narrow the Canuck lead to 10-7.

Canadian coach David Clark was pleased with the composure his young team showed.  Jeff Williams, a fullback, scrum-half Ed Fairhurst and centre John Cannon were on for their first tests, and performed well.

"Jeff Williams, in front of his home crowd had a marvelous performance," remarked Clark.  "He was brave under the high ball, came into the line at speed, he put the ball behind them he did everything that was expected of him.

"John Cannon a tower of strength in the centres.  He made his tackles well and hard, and cut them adrift.

"And Ed Fairhurst should thank the forward pack for the rest of his life a very comfortable ride in his first cap."

Clark's counterpart Duncan Hall was disappointed with the loss and lack of offensive punch.  The Eagles sole try came from the interception try by Dalzell.

"We just didn't have good enough ball to use really," Hall said candidly.  "I think the Canadians defended very well, they shut our space down.  We didn't quite get the thrust in the backline today."

Hall felt that his young front row just didn't provide the platform needed to get clean ball to Dalzell.

"Unfortunately we don't have a lot of depth, but all the players here are trying their hardest.  That's all we can ask at the moment," said the Australian.

Just before the half Stewart knocked his second penalty of the first half for the 13-7 advantage.

In the second frame the US began to control the Canadian attack on the ground, preferring to let Scott Stewart and Jeff Williams clear the ball down the pitch with huge territorial kicks.  Stewart got another shot at goal but pushed it just wide, before finding the mark in the 65th minute and the 16-7 lead.

Wells responded with a penalty, and then missed another shot at goal a few minutes later and the score was 16-10.

At the 69th minute John Cannon, found a gap and drove down to the US five metre line.  In the ensuing ruck US wing Malkai Delai was shown the yellow card by Borsoni for killing the ball near the goal line.

Team captain Gregor Dixon opted for the sure three points and Stewart did not disappoint, for the final scoreline of 19-10.

Stewart who was good on four of six attempts for 14 points, was disappointed at a couple of the kicks he missed saying that his rhythm was off because of a delay in getting a kicking tee on to the pitch.

"I did miss a couple of kicks I would have liked to have made but we didn't get the tee on in time and the referee was counting down the 30 seconds to kick the ball, instead of the minute I usually get to kick the ball.

"So it was a little extra pressure, and I couldn't do the normal routine and as a result it ruined my concentration.  But overall kind of happy considering the way I was kicking yesterday (in training)."

The Canadians began to use their 7's skills throwing the ball around, finding interesting gaps, and exposing the US who were still a man short.  John Cannon blazed up the far sideline, before offloading to Sean Fauth who finally got put into touch, but the Eagles were beginning to feel the pressure of the sustained Canadian attack.  A moment later the whistle blew and the American win streak over Canada ended at two.

Earlier in the day Argentina defeated Uruguay 32-27, and with a bonus point for scoring four tries is now in first place with a 1-0 record in the Pan-Am table, at 5 points.  Canada is in second with four points.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Ed Knaggs, 5 John Tait, 6 Ryan Banks, 7 Mike Schmid, 8 Gregor Dixon (c), 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Scott Stewart, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 John Cannon, 13 Mark Irvine, 14 Nik Witkowski, 15 Jeff Williams
Reserves:  Dale Burleigh, Marco Di Girolomo, Ron Johnstone, Duane Major, Bobby Ross, Jeff Tomlinson, Kevin Wirachowski

United States:  1 Mike MacDonald, 2 Robbie Flynn, 3 Paul Still, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Tom Kelleher, 6 Dave Hodges (c), 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Grant Wells, 11 Malakai Delai, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Juan Grobler, 14 Jovesa Naivalu, 15 John Buchholz
Reserves:  Olo Fifita, Kirk Khasigian, Kimball Kjar, Tim Kluempers, Alex Magleby, Mose Timoteo, Link Wilfley

Referee:  Santiago Borsani
Touch Judge:  Steve Scott (Canada), Eduardo Blengio (Uruguay)
Fourth official:  Chris Slack
Attendance:  7,135

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Thiel J. 1
Conv:  Stewart D.S. 1
Pen K.:  Stewart D.S. 3

United States
Tries:  Dalzell K. 1
Conv:  Wells G. 1
Pen K.:  Wells G. 1

Argentina 32 Uruguay 27

Despite being down 22-6 at half-time Uruguay scored two second half tries along with three penalties to come within a whisker of beating Argentina for the first time in 27 attempts.  But in the end Argentina prevailed 32-27 with a four-try effort giving them a 1-0 record in the opening round of the Pan American championships in Canada.

It appeared that Argentina would have an easy day as they jumped to a quick 19-0 lead on tries from number 8 Hugo Dande, and a wonderful 35 metre scamper from wing Jose Maria Nunez Piossek.  Flyhalf Felipe Contepomi provided two conversions, before centre Jose Orengo found a gap to go 35 metres for an uncoverted try.

It was the Teros who came to play in the second half, showing early attacks and thoughtful running that began to hem Argentina in it's half.

Menchaca added two more penalties to cut the lead to 22-12 and Uruguay began to realise there was momentum they could build on.

Argentina then got a try from wing Facundo Soler, which Contepomi converted for a 29-12 lead.

Menchaca got his fifth penalty of the day and then substitute Pablo Pagani found some space before releasing wing Emiliano Ibarra for a long try.  Menchaca converted and Uruguay began to feel they had a chance for the upset with the score narrowing to 29-22.

Contepomi slotted a 25 metre penalty kick, the result of a Uruguyan offside to make the score 32-22.

The Teros then began impressive passages that took them onto the Pumas doorstep.  Uruguayan scrumhalf Martin Mendaro then took advantage of a ruck from five metres out to scoot in for their second try of the half.  Menchaca had his first miss of the day on the conversion attempt and his team was within a try of tying the match 32-27.

Argentina managed to relieve some late pressure and with the clock ticking over for fulltime, Uruguay missed the chance of a lifetime to get their first ever win over their South American neighbours.

Uruguayan coach Daniel Herrera was estatic with the result, and at the same time a bit morose that they had come so close without getting the win.

"I am very pleased but when you have this opportunity, after the game I am quite sad," said the emotional coach.  "For the way we played in the second half we could have won.  I think that we had lots of lost opportunities."

Coach for Argentina Marcelo Lofferda was disappointed with the way his team let up in the second half, and thinks there are some things they will have to change over the next week.

"We had some good play in the first half but then we had problems with the scrums and the players were getting loose.  When the score got close Uruguay showed a big heart and pride in their jersey and fought hard," said Lofferda.

Argentina now take on the USA on Wednesday in Hamilton, Ontario, while Uruguay will play Canada in the second half of a double header.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Leopoldo De Chazal, 2 Juan Jose Villar, 3 Santiago Gonzalez Bonorino, 4 Gustavo Morlaes Oliver, 5 Leonardo Roldan, 6 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 7 Rolando Martin, 8 Hugo Dande, 9 Agustin Pichot (c), 10 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Jose Nunez Piosseck, 12 Jose Orengo, 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Facundo Soler, 15 Bernardo Stortoni
Reserves:  Matias Albina, Martin Durand, Juan Fernandez Miranda, Francisco Leonelli, Mariano Sambucetti

Referee:  Mr. Ian Hyde-Lay (Canada)
Touch Judges:  Al Klemp (USA), Josy Ferraro Canada

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Dande H. 1, Nunez Piosseck J.M. 1, Orengo J. 1, Soler F. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 3
Pen K.:  Contepomi F. 2

Wales 33 Italy 23

Scott Gibbs claimed two vital tries for Graham Henry's Wales side on Sunday, as they played out a workman-like but dull 33-23 Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship win over Italy in Rome.

Kickers Diego Dominguez of Italy and Neil Jenkins of Wales (pictured left) both produced stirling efforts in an attempt to light up the sloppy handling play with 18 points each from the boot -- only one Dominguez effort missed -- but in the end three Welsh tries to one decided the match.

Carlo Checchinato's late try set up a tighter than expected finish but earlier touchdowns from Gareth Cooper and two from Scott Gibbs had left Italy too much to do, and in truth an Italian win was never on the menu after an inconsistent and unstructured display.

After the match Wales coach Graham Henry felt the game as a spectacle had suffered because of the performance of referee Paul Honiss although he was careful to couch his comments in diplomatic language.

"I am frustrated, frustrated.  Read between the lines," he said.  "I am frustrated.  I am frustrated.  Is there another word for frustrated.  I am annoyed.

"Gareth (Cooper) had a good game.  He only found out he was playing at 11 o'clock this morning -- I thought I would give him a lot of time to prepare."

Italy took the lead after only a minute when Dominguez converted a penalty awarded almost immediately after the kick-off.

But Wales moved ahead with their first real attack in the seventh minute, reaping the benefit of the decision to kick for position rather than goal.

Jenkins almost played in prop Darren Morris who was halted just short of the line but managed to offload the ball to young Bath scrum-half Cooper who touched down for Jenkins to convert.

That was an early boost for Cooper, who had been called up to replace first-choice Robert Howley, but almost immediately Dominguez popped over a penalty to cut the Welsh lead to 7-6.

Another Jenkins penalty followed but then New Zealand referee Paul Honiss controversially halted an Italian attack when Walter Pozzebon looked to have put Mauro Bergamasco clear.  Honiss indicated the pass was forward but it was a close call and the crowd felt that he should have at least waited and allowed the TV referee to make a decision.  Replays however suggested that the ball had indeed been played forward, but Bergamasco showed his frustration by throwing the ball high in to the stand.

Wales took full advantage to stretch their lead on the half-hour mark.  No.8 Scott Quinnell picked the ball up from a scrum, broke away and fed Gibbs who had a simple try, again converted by Jenkins, making the score 17-6.

After 37 minutes Dominguez landed his third penalty just after Wales had replaced centre Mark Taylor with Stephen Jones but Jenkins soon replied, also from a penalty.

Just before the interval Italy missed a golden chance when Bergamasco dropped a pass from Giovanno Raineri after a brilliant move with a try looking a certainty.  It was an elimentary catch with a clean run in to the try area -- one to grace many a sports bloopers video for years to come.

Honiss, who had played advantage, did award a penalty which Dominguez converted but three points instead of seven was a poor reward, as Wales went in to half-time 20 -- 12 in the lead.

Italy coach Brad Johnstone, a New Zealander, repeated his habit of giving his half-time talk in public view on the pitch whereas his compatriot and Welsh counterpart Graham Henry retreated to the dressing room.

A patched-up Taylor returned for the second period but six minutes into the second period a Dominguez drop goal reduced arrears to 20-15 and Johnstone made his first change, bringing on Salvatore Perugini for Franco Properzi Curti.

Gibbs, served by Jenkins, touched down for a try which was again converted by Jenkins, with the Swansea centre straightening the angle as the defence shuffled to the left wing, bursting characteristically through the tackle to dive over.

Wales brough on Craig Quinnell for Ian Gough, Italy Corrado Pilat for Raineri and then Dominguez notched another penalty, making it 27-18 to Wales but another Jenkins penalty left the score 30-18.

Maurizio Zaffiri also entered the fray for Andrea Gritti, and tempers frayed as first Alessandro Cristian Stoica of Italy and then Craig Quinnell were sin binned, Stoica for a punch, then Quinnell for allegedly going in to the tackle with an elbow -- a harsh decision which many referees would not have even given a penalty for.

Italy were finishing the stronger as the game ground to a halt near the end, and then No.8 Carlo Checchinato touched down for a try but Dominguez's conversion hit a post.  It was now 30-23 but a Jenkins penalty gave Wales a cushion and it finished 33-23, confirming Italy's second wooden spoon in their first two years of Six Nations rugby, and putting Wales second in the table behind leaders England.

Sin bins:  Alessandro Cristian Stoica (70th min), Craig Quinnell (72nd min)

Attendance:  27,000
Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch Judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Iain Ramage (Scotland).

The Teams:

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 Gareth Cooper, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Allan Bateman, Craig Quinnell
Unused:  Geraint Lewis, Chris Anthony, Huw Harries, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Franco Properzi-Curti, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Matteo Mazzantini, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Walter Pozzebon, 13 Giovanni Raineri, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 15 Cristian Stoica
Reserves:  Luca Martin, Giampiero De Carli, Salvatore Perugini, Corrado Pilat, Maurizio Zaffiri
Unused:  Carlo Caione, Giampiero Mazzi

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Cooper G.J. 1, Gibbs I.S. 2
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 3
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 4

Italy
Tries:  Checchinato C. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 5
Drop G.:  Dominguez D. 1

France 19 England 48

Six converted tries and a monumental kicking milestone for the home side were witnessed by a packed Twickenham crowd on Saturday, as England came back from three points down at the break to demolish France 48-19 in a pulsating Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship encounter.

Despite going in to the break at 16-13 down, Clive Woodward's England showed their mettle both in defence and attack, fending off a rejuvenated France team, who can feel extremely hard done by with the size of the defeat, after posing a real threat for 70 minutes, and having three tries denied by last-ditch England tackles.

At only 21-years-old, Jonny Wilkinson (pictured) earned his place in the rugby record books when his penalty just before half-time sent him past Rob Andrew's 396 England points, making the youngster the most prolific England scorer in history.

England's tries on the day came through an early Will Greenwood effort, then waiting until the second-half for Richard Hill's try.  Four more followed, with Balshaw, Greening Catt and substitute Perry sealing a memorable and spectacular win, which poured scorn on howls of predictability and negative rugby often directed at the northern hemisphere's showpiece tournament.

Victorious England captain Martin Johnson spoke after the game of the comparatively poor first-half showing, and the fact that his side will have to wait until at least September to try and complete their Grand Slam, with the outstanding away trip to Ireland already postponed due to foot-and-mouth.

"We were trying to play too wide against a quick defense in the first-half," said Johnson, "We were trying to force that little pass, but we recognised at half-time that if we were in doubt we had to hold on to the ball.

"We were disappointed with the first-half, and the ease which with they got round us, but there was some great defense from Balshaw, and we kept our heads.

"A lot of our guys deserve to go to Australia with the Lions this summer, and hopefully we can finally get to play Ireland in the autumn."

England manager Clive Woodward added:  "For any England side to score six tries against France is an achievement, as I remember getting some real hammerings off them as a player.

"It was an amazing turnaround and France played very well in the first-half.  I was pleased at half-time with the leadership shown by people like Martin Johnson and Matt Dawson, who said the right things in the dressing room.

"Richard Hill thoroughly deserved his man-of-the-match award, and we will look forward to meeting Ireland now whenever it happens."

France well and truly shed their much publicised mediocrity of previous games in a first 40 minutes which saw the recalled Stephane Glas in combination with wings Bernat-Salles and Dominici continually find gaps in the supposedly water-tight England defence.

It all looked so easy for England though when Will Greenwood touched down a well worked set-piece try, created from the base of the scrum on the France 22, when Dawson spun the ball infield to Wilkinson who in turn found Mike Catt 15 metres out.

Catt shaped up for the short pop to Cohen on the burst, but instead disguised a clever miss pass to Greenwood who had the easiest of run-ins against a perplexed France, who looked prime for a beating, but had some tricks of their own up their sleeve.

A Wilkinson penalty extended the lead to 10-0 for England, but after 13 minutes Bernard Laporte's under-fire side produced a superb flowing try through Biarritz flyer Bernat-Salles, who latched on to a ball from the outstanding Olivier Magne after a quick movement of the ball from left to right, seeing Bernat-Salles in at the corner for the solid Merceron to convert.

With Rob Andrew's all-time kicking record within sight, Wilkinson skewed the penalty which would have seen him as England's greatest points scorer ever -- but it was only a temporary wait.

France though were not reading the script on Wilkinson's big day, as Dominici hared down the left wing, leaving Austin Healey for dead only to be dragged out by Balshaw as he neared the line.

Merceron's boot levelled the scores at 10-10 after 16 minutes, before he put them in front with another impressive penalty just before the half hour mark.

Only a correct decision from the video referee prevented a further extension of the French lead, when Iain Balshaw again came to England's rescue as the last line of defence, scragging Dominici by his shirt in to the corner flag as he touched down in the left corner, with the replay also revealing a foot in touch five metres out.

A further penalty from Merceron gave France a 16-10 lead, as Jonny Wilkinson's big moment finally came.  A 41 metre penalty from the England fly-half sailed high and mighty through the posts to cement the 21-year-old's place in the rugby record books as the top England points scorer of all time.

England were 16-13 down, but the crowd saluted Wilkinson as the sides went in for a half-time break which was to see England come out with renewed vigour.

Saracens' blindside Richard Hill was the man to do the damage only three minutes in to the second-half, when he latched on to a quick tap near halfway on the right flank.  Hill burst on at pace from 40 metres out, and even the chasing Sadourny could not catch him as he touched down in the corner for a try which Wilkinson converted for a 20-16 lead, albeit a nervous one as France continued to get the ball out wide.

A drop-goal from Merceron brought France to within one point as their forwards started to deprive the backs of much needed ball, and their cause was made even more tricky when the England backs once again found the gaps.

Wilkinson received the ball with a standing start 15 metres from the French line, and looked right with the whole backline at his disposal.  Swinging a wide miss pass right to Balshaw saw the defence flat-footed, and the Bath speedster raced in to the corner for the try, which Wilkinson converted from right on the touchline.

The drama was not over though as France yet again targeted the England right wing.  Dominici got the hard yards in to the 22 and shipped the ball out right to Garbajosa 10 metres out.

This time it was not Balshaw but Matt Dawson who was the saviour, dragging the Toulouse star just in to touch -- with video adjudication needed to finally clear up the heap of bodies, and a tight decision it was as well.

Jason Robinson was brought on to spice up the back line for Ben Cohen, and it was Robinson who created the fourth try for Clive Woodward's side.

In typical style he jinked his way down the left wing 40 metres out, and as he reached the 22 was brought down.  Any criticism that League players cannot recycle the ball was ignored by Robinson as he looked up and held his composure, finding Phil Greening with real momentum down the left flank with the pop pass, with Greening diving over in the corner for Wilkinson to convert -- a definitive try of the Woodward regime, with the mobile forwards in tandem with the strike running backs for a 34-19 advantage, and ten minutes left on the clock.

Mike Catt -- after a quiet but effective game then scored a champagne try after Healey struck a deft overhead kick from the base of the ruck 10 metres out.  The ball landed in the try area, and Catt on the burst was there before any of the weary defenders to dive on the ball under the posts, leaving Wilkinson the easiest of conversions.

Replacement fullback Matt Perry came off the bench for clubmate Iain Balshaw and was almost immediately touching down the sixth try of the afternoon, jogging down the left flank unopposed after Wilkinson's timely lay-off, for a try which Wilkinson -- on his record breaking day -- had no bother in converting from the touchline yet again.

It was a gala day eventually for English rugby, and it was a grafting solid showing from a side not believing too much in their own publicity, and despite France showing that they still possess explosive runners out wide, and a potent pack, their inconsistency in selection leaves them perhaps a year or two behind the English as the flag-bearers of northern hemisphere rugby.

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Abdelatif Benazzi, 5 Lionel Nallet, 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Milheres, 8 Fabien Pelous (c), 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Xavier Garbajosa, 13 Stephane Glas, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Jean-Luc Sadourny
Reserves:  David Auradou, Alessio Galasso, Fabrice Landreau, Thomas Lievremont
Unused:  Philippe Carbonneau, Thomas Lombard, David Skrela

England:  1 Jason Leonard, 2 Phil Greening, 3 Julian White, 4 Martin Johnson (c), 5 Steve Borthwick, 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, Matt Perry, Jason Robinson, Dorian West, Joe Worsley, David Flatman

Attendance:  75000
Referee:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)
Touch Judges:  David McHugh (Ireland), Nigel Whitehouse (Wales).

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 1
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 3
Drop G.:  Merceron G. 1

England
Tries:  Catt M.J. 1, Greening P.B.T. 1, Greenwood W.J.H. 1, Hill R.A. 1, Perry M.B. 1, Balshaw I.R. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 6
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

Scotland 23 Italy 19

Duncan Hodge kicked Scotland to their first Six Nations victory of the season as they beat Italy 23-19 at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Fly-half Hodge was successful with five of his seven attempts, scoring 17 points, including five penalties and one drop goal, helping Scotland to narrowly avenge last season's shock 34-20 defeat in Rome.

However, Scottish captain Budge Pountney dismissed the fact the win had not been convincing.  "To get the first win on board this season is important even if we weren't so pleased with the performance," he said.

"We made a couple of errors in the second-half which allowed them to get back in the game but overall it has been a positive day and it will give us confidence," he added.

Italy fly-half Diego Dominguez gave a typically peerless kicking display, scoring 14 points with his boot.  But this time it was not enough, although Italy did have the consolation of scoring the try of the match through flanker and man-of-the-match Mauro Bergamasco.

Italy have now lost all four of their matches in this season's championship, putting them in pole position for the wooden spoon.

This was a match Brad Johnstone's team could have won after being 10-6 up at the break.

Then Hodge and Dominguez exchanged penalty goals at the start of the second half before Italy No.8 Carlo Checchinato was yellow-carded by French referee Joel Dume for persistently killing the ball.

Hodge maintained his then perfect kicking record, slotting over the resultant penalty and Scotland were just a point behind at 12-13.

However, his 52nd-minute miss after Bergamasco had infringed left Italy's slender lead intact.  But three minutes later Scotland were in the lead.  Hodge kicked a penalty to touch and from the resultant drive Brive prop Tom Smith just did enough to ground the ball on the line.

Dume called for the video referee before awarding the score but worryingly for Scotland, Hodge missed the conversion with a wild slice to the right.  Even so they were 17-13 ahead.

Dominguez's boot was more reliable and another penalty took Italy back into the game at 17-16 behind and then his accurate kick put the vistors 19-17 ahead after the Scotland forwards erred again.

However, Italian discipline cracked when substitute Giovanni Raineri was penalised for preventing fair release and this time Hodge was on target to give Scotland a 20-19 lead.

Earlier Scotland signalled their intention to grasp the victory when Hodge took a leaf out of Welsh fly-half Neil Jenkins' book and fired over a drop-goal after 38 seconds to put the home side into an early 3-0 lead.

Their bright start continued when Hodge put up an enormous up-and-under, but the chasing Gregor Townsend could only knock on as full-back Cristian Stoica failed to collect.

Italy's first attack of any note was pulled up when Checchinato was penalised for illegal use of the boot.

Hodge kicked his first penalty of the afternoon to put his side 6-0 up when the Italians strayed offside after 21 minutes.

And they should have been even further in front when John Leslie and Townsend combined beautifully to put Craig away, but the youngster could not beat last line of defence Stoica who bundled him into touch.

With Townsend increasingly prominent Scotland continued to cut loose with sparkling rugby but Italy hung in gamely and got their reward through a sparkling 26th-minute try from Bergamasco.  The Treviso flanker took a pass from the base of a scrum -- given after Pountney lost possession in the tackle -- before slipping a Townsend tackle, stepping around Redpath and out-paced full-back Chris Paterson on his way to a 35-metre sprint to the line.

Dominguez fired over a superb touchline conversion to put the visitors into a shock 7-6 lead.  And he stretched it out to 10-6 almost immediately with a 45-metre penalty after another Pountney misdemeanour.

Italy rallied at the close but Scotland just did enough to cling on for an unconvincing win.

Yellow card:  Checchinato

The Teams:

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

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Franco Properzi-Curti, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Filippo Frati, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Luca Martin, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Walter Pozzebon, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 15 Cristian Stoica
Reserves:  Matteo Mazzantini, Carlo Caione, Salvatore Perugini, Giovanni Raineri
Unused:  Andrea Benatti, Giampiero De Carli, Andrea Scanavacca

Att:  60,708
Referee:  Joel Dume (Fra)

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Smith T.J. 1
Pen K.:  Hodge D.W. 5
Drop G.:  Hodge D.W. 1

Italy
Tries:  Bergamasco M. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 4

Wales 43 France 35

A magnificent 28 points from fly-half Neil Jenkins inspired Wales to their first back-to-back success in Paris since 1957 on Saturday as they beat France 43-35 in a pulsating encounter that saw the lead change three times.

Jenkins, who also broached the 1000 points mark for Wales in his 83rd international was appropriately the last try scorer for the visitors who at one point trailed 19-6.

The Welsh outscored the French by four tries to two -- Robert Howley's superb individual effort from within his 22 just before halftime sparking a great Welsh comeback -- with Scott Quinnell and Dafydd James grabbing the others.

Tries from Sebastien Bonetti, his second in two matches, and winger Philippe Bernat-Salles, making it four in four matches of the tournament, and 14 from Gerald Merceron were the base of the French score.

But the French will be kicking themselves for missing a string of scoring opportunities throughout the game.

"That was as good a game of rugby as you'll see," said Welsh coach Graham Henry.  "I'm delighted for the boys.  I thought they were brilliant in the second half ... we controlled the game and had more composure than the French," he added.  "Rob's try was the catalyst really.  It helped motivate the guys and created the things which followed," he added.

Henry said he had been delighted by Jenkins' virtuoso display, which saw him break the 1,000-point barrier for Wales.  "I thought his second half was magic.  I don't know if he has played a better 40 minutes of rugby in a Welsh shirt," Henry said.

Jenkins played down the significance of finally bringing up his 1,000.  "Rugby's a team game.  It's nice to get it but it's just an honour and a privilege to wear the red jersey," he said.

Henry's counterpart Bernard Laporte was downcast in defeat, bemoaning his side's self-destructive streak.

"At 19-6 we were in control of the game.  But we got caught in the trap of trying to run the ball too much," Laporte said.

"We ended up getting very tired in the second half and just didn't have the juice," he said.  "Once again we also failed to score from clear chances, which was disappointing," he added, referring to earlier matches this season where France have frittered away try-scoring opportunities.

France were guilty of several glaring misses and should have started the second-half with a try but Jean-Luc Sadourny, still defying his 34 years with electric bursts, failed to make a 2-1 overlap come off and Wales were able to clear eventually.

Merceron, who had given the French backs the spark that Lamaison had failed to in the first three matches, had to go off after just three minutes of the second period with a knee injury allowing Lamaison a chance to rediscover his lost form.

The Welsh, though, struck the front for the first time when Mark Taylor, whose ankle injury has not yet fully healed, slipped a pass to Quinnell and with Sadourny slipping on the greasy surface raced over to touch down -- Jenkins converted for a 23-19 lead.

The French replied with a penalty but Wales emboldened by their new found verve restored the four-point lead when Jenkins magnetic boot dropped a goal from 35 metres out to bring up his 1000 point mark for the Red Dragons.

The Welsh were on fire now and a superb move with Quinnell charging into the line passing on to Taylor whose pass inside to James coming in off his wing brought them their third try of a blistering period of play.

The French fans had had enough and out came the whistles and jeers though Jenkins, who had converted James' try, failed for once with the boot from a 35 metres penalty.

However, with just over 20 minutes to go Howley turned villain when he lost possession just inside France's half and in a sweeping move Sadourny burst into the line to deliver the telling pass to fellow veteran Bernat-Salles, who raced over for his first try against Wales in three meetings.

Bonetti almost grabbed a second for himself when he took a superb pass from Lamaison on the burst and was stopped just short of the line by Gareth Thomas -- though Lamaison slotted over a penalty a minute later to to leave them just a point adrift.

Bonetti was rampant by this stage and another storming run saw him again grounded by Thomas just inches from the line with fullback Rhys Williams hacking the loose ball into touch but Lamaison gave France the lead 35-33 with a coolly-taken penalty five minutes from the end.

The Welsh though rallied and Jenkins restored their lead with a minute to go with another sublime drop goal.

The 23-year-old centre, who had got his place in the side on the back of Yannick Jauzion's injury prior to the Italy match, had given the French the perfect start when he touched down under the posts after just 10 minutes when Merceron burst through the Welsh midfield and passed inside to him.

France should have had another try minutes later when they had a huge overlap but Bernat-Salles somehow contrived to mess it up -- though Merceron slotted over a penalty for a subsequent infringement.

Henry reacted to these two quick scores by giving his replacements a run round the pitch to try and inspire the team -- seconds later Jenkins got their first points with a penalty.  However, Henry's call for the players to use their heads evidently hadn't got through and trying to run it out of their 22 they conceded a penalty which Merceron accepted readily to restore the 10 point deficit.

The Welsh were at sixes and sevens at this point and handed the French another penalty which Merceron's unerring boot found easily within its range to make it 16-3.

The visitors muffed a great opportunity in the 25th minute when with no French defence in sight a wild pass by Taylor went behind Thomas and a surefire try went abegging -- which was slightly redressed when Jenkins added a penalty a minute later for 16-6.

However, the status quo of the first-half was restored when Merceron added another penalty after fullback Williams, who was having a nightmare match, failed to release the ball after being tackled.

Jenkins, though, kept Wales in the hunt with a cracking penalty from just within the French half to make it 19-9.

Centre Thomas Lombard showed why he had managed only one try in his previous 11 appearances by slipping over with a free run to the line as the French carved up the Welsh defence down the blindside.

However, then came Howley's moment of supreme genius picking the ball up from a scrum in his own 22 and sprinting the length of the pitch and with Thomas in support turned Sadourny inside out and evaded the desperate late surge by Bernat-Salles.  Jenkins converted to make it 19-16 at halftime.

The Teams:

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 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Geraint Lewis, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis, Craig Quinnell
Unused:  Gareth Cooper, Chris Anthony, Allan Bateman

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Pieter De Villiers, 4 David Auradou, 5 Fabien Pelous (c), 6 Olivier Magne, 7 Christophe Moni, 8 Christophe Juillet, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Philippe Bernat-Salles, 12 Thomas Lombard, 13 Sebastien Bonetti, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Jean-Luc Sadourny
Reserves:  Serge Betsen Tchoua, Christophe Lamaison, Sylvain Marconnet
Unused:  Philippe Carbonneau, Fabrice Landreau, Pepito Elhorga, Lionel Nallet

Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Howley R. 1, James D.R. 1, Jenkins N.R. 1, Quinnell L.S. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 4
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 3
Drop G.:  Jenkins N.R. 2

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Bonetti S. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 1, Merceron G. 1
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 3, Merceron G. 4

England 43 Scotland 3

An impressive, if not perfect, England simply blew away the challenge of Scotland in the Calcutta Cup with two tries from Iain Balshaw helping them to a record 43-3 win at Twickenham.

The win, the biggest ever for England between these two nations, underlined just why it looks likely that only a fantastic effort from Ireland, or worringly the more malevolent influence of foot-and-mouth, can surely deny England the Grand Slam.

Scotland were competitive for the first half an hour but once England got in to their stride, they were little more than that and at the heart of things going forward for England was Iain Balshaw.

Whatever his defensive frailties, and again there were some yet again, he brings an attacking edge from fullback that many sides find hard to counter and, after his negative comments earlier in the week, Finlay Calder may well be donning his Braveheart gear for an impressive Mel Gibson impersonation.

A modest Balshaw refused to ram the words down Calder's throat, saying:  "He's entitled to his opinion, and I was just delighted with the performance, and coming up with a good result."

It is a mark of how far England have come, and the expectation heaped upon them, that many will point to a less than perfect line-out, only winning 12 out of their 15, seven turnovers and 13 handling errors.

However, such was their dominance they could afford such lapses and, although many in the southern hemipshere will point to a lack of credible challengers in the Six Nations, England have an hardened and efficient edge that they have lacked over the past few years.

A delighted England manager Clive Woodward said after another impressive 15-man display from his side that it was the mix of styles that separates his side from the one which flopped in the 1999 World Cup.

"The ambition and variety is what pleases me.  In the past we've been too predictable.  We have a special group of players but you've got to pick them."

"The no tries conceded pleases me as well, espeially at the end when we lost our shape a bit.  We can't wait for the next game, but I'm not going to get carried away," he added.

Another England star who chalked up two tries on the day was former captain Lawrence Dallaglio, who said afterwards:  "It was a potentially tricky game, and they always raise their game when they play England.

"Our defensive training all week has been absolutely spot on, and we were determined not to concede any tries.  In the seond-half we maybe got the ball out wide a bit too early, but it's nice to be on the scoresheet, and a lot nicer to win."

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan refused to condemn his side after a start to the game which had them in contention, saying:  "I'm disappointed with the final score, although we came to the speed of the game pretty well in the first half.

"We can't take anything away from that England performance, and it was their two tries just before half-time which took them away.  We couldn't cause them to think at the right times."

With the British and Irish Lions selection already a talking point, former Lions coach McGeechan said of the current England side:  "A lot of them have to be in contention."

After an opening spell where midfield defences were on top England took the lead in the seventh minute.

Following good work by England lock Danny Grewcock flying full-back Balshaw surged forward.  Balshaw, who created a buzz of excitement in the crowd whenever he used his electrifying pace, cut through the cover.

Flanker Neil Back was in support and the retreating Scots could not prevent an overlap when No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio took a pass from centre Mike Catt to touchdown out on the right.  England fly-half Wilkinson missed the conversion, sparking concern that last weekend's poor kicking form from the English Cup final here, might be returning.

Dallaglio's try did not see the floodgates open, however.  The Scottish defence was initially resilient and the visitors enjoyed territory through the astute kicking of wing Cameron Murray and outside-half Duncan Hodge.

But a 10th minute Wilkinson penalty put England 8-0 up before Hodge responded in kind three minutes later.

The match then became bogged down although England looked dangerous when they moved the ball wide and Scotland wing Kenny Logan caused comcern with a lone break.

But in the 37th minute England's greater fluency was rewarded with another try.

After several phases of sustained possession, involving both forwards and backs, including superb hands from Greenwood, England again created an overlap on the right and flanker Richard Hill scored a converted try.

Then, in first-half extra time, England went further ahead.  More sustained handling finished with Wilkinson darting through before passing to Dallaglio for the Wasps forward's second try.

Wilkinson converted and England were on their way to a record-breaking result.

Three minutes after the break, it was Balshaw who effectively sealed the game.  Good midfield work from centre Will Greenwood and Leicester wing Austin Healey released Balshaw down the right to then shimmy through the defence for a fine try.

To make matters worse for Scotland, flanker Budge Pountney was sin-binned for kicking Northampton team-mate and England scrum-half Matt Dawson.

England's pack was also enjoying its work with a series of scrums.  From one five-metre shove the ball was moved wide to Healey but the Leicester man was knocked into the corner flag by a last-ditch tackle from full-back Chris Paterson.

Not that this slowed the scoring for long.  A brilliant cross-kick by centre Mike Catt found Bath team-mate Balshaw for his second try in the 62nd minute.  Jonny Wilkinson converted and England were 36-3 ahead.

The scoring was completed when a sprint through a tired Scotland defence by substitute Jason Robinson saw him feed Will Greenwood for a simple try under the posts.

A streaker then braved the cold to add a last-minute note of comedy -- but only England were probably laughing.

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, Mark Regan, Jason Robinson, Joe Worsley
Unused:  Martin Corry, Matt Perry, Trevor Woodman

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

Attendance:  75000
Referee:  Davies r.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Dallaglio L.B.N. 2, Greenwood W.J.H. 1, Hill R.A. 1, Balshaw I.R. 2
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 5
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 1

Scotland
Pen K.:  Hodge D.W. 1

France 30 Italy 19

A less than convincing performance from Bernard Laporte's France side saw them churn out a 30-19 win over a down but not out Italy team in Saturday's Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship clash in Rome.

The statistics will read that France out-scored Italy three tries to one, with scores from Sadourny, Bernat-Salles (pictured) and Bonetti for the visitors, but if ever evidence were needed of the mediocrity besetting the French Test side then this 80 minutes provided it.

With France limping in to half-time at 14-9 up, an incohesive and largely ineffective Italy team were always in the match, and when Massimiliano Perziano touched down for the Azzurri with ten minutes to go, France only had five points between themselves and a potentially embarrassing defeat.

Largely to blame was the horrendous goal-kicking of Christophe Lamaison, who not once, not twice, but three times missed penalties which would have been a gift to any club kicker down the leagues, with opposite number Diego Dominguez in typically ruthless form to keep his side in with a fighting chance.

French coach Bernard Laporte was less than delighted with the victory, but picked out some plus points saying:  "Our defence was good.  We could have killed the match much earlier if we had scored the missed penalties.

"I am satisfied but I know Lamaison can do much better.  He was picked for his goalkicking ability but never performed as he can."

The returning Alessandro Troncon was as much of a disappointment as the spectacle itself on the day, with a laboured and unclinical 65 minutes resulting in an early departure for the scrum-half returning from suspension -- admittedly only semi-fit for the game carrying a calf injury.

Under-fire Italy coach Brad Jonstone put the defeat in to perspective, while ducking questions about his reportedly tenuous hold on his job with the Italian Federation, saying:  "We are making progress.  But while we are running ahead other countries like England are sprinting ahead."

"Rugby is now a professional sport and we must go professional if we can catch up with the other countries."

But asked to criticise the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) Johnstone said:  "Unfortunately I cannot answer that question as I have a family to feed."

It was the returning hero Dominguez -- playing against a number of his Stade Francais team-mates -- who got the scoreboard ticking with a penalty after nine minutes for Italy, but France stole the lead five minutes later with a touch of class from Christophe Lamaison.

With the French attack apparently grinding to a halt on the Italy 22, the Agen stand-off went down the blindside and as the defence flocked round him like bees, he slipped through a superb low weighted kick to completely flat-foot the Italian rearguard.

The beneficiary was fullback Jean-Luc Sadourny, whose perfectly timed run saw the ball leap up in to his arms for the easiest of run ins, with Lamaison converting from in front of the posts.

France consigned an indecisive Italy to further misery after 26 minutes when a superb passage of play, started from a scrum outside their own 22 saw the returning Fabien Galthie break down the blindside and accelerate past the advancing defence.

He cleverly offloaded to the lively Sadourny who free of the Italian three-quarter line faced a two on one overlap for the score.  He drew the last man in textbook fashion on the 22 for wing Philippe Bernat-Salles to characteristically streak away at high speed under the posts for the try, again converted with ease by Lamaison, who was having difficulty transferring his execution of the conversions to similarly easy penalties.

Not once but twice Lamaison horribly failed to make proper contact with penalties which would normally have been meat and drink to the butcher's son, and with Dominguez slotting a third penalty of the half for Italy, France stayed ahead at the break, but within reach of a powerful, but slow Italian side.

Italy coach Brad Johnstone must have delivered a rocket of a half-time speech, as his side came out with a new energy, and nearly got their first try of the day as Perziano chased a kick down the right wing at high speed, only to be foiled by the positional play of Sadourny in the French try area.

Italy only had themselves to blame for wasting a golden chance of three points when awarded a penalty ten metres from the French line.  They took time to consider their options, and with the French only five points in front it seemed incomprehensible that anything other than a Dominguez penalty would be on the cards.

For some reason they decided to run the ball against the might of the French pack, and predictably their maul ground to a halt at the first hurdle, as Troncon took an age to make up his mind, and was swamped by the hungry French pack.

France broke straightaway with Italy at sixes and sevens in defence, and with a two man overlap Bernat-Salles broke to the Italy 22.  He shipped the ball to the usually reliable Magne, whose hands let him down with a try begging outside.  Troncon once again proved chief destructor by blatantly killing the ball right under the nose of the referee.  Lamaison struck over the easy penalty, but Troncon was a lucky man to not to find himself in the sin bin.

Dominguez kept Italy in contention with another penalty soon after, striking a fierce kick in to the wind, which just bobbled over the posts via the top of the crossbar, but it was France who were making all of the running as the game went on, with Italy struggling to string the passes together, and looking more disjointed with every minute the second half went on.

Lamaison proved that his first two penalty misses were no flukes by hooking another shot wide of the posts after 56 minutes -- albeit a long one, before striking the next one a moment later over for a 20-12 lead.

France thought that they had got their third try of the game when from a scrum Olivier Magne looked to have beaten the Italian back-row to a loose ball in the Italian try area to touch down, but after the linesman stepped in it was rightly judged to have came straight out of the front-row tunnel, with France wasting their next attempt at the scrum.

Les Bleus finally increased their lead when Lamaison squeezed in a tight penalty from the left hand touch line, and at only 11 points down Italy looked down and out, with virtually no imagination on the ball -- on the few occasions that they actually had it.

After a torrid and largely diluted comeback, scrum-half Troncon -- so often the engine of the Italy side was replaced by Juan Manuel Queirolo with 15 minutes to go in an attempt to revive the Italian challenge.

His first act was to dive in to a ruck and concede a foolish penalty which Lamaison missed, but Italy had a surprise up their sleeve.

With play in midfield Dominguez embarked on a horizontal run across his back line.  He laid off a deft inside ball to the suriging Manuel Dallan, who slotted through a firm grubber kick in to the French try area down the right flank, which Perziano scurried after and beat the retreating Frenchmen to for the try.

Dominguez slipped over in comical fashion as he struck the testing conversion from way out on the right wing, but the Roman wind somehow blew the ball between the posts and over the crossbar to set up a tighter finale than should have been at 23-19 down and ten minutes to go.

Lamaison missed yet another long penalty as a nervous French side -- still dominating proceedings by and large -- again failed to extend their lead.

Not for long though as debutant centre Sebastien Bonetti dived under the posts as Italy flew in to a ruck en masse near their own line.  With the ball flung inside there was virtually no opposition for Bonetti who touched down for Lamaison to convert for the 30-19 scoreline before referee Chris White brought the game to an end.

Not a convincing French performance by any stretch of the imagination, but a solid one none the less.

The Teams:

France:  1 Christian Califano, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Pieter De Villiers, 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 Thomas Lombard, 13 Sebastien Bonetti, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Jean-Luc Sadourny
Reserves:  Serge Betsen Tchoua, Sylvain Marconnet
Unused:  Abdelatif Benazzi, Philippe Carbonneau, Fabrice Landreau, Gerald Merceron, David Bory

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Walter Pozzebon, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 15 Cristian Stoica
Reserves:  Franco Properzi-Curti, Juan Manuel Queirolo
Unused:  David Dal Maso, Luca Martin, Carlo Caione, Giampiero De Carli, Andrea Scanavacca

Attendance:  24973
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Bernat-Salles P. 1, Sadourny J-L. 1, Bonetti S. 1
Conv:  Lamaison C. 3
Pen K.:  Lamaison C. 3

Italy
Tries:  Perziano M. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 4

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