Australia 38 South Africa 27

Australia, with an early try for the much talked about winger Ben Tune, survived a strong second-half comeback from South Africa before a late Chris Latham try secured a 38-27 win, and a bonus point, in a thrilling Tri-Nations Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.

The Wallabies raced into an early 24-3 lead thanks to three tries and some sub-standard Springbok defence and at one stage they looked likely to run away with things as the Boks committed one clanger after another.

Wallaby right-wing Ben Tune, who dominated the news in the build-up to this Test with his drug-scandal, powered his way over in the fourth minute after an elaborate Wallaby backline move.

Matt Burke, who had a solid game in the No.13 jersey, struck the conversion from close-in and he was on target soon afterwards when Stirling Mortlock ran through attempted tackles from Johannes Conradie, André Pretorius and Werner Greeff after Chris Latham had made the initial running when Joe van Niekerk couldn't hold onto him in a tackle.

Mortlock's try was also as a result of a poor attempted skip-pass from Pretorius flew into touch and the Wallabies used the ensuing line-out to attack the Bok defence.

Latham was the next try-scorer after Daniel Herbert had done well to retain the ball -- despite being hit from both sides by Victor Matfield and Corné Krige -- and George Gregan spun the ball to Larkham before the Wallaby fullback ghosted over.

Burke kicked his first penalty just before the half-hour mark to take the scoreline to 24-3 -- the Boks had a solitary Pretorius penalty to show for their efforts at that stage -- but the next bit of action came from the players' fists as tempers flared somewhat after Greeff tackled Latham in the air when the Boks had a rare foray into enemy territory.

The players took the law into their own hands after Greeff's awkward tackle and it ended rather ugly with Wallaby hooker Jeremy Paul and his main line-out target Justin Harrison ending up in the sin bin along with Greeff.

Paul and Harrison landed a torrent of punches on Bok tighthead Faan Rautenbach as nearly all the players got involved.  Bok skipper Corné Krige left the field shortly afterwards with a bloodied face, but it seems that his ribs were bothering him after making another one of his usual bone-crunching hits.

Krige was replaced by debutant Hendro Scholtz, who finally injected some zest into the Boks' play.  Scholtz put in some strong runs and his flanking partner Van Niekerk also started punching small holes in the Wallaby defence.

The Boks were however guilty of rushing things with their one-man overlap, but they were finally rewarded with a try after some excellent play from outside centre Marius Joubert.

The South Africans, with Breyton Paulse at the fore, ran the ball from their own 22 and Joubert found some space just inside the Wallaby 10-metre area before dummying a kick and rounding Latham for the try.

Pretorius wasted no time by drop-kicking the conversion through the uprights, but the Boks' ill-discipline came back to haunt them as James Dalton conceded three points on the stroke of half-time to leave the score at 27-10.

Joubert's try gave the visitors a sniff as they came out firing in the second stanza and it was the self-same man who cork-screwed his way over for the Boks' second try.

Bob Skinstad, who took over the captaincy from Krige, did well to pick up a bouncing ball from a wayward line-out throw before getting the ball to hard-working second rower Jannes Labuschagne.  The Boks recycled the ball quickly and De Wet Barry through a neat long pass to Joubert, who spun through Latham's brave tackle, despite having Stefan Terblanché on his inside.

Burke kept the Wallabies' score ticking over with another penalty soon afterwards, but the Boks hit back shortly before the final quarter when Skinstad showed good power from close-range.

The talented No.8 -- who performed much better than he did against the All Blacks last week -- held off a tackle from Harrison after Paulse presented the ball to him from five metres out.  Paulse had hunted down the ball after a Barry grubber and when Tune could not control the ball the nippy Bok left-wing picked it up and calmly passed it back to Skinstad.

Pretorius missed his first kick of the night, but, at 30-22 it was game-on!

Both sides made some changes shortly after the 60-minute mark and when Burke was replaced by his namesake Mat Rogers, and Mortlock had to step up to the plate to give the Wallabies another three points after yet another Bok infringement near their own goalline.

Springbok utility back Brent Russell gave the Boks a glimmer of hope in the last five minutes of play with a brilliant try shortly after replacing Terblanché on the right-wing to cut the scoreline to 33-27.

Russell showed that he has pace to burn after some great interplay from Joubert and Van Niekerk on his inside and he recovered from a desperate last-ditch tackle from Larkham before diving over.

The Boks had a few chances in the dying minutes of the game, but the Wallabies managed to keep them in their own half before forcing a penalty on the Boks' goalline with the final whistle imminent.

Gregan signalled for the attacking scrum -- when a kick at goal or to touch would have ended the match -- but the Wallaby skipper's faith was rewarded with Latham squeezed over in the left-hand corner for his team's fourth and final try, which also happened to clinch their second bonus point of the 2002 Tri-Nations.

Both teams got four-try bonus points, but Latham's second try at the end robbed the Boks of what should have been a well-deserved bonus point for finishing within seven points.

Man of the match:  There are numerous contenders here ... For the Wallabies, Bill Young was very effective up front, George Smith was brilliant on the ground, Stephen Larkham was his usual self, Daniel Herbert was at his powerful best in the midfield and Chris Latham took his chances.  For the Boks Faan Rautenbach, Joe van Niekerk and Hendro Scholtz were superb up front, while Marius Joubert was the best Bok back with his incisive and powerful running.  But, in the end our wise men opted for George Smith for his crucial turnovers and massive tackle-count.  He was evidently under pressure in the build-up to this game, but he certainly silenced a few doubters with his energetic and ultimately match-winning performance.  Van Niekerk and Joubert pushed him hard for this award.

Moment of the match:  Nippy utility back Brent Russell wasted no time in getting involved when he replaced Springbok right-wing Stefan Terblanché in the 72nd minute.  He showed pace and good determination, but the build-up to his try was superb with Joe van Niekerk the central figure.  It was also the Boks' fourth try and only their second four-try bonus point in Australasia.

Villain of the match:  We have a tie this week and it is hard to separate the two.  Wallaby hooker Jeremy Paul and his Brumby team-mate Justin Harrison were very lucky to get just a yellow card for their efforts in the 32nd-minute punch-up.  They launched a vicious attack on Springbok prop Faan Rautenbach and somehow Springbok skipper Corné Krige ended up with a bloodied face when the players were finally parted.  The fight began after Werner Greeff tackled Chris Latham in the air and the players decided to take the law into their own hands.  But, we have one question -- what more must players do before they are shown red cards?

The teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Matt Cockbain, Elton Flatley, Mat Rogers, Ben Darwin, David Lyons
Unused:  Chris Whitaker

South Africa:  1 Faan Rautenbach, 2 James Dalton, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Jannes Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Corne Krige (c), 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Bobby Skinstad, 9 Bolla Conradie, 10 Andre Pretorius, 11 Breyton Paulse, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Werner Greeff
Reserves:  Delarey Du Preez, Adi Jacobs, Hendro Scholtz, Ollie Le Roux, Brent Russell
Unused:  Neil De Kock, A.J. Venter

Attendance:  37528
Referee:  Lander s.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 2, Mortlock S.A. 1, Tune B.N. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 3
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 3, Mortlock S.A. 1

South Africa
Tries:  Joubert M.C. 2, Russell B. 1, Skinstad R.B. 1
Conv:  Pretorius A.S. 2
Pen K.:  Pretorius A.S. 1

New Zealand 41 South Africa 20

An 18-point blitz either side of half-time was all the impetus that the All Blacks needed to record a comprehensive 41-20 Tri-Nations win over the Springboks in Wellington.

New Zealand led 21-13 at half-time despite the Springboks running into an early 10-3 lead after a sensational individual try from fullback Werner Greeff in the sixth minute.

Greeff beat Mark Robinson, Christian Cullen and Doug Howlett en route to the tryline and André Pretorius's conversion put the visitors into a 7-3 lead after an Andrew Mehrtens penalty got the scoreboard ticking over in the second minute.

Pretorius soon added a penalty to stretch the Boks' lead to 10-3, and although Andrew Mehrtens cut the lead to four points, Greeff was on target with a drop-goal just a few minutes later to put the Boks in control at 13-6.

But All Black skipper Reuben Thorne rallied his troops and they hit back with a try of their own shortly before the end of the first quarter.  Kiwi hooker Mark Hammett, who had a nightmarish performance against the Wallabies last week, finally found one of his jumpers -- Chris Jack -- at a line-out, and scrumhalf Justin Marshall made some ground before Richard McCaw carried the ball further.

A third Crusader, No.8 Scott Robertson, soon arrived on the scene to make a telling forage into enemy territory and although Marshall took the wrong option by turning the ball inside to Mark Robinson, the Kiwis quickly re-cycled the ball to the right for Doug Howlett to dive over.

Mehrtens swung in a wonderful conversion from far out to tie the scores 13-all, but that was where the Boks' scoring ended for some time as the All Blacks slowly started making and breaking first-time tackles.

Mark Hammett was the man to benefit from the Kiwis' renewed vigour as he streaked over from a clever line-out move with Robertson, although replays suggest that Hammett's throw did not go five metres and both his feet were in the field of play at the time of his throw.

Mehrtens missed the conversion, but he added a penalty on the stroke of half-time and a drop-goal soon afterwards to put his side ahead at 24-13.

Then Greeff, who could do no wrong up till then, mis-judged a chip-ahead from Kiwi second five-eighths Aaron Mauger from the re-start to Mehrtens's drop-goal, which allowed Mauger to have another hack at the ball.  Caleb Ralph nailed Stefan Terblanché in the tackled and Tana Umaga, who had replaced the injured Mark Robinson, won the ball on the ground and presented it to Justin Marshall.

Marshall went right and the Boks defended bravely, but a change of direction saw Thorne crash over for the try.  Mehrtens did the necessary and at 31-13 the All Blacks had ripped the heart out of the young Bok side.

To their credit Krige's side did manage to pull one try back -- Marius Joubert won the race to the goalline after Pretorius's attempted penalty kick to touch bounced loose -- but 31-20 soon became 36-20 after Justin Marshall powered his way over for his fifth career try against the South Africans.

Marshall's try came just after the self-same Joubert had been sin-binned in rather dubious circumstances after a high-tackle on Doug Howlett and a few swats at Tana Umaga, who came to Howlett's assistance.

Scott Robertson rubbed more salt into the Boks's already infected wound with a late try after yet another well-executed line-out move close to the Bok line.

In the end a 21-point winning margin -- as predicted by the Zurich Computer rankings -- seems massive.  And, indeed it is.

The All Blacks will feel well-satisfied with their ninth straight Test triumph -- and bonus point -- that reinforces their position at the top of the Tri-Nation standings while Bok captain Corné Krige believes his team can take something out of the performance.

The Bok performance had shades of Nick Mallett's side's determination in 1998, but it also provided us with a trip down memory lane into Carel du Plessis' beleaguered side of 1997, which lost 55-35 to New Zealand at Eden Park.  Hopefully the Boks will remember next week to keep their error-rate down as the world champion Wallabies lie in wait.

Man of the match:  Springbok fullback Werner Greeff started the match like a house on fire and his captain Corné Krige did not stand back to anyone.  For the All Blacks, opensider Richard McCaw was at his brilliant best -- ripping the ball away from hapless Bok attackers and supporting his team-mates on the run -- while flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens ran things well from the crucial flyhalf spot.  But, in the end our vote goes to All Black No.8 Scott Robertson for his complete performance from the base of the Kiwi scrum.  He broke numerous Bok tackles on attack and tackled like a man possessed and for good measure he also scored the All Blacks' fifth try.  He completely out-played his opposite number Bob Skinstad.

Moment of the Match:  At first we pencilled in Werner Greeff's try -- the Boks' first in New Zealand since Pieter Rossouw's try during their 13-3 triumph in Wellington in 1998 -- but once the complexion of the game changed so did our moment of the match.  Our moment then?  Robertson's try, which came shortly before the final whistle.  It was fully-deserved by the Canterbury and Crusaders No.8 and just-reward for hard work a wonderful performance from him.

Villain of the Match:  It may be a bit rough on him, but Marius Joubert wins our vote here for his sin-binning in the 55th minute.  He cannot be blamed for the high-tackle, as he was going in the opposite direction to Doug Howlett, but his flurry of punches afterwards were unnecessary.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 David Hewett, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Simon Maling, 6 Richard McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Scott Robertson, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Aaron Mauger, 13 Mark Robinson, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Christian Cullen
Reserves:  Sam Broomhall, Joe McDonnell, Tom Willis, Byron Kelleher, Jonah Lomu, Tana Umaga, Royce Willis

South Africa:  1 Willie Meyer, 2 James Dalton, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Jannes Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Corne Krige (c), 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Bobby Skinstad, 9 Bolla Conradie, 10 Andre Pretorius, 11 Dean Hall, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Werner Greeff
Reserves:  Neil De Kock, Adi Jacobs, Faan Rautenbach, A.J. Venter, Ollie Le Roux,
Unused:  Hendro Scholtz, Breyton Paulse

Referee:  Dickinson s.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Howlett D.C. 1, Hammett M.G. 1, Marshall J.W. 1, Robertson S.M. 1, Thorne R.D. 1
Conv:  Mehrtens A.P. 2
Pen K.:  Mehrtens A.P. 3
Drop G.:  Mehrtens A.P. 1

South Africa
Tries:  Greeff W.W. 1, Joubert M.C. 1
Conv:  Pretorius A.S. 2
Pen K.:  Pretorius A.S. 1
Drop G.:  Greeff W.W. 1

Canada 36 United States 13

Canada has stayed at the top of the Americas Zone World Cup qualifying table with a resounding 36-13 victory over the USA in Chicago in front of 2,400 fans.  A pair of Marco DiGirolamo tries in the first half proved to be the difference, while fly-half Jared Barker had a perfect day, kicking four penalties and two conversions for 16 points.

The US got a late second half try from replacement fullback Mike Hercus who also had a conversion and two penalties to account for all the US points.

Fly-half Link Wilfley's first shot at goal -- from 39 metres into a stiff breeze went instantly off course -- and it appeared the Rotherham player was still struggling to find his once prominent kicking form.

"We took advantage of [US] mishaps, and it comes from pressure defense," Canadian captain Al Charron said after the match.

"Our execution today was a lot more crisp.  You can't expect to win test match football if you don't convert pressure into points.  We didn't do that today," USA coach Tom Billups said.

Barker got his side on the board in the eleventh minute with a 41 metre kick, punishing a US offside to make the score 3-0 to the visitors.

Olo Fifita went down at 16 minutes and after some treatment on the pitch went off, with Brian Surgener coming on as a blood substitution.

Canada was awarded a penalty on the play for obstruction, and Barker hit the long 42 metre penalty.  6-0 Canada.

Wilfley then had a 15 metre shot go awry, and a few boo-birds began to whistle.

Referee Nigel Whitehouse continued to call the USA for a variety of infractions and it was Barker again two minutes later to extend the Canuck lead to 9-0.

At 27 minutes Sean Fauth found a seam inside the US 22 and then off-loaded to late substitution Marco DiGirolamo who touched down under the posts.  Barker added the extra two points and the Canadians were out to a storming 16-0 lead.

DiGirolamo then added his second of the day in the 32nd minute, diving into the left corner, and with the touchline conversion by Barker Canada was in control 23-0.

Just before the half Canada threatened again with a five metre scrum, but the Eagles dodged that bullet as the Canucks wheeled giving possession to the US.  The next scrum resulted in a penalty for boring in, and the US kicked out of trouble.

The US went to Mike Hercus, who had come on just before the break as a replacement for Mose Timoteo, and he was true on a 45 metre effort, bringing the pro-USA crowd to its feet.  26-3.

Hercus added another penalty at 61 minutes to cut the Canadian lead to 26-6.

With a hard day of work behind him, Jared Barker came off, to be replaced by veteran Bob Ross, who promptly slotted a shot from 39 metres 29-6 Canada.  Barker is now 12 for 12 in the kicking department over the last two qualifying games.

With the US showing little forward momentum Canada continued to press, winning a lineout at the American ten metre line, and the ball was spun wide with Sean Fauth coming in from the opposite wing, taking a quick pass and then feeding Fred Asselin who touched down in the right corner.  Ross converted and the score ballooned to 36-6

The US managed to organize a drive, getting down to the Canadian five metre line with the a US ruck freeing Mike Hercus under the posts.  He converted his own score to take the sting out of a poor US performance, making the final score 36-13.

The USA now takes on Chile in Salt Lake City on August 10th, while Canada plays Uruguay in Edmonton on the same day as Americas Zone qualifying continues.

Man-of-the-match:  As a replacement for John Cannon, Marco DiGirolamo took all the guessing out of what his abilities are in the mid-field, scoring two tries but also showing tremendous defensive resolve and solid distribution skills.  As team captain Al Charron said following the victory:  "Discounting his two tries Marco still was outstanding in defense and with the ball in hand, so a real great effort by him!"

Moment of the match:  The final Canadian try which came from a Canadian penalty lineout.  It was a complete team try with the forwards winning the ball cleanly, quick ball down the line, and Sean Fauth showing innovation coming off the opposite wing with Winston Stanley also helping from the fullback spot to free the speedy Fred Asselin for the score.

Villain-of-the-match:  While he is a talented and very fast wing, Jone Naqica continues to put his side in jeopardy with poor decision making.  On a day when his team was under pressure and all hands on deck were required his yellow card offence for disrupting a quick tap ball by Morgan Williams was the last thing the Americans needed.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Ryan Banks, 2 Adam Van Staveren, 3 Phil Murphy, 4 Alan Charron (c), 5 Mike James, 6 Pat Dunkley, 7 John Thiel, 8 Rod Snow, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 Marco Di Girolomo, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves:  Jamie Cudmore, Bobby Ross, Colin Yukes, Matt King

United States:  1 Olo Fifita, 2 Kort Schubert, 3 Dave Hodges (c), 4 Philippe Farner, 5 Eric Reed, 6 Dan Dorsey, 7 Kirk Khasigian, 8 Mike MacDonald, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Link Wilfley, 11 Johnny Naqica, 12 Jason Keyter, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 David Fee, 15 Mose Timoteo
Reserves:  Juan Grobler, Mike Hercus, Kimball Kjar, Brian Surgener, John Tarpoff

Attendance:  2500
Referee:  Whitehouse n.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  Asselin F. 1, Di Girolomo M. 2
Conv:  Barker J. 2, Ross R.P. 1
Pen K.:  Barker J. 4, Ross R.P. 1

United States
Tries:  Hercus M. 1
Conv:  Hercus M. 1
Pen K.:  Hercus M. 2

Australia 6 New Zealand 12

The All Blacks, playing the last few minutes with only 14 men, held onto a six-point lead with the Wallabies attacking relentlessly to win this Tri-Nations/Bledisloe Cup clash by 12-6 at a cold and wet Jade Stadium in Christchurch.

It was the first tryless encounter between New Zealand and Australia since 1991, but what the game lacked in attack, the two teams more than made up for with superb defence.

The Wallabies, after being pinned back in their half for most of the game, changed that trend in the final 15 minutes and launched the one attack after the other.

And when outside centre Mark Robinson was sent to the sin-bin with less than 10 minutes left on the clock, the tide seemed to be turning for the visitors.

But the Australians miscalculated the All Blacks' resilience in defence, and every time they got a promising move going, the home team tackled them into the ground and won back the ball.

The miserable conditions turned the game into a kicking contest between All Black pivot Andrew Mehrtens and the Wallabies' Stephen Larkham and Chris Latham, a battle Mehrtens won in the end.

The outside backs saw very little ball as both sides elected to mince it up in the forwards, and it is here where the All Blacks laid the platform for their win.

The home team had the upper-hand up front, and with Richard McCaw and Scott Robertson leading the charge, they had the Wallabies under pressure at rucks at mauls.

McCaw, despite the few penalties he conceded, was brilliant, and the turn-ver count of 28-19 in New Zealand's favour shows that he had the acsendancy on the ground over Wallaby opensider George Smith.

Chris Jack and Greg Somerville also had good games for the home team, while Toutai Kefu and Nathan Sharpe were the Wallabies' best forwards on the night.

But the All Black General Andrew Mehrtens was the biggest thorn in the Wallabies' side.

His tactical kicking was superb and he constantly had the Australians turn around with probing kicks downfield.  In total, the All Blacks kicked the ball almost 90 times, with Mehrtens doing the honours most of the time.

From there Larkham and Latham were forced to find touch, and although the All Blacks struggled at the line-outs (the Wallabies poached five of their throws), the enjoyed territorial advantage to such an extent that, before the last quarter, the Wallabies had less that 40 percent of the ball.

It was clear that New Zealand coach John Mitchell had told his team -- and Mehrtens in particular -- to keep Australia away from their 22, something the All Blacks did with clinical perfection.

And although the Wallabies had 60 percent of the ball, there was nothing they could do with it as the All Blacks drilled into them every time they tried to get an attack going.

The Wallabies also made life difficult for themselves with too many handling errors.  And as Australian coach Eddie Jones rang the changes in the second half, Mitchell stuck with the team he had sent onto the field, not disrputing their rhythm, a tactical move that paid off towards the end as the All Blacks stuck to their game-plan that eventually won them the match.

Man of the match:  Richard McCaw was good, as was Toutai Kefu.  But Andrew Mehrtens, the man who did most of the pre-match talk in the media, played his part to perfection, keeping the Wallabies as far away from the All Black try-line as possible.  He was also successful with all his kicks at goal under difficult circumstances, while Wallaby kicker Matt Burke missed two penalties.

Moment of the match:  The last movement of the game was quite special.  The Wallabies got a penalty, which Chris Latham stabbed into touch on the New Zealand 22, with 45 seconds left on the clock.  They did get the ball back, but the All Blacks applied so much pressure that when the Wallabies finally lost possession, they were on their own 10-metre line.  Justin Marshall kicked the ball into touch and the final whistle went.

Villain of the match:  Seeing that the game was quite clean, Mark Robinson, who got yellow carded for an early tackle late in the game, wins this dubious award.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Ben Tune, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, Elton Flatley, Mat Rogers, Ben Darwin, David Lyons
Unused:  Brendan Cannon, Chris Whitaker

New Zealand:  1 David Hewett, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Simon Maling, 6 Richard McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Scott Robertson, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Aaron Mauger, 13 Mark Robinson, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Christian Cullen
Unused:  Ben Blair, Sam Broomhall, Joe McDonnell, Tom Willis, Daryl Gibson, Byron Kelleher, Royce Willis

Referee:  Kaplan j.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 2

New Zealand
Pen K.:  Mehrtens A.P. 4

Chinese Taipei 3 Japan 155

It was a day of records at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo, when Daisuke Ohata scored eight tries and Japan equalled the biggest victory margin ever in an international, beating Chinese Taipei by 155-3 in a 2003 Rugby World Cup Asian qualifying match.

Ohata's eight tries are a new Japanese record, while his 40 points are also the most scored in an international for his country.

The most tries ever scored in an international are the 10 scored by Ashley Billington for Hong Kong, against Singapore, in 1994.  G.M. Jorge (for Argentina against Brazil in 1993) and Lance Fitzpatrick (for the Cook Islands against Tahiti in 2001) have both scored eight tries in a Test -- equal second to Ohata's mark.

The flying winger's try-scoring feat improves on the previous Japanese mark, set by Terunori Masuho against Taiwan in 1998, when he touched down five times.  Toru Kurihara, who scored 35 points against South Korea three weeks ago, held the previous record for most points in a Test for Japan.  Japan won that match 90-24.

Ironically Ohata's last try came in injury-time, giving him his 30th Test try and making him the greatest try-scorer in Japan's history.

Japan also equalled the world record for the biggest winning margin in a Test, with the 152 points equal to the 152-0 win Argentina posted against Paraguay in a South American championship match earlier this year.

This was also Japan's highest score in a Test match, eclipsing the previous mark of 134 points against Taiwan in Taipei at the Asian championships in 1998.

For Japanese coach Shogo Mukai it also put to rest one of the most embarrassing moments in his career.  Mukai was the coach of Japan when they were beaten 145-17 by New Zealand at the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

"I had always expected our team to play better than Taiwan in all aspects," he told the media.  "Japan had been at the receiving end of a 145 points defeat before, so I wanted to score more than that," Mukai added.

But for captain Hideki Nanba the main goal, qualifying for RWC 2003, was far more important than the victory margin.  They have two more matches in the Asian qualifying tournament left and will meet South Korea next Sunday and Chinese Taipei a week later -- two matches which should see them qualify.

"The best thing today was that we didn't give a single try to Taiwan," Nanba told the media.  "But we haven't yet won a ticket to the World Cup.  I just want to concentrate on our text match, to beat South Korea," he added.

South Korea head the standings with seven points from two wins and one defeat, while Japan are second with two straight wins for six points.  Bottom of the Asian standings are Taiwan, with just two points after failing to win any of their matches.

Taiwan's captain Lin Yi-te said that Saturday's match had illustrated how far behind his country was in competing realistically against the Asian super powers.

"We've played many games, but today's game was the toughest.  The Japanese are really strong.  In Taiwan there are not so many rugby players, while facilities and conditions are not on par with that in Japan.

"I hope we can reduce the points deficit a bit when we play Japan next time," he said.

Flyhalf Andrew Miller of New Zealand, who replaced Toro Kurihara at half-time, kicked 12 conversions, also a new national record breaking the previous mark of 11 made by Kurihara.

Japan scored a total of 23 tries.

The Teams:

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Masahiko Toyoyama, 4 Koichi Kubo, 5 Adam Parker, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Dean Anglesey, 8 Yuya Saito, 9 Sinichi Tsukida, 10 Andy Miller, 11 Toru Kurihara, 12 Yukio Motoki, 13 Hideki Nanba (c), 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Hirotoki Onozowa
Unused:  Takeomi Ito, Ken Iwabuchi, Kazuya Koizumi, Ryohei Miki, Wataru Murata, Masahito Yamamoto, Ryo Yamamura

Referee:  Deaker k.

South Africa 60 Samoa 18

In their last game before the 2002 Tri-Nations, South Africa ran in eight tries, including a brace each for centre De Wet Barry and winger Dean Hall, as the Springboks overcame Samoa 60-18 in a one-off Test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

But never mind what the scoreboard said, this was not the kind of performance coach Rudolf Straeuli would have liked to see with the All Blacks waiting in Wellington in two weeks' time.

The Bok forwards struggled against a Samoan pack not exactly known for their brilliant forward play.  The home team played far too loose and never looked like a unit.

A few players did catch the eye, and Joe van Niekerk and Hottie Louw showed that Straeuli can't leave for Australasia without them.  Van Niekerk was rewarded with a late try, but got a fist on the eye when he accidentally hit a Samoan player, lying on the ground, with the ball in his celebration.

On the other hand, Samoa's pack did very well, with their three loose forwards -- Semo Sititi, Maurie Fa'asavlu and Kitiona Viliamu -- making life difficult for the Boks with superb play in the loose.

They were well backed up by Trevor Leota, who could teach the Boks a few things about playing with vigour.  Yes, the gold-haired hooker did get sin-binned, but he was the heart of the Samoan pack.

André Pretorius again showed his worth in the Bok No.10 jersey, while Werner Greeff's stock also rose considerably with a great game at fullback before he left the field after 55 minutes with what looked like a knee injury.

The visitors deserve praise for the way that they played.  Coach John Boe had said during the week that they came to Pretoria to play rugby, which is what they did when they got the ball.

Samoa played much more enterprising rugby, and the Boks and England can take notice of this young islanders team ahead of next year's World Cup.

The Springboks were slack on defence and they won't be happy with the three tries scored against them.

In fact, the Samoans scored the try of the game when Fereti Tuilagi crossed after a move that had started behind their own goalline.  The Boks' poor defence, and a crucial missed tackle from No.8 Bob Skinstad, did help Samoa get on the scoreboard, but that was a good indication of how the Samoans play rugby.

The line-outs and the restarts were a huge problem for the Boks, and with players like Chris Jack and Justin Harrison waiting for them, the South Africans will have to give serious attention to these areas.

Straeuli could take some heart from a few good tries scored by the home team.

The first five-pointer, after 14 minutes, was a beauty.

Greeff kicked downfield, with a speeding Van Niekerk chasing.  The loose forward gathered the ball 10 metres out and unselfishly passed to Greeff after he had crossed the line for the fullback to dot down under the uprights.

Five minutes later the visitors got one back after Tuilagi scored a superb effort that started behind the Samoans' own posts.  Their rich Sevens heritage showed and after a few great passes -- and poor tackles by the Boks -- the inside centre was able to get over for his second Test try.

But from then on it was plain sailing for the home team, and although they failed to grab the imagination, the South Africans scored two more tries -- by recalled lock Victor Matfield from a line-out drive, and De Wet Barry from a five-metre tap-kick -- to lead 27-5 at the break.

The second half was not a very memorable affair, and the Boks got most of their points in the last 20 minutes when the game had opened up and the Samoans tired in the thin highveld air.

The Boks also scored two tries -- through Delarey du Preez on his Test debut and big Dean Hall -- while Trevor Leota was in the sin bin for a late charge on his opposite number Danie Coetzee.  But, even with 14 men on the park, Samoan skipper Semo Sititi also crossed for a try.

Man of the match:  André Pretorius was the best back on the park, but loose forward Joe van Niekerk showed that the Boks can't keep on persisting with him on the bench.  He played a superb game, defended well and is a more than useful option in the line-outs.  He played a lot like a young Bob Skinstad, only a bit tighter.

Moment of the match:  Samoa's first try, in the 19th minute, was pure class.  For a moment they forgot that this was not a Sevens game and threw the ball around with finesse, beating tackles before Fereti Tuilagi crashed over for a superb five-pointer.

Villain of the match:  The game was played in good spirit, but Trevor Leota was yellow-carded for a needless late-charge on Danie Coetzee.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Faan Rautenbach, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Hottie Louw, 6 Corne Krige (c), 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Bobby Skinstad, 9 Bolla Conradie, 10 Andre Pretorius, 11 Dean Hall, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Marius Joubert, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Werner Greeff
Reserves:  Neil De Kock, Delarey Du Preez, Adi Jacobs, Shaun Sowerby, Quinton Davids, Daan Human, Breyton Paulse

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Tamato Leupolu, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavlu, 7 Kitiona Viliamu, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Elvis Seveali'i, 13 Fereti Tuilagi, 14 Alesana Tuilagi, 15 Silao Leaega
Reserves:  Aleki Toleafoa, Potu Leavasa, Kas Lealamanu'a, Carl Manu, Jonathan Meredith, Ponaly Tapela, Denning Tyrell

Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Barry De W. 2, Du Preez G.J.D. 1, Greeff W.W. 1, Hall D.B. 2, Matfield V. 1, Van Niekerk J.C. 1
Conv:  Pretorius A.S. 7
Pen K.:  Pretorius A.S. 2

Samoa
Tries:  Sititi S. 1, Tuilagi F. 1
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 1

Canada 26 United States 9

Canada has put its first leg of the 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifiers to bed with a convincing 26-9 victory over the USA at Fletcher's Field in Markham.

The match -- the first of six home and away tests for the two squads that will also involve Chile and Uruguay -- was played under intense 27 degree heat -- which began to take its toll in the second half.

Jared Barker had another sparkling day for Canada -- with the fly-half striking for two conversions and four penalties for a 16 point haul.

The US responded with two Link Wilfley kicks along with a solo penalty from relatively new cap Mike Hercus -- though Wilfley missed another four attempts on the day.

Canada had a 10-6 half time lead after flanker Dan Baugh completed a long passage where fullback Winston Stanley brought the ball up to the US 30 metre line before offloading to a trailing Rod Snow, who passed back to Fauth.  The sprinty winger then passed it back to Snow at the ten metre line -- where he flipped it to Baugh -- who looked to pass outside before getting tackled across the Eagles try line.  With the Barker conversion the Canucks seemed poised to run away with the match in the second half.

"The work was good and we got the ball wide and had plenty of support.  We put the ball inside, outside -- then we scored under the posts -- you can't get any better than that, said a jubilant Canadian head coach David Clark -- whose team has now won two in a row -- including a 26-23 victory over Scotland two weeks ago.

The US opened the scoring at the twenty minute mark -- after referee Alan Lewis of Ireland judged Canada offside.  Link Wilfley hit the ball cleanly from 33 metres -- to give his side a 3-0 lead.

The Canadians got those points back two minutes later with a Jared Barker penalty kick -- after the Eagles were guilty of killing the ball -- 3-3 after twenty-two minutes.

The US made some threatening moves with its young backline -- driving to the Canadian two metre line -- with the Canucks finally succumbing to the pressure with an offside penalty.  Wilfley made no mistake to give his team a 6-3 lead.

The try by Baugh followed but the US were still in the contest -- unlike the week before where Scotland had opened a huge halftime lead.

"They were very much to type actually," said coach Tom Billups of the Canadians.  "They are a cagey bunch -- and they picked their moments well.  At test level rugby you can't afford to miss as many points as we did and expect to come away with a result.  That proved out again today -- and it turned out to be a very typical US versus Canada rugby game."

From the opening kick off in the second half the Eagles had another shot at goal after Canada was called for killing the ball in the ruck -- but Wilfley's kicking troubles continued -- with the Rotherham fly-half missing from twenty-three metres.

The Americans then avoided a penalty as Ryan Banks chased a well weighted ball from John Cannon down the left wing.  New cap David Fee -- seeing no support options slapped the ball into touch rather than take contact in close to the tryline -- but Lewis did not make the call and the US were able to control the resulting Canadian lineout.

Al Charron had his typical day at the office with the Canadian captain getting a free pass through the US line all afternoon.  A number of his traipsing runs exposed the young American backline -- and supporting forwards began to spin the ball with authority in the loose.

In the 53rd minute a long Canadian run -- that touched at least ten sets of hands -- finally ended with a penalty against the US for killing the ball.  Barker set the kick up in front of the posts -- approximately ten metres out.  As he approached to make the kick Wilfley charged it down -- to the amazement of all assembled.  Lewis -- somewhat puzzled issued a no charge order that is normally heard for conversion kicks -- and Barker put the chip shot through easily to extend the Canadian lead to 13-6.

The Canadians kept the US in check for some minutes -- but Nik Witkowski was called for playing the ball on the ground -- giving the Eagles another shot at goal.  Hercus took over the kicking chores -- and curled his 29 metre effort to pull his side to within four -- 13-9.

Barker continued to show he is a long threat with his foot -- slotting a penalty from 49 metres -- with former Canadian fly-half and new CEO of Rugby Canada Gareth Rees whooping his appreciation for the huge kick.

With a comfortable lead the Canadians began to expand the game plan -- with Adam Van Staveren breaking free on his 35 metre line -- then passing to Fauth who zoomed up the left wing before finding scrum-half Morgan Williams in space.  The speedy half back seemed away to the races when Olo Fifita stuck his hand out and collared him bringing him to ground heavily.  The crowd of 2,200 crowed its anger at Lewis for the non-call -- and the US ended up with the throw in.  Lewis missed a total of five high tackles in the game -- a concern to be sure as players on both sides of the ball began to feel the results of these transgressions.

At 66 minutes John Cannon found a gap inside the American half -- driving to the five metre line before finding second row Mike James who lunged across for the try under the posts.  The Barker conversion gave Canada a 23-9 lead.

Barker had the final say on matters with a long penalty and the final 26-9 scoreline.

While there were a number of blood substitutions during the game -- the single worse incident occurred with just minutes to go and the Eagles threatening the Canadian line.  Hercus was taking the ball into contact when he was tackled by Canadian fly-half Bob Ross -- knocking him back into Keyter causing the pair to clack heads in a sickening crunch.  Medical personnel rushed to the field as blood poured from a wound above Keyter's eye -- with Hercus also coming off from the collision.

Both left the field under their own power-- though following the game Hercus was nauseaous and taken to local hospital with a possible concussion.

Despite American pressure inside the Canadian twenty-two metre line the Canadians defensive resolve did not break -- and with the full time whistle the men in red had secured a 17 point advantage heading into Chicago on July 13th as the two teams meet for the second half of the home and away series.

Man-of-the-Match:  Jared Barker went 6 for 6 for Canada, while Ryan Banks made many hard yards in his hour on the field, but Al Charron put his typical stamp on events with big runs, even bigger tackles -- and a number of well passed balls that expanded Canada's game.

Moment-of-the-match:  The first Canadian try showed a great interaction between the forwards and backs -- with Rod Snow yet again finding himself close to the tryline before passing off to Dan Baugh.

Villain-of-the-match:  Villain is a harsh word -- but Link Wilfley with the four missed kicks and then the mystifying charge down did not help his side out on a day he was sorely needed.

The teams:

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 John Tait, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Alan Charron (c), 8 Ryan Banks, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 John Cannon, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves:  Ed Fairhurst, Mark Lawson, Phil Murphy, Bobby Ross, Adam Van Staveren
Unused:  Marco Di Girolomo, Kevin Tkachuk

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Philippe Farner, 5 Luke Gross, 6 Olo Fifita, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dave Hodges (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 Johnny Naqica, 12 Jason Keyter, 13 Link Wilfley, 14 David Fee, 15 Mose Timoteo
Unused:  Chris Miller, John Buchholz, John Tarpoff

Attendance:  2200
Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers:

Canada
Tries:  James M.B. 1, Baugh D.R. 1
Conv:  Barker J. 2
Pen K.:  Barker J. 4

United States
Pen K.:  Wilfley L.M. 2, Hercus M. 1

South Africa 49 Argentina 29

South Africa won their one-off Test against Argentina by 49-29, but is was by no means a vintage performance by the Springboks in only their second-ever Test in Springs, east of Johannesburg.

The home team struggled to find their rhythm, which must be alarming for coach Rudolf Straeuli, with the Tri-Nations just three weeks away.

But that was not the home team's only problem ...

Their discipline was poor, and apart from all the penalties they conceded a penalty try 10 minutes from the end to keep the Pumas' hopes of an upset victory alive.

Buoyed by 24 points from André Pretorius and two superb late tries, by Stefan Terblanché and Johannes Conradie, the Boks scored their third consecutive Test win under Straeuli.

The Sharks right-wing's five-pointer was a beauty.  Werner Greeff, who had replaced Brent Russell at fullback just before half-time, brilliantly took a high ball, eluded a few tackles before passing to Pretorius who got Terblanché away for his second try of the day.

Although things got exciting towards the end, the first 20 minutes produced some of the most forgettable Test rugby seen in a long time by a South African outfit.

The 21,000-strong crowd must have wanted a ticket refund after the boring rugby that was dished up in the first quarter.

Both teams seemed content to put the ball through phases, but lost possession with handling errors or by giving away stupid penalties.

Speaking of all the penalties, Straeuli must have had some harsh words for his team at half-time, as they looked solid in the first 15 minutes after the break.

Both teams were solid in the tight phases, with the Pumas probably better in the scrums.

Bob Skinstad and Hottie Louw secured good line-out possession for the Springboks, and the Pumas' locks -- Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe and Rimaz Álvarez -- also had good games.

Scrumhalf and captain Agustin Pichot marshalled his backline well, but the Boks' defence at the back was just too good.

After Pumas flyhalf Gonzalo Quesada, who missed three penalty kicks at goal in the first half, had cut down the Boks' half-time lead from 17-13 to just one point with a 55-metre penalty, Terblanché scored his first try and Pretorius added the conversion as well as two penalties with his trusty right boot.

At 30-16 the Springboks looked to be cruising, but the Pumas -- via the boot of Quesada and the penalty try -- clawed their way back to 37-29 before Terblanché and Conradie, who replaced the Craig Davidson, sealed the Boks' win.

The home team could have been further ahead, but the Argentineans hit back and scored all their points in the last 10 minutes before half-time.

At that stage the Boks were ahead courtesy of two tries -- by local boy Adrian Jacobs and the Sharks' Davidson -- scored in the 23rd and 27th minute respectively.

Jacobs's was a beauty after Bob Skinstad won back the ball after Diego Albanese failed to control an up-and-under from Davidson.  The Boks spun the ball wide to the speedy Falcon, who scored in front of his home town crowd, much to his, and their, delight.

Pretorius, who missed only two from 10 kicks at goal, converted both and added a 21st-minute penalty to set the crowd alight as their favourite team seemed to be finding their feet after the Pumas had dominated the opening exchanges.

But as the Boks' concentration slipped, so did their discipline and the visitors hit back through a try by Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe and a conversion and two penalties by ever-reliable Quesada.

But the thin highveld air and the Boks' superior fitness towards the end did not help the Pumas as they saw the result slip from their claws.

Man of the match:  Following hot on the heels of SA A flyhalf Butch James's performance against Argentina during the week, André Pretorius showed that he was not going to let go of his No.10 jersey without a fight.  His distribution was superb, and he is very fast of the mark as well as a fearless defender.  And there is nothing wrong with his goalkicking either.  When last have we seen a Bok Test flyhalf sport and 80-percent kicking record from 10 attempts.

Moment of the match:  Moments after the referee had awarded a penalty try to the Pumas, the Boks hit back.  It started with Werner Greeff taking a high ball, twisting his way out of a tackle and speeding up-field before feeding Pretorius, who went to the deck but got the ball out to Terblanché to round off a great counter-attacking move.

Villain of the match:  Every single player -- in Green and Gold and Blue and White -- who conceded stupid penalties.  There were too many to name here, and they certainly didn't help the game to deliver as a spectacle.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Ollie Le Roux, 2 James Dalton, 3 Willie Meyer, 4 Jannes Labuschagne, 5 Hottie Louw, 6 A.J. Venter, 7 Corne Krige (c), 8 Bobby Skinstad, 9 Craig Davidson, 10 Andre Pretorius, 11 Breyton Paulse, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Adi Jacobs, 14 Stefan Terblanche, 15 Brent Russell
Reserves:  Werner Greeff, Faan Rautenbach, Bolla Conradie, Quinton Davids, Daan Human, Marius Joubert, Joe Van Niekerk

Argentina:  1 Roberto Grau, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot (c), 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corleto
Reserves:  Martin Durand, Omar Hasan Jalil, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Lucas Ostiglia
Unused:  Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Juan Fernandez Miranda, Jose Nunez Piossek

Referee:  Erickson w.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Davidson C.D. 1, Jacobs A.A. 1, Conradie J.H. 1, Pretorius A.S. 1, Terblanche C.S. 2
Conv:  Pretorius A.S. 5
Pen K.:  Pretorius A.S. 3

Argentina
Tries:  Fernandez Lobbe C.I. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Quesada G. 2
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 5

New Zealand 68 Fiji 18

New Zealand's crushing 68-18 win over their neighbours Fiji could prove costly after injuries to four of their key men.  Fullback Leon MacDonald, centre Tana Umaga, flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens, and loose forward Taine Randell were all injured during the physical encounter at Wellington's WestpacTrust Stadium.

All Black coach John Mitchell intends on naming a 26-man All Black squad on Monday for New Zealand's up-coming Tri-Nations campaign and the injuries will be of major concern to him.

Umaga was forced from the field in the 20th minute with a reoccurrence of a knee injury and MacDonald, his replacement in the midfield, found himself stretchered off the field shortly before the final quarter after a head clash.

MacDonald was involved in a clash of heads with Stormers captain and flanker Corné Krige during the Super 12 and he may well need a smallish break to recover from this one even if he is not concussed.  The sickening sound the clash made suggests that he is concussed, while play was held up for five minutes to allow him to be removed from the field of play.

Mehrtens, who like MacDonald and Robertson started the match on the bench, replaced MacDonald, and he was then forced to leave the field when Fijian flyhalf Nicky Little hit him in the face while he was attempting to block a pass from Christian Cullen.

Randell, meanwhile, strained his calf muscle just after half-time and the Crusaders' Scott Robertson replaced him at the base of the All Black scrum.  A calf muscle injury delayed Randell's start to the 2002 Super 12, but it remains to be seen if this injury is related to that.

Besides all the injuries, there was some excitement for in-favour fullback Christian Cullen, who celebrated his Test recall with a hat-trick of tries.

Cullen, who is just 26 years of age, has now scored 46 Test tries in only 54 appearances for the Kiwis, the most by any other New Zealander.  Jeff Wilson, who retired from rugby after this season's Super 12 in order to pursue a cricket career, was the previous record-holder.

New Zealand, who scored 10 tries to Fiji's two, led 32-6 at half-time, but Fiji must be commended for their two five-pointers -- the most scored against New Zealand in one match this season -- in the second period.

Fiji's tries were scored by live-wire right-wing Norman Ligairi, who rounded Jonah Lomu for his first try, before intercepting a loose Aaron Mauger pass for his second try.  Nicky Little converted one of Ligairi's tries to add to his two first-half penalties.

Ligairi had the better of his battle with Lomu, one of the most feared wingers in world rugby, while the other Kiwi winger, Doug Howlett, was in fine form, with one of his mazy runs leading to a try for Cullen.

Howlett also scored a fine try of his own -- a brilliant chip-and-chase -- suggesting perhaps that he should start the Tri-Nations in the No.14 jersey with Lomu and Caleb Ralph battling it out for the No.11 jumper.

Forwards Norm Maxwell (lock) and Kees Meeuws (prop) scored a brace of tries each, while replacement No.8 Robertson also scored a try from a pushover scrum.  Maxwell had an industrious game and Meeuws was powerful in the scrums, while his support-play was also superb.

Aaron Mauger also proved that there is life after Mehrtens with an assured performance at first five-eight.  His wild pass that led to Ligairi's try was all he did wrong on the night.  His distribution was sound, tactical-kicking clever, and goalkicking promising.

"There was a few casualties out there and it's always disappointing to see things like that in the game," All Black captain Reuben Thorne told NZOOM after the match.

"There were a few high shots going in and a lot of off-side play ...

"[But] apart from that there was also a few good aspects, we scored 68 points, so it wasn't too bad on a difficult night like that."

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Joe McDonnell, 2 Tom Willis, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Simon Maling, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Sam Harding, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Taine Randell, 9 Byron Kelleher, 10 Aaron Mauger, 11 Doug Howlett, 12 Daryl Gibson, 13 Tana Umaga, 14 Jonah Lomu, 15 Christian Cullen
Reserves:  Leon MacDonald, Justin Marshall, Andrew Mehrtens, Scott Robertson
Unused:  David Hewett, Chris Jack, Mark Hammett

Fiji:  1 Billy Cavubati, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Richard Nyholt, 4 Sisa Koyamaibole, 5 Simon Raiwalui, 6 Koli Sewabu, 7 Setareki Tawake Naivaluwaqa, 8 Alifereti Doviverata, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Vilimoni Delasau, 12 Seru Rabeni, 13 Viliame Satala, 14 Norman Ligairi, 15 Alfred Uluinayau
Reserves:  Paula Biu, Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, Joseph Narruhn, Ifereimi Rawaqa, Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, Isaia Rasila
Unused:  Dan Baleinadogo

Attendance:  23938
Referee:  Young s.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Howlett D.C. 1, MacDonald L.R. 1, Mauger A.J.D. 1, Cullen C.M. 3, Maxwell N.M.C. 2, Meeuws K.J. 2, Robertson S.M. 1
Conv:  Mauger A.J.D. 5
Pen K.:  Mauger A.J.D. 1

Fiji
Tries:  Ligairi N. 2
Conv:  Little N.T. 1
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 2

Australia 31 France 25

An 18-point blitz midway through the second half -- including 10 points from Stirling Mortlock -- was just enough to hold off a determined late charge by France.  The Wallabies eventually managed to squeeze out a 31-25 win at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

The Wallabies out-scored the French by four tries to three and held a 13-8 advantage at the break.

In the end the home team needed a strong finish, and it was some resolute defensive in those frenetic final few minutes which held off a fast-charging French team.

It was a game of constant changes.

Australia first held sway, to lead 13-0, before the French came back late in the first half and eventually took the lead early in the second period.  Then the Wallabies again took the lead -- scoring 18 unanswered points -- before having to hold on desperately as the French launched a massive onslaught on their tryline.

As a build-up towards the Tri-Nations, the Wallabies could not have wished for a better game.  It was hard, fast and a good test of both their attacking and defensive abilities.

They passed the test, but just.

French lock Olivier Brouzet, in an interview after the match, gave the credit for the Wallaby win to their halfback combination -- scrumhalf and captain George Gregan, along with flyhalf Stephen Larkham.

But Gregan was the first to admit that a lot of work still lies ahead for his team ahead of the Tri-Nations.  "We slacked off just before half-time and again towards the end of the match and those are certainly areas of our game we have to work on," he said.

But he will certainly be pleased with the variation the Wallabies showed on attack and the manner in which they managed to keep the ball through numerous phases ... at times in the match.

But as Gregan rightfully pointed out, there were some very worrying lapses and the French managed to exploit those.

The visitors certainly looked dangerous with the ball in hand, but they also showed how vulnerable the Wallabies can be when the opposition counter quickly.

Defensively the Wallabies also left some gaping holes, especially on the wing of Wendell Sailor.  While he is an exciting player when running with the ball, Sailor's all-round game leaves a lot to be desired ... at least by Wallaby standards.

There were many other positives for the Wallabies to take from this game.  The other league convert, Mat Rogers, looked very dangerous during his stint on the field, and clearly has a very good conception of the angles he need to run.

Young South African-born lock Daniel Vickerman also made a satisfying Wallaby debut, adding more depth to an already impressive Australian team.

From a French point of view there are also more positives than negatives, but they will be concerned by the number of opportunities wasted -- especially the manner in which their hands let them down.

But they showed heart and to have come back twice in the game and come so close show just how dangerous this young French team is going to be at Rugby World Cup 2003.

Man of the match:  Daniel Herbert had a good game with some strong runs, and Wendell Sailor did impress on the attack.  But the standout player was undoubtedly Stirling Mortlock.  He a constant nuisance to the French defenders and he even helped his forwards out -- to great effect -- during kick-offs.  He was richly rewarded for his work with two great tries, while he also added a penalty and a conversion.

Villain of the match:  There was only one yellow card, which went to Wallaby flank Owen Finegan for an unnecessary dangerous shoulder charge on French flanker Serge Betsen.  The number of acts of thuggery that he has been involved in over the years must be cause for concern ... that is if his coaches care about stamping out such acts.

Moment of the match:  French winger Aurélien Rougerie's second try, four minutes from time, when the French started a late charge, was one of those moments that ensure this is a match that will be remembered for some time.  It started when Elton Flatley kicked downfield and Nicolas Brusque tidied up, before slipping a wonderful pass to Olivier Magne, who cut straight through Australia's defence.  Magne had no support and was stopped by Chris Latham, but suddenly the French arrived in numbers and they went to the right.  The Wallaby defence scrambled and the ball went loose, but Rougerie picked up the pass and with his strength went over for his second try of the night.  When Merceron kicked the conversion you suddenly sensed that France might win this one.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Brendan Cannon, 3 Bill Young, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 David Lyons, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, Elton Flatley, Rod Moore, Mat Rogers, Sean Hardman, Daniel Vickerman
Unused:  Chris Whitaker

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Sebastien Chabal, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Frederic Michalak, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Pepito Elhorga, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Cedric Heymans, Olivier Magne, Yannick Jauzion, Pierre Mignoni, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Christophe Porcu
Unused:  Olivier Azam

Attendance:  64703
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers

Australia
Tries:  Burke M.C. 1, Herbert D.J., Mortlock S.A. 2
Conv:  Mortlock S.A. 1
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 1, Mortlock S.A. 1
Drop G.:  Gregan G.M. 1

France
Tries:  Rougerie A. 2, Marconnet S. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 2
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 2

Samoa 31 Tonga 13

Manu Samoa beat the Ikale Tahi, the Tongan Fish Eagles, 31-13 at Apia Park to go to the top of the Tri-Nations competition consisting of Fiji, Manu Samoa and Tonga.

The Samoans led 13-6 at half-time, but clinched the victory only with a final surge.

In the end they triumphed by four tries to one.

It was a blue day as every Samoan had been encouraged to wear blue in support of their team in response to the request by Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi who is the prime minister of Samoa and also the Chairman of the Samoan Rugby Football Union.  The whole of the country's cabinet wore blue in support of the rugby team.

"The team needs as much support as they can and I encourage everyone to get behind the team," Tuilaepa said.

"Samoa's hopes and prayers will be with you," he told the team.

Surprisingly the Tongan captain, Inoke Afeaki, who has been suffering with an AC Joint injury, was cleared to play.  Not so Samoa's Brain Lima who was concussed playing his 50th Test for his country against the Ikale Tahi, in Nuku'alofa recently and has subsequently damaged ligaments.

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Viliami Ma'asi, 3 John Pale, 4 Ben Hur Kivalu, 5 Nisifolo Naufahu, 6 'Inoke Afeaki (c), 7 Va'a Toloke, 8 Viliami Vaki, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Pierre Hola, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Andrew Mailei, 13 Fepiko Tatafu, 14 Sam Hala, 15 Gus Leger
Unused:  Vikilani Afeaki, Stanley Afeaki, Tony Alatini, Christopher Hala'ufi, Nick Hau, Latiume Maka, Ma'afu Pale

Referee:  O'brien p.

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Seveali'i E. 1, So'oilao S. 2
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 2
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 4

Tonga
Tries:  Fonua S. 1
Conv:  Mailei A. 1
Pen K.:  Mailei A. 2

Fiji 12 Samoa 22

Defending champions Samoa surged to the top of the standings in the 2002 Pacific Rim Tri-Nations series, which doubles as Rugby World Cup qualifiers, after they comprehensively beat Fiji by 22-12 in Nadi.

The top two teams in the tournament, which also includes Tonga, will automatically qualify for the 2003 spectacle in Australia, while the third team can qualify though the repechage.  The the moment Samoa have eight points after three games, the Fijians are on six from three and Tonga have two from two.

The Samoans, who will depart for a tour to South Africa shortly, trailed by 3-5 at the break, but took the game by the scruff of its neck and scored three tries to one in the second-half.

Samoa avenged their 16-17 defeat to Fiji in Apia three weeks ago, and should return from their tour, which includes a Test against the Springboks in Pretoria, ready to clinch the tournament.

Fiji also has a tough task at hand, and next week play New Zealand in Wellington.

The home team took the lead in the 31st minute when their Sevens star Filimoni Delasau scored the first try of the game.

Earl Va'a, who earlier had put the visitors' first points on the board with a 40th minute penalty, scored shortly after the break to give his side the lead, which they relinquished two minutes later when Viliame Satala crossed for Fiji's second -- and last -- try.

The Samoans then took over and Hurricanes wing Lome Fa'atau scored with 15 minutes left on the clock.  Va'a's conversion made the score 15-12 to Samoa, setting up an exciting finale.

However, the visitors clinched the game two minutes from full-time when Opeta Palepoi scored a try that was converted by Va'a.

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Paula Biu, 2 Greg Smith (c), 3 Richard Nyholt, 4 Simon Raiwalui, 5 Timoci Yacabula, 6 Alifereti Doviverata, 7 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 9 Jacob Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Vilimoni Delasau, 12 Viliame Satala, 13 Alfred Uluinayau, 14 Isaac Mow, 15 Norman Ligairi
Reserves:  Joseph Narruhn, Seru Rabeni, Epeli Ratuniata, Ifereimi Rawaqa, Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, Isaia Rasila, Koli Sewabu

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Trevor Leota, 3 Tamato Leupolu, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Potu Leavasa, 6 Patrick Segi, 7 Semo Sititi (c), 8 Henry Tuilagi, 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Fereti Tuilagi, 14 Alesana Tuilagi, 15 Silao Leaega
Reserves:  Kas Lealamanu'a, Jonathan Meredith, Opeta Palepoi, Siaosi Vaili
Unused:  Aleki Toleafoa, Carl Manu, Denning Tyrell

Attendance:  10000
Referee:  Erickson w.

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Delasau V. 1, Narruhn J. 1
Conv:  Narruhn J. 1

Samoa
Tries:  Fa'atau L. 2, Leupolu T. 1
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 2
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 1

Scotland 65 United States 23

Despite having Nathan Hines sent-off just before half-time, Scotland rampaged to a 65-23 win over the USA, scoring ten tries to the Americans two, to wrap its six match North American tour with five wins and a single loss to Canada.

"I am delighted that we won with fourteen men," said McGeechan following the huge win.  "To play like that with fourteen men is a massive performance.  Everybody stepped up and they knew they were going to have to work harder for themselves and another fifteenth as well.

"What we said at half time is we wanted to step up our work rate rather than just go as we had been going.  We scored again after half time.  I think it was as much control and the head's up play is what was good.  It didn't look as though we had fourteen men I think -- which is good."

USA coach Tom Billups was a little shell shocked by the display -- but demurred in his praise of the tourists ability to recover from the loss to Canada last week.

"If you looked at the velocity and the desire shown to play rugby (by Scotland) -- there wasn't nearly as many dropped balls as last week in Vancouver.  And some of that was the lack of our physicality up front.  I think the Scotland team is classy, well coached -- and I think it proved out today," he said.

The US opened with great purpose,linking multiple phases of ball with few errors, and it was obvious a lot of good work had been put in by the Eagles during their week together as the game got underway in front of 2,400 fans at Balboa Park in San Francisco.

At five minutes debutant Mike Hercus made a break for the US around mid-field -- and suddenly found open space with Phil Eloff and Jason Keyter in support.  Hercus off-loaded to Eloff as the Scottish defense came across -- and then Eloff returned the favour to Hercus.  The fly-half then spotted wing Mose Timoteo on the right-wing and flung a long but strong pass to put him away to the right of the posts.  Link Wilfley converted and the Eagles had the early 7-0 lead.

In the ninth minute the US had a chance to increase its lead -- but Wilfley missed a penalty from 40 metres.

In the tenth minute Scotland intercepted a US pass at the 22 metre line -- and eventually ground down to the home side's five metre line before the Eagle's reclaimed possession and cleared the pressure.  On the quick restart the Scots spread the ball wide -- with a two man overlap exposing Timoteo.  The young wing stuck to his assignment making a great open field tackle on Chris Paterson but a supporting Brendan Laney gathered the loose ball in -- touching down under the posts before also converting the score -- 7-7 after 12 minutes.

An off-side call by Pablo Deluca gave Scotland the opportunity to take the lead with Laney slotting it over from 25 metres to give the tourists a 10-7 lead after 17 minutes.

Scotland continued to make good in-roads but knock-ons and handling errors coupled with cover tackling by the US took a number of opportunities away.

After a quarter Laney made a break to the US 15 metre before Duncan Hodge gathered in a ball knocked on by a US hand.  Hodge found Rory Kerr on the wing -- who won a race to the corner for the unconverted try -- 15-7 Scotland.

A high tackle on Phil Eloff gave Wilfley his first chance at a penalty goal -- with the Rotherham player missing from 40 metres.

The US continued to attack well and an offside penalty against Scotland netted the Americans another shot at goal from 23 metres left -- the inside centre making amends for the earlier miss to cut the lead to 15-10 Scotland.

Second row Nathan Hines provided a nice bit of finishing with a try at 28 minutes.  Hooker Gordon Bulloch drove to the US five metre line before the Scots spun the ball right -- with prop Mattie Stewart taking the ball in close before passing to Hines for the score.  Laney converted to extend the Scottish lead to twelve 22-10.

US captain Dave Hodges came off with a blood injury at the half hour -- with Conrad Hodgson replacing the Llanelli back rower as his injury was assessed.

Andrew Henderson then came on for Glenn Metcalfe as the fullback pulled up with a muscle problem.

The US then gave away a penalty for killing the ball near its own goal line -- with Scotland opting for the five metre lineout.  Captain Stuart Grimes controlled the ball before Deluca provided the Americans relief with a penalty for the Scottish leaving their feet.

Scotland scored on forty minutes with scrum-half Mike Blair selling a dummy from ten metres before finding Duncan Hodge -- who touched down under the posts.  Laney added his conversion to make the score a comfortable 29-10 to Scotland.

The one bad news from the night for Scotland was the dismissal of try-scorer Hines just before half-time as he was given his marching orders for a a punch on Dan Henderson, Scotland's first ever send-off -- with Wilfley kicking a penalty from fifteen metres narrowing the Scottish lead to 29-13 as the half-time whistle blew.

Scotland opened the second half scoring just two minutes in with the US allowing an over lap on the left wing despite the man advantage.  Chris Paterson scampered in untouched for the unconverted try and it was 34-13 for Scotland after 42 minutes played.

The US lineout continued to work well, with good possession by Luke Gross and the resulting rolling mauls netting some good territory, but miscues in the US mid-field resulted in several knock-ons.  Jone Naqica appeared to be through for a try which Deluca then brought back for an obstruction call against the Scots.  The bewildering lack of advantage gave the Eagles three points -- but took away a possible converted try when it was crucially needed.

In the 54th minute Dan Dorsey came into a Scottish ruck from an offside position but Laney could not find the handle on the resulting 22 metre penalty kick -- and the score stayed at 34-16.  But on the restart Wilfley attemtped a small grubber for a drop-out -- but Andrew Henderson gathered it in -- going in untouched for the converted try.  41-16 Scotland.

Things went from bad to worse for the Americans when prop Dorsey got shown the yellow for punching and both teams were down to 14 men.

At the one hour mark Duncan Hodge jumped on a US miscue -- dribbling the ball some 25 metres before falling on it for the solo try -- Laney converting to extend the rout to 48-16.

Link Wilfley attempted a drop-goal in the 66th minute but the slightly delayed effort was charge down -- with Naqica and Timoteo cleaning it up -- before a clearance chip gave Blair the space he needed for a 25 metre break.  He passed to a trailing Grimes who then linked with centre Andy Craig for his first test try.  Laney missed the conversion -- 53-16.

A minute later Paterson scored another try -- the US defense in tatters -- and with the Laney conversion the Scots were pounding the nails home -- leading 60-16.

Flanker Jason White then found the try-line as the Scottish passed at will -- and the US could offer nothing but token resistance as the score climbed to 65-16.

The USA got a measure of respect back late -- breaking the Scottish defense with a try from Jason Keyter.  Hercus worked the ball from a ruck to free the inside centre for the try.  Wilfley converted to make the score 65-23 to Scotland.

Man of the Match:  Brendan Laney made amends for a shaky outing against Canada last week -- scoring 20 points on a try, six conversions and a penalty.  But more importantly were his probing runs up the middle that set up a number of Scottish scoring efforts.

Moment of the Match:  Chris Paterson scored two minutes into the second half -- despite the Americans having the man advantage because of the Nathan Hines send-off just prior to the interval.

Villain of the Match:  Nathan Hines -- with his record-setting first-ever send off in 130 years of Scottish rugby.  The red card offense -- the result of a punch on replacement American player Dan Anderson could net the New Zealand born second row further sanctions as match officials examine the video.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Stuart Grimes (c), 6 Donnie McFadyen, 7 Jason White, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Michael Blair, 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Rory Kerr, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Andrew Craig, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Marcus Di Rollo, Andrew Hall, Craig Smith, Graeme Burns, Andrew Henderson, Steve Scott
Unused:  Allister Hogg

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Eric Reed, 6 Aaron Satchwell, 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dave Hodges (c), 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 Jason Keyter, 12 Phillip Eloff, 13 Link Wilfley, 14 Mose Timoteo, 15 John Buchholz
Reserves:  Johnny Naqica, Dan Anderson, Conrad Hodgson, Kimball Kjar, Andy McGarry, John Tarpoff
Unused:  Riaan Hamilton

Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Hines N.J. 1, Kerr R.C. 1, Laney B.J. 1, Craig A. 1, Henderson A.R. 1, Hodge D.W. 2, Paterson C.D. 2, White J.P.R. 1
Conv:  Laney B.J. 6
Pen K.:  Laney B.J. 1

United States
Tries:  Keyter J.C. 1, Timoteo M.A. 1
Conv:  Wilfley L.M. 2
Pen K.:  Wilfley L.M. 3

Ireland 8 New Zealand 40

New Zealand wrapped up a 2-0 Test series win as they recovered from a slow start to run in five tries, including a brace for Crusaders' fullback Leon MacDonald, to cruise to a 40-8 win over Ireland in the Second Test at Eden Park in Auckland.

The All Blacks won by a surprisingly large margin as their forwards took over in the second half.  They were getting the upper hand before replacement Irish flank Alan Quinlan was sent to the sin-bin.  After that it was the Black eight which ruled the game, despite bursts of Irish enthusiasm.

The first half ended with New Zealand ahead 13-3 -- surprisingly ahead in an unimpressive display in which they carried their woes from Carisbrook to Eden Park.  The home team kicked a lot, they had kicks charged down and they mishandled a lot.  The crowd were teetering on the brink of mocking laughter at one stage as their team fumbled and bumbled.

Ireland handled better and sought to keep the ball in hand more but their goal-kicking woes persisted.

In the first half, Ireland were penalised nine times, New Zealand three times.  Ronan O'Gara, the Irish flyhalf, had chances to goal all three of the penalties, none of them difficult.  He missed all three.

After Gary Longwell's second half try, the All Blacks led 21-8.  But O'Gara had then lost his side eleven points from missed kicks.  21-19 would have been a happier situation for the visitors, who were then well and truly shunted out of the game.

Ireland's three points in the half came from a dropped goal by Brian O'Driscoll after a sustained Irish Attack.  The attack came after a Leon MacDonald chip had been charged down.  Only smart covering by Andrew Mehrtens saved the All Black line as he slid out five metres from the corner flag.

In the first half Mehrtens had two penalty kicks at goal and goaled them both, as he did MacDonald's try, which came from a genius break by Aaron Mauger who sliced inside Brian O'Driscoll and past O'Gara to send the New Zealand fullback racing over not long before half-time.

It was the second break by the All Blacks.  The first had been by Mehrtens who fed Mark Robinson going right, but there was no right-wing.  The player playing on the right wing with No.11 on his back was Jonah Lomu, but he had been playing around with the forwards when Mehrtens broke.

Both New Zealand wings had handling problems, none more so than the error-ridden Caleb Ralph who knocked on, even when not under pressure, and again ran ahead of a passer.

Ralph had a better second half before being replaced by Doug Howlett.  He scored the All Blacks' second try

From a line-out Lomu came into the line in the centre, ran diagonally and passed to Leon MacDonald.  Macdonald straightened looked for an in-out and passed to Ralph who was over in the corner.  Mehrtens hit the upright with his conversion attempt in a moderate half's kicking by the All Black ace.  He even missed a simple conversion later, from just right of the uprights.

In the first half the All Blacks lost successive line-outs on their own ball.  In the second half Ireland did it three times in a row.

From one of them Mehrtens kicked downfield with Girvan Dempsey, not for the only time, well out of position and the Irish were forced to battle on defence at their right corner flag.  The conceded penalties and were forced to defend.  A penalty after a drive by Chris Jack took the score to 21-3 to New Zealand.

Then Ireland attacked.  Geordan Murphy on the right wing stood still, stepped inside Ralph and beat Richard McCaw.  O'Driscoll carried on with a dance and eventually Gary Longwell crashed over to narrow the score to 21-8.

The All Blacks made changes.  One had immediate effect.  Byron Kelleher came on for Justin Marshall.  From a scrum Greg Somerville drove at the line.  Kelleher picked up and powered over.  Mehrtens converted, it was 28-8.

New Zealand made other changes as Howlett, Daryl Gibson and Marty Holah came on.  David Humphreys replaced O'Gara but did not have a single kick at goal from then on.

Quinlan came on and soon departed, stung by a yellow card -- and it was all over for Ireland.

The All Blacks soon came close when Somerville was driven over, but the television match official, Greg Hinton of Australia, could see no grounding and a scrum ensued.

From the scrum the All Blacks wove promising patterns but it was the forwards who scored next when Holah broke from a maul with the simplest of runs to the posts -- the kick which Mehrtens missed.  Astonishing.  Still the All Blacks led 33-8.

The next try was a long-range affair as Howlett got away on the right-wing and fed MacDonald for the fullback to go galloping off into the distance for a try at the posts.

The Irish, with O'Driscoll and Keith Wood in the van, attacked the All Black line and when the final whistle went Justin Bishop had lost the ball centimetres from the All Black line.

There were no boos at the final whistle this time, as there had been at Carisbrook -- thanks largely to the All Blacks forwards' efforts.

Man of the match:  It had to be a forward.  Chris Jack was certainly a candidate for his work in all things a lock should do, but the man who did it even better was Greg Somerville, scrumming, supporting and leading the charge.  Two drives led to tries -- by MacDonald in the first half and by Kelleher in the second.

Moment of the match:  No, not Mehrtens's left footed drop which was almost a perfect cross kick, and not the run that led to MacDonald's second try, but the scything break by Aaron Mauger that sent MacDonald over for his first.

Villain of the match:  There was much combative activity that was well within law.  The villain was the only recipient of a yellow card -- Alan Quinlan.  He came on as a replacement for Keith Gleeson.  The first time he saw action he was sent off, abandoning his struggling forward mates to an unequal battle against the strengthening All Blacks.  There was a ruck-thing.  Quinlan arrived went out of his way to stick the boot into the lower side of an All Black who was nowhere near the ball and so went to sit on the side till the last few minutes of the match.  During the ten minutes of his absence New Zealand scored 12 points.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Reg Corrigan, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Justin Bishop, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 John Kelly, 14 Geordan Murphy, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Shane Byrne, David Humphreys, Paul Wallace, Leo Cullen, Alan Quinlan
Unused:  Guy Easterby, Mel Deane

New Zealand:  1 David Hewett, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Norm Maxwell, 6 Richard McCaw, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Scott Robertson, 9 Justin Marshall, 10 Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu, 12 Aaron Mauger, 13 Mark Robinson, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Leon MacDonald
Reserves:  Doug Howlett, Marty Holah, Simon Maling, Joe McDonnell, Daryl Gibson, Byron Kelleher
Unused:  Tom Willis

Referee:  Henning t.

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Longwell G.W. 1
Drop G.:  O'Driscoll B.G. 1

New Zealand
Tries:  Holah M.R. 1, MacDonald L.R. 2, Kelleher B.T. 1, Ralph C.S. 1
Conv:  Mehrtens A.P. 3
Pen K.:  Mehrtens A.P. 3

Argentina 18 England 26

An under-strength England side secured a sporting double over Argentina as the recovered from a 3-12 half-time deficit to record an impressive 26-18 win in Buenos Aires.

The win for Clive Woodward's team saw them emulate the recent feats of their footballing counterparts and given the fact the side showed five new caps it was an equally impressive result over a side that had only a week ago beaten Six Nations Champions France and one will leave many reconsidering the supposed lack of depth in the England set-up.

After the game a satisfied Woodward said:  "Every team has one eye on the World Cup next year, and to give yourself any chance at a World Cup, you have got to arrive with 30 outstanding players.

"A lot of the players have come through very strongly, which is good long-term," he added.

Sale fly-half Charlie Hodgson, traditional understudy to Jonny Wilkinson, settled English nerves with an early penalty but despite some early pressure it was Argentina who had the better of the first half as a penalty from Gonzalo Quesada, in the side at fly-half with the more free-flowing Felipe Contempomi filling in at centre, saw the Pumas level a quarter of an hour in.

Quesada added another four penalties before half-time, both sides struggling to keep hold of possession but England giving away too many penalties inside their own half which meant they found themselves 3-12 down at half-time.

However, after the break England, spear-headed by the likes of flanker Alex Sanderson, Lewis Moody, captain Phil Vickery and lock Ben Kay the visitors upped the tempo and kept hold of the ball better giving their backs more quality ball.

Four minutes into the half England got their reward as Kay plunged over for a score, finishing off good work from half-back Andy Gomarsall, and Hodgson held his nerve to convert as England cut the deficit to just two.

Although Quesada, metronomic as ever with the boot, added his fifth penalty soon after to lengthen the lead to five it was England who had the momentum and Hodgson added his second penalty a few minutes later to keep Argentina within touching distance.

England soon had a richly deserved second try as Bristol three-quarter Phil Christophers scorched through the Pumas defence to round the fullback and touch-down and with the extras from Hodgson, England now led 20-15.

Hodgson scored his third penalty on 66 minutes to mean that Argentina would have to score twice to win and although Quesada got his sixth penalty ten minutes from time, Leicester's Tim Stimpson sealed the game with a traditionally impressive long-distance penalty effort four minutes later.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Gonzalo Longo Elia, 9 Agustin Pichot (c), 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 13 Jose Orengo, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves:  Diego Giannantonio, Roberto Grau, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Lucas Ostiglia
Unused:  Martin Durand, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Jose Nunez Piossek

England:  1 Phil Vickery (c), 2 Steve Thompson, 3 David Flatman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Alex Codling, 6 Lewis Moody, 7 Alex Sanderson, 8 Joe Worsley, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 11 Tim Stimpson, 12 Geoff Appleford, 13 Ben Johnston, 14 Phil Christophers, 15 Michael Horak
Unused:  Mark Regan, Nick Walshe, Trevor Woodman, Adam Balding, Kevin Sorrell, Hugh Vyvyan, Dave Walder

Referee:  Rolland a.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 6

England
Tries:  Kay B.J. 1, Christophers P.D. 1
Conv:  Hodgson C. 2
Pen K.:  Stimpson T.R.G. 1, Hodgson C. 3

Australia 29 France 17

The Wallabies won the first Test against France at Melbourne's Colonial Stadium by 29-17 after leading 23-9 at the break, with "new" Matt Burke contributing 19 points with his deadly right boot, slotting seven from seven attempts at goal.

The home team thoroughly deserved to win, and although the matched turned a bit dour after the break, their composure and poise will have coach Eddie Jones smiling with the 2002 Tri-Nations around the corner.

Les Bleus did have very little luck during the game, but it would have been foolish to think that they could beat the world champions without a solid foundation up front.

And that is where the visitors' woes started, with the Australians getting the upper hand in the loose, largely thanks to loose forwards Toutai Kefu and Owen Finegan, and when he came on later, David Lyons, who probed the French defence with bullocking runs as well as strong work on defence.

Tighthead prop Patricio Noriega, back in the Wallaby Gold for the first time since 1999, also had a good game for the home team.

As a result the visitors had difficulty gaining, and then controlling their possession, which made life easier for a Wallaby team showing signs of brilliance as well as stuttering at times.

At the back, George Gregan and Stephen Larkham -- who was very close to his brilliant best -- had good ball to feed Daniel Herbert and Matt Burke in the centres.

And with the two big midfielders also making life difficult for the French, outside backs Stirling Mortlock, who looked very dangerous at left-wing, and Chris Latham could attack with vigour.  Wendell Sailor, whose selection attracted criticism from former Wallaby great David Campese, had a quiet debut on the right-wing.

The Six Nations champions' loose forwards -- No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy and flanks Olivier Magne and Serge Betsen -- did what they could to stop the Wallabies' forward surge, while outside centre Tony Marsh and right-wing Aurélien Rougerie gave their all at the back.

With their pack going backwards, the French halfbacks struggled to get go-forward for their team against their more experienced counterparts, and a late flurry of points in the first-half set the Wallabies up for the second stanza with a comfortable 23-9 lead.

The home team scored two tries before the break, capitalising on their territorial and possessional advantage.

The first try -- by fullback Chris Latham -- came with the scores tied at 3-3 after Damien Traille and Burke traded early penalties.

The Australians were slowly gaining ascendancy in the loose, thanks to brilliant play by No.8 Kefu and blindsider Owen Finegan, when they got a good attacking line-out deep in French territory.

Scrumhalf and skipper George Gregan spun the ball wide and when Stirling Mortlock drew two defenders on him, his clever pass unleashed a storming Latham on the left.  The French cover defenders did get to the Wallaby fullback, but it was too late and the television match official decided that Latham had scored a fair try.

The conversion and a further penalty by Burke increased the home team's lead to 13-3, but France clawed their way back into the game via two penalties by flyhalf François Gelez.

Traille missed his second attempt from 50 metres out, and minutes later Australia hit back with their second try -- a superb solo-effort by flyhalf Stephen Larkham.

With dummy-runners going all over the show, Larkham slipped through attempted tackles from Gelez and Rougerie from a line-out to score the try, which Burke converted.

After the first-half produced 32 points, the 40 minutes after the break were much tighter, and saw just 14 points -- eight to France -- being scored.

The visitors also scored the only try of the second-half when replacement prop Jean-Baptiste Poux bulldozed his way over from a ruck close to the Wallabies' line.

But with 10 minutes left on the clock and the juice running low after a strenuous travel schedule, the French probably left their charge a little too late.

The Wallabies are now in the driving seat ahead of next weekend's second Test in Sydney, while for French coach Bernard Laporte it's back to the drawing board after two successive defeats for his Six Nations champions.

Man of the match:  Toutai Kefu and Stephen Larkham played superb rugby for the Wallabies, while Imanol Harinordoquy was a one-man show for France.  But with his personal points-haul of 19, Australian outside centre Matt Burke made sure the French never really came within striking distance of the home team.  We doff our caps to Burke for his 100 percent kicking record.

Moment of the match:  When Stephen Larkham burst through the strong French right-wing Aurélien Rougerie for his side's second try, the Wallabies advanced to a comfortable lead shortly before the break, which they held onto for the duration of the match.

Villain of the match:  There were a lot of scuffles, with Serge Betsen and Justin Harrison getting involved, as well as lots of penalties for stupid infringements like joining the ruck from the side or not releasing the ball on the ground, but nobody really deserved the title of villain of the match.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Jeremy Paul, 3 Bill Young, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 Toutai Kefu, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Brendan Cannon, Matt Cockbain, Elton Flatley, Rod Moore, Mat Rogers, David Lyons
Unused:  Chris Whitaker

France:  1 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Olivier Azam, 3 Arnaud Martinez, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 5 Christophe Porcu, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Frederic Michalak, 10 Francois Gelez, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Nicolas Jeanjean, 15 Pepito Elhorga
Reserves:  Olivier Brouzet, Raphael Ibanez, Yannick Jauzion, Christian Labit, Jean-Baptiste Poux
Unused:  Gerald Merceron, Pierre Mignoni

Attendance:  37482
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers

Australia
Tries:  Latham C.E. 1, Larkham S.J. 1
Conv:  Burke M.C. 2
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 5

France
Tries:  Poux J-B. 1
Pen K.:  Traille D. 1, Gelez F. 3

Scotland 23 Canada 26

Fly-half Jared Barker kicked a penalty in the 76th minute to give Canada its first ever test victory over Scotland, winning 26-23 in front of a crowd of 5,274 at Vancouver's Thunderbird Stadium.

The victory is a huge boost for the national team program, which had undergone a number of off-field problems that culminated in the firing last summer of David Clark, a subsequent player's strike that scuttled three fall tests -- and a string of losses including a 102-8 embarrassment at the hands of Australia A two weeks ago.

The Canadians fought back from a seven point second half deficit to pip the Scots, who were ranked seventh in the Zurich World rankings.

Down 23-16 Canadian prop Jon Thiel scored a try under the posts in the 67th minute -- and with the Barker conversion the teams were tied at 23-23.

The 13th ranked Canadians had lost to Scotland in an unofficial test last weekend in Markham, Ontario -- by a score of 33-8 -- but played a full 80 minute game against the 7th ranked Scots -- giving Canadian rugby a huge boost after a troubled year and a half off the field.

Canada opened the scoring in the third minute when referee David McHugh called Scotland for collapsing the scrum at centre.  Jared Barker calmly stroked the ball from fifty metres to give his side the early edge.

In the 11th minute fullback Winston Stanley did a quick throw-in at the Canadian 22 to wing Fred Asselin -- but the Scottish cover was up quickly -- causing a poor pass to Stanley which went to the deck.  Scottish wing Chris Patterson hacked it on -- eventually chasing it down for the try in the left corner.  Laney converted and the visitors were ahead 7-3.

Barker missed his second attempt of the day -- going just to the right from 35 metres.

Laney had a penalty chance just miss from 49 metres following a Canadian offside -- keeping the score at 7-3 Scotland.

An indirect penalty to Canada from a scrum gave Morgan Williams a quick tap penalty that had him down to the Scottish three metre line.  A chip was gathered in by fullback Glenn Metcalfe -- and Scotland was charged with killing the ball.  Canada ran the ball eventually moving it right where Rod Snow took the ball into contact with the chalk of the tryline.  The ball came back and a pop pass from Williams to a charging Phil Murphy was enough to get the Perpignan No.8 across.  Barker hit the easy conversion and Canada was once again in the lead 10-7.

Scotland were again called for pulling the scrum down in the 27th minute providing Barker with another shot at goal which he put through from 41 metres to give Canada a 13-7 lead.

Laney cut the Canadian lead to three with a ten metre penalty effort at 33 minutes -- 13-10 Canada.

Canadian indiscipline in a ruck resulted in Laney getting another shot at goal from 45 metres but he scuffed it badly with Canada mounting a counter attack.  A turnover gave Scotland the ball with Duncan Hodge driving close to the line.  Al Charron was then called for a professional foul -- killing the ball -- and was shown the yellow card by McHugh.

Scotland took the lineout option -- with the resulting maul freeing up scrum-half debutant Mike Blair for his first test try.  Laney missed the conversion to end the half with the visitors in the lead 15-13.

Scotland continued to take advantage of the Canadian shortage with Simon Taylor scoring an unconverted try just five minutes after the restart.  Laney added a penalty a few minutes later to give Scotland a 23-13 lead.

With Charron back on the pitch the Canadian pressure resumed with the red shirts driving to the Scottish five metre line.  Barker lined up for the drop-goal -- but was wide from ten metres -- though a penalty a moment later allowed him to make amends -- reducing the Scottish lead to seven 23-16 after 57 minutes.

The Canadians began to grow confident with Sean Fauth, John Cannon and Nik Witkowski all making valuable ground through the Scottish backline.

In the 63 rd minute Jared Barker exposed a Scottish gap following a John Cannon break -- with the fly-half going to ground at the three metre line.  The ball came back to Bridgend prop Jon Thiel who scrabbled across from three metres -- touching down under the posts.  Barker converted and the teams were square 23-23.

Both sides began to play with renewed zeal despite the 25 degree heat -- with a win a reasonable prospect on both sides of the ball.

Canada scuttled promising opportunities with dropped balls -- in one instance John Cannon getting outside before he tried to dish to a supporting Sean Fauth -- who just missed reigning it in -- the crowd groaning at the miscue.

Scottish prop Craig Smith then got called for pulling down Morgan Williams' jersey after he had delivered the ball -- with Barker hitting the resulting penalty -- giving Canada a narrow 26-23 lead with just four minutes left on the clock.

Scotland countered a Winston Stanley kick to the Canadian 22 metre line -- but Canada recovered the ball with Stanley providing a long touch kick with the clock moving into injury time.

The Scottish mounted a late attack but the Canadian defense held -- a Canadian kick into touch ending the match -- and giving the North Americans their first ever test victory over Scotland -- the crowd erupting into a rousing rendition of the Maple Leaf forever.

Man of the Match:  Jared Barker, in only his fourth test, and coming back from a debilitating knee injury, showed veteran poise in kicking four penalties and two conversions -- but more importantly in distributing the ball to his centre pair -- John Cannon and Nik Witkowski.

Moment of the Match:  Canadian wing Sean Fauth foiled a Scottish attack at the Canadian five metre line by securing the ball from Chris Paterson after he went to ground -- and then took off on a fifty-five metre run -- thwarting a potential Scottish scoring opportunity with ten minutes left in the first half.  The quick thinking wing stopped what could have been an establishing score with the score 13-7 at the time to Canada.

Villian of the Match:  Scotland prop Craig Smith for pulling down on scrum-half Morgan Williams' jersey after he had passed the ball -- taking a senseless penalty that gave Canada the victory.

The Teams:

Scotland:  1 Craig Smith, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Mattie Stewart, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Stuart Grimes (c), 6 Simon Taylor, 7 Jason White, 8 Jon Petrie, 9 Michael Blair, 10 Duncan Hodge, 11 Rory Kerr, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Andrew Craig, 14 Chris Paterson, 15 Glenn Metcalfe
Reserves:  Allan Jacobsen, Donnie McFadyen, Steve Brotherstone, Ben Hinshelwood
Unused:  Marcus Di Rollo, Andrew Hall, Graeme Burns

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Alan Charron (c), 5 Mike James, 6 Dan Baugh, 7 Ryan Banks, 8 Phil Murphy, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Fred Asselin, 12 John Cannon, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Sean Fauth, 15 Winston Stanley
Reserves:  Ed Knaggs, Kyle Nichols, Kevin Wirachowski, Colin Yukes
Unused:  Ed Fairhurst, Bobby Ross, Harry Toews

Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

Scotland
Tries:  Blair M.R.L. 1, Taylor S.M. 1, Paterson C.D. 1
Conv:  Laney B.J. 1
Pen K.:  Laney B.J. 2

Canada
Tries:  Murphy P. 1, Thiel J. 1
Conv:  Barker J. 2
Pen K.:  Barker J. 4