Samoa 46 Georgia 9

Samoa beat Georgia by 46-9 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth to move to the top of Pool C, the Islanders scoring a total of six tries in the victory, including one from inspirational skipper Semo Sititi.

As you would expect from two teams renowned for their overtly physical style of play, it was a bruising encounter that kept the team physios on their toes all night, but the game also had plenty to recommend it from a quality rugby point of view.

Admittedly, most of that quality was supplied by the free-running Samoans, their dynamism and pace proving too potent a mix for the more staid Georgians, but both sides contributed in their own inimitable ways to the spectacle.

Samoa, a team well known for their previous World Cup heroics, predictably strove to keep the ball alive and escape the clutches of a raw-boned Georgian forward pack and were rewarded with a clutch of tries for their industry.

The victors saw out some rocky opening moments in the match, Georgia actually taking the lead through a fourth minute penalty goal by Paliko Jimsheladze.

But, as against Uruguay, Samoa proved that their wide-out attack is their most effective way of scoring points, soon making their running prowess count with a try.

From a midfield attack, the ball was crisply moved left down the line, winger Sailosi Tagicakibau breaking two tackles to finish off the move, fly-half Earl Va'a adding the extras.

Jimsheladze put his side within a point in the 20th minute as the Georgians threatened the Samoan line with a succession of close-quarter drives.

Then, after Samoa had attempted to take on their opponents in a driving maul just yards from the tryline, they made a more typical wide attack down the right, Va'a with enough pace to go all the way.

He converted his own try and Samoa were firmly in the driving seat at 14-6.

That lead was stretched when Samoa capitalised on an elementary error on the part of their opponents -- Georgia stacking too many men in a lineout -- scrum-half Steven So'oialo taking the quick tap and haring off downfield.

As he set up the ruck on the Georgian 22, Vano Nadiradze was penalised for coming in from the side, allowing Va'a to kick his first penalty of the evening.

Georgian worked their way back into Samoan territory from the restart, their forwards setting up a field position to enable Jimsheladze to slot a neat drop-goal.

In the 33rd minute, Samoa made another breakthrough, So'oialo breaking from the base of a ruck to score a simple try.

With Va'a's conversion, that made it it 24-9, but Georgia were far from ready to roll over.

For the third quarter, Samoa found themselves frustrated again and again at the breakdown -- despite some promising long-range moves -- as Georgia stuck to their task.

Indeed, Samoa only scored their fourth try, through skipper Sititi -- thus securing a bonus point -- in the final quarter following a period of stalemate.

While, they also created late scores from Dominic Feaunati and Brian Lima, on this evidence Samoa are unlikely to give Pool rivals South Africa and England too much resistance in their forthcoming matches -- the Islanders lacking the kind of forward stability to impose their gameplan on oppositions.

Man of the Match:  The Georgian forwards battled for the full 80 minutes -- prop Goderdze Shvelidze the pick of the crop -- but it was Samoa who provided the best individual performances of the night, none better than the one from livewire scrum-half Steven So'oialo who kept Georgia guessing throughout.

Moment of the match:  Samoa's fourth try was down to the individual brilliance of skipper Semo Sititi, the No.8 taking the ball in the Georgian 22, weaving around several opponents before straightening his stride to romp over for the try that brought his team a well-deserved bonus point.

Villain of the match:  The Georgians indulged in a fair amount of ball-killing in the face of a pacy Samoan attack, replacement Bessik Khamashuridze committing the most obvious transgression early in the second half to earn a 10-minute spell in the bin.

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Ron Fanuatanu, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Dominic Feaunati, Simon Lemalu, Mahonri Schwalger, Denning Tyrell, Siaosi Vaili, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen

Georgia:  1 Sosso Nikolaenko, 2 Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 3 Goderdzi Shvelidze, 4 Vano Nadiradze, 5 Zurab Mtchedlishvili, 6 Guia Labadze, 7 Gregoire Yachvili, 8 Ilia Zedguinidze (c), 9 Irakli Abusseridze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Makho Urjukashvili, 12 Irakli Guiorgadze, 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 14 Vassil Katsadze, 15 Badri Khekhelashvili
Reserves:  David Bolghashvili, Victor Didebulidze, Bessik Khamashuridze, Merab Kvirikashvili, Irakli Machkhaneli, Aleko Margvelashvili
Unused:  David Dadunashvili

Attendance:  21507
Referee:  Rolland a.

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Lima B.P. 1, Tagicakibau S. 1, Va'a E.V. 1, So'oialo S. 1, Sititi S. 1, Feaunati D. 1
Conv:  Va'a E.V. 5
Pen K.:  Va'a E.V. 2

Georgia
Pen K.:  Jimsheladze P. 2
Drop G.:  Jimsheladze P. 1

Namibia 7 Ireland 64

Ireland raced to the top of Pool A at Rugby World Cup 2003 when they thumped a brave, but hopelessly outclassed, Namibia 64-7 in the rain in Sydney.  The Irish scored 10 tries to one in a game in which they dominated all aspects of play.

It is the second game in which the Irish scored a full-house of five points and they now head Pool A with 10 points -- ahead of hosts Australia on nine and Argentina on five.

The game produced a number of records for the Irish.

The first is that this is their biggest score and their biggest-ever victory in a RWC match, while the 10 touch-downs were also the most they have scored in a World Cup match.

But the atrocious conditions, with pouring rain accompanying play throughout the match, contributed to a litany of mistakes and detracted from the match as a spectacle.

This certainly helped the Namibians limit the damage on a day when they surely would have faced a 100 points if the skilful Irish were enjoying such dominance in dry and sunny conditions.

In fact, the Irish pack completely dominated proceeding to send a steady stream of quality possession to their backs.  The Namibians managed to win hardly any set-piece ball, as the Irish had them under pressure in the scrums and constantly stole their ball in the line-outs.

The statisticians said Ireland had 70 percent of the ball, but at times it seemed a lot more.  And with so much possession it was not surprising that they enjoyed a huge territorial advantage as well.

The Namibians were left to defend for most of the game and this they did bravely, but they were never going to be able to plug all the gaps -- even given the testing conditions.

And on the few occasions the Namibians did get the ball to play with, they were opposed by a strong Irish defence.

The Namibians looked naive in their option-taking and could never cope with the pace and power of the Irish runners, looking like a team that is merely making up the numbers at RWC 2003.

As usual, one or two of the Namibian players tried their best, but on the whole they were badly outclassed.  Another game that is a case for those who are proposing a two-tier RWC, where the big guns play each other and the minnows compete in a second division.

Man of the match:  The Irish pack was so dominant that almost all the forwards come into the picture, with lock Paul O'Connell leading the way.  But our vote goes to winger Denis Hickie, who showed that you can handle the ball in difficult conditions, while he was a slippery customer to handle when he went on the run, always troubling the defence.

Moment of the match:  There were 10 tries, but surely the most noticeable moment was the try in the 32nd minute, awarded to Irish prop Marcus Horan.  It showed how badly match officials can get it wrong, even with technology at their disposal.  Horan tackled an opponent just on the Namibian tryline and forced him over the line.  It was referred to the TMO, who then awarded a try to Ireland.  But television replays showed that the Namibian's forearm forced the ball on the ground, before it slipped out and under the body of the Irish prop.  The first "downward pressure" was clearly by the Namibian.

Villain of the match:  This one has to go to Namibian lock Heino Senekal for his yellow card in the 20th minute for repeated offences.

The Teams:

Namibia:  1 Neil Du Toit, 2 J.M. Meyer, 3 Kees Lensing, 4 Heino Senekal, 5 Archie Graham, 6 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 7 Wolfie Duvenhage, 8 Sean Furter (c), 9 Hakkies Husselman, 10 Emile Wessels, 11 Deon Mouton, 12 Du Preez Grobler, 13 Corne Powell, 14 Vincent Dreyer, 15 Ronaldo Pedro
Reserves:  Melrick Afrika, Andries Blaauw, Herman Lintvelt, Niel Swanepoel, Mot Schreuder, Cor Van Tonder, Jurgens Van Lill

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Alan Quinlan, 8 Eric Miller, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Shane Byrne, Guy Easterby, Simon Best, John Kelly
Unused:  Victor Costello, David Humphreys, Donncha O'Callaghan

Attendance:  35382
Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers

Namibia
Tries:  Powell C.J. 1
Conv:  Wessels E. 1

Ireland
Tries:  Dempsey G.T. 1, Horgan S.P. 1, Hickie D.A. 1, Horan M. 1, Miller E.R.P. 2, Quinlan A. 2, Easterby G. 1, Kelly J.P. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 7

Wales 27 Tonga 20

Wales scraped home 27-20 against ardent Tonga on a rainy evening in Canberra.  The "Sea Eagles" from the South Pacific outscored Wales by three tries to two and ended the match on hectic attack.  In the end, kicking won it for the Welsh.

The kicking was erratic -- more so by Tonga than by Wales.  Stephen Jones missed three in a row for Wales, but they were harder than the three Pierre Hola missed for Tonga.

Already in the first half it looked as if Tonga were about to set up an upset.  Down 11-3 they had a period of determined attack which ended when Pierre Hola grubbered through, Rhys Williams could not hold onto the ball and Hola scored to make it 11-10.

Soon afterwards Hola had a kick from in front but sent it sailing left.  A blow for the men from the Friendly Islands.

Tonga certainly gave as good as they got in the first half as they flung their shoulders into Welsh flesh, but penalties lashed them.  In that first half the penalties flowed 9-3 against them.  Things got better in that regard late in the second half as the Welsh strained for survival.

Stephen Jones scored from the second penalty when the Tongans were ruled off-side when they snagged Gareth Cooper's hand after the Welsh scrum-half had picked up behind a ruck.

Five minutes later Hola levelled the scores when Dafydd Jones doubly deserved a penalty -- slapping the ball as he lay on the ground at a tackle and slapping it into touch.  With his left foot Hola goaled the difficult kick.

Wales attacked with vigour and Ben Hur Kivalu was penalised for not moving off a tackle and Stephen Jones made it 6-3.

The rugby was scrappy on the slippery evening, except for three incisions by the fullbacks -- two by Sila Va'enuku of Tonga and one by Rhys Williams of Wales.

Then, from a scrum Cooper went scuttling away on an unmarked blindside for a try in the corner.  That made it 11-3 after 26 minutes, and Wales looked set fare for comfortable victory.  That is when their troubles started.

Outside centre Sukanaivalu Hufanga had an exciting dash down the Tonga right and footed ahead but the situation was saved for Wales when the wicked ball broke right into touch.  Tom Shanklin came close to scoring just before half-time, but Wales had to be satisfied with a penalty to go into the break leading 14-10.

From the kick-off it became 17-10 as the Tongans knocked the kick-off and then played it in an off-side position.

There was a thrilling moment when big Gareth Llewellyn had a run but sparkling fullback Sila Va'enuku intercepted and raced down the Tongan right.  But as for Hufanga in the first half, the ball did the wicked thing and broke into touch.

Wales nearly got their second try when they sent the ball left from a line-out and Rhys Williams, up from fullback, lunged at the line with Sione Fonua clinging to him with help from lively Sililo Martens.  The Television Match Official examined the evidence several times before deciding on a five-metre scrum.

Wales kept up the attack and when the referee declared advantage, replacement flank Martyn Williams kicked a wobbly drop-goal from close-in -- 20-10.

Then the Tongans scored a marvellous try of effort and cohesion.  Replacement forward Milton Ngauamo won a line-out and the Tongans marched it on and on and on and over the goalline for a try credited to captain Kivalu.  Hola missed again but the score was 20-15 with 16 minutes to play.

Wales extended their lead soon afterwards when Iestyn Harris, who was not meant to be starting in this game, floated a long pass over the heads to Martyn Williams who scored on the right.  Stephen Jones converted -- 27-15 with 13 minutes left.

This was a time of grievous anxiety for the Welsh as Viliami Vaki, athletic lock, broke down the middle and the Tongans flung themselves into the attack till eventually powerful prop Heamani Lavaka plunged over in the corner.  It was 27-20 with two minutes left.

Oh, how the Tongans tried.  But though they appeared filled with nervous agitation the Welsh managed to hang on and heaved a deep sigh of relief when the final whistle went.

Man of the match:  The choice is entirely Tongan.  Scrum-half Sililo Martens, surely the only Welsh-speaking Tongan in the world, was full of effort, skill, strength and determination, but really it cannot but go to Sila Va'enuku, the fullback who was originally chosen on the bench.

Moment of the match:  That massive, marching maul that took the Tongans to Ben Hur Kivalu's try.  Even the halves joined in.  The "Sea Eagles" enjoyed that.

Villain of the match:  None, not even Stanley Afeaki who wobbled a ball towards a Welshman and incurred a talking to for Ipolito Fenukatau who looked nothing like Afeaki!

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Robert Sidoli, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Dafydd Jones, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Alix Popham, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Tom Shanklin, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Dwayne Peel, Martyn Williams, Chris Wyatt
Unused:  Shane Williams, Garan Evans

Tonga:  1 Heamani Lavaka, 2 Viliami Ma'asi, 3 Kisi Pulu, 4 Usaia Latu, 5 Viliami Vaki, 6 Stanley Afeaki, 7 'Ipolito Fenukitau, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu (c), 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Pierre Hola, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Sukanaivalu Hufanga, 13 John Payne, 14 Tevita Tu'ifua, 15 Sila Va'enuku
Reserves:  Tonga Lea'aetoa, Milton Ngauamo, Nisifolo Naufahu, Ephraim Taukafa
Unused:  Gus Leger, David Palu, Sateki Tuipulotu

Attendance:  19806
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Cooper G.J. 1, Williams M.E. 1
Conv:  Jones S. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S. 4

Tonga
Tries:  Hola P. 1, Lavaka H. 1, Kivalu D.B.H. 1
Conv:  Hola P. 1
Pen K.:  Hola P. 1

France 51 Japan 29

French right-wing Aurelien Rougerie scored two tries as his side stuttered past a determined Japanese outfit in Townsville.  Don't be fooled by the scoreline of 51-29, Japan gave Les Bleus a serious go in their Rugby World Cup Pool B clash.

It was a stuttering performance from the French, who on several occasions needed to move out of neutral with the Japanese threatening to cause an upset.

While the French forwards were always too strong and the French backs always to quick and classy for their opponents, credit must go to the Japanese for continuing to play positive and entertaining rugby and never reverting to negative and spoiling tactics to stem the tide.

France completely dominated possession from the outset and in the first 10 minutes they had 80 percent of the ball.  By half-time that statistic had settled on 63 percent in favour of the French and at the end that is where it evened out.

But despite seeing most of the quality possession, France did not enjoy such a huge advantage in the territorial stakes.  This was largely due to those periodical lapses when they would either waste opportunities with poor handling or some determined Japanese defence.

French captain Fabian Galthié admitted afterwards that his team was nowhere near where they should be.  "We need to be more consistent in what we do and not play in fits and starts," he said.

Japan, who looked lively from the start, certainly got plenty of reward for their effort and in the fourth minute fullback Toru Kurihara kicked a penalty from 40 metres out to give Japan a 3-0 lead.

But France hit straight back with tries by fly-half Frédéric Michalak (in the fifth minute) and wing Aurélien Rougerie (eighth minute).  Michalak added the conversions to take the score out to 14-3.

In the 11th minute Kurihara slotted another penalty to narrow the gap to 14-6, but two Michalak penalties -- in the 16th minute and 27th minutes -- saw the score move out to 20-6.

But then the French went to sleep again ...

From a line-out, George Konia -- who plays club rugby in Japan with French centre Tony Marsh's twin brother -- sliced through the French defence after getting an inch-perfect pass from fly-half Andrew Miller on the angle, powering over for a score, much to the delight of the crowd.

The conversion by Kurihara and a penalty by the Japanese fullback in the 40th minute narrowed the score to 20-16 at the break.

Another Kurihara in the 45th minute narrowed the gap to just one point -- 20-19.

But then tries by Fabien Pelous (from a maul in the 48th minute) and wing Christophe Dominici (a brilliant inside pass in the 52nd minute), along with two Michalak conversions and a penalty saw the French race out to a 37-19 lead.

A 64th minute penalty by Kurihara, however, which saw him maintain his 100 percent kicking record, made it 37-22 to France.

But then followed another brilliant French try, when Dominici fed Rougerie, who cut inside and ran through four tackles to power in from 22 metres out in the 68th minute.  Michalak added the conversion for a 44-22 lead.

The Japanese scored their second try in the 71st minute when wing Hirotoki Onozawa attacked down the left.  The French fumbled his kick ahead, and the Japanese pounced, moving the ball out to the other wing for Daisuke Ohata to score in the corner.  Kurihara maintained his brilliant kicking form to narrow the gap to 44-29.

But it was the French who had the final say when replacement prop Jean-Jaques Crenca crashed for his team's sixth try in the 76th minute.  Gérald Merceron, who came on for Michalak at fly-half, kicked the conversion.

Man of the match:  In most games your Man of the match would come from the winning team, but the Japan's fighting spirit was encapsulated by fly-half Andrew Miller's performance.  His kicking out of hand was brilliant, with 60-metre touch-finders not uncommon.  His footwork was as brilliant, if not better, than anything the French had to show and he often troubled their defence, while his defence never faltered.

Moment of the match:  The French scored six great tries and some of them had typical French brilliance written all over them.  But in the 32nd minute Japanese centre George Konia sliced through the French defence after getting a wonderful pass from Miller.  The angled run is as good a try as you ill ever see.

Villain of the match:  No cards, very few penalties and no incidents of real note.  No villain(s).

The Teams:

France:  1 Olivier Milloud, 2 Yannick Bru, 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Christian Labit, 9 Fabien Galthie (c), 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Clement Poitrenaud
Reserves:  David Auradou, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Raphael Ibanez, Gerald Merceron, Sebastien Chabal
Unused:  Pepito Elhorga, Yannick Jauzion

Japan:  1 Shin Hasegawa, 2 Masaaki Sakata, 3 Ryo Yamamura, 4 Adam Parker, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Takuro Miuchi (c), 8 Takeomi Ito, 9 Yuji Sonoda, 10 Andy Miller, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Hideki Nanba, 13 George Konia, 14 Hirotoki Onozowa, 15 Toru Kurihara,
Reserves:  Ryota Asano, Koichi Kubo
Unused:  Masao Amino, Yukio Motoki, Takashi Tsuji, Masahito Yamamoto, Takashi Yoshida

Attendance:  21309
Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Rougerie A. 2, Dominici C. 1, Michalak F. 1, Pelous F. 1, Crenca J-J. 1
Conv:  Michalak F. 5, Merceron G. 1
Pen K.:  Michalak F. 3

Japan
Tries:  Ohata D. 1, Konia G.N. 1
Conv:  Kurihara T. 2
Pen K.:  Kurihara T. 5

South Africa 6 England 25

England remained on course for a World Cup quarter-final clash against Six Nations rivals Wales after defeating South Africa by 25-6 in Perth, centre Will Greenwood scoring the only try of a closely-fought battle.

For the first half of this encounter it was just like old times, as a much-hyped England team failed to perform on the big occasion, their performance totally at odds with their exalted position at the top of the Zurich World Rankings.

For Perth, read Lansdowne Road in 2001, Murrayfield in 2000, as the "must-win" match which was supposed to speed England on their way to the Final went awry in the face of limited, but highly-motivated opposition.

Much of this game was eerily reminiscent of the RWC 1999 quarter-final clash between these two proud rugby nations, as the South African forwards put immense pressure on their counterparts, rattling them to their very core.  If only the Springboks had a kicker of the calibre of Jannie de Beer in their ranks, they could have caused the biggest upset of this World Cup to date.

As it was, South Africa will rue the poor kicking form of fly-half Louis Koen, the No.10 missing with three penalty attempts in the first half to let England off the hook despite an alarmingly long catalogue of schoolboy errors and careless play.

As so often before, it was the boot of England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson which really made the difference between the two sides, the Newcastle Falcon as faultless as ever with his shots at goal, including two drop-goals in the second half.

It is hard to overstate how much England missed the authority of Richard Hill in the back row.  His replacement, Lewis Moody, is a fine player, but is not in the same league as the doughty Saracen when it comes to the trench warfare of a closely-fought RWC encounter.

Moody's natural over-exuberance got the better of him on several occasions in the first half, as England struggled to come to terms with a Springbok pack who fought tooth and nail at the breakdown, the flanker finding himself stripped of the ball after the tackle on three separate occasions by his opponents and giving away at least two avoidable penalties.

Admittedly, Moody finished the match in credit, having charged down the attempted clearance kick by Koen to set up a try for team-mate Will Greenwood in the 62nd minute.  That was the crucial score of the entire match and having made that break-through, the pressure seemed to lift off the English players as they sensed the shift in power.

But still, coach Clive Woodward will be instructing his medical staff to pull out all the stops to get Hill back in action for the latter stages of the tournament in the hope that he will help to eradicate the messiness at the breakdown which so afflicted them on this outing.

South Africa had clearly come to the Subiaco Oval in the hope of putting major pressure on the England halfbacks and this tactic appeared to be reaping dividends in the opening exchanges, some early clearance kicks going awry to allow the Springboks to press deep into English territory.

While England took the lead as early as the fourth minute after South Africa had held onto the ball fractionally too long after a tackle, Jonny Wilkinson kicking the ensuing penalty, the Men in White were made to work hard for every inch of territory and every scrap of territory.

When they did escape the Green and Gold strait-jacket and shifted the ball wide, England made some telling breaks through the likes of Jason Robinson and Ben Cohen -- the latter nearly creating a first-half score for Mike Tindall in the 11th minute.

But South Africa, with their muscular forwards leading the way, held their defensive line and were rewarded for their industry some moments later when Koen was able to get them off the mark with a penalty to draw level.

With the sides matching each other step-for-step and tackle-for-tackle, England forced another penalty and took the lead through the boot of Wilkinson.

Koen missed a chance to equalise in the 31st minute following a late tackle by Moody, the ball bouncing off the woodwork to allow England hooker Steve Thompson to drive up field and relieve the pressure on his side, but the Springbok fly-half did compose himself for a second successful penalty kick in that first half.

No doubt given a rousing half-time team talk by skipper Martin Johnson and coach Clive Woodward, England were in a much more determined state of mind after the break, immediately going on the offensive and settling into their all-action, high-tempo attacking game.

The South African's found themselves desperately trying to nullify England's enterprise in the backs, Robinson, Cohen and co. looking increasingly dangerous as the match went on.

This endeavour helped England to rack up 19 unanswered points in a far more satisfactory second half and reassert their status as near-favourites to hoist the Webb Ellis Trophy on November 22.

For the losers, things are not as bleak as it may seem, with South Africa's first-half performance giving them genuine hope of proceeding past the last eight, despite the fact that they have a likely winner-takes-all appointment with the All Blacks in Melbourne on November 8.

Man of the match:  Not a particularly entertaining encounter, but a few players did manage to stand head and shoulders above their peers.  For South Africa, the back row trio of Juan Smith, Joe van Niekerk and Corné Krige were exceptional, particularly in broken play where they tested England's defence to the full.  But for the Man of the match it is impossible to overlook England No.10 Jonny Wilkinson who, despite looking somewhat below his best in the opening exchanges, still managed to exude grace under pressure in the goal-kicking stakes to seal the victory for his country.

Moment of the match:  The highlights were few and far between, with the intensity of the occasion seemingly getting to both sets of players and created a high error-count.  Will Greenwood's try was not a classically crafted effort, created by a charge-down so we'll go for the flowing South African move which nearly resulted in a first-half try for lock Bakkies Botha.

Villain of the match:  The predicted blood-bath did not materialise, with these warriors generally staying within the laws of the game -- quite a novelty for England v South Africa clashes.  But the citing commissioner could well be concerned by the apparent punch landed on Springbok left-wing Thinus Delport by England No.8 Lawrence Dallaglio in a second-half ruck.  The experienced back rower should be above such petulance -- particularly at such an early stage of a World Cup -- and therefore gets our vote for this dubious award.

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Christo Bezuidenhout, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Corne Krige (c), 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Juan Smith, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 De Wet Barry, 13 Jorrie Muller, 14 Thinus Delport, 15 Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen
Reserves:  Derick Hougaard, Werner Greeff, John Smit, Lawrence Sephaka
Unused:  Neil De Kock, Selborne Boome, Danie Rossouw

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Kyran Bracken, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Jason Robinson, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves:  Jason Leonard, Dan Luger, Joe Worsley
Unused:  Martin Corry, Andy Gomarsall, Paul Grayson, Dorian West

Attendance:  28834
Referee:  Marshall p.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Pen K.:  Koen L.J. 2

England
Tries:  Greenwood W.J.H. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 1
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 4
Drop G.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

Australia 90 Romania 8

Romania were thrashed 90-8 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, the biggest win of the 2003 Rugby World Cup so far.

It took the Wallabies 18 seconds to win the game..

That's how long it took them to score the first of their 13 tries in the match as their backs proved to fast and too strong for the battered Romanians.  From the kick-off, lock Nathan Sharpe palmed the ball back to hooker Brendan Cannon, who drove ahead.  Back the ball came to Elton Flatley who stepped and scored.  Eighteen seconds is all that took.

By half-time the Wallabies led 38-8 but it was during the last 22 minutes that they really cut loose, scoring 52 points.

After that first try the Romanians attacked neatly and forced a line-out well inside the Wallaby 22.  But the throw was judged skew and a free-kick was awarded against them when Bill Young bent downwards and the Wallabies were back on the attack for Flatley to goal a penalty.

Next Flatley stepped and bashed through a gap to send Mat Rogers skating over.  After 13 minutes Australia led 17-0.

The Oaks -- wonderful to relate -- scored next.  A Wallaby throw at a defensive line-out went astray.  Big George Chiriac picked up and drove at the Wallaby line.  Another bash and then the pack drove Petriscor Toderasc over for a try in a good position.

Winning the line-out was not altogether a surprise as the Wallabies conceded many turnovers and committed several handling errors in this match of many points.

By half-time Burke had scored two tries.  His second came as he surged through an opening and then went on a long run.  For a while he wandered in search of support.  Finding none he did it on his own.  That brought the end of his match as he was substituted at half-time for Stirling Mortlock to replace his punch at outside centre.

There was a strange replacement at the break as young Matt Giteau came on for George Gregan, who enjoyed an afternoon as captain become spectator.  There was an even stranger one later in the match when wing Lote Tuqiri came on in the place of Phil Waugh and played flank -- and scored a try.  Both sides used all their replacements as the match ceased to be a contest.

Romania started the second half well as captain Romeo Gontineac, playing his 50th Test, created a break from another strong tackle.  Sorin Socol thought he had scored and would probably been disappointed when the Television Match Official was not brought into play.  Instead, Romania were awarded a penalty and attacked again but then lost the ball in a knock-on.  This was the end of their serious attempts to score.

An ankle-tap stopped Wendell Sailor from scoring, but a penalty ensued which a tap and stretch by Stephen Larkham brought a try, heralding a try-scoring spree.

Mortlock broke and ran a long way, Waugh sent Joe Roff on a long trot, Larkham surged over for a second after an execrable clearance attempt by the Oaks, Rogers scooted for a hat-trick from some 70 metres out, which he found tiring, Giteau sped away on a long swerving run, Tuqiri stretched over form a close-in bash and, finally, George Smith scored when the Wallabies shoved the broken Romanians off their ball at a scrum.

Man of the Match:  Lucian Sirbu, Romeo Gontineac, Gabriel Brezoianu and Ovidiu Tonita were brave for Romania, but they were simply no match for the bigger, faster Wallaby backs with their luxurious possession and found it hard to make the early tackle that initiated the long-range try.  The most obvious candidates for Australia were Mat Rogers, Elton Flatley, Stephen Larkham, George Smith and Nathan Sharpe.  Our vote goes to Flatley for those early breaks which broke the Romanians and for his smooth goal-kicking.

Moment of the Match:  There were many, many moments to saviour -- so many that they became cloying.  Probably the best Australian moment was the sheer joy of Matt Giteau as he picked up and went gleefully off to score.

Villain of the Match:  Valentin Maftei was sent to the sin bin for a critical infringement.  It was born of desperation not malice.  He thus does not qualify as a villain.  The only other incidents of note were Wendell Sailor's hefty tackle and Mat Rogers's emotional outburst in a match where players did their best to play the game as the laws require.

The Teams:

Australia:  1 Alastair Baxter, 2 Brendan Cannon, 3 Bill Young, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 5 Daniel Vickerman, 6 George Smith, 7 Phil Waugh, 8 David Lyons, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Joe Roff, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Elton Flatley, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Mat Rogers
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, Matt Giteau, Stirling Mortlock, Jeremy Paul, Ben Darwin, Justin Harrison, Lote Tuqiri

Romania:  1 Silviu Florea, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Cristian Petre, 6 Marius Nicolae, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 8 George Chiriac, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Cristian Sauan, 15 Dan Dumbrava
Reserves:  Bogdan Tudor, Cristian Podea, Cezar Popescu, Marcel Socaciu, Ioan Teodorescu, Marian Tudori, Mihai Vioreanu

Attendance:  48778
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

Australia
Tries:  Rogers M.S. 3, Burke M.C. 2, Flatley E.J. 1, Roff J.W.C. 1, Larkham S.J. 2, Smith G.B. 1, Giteau M. 1, Mortlock S.A. 1, Tuqiri L. 1
Conv:  Flatley E.J. 11
Pen K.:  Flatley E.J. 1

Romania
Tries:  Toderasc P. 1
Pen K.:  Tofan I.R. 1

New Zealand 68 Canada 6

New Zealand beat Canada 68-6 in their Pool D clash but not before being made to answer some searching first half questions by a brave and busy Canuck performance, a strong second half effort and four tries from winger Malili Muliaina showing the way.

The New Zealanders, with a number of their first line players rested, were caught on the hop early doors by a brave and energetic Canadian side who exploded into the match and made the All Blacks pay for any complacency that had crept in with some strong play although the final touch always seemed to be lacking.

Under the closed Dockland Stadium roof in Melbourne, a number question marks appeared over the ability of the All Black pack to enforce themselves on a game during the first quarter.

The big Canuck forwards managed to gain an early upper hand by forcing the All Blacks off the ball at the break-down and managed to turn over a few useful balls as mistakes began to annoy the All Blacks.

If he had any, John Mitchell would have been pulling out his hair at the amount of unforced areas that his forwards committed in the first half.  Yes, their were a few new men in the line-up but that can't excuse some elementary mistakes in the line-out and some hesitant work at the break-downs.

But credit must go this Canadian XV, they had nothing to lose and seized the early initiative by some surprisingly brave play that put the All Blacks on the back foot.

Suddenly the All Blacks knew they were in a game and reverted to basics by opting to kick a go for goal when awarded with a penalty after 10 minutes.  The Melbourne crowd showed their discontent that such a talent bunch of runners were going with the "safety-first" option and were happy to see Daniel Carter's effort sail wide.

There are also rumblings concerning the All Blacks kicking ability but that miss, though perhaps Carter's easiest, was one of only his two misses for the day out of 11 attempts at the posts surely suggests that the All Blacks have found their first choice kicker.

How John Mitchell fits him in to his talented backline is another matter altogether.

Despite the mis-fires early on, it was somewhat inevitable that the All Blacks would break the deadlock, and predictably it came courtesy of their flying backs -- but not until the 17th minute of the match.

Carlos Spencer put boot to ball in his 22 after a turn-over, an awkward bounce found Spencer again on the follow up who kicked ahead again and into the path of the flying wing Caleb Ralph who beat the covering defence.  Daniel Carter added the conversion to put the All Blacks 7-0 up.

Jared Barker got the Canucks some deserved points with a penalty kick soon after but by now the All Blacks had found their running shoes and it wasn't look before they added another five points.

An impressive break from centre Ma'a Nonu took the All Blacks to the Canadian line but more stout defending held them up.  But before the defenders had time to regroup behind their own line, the All Black No.8 Rodney So'oialo picked up from the base of the ruck and stretched through the Canadian defense line to score, Carter added the two points.

With a tight Canuck defence, the All Blacks opted to try and get over them with a series of short chips.  One from fullback Leon MacDonald fell into the grateful arms of wing Malili Muliaina who raced away to score for his first try of the day and Carter added a well taken conversion from the touch-line.

It was leg work after that, the next try coming via a Carter inside pass to Spencer who looked up to find the red shirts of Canada had parted and he shot though from the 22 before feeding out a pass out to the supporting So'oialo who raced home from 40 metres to score under the post.  The resulting conversion was easy for Carter, and the ref soon blew for halftime.

The All Blacks starting the second looking like men who had just sustain a grilling and looked to extend their lead immediately, but Caleb Ralph was denied an early try after a good Canadian cover tackle took him into the corner flag.

They soon made amends via a lovely switch pass from an inspired reverse flick from lock Brad Thorn wrong-footed the Canucks and sent Muoliana screeching through the gap on a good angle to score.  Carter added the conversion.

The wing soon recorded his hat-trick after coming off his wing to receive a pass from Nonu on the half-way;  Carter added another fine conversion.

But Canada hadn't giving up and, to the roar of the crowd, went around attempting to punch their way thought the All Black Defense.  But their relative inexperience showed as they were unable to string together enough passages to threaten the All Black line and at times outran their support.

But after a short but sustained period of pressure midway through the second-half, Canada were rewarded with three points courtesy of a Barker penalty.

Finally the All Blacks' forwards managed to get on the score-sheet without the help of their backs when a rolling maul at the edge of the Canuck 22 allowed prop Kees Meeuws to break off the back and score a record-braking try -- Meeuws now has more tries than any other prop in International history.

After a great hour the Canadians began to look a little ragged and they were unable to keep up with when the ball was span wide and into the hands of Ralph who shrugged off a weak challenge to score;  Carter again with a suburb touch-line conversion.

Muliana soon touched down for his fourth try of the match after the All Blacks spread it wide and the Canucks ran out of cover in the corner, but Carter missed his first conversion of the game.

It was All Zealand for the last 10 minutes, with Nonu soon adding his first Test try for New Zealand after breaking through exhausted tackles and Carter recovered his timing to score the conversion before referee Tony Spreadbury blew for full time.

Man of the match:  Not one to agonise over -- with four tries All Black wing Malili Muliaina goes straight to number one in the RWC top try scorers list.  But it was not the quantity that impressed, it was the quality -- each relied on good vision, some nice support work and on moving extremely quickly!  Muliaina just pips lock Brad Thorn who outdid his fellow forwards by popping up everywhere, even putting in a cheeky reverse pass that opened up the Canuck defence to send Muliaina through to score.

Moment of the Match:  Not really a moment -- more the first ten minutes where the Canucks took the game to the startled All Blacks with some surging runs and some great turn-overs.  New Zealand really didn't know what had hit them, but unfortunately this time Goliath managed to regain his balance and crush David.  Bah!

Villain of the Match:  A pretty clean affair to be honest.  Lots of big hits from both sides but with New Zealand too busy trying to find first gear in the early stages, and too busy scoring tries in the later part, no time was had for any handbags.  So no villains this time -- although I imagine a certain cameraman might beg to differ, the touch-line techie was taken out by a tackle and was lifted from the turf bleeding from the face.

The Teams:

New Zealand:  1 Carl Hoeft, 2 Mark Hammett, 3 Kees Meeuws, 4 Chris Jack, 5 Brad Thorn, 6 Marty Holah, 7 Reuben Thorne (c), 8 Rodney So'oialo, 9 Steve Devine, 10 Carlos Spencer, 11 Mils Muliaina, 12 Daniel Carter, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 14 Caleb Ralph, 15 Leon MacDonald
Reserves:  Corey Flynn, Doug Howlett, Richie McCaw, Daniel Braid
Unused:  David Hewett, Greg Somerville, Byron Kelleher

Canada:  Garth Cooke, 2 Aaron Abrams, 3 Kevin Tkachuk, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 5 Ed Knaggs, 6 Ryan Banks (c), 7 Jim Douglas, 8 Jeff Reid, 9 Ed Fairhurst, 10 Jared Barker, 11 Sean Fauth, 12 John Cannon, 13 Marco Di Girolomo, 14 Matt King, 15 Quentin Fyffe
Reserves:  Rod Snow, Adam Van Staveren, Nik Witkowski, Colin Yukes, Ryan Smith
Unused:  Mark Lawson, Morgan Williams

Attendance:  38889
Referee:  Spreadbury t.

Points Scorers:

New Zealand
Tries:  Muliaina M. 4, Nonu M. 1, Ralph C.S. 2, Meeuws K.J. 1, So'oialo R. 2
Conv:  Carter D.W. 9

Canada
Pen K.:  Barker J. 2

Italy 36 Tonga 12

In their second Rugby World Cup match Italy beat the ardent Tongans 36-12 at Canberra Stadium.  The winners scored three tries to the losers' two and were flattered by the scoreline.  In the end it was superior kicking which set Italy on the way to victory -- that and their scrumming.

Italy ended the first half leading 9-7, thanks to three kicks by their sturdy debutant, the New Zealand-born, Rima Wakarua.  But the Tongans had done the attacking which looked most likely to produce a try.  They attacked right from the kick-off, lost a turnover and then lost flank Ipolito Fenukitau to a neck tackle on Gonzalo Canale which may well have been late.

When his 10 minutes in the sin bin were over, Fenukitau was replaced and sat on the bench with that offending left arm in a sling.

Wakarua, however, kept Italy nudging up with three impeccably struck penalties to put his side up 9-0 after 28 minutes.  The next 12 minutes were Tongan.

They attacked through many phases and opted for a five-metre line-out, but lost the ball.  Italy had a scrum, from which Sergio Parisse drove but in his drive the ball squirted from under his armpit and the Tongans were back on phased attack and John Payne cut through for a try, which Sateki Tulip, the most erratic kicker at the World Cup so far, converted from touch to make it 9-7.

The Dallan brothers got three tries in the second half for Italy.  In all there were three brotherly pairs on the field in the match -- the Afeakis, separated by sad injury in the second half, and the Ngauamo brothers for Tonga.

Manuel Dallan got the first try 10 minutes into the second half.

Not long after that Inoke Afeaki got his head on the wrong side of massive Andrea Lo Cicero in a tackle and was stretchered off, not looking healthy.  His Tongan team-mates, bless them, then threw in a bigger effort which ended when Tevita Tu'ifau tiptoed down the left-hand touchline and scored a try of splendid skill -- 16-12 with 21 minutes to go.

Those 21 minutes were all Italy.  Two penalties by Wakarua made it 22-12, the second coming after a hectic attack and a second yellow card for a Tongan, this time lock Milton Ngauamo.

An Italian got a yellow card soon afterwards -- hooker Fabio Ongaro for a swinging arm -- which missed!  But they got a try when Manuel Dallan did well in setting up a maul.  Brother Denis got the ball off him and ran through for a try seemingly simple.

On time, aerodynamic Denis Dallan completed the family hat-trick when replacement centre Andrea Masi slipped through a sympathetic grubber which the wing picked up in the dive and scored.

Man of the Match:  There were the lively scrum-halves Alessandro Troncon of Italy and Tongan Sililo Martens with the fancy haircut.  There were the Italian loose forwards, Sergio Parisse, Aaron Persico and Andrea Rossi.  There were the shaven-headed Italian wings Denis Dallan and Nicola Mazzucato, determined on attack and defence.  And there was our choice -- Andrea Lo Cicero who did all prop things with power and found time to put in a charge or two.  His efforts had a great effect on the outcome.

Moment of the match:  You held your breath as Tevita Tu'ifua ran down a millimetre in from touch to score.  But the best was the clever sympathy of Andrea Masi's kick and the confident skill of the diving Denis Dallan in collecting the ball for the try.

Villain of the match:  There were three yellow cards -- for Ipolito Fenukitau, Milton Ngauamo and Fabio Ongaro.  The worst offence was clearly Fenukitau's, which makes him our Villain of the match.

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Carlo Festuccia, Mirco Bergamasco, Carlo Checchinato, Andrea Masi, Salvatore Perugini
Unused:  Matteo Mazzantini, Francesco Mazzariol

Tonga:  1 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 2 Ephraim Taukafa, 3 Heamani Lavaka, 4 Milton Ngauamo, 5 Viliami Vaki, 6 'Inoke Afeaki (c), 7 'Ipolito Fenukitau, 8 Ben Hur Kivalu, 9 Sililo Martens, 10 Sateki Tuipulotu, 11 Sione Fonua, 12 Gus Leger, 13 John Payne, 14 Tevita Tu'ifua, 15 Pierre Hola
Reserves:  Johnny Ngauamo, Stanley Afeaki, Usaia Latu, Viliami Ma'asi, Kisi Pulu, Sila Va'enuku
Unused:  Tony Alatini

Attendance:  18967
Referee:  Walsh s.

Points Scorers:

Italy
Tries:  Dallan M. 1, Dallan D. 2
Conv:  Wakarua-Noema R. 3
Pen K.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 5

Tonga
Tries:  Payne J. 1, Tu'ifua T. 1
Conv:  Tuipulotu S. 1

Samoa 60 Uruguay 13

Samoa lived up to their reputation as RWC entertainers, scoring a bagful of tries -- including two from flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu -- to beat Uruguay by 60-13 in Perth.

It was a fairly satisfactory start to the tournament for the Islanders and will give them huge confidence ahead of the "David v Goliath" pool battles to come against South Africa and England, although they will need to make vast improvements around the set-piece if they are to cause an upset on the scale of the one they dished out in Wales back in 1991.

Their scrum and line-out were just about adequate against their heavier South American opponents, but it was the Samoan's mastery of broken-play situations which helped them rack up their mighty tally of points.

At times, it was almost like watching a game of Sevens, as a succession of Samoan runners stepped out of first-up tackles, pinned their ears back and scored from long-range without a hand being laid on them by the opposition.

It was a different story when they were tied up in the middle of the field by Los Teros, whose static upperbody strength and efficent mauling techniques helped keep the scoreline down.

The Samoans were also undone at times by their lack of discipline, particularly in diving off their feet at the ruck.  They were also the recipient of the only yellow card in the match, wing Lome Fa'atau earning censure from the referee in the dying moments for an illegal challenge on a Uruguay player.

Samoa were on the all-out attack from the very kick-off, fly-half Earl Va'a signalling his side's intentions by standing flat and firing out several bullet-passes to his strike runners out wide to make some early incursions into Uruguayan territory.

Uruguay battled on, harrying their opposition and forcing several turnovers of possession.  The South Americans also had some success with the kick-and-chase game, hoofing the ball forward to create some disarray in the Samoan ranks, but could not match their oppponents for sheer rugby skill and attacking pace.

The South Americans also managed to piece together some excellent continuity play in the dying minutes of the match, although in truth the match was well beyond their reach by then.

It took a while for Samoa to hit their stride, rustiness or opening match nerves causing them to make several unforced errors in the handling stakes.

But when their gameplan did click into place, Uruguay were left clutching at shadows as a moment of individual genius saw Samoa open their account, flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu breaching the first line of defence just outside his own half and then putting on the after-burners to score some 40 metres downfield.

Va'a missed the conversion, but with Samoa on song there was to be no respite for Uruguay and just a few minutes later, the South Americans' defence was again stretched to breaking point.  As Samoa attacked down the right, the scoring pass was given to centre Brian Lima, the veteran of four World Cups making no mistake to touch down.

Uruguay were hit by another blow in the 24th minute, Sailosi Tagicakibau making a delightful pick-up down by his bootstraps, the winger barely missing a beat before racing off downfield for his side's third try.

From there on, Samoa were on their way to full points after racking up 10 tries against their opponents, and after this opening engagement will relish the chance to test their sinews against the bigger fish in their pool.

Man of the Match:  Some excellent work from Uruguay's Rodrigo Sanchez, Rodrigo Capo and Emilian Ibarra, particularly in the first half, but it was Samoan fullback Tanner Vili who was the class act of the match, his invention in attack and solidity under the high ball making him a key man in the victory.

Moment of the match:  Rodrigo Capo's first-half try.  Despite looking down for the count after a flurry of first-half tries from Samoa, Uruguay struck back just before the break with an excellent score from Rodrigo Capo, the burly No.8 crashing over in the left-hand corner to score Los Teros' first try of the tournament.  The sheer joy on Capo's face was a sight to behold.

Villain of the match:  While their brave players would never utter a word of complaint about the RWC schedule, it is pretty disgraceful that a minor nation like Uruguay found themselves facing both South Africa and Samoa within the space of four days.

The Teams:

Samoa:  1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves:  Dominic Feaunati, Des Tuiali'i, Simon Lemalu, Mahonri Schwalger, Denning Tyrell, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen

Uruguay:  1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Diego Lamelas, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Alzueta, 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 6 Nicolas Grille, 7 Marcelo Gutierrez, 8 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 9 Juan Campomar, 10 Bernardo Amarillo, 11 Carlos Baldassari, 12 Diego Aguirre (c), 13 Martin Mendaro, 14 Joaquin Pastore, 15 Juan Menchaca
Reserves:  Juan Alvarez, Nicolas Brignoni, Juan Machado, Jose Viana, Ignacio Conti, Joaquin De Freitas, Juan Andres Perez

Attendance:  22020
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

Samoa
Tries:  Vili T.A. 1, Fa'atau L.M. 1, Lima B.P. 2, Tagicakibau S. 1, Palepoi O. 1, Fa'asavalu M. 2, Lemalu S. 1, Feaunati D. 1
Conv:  Vili T.A. 2, Va'a E.V. 3

Uruguay
Tries:  Lemoine P.A. 1, Capo Ortega R. 1
Pen K.:  Aguirre D. 1

Fiji 19 United States 18

Oh the agony!  American fly-half Mike Hercus will have nightmares about last-gasp conversion attempt at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, a kick which sailed wide of the uprights and handed Fiji a 19-18 win over the Eagles in their Pool B match at Rugby World Cup 2003.

Hercus, who had a shocking game, had one last chance to atone for his earlier clangers.  He lined up a conversion attempt from wide out, just after flanker Kort Schubert had scored a try to narrow the gap to 19-18 in an intense and entertaining encounter.

But it was clearly not going to be Hercus' day and you could see the agony on his face as he watched the kick drift wide and the realisation began to sink in that he had cost his team the match.

Maybe that is a bit tough on the 24-year-old fly-half from Long Beach in California, but that kick also ensured the Eagles now have the dubious record of the longest losing streak in RWC history -- their only victory in this tournament coming in their debut match, ironically also in Brisbane, against Japan on May 24, 1987.

That aside, the Eagles and Fiji produced 80 minutes of entertaining and exciting rugby, with the final scoreline a relative reflection of the strength of the two teams.

Fiji, who recorded their first win at RWC 2003 on Wednesday, seemed almost obsessed with playing a Sevens-style game and it cost them dearly in the first half.  It allowed the Eagles to put the squeeze on, with a lot less space available than what they are accustomed to, and also saw the Eagles take a 6-3 lead into the break.

Captain Alifereti Doviverata admitted his team were their own worst enemies in the first half, saying afterwards:  "We simply turned over too much ball."

But after the break they turned it all around and playing a more structured game they managed to overcome the early second-half try they conceded -- which pushed the score out to 13-3.

Working hard at the breakdown and then using their pace out wide, they started to break down the rigid American defensive line and eventually build up a 19-13 lead.

But then came that injury-time try, by Schubert, and Hercus' missed conversion -- which added a fitting end to the excitement and drama of the preceding 80 minutes.

American captain David Hodges admitted that his team failed to build on the sound platform they laid in the first half and allowed the Fijians to get their hands on too much ball.

In the end, the Pacific Islanders enjoyed about 60 percent of the possession stakes.

Man of the match:  The American flankers, Kort Schubert and Dave Hodges were brilliant on defence and helped turn over a lot of ball, also producing high work-rate.  Scrum-half Kevin Dalzell also showed his experience behind that big American pack.  For Fiji winger Vilimoni Delasau stepped brilliantly all night and continuously caused problems for the American backs.  But in the end out vote goes to Fijian fly-half Nicky Little, who produced a 100 percent kicking record -- which in the end won his team the match.  He also had a sound all-round game.

Moment of the match:  The Fijians struggled to cope with the tight American defence and their Sevens-style approach did not get the desired result.  But there was a delightful moment when lock Api Naevo scored their only try in the 55th minute -- a classic example of how dangerous they can be when allowed time and space in which to counter-attack from.

Villain of the match:  Eagles fly-half Mike Hercus stands out head and shoulders above the rest in this department with his shocking kicking display.  Not just did he fail to find touch from several penalties, which handed the ball to the Fijians, but a number of his other kicks went directly into touch when they should not have.  And, of course, we all know what happened at the end ...

The Teams:

Fiji:  1 Naka Seru, 2 Greg Smith, 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Apenisa Naevo, 5 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 6 Alfi Mocelutu Vuivau, 7 Koli Sewabu, 8 Alifereti Doviverata (c), 9 Mosese Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Vilimoni Delasau, 12 Seru Rabeni, 13 Aisea Tuilevu, 14 Marika Vunibaka, 15 Alfie Uluinayau
Reserves:  Vula Maimuri, Sisa Koyamaibole, Richard Nyholt
Unused:  Waisale Serevi, Bill Gadolo, Norman Ligairi, Epeli Ruivadra

United States:  1 Dan Dorsey, 2 Kirk Khasigian, 3 Mike MacDonald, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dave Hodges (c), 7 Kort Schubert, 8 Dan Lyle, 9 Kevin Dalzell, 10 Mike Hercus, 11 David Fee, 12 Kain Cross, 13 Phillip Eloff, 14 Riaan Van Zyl, 15 Paul Emerick
Reserves:  John Buchholz, Salesi Sika
Unused:  Gerhard Klerck, Jurie Gouws, Kimball Kjar, John Tarpoff, Matt Wyatt

Attendance:  30990
Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

Fiji
Tries:  Naevo A. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 1
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 4

United States
Tries:  Van Zyl R. 1, Schubert K.S. 1
Conv:  Hercus M. 1
Pen K.:  Hercus M. 2

Argentina 67 Namibia 14

The Argentinians did more with their bulk than with their brains in battering Namibia 67-14 at the Central Coast Stadium in Gosford in Namibia's first World Cup match, Argentina's second.  Argentina got all they wanted out of the match in terms of points -- a five-point maximum.  The Pumas scored 10 tries to two.

The Pumas' victory started with their forwards and pretty well remained with them as they mauled from line-outs and shoved from scrums.  From scrums they got two pushover tries and two penalty tries.  Their first try came from a line-out as did their third, even though the inside centre scored it.  Martín Gaitan's second try came after he had broken well, but also involved close-quarter bashing.  His third try came from a close-quarter dabbed kick by Gonzalo Quesada.

It all looked like an Argentinian return to their basics of forward power.  Apart from the pressure they put on the Namibians at scrum-time, the Pumas won three of them by shoving their opponents off the ball and a fourth by wheeling.  Shoving just before the put-in helped their cause.  The brawn of their pack was the Pumas' Eldorado.

The Pumas' line-out worked this time with Federico Méndez throwing in.  They won all 12 of their own throws and plundered four from the Namibians.

The Namibians were outclassed from the start, but not humiliated.  They stood too proud for humiliation.  They did some things neatly, but mostly on the back foot.  They were best when they were able to tap a penalty and run.That said they delighted the sympathetic crowd with two tries.

At half-time the Pumas led 27-7 and already had their bonus point, but their tries were anything but scintillating as they used their mastodon pack to subdue and score.

Their first try came when they mauled a line-out and sent Méndez plodding over.  Their second try came when they shoved a five-metre scrum over and No.8 Pablo Bouza scored.  The third try was scored by the backs but really it belonged to the forwards who mauled a five-metre line-out and gave their backs a few steps to finish it off through a flicked dummy and pass in the half-gap by Gonzalo Quesada for a try by centre Juan Fernández Miranda.  The fourth try was a penalty try when they shoved a five-metre scrum at the Namibian goalline.  The scrum fell apart and a penalty try was awarded.

The most entertaining try of the half came from Namibia's only foray into the Puma 22.  They went through phases, attacked directly and big outside centre Du Preez Grobler danced and then powered over for a popular try just before the half-time break.

In the second half the Pumas' panzer pack rolled the team to victory.  In that half, too, Quesada with his gumshield tucked under his garter found his range and converted all but the last try.

In the half Gaitan got three, one when the Pumas recovered a harmless-looking kick, one after he had made the running and then finished off some cute passing at close quarters and the third off Quesada's dab.  Nicolás Fernández Miranda got his after Felipe Contepomi tapped a penalty and ran, giving the scrum-half a clear run the line.  Longo's second try, at a pushover scrum, seemed to have been preceded by as knock-on.

As in the first half the Namibian try came from many phases.

Man of the match:  Martín Gaitan was the best individual on the Puma side while Hakkies Hüsselman at the heart of every Namibian effort and brave No.8 Sean Furter were the best of the Namibians whose loose forwards actually outperformed the Pumas' trio who were playing in luxury.  But the Man of the match was a collective beast of the Pampas -- the Puma tight five who dominated the match from start to finish.  They steam-rollered over the Namibian pack which had some could names -- on paper.

Moment of the match:  It was all too bash-bash for thrill and it is easy to give Hakkies Hüsselman a sympathy vote for his try.  But really, it belongs to that splendidly controlled dab by Gonzalo Quesada that Martín Gaitan dived onto for the last score of the match.

Villain of the match:  Nobody at all.  There was not even a silly look.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Mauricio Reggiardo, 2 Federico Mendez, 3 Martin Scelzo, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 5 Pedro Sporleder, 6 Martin Durand, 7 Lucas Ostiglia, 8 Pablo Bouza, 9 Nicolas Fernandez Miranda (c), 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Juan Fernandez Miranda, 13 Martin Gaitan, 14 Hernan Senillosa, 15 Juan Martin Hernandez
Reserves:  Felipe Contepomi, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Mario Ledesma Arocena, Rodrigo Roncero
Unused:  Patricio Albacete, Ignacio Corleto, Agustin Pichot

Namibia:  1 Neil Du Toit, 2 J.M. Meyer, 3 Kees Lensing, 4 Eben Isaacs, 5 Heino Senekal, 6 Herman Lintvelt, 7 Schalk Van Der Merwe, 8 Sean Furter (c), 9 Hakkies Husselman, 10 Emile Wessels, 11 Melrick Afrika, 12 Du Preez Grobler, 13 Corne Powell, 14 Deon Mouton, 15 Jurie Booysen
Reserves:  Andries Blaauw, Ronaldo Pedro, Niel Swanepoel, Vincent Dreyer, Wolfie Duvenhage, Jurgens Van Lill
Unused:  Cor Van Tonder

Attendance:  17887
Referee:  Williams n.

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Gaitan M. 3, Fernandez Miranda J. 1, Fernandez Miranda N. 1, Mendez F.E. 1, Bouza P. 2, Penalty try 2
Conv:  Quesada G. 7
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 1

Namibia
Tries:  Grobler Du P. 1, Husselman D. 1
Conv:  Wessels E. 2

Scotland 32 Japan 11

Late tries flatter Scotland's scoreline

What a star of a Rugby World Cup match!  With a quarter of an hour to go the small, infinitely brave Japanese were within a score of the big, unimpressive Scots.  Then the Scots got three tries to win 32-11 and gain a bonus point.  The Japanese left the Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville with no points but with heaps and heaps of honour.  The Scots scored more points, the Japanese more credit.

Before the match Mark Ella, who had been helping Japan, said that they would be competitive.  They were more competitive than the final score suggests.

The difference in physical size between the two teams, most noticeably amongst the backs oddly enough, was almost frightening but the size of the Japanese hearts did much to compensate as they flew at Scottish ankles in defence and did all things with eager resolution.

Scotland led 15-6 at half-time, which did them little credit as they were content to play a kick and maul game, often with little regard for the niceties of angles and obstruction.  This was surprising after the nature of their first try which came after more than a dozen phases and ended leaving right-wing Chris Paterson with an easy trot in on the left.  He converted and Scotland led an comfortable 7-0 after five minutes.

But the Japanese are honourable and brave, and 10 minutes later points' machine Keiji Hirose kicked a penalty and made it 7-3.

Scotland tapped a second free-kick at a scrum, Simon Taylor drove and Scott Grimes took a popped pass to run 25 metres to score in the corner -- 12-3 after 19 minutes.  And four minutes later Hirose goaled another penalty to make it 12-6.

Japan had three wonderful breaks in this half.

First No.8 Takeomi Ito slashed through.  Then centre Yukio Motoki raced through and only a cover tackle by Kenny Logan from the right-wing bundled Hirotoki Onozawa out near the corner-flag.  For the third, right-wing Daisuke Ohata broke through and was close till Ben Hinshelwood blocked him.

The Scots also had their golden opportunity when Chris Paterson broke but he opted to go on a solo meander and a chance went begging.

In the second half the Scots had the wind at their backs and kicked, perhaps reluctant to run at the men who snapped at their ankles, perhaps believing that time and physicality would wear the Japanese down.

Apart from a great run by Jason White the Sots achieved little for the first 20 minutes of the second half while the Japanese delighted the world with a try.  Andy Miller, on for Hirose, broke.  The Japanese got into Scottish territory where they won a line-out.  A clever bit of running gave flier Onozawa an overlap and over he went in the corner.  Surprisingly the matter was referred to the Television Match Official, who took little time in deciding, unlike his other two calls, one of which went against Scotland and one of which went for them.

The one against came as Kenny Logan, who had a sterile match, footed through and diving sought to gather the ball as Ohata made things awkward.  He was judged to have knocked the ball on.

The second was just before the end when Simon Danielli, on for Paterson, footed through, gathered and went over.  That took a lot or deciding as he did not have the ball in hand when he went over.

But it was Paterson, who scored the try that won the match.  Simon Taylor broke off a wobbly Scottish scrum and ran wide to the tight, drawing three defenders with him, sending an inside pass to Paterson who got it in a juggle and had a clear run for the line.

Paterson, whose kicking was wonky, missed and the score was 20-11.  It did not budge again till the Scots actually spread the ball instead of going in for one-at-a-time bashing against men who did not yield.  The ball came wide to Taylor who powered over in Onozawa's tackle.

Then just before the end Danielli came on, footed the ball and scored.  Townsend converted.

Still the Japanese came back with enthusiasm but no more points.

Man of the match:  There were several candidates amongst the losers -- both wings Ohata and Onozawa and both centres Reuben Parkinson and Yukio Motoki, but in the end it was probably a contest between the two No.8s -- Takeomi Ito of Japan, who never stopped being busy and effective and won lots of line-out ball for the Japanese where they were surprisingly and effectively clever, and tall Simon Taylor, our choice as the most imposing player on the field.

Moment of the match:  Hirotoki Onozawa's try.  It was possibly the sweetest moment of the 2003 Rugby World Cup so far.

Villain of the match:  Nobody.  There was not even remotely a candidate in this match of excellent manners.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries:  Paterson 2, Grimes, Taylor, Danielli
Cons:  Paterson, Townsend
Pen:  Paterson

For Japan:
Try:  Onozawa
Pens:  Hirose 2

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Ben Hinshelwood, 14 Chris Paterson (Simon Danielli, 78), 13 Andy Craig, 12 James McLaren, 11 Kenny Logan, 10 Gordon Ross (Gregor Townsend, 65), 9 Bryan Redpath (captain), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Jon Petrie (Martin Leslie, 56), 6 Jason White, 5 Stuart Grimes, 4 Scott Murray (Ross Beattie, 65), 3 Bruce Douglas (Gavin Kerr, 72), 2 Rob Russell, 1 Tom Smith.
Unused replacements:  16 Gordon Bulloch, 20 Mike Blair.

Japan:  15 Tsutomu Matsuda, 14 Daisuke Ohata, 13 Reuben Parkinson, 12 Yukio Motoki, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Keiji Hirose (Andrew Miller, 50), 9 Takashi Tauji (Yuji Sonoda, 50), 8 Takeomi Ito, 7 Takuro Miuchi (captain), 6 Naoya Okubo, 5 Adam Parker, 4 Hajimo Kiso, 3 Masahiko Toyoyama, 2 Masao Amino (Masaaki Sakata, 41), 1 Shin Hasegawa.
Unused replacements:  16 Masahito Yamamoto, 18 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 19 Yasunori Watanabe, 22 Toru Kurihara.

England 84 Georgia 6

England got their RWC campaign off to a resounding start in Perth, scoring a total of 12 tries to storm to an 84-6 victory over tournament minnows Georgia.

It was Jonny Wilkinson, somewhat predictably, who got the rout under way with a finely-struck penalty kick in the fourth minute after an early England attack saw the Georgian defence caught off-side.

Despite the final scoreline, it took England some time to break down the resolute Georgians and hit top stride, Georgia even managing to draw level with a penalty kick in the eighth minute through the boot of winger Malkhaz Urjukashvili.

England spurned a second kickable penalty some moments later, skipper Martin Johnson opting for an attacking line-out in the corner.  England drove on and the ball came left, scrum-half Matt Dawson putting through a grubber for Jason Robinson to chase.  Georgia survived that attack, but were unable to hold out some moments later when Mike Tindall crashed over for a try in the left-hand corner following a simple down-the-line move from England.

Wilkinson added the extras and England were 10-3 ahead, their slightly nervous start forgotten as they began to hit their stride and play the sort of rugby that has propelled them to top spot in the World Rankings.

Dawson romped over under the posts for England's second try in the 20th minute after taking a simple pop from the base of the scrum from Lawrence Dallaglio, while hooker Steve Thompson scored England's third try after picking up from the back of a ruck and sprinting clear of the scattered defence, Wilkinson adding the extras.

The Georgians were simply unable to cope with the tempo of England's attack and when Neil Back went over in the 26th minute to score England's fourth try -- and secure a bonus point -- England were in an unassailable position.

While Georgia never gave up, continuing to battle for their lost cause, England continued to find acres of space out wide and plentiful possession up front as they went through their full repertoire of moves ahead of the greater tests to come in this tournament.

As expected, England coach Clive Woodward made full use of his bench, Mike Tindall and Matt Dawson the first players to retire from the fray as they were pulled off at half-time to be replace by Dan Luger and Andy Gomarsall respectively.

They were joined by fellow benchmen Jason Leonard, Mark Regan and Lewis Moody, while England's MVP -- Jonny Wilkinson -- was also taken off the field of play to be replaced by Paul Grayson.

Following the encounter, England skipper Johnson proclaimed himself satisfied with his side's opening win.

"It was a strange game as Georgia didn't really play as expected.  They let us pick and go up the middle, while their wide defence was very good," he said.

"We certainly didn't have it all our own way.  They were tough and physical and battled throughout, but we didn't concede a try which was one of the goals we'd set out beforehand.

"Maybe we were a bit rusty but it's a massive game next week and we'll need an improvement.  Neither England or South Africa will have learnt much from each others' opening games."

Man of the match:  Difficult to single anyone out in such a rout.  For Georgia, tough front rower Aleko Margvelashvili and flanker Gregoire Yachvili deserve honourable mentions for showing resistance up-front, but the Man of the match has to come from the ranks of the Men in White given the final scoreline.  With any number of players queuing up for the honour, we'll go for second rower Ben Kay, who was tireless in tight and loose play.

Moment of the match:  Again, plenty to choose from, but we'll go for the moment when England finally broke through to score their first try in the 14th minute.  After a highly effective forward drive down the right, England recycled and attacked left, Jonny Wilkinson throwing the hint of a dummy to break the first line of defence before off-loading an inch perfect pass to Mike Tindall, who went over without a hand laid on him.

Villain of the match:  Apart from the odd niggle, the match was played in excellent spirit throughout, only the head-high tackle by Irakli Giorgadze on Phil Vickery giving referee Pablo de Luca cause to give someone a ticking-off.

The Teams:

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 6 Neil Back, 7 Richard Hill, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 9 Matt Dawson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 11 Jason Robinson, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Mike Tindall, 14 Ben Cohen, 15 Josh Lewsey
Reserves:  Andy Gomarsall, Paul Grayson, Jason Leonard, Dan Luger, Mark Regan, Lewis Moody
Unused:  Danny Grewcock

Georgia:  1 Goderdzi Shvelidze, 2 Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 3 Aleko Margvelashvili, 4 Victor Didebulidze, 5 Zurab Mtchedlishvili, 6 Guia Labadze, 7 Gregoire Yachvili, 8 George Chkhaidze, 9 Irakli Abusseridze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Makho Urjukashvili, 12 Irakli Guiorgadze, 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 14 Vassil Katsadze (c), 15 Bessik Khamashuridze
Reserves:  David Bolghashvili, David Dadunashvili, Vano Nadiradze, Badri Khekhelashvili, Sosso Nikolaenko, Merab Kvirikashvili, Irakli Machkhaneli

Attendance:  25501
Referee:  Deluca p.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Robinson J.T. 1, Greenwood W.J.H. 2, Tindall M.J. 1, Cohen B.C. 2, Dawson M.J.S. 1, Thompson S. 1, Dallaglio L.B.N. 1, Back N.A. 1, Regan M.P. 1, Luger D.D. 1
Conv:  Wilkinson J.P. 5, Grayson P.J. 4
Pen K.:  Wilkinson J.P. 2

Georgia
Pen K.:  Urjukashvili M. 1, Jimsheladze P. 1

Wales 41 Canada 10

Wales got their Rugby World Cup campaign under way by recording an emphatic 41-10 win over Canada in Melbourne with the outstanding Iestyn Harris contributing 16 points.

But whilst the margin of victory probably reflects Canada's deficiencies rather than Wales abilities, there were plenty of encouraging signs for Welsh fans.

Harris played the game of his international life, recording a 100 percent kicking ratio and setting up some fine runs for himself and his team-mates.

It was Canada's fly-half Bob Ross who opened the scoring after only three minutes with a sweetly struck drop-goal after some good pressure, but Wales soon woke up to the task at hand and their thirst was personified by skipper Colin Charvis who starred in some bruising early runs.

But his enthusiasm boiled over when a "stray" arm caught Ross in the face as he attempted to clear his lines and Charvis found himself in the sin bin.

Facing 14 men, Canada turned up the gas and Sweeney began to find life quite claustrophobic with Canada's back row rolling back the years.

Their energy, however, was soon sapped by a rampant Wales pack which sent Harris on a 40-metre break that began a fluid passage that saw the ball swung all the way right before returning quickly to the left leaving the Canadians short of defenders out wide.

Centre Sonny Parker popped up outside his wing to receive the pass and squeeze into the corner and Harris added a well-taken conversion from the touchline.

With the return of Charvis, Wales began to believe in their ability with ball in hand, and some fine pressure pinned Canada back in their 22.  Canada soon cracked and went off-side, giving Harris an easy penalty chance that he did not miss.

More pressure led to another Canadian infringement and Harris stepped up to extend Wales' advantage.

Immediately after the re-start Harris received a pass and burst through a gap in the Canuck midfield to send Sweeney on a run at the Canadian posts but he was brought down five metres short and the move broke down.

But soon enough quick hands took the ball down the short-side and Gareth Cooper skipped over from close-range.  Harris added the conversion just before the break.

Wales came out for the second with every intention of continuing where they left off and a brittle Canuck defence allowed them do just that.

But as the Welsh settled into task of shepherding the game to its inevitable conclusion the Canucks began to assert themselves on the set-piece play -- but other areas of their game were below the necessary standard.

As the phases mounted, the Canucks became disorganised with players in running positions receiving balls whilst stationary.

In comparison Wales' movement looked sharp and Steve Hansen's hard work over the summer seems to have paid off, but not for the first time in this tournament the gulf in preparation and conditioning between the two sets of players was painfully obvious.

A notable exception to this rule was the young Canadian No.8 Josh Jackson, who impressed with some athletic line-out work and tireless support work.

The game soon calmed into a series of rolling mauls that didn't really seem to service any purpose save to allow the players to catch their breaths.

But that man Harris hadn't given up and after spotting an opportunity on the short side he ushered Parker into the gap with a well-timed pass.  The NZ-born centre burst through and fed a pass to winger Mark Jones who had an easy run-in.  Harris added the conversion.

The beautifully worked try lifted the game's tempo and it was soon followed by a try from Charvis, who swivelled of the back of a maul to drop over the line.

With the bonus point secured, Wales brought on a raft of subs and the game's momentum died in the water.

To the Canadians' credit they never gave up and opted to run all their penalties in the second half.

The pressure put Wales on the back-foot and Parker was soon sin-binned for coming in at the side.

Canada again choose to run the penalty and replacement prop Kevin Tkachuk went over from the back of a ruck to add to his impressive scoring record.

Canada's resurgence provoked the Welsh to batten down the hatches and they poured water on Canadian fire by pinning them back with a series of touch-finders.

The coup de grace was delivered by veteran wing Gareth Thomas who was fed the ball out wide and came in off his right foot to skip past two flaying tackles to touch down.  Harris converted to the sound of the referee final whistle.

Man of the match:  No contest -- Iestyn Harris' kicking was impeccable and his vision (see below) was key to Wales' victory.  He finally lived up to his huge potential and now looks like he has secured his spot in the Wales team at inside centre.

Moment of the match:  The game was shaken from a sleepy period by Mark Jones' try which saw Harris pick out a flying and unmarked Sonny Parker on the short side.  The centre burst through the gainline and committed flat-footed Canuck fullback James Pritchard before feeding Mark Jones who sauntered in under the posts.

Villain of the match:  Colin Charvis.  Yes, intimidate the opposition's fly-half by all means.  But don't give him a slap in the chops with the whole world looking on.  Teams need their captains to stay on the pitch.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Duncan Jones, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Dafydd Jones, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Colin Charvis (c), 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Sonny Parker, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Kevin Morgan
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Dwayne Peel, Robert Sidoli, Mark Taylor
Unused:  Rhys Williams, Jonathan Thomas

Canada:  1 Rod Snow, 2 Mark Lawson, 3 John Thiel, 4 Mike James, 5 Colin Yukes, 6 Alan Charron (c), 7 Adam Van Staveren, 8 Josh Jackson, 9 Morgan Williams, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Dave Lougheed, 12 Marco Di Girolomo, 13 Nik Witkowski, 14 Winston Stanley, 15 James Pritchard
Reserves:  Garth Cooke, Jamie Cudmore, Kevin Tkachuk, Ryan Smith
Unused:  Aaron Abrams, Ryan Banks, Ed Fairhurst

Attendance:  24874
Referee:  White c.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Jones M.A. 1, Parker S. 1, Thomas G. 1, Cooper G.J. 1, Charvis C.L. 1
Conv:  Harris I.R. 5
Pen K.:  Harris I.R. 2

Canada
Tries:  Tkachuk K. 1
Conv:  Pritchard J. 1
Drop G.:  Ross R.P. 1

France 61 Fiji 18

France beat Fiji 61-18 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in the first Pool B match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.  Les Bleus got five points from the match, Fiji none.  But while it was a match that soared on glorious highs it also plunged into an unsightliness which may well have unpleasant consequences.

The ecstasy came with Rupeni Caucaunibuca's try.  The unpleasantness came when Caucaunibuca -- and others -- took time out to express anger outside of the laws of the game, with the winger flooring Olivier Magne, a much bigger man.

There was a time when Fiji looked zestful and confident.  Then the zest seemed to dribble from their legs as the composed French used the ball to take the game far away from the Islanders, scoring five tries in the last 24 minutes after Fiji had burst back to 24-18 early in the second half.

The match started with penalties.  Two against France for diving on their own ball gave Fiji the lead after four minutes, but then one against a Fijian tackler and one against a scrum collapse made it 6-3 to France after 10 minutes.

At this stage Fiji were using what possession they could get to move the ball -- sensibly and understandably -- to their speedy wings.  They were the first to score a try largely thanks to a French wing and the Fijian scorer.

Aurélien Rougerie, the best attacking player in the half, kicked out of defence.  It was an execrable kick that sailed across towards his left.  Aisea Tuilevu got the bouncing ball and cleverly played it back inside to lock Api Naevo.  The big man sold a dummy, steamed ahead and barged over for the try.

This gave the Fijians heart and their tackling suddenly lifted a degree, not always amiably as they led with the shoulder.

This was the next irony of the match, for after they took heart and tightened their defence France scored two tries.

The first came after Nicholas Brusque had started a run down the right.  Olivier Magne was buried in a tackle which became a French scrum about 20 metres from the Fijian line and towards the French left.  They won the scrum and went left.  Imanol Harinordoquy, the No.8, picked up and gave to Fabien Galthié as Brusque came speeding up from fullback.  Brusque's pass sent Christophe Dominici nipping in for a try.

From the kick-off, Rougerie broke out.  Norman Ligairi fumbled near his line.  France then tapped a penalty and the forwards surged over for a try credited to Harinordoquy.

They nearly got a third when Rougerie was bounced out at the corner post.

Half-time came and France led 24-8.

Nicky Little kicked his second penalty and then came that magic moment when Caucaunibuca scored.  Fiji were down around their 22, France knocked on on Fiji's left and Little picked up the ball.  He passed to Ligairi, who floated an outrageous pass, born of Sevens, over several heads to Caucaunibuca near the touchline, just outside his 22.

The speedy wing started striding.  He strode past Rougerie as if the Frenchman were rooted to the spot.  He ran away from Harinordoquy's attempt to cover.  Then the Fijian turned inside and swept past Brusque to stroll over at the posts.

The whole world was now exposed to the genius that the Super 12 had seen revealed.

Was an upset in the offing?

Alas, the lit fire was extinguished as Moses Rauluni conceded two penalties and France led 30-18.

Then the French counter-attacked, Tony Marsh came in on a switch and sent centre partner Yannick Jauzion for the first of his hat-trick of tries.

Then came the fighting.  It started with a rough tackle on Frédéric Michalak at which the French showed anger.  Rauluni was the object of French anger, Serge Betsen the object of Fijian anger, but the real dust-up centred on Olivier Magne, whom the Fijians had previously found prickly.  Caucaunibuca got in two shots, Magne one.  Magne ended floored but arose in time to be sent to the sin bin along with Caucaunibuca.

Soon afterwards Marsh made a half-break and sent Jauzion over under the posts for France's bonus point.

Then Dominici did some dancing and Jauzion was back under the posts.

By this time Fiji had fallen apart, their pack battered into subjection, their scrum-half living in intolerable conditions.

From a five-metre line-out the French surged over and the referee told Raphaël Ibañez that he had scored.

Waisale Serevi was on at fullback.  He chipped twice, disastrously on both occasions.  From the second Galthié countered and Dominici got his second try.

It was a strange match -- a glorious moment, some great moments, some tawdry moments and lots of desultory handling.

Man of the match:  There was Fabien Galthié, full of life behind the French pack and No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy was full of activity.  But our Man of the Match is a two-man creature -- the centres Tony Marsh and Yannick Jauzion who combined brilliantly and created opportunities for each other and the rest of their team -- Marsh so pleasingly back from illness to greatness.

Moment of the match:  Rupeni Caucaunibuca's try -- the moment of the 2003 Rugby World Cup up till now.

Villain of the match:  There were those angry men of the second half, especially the two sent to the sin bin -- Rupeni Caucaunibuca, who may have been fortunate that the card was not redder in hue, and Olivier Magne.

The Teams:

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Raphael Ibanez, 3 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 4 Fabien Pelous, 5 Jerome Thion, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Fabien Galthie, 10 Frederic Michalak, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Tony Marsh, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Olivier Brouzet, Gerald Merceron, Pepito Elhorga, Christian Labit, Damien Traille
Unused:  Yannick Bru, Olivier Milloud

Fiji:  1 Richard Nyholt, 2 Greg Smith, 3 Joeli Veitayaki, 4 Apenisa Naevo, 5 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 6 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Kitione Salawa, 8 Alifereti Doviverata (c), 9 Mosese Rauluni, 10 Nicky Little, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 12 Seru Rabeni, 13 Aisea Tuilevu, 14 Vilimoni Delasau, 15 Norman Ligairi
Reserves:  Waisale Serevi, Kele Leawere, Sami Rabaka Nasagavesi, Naka Seru, Koli Sewabu, Marika Vunibaka
Unused:  Bill Gadolo

Attendance:  46795
Referee:  Rolland a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Jauzion Y. 3, Dominici C. 2, Ibanez R. 1, Harinordoquy I. 1
Conv:  Michalak F. 4
Pen K.:  Michalak F. 6

Fiji
Tries:  Caucaunibuca R. 1, Naevo A. 1
Conv:  Little N.T. 1
Pen K.:  Little N.T. 2

Ireland 45 Romania 17

Keith Wood and his Irish team showed far too much class on Saturday for Romania as they smashed them by 45-17 in their Pool A Rugby World Cup match at Gosford's Central Coast Stadium in Sydney, on day two of the 2003 tournament.

The Irish, producing a clinical and efficient performance, scored five tries to go top of the Pool A standings, ahead of hosts Australia.

Wood said afterwards that scoring four tries, for a bonus point, had been foremost in their minds, as bonus points will play an important role in Pool A -- which also includes Australia and Argentina.

He praised the Romanians for producing a very credible performance and keeping it positive., which obviously allowed the Irish to play the type of rugby that would regarded as "entertaining".

Wood also said not one of the numerous knocks his team took during the game seem serious and he is confident all the players will be available for the next fixture, against Namibia next Sunday, October 19.

Romanian captain Romeo Gontineac admitted that the Irish were simply too good for his team, especially in the first-half -- which saw Ireland take a 26-0 lead.  He was more pleased with the spirit showed by his side after the break, which saw a 19-17 scoreline in favour of the Irish.

In the opening stages the Romanians held their own up front and even managed to put the Irish scrum under pressure -- even winning a heel against the head.  But as the half wore the Irish took command and started piling up the points.

Ireland started slowly, at least on the scoreboard and after 20 minutes all they had to show for their efforts in the face of some dogged Romanian defence was three penalties for a 9-0 lead.

But then the Irish cranked up the pace and they soon found a gap in midfield, where Kevin Maggs wrecked havoc and set Shane Horgan up for the first try.  Humphreys converted for a 16-0 lead.

Ten minutes later the Irish scored one of the most delightful tries of the year, with hooker Keith Wood running onto the ball at full pace at a ruck, taking a pass from scrum-half Peter Stringer like a back,and bursting through and over the line without a hand being laid on him.

A Humphreys penalty completed the scoring in the first-half.

Five minutes after the break Romania were awarded a penalty try when Humphreys shoved an opponent in the ingoal area.  Ionut Tofan added the conversion and a penalty three minutes later to make it 26-10.

Two tries by Denis Hickie, both in which fullback Girvan Dempsey played a key role, and one by Victor Costello saw the Irish race out to 45-10 lead.  This also brought up an Irish record of 43 tries for Hickie.

Late in the game Valentin Maftei scored a consolation try, just reward for the brave Romanians, to make the final score 45-17.

Man of the match:  In the early stages of the game Romanian loosehead prop Petru Balan was very influential, especially in the scrums.  But in the final analysis fullback Girvan Dempsey's creative ability is what set up several opportunities for the Irish and ensured the hard-earned ball by the forwards did not go to waste.  Dempsey gets our vote.

Moment of the match:  No doubt hooker and Irish captain Keith Wood's try in the 32nd minute, when he received the ball at pace and raced past a ruck -- catching the defence napping -- in one of the best forward tries you will see.

Villain of the match:  Romanian fly-half Ionut Tofan wasted a lot of ball, not that the Romanians saw too much of it anyway.  Maybe it is harsh on the young and inexperienced fly-half, but this is the reality of Test rugby and the RWC.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Reggie Corrigan, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 Marcus Horan, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Victor Costello, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 David Humphreys, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Brian O'Driscoll, 13 Kevin Maggs, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Shane Byrne, Guy Easterby, John Hayes, John Kelly, Donncha O'Callaghan, Ronan O'Gara, Alan Quinlan

Romania:  1 Petru Balan, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Marcel Socaciu, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Augustin Petrechei, 6 George Chiriac, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 8 Cristian Petre, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Cristian Sauan, 15 Dan Dumbrava
Reserves:  Iulian Andrei, Marius Nicolae, Cezar Popescu, Ioan Teodorescu, Petrisor Toderasc, Marian Tudori, Mihai Vioreanu

Attendance:  19193
Referee:  Kaplan j.

Points Scorers

Ireland
Tries:  Horgan S.P. 1, Hickie D.A. 2, Wood K.G.M. 1, Costello V.C.P. 1
Conv:  Humphreys D.G. 3, O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 4

Romania
Tries:  Maftei V.D. 1, Penalty Try 1
Conv:  Tofan I.R. 1, Andrei I. 1
Pen K.:  Tofan I.R. 1

South Africa 72 Uruguay 6

The Springboks, sparked by a two-try blitz from captain Joost van der Westhuizen inside the first five minutes, scored 12 tries, some thoroughly entertaining, as they overpowered minnows Uruguay by 72-6 at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on Day Two of the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Van der Westhuizen, who stood in as captain for the injured Corné Krige, completed his hat-trick in the second half.

In a game, which in fairness had many positives, the biggest headache for Bok coach Rudolf Straeuli would have been the team's woeful goal-kicking, especially with England up next, where they will not have as many scoring opportunities as they did against Los Teros on Saturday.

And we all know that in Johnny Wilkinson England have a world class goal-kicker, which means that the 50 percent strike rate of fly-halves Louis Koen (five out of nine) and Derick Hougaard (one out of three) will not be acceptable.

A fifty percent success-rate at this level of the game is shocking!

But let's focus on the positives first.

Under the astute guidance of Van der Westhuizen, the Boks flexed their muscles from the opening kick-off, smashing the Uruguayans out of the way to score inside the first minute when the captain strolled over.

The official clock had not yet reached five minutes when Van der Westhuizen scored his second try, as the Boks enjoyed a monopoly of possession and territory.

The Boks continued to dominate both these facets of play as the Uruguayans hardly saw the ball.  In the first 15 minutes the Boks had 77 percent possession and spent 80 percent of the time in the South American's half.

The third try came in the 19th minute when impressive flanker Joe van Niekerk burst over, with the bonus point secured in the 29th minute when lock Bakkies Botha added his name to the scoresheet.

Koen kicked just two of his four conversions in this period.

Los Teros had six points (two penalties) as reward for some very brave defence, but with the game long over as a contest, it was simply a case of how long South Africa keep kept their structure.

Another two tries and a Koen conversion saw the Boks lead 36-6 at the break.

The avalanche of tries continued after the break, and included Van der Westhuizen's third -- which pushed his try-scoring record for South Africa to 38.

But the Boks steadily lost their concentration, as they started to tire, and mistakes started to creep into their game.

On the whole they can be happy that they beat a bunch of amateur minnows convincingly, but there were still far too many handling errors and lapses in concentration which will cost them dearly against a team like England.

The Bok defence stood firm and the fact that they didn't concede a try certainly counts in their favour.

As for Uruguay, they simply never saw enough of the ball to have been a threat -- with the Boks enjoying an advantage of 58 percent in the possession stakes at the end of the game.

Los Teros certainly did not lack bravery, but they were also no match for the faster, bigger, stronger Boks.

Man of the match:  Three tries and a good all-round game; stand-in captain Joost van der Westhuizen had one of those days players dream about.  Not his greatest ever match in the Green and Gold, but Van der Westhuizen still did enough to earn our award.

Moment of the match:  In the 35th minute the Boks ran the ball out from their own 22 and De Wet Barry put Jaque Fourie into space, with Fourie sprinting 70 metres downfield to score a brilliant try as he weaved his way past defenders.

Villain(s) of the match:  This goes to the two goal-kickers, Louis Koen and Derick Hougaard, who managed a poor 50 percent strike rate -- with Koen even resorting to drop-goals to convert tries

The Teams:

South Africa:  1 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 3 Lawrence Sephaka, 4 Victor Matfield, 5 Bakkies Botha, 6 Danie Rossouw, 7 Joe Van Niekerk, 8 Juan Smith, 9 Joost Van Der Westhuizen, 10 Louis Koen, 11 Ashwin Willemse, 12 Jaque Fourie, 13 De Wet Barry, 14 Thinus Delport, 15 Werner Greeff
Reserves:  Derick Hougaard, Neil De Kock, Faan Rautenbach, Hendro Scholtz, John Smit, Selborne Boome, Ricardo Loubscher

Uruguay:  1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Diego Lamelas, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Alzueta, 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 6 Nicolas Brignoni, 7 Marcelo Gutierrez, 8 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 9 Emiliano Caffera, 10 Sebastian Aguirre, 11 Alfonso Cardoso, 12 Diego Aguirre, 13 Martin Mendaro, 14 Emiliano Ibarra, 15 Joaquin Pastore
Reserves:  Bernardo Amarillo, Eduardo Berruti, Nicolas Grille, Juan Menchaca, Guillermo Storace, Juan Andres Perez, Hernan Ponte

Attendance:  16962
Referee:  O'brien p.

Points Scorers:

South Africa
Tries:  Greeff W.W. 1, Fourie J. 1, Delport G.M. 1, Van Der Westhuizen J. 3, Bands R.E. 1, Botha J.P. 2, Van Niekerk J.C. 1, Rossouw D. 1, Scholtz H. 1
Conv:  Koen L.J. 5, Hougaard D.J. 1

Uruguay
Pen K.:  Aguirre D. 2