New Zealand retain Bledisloe Cup

Narrow win in Brisbane seals trophy

New Zealand sealed the Bledisloe Cup and laid one hand on the 2006 Tri-Nations trophy with a narrow 13-9 win over Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

Joe Rokocoko's try in the first half was the difference between the two teams, and although Australia had the better of the possession and territory they could not find the key to unlock some magnificent All Black defence.

The one-try thriller was a thoroughly absorbing contest between two skilled and determined sides.  In the end there was a try's worth of difference.  The hour and a half simply flew away.

New Zealand had much the better of the scrums, shoving ahead on their own ball and making a mess of a few Wallaby scrums.  The Wallabies had much the better of the line-outs, taking six throws off the All Blacks who also threw in skew once.  The line-outs were more important in terms of getting possession as there were 37 of them, but the damage to the scrums -- there were only 17 of them -- did more damage to morale.  The penalty count was 7-6 to Australia in the first half and 10-9 over all, but where the All Blacks probably profited most was at the vital post-tackle turn-overs.

There were differences in playing styles.  The Wallabies went on one-man charges and used the boot a lot while the All Blacks looked for chances to pass and run, even from within their own territory.

Both sides tackled with deadly efficiency and it was a late tackle which saved the game for the All Blacks.  Going right, Stirling Mortlock produced the most incisive break of the match.  Mark Gerrard was free on the outside and raced for the line.  He started to come back inside as Richie McCaw charged across in desperation.  It was similar to the earlier Rokocoko-on-Latham situation in Bledisloe one, but McCaw got his man and then he got to his feet and got the vital ball.  It was a moment of brilliance by one of the world's greatest forwards.

After all the polemic about the throat-cutting haka, the All Blacks did not do it.  They went back to a "Ka Mate" with grimaces.  Then came Waltzing Matilda during which the Wallabies did their own dance -- playing defence against tackle-shields while the All Blacks stood and watched in deflated amazement.  One-upmanship became two-upmanship!

The first half flew by.  The Wallabies had more possession and bashed and kicked but it was against an adamantine defence which allowed them not a chink of a gap.  The Wallabies did not look like scoring a try, not even when they marched a post-line-out maul some 18 metres to about five metres from the new Zealand line by which time George Smith, the ball-carrier, had got ahead and the All Blacks, with Chris Jack powerful, won a turn-over.

The All Blacks had two chances to score tries, and they took the first one brilliantly.

They were going left in close formation.  Right against the touch-line, Joe Rokocoko got a tiny pass from Jerry Collins which he had to pull back from behind and then he accelerated.  He went past Rocky Elsom on the outside, away from Matt Giteau and then inside Chris Latham for a magnificent try.

On the other occasion the All Blacks went left with lots of flicked passes -- Carter inside to Gear, Gear back to Carter, Carter to Mauger, Mauger inside to Kelleher, Kelleher to Mils Muliaina and suddenly the All Black had space but the intense Wallaby defence scampered across and put Leon MacDonald down.

The Wallabies started the scoring when Keven Mealamu suffered a dubious penalty for coming in the side of a maul when he gave every impression of coming in from behind.  Mortlock goaled that after 8 minutes.

Straightaway the All Blacks struck with Rokocoko's try which Carter, from the left corner on his left foot, bisected the uprights with the conversion.  That made it 7-3 after ten minutes.

When Latham kicked the ball out for a line-out five metres from the All Black line, McCaw jumped at number two and won the ball.  Kelleher cleared.

When MacDonald broke and set Carter running away from Mortlock from within the New Zealand 22 a try was possible.

When Rocky Elsom was penalised for illegally using his hands at a tackle, Carter made it 10-3.  This was followed by a period of frantic Wallaby attack.  There was no doubting their intent, but the attacking was one-at-a-time and the resilient All Blacks resisted.

Just before half-time Mealamu was penalised for diving in and Mortlock made the score at the break 10-6.

The New Zealanders stared the second half destroying two Wallaby scrums.  The Wallabies had the first real chance to score but McCaw thwarted that with that magical turnover.  Soon afterwards they had a second chance on the other wing when they countered and gave Lote Tuqiri a chance to run but this time it was Ali Williams who was there to tackle and win the vital turn-over.

The All Blacks had an attacking moment and a drop goal by Carter made it 13-6 to the All Blacks.

Soon afterwards Williams was penalised at a tackle/ruck and Mortlock made it 13-9.

That was the final score but it tells little of the massive, valiant efforts of both sides.

Just before the end the Wallabies won a rare turn-over at a tackle but Latham kicked it into the All Blacks' in-goal where Carter was on hand to ground the ball.

When the siren went the Wallabies had the ball and they went through phase after phase, but slightly in their own half and without getting beyond the gain-line until the game died on an unplayable tackle.

Man of the Match:  There were lots of heroes out there, especially Stirling Mortlock and George Smith for Australia and our Man of the Match -- leader and saviour, Richie McCaw.

Moment of the Match:  It's a toss up between Joe Rokocoko's try and Richie McCaw's try-saving action.  Let's give it to the try.

Villain of the Match:  There were tiny emotional moments but Jerry Collins may well have attracted the citing commissioner's interest as he tugged, and kept tugging at, George Smith's long locks.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Pens:  Mortlock 3

For New Zealand:
Try:  Rokocoko
Con:  Carter
Pen:  Carter
Drop goal:  Carter

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock (vice-captain), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Scott Fava, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dan Vickerman (vice-captain), 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Jeremy Paul, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Tai McIsaac, 17 Guy Shepherdson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Wycliff Palu, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Mat Rogers, 22 Clyde Rathbone.

New Zealand:  15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Mils Muliaina, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Joël Jutge (France), Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Television match official:  Willie Roos (South Africa)
Assessor:  Dick Byres (Australia)

Uruguay in big win over Chile

RWC qualifier in Montevideo

In a Rugby World Cup qualifier Uruguay beat Chile 43-15 at Club Nacional in Montevideo on Saturday.

The victory sends Uruguay into répechage against a North American side, the loser of the match between Canda and the USA.

Both the teams had lost to the Pumas of Argentina who go directly to France in 2007.

Uruguay dominated the first half and led 25-3 at the break after two tries by Nicolás Grille and one each by Juan Pérez and Juan Miguel Álvarez.  Nicolás Grille scored his first try after 8 minutes and Uruguay, who were at the final World Cup tournaments in 1999 and 2003, were never behind on the scoreboard.

In the second half the brave Chileans fought back and got two tires, one by Rodrigo Coda, another by Sebastián Berti.  Coda was unfortunate not to be awarded another try after a great 80-metre run.

Scorers:

For Uruguay:
Tries:  Nicolás Grille, Juan Pérez, Juan Miguel Álvarez, Juan Menchaca, Ignacio Conti
Cons:  Juan Menchaca 3
Pens:  Juan Menchaca 4

For Chile:
Tries:  Rodrigo Coda, Sebastián Berti
Con:  Sebastián Berti
Pen:  Sebastián Berti

Teams:

Uruguay:  15 Juan Menchaca, 14 Francisco De Posadas, 13 Joaquín Pastore, 12 Diego Aguirre, 11 Juan Labat, 10 Matías Arocena, 9 Juan Campomar, 8 Rodrigo Capó (captain), 7 Nicolás Grille, 6 Hernán Ponte, 5 Juan Alzuet, 4 Juan Miguel Álvarez, 3 Guillermo Storace, 2 Juan Andrés Pérez, 1 Diego Lamelas
Replacements:  Rodrigo Sánchez, Nicolás Klappenbach, Mario Sagario, Ignacio Conti, Rafael Álvarez, Sebastián Aguirre, Gustavo Voituret
Coaches:  Nicolás Inciarte, Fernando Silva

Chile:  15 Francisco Cruz, 14 Cristóbal Berti, 13 Felipe Graell, 12 Cristián Onetto, 11 Rodrigo Coda, 10 Sebastián Berti, 9 Nicolás Arancibia, 8 Alejandro Tocigl, 7 Cristóbal Westenenk, 6 Edmundo Olfos, 5 Sebastián García (captain), 4 Patricio Desmond, 3 Sebastián Gajardo, 2 Jorge Pollack, 1 Nicolás Venegas
Replacements:  Sergio De La Fuente, Luis Pavez, Alejandro Moreno, Paul Marsalli, Lucas Seccattore, Tomás Olave, Cristián González
Coaches:  Jorge Navesi, Cristián Jory

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Daniel Jabase, Federico Cuesta (both Argentina)
Assessor:  Carlos Molinari (Argentina)

Boks get the boot in Wellington

Carter sees off South Africa

New Zealand recorded a gritty 35-17 victory over South Africa at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday -- but the all-conquering All Blacks struggled to rein in the sprightly visitors.

The Springboks exorcised some of the memories of last week's defeat in Australia with a commendable performance that shook the resolve of their hosts and denied the Tri-Nations leaders of an all-important bonus point.

South Africa opened the scoring with a try from Fourie du Preez in the first minute of play, but they were unable to capitalise on the early lead.

New Zealand rallied from the set-back and began to chip away at South Africa's lead with the dead eyes and steady nerve of Daniel Carter doing the damage.

But what a difference a week makes!  And what a difference a boot makes!

The Springboks were barely recognisable from the half-hearted team that was thrashed by the Wallabies, probably causing a national sigh of relief in South Africa, but still the scoreboard tells of a heavy defeat.  It was the boot that did it.  Not entirely, of course, but as a telling factor.

Carter kicked seven penalties out of seven.  Percy Montgomery missed his first three, all of them eminently kickable.  Two of those misses were in the first half at a time when they could have given the Springboks back the lead.

In addition, Leon MacDonald and Carter were better at kicking out of hand than Montgomery and Butch James.

The Springbok back-three also looked wobbly, and produced the bizarre moment of the match when the All Blacks kicked off and nearly scored as veteran Montgomery had a senior moment and Bryan Habana was casual, as he was throughout another poor performance from a player who was once the best one-man strike force in the rugby world.

The boot was the main protagonist of this tussle in Wellington -- two kicks, one late in each half, were turned into tries.  But the genius of Carter made a major contribution, as did Springbok sluggishness reminiscent of Brisbane last week.

Those were the obviously telling factors in a New Zealand win and a South African defeat.

South Africa were better at the line-outs, New Zealand at the scrums.  New Zealand got mauls going better but the Springboks had a great one which almost led to a try.

Both teams countered mauls from five metres from their line efficiently.  Both teams tackled in deadly fashion.  In post-tackle play the New Zealand tactic of getting close to but beyond the tackler kept the Springboks away from the tackle and rendered that area relatively uncompetitive.  It is a tactic of dubious legality.

The penalty count was high -- 15-11 against the Springboks but it was the first-half count that really sunk them -- 7-4 against, four of them goaled.

All of that said, it was a stern encounter, worthy of the great rugby history between the world's sternest rugby nations.

The Springboks were 80 minutes on the field against Australia and did not score a point.  They played for 17 seconds against New Zealand and scored seven points.  What a difference a week makes!

The Springboks kicked off deep.  They put immediate pressure on the All Blacks who got the ball back to Carter who had Du Preez and Matfield charging at him.  Du Preez charged down the kick.  It bounced high in in-goal where Du Preez waited for the ball to come down, caught it with a fumble and fell on it.  Montgomery converted.

There was a lot of kicking during the ensuing part of the game, the All Blacks banging it downfield, the Springboks banging it into touch.  The result was that the first scrum came after 14 minutes.  There were just six in the first half.  But by then the Carter litany was being chanted.

When Matfield went off-side, Carter made it 7-3.

When Du Preez handled the ball in a tackle/ruck, Carter made it 7-6.

When CJ van der Linde was penalised for unbinding at a Springbok scrum, as he had been against the Wallabies, Carter made it 9-7 to New Zealand after 24 minutes.

When Van der Linde was penalised for diving at a tackle/ruck Carter made it 12-7.

That seemed to be what the score at half-time would be.  But two important events were yet to unfold.

First the Springboks attacked and got the ball back from a tackle/ruck near New Zealand's posts but Habana, light, delicate wing, tried to bash past the New Zealand defenders when his backs were standing with width and longing.  Back the Springboks went to a penalty which they made into a five-metre line-out.  The All Blacks got stuck into their attempt at a maul and Chris Jack won a turn-over which enabled them to clear.

At the next line-out Matfield threw a horrible pass over the head of Wynand Olivier and suddenly the All Blacks were attacking.  Du Preez was back to gather a kick-ahead.  Kick it out and it was half-time.  Instead he kicked low and long to Carter -- a massive mistake.  Carter raced and stepped.  Mils Muliaina's raced and passed.  Things looked wobbly but Piri Weepu was on hand to snatch the ball up and force his way over.  Ineluctably Carter converted and the half-time sounded with the All Blacks winning 19-7.

Early in the second half John Smit was silly at a tackle and Carter made the score 22-7.

The All Blacks were close to scoring soon afterwards when they won a turn-over after a line-out and went speeding wide on the left, the try nullified by a forward pass.

Carter then made it 25-7 from a tackle/ruck penalty, but with 18 minutes to go the Springboks got their second try.

Doug Howlett, under no pressure, knocked on near his 22.  The All Blacks put huge pressure on the Springbok scrum but Jacques Cronjé got the pass to Du Preez in the fly-half birth.  He kicked a long diagonal towards the right wing -- a perfect kick.  Breyton Paulse, playing his 60th Test, caught the ball, scooted past MacDonald and scored.  Montgomery converted.

Montgomery missed his third penalty but when Carl Hayman was penalised at a much-collapsed scrum, Montgomery made it 25-17.  It was still a contest with nine minutes to play.

It was from that moment that Montgomery and Habana combined to give the All Blacks a chance at a try.  The matter was referred to the television match official who detected a tiny knock-on off Ali Williams's wrist which resulted in a scrum to South Africa.

New Zealand tried a cross kick for big Scott Hamilton but Montgomery and Paulse combined to avert the danger.  But when Montgomery was penalised for throwing the ball away after being forced into touch, Carter made it 28-17 with seven minutes left.

Then James returned a long, probing kick via the boot, and the ball found Carter on the touch-line.  The maestro ran, chipped, gathered and gave to McCaw who scored.  That sounds so easy -- and it was, even though it took over 50 metres to do it.  Game, set and match.

The Springboks have reasons to be cheerful, they were better but still not good enough.  The first edition of the extended Tri-Nations is not yet into its adolescence and its already beginning to look like a two-horse race.

Man of the match:  No question -- Daniel Carter.  Forget all others and forget his initial error, he was the major difference.  He kicked 25 points and made the other ten for New Zealand.  He tackled, kicked out of hand judiciously and was his side's general.

Moment of the Match:  There was Daniel Carter's chip that led to Richie McCaw's try, there was Percy Montgomery's senior moment and there was Du Preez's hold-your-breath kick that produced Breyton Paulse's try, but the moment of the match was really that charge-down and try by Fourie du Preez that announced to the world that this was going to be a Test match.

Villain of the Match:  There were moments of mild emotion but nothing that was obvious villainy.

The scorers:
For New Zealand:
Tries:  Weepu, McCaw
Con:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 7

For South Africa:
Tries:  Du Preez, Paulse
Cons:  Montgomery 2
Pen:  Montgomery

The teams:
New Zealand:  15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Mils Muliaina, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Scott Hamilton, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Reuben Thorne, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Neemia Tialata.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 Greg Rawlinson, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Isaia Toeava.

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Solly Tyibilika, 4 Victor Matfield, 4 Albert van den Bergh, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Eddie Andrews, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Joe van Niekerk, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 JP Pietersen.

Referee:  Joël Jutge (France)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Television match official:  George Ayoub (Australia)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Wallabies smash Boks with record score

South Africa's second biggest lost ever

Australia recorded the biggest ever win over South Africa at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday, notching up an emphatic 49-0 victory over the thoroughly outclassed visitors.  The result also saw the Wallabies overtake the Springboks in third place on the IRB World Rankings.

Even worse, the six tries to nil hammering is the largest defeat by any team in more than 10 years of Tri-Nations history.

And it is second biggest defeat ever suffered by the Boks in more than 100 years of rugby -- only one point less than the 50-point (53-3) hammering they suffered against England at Twickenham in 2002.

This game was billed as bulk versus beauty, South Africa's piano-shifters versus Australia's piano-players.  It wasn't quite like that.  The Wallabies not only tinkled the ivories, they looked capable of ripping the raw material right off an elephant's face.

The local forwards, clearly stung by the negative press that followed last week's loss in New Zealand, chose to attack the green pack from the off.

The tactic visibly unsettled the Boks who were unable to get a foothold on the damp Suncorp Stadium turf -- conditions that all but the Wallaby forwards believed would favour the big men from South Africa.

How wrong we were!

The Wallabies -- all 15 of them -- came out of the traps more in the manner of Tigger than Roo, bouncing around the pitch with gusto, determined not to allow the rain to ruin their parade.

The visitors, meanwhile, stayed true to their sobriquet, stalking the grass with unease as if acutely aware that any one of their number was just moments away from being chewed up and spat out.

They weren't far wrong.  The Wallabies showed all the instincts of the big cats of the highveld and feasted on poor South African kicking, weak defence, naive debutants and shoddy tactics.

They also showed a particular appetite for the lumpy texture of South Africa fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen who would have perhaps preferred to spend the day in the depths of the Kruger National Park, tethered to a tree by a strings of sausages.

Australia's final try-tally tells the tale of tape -- three tries to the pack, three to the forward -- total rugby at it's best.

But the floodgates were kicked open by Stephen Larkham who landed a soaring drop-goal from about 30 yards out, taking advantage of the flat-footed Bok backline who were ready to defend against the various running moves that they had read about in the papers.

South Africans were wholly unable to play their rehearsed percentage/territory game as attempted touch-finder after attempted touch-finder failed to cross the line, allowing the Australia's audacious backline plenty of ammunition.

With the soggy conditions drowning a number of early attacks, the Wallabies chose to look to touch themselves and a beautifully worked rolling-maul off a line-out in the corner saw Jeremy Paul flop over the line for the first.  Mortlock added the extras.

It was a poignant moment for Australian rugby -- Paul's score not only allowed the gold pack to being to believe in themselves but paid handsome tribute to the memory of another illustrious Wallaby hooker, Paul Mooney, who passed away last month.  A minute's silence had marked the death of the doyen of Queensland rugby just prior to kick-off.

The Wallabies' opening try deflated the Boks.  Van der Westhuyzen fluffed a clearance before Percy Montgomery spilt an easy "mark", and Mortlock was soon lining up the sticks, slotting a penalty-kick to open up a 13-0 lead after just 20 minutes.

Then came the moment of the game, and perhaps sport's earliest coup de grâce.

A well-taken gold line-out on the gold 10-metre line looked pretty innocuous, but a short pass from George Gregan to Larkham screamed "open sesame" and the green jerseys parted like the Red Sea.

Larkham was off, cutting a line to the corner before turning the back-pedalling Bryan Habana inside out.  Gregan was on hand to take the pass and feed Greg Holmes who proved that his recent try against Ireland was no fluke by taking the ball over the whitewash.  Mortlock converted as the Boks attempted to understand what was transpiring.

The Wallabies had now warmed to the task and made the most of another spilt ball from Van der Westhuyzen, hacking it on into space.

South Africa debutant Akona Ndungane -- out of his depth opposite Lote Tuqiri -- got back well and gathered the loose ball, but George Smith was on hand to pick the debutant's pocket.  Gregan spread possession wide but Bok lock Victor Matfield killed the potential try by swatted the ball away.

Mortlock added three points to his side's tally as Matfield made his way to the sin-bin.

The Australians were clearly enjoying the outing by this stage and the source of their fun was Van der Westhuyzen's channel that lacked the meaty back-up of the injured Schalk Burger.

Another short pass -- this time from Gerrard -- allowed the outstanding Matt Giteau to step past the stricken fly-half and he was under the posts before the Boks could blink.  Mortlock added the conversion to leave the Boks 30-0 adrift at the break.

The third quarter of the game saw a slender improvement from the visitors -- they began to concentrated on their strengths and strung together a number of meaningful attacks on the end of a series of meaty mauls.

They also started to catapult their big forwards at the fringes with reasonable effect.

Even their appalling defence began to show some signs of spine, with replacement scrum-half Fourie du Preez managing to hold up replacement scrum-half Sam Cordingley over the line.

But, inevitably, it was the Wallabies who got the next score -- a sublime crossfield kick from Giteau found Tuqiri who popped the ball inside to Latham who in turn sauntered over the line.  Mortlock added the extras once again.

Latham then almost followed up his try by creating one, but he fumbled the ball whilst under no pressure whatsoever, and it was a measure of Australia's complete dominance that the unforced error was greeted with laughter by Latham and his mates.

Du Preez then pulled off another try-saving tackle on Nathan Sharpe, but he was soon standing under his posts once again.

Giteau pirouetted out of a tackle before hitting replacement wing Clyde Rathbone with a pass.  The SA-born flyer grubbered back inside to the creator of the move who slide over for his second try of the night.

Mortlock, for once, was unable to find the sticks with his conversion attempt -- but he was soon lining up another after Mark Chisholm punctuated another nice Rathbone raid by touching down.

Mortlock bagged the extras, and South Africa's nightmare was complete.

The sound of the All Blacks licking their lips across the "ditch" was almost audible as Paul Honiss called this remarkable game to an end -- South Africa have a date with the New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday.  May the heavens have mercy on them.

Man of the match:  Plenty of fine performances within the Wallaby rank, with the tenacity of their forwards raising a few eyebrows, and Rocky Elsom proving once again that he is a big-name in the making.  And gold medals to each member of the gold backline, with a special mention to Matt Giteau who produced a masterclass on his return from a long lay-off.  Perhaps the new Western Force signing is worth all that money ...

Moment of the match:  That try from Greg Holmes encapsulated all that was good about this Wallaby performance -- a tidy set-piece followed by cunning then magic then power.

Villain of the match:  A few hangbags were swung, but nothing too violent.  Enrico Januarie was the worst offender, his claw to Stirling Mortlock's face was unnecessary and underhand.  For a comedy moment, we'll opt for Jaco van der Westhuyzen's protestations that a fumbled attempt at a catch was actually an attempted drop-kick; he was about 10 metres outside his own 22 at the time.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Paul, Holmes, Giteau, Latham, Giteau, Chisholm
Cons:  Mortlock 5
Pens:  Mortlock 2
DG:  Larkham

For South Africa:
None

Yellow card:  Victor Matfield (South Africa, 31)

The teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock (vice-captain), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Scott Fava, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dan Vickerman (vice-captain), 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Jeremy Paul, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Sean Hardman, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Mat Rogers, 22 Clyde Rathbone.

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Joe van Niekerk, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Victor Matfield, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Eddie Andrews, 18 Albert van der Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Breyton Paulse.

Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Steve Walsh, Lyndon Bray (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Gary Wise (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Pumas qualify to take on the world

Victory in Buenos Aires takes books Argentina's spot in France

Argentina have qualified for the World Cup in France next year after beating Uruguay 26-0 in Buenos Aires.

Worcester Warriors new signing Miguel Avramovic scored the two tries while man-of-the-match Federico Todeschini, who has just joined Top 14 team Montpellier, converted both and added four penalties.

Argentina will now play in a tough-looking World Cup Pool D against France, Ireland, a third European team and the top African qualifier.

Uruguay meanwhile now face Chile on July 22 with the winner advancing to a play-off against either Canada or the United States.

The opening exchanges of the match were scrappy as both sides struggled in the slippery conditions that came as a result of a heavy thunder storm an hour before kick-off.

The rain kept cohesive attacking rugby to a minimum, and although Argentina did try to stretch a brave Uruguay side, it was down to the Pumas forwards to lay the foundations for victory.

While virtually all the first half play was contested inside Uruguay’s half, the visitors proved with some ferocious tackling that they would not be bowled over.

Martin Schusterman was held up over the line in the 31st minute by a magnificent forward effort, and it was left to Todeschini, who was impeccable with the boot in conditions that were not suited to place kicking, to steer Argentina into the lead, kicking three first half penalties to leave the home side with a 9-0 advantage at the interval.

The rain abated in the second half, but the wind in the San Isidro Stadium picked up, adding a new problem to what was already proving a difficult match – a lack of consistent kicking.

The Pumas resorted to endless forward drives, the brave Uruguayans began to tire and Argentina took a vice-like grip on the match when Uruguay captain Rodrigo Capo was sin-binned.

Avramovic scored twice in rapid succession while Todeschini kept the scoreboard ticking over with both conversions and a fourth penalty to seal what was in the end a comfortable victory.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Avramovic 2
Cons:  Todeschini 2
Pens:  Todeschini 4

Yellow cards:  Capo (Uruguay, 56, killing the ball)

Argentina:  15 Federico Serra, 14 Rafael Carballo, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Miguel Avramovic, 11 Lucas Borges, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Martín Schusterman, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Rimas Álvarez, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:  16 Pablo Gambarini, 17 Gastón De Robertis, 18 Pablo Bouza, 19 Agustín Creevy, 20 Nicolás Vergallo, 21 Juan de la Cruz Fernández Miranda, 22 Horacio Agulla.

Uruguay:  15 Juan Menchaca, 14 Francisco Bulanti, 13 Juan Manuel Llovet, 12 Diego Aguirre, 11 Juan Labat, 10 Matías Arocena, 9 Juan Campomar, 8 Rodrigo Capo (capitán), 7 Alfredo Giuria, 6 Rafael Álvarez, 5 Juan Miguel Álvarez, 4 Juan Alzueta, 3 Guillermo Storace, 2 Juan Andrés Pérez, 1 Diego Lamelas.
Replacements:  16 Federico Capo, 17 Nicolás Klappembach, 18 Rodrigo Sánchez, 19 Ignacio Conti, 20 Nicolás Grille, 21 Sebastián Aguirre, 22 y Gustavo Voituret

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)

First blood to the All Blacks at Jade

New Zealand take full points in Tri-Nations opener

It was first blood to New Zealand in the expanded Tri-Nations tournament.  The All Blacks recorded a convincing 32-12 win over Australia in the opening match at Jade Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday, gaining an all-important bonus point by outscoring the visitors by four tries to two.

For the first half hour, all the pre-tournament moans and rumbles about New Zealand peaking to early and not being settled looked like being proved right.  The All Black backs stood too flat, the forwards left each other isolated, and the hands spilled ball as though it were made of vaseline.

Australia's defenders stood in a line, tackled with solidity, and bided their time in patience, breaking out once after a quarter of an hour to score a scintillating try.  It had an aura of inevitability about it too, and a source of New Zealand riposte was not easy to locate.

Then Rocky Elsom was sin-binned, and it all changed.  Wallaby tacklers fell off their prey.  Line-outs became a lottery.  The scrum -- which had in fairness been buckling already as Carl Hayman welcomed Greg Holmes to the big time -- crumpled out of all existence under the weight of the extra man.  Keven Mealamu picked off a stray line-out to level the scores, and then dived over a maul to hand the home team the lead.

New Zealand were seven points behind when Elsom left, by the time he returned, New Zealand were seven ahead at 14-7, and as the players left the pitch, the air of a let-off trailed behind them in the light Canterbury mist.  The Wallabies were not so lucky in the second half.

The stupidity and effect of the sin-binning should not be under-estimated.  Elsom had been warned by referee Jonathan Kaplan -- who handled affairs with his usual detached authority -- just two minutes before for killing the ball.

At the very next ruck, Elsom simply collapsed on top of the ball-carrier in an untidy heap, even wriggling briefly so as to make sure the ball was not even able to peep out around the corners of his impressive frame.

Kaplan had little choice but to dish out a yellow card, and suddenly Australia had one choice less at the line-outs too.  Two minutes later, Tai McIsaac's throw evaded Dan Vickerman's clutches, and Mealamu seized the bouncing ball to score, right through the hole which Elsom had hitherto been filling more than adequately.

For the next ten minutes, New Zealand found that particular Elsom-shaped hole all over the pitch and in all phases of play, as their game finally came together.  Five minutes after the first, Mealamu popped up again, this time capitalising on a magician's sleight of hand from McCaw which took out three defenders.  All Mealamu had to do was fall over.

Mealamu's first try cancelled out the opener by Lote Tuqiri, which was the highlight of the opening half-hour.  Chris Latham took one of a few nondescript kicks from Aaron Mauger, and ran it back, chipping and regathering spectacularly as he burst through a couple of tackles like a Hollywood cop charging through a villain's front door.

Latham's timed pass took Leon MacDonald out of the game, and although Mat Rogers could not find the extra yard to get past Dan Carter, Lote Tuqiri popped up on that familiar inside shoulder angle and cantered the final five yards to the line.

The tackle stats gave a measure of how much the game turned on that Elsom sin-binning.  Shortly before it, the missed tackle stats stood at 3-3.  By half-time, Australia had missed six more as they struggled to cope with the extra man.  Later in the second half, the same stat yielded a count of 3-17.  Once Australia had been knocked by those two sucker-punches, they never recovered.

The New Zealanders took to the pitch in full flight in the second half.  Everywhere the ball went, it was followed by a hyena-like pack of black shirts, a scavenging bunch that tore the entrails out of every stray Wallaby move gone to ground.  Australia, in particular George Smith and Dan Vickerman, fought gamely, but were always a step behind in the loose.

The All Black tactic of the midfield inside pop-pass, which had floundered on the flat-standing backs in the first half, now yielded several clean breaks as the supporting runners measured their distances and angles more accurately.

From one such, Mauger tore through, past and round three defenders, and then weighted a kick towards Australia's line for Joe Rokocoko to chase.  Larkham got to the ball first, but fumbled it on the ground and ended up carrying the ball over the line between his legs.  There the ball stayed, on the goal-line and trapped under the maul.  McCaw, ever ready to do something special for his team, had the presence of mind to reach between Larkham's legs and grab the ball, and Kaplan consulted his TMO before awarding the try.

Carter's conversion made the score 24-7 -- he had converted both first-half tries and landed a penalty two minutes before this one -- and it was a killer blow.  All that remained was to wait and see if New Zealand could get their bonus point to finish the job.

They seemed oddly reluctant to do so.  Australia managed a swift reply, a brief burst of cohesion and power which got Scott Fava to the line under a pile of bodies, but Mortlock missed the conversion and Carter landed another penalty, taking the all Blacks three scores ahead at 27-12.

Yet four minutes later and with the clock ticking a little louder, McCaw told Carter to go for posts again from a penalty, and the New Zealanders looked to have eased off the gas, content to simply soak up the Australian running and wait for the chance to break.

Once, the forwards did so, with handling that belied the clumsiness most forwards show when in full flight.  In a bizarre role reversal, Mealamu, Jack and McCaw strung together passes that took them forty yards downfield, and Ali Williams tapped down Carter's crossfield kick with the deftest of touches.  Rico Gear only had to catch it to score, but dropped the sitter like it was a steaming hot pie.

Finally, the All Blacks did get their bonus point.  Carter -- who eclipsed Larkham all night and whose defence work was integral to the team performance -- charged down one of the Australian's trademark chips and then picked up the loose ball, before feeding young Isaia Toeava who would never be caught from 70m.

Carter's conversion hit the post -- he will not be too happy with his conversion tally of five from nine -- but the final scoreline of 32-12 sends its own message.  Peak too early?  They may have only just begun ...

Man of the match:  For Australia, Georges Smith and Gregan both stood out for work-rate, as did Dan Vickerman.  Chris Latham was the pick of their backs.  But the award should go to a black-shirted recipient.  Carl Hayman's performance at prop was towering, and Jason Eaton proved how much of an asset his athleticism is.  Dan Carter's tackle count was magnificent for a fly-half, but for ceaseless tackling, running, ball-carrying and leadership, Richie McCaw was the one who went the most extra yards.

Villain of the match:  In a clean game, the only moment of real villainy -- especially for Australian fans -- was Rocky Elsom's idiotic yellow card which cost his team its momentum.

Moment of the match:  Already described above in its glory, Chris Latham's first-half chip and regather in the lead-up to the opening try was the individual piece of skill that lingered longest in the mind.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Mealamu 2, McCaw, Toeava
Cons:  Carter 3
Pens:  Carter 2

For Australia:
Tries:  Tuqiri, Fava
Con:  Mortlock

Yellow card:  Rocky Elsom (Australia) -- killing the ball, 27

The teams:

New Zealand:  15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Malili Muliaina, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman (vice-captain), 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Scott Fava, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Ben Tune.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (SA)
Touch judges:  Craig Joubert, Marius Jonker (both South Africa)
Television match official:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

All Blacks hold on in wet Buenos Aires

Three tries to one for New Zealand

The All Blacks managed to hold on in the face of a strong late charge to beat Argentina 25-19 in their one-off Test at Vélez Sársfield Stadium in Buenos Aires on Saturday.  The visitors outscored the Pumas by three tries to one to maintain their unbeaten record against the South Americans.

It was a valiant attempt that saw the Pumas go unrewarded once again, but still the suspicion is maintained that this is a mature team that will do some damage at the next Rugby World Cup.

Certainly the Argentine pack proved more than a match for its opposition, and if the team can somehow unleash the potential that never fulfilled itself in this match outside the front eight, any rugby nation should have good cause to fear the worst against the South Americans.

They could not wait to get stuck into the game, breaking ranks even before their national anthem had ended.

Within the first five minutes, they had stolen two of the All Blacks' first three line-outs and had forayed twice into the New Zealand 22.  From the second stolen line-out, they got a penalty, and Federico Todeschini gave them the lead.

The New Zealand line-out was a mess for much of the opening forty minutes, even if the jumpers managed to scramble possession from it most of the time.  Argentina's jumpers contested gamely in the air, and tested the limits of referee Nigel Whitehouse's tolerance as to positioning once the ball had entered the field of play.

As a result, the All Blacks' only solid platform from which to run was from the scrums, but with both teams making few unforced handling errors, there were not many of those.

From one, some strong running forced a penalty for hands in the ruck, from which Dan Carter equalised, and two minutes later, the All Blacks unleashed the backs from a stolen line-out of their own.

Sam Tuitupou managed to get a half-yard of forward momentum outside Gonzalo Tiesi, and then Isaia Toeava, Scott Hamilton and Rico Gear all combined with the latter halted only a couple of yards short.  Leon MacDonald picked the ball up at the back of the ruck and dived over on the short side for the try.

The try rounded off a messy opening ten minutes which saw both teams make no secret of how they might want to play the game.  Argentina's forwards mauled from line-outs and Todeschini released a couple of bombs onto the New Zealand back three, with chasers creating pressure in the greasy conditions.

Meanwhile, Carter kicked away from touch and for territory, and the All Blacks did the simple things and bided their time in patience.  It paid off with MacDonald's try, but with Argentina making few errors and squeezing out a steady stream of penalties, it was a moot point whether it would be enough.

The second quarter of the match saw Argentina well into the ascendancy, and it kicked off with a superb try by Martin Durand.  After another New Zealand line-out had been pinched -- by Ledesma standing in a curious position on the New Zealand side of the tap-down -- Agustín Pichot sneaked away down the short side, popped to Jose Maria Nuñez Piossek, who left Durand with a 20-yard dash for the line to the rapture of the fans.

Todeschini, who had landed his second penalty shortly before, stroked over a graceful conversion to make it 13-8, and then made it 16-8 when Jerry Collins was caught collapsing a maul.

The penalty count was well against the All Blacks, particularly in the first half, and although there was a measure of pressure from the Puma pack and chasers, quite a few of the decisions drew bemused looks from the New Zealanders.

Todeschini missed two more shots at goal later in the half which could have seen the All Blacks under more pressure than they eventually were, and Dan Carter bailed them out with a superb solo try just before the break.

A rare error from an Argentine hand -- Tiesi dropping the ball from Pichot's pass -- led to a 5m scrum for the visitors, and Carter took the ball, shimmied and sped through a glaring gap between 10/12 to go under the posts, making the half-time score 16-15.

New Zealand upped the tempo at the start of the second half, but Carter could not capitalise initially, missing two penalty kicks.

Penalties were a feature of the half, as a combination of zealous refereeing and the increasingly messy pitch and weather made fluidity tricky and infringements more common.

But from Carter's second miss, the 22 drop out was turned into a try.  The recycled ball moved left, and Jason Eaton translated his line-breaking skills from the Super 14 onto the higher stage, making 25m before releasing the excellent Chris Masoe.  Masoe was well-tackled by the back-pedalling Piossek, but the ball popped up and struck Piossek's foot, wrong-footing the defence and allowing Scott Hamilton to pounce on the loose ball for the score.  Carter made no mistake with the conversion, putting the All Blacks 16-22 in the lead.

Penalties dominated from then on, more of them to the Pumas, but Todeschini's boot was not firing properly, and he missed two more attempts.  One he did score was swiftly cancelled out by one from Carter to make it 19-25, but the Pumas stayed in touch, and the final ten minutes produced an energetic finale.

Piossek and MacDonald were sent to the bin, Piossek for slowing the ball down and MacDonald for killing the ball, two offences that were picked up an awful lot by referee Whitehouse.

In between, Todeschini kept the Pumas alive by intercepting a scoring pass, after a superb move involving Carter, Masoe, Tuitupou and Hamilton, with the latter denied a second try on his debut by Todeschini's timeous hands.

But with the Puma pack lasting the pace and proving significantly more wily about keeping possession than New Zealand might have expected, the pressure for a match-winning score built, and the crowd roared with anticipation.

Two penalties in the final three minutes took the Pumas to within five metres of the All Black line.  Phase after phase of mauled ball inched them closer, then one expansive back movement brought play over to the other side of the pitch, but it was Masoe who snatched the ball from the ruck's murky depths, and allowed Weepu to kick the ball away to safety.

Man of the match:  Several candidates on the Argentina side, including Rodrigo Roncero's domination of Greg Somerville, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe's energy and Agustín Pichot's coolness at scrum-half.  For the All Blacks, Dan Carter and Rico Gear were their usual effervescent selves, Jason Eaton was a giant in the loose, and Scott Hamilton ran his socks off and deserved his try.  But for a combination of all of the attributes mentioned among those three, Chris Masoe can look back on his performance with pride.

Moment of the match:  The build-up of noise to Argentina's final movement of the match took fanatical support to another level, and just steals the thunder from Carter's try.

Villain of the match:  A joint award to Jason Eaton and Rimas Alvarez Kairelis for the ongoing handbags.  Once is a misunderstanding.  Twice is cynical.  And so on and downwards ...

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Try:  Durand
Con:  Todeschini
Pens:  Todeschini 4

For New Zealand:
Tries:  MacDonald, Carter, Hamilton
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 2

Yellow card(s):  José María Núñez Piossek (Argentina) -- slowing the ball, 67; Leon MacDonald (New Zealand) -- killing the ball, 70.

The teams:

Argentina:  15 Juan Martin Hernández, 14 José María Núñez Piossek, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Federico Martín Aramburu, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 3 Omar Hasan, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Pablo Gambarini, 17 Martín Scelzo, 18 Martín Schusterman, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 20 Nicolas Fernández Miranda, 21 Lucas Borges, 22 Federico Serra.

New Zealand:  15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Scott Hamilton, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Chris Masoe, 6 Jerry Collins (captain), 5 Ali Williams, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Troy Flavell, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Ma'a Nonu.

Referee:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Touch judges:  Dave Pearson (England), Eric Darrière (France)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Assessor:  Frans Muller (South Africa)

France send Boks packing at Newlands

Jake White's men have no answer to French flair

The Springboks and Jake White's unbeaten run at home has come to an end.  France sent the Boks packing by recording an impressive 36-26 victory in Saturday's one-off Test at Newlands in Cape Town -- a margin that belies the superiority of the visitors.

Not only was it South Africa's first defeat at home in more than two years (after 13 matches unbeaten on SA soil), but it was also the first Northern Hemisphere win over a southern rival this year.

And to rub salt into the festering South African wounds, the French will now also overtake South Africa in the official IRB world rankings, going second to New Zealand -- a fair reflect based on what transpired at Newlands.

It was a simple case of the flat-footed Springboks having no answer to the French flair.  Four tries to one says it all.  It was a win that was worth a lot more than just ten points.

The South Africans have relied on defence and penalties to win games for too long.  Now it has come back to haunt them, as they looked very ordinary -- in fact, simply second rate.

Maybe this is the wake-up call for White and his Boks.  The rest of the world are scoring tries and entertaining.  Six tries in four tests this year means they are way off the pace.

But first let's talk about the French -- they were absolutely sublime.

Not only did they match the much-vaunted Bok pack, they actually toyed with them.

At scrum time the South Africans looked like a ten-ton truck in retreat on a downhill.  There has always been questions about Eddie Andrews's scrummaging ability.  On Saturday he was exposed in the most cruel fashion.  Sylvain Marconnet was the master who taught the pupil a lesson, one that will remain etched in the minds of the more than 40,000 Newlands spectators and millions of television viewers' for a long time.

Andrews is simply not an international prop.  It improved somewhat when CJ van der Linde came on in his place in the second half, but by then the damage was done.

White's selections were questioned before the game.  He defended his decision not to name a specialist fetcher among the loose forwards.  He said you must have "15 fetchers".  He had none on Saturday.

Rémy Martin, who came on as a replacement for the injured Thierry Dusautoir in the 14th minute of the match, had a field day.  The Boks turned over more of their own ball in this game than they did all of last year.

Again, they were exposed in an area where White defended his selection.  White was wrong.  The critics were right, as painful as it might seem.

But the most crucial aspect of the game was the decision making of the Springboks.  Their halfbacks -- Fourie du Preez (at No.9) and Jaco van der Westhuyzen (No.10) appeared clueless.

The French had two masters in Damien Traille and Dimitri Yachvili.  There were those who questioned the selection of Traille at fly-half, who said the French have problems and not enough depth in this department.  Traille controlled the game like a veteran -- cool, calm and always in command.

And then there is the Boks' much-vaunted defence!

De Wet Barry was brought in from the cold because of his experience and fearless defence.  From the moment he knocked the ball with his first touch until the second Vincent Clerc try in the 73rd minute, the Stormers centre had a nightmare.  The ease with which Florian Fritz brushed him aside said it all.

Either Barry is past his prime or he is carrying an injury.  He looked out of his depth.

For the French it was a day to remember.  Their first ever win at Newlands and prop Pieter de Villiers was tearful afterwards, because he had played his junior rugby at this ground.  Then he headed to France, because he was not rated by the powers that be in South Africa, and became an international star.  He probably played his one and only test at Newlands, but it was memorable.  After Marconnet had taken care of Andrews, De Villiers took to Bok veteran Os du Randt and finished the destruction of the South African scrum.

The early play belonged to the visitors.  First the Boks turned over the ball from the kick-off and then they failed to clear the ball from their 22.

Soon the French were on attack and looking dangerous.  Then came a typical moment of French brilliance.

They looked like going nowhere, when Vincent Clerc changed direction and then launched a cross-kick.  The bounce was awkward, missed by Brent Russell and then collected by Cédric Heymans, who sprinted over for the first try of the match.  The conversion was wide, but the French had signalled their intentions.

Not only were they at Newlands to play, they were also going the stretch the Bok defences to the limit.

The rest of the half's scoring consisted of five penalties (four of those to the Boks) and a Florian Fritz drop-goal.  The four Percy Montgomery penalties gave the Boks a 12-11 lead at the break -- a somewhat fortuitous advantage.

Most of the creativity of the half came from the French, with the Boks content to kick the ball back to the French.

The Boks also had some puzzling decisions by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson to thank for their lead.  The French were often shaking their heads in disbelief and often would have been justified in asking exactly what they had done wrong.  Admittedly some calls were justified, but there were far too many questionable calls, and with Dickinson seemingly intent on neutralising both the scrum and the ruck, the French were denied their rightful advantage.

The Boks came back after the break and enjoyed ten minutes of total dominance.

They controlled the ball, took it through phases and it looked as if their forwards would be in command for the rest of the game.

They soon won a couple of penalties, which Montgomery slotted, and then came a rare moment of creative brilliance by the Boks.

From a line-out the Boks drove hard, Pedrie Wannenburg broke on the blind and found space, he offloaded to Fourie du Preez, who drew the cover and then gave to Brent Russell, who shrug of a couple of desperate tackles to score the Boks' only try.

The conversion was wide, but the Boks looked good at 23-11.

But that only served to wake the French from their half-time slumber.

Within a minute Vincent Clerc scored his first try, coming from a great chip by Traille.  Yachvili converted and at 23-18 it was game on!

The French were soon on attack again.  A great break by Yachvili put Traille in space and the fly-half was over for the third French try.  Yachvili converted for a 25-23 lead.

Traille then slotted a second drop-goal, followed by another Montgomery penalty -- 28-26.

Then came the clincher.

Fritz bust through in the midfield, where he left Barry for dead, and a slick offload to Clerc gave the French their fourth try.

A late Yachvili penalty sealed the win.

Man of the match:  Few Springboks put up their hands on the day.  Pedrie Wannenburg had his moments, Percy Montgomery's goal-kicking was solid and Os du Randt put in some really big hits.  But the real heroes were the French.  Damien Traille controlled the match and dictated the terms.  Cédric Heymans was great on the left wing, appearing all over the park, and Vincent Clerc scored two tries on the right.  But our man of the match award goes to replacement flanker Rémy Martin.  He snaffled Bok ball all night and was a rock on defence.

Moment of the match:  It has to be the clinching try, Vincent Clerc's second try in the 73rd minute -- when Florian Fritz showed De Wet Barry up and offloaded to Clerc for the score.

Villain of the match:  Nothing much, except for one moment of idiocy by Springbok fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen, striking Serge Betsen from behind.  He was penalised, but was lucky to have stayed on the field -- it should have been a red or yellow card.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Russell
Pens:  Montgomery 7

For France:
Tries:  Heymans, Clerc 2, Traille
Cons:  Yachvili 2
Pens:  Yachvili 2
DGs:  Fritz, Traille

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Brent Russell, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Joe van Niekerk, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Gary Botha, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Gaffie du Toit.

France:  15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jerôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (captain), 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements:  16 Raphaël Ibañez, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Rémy Martin, 21 Pierre Mignoni, 22 Thomas Castaignède.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges:  Tony Spreadbury, Rob Debney (both England)
Television match official:  Simon MacDowell (Ireland)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)

Australia smash Ireland in Perth

Irish tourists run out of steam

Australia continued their impressive mid-year form when they smashed Ireland, recording a 37-15 win in their one-off Test at the Subiaco Oval in Perth on Saturday.  The Wallabies outscored the Irish by five tries to two and were in command of the game for all but 10 minutes.

This impressive victory follow after their 34-3 and 43-18 hammerings of England and sends a message of intent to Australia's Tri-Nations opponents.

Last year's horrors are but a distance memory for the current crop of Wallabies.  They are in ominous form and appear to have improved every facet of their game, from George Gregan's pass to their scrummaging technique.

As for Ireland, they return home for a well-earned rest -- and a chance to figure out how to drive the nails home once they've coaxed their foe into a coffin.

As per usual, the Irish showed more heart than a gift shop in early February and briefly led 15-11 after two tries in the third quarter of the game.

But like the television schedule on Christmas Day, there was a creeping inevitability about what would follow -- heroic Ireland, full of huff and puff and ambitious endeavour, simply ran out of steam and succumbed to a series of well-taken tries.  It was like watching a repeat.

But Ireland gave Australia the test England never mustered in a thrilling game that went the way of the Wallabies in the final 20 minutes.

Australia opened their account with a 13th-minute penalty from Stirling Mortlock and then Chris Latham finished off a superb unbroken spell of play when he converted a left-wing overlap in the corner to make it 8-0, Mortlock missing the conversion.

The Wallabies lost Mat Rogers on 31 minutes with an ankle injury before Ronan O'Gara and Mortlock exchanged penalties to make it 11-3 at the break.

Ireland seemed invigorated by the rest and fly-half O'Gara, criticised for a poor missed tackle in the second test defeat by the All Blacks last week, set up and scored Ireland's opener.

O'Gara's crossfield kick was collected by Shane Horgan, who fed inside to David Wallace.  Wallace found O'Gara who fell over the line for the try.

The Munster pivot missed the conversion but eight minutes later Ireland took the lead with a superlative try from Neil Best.

Best, the only member of Ireland's pack not from Munster's front eight, touched down after a fabulous break from Andrew Trimble to make it 15-11.

The Australians battled back with verve, Mark Gerrard restoring the lead when his nice dummy-pass fooled John Hayes and he touched down under the posts, Mortlock's boot making it 18-15.

Then giant prop Greg Holmes collected a loose ball on the halfway line and sprinted clear to score under the posts, Mortlock making no mistake with the conversion to make it 25-15.

Skipper George Gregan got the try he and the Australian pressure deserved on 69 minutes when he collected George Smith's pass and rode two tackles to cross.

Cameron Shepherd scored his first test try before his home crowd after a delightful pass from Stephen Larkham before Mortlock completed the scoring.

Man of the Match:  Paul O'Connell, Andrew Trimble and Denis Leamy were the pick of tourists, with Gordon D'Arcy and Ronan O'Gara also mentioned in dispatched.  All Australia's senior men showed their class with the likes of George Gregan, Lote Tuqiri, Mark Gerrard and Stephen Larkham to the fore, but our man of the match is Rocky Elsom who did all that was required of him and a great deal more.

Moment of the Match:  It was nice to see Ireland fly-half Ronan O'Gara answer his critics with a well-worked try, but who will ever forget Greg Holmes's mad dash for the line?  A marvelous impression of the piper's chubby son -- he stole the ball and away did run.

Villain of the match:  No award for this encounter -- it was all good, clean fun.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Latham, Gerrard, Holmes, Gregan, Shepherd
Cons:  Mortlock 3
Pens:  Mortlock 2

For Ireland:
Tries:  O'Gara, Best
Con:  O'Gara
Pen:  O'Gara

The teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman (vice-captain), 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Tai McIsaac, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Clyde Rathbone, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Keith Gleeson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Jeremy Staunton, 22 Geordan Murphy.

Referee:  Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Steve Walsh, Bryce Lawrence (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Dick Byres (Australia)

England sink to new low in Melbourne

Wallabies put England's season out of its misery

Australia gave England nightmares to last the whole of the European close-season by punctuated the tourists' year with a crushing 43-18 defeat at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne on Saturday.

The result wraps up a very one-sided two-Test series and sees the Wallabies reclaim the Cook Cup after its short stay in Twickenham.

England have suffered a poor run of form since they crowned their annus mirabilis by clinching the Rugby World Cup in 2003.

But despite the heavy losses and surprise results that have peppered the last two years, they are now at their lowest ebb since 1984 -- that was the last time England suffered five successive Test matches losses.  Big Ben is striking thirteen.

It was another chastening experience for England coach Andy Robinson, who has lost 10 of his 18 Tests in charge since replacing Sir Clive Woodward.

The Wallabies followed up last weekend's 34-3 stroll in Sydney by putting England out of sight before half-time through tries from George Smith, Mark Gerrard and Lote Tuqiri.

And when both England props Graham Rowntree and Julian White departed at the break through injuries, the tourists' misery was complete, engaging in uncontested scrums with Wasps flank Joe Worsley packing down in the front-row alongside Tim Payne and George Chuter.

Australia flank Mark Chisholm claimed a fourth Wallabies touchdown before Gerrard crossed again and fly-half Stephen Larkham completed the rout, with skipper Stirling Mortlock booting five conversions and a penalty.

England mustered a consolation tries by Chuter and wing Tom Varndell, plus a penalty and drop-goal from fly-half Andy Goode.

England, without a win since mid-February, are next in action against red-hot World Cup favourites New Zealand on November 5, and the All Blacks are likely to run them ragged, so low are English confidence levels, a sorry situation illustrated by Varndell's nightmare experience in attack and defence.

England have players such as Martin Corry, Charlie Hodgson, Josh Lewsey, Mark Cueto and Steve Thompson to return, but it seems England's ambition to be the first country to defend the Webb Ellis trophy are now resembles a large pie in the sky.

England suffered a late injury blow when Leicester Tigers flank Lewis Moody withdrew at the eleventh hour after having failed to recover from a calf muscle strain.

Robinson opted to look beyond the bench-warming Magnus Lund and drafted in London-born former Australia U21 international Michael Lipman for his first Test start.

Despite the setback, and as in Sydney, England began brightly and monopolised early possession.

It brought a reward when Goode slotted a fourth-minute drop-goal, but the lead lasted barely 100 seconds as Australia scored from their first attack.

Larkham's kick into space caused little initial danger, but it bounced off Goode and Smith hacked clear, capitalising on another kind bounce -- this time off Varndell -- for a clear run to the posts.

England did not lack ambition, yet their basic skills were sub-standard, and Australia gained an attacking five-metre scrum as fullback Iain Balshaw was forced over his own line.

Australia's attacking aggression reaped its reward when, from the ensuing scrum, Larkham's high kick to the corner saw Gerrard clutch possession ahead of a challenging Mathew Tait to touch down.

England, with their forwards battling hard, still enjoyed plenty of possession, but they could make little headway opposite a physical Wallabies back division.

Tuqiri, especially, enjoyed the close-quarter combat, dumping Varndell with relish, yet England cut the deficit to six points when Goode landed a 40-metre penalty after Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe infringed at a line-out.

Australia lost prop Rodney Blake to injury in the 27th minutes, and he was replaced by Al Baxter, whose first contribution was to concede a penalty that Goode booted into touch just outside Australia's 22.

England could not maintain territory though, and a raking Chris Latham clearance sent the visitors back-pedalling 50 metres.

Both sides continued to make errors, but England almost worked Varndell away, only to be denied by a superb Latham tackle.

Australia then lost No.8 Rocky Elsom through injury, handing New South Wales Waratahs flanker Wycliff Palu a Test debut.

But Australia struck a killer blow on the stroke of half-time when Latham smashed through four attempted tackles in midfield, brushing aside Worsley, Rowntree, Chuter and Lipman before delivering a superb inside pass that enabled Tuqiri to crash over.

Mortlock converted, and England trooped off at the break 19-6 adrift, facing little more than another demoralising damage-limitation exercise.

Uncontested scrums made for a totally unsatisfactory situation, and England conceded a fourth try on 45 minutes when Chisholm was sent through a huge defensive hole.

Mortlock slotted the conversion, putting England 20 points behind, although Chuter at least gave visiting supporters something to cheer as he sprinted over for his team's first try on tour.

The Leicester hooker's score in his first Test start gave England a glimmer of hope, although Australia looked to maintain a high tempo by spreading possession wide at every opportunity.

Indeed, Australia had the remainder of the game under control and kept their guests under the kosh, a dominance that was only broken by Varndell's try in the last move of the game.

As if the joy of crushing the English was not enough for the crowd of 56,000, Australia coach John Connolly ordered George Gregan into action in the 56th minute as a replacement for Sam Cordingley.

The Wallaby skipper duly collected his 120th Test cap to eclipse the mark of 119 set by England and Lions prop Jason Leonard.  England's nightmare was complete.

Man of the match:  Iain Balshaw and Peter Richards had some good moments, but this award is going nowhere near the England camp.  There were good performance from all the gold-jerseyed brigade with the likes of Lote Tuqiri and Stirling Mortlock to the fore.  Stephen Larkham conducted affairs superbly but it is the consistently outstanding Chris Latham who gets the gong.  He looked like an over-enthusiastic dad taking on his young son's touch-rugby team.

Moment of the match:  Latham's break that lead to Tuqiri's try was a moment that exemplified Australia's dominance over the English -- strong running and intelligent support from the locals, four miss-tackles and confusion from the tourists.  But how can we overlook the moment that George Gregan joined the fray to win his 120th Test cap and become the most capped player of all time -- a moment that ensured that England's misery was extended to a former member of the red rose club, Jason Leonard.  But the "Fun Bus" will be the first man to buy the Wallaby talisman a well-deserved beer.  On a more comical note (and England fans might need a moment of levity), many have long suspected referee Steve Walsh of being a frustrated player and he added kindling to the fire by collecting a reverse pass from England fly-half Andy Goode before realising he was wearing neither white nor gold.

Villain of the match:  England (and Tom Varndell in particular) are lucky on this score -- we're leaving villainous lack of basic skills out of the equation.  The pace of the game was not conducive to fisty-cuffs, but there was a few arms swung towards the end of the game.  We drag Pat Sanderson and Lote Tuqiri from that minor skirmish and award them the honours, the Englishman for pulling the Australian's hair, and the Australian for reacting like a bit of a schoolgirl.  And we thought rugby had reached its nadir with the "handbags at dawn" episode ...

The scorers:

For Australia
Tries:  Gerrard 2, Tuqiri, Chisholm, Smith, Larkham
Cons:  Mortlock 5
Pen:  Mortlock

For England:
Tries:  Chuter, Varndell
Con:  Goode
Pen:  Goode
Drop:  Goode

The teams:

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Mat Rogers, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 Sam Cordingley, 8 Rocky Elsom, 7 George Smith, 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Rodney Blake, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements:  16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 George Gregan, 21 Clyde Rathbone, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

England:  15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Mike Catt, 11 Mathew Tait, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Peter Richards, 8 Pat Sanderson (captain), 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Graham Rowntree.
Replacements:  16 Lee Mears, 17 Tim Payne, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Nick Walshe, 21 Olly Barkley, 22 Stuart Abbott.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Kelvin Deaker, Lyndon Bray (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Gary Wise (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Sandy MacNeill (Australia)

Ireland washed out of Auckland

All Blacks squelch home in North Island deluge

The All Blacks completed a 2-0 series win over Ireland with a 27-17 win over Ireland in Auckland on Saturday, but it was an uneasy win in which Ireland had the home team lost for ideas for much of the second half.

In the end it was the weather which stumped the visitors as much as anything, a non-stop hose of rain which prevented the Irish from running the ball as much as they would have liked.

But there was no doubting the tactical superiority of the visitors for long periods of the match, especially the third quarter, and Graham Henry will face questions over his team he has not faced for a long time in this performance's aftermath.

It was a stirring match with lots of credit to both determined teams, and in the end it hinged on a mistake or two as the brave Irish came back, Phoenix-like but from the flood rather than from the flames.

Yet despite their efforts, they must still wait for that elusive first win over the All Blacks.

The rain fell straight down out of the heavens at Eden Park in Auckland.  After a couple of unstirring anthems which some of the players sang tentatively, Carl Hayman, looking like a cross between Tarzan and John the Baptist, led his side in the exaggerated aggression of the haka, which is now less intimidating than the players try to make it, and finally the game was on.

The match was far more stirring than the preliminaries.  It started in funny fashion with the All Blacks kicking straight down to Geordan Murphy in midfield, giving the Irish fullback a busy start to the match.

Two early penalties gave O'Gara a shot at goal -- a long shot which fell short.  The first activity which looked like producing a try came from a long, slithery kick by Aaron Mauger, whose tactical kicking in the match was brilliant.  Gordon D'Arcy saved bravely and the intent Irish gout out of trouble, but not for long.

Chris Jack caught the ball in the line-out that followed Peter Stringer's clearing kick, and the All Blacks trudged up in a maul.  Troy Flavell charged and was minisculely short.  Back the ball came and chunky Byron Kelleher burrowed under big John Hayes to score a try which McAlister converted.  7-0 after six minutes.

The first scrum was significant.  In it New Zealand got the shove-on on their own ball.  Throughout the match they outscrummed the Irish, once winning the ball against the head with a wheel.

The line-outs suffered from congestion but here things went better for New Zealand than they had in Hamilton.  They lost four of nineteen throws as they used five jumpers.  The Irish lost three of eighteen throws.

The Irish threatened when D'Arcy burst past McAlister and sent Ireland attacking down the left.  O'Gara opted for a diagonal kick towards Andrew Trimble on the right but an opportunity was wasted.

After a turn-over, Kelleher, who was brilliant in the wet, broke and in fact could have scored on the left but sought to pass instead and was caught.  Still, a penalty against Neil Best and Denis Leamy for being off-side made the score 10-0 after 23 minutes.

Mauger's boot set up position for the second try.  He grubbered the ball down the right close to touch and, under pressure from Doug Howlett, Murphy was forced to fly-kick into touch.  Rodney So'oialo caught the ball in the subsequent line-out and the All Blacks mauled.  Jack plunged for the line but short of the line dropped the ball a few centimetres above the ground.  Clarke Dermody picked up the ball behind Jack and plunged over for the try.

The Irish disputed the try, claiming that Jack had knocked it on.  The ball appeared not to have gone forward when he dropped in which case there was no problem, but it is likely to be a talking point and important in the context of the unfolding game.  This put Ireland 17-0 down after 28 minutes and one may have expected cracks to open, but instead the Irish fought back with all the composure of great professionals.

Just two minutes later they attacked, Dermody was penalised for diving and Ireland tapped.  Big, ardent Paul O'Connell was knocked to ground, but not held.  Several All Blacks were standing around him but none tackled him and the big man rose up and galloped through the standing New Zealanders and over and round for a try.  17-7.

Shortly after that Leamy was penalised for the wrongful use of his hands at a tackle/ ruck and McAlister made it 20-7, but still the Irish refused to be walked over.

They made a penalty into a five-metre line-out and threw deep to Best.  The All Blacks tipped Best in the air and again the Irish made a five-metre line-out.  This time they mauled and when the maul fell apart hooker Jerry Flannery was there to plunge over for a try which O'Gara converted.

New Zealand kicked off to their left, straight to Brian O'Driscoll, which was a silly thing to do.  The great centre sped down the right touch-line but, devoid of support, was forced to kick ahead and the All Blacks ran the ball out for half-time.  20-14 at the break, which was far closer than the opening exchanges had suggested it would be.

The breeze freshened and was behind the All Blacks in the second half but McAlister was short with a penalty attempt.

The All Blacks looked good going left when Howlett came in off his wing and Muliaina came in from fullback to make an overlap for Joe Rokocoko but the big wing, lacking the confidence of the past, was stopped.

Instead the Irish scored.  O'Driscoll beat three men in a metre of space and Flavell grabbed at his throat to give Ireland a penalty and make the score a competitive 20-17.

This was a period of good pressure for Ireland.  O'Gara missed a drop goal attempt and then found Anthony Horgan with a diagonal kick but Muliaina tackled the tall wing into touch.

Many changes were made from then on as the coaches sought to find a game-breaking moment.  One of those to come on with five minutes to go was New Zealander Isaac Boss, less wildly hirsute than when he played for the Chiefs and Waikato.  He came on for Peter Stringer.  David Hill also came on for his first Test cap for New Zealand.

After O'Gara had knocked on an unpressured pass in midfield, New Zealand got back into the game with a series of pick-and-goes but the Irish defence was brave and determined.  They had a crucial five-metre scrum.  It was reset twice as Horan went down and then off the third scrum So'oialo picked up and drove forward.  Back came the ball and Kelleher gave to McAlister.  The muscular young flyhalf burst through slender veteran O'Gara and scored under the posts in O'Driscoll's grasp.  He converted, and the game was done.

In those last nine minutes Ireland still had the better of play, but it was not productive any more.

Man of the Match:  For New Zealand Mils Muliaina was magnificent, the most accomplished and effective back on the field, even better than Brian O'Driscoll who was also magnificent.  Nearer the scrum Byron Kelleher had a strong match with well-judged variations.  The same is true of his partner Luke McAlister.  Both halves muscled over for tries.  Amongst the forwards there was lots of commitment from men like Rodney So'oialo, Chris Jack, Keven Mealamu, Jerry Flannery, Neil Best and our Man of the Match, the magnificent, proud Paul O'Connell, the Irish lock who did everything a lock could do.

Moment of the Match:  It was a little moment as Ireland kicked the ball down into New Zealand territory on the All Blacks left.  Under pressure Joe Rokocoko popped the ball to Mils Muliaina who was off before he gave it back to Rokocoko and made the Irish defence scramble.

Villain of the Match:  There was an emotional moment after Jerry Flannery's try but the villains were probably less obvious -- those on the Irish side who tugged at Richie McCaw, whose self-restraint was admirable, and those on the New Zealand side that grabbed at free-standing Irishmen at the tackle/ ruck.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Kelleher, Dermody, McAlister
Cons:  McAlister 3
Pens:  McAlister 2

For Ireland:
Try:  O'Connell, Flannery
Cons:  O'Gara 2
Pen:  O'Gara

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Troy Flavell, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Greg Rawlinson, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 David Hill, 22 Ma'a Nonu.

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 4 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Keith Gleeson, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Girvan Dempsey, 22 Denis Hickie.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Matt Goddard (Australia), Brett Bowden (Australia)
Television match official:  Paul Marks (Australia)
Assessor:  Stuart Beissel (New Zealand)

Energetic Pumas maul tired Welsh

Argentina warm up for the All Blacks in style

Argentina stormed to a 45-27 win over Wales in Buenos Aires on Saturday, with a performance every bit convincing enough to suggest that the All Blacks will not have things their own way when they visit next week.

Leading 16-6 at half-time, and deservedly so, Argentina's ceaseless running in defence and mallet-like running strength in attack earned them a quick second-half try to make it 23-6, a position from which they were never going to lose, despite the wag in the Welsh tail at the end.

Perhaps it is a trifle unfair to single out youngster James Hook for harsh treatment during the first quarter of this report, but then that is precisely what Argentina appeared to do, so perhaps not.

Hook was tackled meatily several times during a first twenty minutes in which the learning curve for the 20-year-old dubbed the "new Barry John" this week became as steep as the Andes.

He was never given an iota of freedom, despite receiving a healthy amount of ball from his pack and fly-half, and then, after 20 minutes, he experienced one of those moments of solo distress and misfortune that can make or break a season, if not an international career.

Hook was given a standard pass from Nicky Robinson, from some ten metres in front of him, and with Hook standing a couple of metres inside his 22.  Just briefly, fatally, he looked up with the ball in hand as if deciding where to kick, before actually lining up to do so.

The pause allowed Felipe Contepomi to steal an extra couple of metres, charge the kick down, and Hook could only trot back in horror as Gonzalo Tiesi pounced on the kindly bouncing ball for a try.

He had already missed a kick at goal, and had not once managed to squeeze convincingly over the advantage line.  It was an inauspicious start to a first full debut, but the way in which he held his nerve to solidify both running and kicking thereafter suggests that the mentality is strong enough for Hook to keep his development on track.

He was not the only one to fail to cross the gain-line in the first half, as the Argentine defence put in a remarkable hyena-like scavenging performance.  Every Welshman unfortunate enough to get a lateral ball was instantly knocked backwards to the ground.  Every Welshman fortunate enough to get a ball with a couple of metres of space in front of him found a blue wall gathered at the end of that couple of metres, usually with the same destructive effect.

The Pumas won the first-half turnover count 4-1, snuffing out all Welsh intent to spread the ball.  The Welsh had plenty of possession but found it almost impossible to get out of their own half without kicking, and the chasing of the kicks was very poor.  By contrast, every Argentine kick was chased furiously, and there was a poignant moment at the end of the first half when Mike Phillips went back to claim a kick -- but then found that the nearest five players to him were all in blue shirts.

Wales, for their part, ran gamely and still showed the willingness to carry the game to their hosts, but for the large part they simply looked tired and stale, and given that many have played a near-endless dirge of a season, the summer recharge probably cannot come quick enough.

Shane Williams cut a lonely figure on the wing as his centres failed to find either imagination or strength to get onto the front foot and feed the offloads into half-spaces that he thrives on.  Once from a tap penalty, the ball was shovelled out to him so lifelessly that he was bundled into touch by at least three drifting defenders.

The diminutive Ospreys wing managed to get himself under the ball and deny the Pumas a try after 15 minutes when Martín Durand finished off Argentina's first serious attack by crossing the Welsh line.

By the time Hook's kick was charged down, Argentina already led 6-0, with Federico Todeschini capitalising on his team's superiority to take advantage of two close-range kicks at goal.

The second penalty was given against Ian Evans for slowing the ball down, an offence for which the youngster received a yellow card.  Two minutes later, Tiesi scored his try, and the game was already stretching away from the visitors.

The fight in the Welsh at least allowed them to squeeze out seven penalties from the Pumas in the first half, two of which Hook landed to keep Wales within distance.

The second half threatened to descend into ugliness.  Within two minutes of its start, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe had bustled through Gavin Thomas's sloppy tackle and scored a game-clinching try which Todeschini converted.

The Welsh frustration manifested itself in a series of fouls for the next 15 minutes, a high tackle, a tackle off the ball by Ian Gough, a late hit on Juan Martín Fernández, and finally a unarmless high-tackle by Hook, which saw him dispatched to the sin-bin along with Martin Scelzo who retaliated.

What would have hurt the Welsh even more was the way in which nearly every indiscretion was punished by Todeschini.  Many will remember him for a similar performance he produced against the Lions last year in Cardiff, and he was a dead-eye once again on Saturday, landing 11 out of 12 kicks in all.

Three penalties for the indiscretions above took the Pumas to 32-6 ahead, but Gareth Delve finished off the first truly fluid Welsh move of the afternoon on the hour mark, taking the ball on the overlap from Lee Byrne.

Nicky Robinson's conversion bounced over off the crossbar to make it 32-13.

Todeschini kicked his seventh penalty and then Tiesi, who has become a cult hero of London Irish fans and is Argentina's most promising talent by some way, rounded off a truly excellent rugby move, started with a break by Hernández, followed up by several phases of possession before a long pass from Todeschini found Ledesma with a choice of overlappers on the left.

Another perfect Todeschini kick then made it 42-13, and yet another penalty made it 45-13 three minutes later.  Every time the Pumas entered Welsh territory, they registered points.  It was devastatingly effective.

There was a wag in the tail of the game from Wales which saw Williams round off a scintillating inter-passing move started by Hook and continued by Byrne and Robinson, and Byrne scorched home from the restart for a second try in as many minutes, Hook converting both.

The locals were possibly guilty of allowing their minds to wander off to the post-match function.  But who can blame them?  They had recorded their first series victory over Wales and fully deserved a hearty asado and some good red wine.  Jerry Collins and company have been warned.

Man of the match:  From the Pumas there were any number of candidates, both Fernández Lobbe brothers played well, especially Juan Martín, and Gonzalo Longo and Mario Ledesma were excellent around the field.  Juan Martín Hernández was solid as oak under the high ball, all of the backs tackled superbly.  For Wales, Shane Williams had several good moments, as did Alun Wyn Jones in the line-out and Huw Bennett in the loose.  But for his playmaking, tackling, handling and kicking, Federico Todeschini gets the nod.

Moment of the match:  Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe's try just after half-time clinched the game and was a marvellous individual moment of strength and skill produced on the back of a perfect controlled and patient build-up.

Villain of the match:  There were a few ugly moments, but James Hook's high tackle on Juan Hernández was probably the ugliest.

The scorers:

For Argentina:
Tries:  Tiesi 2, J-M Fernández Lobbe
Cons:  Todeschini 3
Pens:  Todeschini 8

For Wales:
Tries:  Delve, S Williams, Byrne
Cons:  N Robinson, Hook 2
Pens:  Hook 2

The teams:

Argentina:  15 Juan Martin Hernández, 14 Francisco Leonelli, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Lucas Borges, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Agustín Pichot (c), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Pablo Gambarini, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Martín Schusterman, 20 Nicolas Fernández Miranda, 21 Jose Maria Nuñez Piossek, 22 Federico Serra.

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Robinson, 12 James Hook, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Alix Popham, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Alun Wyn Jones, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Duncan Jones (captain).
Replacements:  16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Rhys Thomas, 19 Gareth Delve, 20 Andy Williams, 21 Nathan Brew, 22 Matthew Watkins.

Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Television match official:  Eric Darrière (France)
Assessor:  Frans Muller (South Africa)

South Africa win PE shocker

Scotland win try-count two to one

The Springboks recorded a 29-15 win over Scotland in their second Test in Port Elizabeth Saturday, ensuring that their unbeaten home run under Jake White stays intact.  But it was not the kind of performance that would have had South Africa’s Tri-Nations opponents sit up in awe.

The victory equalled the longest home winning streak by South Africa of 13 matches, but it was not a performance worthy of SA recordbooks -- the fact that the Scottish won the try-count two-one says it all.

The Boks will know that they will need to lift their game considerably for next week's one-off encounter with France; the haphazard performance they dished up in PE simply won't do against the French.

Poor Port Elizabeth!  They seldom get big rugby and then they got this.

The Springboks may just be working on a two-week cycle.  Two weeks before this they had that trudging, stultifying performance at Ellis Park against the World XV.  Then came last week when they played at speed and with intensity and it seemed that there was a new dawn.

The new dawn's colours faded rapidly into dull grey and it was fitting that a shroud of mist should envelop the ground towards the end.  It had all been a bit of a funereal march, saved only from South Africa's point of view by the victory.

The Scots on the other hand may well have taken heart from it as they scored two tries to one, far from being humiliated.  They also slowed the ball down at the break which may have been a disservice to the game, but then they did not often have to compete against the Springbok pack, several of whom pretended to be backs.

The boot of Percy Montgomery counted in the end.  There was not a lot else that would have been heartening for the Springboks.

The Scots on the other hand were quite pleased.

Tough captain Jason White said afterwards:  "South Africa is a hard place to come and play, but today we showed that we can compete.  We are not yet good enough.  We just have to be better and take from our Murrayfield performances to places like this."

In fact they enjoyed better possession than the Springboks and on one occasion were desperately close.  That said, their second try was the worst bit of Springbok bungling in the match.

The Scots had had two five-metre line-outs as they kept pressure on the Springboks in their right-hand corner.  But they won a turn-over.  Breyton Paulse was at scrum-half and passed back to Jaco van der Westhuyzen in his in-goal area.  It was not a good pass and the fly-half made it considerably worse by a gross knock-on.  There was a fast ferret there and he scored.  Donnie MacFadyen dropped onto the ball for a try, which delighted him.

After 40 plodding minutes South Africa led Scotland 12-5 but it could well have been 12-all, but for a tiny knock-on.

The Scots were under all sorts of pressure but they won the ball at a tackle/ ruck.  Scrum-half Mike Blair saw an opportunity and sent Simon Webster racing away down the midfield.  He chipped, chased and gathered the ball to roll over in Bryan Habana's tackle.

The referee consulted the television match official and the tiny knock-on became evident, denying Scotland a try near the posts.  There were just 27 seconds in the half and the strong Springbok scrum won the ball and Fourie banged into touch to usher in the break.

The 12 points came from four kicks -- three by Percy Montgomery and one from inside his own half by Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Oddly in this half the Scots were the ones who did more of the forward bashing while the Springboks tried to spread it wide, managed to get lots of forwards playing as backs and lots of clumsy handling to destroy their good intentions.

When it came to basic duties the forwards were fine at scrumming but messy at the line-outs.  They had one good attacking line-out and overthrew the ball.  The Scots on the other hand folded in the scrums, but were efficient in the line-outs.

The field in Port Elizabeth runs from east to west and the Springboks played into the dropping sun in the first half which did not help things like seeing and catching the ball.

Montgomery kicked two penalties when first Jon Petrie and then Craig Smith, were penalised at ruck time, but then the Scots came back, again playing from pressure.  They kept the ball through rickety phases and then went left where Gordon Ross threaded a grubber into the Springbok in-goal are where Webster raced away from Breyton Paulse to score.

The second half was more of the same -- slow, slow ball from the tackle, messy line-outs and a clutter of forwards.  Both sets of centres were pretty anonymous and, apart from Simon Webster, so were the wings.  Did Habana really get only one pass in the match?

In the first Test in the series in Durban, the Springbok loose forwards were the telling factor.  This time there were no credits at all for any of them.

Montgomery kicked two penalties on either side of one by Paterson and the Springboks got a try.

An innocent kick downfield was fumbled in its roll by Webster who was the best wing on the field by many metres.  That produced a scrum near the Scottish line.  The Springboks dominated the scrum, shoved it forward and wheeled it right to make lots of room on the blindside.  Joe van Niekerk picked up and gave to Du Preez who bashed his way over for a try far out on the right.  Montgomery's kick faded left and the score was 23-8 with 20 minutes to play.

The Scots then put lots of pressure on the Springboks, got penalties and did clever things at line-outs.  Macfadyen's try was the reward for the pressure.  That made it 23-15.

The Springboks had two more penalties that were goalable -- one was next to the posts, five metres from the Scots' line -- and that could also have made for try-scoring opportunities.  They opted for the comfort of the penalty goal.

Man of the Match:  It could well have been Simon Webster but for that fumble.  It could also have been lively Mike Blair at scrum-half, but we are going to make our man of the match to the one Springbok who stood out -- Danie Rossouw who was his side's best ball-carrier, won his own and opponents' ball in the line-out and got stuck in wherever a lock should get stuck in.

Moment of the Match:  That run, chip, gather and fatal fumble by Simon Webster -- it was a light moment on a gloomy day's rugby and the fumble made it a dramatic moment.

Villain:  Probably the nearest to a villain was niggling Scotland lock Nathan Hines who brought a bit of Latin temperament over from France were he plys his trade with Perpignan.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Du Preez
Pens:  Montgomery 7, Van der Westhuyzen

For Scotland:
Tries:  Webster, MacFadyen
Con:  Paterson
Pen:  Paterson

Teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 André Snyman, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Gaffie du Toit.

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Chris Paterson, 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Jon Petrie, 7 Allister Hogg, 6 Jason White (captain), 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Craig Smith, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements:  16 Scott Lawson, 17 Bruce Douglas, 18 Scott Macleoad, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Donnie MacFadyen, 21 Sam Pinder, 22 Ben MacDougall.

Referee:  Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch judges:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Simon MacDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Rob Debney (England)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)