New Zealand eke out Tri-Nations crown

New Zealand have won the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup in one go, with a compelling 26-12 win over Australia in Auckland on Saturday.

The Wallabies kept well in touch with their hosts, and it was only the fine details which let them down;  first a silly penalty which gifted the All Blacks a half-time lead, and then one costly error off the back of a scrum on the hour mark which led to the only try of the match by Tony Woodcock.

In the face of a valiant Australian effort, New Zealand stuck manfully to their task, with Dan Carter exceptional from the tee and a significant reduction in the number of handling lapses that spoiled their efforts against South Africa last week.

It was an emotional match for emotional Byron Kelleher and unemotional Anton Oliver as they played their last Tests on home soil.  It was also an opportunity for the Southern Hemisphere to say farewell to two of rugby's greatest sons -- George Gregan and Stephen Larkham.  Kellheer and Oliver were substituted early in the second half, leaving them to trudge to the touchline.  Larkham and Gregan played out the whole of the 80 minutes and looked as enthusiastic and determined as ever they have looked.

The weather forecast had said "light rain", which must be a New Zealand euphemism for downpour.  The rain burst down onto an already wet Auckland, mercifully relenting as the match went on but still water splashed from running feet, there was steam on the breath, and the conditions were not easy.

That said, both sides handled admirably.  in a match in which there were only eleven scrums.  The All Blacks did not put the ball into a single scrum in the first half.  That was a half when the Wallabies were with the weather and dominated possession and territory but ended 12-9 in arrears.  The second half was a different matter as the Wallabies had only rare forays into New Zealand territory.

The Wallabies were better at the line-outs, winning the ball four times on New Zealand throws in the first half.  That improved for the All Blacks in the second half.  The much-discussed scrums were a different matter.  The Australians had a great first scrum but then rather fell apart.  In the second half Matt Dunning was penalised twice at the scrums, which may have been better than he deserved.  One scrum, five metres from the Wallaby line, went down four times, three times clearly with Dunning taking the lead -- what John Drake calls a swan dive.

Both sides contested fiercely at the tackle/ruck and turnovers there were rare.  But there were also trickles of blood from the contests.

The penalty count punished the Wallabies -- 13-5 against them, and there was Dan Carter's boot to turn seven of those thirteen into 21 points;  enough to make the margin of victory look comfortable.  It was not comfortable as it sounds, but richly deserved nonetheless.

There were different tactics.  The Wallabies retained possession in the first half as they went through many phases with the confidence one would associate with a dry day.  The All Blacks on the other hand did a profitable pick-'n-drive routine.  In the second half the Wallabies had fewer chances to go through phases and then when the lead stretched away from them their nerve seemed to crick while the All Blacks became more expansive as they did, in Richie McCaw's words, "the business".  "We did it right." The result of doing it right was "a couple of cups in the cupboard", an alliterative understatement.

The umbrellas were up when the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band led the anthems and Carl Hayman led the new haka, watched by distant Wallabies.  Carter kicked off and an enthralling 80 minutes ensued.

There was early emotion when Rocky Elsom killed the ball at a tackle and players became upset.  There was also an interesting moment.  Canterbury claim that the last time one of their jerseys tore was in 1976.  They have a new collar which makes it harder to grasp, but big Keith Robinson grabbed Daniel Vickerman by the neck of his jersey and it came apart.  31 years later!

The emotions subsided and Carter kicked the penalty for Elsom's infringement.

The second score was a long time coming, also a penalty, this time against McCaw for unbinding early at a tumbling scrum.  Stirling Mortlock kicked that one on a night when both kickers were on target.

Two minutes later Matt Giteau kicked a sneaky drop, and the referee called in the help of the TMO to determine that it was over, which it was.  6-3 to Australia after 25 minutes.  When Larkham was penalised for not clearing away after tackling Carter made the score 6-all but when McCaw did in like manner Mortlock restored the Wallaby lead after 32 minutes.

Giteau went off-side and Carter banged a long one over from the half-way line and then there was a silly moment.  The ball bounced up towards Adam Ashley-Cooper who was not under pressure.  The full-back tried to trap the ball with his foot but the bounce caught him unawares and he footed the ball into touch where he threw the ball away as Doug Howlett came to claim it.  The referee penalised Ashley-Cooper for his petulance and Carter gave the All Blacks their half-time lead.

Early in the second half the Wallabies conceded a succession of penalties.  The second was when George Smith was at the side of a tackle-ruck and interfering.  From a sharp angle Carter put the All Blacks 15-9 ahead.

McAlister was penalised for being on the wrong side of a tackle and in the way and Mortlock made the score 15-12 after 46 minutes, the last time the Wallabies looked like scoring.

On their left the All Blacks tapped a penalty and kicked the ball over to the right where lurking Howlett came forward to collect it.  Mortlock was judged to have tackled Howlett high and, difficult though the kick was, Carter banged it over.

The All Blacks were not the only ones getting the rub of the green for McCaw was adjudged to have knocked on in a move which seemed to set up a certain All Black try.  But from the ensuring scrum Brendon Leonard intercepted a pass between Stephen Hoiles and Gregan and the next thing the All Blacks were battering at the Wallaby line.  Keven Mealamu went for the post's padding but the TMO decided that it was inconclusive whether he scored a try.  This led to a five-metre scrum which collapsed four times.  The third was allowed to play out and Leonard darted for the line before Tony Woodcock picked up and plunged.  This time -- another difficult decision -- the TMO advised that a try had been scored.  23-12 with 22 minutes to play.

Most of that belonged to the All Blacks who even had the confidence to run from their own 22.

With eight minutes left Giteau was again penalised for being offside and Carter finished off the scoring.

Man of the Match:  Daniel Vickerman had a lot to do with Australian ascendancy in the first half and Rodney So'oialo played with great energy and determination throughout, but our Man of the Match is Daniel Carter back in form with the boot, back in form with his tactical appreciation of the match and back in form with his running and passing.

Moment of the Match:  There were not many great moments but there was that moment when Drew Mitchell received the ball and Doug Howlett charged into him and flattened him in what has become a trademark tackle for the wing.

Villain of the Match:  Nobody really, though Matt Dunning may well have come close at scrum time.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Try:  Woodcock
Pens:  Carter 7

For Australia:
Pens:  Mortlock 3
Drop goal:  Giteau

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Chris Jack, 4 Keith Robinson, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Reuben Thorne, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Aaron Mauger, 22 Nick Evans.

Australia:  15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 George Smith (v/c), 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements:  16 Adam Freier, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Hugh McMeniman, 19 Mark Chisholm, 20 Phil Waugh (v/c), 21 Scott Staniforth, 22 Chris Latham.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Television match official:  Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
Assessor:  Brendan McCormick (Australia)

All Blacks struggle past SA second-string

New Zealand set up an all or nothing Tri-Nations finale against Australia next weekend, but only after struggling to overcome a supposedly weak South Africa side 33-6 in Christchurch on Saturday.

Once more the New Zealand performance was beset with errors, while the Boks, although limited in attack, defended gamely, but couldn't find anything to match the impact of New Zealand's replacements.

All three New Zealand tries came late, two from replacement players and one from a simply ridiculous mistake by the Bok defence, giving the scoreline a satisfactory look for the home team -- deeply flattering for the neutral -- by the end.

But the pressure is very much on New Zealand after this match, with the standards of last year not being met by a long stretch and the Rugby World Cup now only one more match away.

33-6.  There will be Springboks turning in their graves, from PK Albertyn to Morris Zimerman, at such a defeat of the Springboks, and yet it was not the worst of them all and not without virtue from this side cruelly labelled the B Boks.

For New Zealand it was a victory which Richie McCaw said was not to be scoffed at, but not at all smooth, thoroughly deserved though it was.

South Africa were competitive in the first half but spent the second half clinging on.  Finally their clinging slipped and New Zealand scored 21 points in the last 11 minutes, the last seven after the final siren had gone and the game was in chaos.  Daniel Carter was just the last man left running with the ball.

For the All Blacks there was a "setback" before the kick-off.  Sitiveni Sivivatu pulled a calf muscle in the warm-up but his replacement was mighty Joe Rokocoko.

The Springboks started well and running -- the way they ended last week against the Wallabies -- but eventually they gave that up and decided that the best tactic was to transfer possession to the All Blacks, as they did for an hour in Sydney last week.  On one occasion in the first half, with the Springboks on the attack, Ruan Pienaar kicked into the New Zealand 22.  The next stoppage was a line-out in the South African 22!

The Springboks also aided in their own humiliation.  Pedrie Wannenburg incurred a regulation yellow card at a tackle and when the All Blacks were penalised under the Springbok posts Albert van den Berg took it on himself to put a boot on an All Black, presenting them with three points at a time when the score was 9-6.  That is disheartening.

Heartening must have been a vastly improved effort at the tackle/ruck where the Springboks competed.  The competition resulted in slow ball which did not make for a plethora of tries.

For the All Blacks, Carter's continued ordinariness must have been a worry and Isaia Toeava had poor judgement in the centre.  Much of the handling must be a cause for concern as pass after pass went astray.  In the first half the All Blacks put the ball into one scrum, the Springboks into eight.  The All Black scrum came after 36 minutes.

The evening was cold and dry to start with in Christchurch and got off to an excellent singing of the South African national anthem by Pete Guthrie -- for a change on foreign soil -- and the traditional kamate haka by the All Blacks.  The start had a feelgood air about it.

The All Blacks had the first chance to score but Carter missed a straight kick, but when Breyton Paulse was judged off-side, a dubious call, Carter goaled.  3-0 after nine minutes.

Pienaar tried a long kick at goal, as he did in the second half, and, as was the case in the second half, the attempt was ridiculous.  But when Ruben Thorne tackled high Derick Hougaard levelled the scores at 3-3 after 23 minutes.  Straight after that Jacques Cronjé was penalised for using his hands at a tackle and Carter made it 6-3.

For the first time a try looked imminent when the All Blacks won a deep Springbok throw into a line-out and Luke McAlister stepped inside Wynand Olivier and accelerated ahead but the passing went hopelessly awry.

The Springboks had a good passage of play with pick 'n' drive but that fizzled out with a knock-on and a scrum to New Zealand.

The second half started badly for South Africa when Jaco Pretorius,, who looked out of his depth, knocked on the kick-off and the All Blacks played advantage.  With Rokocoko on his outside Toeava opted to go for the try but was pulled down.  McAlister had another break but he, too, was pulled down.  Instead it was the Springboks who scored when Keven Mealamu was penalised at a tackle/ruck and Hougaard goaled.  6-6 after 46 minutes.

Then Wannenburg was sent to the sin bin for the second time in this Tri-Nations.  The captains had been spoken to and had had a chance to speak to their teams but Wannenburg still did his own thing right in front of the Springbok posts.  Carter goaled, 9-6 after 52 minutes.

From now on, except for one foray into New Zealand territory, the Springboks could only hang on, which they did reasonably well till their grip eventually slipped at the end.

There were two meaningful changes about this time.  Lively Brendon Leonard replaced Piri Weepu at scrum-half and made a huge difference in the speed of play, and Peter Grant came on for Hougaard and really looked the part.

Just after this Van den Berg's indiscretion pushed the score to 12-6.

That is how it stayed for the next ten minutes.  Then Paulse knocked on at close quarters and the admirable Doug Howlett grabbed the advantage to send Rokocoko racing away.  Challenged, he flipped the ball back, underhand, to Leonard who had a straight run to the line for the try.  19-6.

At this stage all manner of changes were made and the game became looser, and eventually chaotic.

With four minutes left the All Blacks attacked, switching from far right to far left where Nick Evans, on for Howlett, slipped inside Paulse and past two others with slithery speed and dived over for a try, which Carter converted from touch.

More substitutions happened.  Then Wynand Olivier had a dart down the left and grubbered ahead and chased.  At the corner flag Carter fly-kicked the ball into touch to concede a five-metre line-out.  The Springboks tried a clever move but knocked on.  That still gave the All Blacks a five-metre scrum to defend but Eddie Andrews was penalised for collapsing.

The siren had gone, there were numerous errors as both sides tried to keep the ball alive and eventually Carter picked it up for a long trot to the posts.  He converted to set the seal on an unconvincing win.

Man of the Match:  Wikus van Heerden was again magnificent for South Africa but the candidates were really New Zealanders -- strong Luke McAlister, Chris Jack and our choice -- nor for the first time -- Richie McCaw who is at the heart of so much vital possession and opportunity for his side.

Moment of the Match:  Joe Rokocoko's impish flip pass inside to Brendon Leonard.

Villain of the Match:  Perhaps Albert van den Berg and Pedirie Wannenburg should share this title for their indiscretions.  Perhaps.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Leonard, Evans, Carter
Cons:  Carter 3
Pens:  Carter 4

For South Africa:
Pens:  Hougaard 2

Yellow card:  Wannenburg (52, South Africa, killing the ball)

The teams:

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Reuben Thorne, 5 Keith Robinson, 4 Chris Jack,3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Hore, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Jerry Collins, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Conrad Smith, 22 Nick Evans.

South Africa:  15 JP Pietersen, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jaco Pretorius;  10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 5 Johann Muller (captain), 4 Albert van den Berg, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 CJ van der Linde.
Replacements:  16 Gary Botha, 17 Eddie Andrews, 18 Gerrie Britz, 19 Hilton Lobberts, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Tonderai Chavhanga.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Paul Marks (Australia)
Television match official:  James Leckie (Australia)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

Wallabies recover from Bok barrage

Just as they did against Wales a month ago, Australia pulled back from a shock 0-17 deficit at home to take their Tri-Nations encounter 25-17 against South Africa in Sydney on Saturday.

Two tries in the first eight minutes -- one a well-worked charge from Wikus van Heerden, the other a 60m intercept by Breyton Paulse -- both converted by Derick Hougaard, plus a penalty from Hougaard, had the Boks 0-17 ahead after a quarter of an hour.

But gradually the experienced Wallabies worked their way into the game, and a two-try flurry early in the second half swung the game their way, giving veterans Stephen Larkham and George Gregan a winning send-off from home turf.

It was a match about respect, and respect won.

There was respect for two of the greatest players in the history of world rugby -- George Gregan playing his 133rd Test and Stephen Larkham his 100th, their last in Australia.  They were in the winning team as they came back from behind for the third time in recent matches.  The respect shown to them by their home fans and by their opponents was excellent.

There was also a respectful performance from the Springboks.  Vilified and scorned, accused of treachery, threatened with eviction, they earned respect and in fact could have earned a little more than that.

Then the teams were playing for the Nelson Mandela Plate -- in honour of the most respected man in the world, and the Wallabies deservedly won that.

Respect won on that fine, cold evening in Sydney.

The Springboks had an excellent first twenty minutes and then a spell late in the second half when they went in for pick 'n' drive and put pressure on the Wallabies.  But the meat was in the sandwich between those two periods when the Wallabies played with continuity and flair as they dominated possession and so territory and opportunity.

The match had an electric start for the Springboks.  Larkham kicked off and the Wallabies won the kick off which they immediately sent wide to the left but then Gregan chipped and Paulse ran in counter-attack.  The Springboks had a penalty and Derick Hougaard hit the upright.  The ball bounced back into the field of play and the Springboks stayed on the attack with good work from Waylon Murray and Gary Botha till Ruan Pienaar fed Wikus van Heerden who scored close in.  Hougaard converted, and the Springboks led 7-0 after 7 minutes.

The Wallabies kicked off and won the kick-off and again went wide to the left where Nathan Sharpe threw a long pass towards Stirling Mortlock.  It did not reach Mortlock for Paulse nipped in, intercepted and raced through empty paddocks to score.  Again Hougaard converted.  14-0 after 9 minutes.

Would pundits be eating humble pie?

Sharpe was kind to the Springboks again when he went offside and Hougaard made it 17-0 after 15 minutes.

For the next 65 minutes the Springboks did not score a point.  They had a chance to go up 20-0 when George Smith was penalised for holding on, but Hougaard , who had an anonymous game, missed one he should have got comfortably,.In the second half he also missed a drop and a penalty kick, before being subbed.

Goal-kicking was not the only bad part of South African booting.  Early on Pienaar kicked high and well and put the Wallabies under pressure.  But as the half wore on he just kicked.  His kicking was no longer an attacking weapon but just a transfer of possession and this brought the Wallabies more and more into the game.

When Pedrie Wannenburg was penalised for a high tackle, the Wallabies used the penalty to form a line-out and from it they wove patterns and Mark Gerrard was able to burst past Van Heerden to score close in.  Mortlock converted.  17-7 after 22 minutes.

As half-time drew nearer the Wallabies were getting closer and closer to the Springbok line till Wannenburg was off-side and Mortlock made the score at the break 17-10, with a penalty.

The Springboks were ahead but the writing was on the wall.  The writing grew big and bright when the Wallabies won a turnover off Wannenburg near the half-way line on their right and attacked going left.  Larkham chipped and the ball seemed to be heading out when Mortlock, with great skill, swung a left boot to fly-kick it back infield, forcing the Springboks to concede a line-out.  The Wallabies went left from the line-out and then came back in for energetic Stephen Hoiles to get over in Gary Botha's tackle.  Mortlock's kick made it 17-all after 43 minutes.

Hougaard was well wide with a drop attempt and then, when Bob Skinstad was penalised at a tackle, Mortlock put the Wallabies ahead.

Just after this the Springboks conceded the first of two expensive yellow cards.  They were winning the ball at a tackle/ruck but had nobody to pick it up as Wallabies loomed.  Lying on the ground Botha footed the ball back and was sent to the sin bin.  Later Johann Muller was reported for punching at a collapsed scrum and he was sent to the sin bin as well with five minutes left.  The lucky player may well have been George Smith who punched CJ van der Linde and was then penalised for what the referee called a swinging arm on Muller.  Smith's actions seemed worthy of at least what Botha, who hurt nobody, and Muller got.

While Botha was sitting with George Ayoub in touch, the Wallabies attacked brilliantly down the right.  At top speed Gerrard managed to kick diagonally infield where Matt Giteau, under pressure, swooped on the ball and surfed over for a try, which Mortlock did not convert.

The Springboks had the better of the rest of the match but made crucial errors -- accidental off-side, then a penalty for holding on in the tackle but after the final siren they did their best bit of attacking from their own line and but for a knock-on at the end of it by Paulse could well have scored a try which would have given them a bonus point.

It was the first of four Tri-Nations matches so far that did not produce a bonus point.

Man of the Match:  Call me sentimental but the Men of the Match are that celebrated duo George Gregan and Stephen Larkham and all that they brought to this game and many, many others -- 233 Tests between them, 85 in the same team, 75 as the half-back pairing.  And in any case they were as good as anybody in this match, and better than most.

Moment of the Match:  Breyton Paulse's intercept try.  Apart from anything else it said that the "B Boks" deserved respect.

Villain of the Match:  We had a duo for Man of the Match and a trio for Villain of the match -- Gary Botha, Johan Muller George Smith.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Gerrard, Hoiles, Giteau
Cons:  Mortlock 2
Pens:  Mortlock 2

For South Africa:
Tries:  Van Heerden, Paulse
Cons:  Hougaard 2
Pen:  Hougaard

Yellow cards:  Botha (52, South Africa, playing ball on the ground), Muller (72, South Africa, punching)

Australia:  15 Julian Huxley, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 George Smith (v/c), 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements:  16 Sean Hardman, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Hugh McMeniman, 19 David Lyons, 20 Phil Waugh (v/c), 21 Scott Staniforth, 22 Drew Mitchell.

South Africa:  15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Bob Skinstad (captain), 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Wikus van Heerden, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Johan Ackermann, 3 Jannie Du Plessis, 2 Gary Botha, 1 CJ van der Linde.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Eddie Andrews, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Jaco Pretorius.

Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand), Kevin Deaker (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

Wallabies shock All Blacks at the MCG

Two tries while New Zealand were down to 14 men gave Australia a shock 20-15 victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday – keeping their hopes alive of winning back the Bledisloe Cup and throwing the Tri-Nations race wide open.

As Australia raised their arms in triumphant jubilation they did so in the knowledge that not only have they ensured the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cup remain wide open but perhaps more telling in the knowledge the All Blacks are human after all.

It took a super human effort from the Wallabies, and as they departed the MCG man for man they bared more than a passing resemblance to the Incredible Hulk.  The green of the advertising logos on the pitch had slowly covered their bodies and shirts throughout a compelling encounter.

Stirling Mortlock, the catalyst behind a stirring second half performance that led to the downfall of the All Blacks, rippled beneath a green glaze covering him.  George Smith, who left the fray with minutes left, did so with his shirt splitting at the seams.  This was a performance based on brute strength and bourne out of a steely determination to not go quietly into the cold Melbourne night as all but they had scripted.

This, only the All Blacks fourth defeat in as many years, is perhaps their most telling.  The previous three, all at the hands of South Africa, ultimately counted for little.  Yet this close to the World Cup there is renewed optimism for all, the All Blacks do indeed have chinks in their armour and Australia gave a master class in how best to expose them.

The reshuffle in the New Zealand back-line, a result of a late injury to Leon MacDonald, gave the Wallabies a target to attack with Luke McAlister forced to play out of position at outside centre.  Mortlock was quick to pick up on this in the build up to the game, and it was he who did the damage with two searing outside breaks, the latter of the two leading to the winning score.

It is testament to the Australian mentality that they emerged from this encounter victorious, as for long periods the signs were ominous.  Yet it was their tenacity and unwavering determination to make a statement to the world that allowed them to maintain more than a glimmer of hope.  And when it mattered, with Carl Hayman in the sin-bin, they capitalised on All Black errors and punished them to the full.

Having left the All Blacks waiting after a ferocious rendition of the Kapa O Pango, a salute to the warriors in black, the Wallabies were made to pay.  Julian Huxley hacked the kick off straight into touch and the next time an Australian would touch the ball would be a full five minutes later when Huxley again got the game going after Tony Woodcock had burrowed over for New Zealand.

The signs were not good for Australia, those opening five minutes were a cameo of what the All Blacks do so well.  They attacked with pace and exposed every possible weakness in the Australian defensive line with Mils Muliaina slicing into the twenty-two to lay the platform for Woodcock’s try.  The runners queued up out wide yet Woodcock, with the help of Dan Carter, bulldozed over from close range for his first Test try.  Carter duly added the extras and the All Blacks were up and running.

It was down to Stephen Larkham to check the All Blacks, whose speed off the defensive line was phenomenal.  Maybe Larkham slid in a clever kick to avoid a barrage of All Black tacklers, but more likely it was his astute knowledge and vision that prompted the kick.  It came agonisingly close to yielding a try for the chasing Mortlock but Rokocoko piped him to the ball and defused the danger.

It was a timely reminder that Australia posed more than a passing threat, despite having been given little to no hope.  After 14 minutes Mortlock slotted a penalty after missing a difficult attempt moments before.  Carter then extended the lead with a penalty of his own a matter of seconds after what can only be described as stupid play from George Smith, slapping the ball out of Byron Kelleher’s grasp under referee Jonker’s nose.

The scrum was becoming messy, and after four re-sets Jonker lost his patience and penalised the bemused Hayman.  Mortlock stepped up and slotted a fine kick from out wide.  Twenty minutes gone and enough from both sides to suggest this would not be a cake walk for the All Blacks.

Then came a timely strike from the All Blacks signaling their intent to play an expansive game and further expose the Australian frailties.  A quick free-kick by Kelleher paved the way for a lightning quick try.  No sooner had Jerry Collins smashed into three Australian defenders than Luke McAlister was slipping out of a George Gregan tackle and feeding a simple pass out to the grateful Rico Gear who cantered over in the corner.

The remainder of the half was a black wave of pressure, resulting in a staggering eighteen missed tackles from the men in gold.  Had it not been for a glaring knock-on by Rodney So’oialo with Rico Gear outside him and only Matt Dunning between the pair and the try line it could have been a bigger margin going into the break.  As it was the All Blacks had to settle for 15-6.

The second half could not have been more diametrically opposite from the first.  New Zealand may not have lost in their previous fifty five Tests when leading at half-time, but it was Australia and the mighty Mortlock who came out roaring.  With minimal space out wide Mortlock took the ball at pace and showed McAlister a clean pair of heals before trampling over the top of Mils Muliaina in a style reminiscent of Jonah Lomu.

The break may have failed to yield a more tangible reward yet it served as a reminder that Australia had the weapons to hurt the All Blacks.  Not to be outdone New Zealand stepped it up a gear and Carter dazzled his way through a bewildered Australian defence.  However for all their creative play it was basic errors that started to cost the All Blacks.  On several occasions they wasted prime field position and scoring chances with simple mistakes.

With each error the Australians grew in stature, the hulk in them straining to burst out.  Then, with Carl Hayman in the sin-bin for hands in the ruck, the green and gold monster erupted into life with two heroic tries.  The first was engineered by a Larkham break, supported by the bustling Tuqiri.  The ball came back quickly and Gregan ensured the attack kept flowing.  Out it went to the busy Nathan Sharpe who fired a peach of a pass to Adam Ashley-Cooper.

He was faced, in a tight space, with Rico Gear who he beat with a simple turn of pace.  Then Richie McCaw came across and he too was beaten with a deft side-step, yes McCaw was made to look a fool, and finally Chris Jack made a last ditch attempt to haul him down.  He too failed and Ashley-Cooper was over for a try that breathed life and fire into the Australian bellies.  Giteau added a fine conversion and it was game on.

The chink in the All Black armour was then to be torn open and to make matters worse it was from yet another of their own errors.  Aaron Mauger, who was surprisingly out of sorts, floated a kick straight into touch.  From the resultant line out Australia struck with a score that has huge reverberations in world rugby.  It sent a message to all whom were giving up hope to say the World Cup is not a forgone conclusion.

McAlister was the defensive chink, and he was exposed in devastating style by captain courageous Mortlock.  Having left McAlister flat footed Mortlock again made a fool of McCaw as he stepped inside his counterpart.  Having looked for support Mortlock put his head down and turned on the after burners cruising effortlessly into the New Zealand twenty two.  As four All Blacks closed in on him he looped a one handed pass over the onrushing tacklers to Scott Staniforth who had the simple task off finishing the break under the posts.

The remainder of the game saw a tired and lacklustre All Blacks look for another late escape, none was coming.  The Wallabies wound the clock down in expert manner and sounded a warning to their fierce rivals that they pose a real threat to the Bledisloe Cup, the Tri Nations, and most importantly the World Cup.

Man of the Match:  For New Zealand Jerry Collins was huge in attack but more so in defence.  McCaw started in his usual form but two costly missed tackles tainted his otherwise superb effort.  For the Wallabies it was a monumental team effort to hang on in and when the chance came to strike killer blows.  The heart of their effort was their captain Stirling Mortlock who was simply awesome.  He showed some deft touches in attack, coupled with a solid defensive effort.  But the crowning moment in his display was that searing break to set up Staniforth for the winning try.

Moment of the Match:  There is no doubt whatsoever that Carl Hayman’s sin-binning was the turning point.  It was whilst the cornerstone of the All Blacks pack was in the bin that Australia racked up fourteen unanswered points and effectively won the game.

Villain of the Match:  It was a hard and physical encounter yet all managed to keep their tempers in check in an environment when they could easily have spilled over.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Staniforth
Cons:  Giteau 2
Pens:  Mortlock 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Woodcock, Gear
Con:  Carter
Pen:  Carter

Yellow card:  Carl Hayman (New Zealand, 62 – repeated infringements, not rolling away at tackle)

The teams:

Australia:  15 Julian Huxley, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith (v/c), 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements:  16 Adam Freier, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Stephen Hoiles, 20 Phil Waugh (v/c), 21 Scott Staniforth, 22 Mark Gerrard.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Luke McAlister, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So’oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Troy Flavell, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Mauger, 22 Nick Evans.

Referee:  Marius Jonker
Touch judges:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Willie Roos (South Africa)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

All Blacks raise the bar as Boks falter

New Zealand, coming from behind, showed their true class by beating South Africa 26-21 in their Tri-Nations showdown in Durban on Saturday -- making sure their ranking as the world's number one team, looking towards the World Cup, has been enhanced.

It was a game in which many of the Springboks' young guns lost their heads and made a rash of silly mistakes, while the All Blacks' old hands showed true composure.

Scoring two converted tries in the final 10 minutes, the Kiwis came from being 21-12 down to win more comfortably than the margin suggested.

We all thought it would be a World Cup final dress rehearsal, and it did not disappoint.  The match was played with an intensity somehow above that of last week's opener, with a physicality that defied biology from where we sat in the stands, and it kept every one of the 53,000 spectators enthralled.

Tactically too, the game was fascinating.  The All Blacks annihilated the Bok scrum -- we saw for the first time today truly how much John Smit is missed -- and spent quite a bit of the second half using their own bashers to eat away at the yardage, precisely the tactics hitherto attributed to the South Africans.

Joe Rokocoko, of all people, ignored a gaping three-man overlap on the left late in the game, eschewing that option for an inside pass to Tony Woodcock.  Woodcock fumbled, and on moments like those:  18-12 down with fifteen to go, are matches lost.

Line-outs were the predicted disaster for the All Blacks, who lost five of their own throws and resorted to quick line-outs at every opportunity to combat their shortcoming.  It worked after a fashion, but it led to much of their ball being hurried to start with, and the backs rarely got well-worked space with which to work.

Yet for all that, it was the maturity and execution of their wide game that told at the end, with two superb quick fire tries in four minutes turning the tables on their battered hosts.

What of the hosts, against whom a huge psychological blow has now been struck, beaten at home by their nemesis ten short weeks before the World Cup starts.

Once again, there was no faulting the commitment or desire, and for the large part, tactics.  The loose battle was comprehensively sewn up for most of the game, with the magnificent Schalk Burger delivering a barnstorming performance of tackling and ball-carrying.

Perhaps, right at the end, there was just that missing ounce of patience and calm required to close out games such as these.  It will be a bitter blow to lose this game, but players such as Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, and Pedrie Wannenburg -- whose late yellow card was a major turning point -- must look at the positives and learn, for the game could have been won.  Many locals will insist it should have been.

The tone for the match was set in the warm-up, with the Boks spending their 30 or so on-pitch minutes smashing away at the pads in bunches and jumping at line-outs.

Meanwhile, the All Blacks ran balls through the hands in groups of four with effortless efficiency, practiced a couple of tackles and sprints, and then trotted off the field.

When the teams came back on, it was the Boks who put their warm-up into practice first, enjoying four solid minutes of possession and hammering away at the 10-12 channel with the thicker of the forward tree-trunk battering rams.

It almost cost them, with Jean de Villiers ignoring a clear overlap on the left, but eventually, after Bob Skinstad reminded us of what he can do with ball in hand with a sublime fizz pass to JP Pietersen, the pressure near the All Blacks' line yielded a simple penalty for Percy Montgomery to fire the Boks into a 3-0 lead.

The early line-outs belonged to the Boks as well.  They won five out of the first seven in total, two of those on the All Black throw, and the second saw Skinstad and then Danie Roussouw mere blades of grass away from the All Black line.  A five-metre scrum resulted, but the All Black pack shoved the Boks off their own ball.  This whole passage of play was a pattern of the match.

New Zealand stopped kicking for touch then, and a peculiar bout of aerial ping-pong ensued, culminating in a penalty for the All Blacks from 40m out and in front of the posts.  Astonishingly, Daniel Carter missed.

New Zealand were not on their game completely, demonstrated first when Jerry Collins ran bizarrely at Aaron Mauger from 10m away, and then when Joe Rokocoko sprinted away across the field but the first four men at the tackle were all green-shirted.

The Boks defence smashed away at New Zealand's runners, who made the mistake of trying to take the Boks on at their own game.  Eventually the tackles and strewn bodies were so numerous that Carter had nobody outside him from a ruck, and he kicked for touch disconsolately.

Then, from an up and under, Mills Muliaina was also left stranded at tackle time, held onto the ball, and Ruan Pienaar goaled magnificently from five meters inside his own half.

After an extraordinary free-kick from a Rodney So'oialo mark, when the number eight nearly caught his own defence napping by slicing the ball across the field, the new Zealanders finally stitched something together.

Sitiveni Sivivatu was set free down the left, and had he chipped instead of trying to step outside he would surely have scored.  Likewise had Troy Flavell not tried a flashy switch pass and simply drawn his man, Greg Rawlinson might have scored.  But New Zealand seemed mentally a step out of sync with each other.

The Boks seemed to be upping the physicality another notch, and taking it a mite too far at times.  Montgomery rained a series of punches down on Flavell and got mighty lucky not to be flagged by touch-judge Wayne Barnes, and then Butch James delivered a hit on Carter that arrived panting and sweaty but just in the merest nick of time.

As it was the All Blacks made do with a penalty for hands in the ruck, which Carter converted on the half hour mark to make the score 6-3.

After a delightful All Black movement involving Carter down the left, South Africa turned the ball over and De Villiers went haring down the right.  Sivivatu caught him, and although the ball was popped inside to Willemse, the latter's offload was so poor that New Zealand got the ball back and forced a penalty.  Again, Carter missed.

But New Zealand's hands were now working, and another passing movement took them into South African territory, forcing a penalty conceded by Bakkies Botha, a stiff word from Alain Rolland to Victor Matfield, and three points for Carter to make it 6-6.

A good kick from James then took the Boks to the All Blacks' 5m line, with Muliaina running the ball into touch, and the Boks mauled the line-out ball inexorably to the line where Schalk Burger peeled off the back for a super try, marred by some ugly and utterly unnecessary punching and shoving from Bakkies Botha.  That was half-time, 11-6, but the Bos on the front foot.

The All Blacks began the second half on the attack, with a right to left move culminating in a threatening chip from Carter which was just a fraction too far.  Form the 22 drop out, the All Blacks regained position and possession, and Mauger made it 11-9 with a drop goal.

Again the All Blacks scrum made mincemeat of a Bok scrum, but again, the Boks bounced back.  Burger took the ball on, and then Pienaar's ineffective kick was run back threateningly by Sivivatu and Mauger, but Mauger opted to offload one time too many, and James picked off the ball and streaked away for a try under the posts to make it 18-9, including Montgomery's conversion.

The All Blacks were still moving the ball with purpose, playing the Boks at their own game with Collins, Flavell and So'oialo smashing the ball up before Mauger's chip nearly sent So'oialo in, but Pienaar covered superbly.

The intensity showed no sign of letting up with a half hour to go, with even the usually mild-mannered Joe Rokocoko getting involved.  The game simmered menacingly.

Muliaina had a break as the All Blacks began to speed up line-outs and stray kick returns, but Collins couldn't keep his grubber in play.

Steyn came on for James with 28 minutes to play, as Skinstad was penalised for an off-the-ball incident involving him and McCaw.  Carter's kick hit the post, but bounced kindly for the chasers and the All Blacks had a line-out inside the hosts 22.  The Boks pinched it, but Steyn's first touch was to fumble the pass from Pienaar and concede a 5m scrum -- coinciding with the departure of Os du Randt.

Wannenburg, who had replaced Skinstad seconds before, was yellow-carded as Sivivatu went close to the line following an inside pass from Carter, who in turn slotted an easy three points to make it 18-12 with a little over a quarter of the game to go.

Twice thereafter the All Black scrum annihilated its counterpart, twice yielding turnovers, from the second of which Rokocoko had a sniff of the line before being tackled into touch.  But despite the pressure, the All Blacks just couldn't get the crucial move right.

It seemed as if the All Blacks, having opted to take the Boks on at their own game, were guilty of the same wasteful adherence to the game plan, with Rokocoko scorning a three-man overlap out left.  15 minutes to go, and shattered bodies lay all over the field.

A dreadful tired kick to touch from Flavell ensured the Boks got possession down near the All Black 22, and then a penalty conceded by McCaw gave Montgomery the chance to make it 21-12 with 13 minutes to go.

Then came a moment of magic that brought the All Blacks right back into it.  So'oialo caught a high ball from Steyn, and then slipped past five or six defenders before offloading to Collins, who got into the Bok 22.  Wide the ball went left, and then, after five close phases, McCaw picked and went over for the try.  Carter converted to make it 21-19 with ten to go.

Now the All Blacks had the bit between their teeth, and Carter nearly got a breakthrough when he spotted nobody home at full-back and chipped.  Pienaar covered superbly again, and kicked long down field, but Rokocoko took the loose ball from Weepu and set Leon MacDonald on his way, looped MacDonald, and finished off a superb counter under the posts to give New Zealand the lead for the first time with seven minutes to go.  Carter made it 21-26 with the conversion, and South Africa had shot their bolt.

Right at the end, needing a desperate length-of-the-pitch move to win it, Steyn dropped a simple ball from Pienaar and conceded a 5m scrum.  There was just no gas left.  The All Blacks controlled the ball well and as the siren sounded so too did Rolland's whistle as the ball was buried under bodies.

Man of the Match:  This award could go to any one of about six players with the rest of the bunch not far behind.  For New Zealand Rodney So'oialo was massive, he tackled and carried the ball relentlessly, and then their was that mesmerising run in the build up to McCaw's try.  McCaw too was full of running and tackling and as usual he turned the ball over with aplomb and consummate ease.  Then there were the South African nominees, and in particular Ruan Pienaar.  His kicking game was a delight to watch and he saved his side's bacon on more than one occasion.  Yet it was the Trojan-like Schalk Burger who takes this award.  Not often does a losing player take the award but his game just gets better every week.  He tackled with relentless regularity and explosive force.  He carried the ball with unbridled aggression and worked feverishly at the breakdown.  He is one of the world's finest at present ... perhaps, on the strength of this performance, The world's finest.

Moment of the Match:  The Rodney So'oialo run that lead to McCaw crashing over.  At a time when the All Blacks needed some magic the big number eight conjured a run full of pace and dexterity that left the Bok defence in tatters, and they would never recover.

Villan of the Match:  Firstly there was Percy Montgomery who had no business launching an attack on Rodney So'oialo in the second half and then there was Bakkies Botha, who also had no business starting a thirty man scuffle after Burger had scored.  Also possibly Pedrie Wannenburg, whose yellow card cost his team manpower at the most crucial moment.  Keven Mealamu was also no angel with Schalk Burger on the ground at his mercy during the second half.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Burger, James
Con:  Montgomery
Pens:  Montgomery 2, Pienaar

For New Zealand:
Tries:  McCaw, Rokocoko
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 3
Drop Goal:  Mauger

Yellow card:  Pedrie Wannenburg (South Africa, 54 -- professional foul, hands in ruck)

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Butch James, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Bob Skinstad, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Frans Steyn.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Greg Rawlinson, 4 Troy Flavell, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements:  16 Kevin Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Leon McDonald.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)

Turner spares Australia A embarrassment

Wing Lachlan Turner scored a late try to salvage a draw for Australia A in Fiji, in their final Pacific Nations Cup match in Suva on Saturday.

Clint Schifcofske could even have nicked a win for the visitors, but he missed the conversion from wide out.

The Fijians had stormed into a 14-9 lead, with wing Filimone Bolavucu scoring two terrific length-of-the-pitch tries, both converted by fly-half Waisea Luveniyali.

The hot weather made things tricky for the Aussies, who made a stack of errors and lost hooker Tatufu Polota-Nau to injury just after the break.

Trailing 7-3 at the break, Cameron Shepherd doubled his tally of penalties before Schifcofske put the visitors in the lead with another pot at goal.

But Bolavucu intercepted a careless Ryan Cross pass for what looked to be the winning score for the Fijians.

But right at the death, the hosts' energy flagged, and the Australian pack shoved their Fijian counterpart off their own scrum ball, allowing Turner to wriggle through.

The scorers:

For Fiji:
Tries:  Bolavucu 2
Cons:  Luveniyali 2

For Australia A:
Try:  Turner
Pens:  Shepherd 2, Schifcofske

Fiji:  15 Norman Ligairi, 14 Isoa Neivua, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Seru Rabeni, 11 Filimone Bolavucu, 10 Waisea Luveniyali, 9 Jone Daunivucu, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Aca Ratuva, 6 Semisi Naevo, 5 Kele Leawere (c), 4 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 3 Henry Qiodravu, 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Alefoso Yalayalatabua.
Replacements:  16 Vereniki Sauturaga, 17 Apisai Turukawa, 18 Peniasi Tokakece, 19 Dale Tonawai, 20 Moses Rauluni, 21 Sisa Waqa, 22 Gabiriele Lovobalavu

Australia 'A':  15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Digby Ioane, 13 Junior Pelesasa, 12 Ryan Cross, 11 Lachie Turner, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Josh Valentine, 8 David Lyons, 7 David Pocock, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 James Horwill, 4 Alister Campbell (c), 3 Nic Henderson, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Rodney Blake.
Replacements:  16 Sean Hardman, 17 Gareth Hardy, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Jone Tawake, 20 Josh Holmes, 21 Sam Norton-Knight, 22 Clinton Schifcofske.

Referee:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Napolione Locoloco (Fiji)

Junior ABs thrash brave Japan

Tane Tu'ipulotu and Stephen Brett scored tries early in the second half Sunday as New Zealand's Junior All Blacks defeated Japan 51-3 in the final match of the Pacific Nations Cup.

The Junior All Blacks, who defeated Australia A 50-0 a week ago to clinch the title, built up a 10-3 lead at halftime.

Tu'ipulotu widened the lead to 15-3 four minutes after the break and Brett gave the visitors a commanding 20-3 lead two minutes later.

Replacement Stephen Donald added his second of two tries just minutes before the whistle to complete the scoring for the visitors.

The Japanese, coached by All Black legend John Kirwan, can take heart from their effort in the opening thirty minutes, after which they were leading 3-0.

But their courageous stand was soon halted by the inevitable All Black surge in the final fifty minutes.

The Junior All Blacks finish the tournament with a perfect record.

The scorers:

For the Junior All Blacks:
Tries:  Crockett, Tu'ipulotu, Brett, Tuitavake, Nonu, Wulf, Donald 2
Cons:  Brett 2, Donald 2
Pen:  Brett

For Japan

Pen:  Ando

Teams:

Japan:  15 Bryce Robins, 14 Christian Loamanu, 13 Yuta Imamura, 12 Shotaro Onishi, 11 Hirotoki Onozawa, 10 Eiji Ando, 9 Yuki Yatomi, 8 Hare Makiri, 7 Glen Marsh, 6 Yasumori Watanabe, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Tomokazu Soma, 2 Yuji Matsubara, 1 Masahito Yamamoto.
Replacements:  16 Yusuke Aoki, 17 Ryo Yamamura, 18 Takanori Kumagae, 19 Takamichi Sasaki, 20 Koichi Ohigashi, 21 Kousei Ono, 22 Go Aruga.

Junior All Blacks:  15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Rudi Wulf, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Anthony Tuitavake, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Daniel Braid (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Hoani MacDonald, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Derren Witcombe, 17 John Afoa, 18 Kieran Read, 19 Mose Tuiali'i, 20 Andrew Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Sam Tuitupou.

Referee:  Tim Hayes (Wales)
Touch judges:  David Changleng (Scotland), Taizo Hiraybayashi (Japan)

All Blacks overcome spirited Canada

New Zealand put in a mediocre performance to beat a spirited Canada side 64-13 in front of a sold-out Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Saturday.

The Canucks put up a good fight and were just six points adrift when New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore went over on cusp of half-time to give the home team a 26-13 half-time lead.

The floodgates duly opened after the break and Canada were forced into some tackling practice which certainly needs some more attention.

All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter scored a hat-trick of tries on the night and pocketed a personal tally of 29 points to overtake Andrew Merhtens's All Black record for points in a Test match.

Carter, who missed last week's 61-10 win over France with an ankle injury, kicked seven conversions from 10 attempts on his return.

Canada full-back Mike Pyke ran almost the length of the field to score a lone intercept try while wing James Pritchard landed the conversion and two penalties before the visitors ran out of steam in the second half.

In a game the All Blacks had little to gain from, the good news was that no more New Zealand locks or players succumbed to injury ahead of what could a testing Tri-Nations campaign.

The All Blacks were scratchy and at times woeful against Canada, making far too many uncharacteristic errors.

Although the home team scored 10 tries to one, they were left wondering what could have been with the All Blacks struggling with their combinations and rhythm.

Huge question marks also remain over the New Zealand performance at ruck and maul time.  The ball carriers were isolated forcing turnovers on far too many occasions.

New Zealand coach Graham Henry will have to work on his team's lack of precision and patience heading into their Tri-Nations campaign that kicks off next weekend against South Africa in Durban.

However, it was a good night for the All Blacks' debutants.  New boy John Schwalger celebrated his first test with a try and lock Ross Filipo survived a late injury scare to complete a solid performance.

It was certainly a game of two halves.  The first belonging to the Canadians and the second was all New Zealand's.

Winger Sitivini Sivivatu waltzed through the Canadian forward pack to score in the opening minutes of the game that would certainly be rated as his easiest of his 17 Test tries.

Sivivatu then turned provider for the second try with a precise cut-out pass floated over Mils Muliaina and Aaron Mauger to enable Luke McAlister to cross over in the left-hand corner with ease.

McAlister's try gave the capacity crowd of 25,000 a reason to believe they would see a try-scoring bonanza.

However, someone forgot to tell the visitors they were not meant to be playing as well as they did, constantly disrupting the All Blacks usual game flow wherever they could.

The Canucks' highlight of the match came when tall full-back Mike Pyke intercepted a pass from Carter meant for Mils Muliaina to race 90 metres down the right-hand touchline to score.

Sivivatu put in a dedicated chase, but the Montauban full-back had enough steam in his engine to go all the way.

Pritchard, who opened Canada's account with a 14th minute penalty, added the extras to allow Canada to narrow the margin to 12-10 in the 22nd minute, hushing the capacity crowd.

Schwalger was able to save the All Blacks some embarrassment by diving over in the corner thanks to a well-timed McAlister pass.

Carter kicked the touchline conversion to make the score 19-10, but Canada were full of confidence at this stage and fought back to earn a penalty that Pritchard slotted with ease.

Nobody could have guessed the visitors would be trailing the All Blacks by six points with half-time just a couple of minutes away.

With the half-time siren sounded, Canada spirits were shattered when Hore powered over from a blindside move to give the hosts scoreline some respect.

Carter's conversion left the score reading 26-13 in favour of the All Blacks at half-time, but the Canucks would have the field with their heads held high -- the All Blacks on the other hand trudged off the field in disbelief.

Carter, after a quiet first half, came into his own after the resumption of play.  The Crusaders pivot scored his first converted try a minute after the resumption of play in a blind-side move that was helped along by some abysmal tackling by the Canada defenders.

His second was a solo effort when he beat three defenders after the defence was stretched to its limits and he crossed for a third time taking the final pass from Peeri Weepu after a long build-up from a tighthead in the scrum.

Somewhere in between Carter's first and second touchdown, flanker Chris Masoe managed to crash over for his first Test try in an All Blacks shirt -- but his all-round performance raised a few eyebrows and may have played himself out of contention for a trip to South Africa.

Carter's third try brought on the half century for the All Blacks and the Canadians missed tackles were starting to take its toll -- 24 missed tackles by the 60th minute.

Winger Doug Howlett had a quiet night, but managed to cruise over and add another try to his impressive all-time try-scoring list thanks to some unselfish work by the hard working Jerry Collins.

Replacement Rico Gear, who came on at centre for McAlister finished had the last laugh after he was handed an easy run in after skipper Reuben Thorne forced a turnover in the middle of the field.

The ball was popped up to Gear who casually sprinted 50 metres to round off an average day at the office for the All Blacks.

Man of the match:  The entire Canada team can give themselves a pat on the back for a tremendous first half display.  For New Zealand, debutants Ross Filipo and John Schwalger played as if it were their 50th Test.  Jerry Collins was exhausting to watch as he again worked hard all match.  Aaron Mauger did his bit in the backline, but our vote goes to hat-trick hero Dan Carter who single handedly tore the Canada team to pieces.  He had a slow first half and threw that intercepted pass, but the All Blacks number 10 was instrumental with the boot and showed us once again why he is regarded as the best fly-half in the world.

Moment of the match:  This has to go to Canada's full-back Mike Pyke who ran almost the full length of the field to score from his well-timed interception.  The try brought the Canucks into the game and left all viewers watching around the globe looking twice at the scoreboard.  It will also be a moment Pyke will cherish for the rest of his life.

Villain of the match:  All good clean fun, no award.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Sivivatu, McAlister, Schwalger, Hore, Carter 3, Masoe, Howlett, Gear
Cons:  Carter 7

For Canada:
Tries:  Pyke
Cons:  Pritchard
Pens:  Pritchard 2

The teams:

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Luke McAlister, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Chris Masoe, 6 Reuben Thorne (c), 5 Ross Filipo, 4 Troy Flavell, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Carl Hayman, 18 Rodney So'oialo, 19 Richie McCaw, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Rico Gear, 22 Leon MacDonald.

Canada:  15 Mike Pyke, 14 Justin Mensah-Coker, 13 Craig Culpan, 12 David Spicer, 11 James Pritchard, 10 Ryan Smith, 9 Morgan Williams (c), 8 Sean-Michael Stephen, 7 Stan Mckeen, 6 Colin Yukes, 5 Mike Burak, 4 Luke Tait, 3 Scott Franklin, 2 Pat Riordan, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements:  16 Aaron Carpenter, 17 Dan Pletch, 18 Mike Pletch, 19 Josh Jackson, 20 Adam Kleeberger, 21 Dean van Camp, 22 Ed Fairhurst.

Referee:  Christophe Berdos (France)
Touch judges:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), George Ayoub (Australia)
Television match official:  Paul Marks (Australia)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

Steyn puts the boot into Wallabies

Two late drop-goals from François Steyn got South Africa off to a winning start in the 2007 Tri-Nations series, as they sneaked a 22-19 win over a tenacious Australian side at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.

That the Wallabies were so close at the end was thanks to two factors -- their resilience on defence and their ability to turn attack into points.

Only on one occasion did they fail to score when they got an attack going.

Apart from Wallaby scoring, the match belonged to South Africa in terms of territory, possession and opportunity.  But they, for some unfathomable reason, lacked fluency and cohesion.

Their idea of attacking was chucking the ball to Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger of Jean de Villiers and hoping that tries would come.

When they were going through attack after attack in the earlier part of the first half they did skip-pass after skip-pass regardless of the overlaps nullified.  That said it was a long pass -- long but not a skip -- that sent Jaque Fourie racing to the corner fore the Springboks' try.

The Wallabies had some luck.  Their try under the crossbar seemed to have been assisted by a gross bit of obstruction -- unintentional but obstruction nonetheless.  And spare a thought for Pierre Spies who was trying to get back onside as play sped downfield off a George Gregan chip that bounced fortuitously.  Spies was penalised and given a yellow card for an act that had no malice.

It was a lovely winter's day at the Cape -- clear sky, amiable sunshine and Table Mountain sparkling -- a perfect day for rugby.  The ground was immaculate, the build-up colourful and noisy, the nearly 50,000 fans pouring in excited good cheer.

The match started at speed and with enterprise and throughout there was attack and counterattack, both sides willing to attack from deep inside their own territory if the opportunity offered.

The Springboks scored first when Capetonian Daniel Vickerman was penalised at a tackle and Percy Montgomery goaled in the second minute of the game.

The Springboks settled into serious attack, but the Wallabies got out of their fix and a penalty against Spies at a tackle gave Stirling Mortlock a chance to level the scores.

Butch James did a clever grubbered kick-off and Juan Smith was racing down the right to set up the attack that ended in Fourie's try in the left corner.  After the television match official had had an easy job of advising that it was a try, Montgomery converted from touch.  10-3 after 12 minutes.

They could have gone further ahead when Ruan Pienaar was high and wide from a penalty just inside the Wallaby half.

They could have gone even further ahead when De Villiers broke clean through the middle and, with Fourie on his right, opted to throw a long, horrible pass to Ashwin Willemse, who had a wobbly match.  Willemse knocked on.

When Smith tackled high, Mortlock made it 10-6, and soon afterwards Giteau's dubious try made it 13-10 to the Wallabies, which seemed odd in terms of the run of the game.

Giteau came close to scoring near the line when he knocked on at the line.  But then Gregan chipped, the ball bounced backwards and Gregan passed into the retreating Spies who was sent to the sin bin.

Just before the break Stephen Moore was penalised at a tackle/ruck and Montgomery goaled.  At half-time the Wallabies led 16-10.  Schalk Burger was penalised early in the second half and Mortlock made it 19-10 after 44 minutes.  For the next 36 minutes the Wallabies did not look like scoring.

Rocky Elsom went off-side and Montgomery made the score 19-16 with 26 minutes to play.

The 26 minutes flew by as the Springboks hurled themselves into attack after attack, seemingly unable to breach the Wallaby lines.

Spies went close with a charge from a scrum and just when things looked good for the home side James grubbered and Lote Tuqiri saved.

From inside their 22 the Springboks used advantage on their left to send Montgomery racing down their right.  Montgomery chipped over Julian Huxley but the Wallaby fullback was back to the ball first and scrambled the ball left-footed into touch.

The Springboks had a six-metre line-out.  Two penalties for collapsing the maul led to two five-metre line-outs, and still the Wallabies did not break.

François Steyn had replaced Willemse.  He got the ball near the half-way line and near the touch-line on his right.  He moved forward as the urgent crowd urged him on.  He dropped and the ball soared high, dropping from its zenith and over the crossbar.  As Stephen Larkham had done to the Springboks at Twickenham in 1999 so Steyn did to the Wallabies at Newlands in 2007 and he followed it up with the winning drop, from closer in but under much great pressure, two minutes from time.

Man of the Match:  No doubt about this one at all.  It was Schalk Burger who ran with the ball, opassed the ball, tackled the Wallabies, got stuck in at the tackle-ruck and was still back in his own 22 to save a dangerous situation.  He was magnificent.

Moment of the Match:  François Steyn's first drop for the confident and skill of it.

Villain of the Match:  It was not match for innocents and there were a couple of emotional moments which did not get out of hand and added pepper to the spice of the match.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Fourie
Con:  Montgomery
Pens:  Montgomery 3
DGs:  Steyn 2

For Australia:
Try:  Giteau
Con:  Mortlock
Pens:  Mortlock 4

Yellow card:  Pierre Spies (South Africa, 36 -- repeated infringements, offside)

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Butch James, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements:  16 Gary Botha, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Francois Steyn

Australia:  15 Julian Huxley, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements:  16 Adam Freier, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Stephen Hoiles, 20 Phil Waugh (vice-captain), 21 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 22 Mark Gerrard.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Television match official:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Junior ABs make hard work of easy win

The Junior All Blacks continued their 100 per cent win record with a 39-13 win over Tonga in the Pacific Nations Cup on Saturday, but it was a hard-earned win, coming back from a half-time deficit.

Tongan full-back Vungakoto Lilo scored two first-half tries -- the second after Cory Jane had spilled a high ball -- to give Tonga a 10-3 lead early in the match, before Ross Filipo's try from a line-out near half-time restored parity -- with Brett converting and landing a penalty.

But Lilo gave Tonga the lead again with a penalty of his own with the final kick of the first half.

Derren Witcombe's try, the hooker latching onto a chip kick early in the second half, gave the Junior ABs the momentum again, and this time the team clicked into gear.

Tongan skipper Nili Latu was sin-binned for killing the ball in the 50th minute, and from the penalty, Marty Holah burrowed over.

As the Tongan team began to tire, the Junior AB replacements made a significant difference, and the backs ran their opposition ragged, with Tane Tu'ipulotu, Anthony Tuitavake, and Scott Hamilton all going over for tries out wide.

The scorers:

For Tonga:
Tries:  Lilo 2
Pen:  Lilo

For Junior ABs:
Tries:  Filipo, Witcombe, Holah, Tu'ipulotu, Tuitavake, Hamilton
Cons:  Brett 3
Pen:  Brett

Yellow card:  Latu (Tonga, 50, professional foul)

Tonga:  15 Vungakoto Lilo, 14 Seti Kiole, 13 Hudson Tonga'uiha, 12 'Isileli Matakaiongo Tupou, 11 'Aisea H Kaufusi, 10 Fangatapu 'Apikotoa, 9 Soane Havea, 8 Hale T Pole, 7 'Otenili Latu (Captain), 6 Teu'imuili Kaufusi, 5 'Isileli Fine, 4 Sione Kalamafoni, 3 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Toma Toke.
Replacements:  16 Feki Moala, 17 Sateki Mata'u, 18 Lopeti Liku, 19 Chris Hala'ufia, 20 Tevita Palu, 21 Siua Taumalolo, 22 Sione Fonua.

Junior ABs:  15 Cory Jane, 14 Scott Hamilton, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Anthony Tuitavake, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Marty Holah (Captain), 6 Kieran Read, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Filipo, 3 John Afoa, 2 Derren Witcombe, 1 Clarke Dermody.
Replacements:  16 Tone Kopelani, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Jerome Kaino, 19 Daniel Braid, 20 Andrew Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Tane Tu'ipulotu.

Referee:  Federico Cuesta (Argentina)
Touch judges:  James Leckie (Australia), Eva Mafi (Tonga)

All Blacks click into gear against France

New Zealand recorded an easy 61-10 win over France in the second Test as expected on Saturday, but the manner of the win was far more convincing than last week, and was a gentle reminder that perhaps this All Black team has not played its best already.

However, there are still worries for Graham Henry, with locks Keith Robinson and Ali Williams both leaving the game injured -- Robinson before the game had even started!

For France, the result, a record defeat against any team, will only serve to reinforce Bernard Laporte's view that this was a tour that should never have gone ahead.

June the 6th was D-Day when the Allied Forces went across the Channel to liberate France.  On June the 9th France went half way across the world and were captured and destroyed by New Zealand.

The All Blacks were much too good.  No matter what they did the French had no real counter to it.  Oh, they could get in the way and act bravely but they had no real answer as yet another Northern Hemisphere side -- labelled weakened/understrength -- gave a Southern Hemisphere side the opportunity to break records in a match practice masquerading as a Test match.

The French simply could not threaten the All Blacks.  Their forwards were destroyed in the scrums, outnumbered and outpowered at the tackle/ruck and beaten at the many kick-offs.  When their backs had the ball they were disjointed and jittery.  France's rugby is renowned for its skilful back play -- sophisticated handling off great running lines, fixing an opponent to let someone else run with elan.  There was no elan on a still, cold Wellington night with steam on the breath.

The difference between the two teams was most probably more than 51 points.

And so the All Blacks won the series 2-0 and retained the Dave Gallaher trophy which is in competition between the two countries.

For the All Blacks there was some concern about their locks.  They have already lost Jason Eaton and James Ryan to injury and neither will be at the World Cup.  On this cold night Keith Robinson tore a calf muscle in the on-field warm-up just before the Test.  Then during the match Sébastien Chabal charged.  Ali Williams stood up to him and crashed to the ground.  Williams went off blood trickling from his mouth and he was bundled into an ambulance and taken to hospital with a jaw possibly fractured.

Both could recover before the World Cup but it is not consoling for the All Blacks.  Troy Flavell was brought onto the bench in Robinson's place and then onto the field in Williams's place and played a half and a bit.

New Zealand hit the match running but France scored first when Williams was penalised for holding on in a tackle.

Luke McAlister could have levelled the score but hit the upright on a night when he did all the kicking and did it poorly.  Had he been accurate the score would have been over 70.

After McAlister's kick bounced infield, the All Blacks scored.  Young Arnaud Mignardi opted not to kick the ball away but ran it up and then knocked on.  From the ensuing scrum the All Blacks bashed and bashed with Byron Kelleher and Richie McCaw, both playing their 50th Test, prominent till Anton Oliver dived at the padding on the post and scored.  McAlister converted to put the All Blacks ahead after 121 minutes.  The French lead lasted seven minutes and did not return.

After McAlister had kicked two penalties, the All Blacks ran from depth in a match when their back three were much, much more involved than they had been at Eden Park.  Leon MacDonald kicked ahead and Julien Laharrague conceded a five-metre scrum.

From the scrum Kelleher went to the right and powered over despite the efforts to stop him of Benjamin Boyet, young Damien Chouly and Laharrague.  20-3.

Form the kick-off, the All Blacks won the ball and Kelleher kicked downfield.  French scrum-half Nicolas Durand went back to collect the bouncing ball near the touch-line on France's left.  His back to chasing Joe Rokocoko, Durand played the ball infield, intending it for Chabal.  Rokocoko enjoyed intercepting the little pass and set off for the line and the first of his two tries in the match McAlister missed the easy conversion but New Zealand led 25-3 after 27 minutes.

It was just after this that Williams departed, bloodied after he had stopped the warrior-like Chabal.

France had a five-metre line-out after a penalty and tried a maul.  It was not much of a maul and they lost the ball.  That happened again in the second half.  They simply could make no impression on the All Blacks.

The All Blacks went on one of their mazy attacks with their wings much in evidence till Flavell gave Rokocoko a pass and his second try.

While the French ran sideways and made no ground, the All Blacks were direct and made lots of ground.

That made the half-time score 38-3.  The half had been a better performance for New Zealand than they had managed in the whole of their big first-Test win.

The French had the ball early in the second half but Jack won it off them on the right.  On the far left as the All Blacks chain-passed across the field, Sitiveni Sivivatu dismissed Thomas Castaignède and sent MacDonald running 40 metres for the try.  35-5

The All Blacks were close again from the kick-off and were inside the French 22 when France scored.  Isaia Toeava knocked on a difficult inside pass from Nick Evans and Durand snapped it up.  He raced down the middle of the field with the faster All Blacks closing in on him.  He stopped, waited and gave to Benjamin Thierry who gave to Laharrague who scored.  Boyet converted.  35-10 after 52 minutes.

Chabal went off at this stage to cheers from the crowd who acknowledged a brave competitor and great personality.  And France signed off, leaving the All Blacks to play against themselves.

Toeava took an inside pass from McAlister and scored at the posts.  42-10.

New Zealand made a penalty into a five-metre line-out and bashed and bashed till Jerry Collins scored through four tacklers.  McAlister converted.  49-10 with 14 minutes to play.

The All Blacks did some more mazy running with wonderful support till Rodney So'oialo grubbered across field but the ball ran into touch five metres from the French line.

France cleared their lines but not far enough.  Keven Mealamu threw into Neemia Tialata who popped it back to Mealamu who scampered off to score.  54-10.

France were in tatters.  Olivier Magne had to move out to centre while captain Raphaël Ibañez came quietly onto the field to play flank.

After Jack had won a French throw into a line-out, McAlister burst free and sent Evans scooting for the posts.  McAlister converted to set new records to French humiliation.

Man of the Match:  Take your All Black pick but the most impressive player every time he got the ball -- and he got it more often than usual because he looked for work -- was Joe Rokocoko.

Moment of the Match:  There were lots of exciting moments but the most memorable was the clash between Sébastien Chabal, hair wild, and Ali Williams, which may have serious consequences for the All Blacks.

Villain of the Match:  Nobody at all.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Oliver, Kelleher, Rokocoko 2, MacDonald, Toeava, Collins, Mealamu, Evans
Cons:  McAlister 5
Pens:  McAlister 2

For France:
Try:  Julien Laharrague
Con:  Boyet
Pen:  Boyet

New Zealand:  15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Keith Robinson; 3 Carl Hayman; 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Chris Jack, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Ma'a Nonu, 22 Doug Howlett.

France:  15 Thomas Castaignède, 14 Julien Laharrague, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Lionel Mazars, 11 Jean Francois Coux, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Sébastien Chabal, 7 Olivier Magne, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Pascal Papé (captain), 3 Olivier Sourgens, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Christian Califano.
Replacements:  16 Raphaël Ibañez, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Olivier Olibeau, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Michael Forest, 21 Nicolas Laharrague, 22 Benjamin Thiéry.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Paul Marks (Australia)
Television match official:  Matt Goddard (Australia)
Assessor:  Brendan McCormick (Australia)

Australia flex their muscle against Fiji

Australia recorded a comfortable 49-0 victory over a spirited Fiji on Saturday at the Subiaco Oval in Perth led by a Lote Tuqiri brace on his return to the Wallabies side.

These 80 minutes of Rugby Union, classified as making up a full match of Test rugby, did no favours for the sport concerned, nor for sport itself.

It did not look like Test rugby, the players did not play with the urgency and vigour normally associated with the top flight of one of humanity's proudest sports, and neither did the commentary nor crowd display the passion traditionally given to an international clash.

The Wallabies, never showing any real cohesion nor skill, cantered to an absolute cake-walk of a victory, over a Fijian side looking like the poor son that professionalism forgot.

Tuqiri, the star of the match, and a Fijian-born Australian, has just come off the back of a three-week speed training programme in the midst of the international season.

The fact that, in the midst of professionalism, the low quality of a so-called top 15 side in the world, Fiji, have to come up against an opposition with that amount of backing behind them, is laughable.

What is also laughable is the poor performance of Australia, who have none of the setbacks that the Fijians can claim.

The Fijians looked like a nation that sees no real domestic competition, and does not play together much at all.

They showed glimpses of competitiveness in the opening exchanges, with the brave play of scrumhalf Moses Rauluni, and skipper and number eight Alifereti Doviverata poking some holes in the inside channel, but they simply do not possess the skill and accuracy at the phase interchange to stay in the game with any decent opposition.

The Australians, meanwhile, were clearly aiming for a larger degree of control in their game.

That endeavour, however, was poorly executed.

Their forward drives off the lineout are weak and lacking intent, and the loping passes of Matt Dunning and Phil Waugh gave the impression of a training game.

Early on, their scrum appeared to be heading for trouble, but after the Fijians were blown up for early hits, they over-compensated with a lack of a hit at all, and the Australians gained the ascendancy.

With complete dominance in all phases of the game, the Wallabies shut Fiji out completely, and, from that position, the fact they did not score at will, speaks volume for the trouble in which Australian rugby finds itself.

The Wallaby backs showed a desire to play the ball wide, with Julian Huxley and the new centre combination of Adam Ashley-Cooper and Scoot Staniforth showing penetration and go-forward early on, running good lines.  In fact the centres probably were the only players of Australia who came out with any credibility.

Stephen Larkham was strangely loose, and, while he did some good things, he also caused a lack of congruency amongst his outside backs.

It was a break of Ashley-Cooper that opened the first points of the game, when he fed Staniforth to go over for the first try

After kicking the conversion and then a penalty -- which then gave way to some mostly poorly aimed attempts -- Huxley made the next break, to then double off Drew Mitchell for another try in the same corner.

Lote Tuqiri marked his comeback with a run off Staniforth's inside shoulder to go over after that, and from then on, the Wallabies spent their time fumbling towards the Fijian line off the back of their mistakes and scoring when they managed to put a penetrative move together.

They attempted a greater foward-oriented game, but that simply does not befit them.

The halfbacks must be of concern to the Wallabies -- Gregan showed why many critics say he does not break enough (he simply is not an attacking force) while Larkham is showing an ineptitude in connecting with his inside centre.

It must be said however that these two legends of the game do not have the same thirteen players around them as in their heydey, when the Wallabies possessed the nuance and verve to all run the right lines of their two playmakers at nine and ten.

The Fijians did their best to defend a side they simply were unequipped to play against, and, at various times, they went offsides in that bid to simply stay in the game.

Ultimately, this wasn't a genuine game of rugby, and the fans and the game and the wider rugby community is the poorer for it.

Man of the match:  He scored three tries, and for that reason alone, Lote Tuqiri is our Man of the Match.

Villain of the match:  When there is no battle, there ceases to be villainy.  One is tempted to name the yellow-carded Henry Qiodravu, tighthead prop of Fiji, but one can hardly blame him for doing his best to stop the one-way traffic.

Moment of the match:  The final whistle put an end to the debacle, and for that it must be merited.

The Scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Staniforth 2, Tuqiri 2, Huxley, Larkham, Norton-Knight, Ashley-Cooper
Cons:  Huxley 3
Pen:  Huxley

Yellow Card:  Henry Qiodravu -- Fiji (38th minute -- killing the ball)

The Teams:

Australia:  15 Julian Huxley, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Scott Staniforth, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (vice-captain), 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh (captain), 6 Mark Chisholm, 5 Dan Vickerman, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Stephen Hoiles, 19 George Smith, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Sam Norton-Knight, 22 Stirling Mortlock

Fiji:  15 Marika Vakacegu, 14 Mosese Luveitasau, 13 Vereniki Goneva, 12 Gabiriele Lovobalavu, 11 Isoa Neivua, 10 Jo Tora, 9 Moses Rauluni, 8 Alifereti Doviverata (captain), 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Apolosi Satala, 5 Kele Leawere, 4 Ifereimi Rawaqa, 3 Henry Qiodravu, 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Graham Dewes.
Replacements:  16 Bill Gadolo, 17 Apisai Turukawa, 18 Wame Lewaravu, 19 Tomasi Soqeta, 20 Vitori Buatava, 21 Jack Prasad, 22 Taniela Rawaqa.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand), Mark Lawrence (Scotland)
Television match official:  Jonathon White (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Andrew Cole (Australia)

Springboks outgun gutsy Samoans

Showing too much pace and power the Springboks withstood an early onslaught and a late rally to race away to a 35-8 victory over Samoa in their one-off test at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, on Saturday.

The Boks outscored the Pacific tourists by five to one.

After South Africa's successes in the Super 14 and in the two Tests against England, people had begun to talk of South African rugby in tones of awe.  Awe turned to awful on this breezy Saturday afternoon at lively Ellis Park when the Samoans came to play.

Now they must view the Springboks through different eyes, frowns relaxed.  The Australians must feel an upsurge of hope and the New Zealanders will be brimming with confidence.  They must be licking their lips at the prospect of playing in Cape Town next week and in Durban the week after that.

In the vogue of recent times this Springboks side would be labelled "weakened" or "understrength" but there was still supposed to be a lot of talent about to do better than that.  The second half bordered on disgrace.

The line-outs were good and the scrummaging excellent but that is where it stopped.  For the rest the Samoans were the ones who kept the ball far better and generally played with greater zest.  They coped with close-in mauls especially well.

The match may well have had more meaning for them and their captain, wise in the world of rugby, Semo Sititi, and their coach, the great Michael Jones, were at pains to than the South African people and South African rugby for giving them this chance to prepare for the World Cup.  Sititi said:  "It was lekker for us.  Baie dankie."

Jones said:  "We are proud of our warriors."

Both men thought that they were on track in their preparations for the World Cup.

Samoa had a horrible time in the scrums.  They were penalised four times and had Justin Va'a sent to the sin bin, as the referee did his best to keep scrumming legal and safe.  They lost two scrums against the head.  The irony was that they were heavier than the Springbok pack but their cohesion and technique were not good enough.  They also did not quite have the speed of the Springboks outside of the forwards, relying on Tuilagi power to get anywhere and it was not enough, for the Springboks can tackle.

The Samoans did their war dance, the manu, before the kick-off which added to the festive nature of the afternoon, for there had been many colourful dancers to precede them.

The islanders then kicked off and took over the first part of the match as they dominated territory and possession and went through phase after phase.  But two penalties in quick succession put the Springboks ahead.  The second was a bit of gratuitous silliness as Sititi took aim and stamped on the back of Albert van den Berg's knee.  Derick Hougaard goaled that.

But the Springboks battled at the kick-off and when Luke Watson was penalised, Gavin Williams kicked the penalty.  Look at Gavin Williams and your heart swells with happy memories for his father is Bryan Williams one of the legends of New Zealand rugby, one of the best wings of all time.

The first scrum of the match came after 12 minutes.  It was a Samoan ball but Va'a was immediately penalised.  6-3.

A penalty gave the Springboks a five-metre line-out.  They threw deep to Skinstad, who was a great source of clean ball.  Still airborne he played the ball back towards the fonts of the line-out into the arms of John Smit and the captain, playing his 45th consecutive Test, just got to the line for the try.  This was the only try Hougaard converted.

After the Springboks had shoved the Samoans into pressure at a scrum, enterprising Enrico Januarie intercepted and played inside where Watson and Danie Rossouw carried it on down the right.  Back the ball went left and eventually Wayne Julies lobbed a long pass over to JP Pietersen who had an easy passage to the line.  18-3 after 24 minutes.

The Springboks were close on the left when it seemed that Waylon Murray had to score.  In this hectic period of attack which included penalties and line-outs, the Samoan scrumhalf Steven So'oialo was sent to the sin bin after the referee had warned his side, penalised for the seventh time, that they were not helping the game along at all.

The Springboks' third try came from a Samoan error.  They overthrew at the line-out and Skinstad was up quickly to fall on the ball and secure possession.  The Springboks went left and Frans Steyn dummied and got past two tacklers to score in the corner.

Moment after So'oialo had returned from the sin bin, Va'a replaced him.  Sin bins were not all that profitable for the Springboks.  They scored five points while So'oialo was there and none at all while Va'a was off.

Half-time came with the Springboks leading 23-8 and one wondered if the sleeping giant would waken to full life in the second half.  This was not to be as he snuggled down and waited for the final siren.

Afterwards Jake White, the coach, who was not pleased with the effort, mentioned injuries as a fact contributing to the poor fare dished up..  Ashwin Willemse did not reappear after half-time, and during the half Enrico Januarie, Luke Watson and Wayne Julies needed replacing.

The second half started promisingly enough when Januarie broke and with Skinstad free on his outside chose to dummy and die.  That was when he was injured and replaced by Ruan Pienaar.

The Samoans now enjoyed great advantage in territory and possession so that when South Africa scored two tries in six minutes it was against the run of play for the other 30 minutes of the half.  After all the Samoans were oh-so close when Lome Fa'atau went for the corner but stuck a foot out in Waylon Murray's tackle.

The first came when Danie Rossouw won a turn-over in his own half and the Springboks spun the ball left where Pietersen swept through a gap and played to Pedrie Wannenburg who ran over a Samoan on his way to scoring.

The second came when the Springboks attacked from a line-out on their left.  They went right where Percy Montgomery an in his 83rd Test, dummied close to the line and beat two defenders to score far out.  He took over the kicking and goaled, the first South African to reach 700 points in Test rugby.

That made the score 35-3 with 216 minutes to play.

Samoa played during those 16 minutes, and after Skinstad had been sent to the sin bin they scored a try.  After many phases they went from left to right and a long pass sent to the right sent sturdy Anitelela Tuilagi racing for the corner as Wannenburg covered.

No wonder Jones and Sititi were proud afterwards.  Their "boys" certainly did not give up.

Man of the Match:  Hard -- and not because there is an embarrassment of riches.  But in the end for resolute defence, sensible direction and two brilliant try-bearing passes we have chosen Wayne Julies.

Moment of the Match:  Even harder.  In fact too hard.

Villain of the Match:  Kane Thompson was silly to grab Johan Ackermann around the neck, to which Ackermann -- understandably -- objected, but their was no villainy in the incident.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Smit, Pietersen, Steyn, Wannenburg, Montgomery
Cons:  Hougaard, Montgomery
Pens:  Hougaard 2

For Manu Samoa:
Try:  Anitelela Tuilagi
Pen:  Williams

Yellow cards:  Steven So'oialo (Samoa, 28 -- repeated infringements, hands in at ruck), Justin Va'a (Samoa, 39 -- repeated infringements, dropping the scrum), Bobby Skinstad (South Africa, 74 -- professional foul, hands in ruck)

Teams:

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Wayne Julies, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Bob Skinstad, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 Johan Ackermann, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Gary Botha, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Jaque Fourie, 22 Percy Montgomery.

Samoa:  15 Gavin Williams, 14 Lome Fa'atau, 13 Anitelela Tuilagi, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Loki Crichton, 9 Steven So'oialo, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 7 Justin Purdie, 6 Daniel Leo, 5 Filipo Levi, 4 Kane Thompson, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Justin Va'a.
Replacements:  16 Muliufi Salanoa, 17 Donald Kerslake, 18 Iosefa Tekori, 19 Alfie Vaeluaga, 20 Junior Poluleuligaga, 21 Elvis Sevealii, 22 David Levi.

Referee:  Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)
Touch judges:  Hugh Watkins (Wales), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official:  Ed Murray (Scotland)