Ireland add to Scotland's misery

Ireland heaped further misery on Scotland as they ran out 34-13 victors in Saturday's Six Nations clash at Croke Park.

Despite scoring their first try in almost three hundred minutes of rugby, Scotland had no answer to an Ireland side threatening, in patches, to return to the form of old.  Simon Webster's try, which gave Scotland faint hope with twenty-five minutes to play, proved little more than scant consolation.

Ireland ran in five tries and in doing so played some devastating rugby to bring Croke Park to life for the first time since they put England to the sword almost a year ago.  It has been a barren spell in Irish rugby -- a dismal World Cup still lingers in the memory after two less than convincing performances in this year's Six Nations.

The sound of the old faithful giving a passionate rendition of "Fields of Athenry" will have been music to Eddie O'Sullivan's ears.  For so long he has had to endure a barrage of criticism but as Ireland slowly but surely unearthed a welcome return to form he will have afforded himself a sly smile.

Granted there is still work to be done, most notably at the line-out, but at times Ireland looked like the side who effortlessly accounted for South Africa and Australia in consecutive weeks in 2006.  For so long the line-out has been a formidable weapon in the Irish armoury, yet as it stands now it is a mere shadow of its former self.

Bernard Jackman, preferred to Rory Best for his throwing-in, had a woeful game -- coughing up two line-outs in the opening five minutes as Scotland asserted early pressure.  Mick O'Driscoll, whilst adding a hardened edge in the tight, leaves a lot to the imagination at the line-out, and up against Scott MacLeod he was exposed in ruthless fashion.

Despite a glut of early possession and territory Scotland could not make their pressure tell, even spurning an eminently kickable three points in a bid to crack the Irish defence.  Any perceived weaknesses of Ireland's defensive abilities were ill-founded, as try as they may Scotland could not find a way through.

If Scotland needed a lesson in efficiency then Ireland were only to glad to offer it up, scoring with their first meaningful attack of the game.  It came from their first foray into Scotland's twenty-two and exposed Scotland's scrum defence with alarming ease.  Jamie Heaslip picked from the base and arced wide with Eoin Reddan on his outside, Kelly Brown brought the dummy and David Wallace was afforded the easiest of tries on the inside shoulder.

Scotland hit back through the only means they know how, Chris Paterson's formidable boot.  A simple penalty effort finally rewarded them for all their territory and possession, but it was of scant consolation as again Ireland struck with devastating accuracy following a poor box kick from Mike Blair.

The outstanding Geordan Murphy rose high to take the kick and from there Scotland had no answer.  Ronan O'Gara saw the space in front of him and surged forward and found Brian O'Driscoll as the defence engulfed him.  Having promised a return to form in the week O'Driscoll scorched forward attracting defenders like bees to honey before floating a sumptuous pass out to Rob Kearney who finished off a fine counter-attack.

Paterson continued his impressive run with the boot, adding his second penalty on the half hour, but Scotland were left to rue ill discipline as an attempted Nathan Hines punch cost them prime field position in the dying moments of the half.  Ireland, despite defending for much of the half had the lead at the break, 14-6.

If defence was the order of the day before the break it was clear Ireland were ready to cut the shackles after the break.  It took them less than fifty seconds to get their third try, a delightful cross-field kick from O'Gara finding the galloping Marcus Horan who crashed over with a huge smile on his face.  Ireland's confidence was on the rise, as were the noise levels around the stadium.

They went up another decibel as Paul O'Connell was introduced into the fray, his very presence bringing a new found calm to the set-piece.  It could do little to prevent Webster scoring though as Ireland had a momentary lapse in concentration, a powerful series of drives creating the space down the blind side for Andrew Henderson to free Webster.

There were those who thought it was the start of a fightback but any such notion was quickly eradicated as the hosts finished the game in style.  With twenty minutes to play Tommy Bowe scored to settle matters, but it was the build-up to his try that caught the eye.  Murphy started it, pouncing on a Paterson knock-on, before finding O'Gara who produced a wander pass under all kinds of pressure.  Trimble took the attack into the twenty-two before finding Bowe who showed great strength to finish the move.

With the game in its dying throes Bowe added his second to give the score a more honest reflection and again it came from turnover ball.  Scotland were trying to force matters from deep but only ended up in gifting the ball to Ireland who wasted no time in scoring.

How refreshing to see Ireland showing adventure and panache and one can't help but feel it owes a lot to the fresh faces in their ranks.  Faces of players with no World Cup ghosts, no wrongs to right but instead reputations to build and with seemingly no fear of the unknown.  Eddie O'Sullivan, whilst his stoic face may suggest otherwise, must be delighted.

Frank Hadden on the other hand is anything but delighted, rather he is facing the prospect of a second straight Wooden Spoon, which will ultimately cost him his job.  Even if he can turn things around -- God knows how he intends to do so -- the Scottish Rugby Union will surely be looking for a new leader.  And with Andy Robinson in Edinburgh they may not have to look too far.

Man of the Match:  Scotland had a select few who stood out, most notable was Alasdair Strokosch who carried with unrelenting enthusiasm, as did Nathan Hines.  But for us it was Geordan Murphy who stole the show, the rock at the back that Ireland built their win from.  As safe as ever under the high ball and devastating in attack he will have given O'Sullivan a selection headache at full-back with Girvan Dempsey on his way back to fitness.

Moment of the Match:  It has to be Tommy Bowe's first try.  For a long time now Ireland have struggled to find rhythm in their rugby, yet in one sweeping move it all came flowing back, from decisive running to deft hands, this move had it all.

Villain of the Match:  On the whole it was a good honest game, but this one goes to Nathan Hines for his attempted punch on John Hayes.  Had he connected he could have been a lot more serious than the penalty it cost Scotland.

The Scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  D.Wallace, Kearney, Horan, Bowe 2
Cons:  O'Gara 3
Pen:  O'Gara

For Scotland:
Try:  Webster
Con:  Paterson
Pens:  Paterson 2

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Andrew Trimble, 11 Robert Kearney, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Mick O'Driscoll, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Paul O'Connell, 19 Simon Easterby, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Shane Horgan.

Scotland:  15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Simon Webster, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Rory Lamont, 10 Chris Paterson, 9 Mike Blair (c), 8 Kelly Brown, 7 Allister Hogg, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Scott MacLeod, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Fergus Thomson, 17 Gavin Kerr, 18 Jim Hamilton, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Nick De Luca.

Referee:  Christophe Berdos (France)
Touch judges:  Joël Jutge (France), Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Television match official:  Romain Poite (France)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Wales complete part three

Wales remained on course for a Six Nations Grand Slam on Saturday, with an ultimately convincing 47-8 win over Italy in Cardiff.

Having stuttered in the first half and gone into the changing room only 13-8 ahead despite dominating possession and territory, the introduction of Mike Phillips early in the second half heralded a complete change in course for the Welsh, with both backs and forwards clicking smoothly into gear.

Wow!  This, finally, was the real deal.  After a first half in which the line-out flickered, the discipline faltered, and the imagination paled, Wales came out in the second half and showed us just how far they have come under Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards' tutelage.

Now their only task left is to show it for eighty minutes.  Lots of Grand Slam talk is surely in the offing, but they are yet to face the two strongest teams in this Six Nations, and a first-half display like the one delivered today will not do.

Neither will one like the second half for Italy.  Twice in this tournament, they have been half unlucky, half at fault for not taking advantage of faltering opposition.  Today, they simply could not take the pace.  Perhaps the last two matches have taken their toll on morale and energy, but this was a clear step down in intensity from the last two displays.

There are bright spots.  Andrea Marcato was efficient at full-back, and showed several game-breaking moments.  When he came on, Paolo Buso showed a lot of promise on his debut.  Now these talents have to be quickly harnessed and nursed, as Italy still offer far too little in attack.

It started solidly enough for Wales, with the ball-carriers retaining enough possession to grind out two early penalties for Stephen Jones to slot for a 6-0 lead, but then it began to unravel.

Italy scored.

It was that sudden.  Andrea Marcato's clever kick to the corner ought to have yielded a standard issue catch-maul-clear from the Welsh, but instead, Matthew Rees' throw flew over the outstretched arms of Martyn Williams and into Martin Castrogiovanni's hands.  Dwayne Peel was flattened by the big prop as he rolled to the line, and the Scarlets scrum-half was not quite the same after.  More on that later.  Marcato missed the conversion, and Wales' lead was cut to 6-5.

Italy's defence was well-briefed on the preferred Welsh flat attacking structure, and early attempts by the Welsh to find the angles were comprehensively smothered.  As a result, a fair bit of ball was kicked.  It was reasonably effective, but it wasn't pretty and of course, it handed ball to the Azzurri that the Welsh would rather not have done.

Italy should have taken the lead on one of the counter-attacking chances, when Marcato and Ezio Galon combined magnificently on a switch to send Mirco Bergamasco through.  All Gonzalo Canale had to do was take the pass, but he inexplicably spilled it.

Instead, Wales were next to score.  Shane Williams broke well down the left, finally finding his jink, and Rees took the ball to within five metres.  Out the ball came right, but the retreating Masi was struck by the pass from Shanklin.  Williams took the tap penalty quickly as Italy's defence struggled to organise, and the ball went wide to Lee Byrne for the first of his two tries.  Stephen Jones made it 13-5 with the conversion.

But still Wales were not finding their strut.  The penalties mounted against the Welsh as frustration seeped in -- going off feet here, a late tackle there ... it all mounted up.  Masi, Marcato, and Mirco Bergamasco engineered another dangerous break that came to nothing.  On the stroke of half time, Marcato converted a penalty to make it 13-8 at the break.

Back to Peel.  Having been thumped by Castrogiovanni, many of his subsequent passes were distinctly sub-standard, often flying around Stephen Jones' boot-laces.  He re-appeared for the second half, took another heavy tackle, and then was replaced by Mike Phillips.  It transpired that Peel had already been complaining of blurred vision.  Given what happened after the change, it surely should have been made earlier.

Seconds before Phillips' entrance, Wales went 20-8 ahead when Tom Shanklin, winning his 50th cap, was gifted an intercept try by Masi, who is still very much the novice at fly-half.

Phillips' first act was to burst onto Jones' pass and break clear, but he wasted the gilt-edged opportunity when he ignored Mark Jones' support for too long and tried to round Marcato himself.  Still, suddenly the service and threat from the base of the scrum had increased, and it was one attacking option too many for the Azzurri defence to cope with.

Shanklin's try had been a body blow for the Italians and they conceded two more penalties in quick succession, both of which Jones converted, as Wales pulled clear at 26-8.

To make matters worse for the Azzurri, Mirco Bergamasco was sin-binned for the second one after referee Pearson lost patience with Italy's constant infringing.

Wales notched up 10 points in his absence.  Stephen Jones burst into a gap and delivered a perfectly-delayed pass for Shane Williams to scamper down the right touchline and score his 38th Test try for Wales.

Byrne capped a man-of-the-match performance with his second try.  He burst through Canale's attempted tackle and sprinted home from inside his own half.  Hook, on for Stephen Jones, slotted the conversion.

Wales surged forward in waves.  Sonny Parker, Henson's replacement, sent Shane Williams away and the diminutive winger danced around a handful of Italian defenders to score his 39th Test try.

Italy were out on their feet, and Wales ... well, it was shades of 2005.  But now they have to do it against Ireland and France, a rather different task.

Man of the match:  Many of the Welsh were excellent.  Shane Williams dazzled, Martyn Williams ruled the roost in the loose, and Matthew Rees was a sterling performer.  But Lee Byrne, with two excellent tries and utter competence at full-back, takes the award this time.

Moment of the match:  Plenty to choose from, but being sentimental fools, we'll go for Tom Shanklin's intercept try, a perfect way to celebrate his 50th cap of a great career.

Villain of the match:  Nothing really.  Perhaps a silly late tackle by Ian Gough on Mirco Bergamasco, but the Italian centre was so soccerly as he went down that the two shared the villainy spoils in that moment.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Byrne 2, Shanklin, Shane Williams 2
Cons:  Stephen Jones 3, Hook 2
Pens:  Stephen Jones 4

For Italy:
Try:  Castrogiovanni
Pen:  Marcato

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins . 
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Deiniol Jones, 19 Gareth Delve (Gloucester), 20 Mike Phillips, 21 James Hook, 22 Sonny Parker.

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Alberto Sgarbi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Ezio Galon, 10 Andrea Masi, 9 Simon Picone, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellapé, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Pietro Travagli, 21 Paolo Buso, 22 Enrico Patrizio.

Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Rob Debney (England)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (Scotland)

England shock France in Paris

England defied the odds by beating France 24-13 at the Stade de France on Saturday and in doing so kept their own Six Nations title hopes alive.

France, playing an exciting new brand of rugby under Marc Lièvremont, were widely-tipped to put a troubled England side to the sword - that was not to be the case.  England were gifted the dream start when Paul Sackey went over after just five minutes and from there Jonny Wilkinson's boot guided them home.

With France still hunting for a win late on Richard Wigglesworth, on his first start for England, went over with the final move of the game to secure the victory.  The result blows the tournament wide open again, although Wales lead the way with three wins from three.

Questions have been asked of Brian Ashton and his England vision, and although some still remain unanswered many were dealt with in emphatic style.  The control England showed was superb and they never once looked in danger of losing a game few gave them any hope of winning.

Their job was made considerably easier by a French side who failed to find the running game that has served them so well in the last two rounds.  That they constantly tried to force the matter in the opening half was to their detriment as it gifted England a perfect start.

Cédric Heymans, the stooge of many a side, was at fault as England scored after just five minutes.  It was he who lost the ball in a thunderous tackle from Jamie Noon allowing Sackey a simple kick ahead to slide over.  Wilkinson added the conversion and before long had tacked on an extra three points to punish Pascal Pape's indiscretion at the breakdown.

In contrast France looked flat in attack and when it came to goal-kicking Damien Traille was shown up for the bit-part kicker he was, missing two relatively easy attempts at goal.  He had no problems converting Lionel Nallet's try though, the result of concerted forward pressure on the England line.

Wilkinson again showed the worth of a recognised goal-kicker, slotting his second penalty on the half hour to ensure England turned around at the break with a six-point cushion.  It may well have been just the three but Traille missed yet another effort.

The second half was slow to get going, almost as slow as England have been in realising the attacking potential of Lesley Vainikolo.  It took them a full sixty minutes to finally bring the big Tongan-born winger into the action, and when they did he barged his way through two tackles and laid the platform for a telling England attack.

With France turning to Morgan Parra's boot it was he who brought them within three points of England, that was until Vainikolo set a solid platform for Wilkinson to knock over a drop goal - his 29th in Test rugby, a new world record.  Records aside, the drop goal showed Wilkinson's maturity and knowledge of the game.

England had been under considerable pressure for nigh on twenty minutes yet the first chance they had of points and Wilkinson took them, regardless of the fact the attack was still developing and causing France problems.  That alone highlighted the need for Wilkinson in the side, one feels the likes of Danny Cipriani would have opted to keep the ball in hand instead and in doing so risk coming away with nothing to show for their efforts.

Another penalty from Wilkinson left France chasing the game late on, and although Dimitri Yachvili slotted a fine penalty the result was never in doubt.  In fact his three points only served to fire England into further action, a telling series of drives paving the way for Wigglesworth to secure the win.

There is no denying Ashton still has work to do but this result will give his squad a much-needed boost after a decidedly lacklustre start to their campaign.  One hopes that the joy of the win doesn't gloss over the glaring cracks in the team.  There can surely no longer be a place in the side for Iain Balshaw who again showed his aversion to the high ball, often leaving the likes of Noon and Flood covering his mistakes.

The use, or lack thereof, of Lesley Vainikolo needs to be addressed with some urgency.  To have a player of this stature in your side only to positively ignore him is a heinous crime and a waste of his talent.  Admittedly he is still learning his trade, the man admitted as much himself in the week, but to starve him of ball is to ignore a potent attacking weapon.

Marc Lièvremont must not hit the panic button, after all this is the first defeat he has suffered since taking over.  There will be those who point to his selections, three players at the heart of the team with a lack of experience, yet truth be known it was the senior players coming up with the bulk of the errors.

Man of the Match:  No surprise this one goes the way of an Englishman.  Jonny Wilkinson showed his true worth to the side, while Michael Lipman is industrious in all that he did, but without a doubt this award goes to scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth.  He injected some much needed life into England's game and his try at the death was a just reward for his efforts.

Moment of the Match:  That drop goal from Jonny Wilkinson.  Not only was it a record for the fly-half, and not only was it a measure of his ability but most importantly it left France with a mountain they could not quite climb.

Villain of the Match:  There was plenty of niggle, as one would expect, but nothing serious enough to merit this award.

The Scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Sackey, Wigglesworth
Con:  Wilkinson
Pens:  Wilkinson 3
Drop goal:  Wilkinson

For England:
Tries:  Nallet
Cons:  Traille
Pens:  Parra, Yachvili

The Teams:

France:  15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 William Servat, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Jérôme Thion, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Skrela, 22 Anthony Floch.

England:  15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 James Haskell, 5 Steve Borthwick, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Phil Vickery (c), 2 Mark Regan, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 Lee Mears, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Danny Cipriani, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

England struggle past Italy

England got their Six Nations assault off to a belated start on Sunday with a 23-19 win over Italy in Rome, in which Jonny Wilkinson notched up his 1,000th Test point.

Two early tries, from Paul Sackey and Toby Flood, gave England a bright start, but Italy's scrappers bought David Bortolussi chances from the tee to keep the Azzurri in touch, and then Simon Picone nicked a charge-down try at the end, setting up a nervy finale for Brian Ashton and his charges.

But the thunderous question cloud hanging over the England team's collective head was simply not answered.  Once again, in the final 20 minutes the English went to sleep, and Italy so nearly nicked it.  In the final minutes, trailing by four, the Azzurri had three attacking line-outs in promising positions, but each time one of the England jumpers stuck up a big mitt and ruined Italy's possession.

The lessons of Wales were so palpably not learned.  The longer the game went on, the less interested England looked.  Once again there was a dearth of leadership, once again a complete lack of direction.  Ball which should have been retained was kicked away, ball which should have been kicked away was run into trouble, and all too frequently turned over.  Italy enjoyed 65 per cent of the second half possession.  It was a far cry from England's confident and breast-beating start.

A lot of England's confident start was about the much-maligned Wilkinson.  It was his chip, regather, and exquisite offload to Paul Sackey that opened the scoring, and it was his support of Jamie Noon's kick charge-down that enabled Toby Flood to scoot over in the corner for the second.

His team-mates rallied round him at all times, tousling his hair for every good piece of play, slapping his backside when he needed a buck-up.  It was as though he was the baby of the team once more, with the bigger men in the team holding his infant confidence together.  Both he and his team-mates revelled in their respective roles.  Perhaps he'll always be Bambi to the England team.

But there remains a fair bit of work to be done.  Italy gifted England the two early tries, the first coming off an Italian throw, the second a mad moment of hesitation by David Bortolussi -- much in the vein of Iain Balshaw against Wales last week -- which allowed Noon to charge the ball down.

Beyond that, the teams were pretty well-matched, even in the first half.  England always looked to have more invention outside but were a little over-choosy in when to try and use it.  Instead they reverted to type, trying to march the ball through the Azzurri pack.

Italy tried to use the ball more outside, but had very little invention to talk about.  The one-dimension of the tactic of bringing the Italian centres flat and having Andrea Masi fling the long pass out to the back three did buy the learning Masi more time to pass from fly-half, but it bought England's defence more time to organise themselves.  None of Italy's three-quarters drew their defenders bar Gonzalo Canale, and the ball was continually shovelled to the wing where any number of drifting white shirts wrapped it up in defence.

After 16 minutes, the stats told the story.  England had had only three set pieces of possession, had conceded three penalties to none, and Italy had had some eleven pieces of set piece possession.  Yet when Flood scooted over for the second try, England led 14-6 -- Wilkinson's conversion taking him to four figures for international points.  They thrived off the turnovers, but created very little of their own.  They only won because Italy could not convert their possession into points.  They will not be as lucky elsewhere.

At least in the second quarter the men in white stepped it up a bit.  There was more control, more poise, more alertness at the breakdown.  Wilkinson missed one sitter, but slotted two other, harder kicks and gave his team a comfortable 20-6 half-time lead -- the ideal platform, you would think, to build a handsome win from.

Yet once again, it just fell slowly, horribly, apart.  Bortolussi brought Italy back to within eight with two penalties as England's discipline failed them continuously at the breakdown.  Wilkinson extended the lead to eleven again -- 23-12 -- with a penalty of his own on the hour mark, but the shapelessness of England was letting Italy's bruisers up front begin to make inroads.

The Italians kept up relentless pressure in defence, ensuring that neither Flood nor Noon in the centre were able to liberate themselves or their team-mates.  Up front, Nick Easter's charging threat was nullified, and nobody took the ball on with any conviction.  Even the substitutes failed to change the game.

It was one of the substitutes who let Italy get to within an ace of their triumph: none other than Danny Cipriani, so talked about, so praised, so recommended for a spot in the starting XV...  he caught a ball at the back, and just as Balshaw did last week, so he hesitated before booming the ball into the outstretched arms of the onrushing Simon Picone, who regathered and scampered under the posts for the try.

Bortolussi made it 23-19 with the extras, and Italy kept the pressure on.  What would have happened had Simon Shaw's hand not batted away an Italy line-out in England's 22 in the final minute? It's too horrible for an England fan to contemplate, but Brian Ashton needs to contemplate it quickly, along with his team.

Man of the match:  Italy are limited in most facets, but not at number eight.  On the occasion of his 50th cap, Sergio Parisse delivered a performance that will ensure this match shirt should be the centrepiece of his collection.  His hand-off of Paul Sackey while standing still was as much class and strength as it was comedy, and a deft little chip-kick in the first half gave you an insight into the true range of his skills.  Simply magnificent.

Moment of the match:  Simon Picone's try deserves a mention for setting up that finale, but we'll go for Jonny Wilkinson's chip, regather, and offload to set up Paul Sackey for the opening try.  The offload -- a reverse pass while looking the other way -- was a moment of magic.

Villain of the match:  None -- a fine-spirited game.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Try:  Picone
Con:  Bortolussi
Pens:  Bortolussi 4

For England:
Tries:  Sackey, Flood
Cons:  Wilkinson 2
Pens:  Wilkinson 3

Italy:  15 David Bortolussi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Ezio Galon, 10 Andrea Masi, 9 Pietro Travagli, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Simon Picone, 21 Andrea Marcato, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.

England:  15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Jamie Noon, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 James Haskell, 5 Steve Borthwick (captain), 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Mark Regan, 1 Tim Payne. 
Replacements:  16 Lee Mears, 17 Jason Hobson, 18 Ben Kay, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Danny Cipriani, 22 Mathew Tait.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Joël Jutge (France), Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match official:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Assessor:  Paul Bridgman (England)

Important Georgian victory

Georgia beat Romania 22-7 in Tblissi on Saturday, thereby retaining the Antim Cup and consolidating their position at the top of the European Nations Cup.  Romania's defeat more or less eliminates them from contention.

The way things look, only Russia have a reasonable chance of stopping Georgia from again winning the title.

Romania opted for a team with only a very few foreign players.  Most of them are home-based players and young.

It was icy cold.  The maximum temperature was just 2°C, and the field had to be swept before the match.

The sides each scored a try in a match which was perhaps closer than expected.

At half-time the Lelos led just 10-7.  They were up 10-0 after Mamuka Gorgodze's power had opened the scoring but then veteran Marius Tincu, playing flank, scored a try.  The only scoring in the second half came from the boot.

Tincu, usually a hooker, and big Ionut Dimofte, both World Cup players were late inclusions.

Scorers:

For Georgia:
Try:  Gorgodze
Con:  Barkalaia
Pens:  Barkalaia 4
Drop:  Malaghuradze

For Romania:
Try:  Tincu
Con:  Vlaicu

Teams:

Georgia:  15 Otar Barkalaia, 14 George Shkinini, 13 David Katcharava, 12 Irakli Giorgadze, 11 Irakli Chkhikvadze, 10 Lasha Malaghuradze, 9 Irakli Abusseridze (captain), 8 Dimitri Bassil, 7 George Chkhaidze, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Mamuka Gorgodze, 4 Kakha Uchava, 3 David Zirakashvili, 2 Irakli Natriashvili, 1 Goderdzi Shvelidze
Replacements:  16 David Dadunashvili, 17 David Kubriashvili, 18 Rati Urushadze, 19 Zviad Maissuradze, 20 Bidzina Samkharadze, 21 Meko Kvirikashvili, 22 Rezo Guigauri

Romania:  15 Florin Vlaicu, 14 Gheorghita Bigiu, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Catalin Dascalu, 11 Stefan Ciuntu, 10 Ionut Dimofte, 9 Valentin Calafeteanu, 8 Costica Mersoiu (captain), 7 Marius Tincu, 6 Mihai Macovei, 5 Alin Coste, 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Ion Paulica, 2 Bogdan Zebega, 1 Radu Basalau
Replacements:  16 Marcel Mihalache, 17 Mihai Adascalitei, 18 Vasile Rus, 19 Stelian Burcea, 20 Ciprian Caplescu, 21 Dan Vlad, 22 Catalin Fercu

Referee:  Neil Ballard (Wales)
Touch judges:  David Williams (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)

France pull a fast one on Ireland

France's renaissance as a free-running force took root in Paris on Saturday as they raced to an absorbing 26-21 victory over Ireland, but an unexpected Irish comeback in the second half had French hearts in French mouths.

Ireland were on the ropes after Vincent Clerc's powered home with a hat-trick of tries in the first half.

The visitors then responded magnificently with a penalty try, a touchdown by David Wallace and a Ronan O'Gara penalty -- his third of the game.

But with France's forwards crumbling before their eyes, Ireland ran out of time to complete what would have been an amazing comeback.

France attacked Geordan Murphy's wing mercilessly from the off and their ruthless streak paid off with the Leicester back exposed on two occasions.

Clerc was the beneficiary and needed no second invitation to raise his strike rate to 20 tries from 30 caps.

It was the pacy Toulouse wing, possibly the best player in Europe on current form, who broke Irish hearts with his injury-time winner at Croke Park in last year's Six Nations.

That score effectively denied Ireland the Grand Slam and Clerc was equally predatory in the rivals' pool game at the World Cup, plundering a brace of tries as France prevailed 25-3.

Cédric Heymans also crossed in Paris on Saturday while Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked seven points to put France in the driving seat -- until their second-half implosion.

France coach Marc Lièvremont replaced prop Lionel Faure and hooker Dimitri Szarzewski with William Servat and Julien Brugnaut early in the second half and their scrum disintegrated as a result.

Ireland, kept in touch by the kicking of Ronan O'Gara who finished with 11 points, took full advantage as the confidence drained from their opponents.

They dominated the forward battle after the interval, forcing a penalty try with a string of big scrums before David Wallace finished a drive from his pack.

Heading into the final quarter Ireland looked capable of registering a first win in Paris since 2000 but France escaped by the skin of the teeth.

The spirited performance will have eased the pressure on coach Eddie O'Sullivan, who has been heavily criticised since the World Cup, but France were undoubtedly the architects of their collapse.

It was an astonishing finish that contrasted markedly with Ireland's first-half woes.

Lame tackling saw Aurélien Rougerie waved through in the fourth minute, the Clermont winger taking a quick tap close to his line and breaking through.

He slipped through three tackles before being caught by the cover but openside Thierry Dusautoir was at the breakdown in a flash and Ireland infringed.

Jean Baptiste Elissalde pushed the simple chance wide and France's ominous opening continued with Cédric Heymans almost smashing his way over.

A dashing break from Andrew Trimble halted the early French assault, however, with some slick interchange ending when Wallace was pounded into the turf by Szarzewski.

Ireland created an overlap on the right that full-back Girvan Dempsey wasted with a delayed pass as France met their opponents' flourish with some ferocious defence.

Keeping the ball to good effect, the Irish continued to make inroads only to be outmuscled at a breakdown and pay a heavy price.

In a move that evoked memories of Clerc's try in the World Cup group game, Elissalde side-footed the ball onto the right wing where only Denis Leamy was stationed.

Blindside flanker Leamy did not have the legs to outpace Clerc to the ball and he galloped.

Elissalde converted and Ireland's woes deepened four minutes later when Clerc completed his double.

Murphy drifted off his wing to tackle David Skrela even through the Irish cover had lined him up and seeing the overlap, the Stade Français fly-half supplied the scoring pass to Clerc.

Ireland responded to the early setback with an encouraging passage of play that was ruined by an ill-judged long pass from Brian O'Driscoll and a poor handling error by O'Gara.

A pair of O'Gara penalties reduced the deficit to 12-6 but in the 37th minute Clerc's sensational afternoon just got better.

Toulouse team-mate Heymans created the space with an arched run before handing Clerc a routine finish.

Dazzling footwork swept O'Driscoll into space in the 46th minute but the Ireland skipper was alone and France were able to turn the ball over

There was more than a hint of luck about France's fourth try as Elissalde's chip through deflected off O'Driscoll and through his legs into the path of Heymans.

Only Dempsey and O'Gara were covering back but the full-back showed them a clean pair of heals and Elissalde converted.

Ireland struck back in unusual circumstances by pulverising France at a series of five-metre scrums and referee Nigel Owens awarded a penalty try that was improved by O'Gara.

The French pack had gone to sleep, caving in for a second time in the 62nd minute when openside David Wallace powered over from close range.

Buoyed by their ongoing success up front, Ireland continued to pound away and made huge inroads into the back-pedalling French.

A long-range penalty from O'Gara slashed the deficit to 26-21 and when Reddan broke free French hearts were in their mouths.

Ireland surged ahead and looked set to land the decisive blow but Heymans swept back to cover a Rob Kearney chip and Les Bleus were saved.

Man of the match:  Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan will be pleased with the collective will his side showed in the second half, and there was also moments for Ireland to cheer in the first half -- luck just didn't seem to go their way.  If we must pick out an Irish individual it would be Jamie Heaslip who grew in stature as the game progressed.  The boy could well be around for the long run.  It was a bit of a mixed bag from the locals, with Fulgence Ouedraogo and his lifters gaining plaudits after destroying Ireland's set-piece.  Meanwhile, the blue back-three were excellent, perhaps almost too good as the rest of the side seemed to start to simply expect tries towards the end.  France coach Marc Lièvremont is making a name for himself as a bold selector, and French scribes will undoubtedly relish the chance to quiz him over his decision to drop Vincent Clerc for the game, only reinstating him after Julien Malzieu was ruled out injured.  With three tries and more gas than the North Sea, the Toulouse flyer is our man of the match -- again!

Moment of the Match:  Plenty of fine counter-attacking from France, and the last few edge-of-the-seat moments will live long in our memory.  But we'll opted for David Skrela's cheeky nutmegging of Brian O'Driscoll that lead to France's last try -- art trumping muscle ...  it seemed to sum up the day.

Villain of the Match:  Not much to moan about in this one -- all good, clean fun: no award.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Heymans, Clerc 3
Cons:  Elissalde 3

For Ireland:
Tries:  Penalty Try, Wallace
Cons:  O'Gara
Pens:  O'Gara 3

France:  15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 David Skrela, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Arnaud Méla, 3 Lionel Faure, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Nicolas Mas.
Replacements:  16 William Servat, 17 Julien Brugnaut, 18 Loïc Jacquet, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 François Trinh-Duc, 22 Anthony Floch.

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Geordan Murphy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Andrew Trimble, 11 Rob Kearney, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Marcus Horan. 
Replacements:  16 Rory Best, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Simon Easterby, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Shane Horgan.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Wales subdue Scots in Cardiff

Wales made it two Six Nations wins out of two courtesy of a free-flowing 30-15 victory over Scotland at Millennium Stadium on Sunday, but the boys of blue had the measure of the heroes of Twickenham for much of the game.

So Warren Gatland's revival of Wales continues, and -- as a consequence -- Scotland's dismal slump goes from bad to worse.  That Scotland were within a score of taking the lead until the final fifteen minutes owes more to Welsh indiscipline than to their own creative play -- as in all honesty they created little of note.

On the other hand, Wales created plenty yet were unable to convert their chances, seemingly leaving Twickenham last week with a touch of England's yips.  So much so that Gatland's hand was forced with twenty minutes to go, at which point he hauled off James Hook and Mike Phillips for the more recognisable half-back pairing of Dwayne Peel and Stephen Jones.

To many it may have seemed Gatland was panicking, not so.  For while Hook and Phillips thrive on the open spaces they can sometimes lack the direction required to tighten a game up.  There was no such problem for Jones and Peel who, within eight minutes of their arrival, had secured the game for Wales.

Long before the arrival of the under-pressure Scarlets duo, Wales -- whilst playing a flowing style of rugby -- were, through their own ill discipline, allowing a distinctly average Scotland side to remain in the game.  Chris Paterson's metronomic boot ensuring Wales never really got out of sight.

Frank Hadden will have serious concerns over the lack of creative spark in his side:  only one clean line-break in 80 minutes highlighting the magnitude of his problems.  But for Paterson's five penalties it would have been a total rout.  With little else available to Hadden it is difficult to see where Scotland go from here.

Both sides were committed to playing an open game, and thus it ebbed and flowed from the moment Dan Parks got the game going.  Sadly for Scotland though their inadequacies from last week were still there for all to see, resulting in a fragmented game at times.

Wales, trailing to the first of Paterson's penalties, hit back in stunning fashion as Shane Williams rounded off a fine move stemming from a Scotland error.  Hugo Southwell's poor chip was gathered by the robust Phillips who set the platform for a sweeping move.  With Scotland in disarray Henson and Hook created the space for Lee Byrne to free Shane Williams out wide.  A customary side-step from the little wing allowed him to scorch over, with Hook adding the extras.

The rest of the half was a fairly drab affair as both sides came up with an unusual number of schoolboy errors.  Scotland showed some character to hold out whilst down to fourteen men -- Nathan Hines cooling his heels for a reckless backhander on Lee Byrne -- and managed to head into the break just four points adrift.

Again Paterson pegged Wales back early in the second half, reducing the deficit to just one point, before Hook eased Welsh nerves with a try of his own.  It was the Cardiff Blues duo of Martyn Williams and Jamie Roberts who created the space, and despite a poor pass from Adam Jones, Hook was able to gather the ball on the bounce before dancing past Euan Murray to go over in the corner.

Still Wales were unable to take full control on the game as again Paterson chipped away at their lead, two more penalties bringing Scotland back to within two points.  It was at this stage Gatland had seen enough and sent Peel and Jones in to rescue a game that was in danger of passing Wales by.

Ten minutes later the Scarlets duo had guided Wales into a winning position, aided by a dazzling second try from Shane Williams -- the legitimacy of which will be debated long into the Cardiff night.  Jones slotted a simple penalty before releasing Williams on a scorching run, although his foot appeared to graze the touchline before he grounded the ball.  Not so, said the TMO.  Mark Cueto will have been watching, wishing he was afforded the same leniency at the World Cup.

With the game as good as over, Jones added the final nail in the Scottish coffin with a superb long range penalty, condemning Hadden's men to a second straight defeat.  They rallied late on but were unable to breach the Welsh line, the ball finally being turned over after a barrage of close attacks were repelled by some stout Welsh defence.

As to where Scotland go from here is anyone's guess, although at this rate it is looking like a second consecutive Wooden Spoon.  Wales, on the other hand, are two from two and looking like a side returning to form -- they are just 80 minutes from a Triple Crown.

Man of the Match:  For Scotland Chris Paterson was the only player to emerge with any real credit, his boot proving as effective as ever despite being under used in recent weeks.  But it is hardly surprising this award goes to a Welshman, of which their were several to choice between.  Gavin Henson is on his way back to his best and in Jamie Roberts Wales have a real talent.  The big Cardiff Blues wing was full of aggressive running and looked totally at home in his first international.  But it was his Cardiff Blues team-mate Martyn Williams who won our vote.  As is often the case Williams was ever-present, mixing it in the tight and loose to great effect.  A tremendous all round display from the man they call 'Nugget'.

Moment of the Match:  Without a doubt it was Shane William's second try, for it came at a time when Scotland were still within a chance.  The moment Carlo Damasco, the TMO, awarded a controversial try and Scotland were dead and buried.

Villain of the Match:  There was nothing of note but this one goes to Nathan Hines for his unnecessary back hand on Lee Byrne.  Hats off to Byrne for taking it on the cheek and not playing up for the cameras.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries:  Williams 2, Hook
Cons:  Hook 2, S Jones
Pens:  Hook, S Jones 2
Drops:

For Scotland:
Pens: Paterson 5

The Teams:

Wales:  15 Lee Byrne, 14 Jamie Roberts, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Duncan Jones.
Replacements:  16 Matthew Rees, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Deiniol Jones, 19 Gareth Delve, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Sonny Parker.

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 7 John Barclay, 8 Kelly Brown, 6 Jason White (c), 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Fergus Thomson, 17 Gavin Kerr, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Allister Hogg, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Graeme Morrison, 22 Hugo Southwell.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Christophe Berdos (France)
Television match official:  Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)

Lelos in big win over Lobos

Georgia beat Portugal 31-3 in the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Vake on Saturday, to move to the top of the European Nations Cup, the "Six Nations B". They have the same number of points as Russia but have a better points' difference.

Standings, with matches played match points and points' difference

1 Georgia 5 - 13, 131
2 Russia 5 - 13, 80
3 Spain 6 - 12, 23
4 Romania 5 - 11, 71
5 Portugal 5 - 9, -28
6 Czech Republic 6 - 6, -277

Georgia play Romania this weekend.

Georgia scored five tries to nil in this convincing win on a cold but fine day. Both sides had much weakened teams because the match had had to be twice rescheduled because of unrest in Georgia and some players were not released by their clubs.

Portugal had just five players who went to the 2007 World Cup.

The Lelos won the game up front as their forwards dominated.

Scorers:

For Georgia:
Tries:  Katcharava, Khamashuridze, Dadunashvili, Guigauri, Bassilaia;
Cons:  Qiassashvili, Kvirikashvili 2

For Portugal:
Pen:  Cabral

Teams:

Georgia:  15 Irakli Qiassashvili, 14 Irakli Chkhikvadze, 13 David Katcharava, 12 Rezo Guigauri, 11 Bessik Khamashuridze; 10 Meko Kvirikashvili, 9 Irakli Abusseridze (captain), 8 Dimitri Bassilaia, 7 Rati Urushadze, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Kakha Uchava, 4 David Datunashvili, 3 David Kubriashvili, 2 Levan Dadunashvili, 1 Goderdzi Shvelidze
Replacements:  16 Irakli Natriashvili, 17 Anton Peikrishvili, 18 George Chkhaidze, 19 Zviad Maissuradze, 20 Bidzina Samkharadze, 21 Lasha Malaghuradze, 22 Otar Barkalaia

Portugal:  15Vasco Gaspar, 14 Aderito Esteves, 13 Hugo Melo, 12 Francisco Mira, 11 Gonçalo Foro; 10 Pedro Cabral, 9 Magalhaes, 8 Tiago Girão, 7 Antonio Duarte, 6 Juan Severino, 5 Sebastião Cunha, 4 Eduardo Acosta, 3 Juan Murré, 2 João Correia (captain), 1 Rodrigo Aguiar
Replavcements:  16 Gustavo Duarte, 17 Diogo Fialho, 18 Manuel Sommer Ribeiro, 19 Francisco Fragateiro, 20 Lourenço Kadosh , 21 Bernardo Duarte, 22 Diogo Miranda

Referee:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Touch judges:  Roberto Orlandini (Italy), Gianluca Bonacci (Italy)

France dampen Scottish hope

A new-look French team kicked their Six Nations defence off with a disjointed 27-6 victory over a below-par Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Any hope Scotland had of winning this game seemed to evaporate as Dan Parks's kick-off sailed straight into touch, it really didn't get much better than that for a frustrated Scotland side.  There was plenty of endeavour but little sustenance to back it up, instead it was a performance that was ruined by basic errors and a lack of control.

Frank Hadden picked a Scotland side based on form, only to witness his side form an inferiority complex that ensured their game failed to get out of first gear.  Any brief bright spells, and there were precious few at that, were brought to premature ends with basic errors.  As the game wore on the frustration grew, although it was there from the outset.

How Andrew Henderson escaped a red card is beyond belief, a head-butt on Damien Traille after Vincent Clerc's first try went unpunished despite being seen by the video referee.  Given a reprieve for his misdemeanour he failed to make the most of it, lacking the cutting edge Scotland so desperately needed to unlock an organised French defence.

Much was made of the inclusion of Parks over Chris Paterson but the truth was Parks failed to justify his selection.  Two fine long kicks from hand and a snap drop-goal aside, he looked average and when it mattered most he was unable to bring Scotland back into the game, although to be fair to him he received little help from those around him.

Popular consensus pointed towards a new-look French team, containing four new caps and a further three players with less than ten caps apiece, struggling to settle early on thus allowing Scotland to control early exchanges.  The chance would have been a fine thing for Scotland, as in reality France looked dangerous from the off, opting to run from deep and reveal their attacking intent.

It may not have always gone to plan for France but due to endless Scotland errors they had ample chances to get it right.  And when they did get it right it was devastating, Vincent Clerc and Cédric Heymans linking superbly to create the opening try for Clerc.  There was a suggestion of a forward pass in the score but that did little to detract from a fine move.

When Traille added a penalty a few minutes later Parks's fourth-minute drop goal was a fading light of Scottish hope.  The Scottish horror show took a turn for the worse with little more than a quarter of the game gone, paving way for Julien Malzieu to score on debut.

Malzieu seized the ball to take a quick penalty and promptly kicked ahead, a kick that seemed a little naive as both Rory Lamont and Parks seemed to have it covered.  Lamont ran straight past the ball and Parks's attempted hack only resulted in a miss-kick and the ball bouncing into the unsuspecting Malzieu's hands.  The look of utter surprise on his face said it all as he trotted in under the posts.

To say the game was as good as up at such an early stage would be a bold statement, yet the truth was it was.  Fourteen points down and with nothing to suggest they had enough in the tank to raise their game, despite Parks landing a penalty on the half-hour mark, Scotland were dead and buried.

France have, in the past, been guilty of taking their foot of the gas and the same can be said of their performance here, although one may point to the wealth of new faces as a contributing factor.  When Marc Lièvremont looks back at the video he will see there is plenty to be done, but at the same time he will see the basis of a team that could win a Grand Slam.

François Trinh-Duc was protected as much as possible but he still showed enough to warrant another start next time out, as did the industrious Fulgence Ouedraogo who quietly went about his business.  It was never going to be a polished French display, there were too many factors preventing it.  But it gives Lièvremont and his troops a starting point to build upon.

What it gives Scotland is a rude awakening, they are simply a one-dimensional team.  In trying to play a wide game they often just shovelled the ball across the field failing to fix defenders and ultimately running out of space.  They now have six days to turn things around before heading to Wales, a nation high on confidence, and knowing that it can only get better.

Man of the Match:  Up front William Servat was busy and always willing to carry the ball forward, Thierry Dusautoir was tireless in his work, without ever really finding top gear and Loïc Jacquet looked impressive.  But it was behind where France were at their best and in particular Vincent Clerc.  He bagged two tries for his efforts but it was his overall work rate and endeavour that saw him pose such a threat to Scotland.

Moment of the Match:  In a game Scotland believed they could win Vincent Clerc's first try seemed to suck the life out of them.  Looking to establish themselves early on Scotland were never able to recover from Clerc's try and simply had no answer once behind, which will be a major worry for Frank Hadden.

Villain of the Match:  Scotland centre Andrew Henderson took this award for his head-butt on Damien Traille.  He may have escaped punishment on the pitch but he can expect a date with a judicial committee in the very near future.  Totally unnecessary and could yet prove very costly.

The Scorers:

For Scotland:
Pen:  Parks
Drop goal:  Parks

For France:
Tries:  Clerc 2, Malzieu
Cons:  Elissalde 2, Skrela
Pens:  Traille 2

The Teams:

Scotland:  15 Rory Lamont, 14 Nikki Walker, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Andrew Henderson, 11 Simon Webster, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Dave Callam, 7 John Barclay, 6 Jason White (c), 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements:  16 Fergus Thomson, 17 Gavin Kerr, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Chris Paterson, 22 Hugo Southwell.

France:  15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Loïc Jacquet, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Julien Brugnaut, 2 William Servat, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Nicolas Mas, 17 Dimitri Szarzewski, 18 Arnaud Mela, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Skrela, 22 Aurélien Rougerie.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match official:  Chris White (England)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

Ireland struggle to subdue Italy

Ireland kicked off their Six Nations campaign with a 16-11 over Italy at Croke Park on Saturday, but the hosts' slipshod performance will fail to soothe fans eager to exorcise memories of the World Cup.

But any subsequent Irish autopsy must take into account a fine performance from the visitors.

Italy's set-piece work was exemplary and their physicality at the breakdown bullied the Irish out of the game.  Adrift 10-3 at the break, they rallied to win the second half by a fair distance.

The Croke Park clash certainly wasn't a good advertisement for Irish rugby and Ireland's full redemption will have to wait a little while longer -- relief will have to do for now.

After an encouraging start, the hosts were left hanging on for dear life after a late rally from the visitors so nearly resulted in one of the biggest upset of the tournament's 125 year history.

The muted reception they received from their own fans at the final whistle told much of the hard work that lies ahead for Eddie O'Sullivan and his team.

At the conclusion of O'Sullivan's 74th match in charge, and with one ear already on the chopping block, his 79th match -- against England on the final weekend of the tournament -- might just be his last.

In a game which reminded one of the Six Nations clashes of yore, both sides scrapped and scrapped and despite a stranglehold on possession and territory in the opening half, Ireland failed to make use of their try-scoring chances -- Nick Mallett's troops were tackling everything in sight.

After a nervous opening, O'Sullivan's charges began to loosen up and began stretching the Italy defence with Ronan O'Gara's cross-kicks proving too much to handle for the visitor's back three.

Barnstorming breaks by Girvan Dempsey and Geordan Murphy saw Ireland stride deep into the Italian half, and a repeat of the eight-try 51-24 win in Rome a year ago looked on the cards.

However, with the try-line in sight, misjudged kicks and mistimed passes led to Italy breathing a sigh of relief while the 72,000 strong home crowd were left breathing a sigh of frustration.

Even more so when an early turnover offered Ireland another chance to launch a counter-attack and they responded superbly with Denis Leamy and O'Gara slipping through gaps close to the breakdown.

Brian O'Driscoll was on his own when the ball was spun right but a clever chip by the Ireland skipper sent Italy scrambling backwards and flanker Josh Sole was on hand to avert the danger when Andrew Trimble came up with the ball.

Sole's try-saving tackle was then countered with a stray boot by scrum-half Pietro Travagli on Leamy and the resulting penalty from O'Gara nudged Ireland ahead 3-0 with twelve minutes gone on the clock.

The hosts then surged to a 10-0 lead when O'Gara landed another crossfield kick, this time into the hands of Trimble, who rode Mauro Bergamasco's tackle before offloading to Dempsey, who sped home for a fantastic opening try.

O'Gara added the extras to take him to 400 points in the Six Nations and the home team finally looked to have their mojo back.

Mallett was quick to make the necessary changes and struggling wing Pablo Canavosio was given his marching orders after one missed tackle too many.

Ireland also were forced into a sudden replacement when Gordon D'Arcy left the field clutching his wrist after clashing awkwardly with Andrea Masi in another one of the pivot's sniping runs.

In obvious discomfort, D'Arcy stumbled from the pitch with Rob Kearney slotting on the wing and Trimble switching to inside centre.

With ten minutes of the half still left to play, Italy stepped up a gear and for the first time in the match set up an attacking line-out five metres from the Irish try-line.

However, Biarritz lock Santiago Dellape was caught throwing a punch on the floor as Italy's discipline began to slip and was shown a yellow card for his actions.

But far from buckling in the face of Dellape's absence, the Azzurri continued to attack and even produced a penalty through David Bortolussi on the stroke of half-time which left Ireland in front with a 10-3 lead.

The second-half saw Ireland start on the front foot but they ruined several promising positions with simple errors.  Veteran prop John Hayes hardly looking like an 80-cap international as he spilled the ball from a simple pass.

Matters got worse when in the 48th minute flanker Simon Easterby was yellow-carded by referee Jonathan Kaplan giving the Italians renewed hope.

Easterby was not to return as the highly regarded Israeli-born number eight Jamie Heaslip replaced him.

Bortolussi, whose late penalty miss against Scotland in the World Cup cost his side a place in the last eight, failed to make the Irish pay for another infringement when he sent his penalty wide from the halfway line with just under half an hour to go.

However, the Irish seemed to be sparked by this and produced some of their better rugby with O'Gara's chip over the defence being collected brilliantly by O'Driscoll.

After Reddan's pass had been deliberately knocked forward by an Italian defender O'Gara added a penalty to make it 13-3.

The Italians, though, were not cowed and with an hour to go pulled to within five points as Sergio Parisse was credited with a try after much deliberation, the Italian scrum having forced their way over the line.

Bortolussi failed to convert and the difference between the two kickers was illustrated as O'Gara gave the hosts some breathing space with a penalty to make it 16-8 with 15 minutes remaining.

The lead was reduced to five points with 10 minutes left as Bortolussi converted an easy penalty.

A first and surprising missed kick from O'Gara failed to calm the nerves of home fans but Ireland did enough to stop an Italian resurgence and now travel to France under more pressure than before.

Man of the match:  Italy pack can hold their heads high after a solid display in the line-out caused all sorts of trouble for their hosts.  Mauro Bergamasco and captain Sergio Parisse were also tremendous in the loose and put in the majority of Italy's tackles.  For Ireland, Ronan O'Gara -- a different player to the unsettled one at the World Cup -- deserves a pat on the back for his tactical kicking that always kept the opposition backline guessing.  But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to single out the genius display at scrum-half by the young and talented Eoin Reddan.  His first start in a Six Nations match and certainly not his last.  Full of running, full of ideas and Eddie O'Sullivan full of you-know-what for replacing the star of the match with ten minutes of the game remaining.

Moment of the match:  In a match where far too many scoring chances were left begging like a dog outside a butcher's shop, it comes as no surprise then that the highlight of the match come from one of the only two tries scored.  O'Gara's clever chip over the Italian defence for Girvan Dempsey's try takes the cake.  It brought back happy memories of what the men in green used to bring to the game and gave their fans a glimmer of hope of Ireland's much talked about redemption -- sadly this wasn't to be.

Villain of the match:  Two players from opposing sides -- one more deserving of his time-out than the other.  Slap on the wrist for Simon Easterby for his professional foul in the second half that was perhaps a little harsh on the flank.  And a slap in the face for Santiago Dellapé, whose punching extravaganza after his team finally made it within touching distance of Ireland's try-line in the first 40 minutes of the match.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Try:  Dempsey
Con:  O'Gara
Pens:  O'Gara 3

For Italy:
Try:  Parisse
Pens:  Bortolussi 2

Yellow card(s):  Dellapé (Italy) -- punching, 29; Easterby (Ireland) -- playing the ball on the deck, 49

Ireland:  15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Andrew Trimble, Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Geordan Murphy, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus HoranReplacements:  16 Bernard Jackman, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Jamie Heaslip, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Rob Kearney

Italy:  15 David Bortolussi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Pablo Canavosio, 10 Andrea Masi, 9 Pietro Travagli, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellapé, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero

Replacements:  16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Tommaso Reato, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Andrea Marcato, 22 Ezio Galon

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Tim Hayes (Wales)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)

"New" Romanians smash Portugal

Romania took a brand new team to Portugal and beat the Lobos 23-5 in Lisbon in a European Nations Cup match on Saturday.  It is a promising result for the Oaks, a shattering one for the Lobos.

When the two teams met in the Rugby World Cup, the Oaks, with all their foreign players, eked out a 14-10 victory over Portugal.  Now, with a team almost entirely made up of home-based players and in Portugal, the Romanians have come up with this substantial victory.

At half-time Romania led 6-3.  Gonçalo Malheiro opened the scoring for Portugal with a penalty after two minutes but then Romania goaled two through flyhalf Dan Dumbrava, who was forced to leave the field injured just before half-time.

Early in the second half lock Valentin Popirlan scored a try.  Fullback Florin Vlaicu took over the kicking from Dumbrava and goaled the conversion and then a penalty.  Replacement wing Catalin Descalu scored the second try.

The Romanians were greatly pleased and encouraged by the victory.

Scorers

For Romania
Tries:  Popirlan, Dascalu
Cons:  Vlaicu 2
Pens:  Dumbrava 2, Vlaicu

For Portugal
Try:  Foro
Pen:  Malheiro

Teams

Portugal:  15 Pedro Leal, 14 António Aguilar, 13 Frederico Sousa, 12 Francisco Mira, 11 Gonçalo Foro, 10 Gonçalo Malheiro, 9 Luís Pissarra, 8 Tiago Girão, 7 Vasco Uva, 6 Diogo Coutinho, 5 Gonçalo Uva, 4 Eduardo Acosta, 3 Cristian Spachuk, 2 João Correia, 1 Juan Murré.
Replacements:  16 Rodrigo Aguiar, 17 Duarte Figueiredo, 18 Juan Severino, 19 António Sarmento, 20 José Pinto, 21 Pedro Cabral, 22 Diogo Gama

Romania:  15 Florin Vlaicu, 14 Gheorghita Bigiu, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Vlad Dan, 11 Stefan Ciuntu, 10 Danut Dumbrava, 9 Iulian Andrei, 8 Costica Mersoiu (captain), 7 Mihai Macovei, 6 Stelian Burcea, 5 Valentin Popirlan, 4 Alin Marcel Coste, 3 Radu Basalau, 2 Marcel Mihalache, 1 Nicolae Nere
Replacements:  16 Flavius Dobre, 17 Bogdan Zebega, 18 Cosmin Ratiu, 19 Vasile Rus, 20 Ciprian Caplescu, 21 Ionut Dimofte, 22 Catalin Dascalu

Referee:  Tim Hayes (Wales)
Touch judges:  David Bodilly (Wales), Mike Bethell (Wales)
Match commissioner:  Yves Bressy (France)

Springboks rule the world!

South Africa have been crowned rugby world champions after they beat England 15-6 in a tense and attritional Final at Stade de France in Paris on Saturday.

There were no tries, but nobody had expected a try-fest.  The game went completely to the form books, with the two teams smashing into each other rather than cutting through.

It was so tense, so close.  There was a beauty in that tension as there was heroism in the intensity of two teams who played to become world champion with every fibre of their beings and with the complete focus of their minds and hearts.

Eventually, the final whistle gone, South Africa captain John Smit, smiling broadly but as composed as he always is, could say of the effort that had gone into the four years' preparation:  "It's been worth every second of it."

Jean-Pierre Rives, the Inspirational former captain of France, and his son eventually brought the World Cup to the podium.  Syd Millar, the chairman of the IRB, handed out the medals and then the players shook hands with dignitaries such as Bernard Lapasset, the president-elect of the IRB, Gordon Brown, the prime minister of Great Britian, Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, and Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, who wore a Springbok tracksuit top.

Sarkozy was handed the little gold cup by Millar and presented it to John Smit who called President Mbeki over and together they fulfilled every South African's dream of lifting the World Cup in victory.

There were long banners in South Africa's colours and scintillating fireworks.  The Springboks lifted President Mbeki up onto their shoulders where he gleefully brandished the cup aloft.  And then they went skipping about Stade de France, showing off the Webb Ellis Cup while South Africans cheered in Paris and many other cities and dorps about the world.

Throughout the length and breadth of South Africa shouts resounded that were part joy and part relief because, heavens, it was close.  Car horns blared, toasts were drunk, cheering and laughter broke out, revelry was on the cards -- it was the biggest national party since 26 June 1995.

History did a bit of self-repetition.  No side that had lost in the pools, as England had, has won the World Cup.  No side has won the cup back-to-back as England could have done.  South Africa has now won two finals.  In neither did the Springboks or their opponents score a try.

South Africa won and paid tribute to England.  England lost and paid tribute to South Africa.  It was an honourable contest between two honourable teams.

Each side had one real chance to score a try and each side failed.  England came closer when Mathew Tait broke and Mark Cueto had a chance in the left corner, but as Danie Rossouw dived in desperation, the Englishman's left foot just clipped the touch-line.  England had to settle for a penalty goal instead.

That was in the second half, much the better half for England as South Africa rarely got out of their half, for England dominated possession and, as a result, territory.

The first half increasingly belonged to South Africa.  Just before half-time Francois Steyn burst ahead and they battered at the England line, Rossouw close off a five-metre scrum.  South Africa settled for a penalty goal instead.

England were unrecognisable from the mediocre team of 36 days before when they lost 36-0.  This time they gave as good as they got and were beaten but not vanquished -- not at all.

There were some surprising features in the game.  The England scrum was nothing like the dominant force it had been against Australia and in fact they lost a scrum to the wheel.

Their line-out was poor as they lost six throws to Victor Matfield and his fellow poachers.  That the Springboks did so well at the line-out made their persistent failure to kick the ball out all the more incomprehensible.

There were two dominant features in the match -- kicking high and bashing close.  Both sides kicked a lot, without producing tries.  Both sides bashed a lot without a great deal of gain.  In fact the best maul of the match came when England drove one up via their centres.

The two breaks that nearly brought tries both came in the centres, the first when Steyn broke through Mike Catt and the second when Tait broke through Steyn.

Considering the amount of slogging the two teams did at each other, manners were excellent and penalties few -- just 12 in the match, 7-5 to South Africa.

England did not have the lead at any time in the match.  The Springboks scored first when Tait's red boots slipped and he held on.  Percy Montgomery kicked the penalty that gave South Africa a 3-0 lead after six minutes.

South Africa were in trouble when Andy Gomarsall kicked and up-and-under and JP Pietersen dropped it.  Bryan Habana then brought off a brilliant, scything tackle on Paul Sackey but satisfied with that he stayed on top of the England wing and conceded a penalty.  Jonny Wilkinson goaled.  3-all.

Lewis Moody was penalised for a surreptitious trip and Montgomery made the score 6-3 after 15 minutes.

Soon afterwards their was a significant miss.  Wilkinson dropped for goal from a favourable position and missed.  Late in the second half he tried again, and missed.

They were both kicks one would have expected him to get.  They were the only two drops he tried though in the second half of the second half one could well have expected him to drop at goal as England had a plethora of possession without really making headway towards the goal-line.

After Steyn's break and South Africa's pressure on their line, Montgomery goaled a penalty and the Springboks went into the break leading 9-3.

England made a change for the second half with Matt Stevens taking over from Phil Vickery.  Eventually England would empty their bench where South Africa made only one real change -- Wikus van Heerden for Rossouw with just nine minutes to go.

Two minutes into the second half, off an awkwardly bouncing ball, Tait slipped Steyn and raced straight down the middle of the field, stopped only by a brilliant tackle by Matfield on the South African line.

In desperation, Schalk Burger was illegal, but the referee played advantage till Cueto tried to squeeze in at the corner, a decision referred to the television match official who took a long time before advising that Cueto's foot had been in touch before he grounded the ball, as was clearly the case.

The referee then went back to the penalty against Burger, and Wilkinson made the score 9-6.  In the next 38 minutes England did not score again.

Steyn again provided impetus as he thrust powerfully at the England midfield.  He was tackled but Martin Corry conceded a penalty at the tackle, presenting Montgomery with a straightforward kick at goal.  12-6 after 50 minutes.

There was a nasty moment when Toby Flood chased a bouncing ball into the Springbok in-goal and shoved Montgomery in the back, sending the fullback over the advertising boards and into a television camera.  Flood was apologetic but Montgomery was hurt.

Shortly afterwards, Ben Kay was penalised for obstruction and from just inside the England half young Steyn drove over a penalty goal of great length and accuracy.  He had missed with a long kick in the first half -- not by much -- but this one was perfectly on course.  That made the score 15-6 with 18 minutes to go, an important kick as it was forcing England to score twice to win.

England played most of the rugby at that time with South Africa using Montgomery, Steyn and Butch James to kick them back.

Then the time wore on and the Springboks mauled and bashed from a line-out and then, after Gomarsall had knocked on, they bashed from a scrum until the time dipped over 80 minutes and Fourie du Preez hoofed the ball into touch and started the winners' festivities.

Colin Mabey, an engraver, started working on the Webb Ellis Cup, digging South Africa's name into the gold of the base.

England formed a circle which Brian Ashton addressed with fervour.  South Africa formed a circle and prayed.

With fervour and prayer over, the prizegiving took place with fireworks and colour and banners and confetti.  What a moment, and what a fine end to a fine tournament.

Man of the Match:  Every player who went onto the field deserves praise, from huge, battering Andy Sheridan and little, nippy Andy Gomarsall of England, from delicate Percy Montgomery to robust Bakkies Botha of South Africa, but if we have to choose one it would be Victor Matfield of South Africa for making England's line-outs so haphazard, for the try-saving tackle on Mathew Tait and for the best diagonal kick of the match.  He is such a skilled giant.

Moment of the Match:  The telling moment was Danie Rossouw's desperate dive that did just enough to keep Mark Cueto from scoring a try which may well have won the World Cup.

Villain of the Match:  Nobody.  It was a match without malice.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Pens:  Montgomery 4, Steyn

For England:
Pen:  Wilkinson 2

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Danie Rossouw, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Johannes Muller, 19 Wikus van Heerden, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 André Pretorius, 22 Wynand Olivier.

England:  15 Jason Robinson, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Mike Catt, 11 Mark Cueto , 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Martin Corry, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Phil Vickery (c), 2 Mark Regan, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements:  16 George Chuter, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Lawrence Dallaglio, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Peter Richards, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Dan Hipkiss.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Joël Jutge (France), Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

Pumas pummel French again

Argentina confirmed their best ever performance at a World Cup when they recorded their second win over the French at the 2007 version of this global showpiece -- a 34-10 win at Parc des Princes, Paris, on Friday.

It also means Puma captain Agustín Pichot finished his career on a winning note and can now possibly slip into retirement content that under him the team scaled its greatest heights ever.

The same goes for coach Marcello Loffreda, who moves on to coach Leicester Tigers.

They played all right.  After their defeat in the semi-final Agustín Pichot declared the Pumas' World Cup was over.  It certainly was not over.  They came back at Parc des Princes to beat France as they have never beaten them before and scored five tries in the process.

The Pumas had 35 per cent of the ball and scored five tries to one.  That figure alone tells a story -- an indictment of France and praise for the resilience and concentration of the Pumas as they tackled again and again -- 113 times in the 80 minutes to France's 50 times.

If there was 50-50 ball, the Pumas won it, and they made France suffer.

The last time France played at Parc des Princes they suffered a record defeat at the hands of the Springboks.  Back to Parc des Princes, and they suffered another record defeat.  On both occasions their fans were vocally disgruntled.  France will not want to come back to Parc des Princes again.

France had chances galore, but, just as the All Blacks against them had got stuck in a pick-and-drive groove, so France tonight got stuck in a mauling groove.  The Pumas have no fear for teams who want to maul against them.  In the first half France had four five-metre line-outs from which they mauled -- in vain.  They had three tapped penalties from five metres out, from which they mauled -- in vain.

All they won in the match was the penalty count.  They conceded only five penalties, none in the second half, while the Pumas conceded 13 overall.

It was the most cantankerous match of the World Cup, and the silly emotion started in the first minute.  Just before half-time it got worse and the Puma lock Rimas Álvarez Kairelis and the French hooker Raphaël Ibañez were sent to the sin bin -- Alvarez for repeated infringement by his team, Ibañez for using his boot on Alvarez.  That ended Ibañez's match.  His last act on an international field of play may have been to fling his waterbottle petulantly in the direction of the touch judge who had reported him.  He was interviewed after the match and was not in generous mood either, warning the Pumas that the French would get them next time.

The blood between the two sides seemed bad, even after the final whistle when the Pumas were exuberant, the French sore.

Fortunately for the game, the second half was better mannered.

France started the match running the ball.  They looked for opportunities to counter-attack, mainly through the dashing play of Clément Poitrenaud who was the only French player to emerge with his reputation enhanced.

Three things happened in this time of French dominance.  First French handling was wobbly.  Second the Pumas tackled and contested the post-tackle.  It did not matter who had to tackle, he did it.  If prop Rodrigo Roncero had to tackle wing Aurélien Rougerie, he did so.  Third, the Pumas looked to run whenever possible even when well back in their own territory.

For all their territory and possession all France had to show for it in the whole of the first half was a penalty after 17 minutes which gave them a short-lived lead.  The penalty was for the second of four infringements by Patricio Albacete.  France's lead lasted three minutes.  The Pumas got into French territory and Jérôme Thion was the one with the guilty hands.  Felipe Contepomi kicked the goal.  3-all.

France came back.  Frédéric Michalak, who did not have much of a game, kicked a high up-and-under, which Ignacio Corleto fumbled but the Argentinians scrambled and cleared.  Twice France looked certain to score tries but twice they were pulled back for forward passes.  France had their three five-metre line-outs at this stage which produced mauls and heaps of players squirming on the ground like earthworms.  They broke with this for a high diagonal by Michalak for tall Aurélien Rougerie but the blond wing knocked on.

Instead the Pumas scored.  They broke out of the French stranglehold and went left, then right, then back left.  Hooker Alberto Vernet Basualdo charged ahead for the line.  He was tackled but the Pumas got the ball back and Pichot took a step to his left and then passed to Felipe Contepomi who burst between Yannick Nyanga and Imanol Harinordoquy for a try far out.  Felipe Contepomi converted.  10-3 to the Pumas after 28 minutes.

But somehow one expected the French machine to get more and more oiled and to start running in tries.  That certainly did not happen.

Juan Martín Hernández dropped at goal but the ball bounced back off the upright.  The Pumas got the ball off France when the French were careless at a tackle/ruck and Basualdo snapped up the ball and charged towards the French line.  There in that heap, veteran prop Omar Hasan got the ball down for a try which the TMO confirmed.  Felipe Contepomi converted.  17-3 after 31 minutes.

It was astounding.

The French mauled to the Argentinian line but were stopped and went wide left for Christophe Dominici, and they had their series of three tapped penalties in a period of bad temper.  But it all turned to dross for France as the Pumas tackled and tackled.

The French started the second half with another maul from a line-out as if this was going to be their salvation.  Instead, when Poitrenaud broke out of deep defence and raced down the field, one would have thought that this was really the way to go.  It was not the way they went.

Instead the Pumas scored the try of the match -- a great try.  The start was innocuous, it seemed.  Rougerie chipped and Felipe Contepomi knocked the ball back to Ignacio Corleto.  The burly full-back beat at least four Frenchmen and then passed inside to Manuel Contepomi who managed to control the high ball on the Puma left.  They went right.  Albacete had a hand in it and then Hernández threw the best pass of the 2007 Rugby World Cup -- a long one with the left hand and Federico Martin Aramburu stepped inside to score.  22-3 to Argentina after 53 minutes.

The Pumas lost Juan Manuel Leguizamón to the sin bin for a tackle that knocked Sébastien Chabal flat.  The tackle was judged to be high and with the shoulder.  Chabal stayed down,.  looking seriously wounded.  But as soon as Leguizamón was on his way to the sin bin the Caveman recovered rapidly and fully.

Now France were playing against 14, and the Pumas scored again!

France were attacking and Roncero won a turn-over.  The Pumas sent the ball wide to the left where Horacio Agulla got away from his man before giving to Corleto on the half-way line and the full-back raced down the field for a try in the corner.  27-3 with 15 minutes to play.

Soon after this Poitrenaud started the running, Harinordoquy had a strong run and Chabal a short charge before France went left and Poitrenaud cut through for a try which Lionel Beauxis converted.  27-10 with 12 minutes to play.

Rémy Martin spilt the ball far forward in a tackle near the half-way line.  Marcos Ayerza picked up and the Pumas set off again.  Felipe Contepomi broke and Leguizamón strode ahead.  He was tackled but the ball came back quickly to Hernández who surged through to the line.  Back the ball came and Felipe Contepomi plunged over for the try which he converted.

The Pumas were close to scoring yet again as Leguizamón strode down the field but that effort died on the touch-line.  They went even closer soon after that and were right on the French line.  They had a five-metre scrum but that broke apart and eventually the final whistle went.

And so the Pumas had the joy of collecting their bronze medals from Dr. Syd Millar, the chairman of the IRB.  They had been where no Argentinian team had been before and in the process proved that their 17-12 win at Stade de France six weeks ago was no fluke.  They have now won six of their last seven encounters with France, but none as convincingly as this one in the French capital.

Man of the Match: Clément Poitrenaud was France's only candidate but there were several Argentinian candidates -- Roncero Rodrigo, Gonzalo Longo, Ignacio Corleto, Agustín Pichot, Juan Martín Hernández amongst them -- which suggests that we are getting close to making the whole team the man of the match, which is not a bad call at all, but if we singled out just one it would be clever Felipe Contepomi.

Moment of the Match:  The pass from Hernández which ended in a try by Federico Martin Aramburu.

Villain of the Match:  There were three yellow cards, but it seems that perhaps, sentiment aside, the man who most deserved censure was Raphaël Ibañez.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Poitrenaud
Cons:  Beauxis
Pens:  Elissalde

For Argentina:
Tries:  F Contepomi 2, Hasan Jalil, Aramburu, Corleto
Cons:  F Contepomi 3
Pens:  F Contepomi

Yellow cards:  Raphaël Ibañez (France, 40 -- foul play), Rimas Álvarez Kairelis (Argentina, 40 -- repeated offences), Juan Manuel Leguizamón (Argentina, 63 -- foul play)

France:  15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 David Skrela, 12 David Marty, 11 Christophe Dominici, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Imañol Harinordoquy, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Raphaël Ibañez (captain), 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements:  16 Sebastian Bruno, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Sébastien Chabal, 19 Rémy Martin, 20 Pierre Mignoni, 21 Lionel Beauxis, 22 Vincent Clerc.

Argentina:  15 Ignacio Corleto, 14 Federico Martin Aramburu, 13 Manuel Contepomi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Gonzalo Longo Elía, 7 Juan Martín Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Martín Durand, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Rimas Álvarez Kairelis, 3 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements:  16 Marcos Ayerza, 17 Eusebio Guiñazu, 18 Esteban Lozada, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 20 Nicolás Fernandez Miranda, 21 Federico Todeschini, 22 Hernán Senillosa.

Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Nigel Owens (Wales)
Television match official:  Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Assessor:  Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Springboks to face England

South Africa will meet England in the 2007 Rugby World Cup final after a comfortable 37-13 win over Argentina in the second semi-final in Paris on Sunday.

The tension is over for a little while.  We have two finalists.  For the winning semi-finalists there is the serious preparation for the grand final on Saturday as Rugby World Cup 2007 reaches its climax.  For the losing semi-finalists there is the drudge of the third-place play-off.

Argentina captain Agustín Pichot said it afterwards:  "For us the World Cup is over."  Next Friday's match clearly means little to them after this defeat.  But heavens, they had made a fight if it, the Pumas' best-ever performance at the World Cup and after their early try in the second half it looked as if it could have been even better.

South Africa's victory in the semi-final was an odd one.  At the end you were left wondering what they had done to win the match.

The obvious answer is that they had taken their chances.  Four of those chances led to tries.  In fact there were even three more chances to score tries which were squandered.  For the rest they were not all that impressive.

The scrums were a disaster until Juan Martín Scelzo went off injured.  While he was there the Springbok front row simply could not handle the Pumas and Agustín Pichot used the advantage in the shove to give Danie Rossouw and Fourie du Preez a miserable time at the back of the dilapidated Springbok scrum.

The tackle area, too, was sloppy as indeed it had been against Fiji.  The support for the ball-carrier and the protection of the ball were poor, and the Pumas won many turnovers.

South Africa did not cope well with high kicks and until late in the second half were out-mauled by the Pumas.

Then, too, the Springboks who had generally been parsimonious in the matter of penalties during the World Cup suddenly gave away 14 (to 10) on the evening.

Oh, their line-outs were excellent.  The line-outs kept them in the game.  The Pumas won the first five line-outs without any competition from the Springboks while Victor Matfield, the wiliest line-out man in the world, sussed them out.  Then the Springboks got involved and the Pumas lost seven line-outs and threw one in skew.  The Springboks were so much better at the line-out that their reluctance to kick the ball out at times was surprising.

All of that said, the Pumas did not look like scoring a try apart from the one which they got, which John Smit afterwards attributed to a lack of concentralion on his side's part.

It was not as if the Springboks created much.  Bryan Habana's first try when Schalk Burger won a turn-over was created and they did well to capitalise on a gross knock-on by Juan Martín Hernández for Danie Rossouw's try.  On both these occasions skilful handling was the key.

Their best creation -- all their own work, did not result in a try when Frans Steyn pushed ahead going right and the Springboks came back left for Habana to go over in the corner but they were called back for a forward pass.

Two tries from intercepts!  They were neither of them hard luck but rather clever positioning.  After the match the Puma coach Marcelo Loffreda rued his side's errors.  "We made a lot of errors and paid a high price for them."

The Springboks must be the best poachers in the world.

The first try was an intercept.  The Pumas had started the game well and clever Felipe Contepomi threw a long pass to his left -- straight to Du Preez who raced down the field on a diagonal to his left to score a try which Montgomery converted.  7-0 after 7 minutes.  There was nothing flukey about the try.  Du Preez, a clever player, was in position waiting for the ball.

There was a lot of kicking early on, a lot of it inexplicably poor.  Hernández dropped at goal from in front.  It was a bad kick.  He, Montgomery and Du Preez -- all three excellent kickers -- had trouble kicking with the ball out of hand.  Was it that Stade de France was a bit slippery?  Was it the problem with the balls?

When John Smit was penalised for obstruction on Pichot, captain on captain, when the Springbok looked more sinned against than sinning, Felipe Contepomi kicked the penalty.  Later persuaded the referee to allow him a change of balls -- an odd situation at a top ground so late in the top rugby tournament of the world.  The referee allowed the change of balls and Contepomi missed the kick.

Almost immediately after this score, Manuel Contepomi was penalised at a tackle/ruck and Montgomery who had an immaculate evening of goalkicking, made the score 10-3.

When Steyn was penalised for holding on at a tackle, Felipe Contepomi made the score 10-6 after 29 minutes.

Then came Habana's first try, and it was thrilling.  On the Springbok right Schalk Burger won a clever turn-over and the Springboks got quick passes going to Habana inside the Springbok half.  He took off, lithe as a cheetah, chipped, gathered and raced over for a try that had taken him 55 metres to score in the blink of an electric eye.  Montgomery converted.

The Springboks had a chance when the Pumas were careless under a Montgomery up-and-under and JP Pietersen was off on the way to scoring but Rossouw was penalised for a needless shove in the back as the ball came down.

On the stroke of half time, not particularly under pressure, Hernández knocked on.  He knocked a long way on and Steyn gathered the ball.  Under pressure he got the ball away to Jaque Fourie, Burger gave a great pass to Rossouw and the big man thundered over.  Montgomery converted and the half-time whistle went with the Springboks leading 24-6, which seemed surprising as the Pumas had dominated territory and possession.

When James did not find touch from inside his in-goal early in the second half the Pumas countered and kicked the ball out not far from the Springbok line.  The South Africans easily won the line-out and then marched the ball up.  As happened with several of their mauls the Pumas managed to insinuate themselves into their ranks and won the ball.  Suddenly Mario Ledesma was bursting for the line.  Back the ball came and the Pumas went wide to the left.  Manuel Contepomi with a man outside of him, cut inside Pietersen who slipped and he dived over.  The TMO had a hard time before advising the referee that a try had been scored.  Felipe Contepomi converted.  24-13.

It looked promising for the Pumas but they were not destined to score again in the match.  They had a chance soon afterwards when the Springboks were off-side at a kick but Felipe Contepomi missed the shot at goal.

The Springboks had two chances after this.  First there was the forward pass to Habana and then Rossouw looked set to score but Habana was penalised for being a little way ahead of Fourie's kick.

When Pichot was offside at a scrum, Montgomery made it 27-13 and then when Juan Martín Fernandez Lobbe played Du Preez when he did not have the ball Montgomery made it 30-13.

The last try was again a bit of poaching.  The Pumas were attacking and going right.  Hernández threw a long pass but Habana snatched it out of the night air and, smiling with great contentment, raced over 70 metres down the field for a celebratory dive under the bar.  Montgomery converted.

There were a few minutes left.  Substitutes came pouring on, the game became a bit bad tempered and eventually the final whistle ended the affair.  In those fractious few minutes Juan Smith was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Hernández, to be followed by Felipe Contepomi for a back handed slap into Bismarck du Plessis's eye.

Man of the Match:  Agustín Pichot and Juan Martín Scelzo made life difficult for the Springboks.  Scelzo went off in the first half.  Had he stayed he would have been a really strong candidate as he gave his side their best chance of winning.  For the Springboks there were the flanks, Juan Smith and Schalk Burger -- smashing into the Pumas, looking to use whatever ball they could get their hands on.  But our man of the match was Bryan Habana for two excellent, long-range tries, adding glitter to the city of many glittering lights.

Moment of the Match:  Any of the four tries the Springboks scored but above all Bryan Habana's first try.  There was nothing lucky about the bounce of the ball.  It did not matter where it bounced.  Habana was simply going to score.

Villain of the Match:  There were two yellow cards for Juan Smith and Felipe Contepomi.  Felipe Contepomi probably deserved it more for he had just been spoken to for losing his head and then he, a surgeon, lost it even more with a bit of silly petulance.  There should also be a communal award for all those players who gave the referee advice.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Du Preez, Habana 2, Roussouw
Cons:  Montgomery 4
Pens:  Montgomery 3

For Argentina:
Try:  Manuel Contempomi
Con:  Felipe Contempomi
Pens:  Felipe Contempomi 2

Yellow cards:  Smith (South Africa, 78, high tackle), Felipe Contempomi (Argentina, 79, punching)

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 François Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Danie Rossouw, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt. 
Replacements:  16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Bob Skinstad, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 André Pretorius, 22 Wynand Olivier.

Argentina:  15 Ignacio Corleto, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Manuel Contepomi, 12 Felipe Contepomi, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Agustín Pichot (captain), 8 Gonzalo Longo, 7 Juan Martín Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Lucas Ostiglia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Carlos Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Juan Martín Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero. 
Replacements:  16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Omar Hasan, 18 Rimas Álvarez Kairelis, 19 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 20 Nicolás Fernandez Miranda, 21 Federico Todeschini, 22 Gonzalo Tiesi.

Referee:  Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Alain Lewis (Ireland), Chris White (England)
Television match official:  Tony Spreadbury (England)