Japan ended their 13 match losing streak at World Cup tournaments with a draw against Canada. Japan, playing their last game at the 2007 tournament, did not have it all their own way though. The two teams matched up well, with the Canadian forwards setting a good platform for their backs and the Japanese defending like demons. It was Japan who opened the scoring through a brilliant run from Kusuke Endo, and they held onto the lead until halftime. After the break Canada scored from a line out and the teams were locked at 5-5. Canada then took the lead through a try from SA born winger, DTH van der Merwe and it looked like Japan was going to lose again. Japan launched into attack on the Canadian tryline and were rewarded in the 84th minute with a try by Koji Tairi. The conversion was good and Japan ended their losing streak. Final score: Japan 12 Canada 12
New Zealand booked their place in the quarterfinals with an easy victory over Scotland. The All Blacks dominated the set phases but struggled to convert their domination into points, mainly due to lapses in concentration. Scotland defended well but never really looked like they are capable of scoring. The All Blacks scored 5 tries to 0, with Doug Howlett scoring a brace to become the New Zealand record holder for most test tries. Dan Carter scored a try and contributed 10 points with the boot to guide the All Blacks to first position in group C. Scotland will now have to beat Italy if they want to progress to the quarterfinal stage. The All Blacks will be worried about the amount of unforced errors they made and will have to rethink their game plan when they take on stronger opposition. Final score: New Zealand 40 Scotland 0
Fiji picked their second team to play against Australia and an Australian side that is looking like a dangerous dark horse to claim the World Cup beat them easily.
The game was a scrappy affair in the first half with both teams wasting scoring opportunities. Australia opened the scoring through Matt Giteau and maintained their strangle hold through out the game. Giteau scored again before half time to give the Aussies a comfortable 22-5 lead at the break. The Wallabies ran in 4 more tries in the second half to outscore Fiji by 7 tries to 2, with Giteau contributing 27 points in total. Australia thus made sure that they will qualify at the top of group B and they will play England or Tonga in the quarterfinals. Final score: Australia 55 Fiji 12
After 7 years and 9 matches Tonga have finally beaten Samoa in this Group A match yesterday. This achievement is even more impressive since the Tongans had to play the last minutes of the match with only 13 players. Hale T’Pole was sent off 7 minutes before the end for elbowing a Samoan player and Toma Toke had to leave the field 2 minutes thereafter for a dangerous high tackle. The Tongans defended like demons and their physocal onslaught was just too much for the Samoans. Tonga nand South africa are the only undefeated teams in Group A. Final Score: Tonga 19 – Samoa 15.
Pic taken from sarugby.com
Fiji are firmly on the way to the quarter finals after their victory in the Group B match over Canada yesterday. This is their second victory this World Cup, having beaten Japan last week. The Fijians got their bonus point try in the last minute after a opportunistic try from fullback Kameli Ratuvou. Final Score: Fiji 29 – Canada 16
Pic taken from sarugby.com
Italy got their Rugby World Cup campaign back on track with a laboured 24-18 victory over Pool C rivals Romania in Marseille. The Azzuri and their coach Pierre Berbizier will however not be celebrating too much today, because their performance yesterday was anything but convincing. The Itallians made countless forced errors and it never looked like they had a concrete match plan. Berbizier made 6 changes to the team that played against New Zealand, but the Azzuri only won because their place kickers were more accurate. It does not look as if they will make the quarter finals. Final Score: Italy 24 – Romania 18.
Pic taken from sarugby.com
Yesterday was clearly a good day for the South Sea Island countries. Fiji beat Japan (along with Tonga beating the USA) in a very tough contest with a thrilling end. It was Japan who launched one desperate attack after the other at the end, but Fiji held on against Japan’s first choice team. Japan’s coach especially did not play his first choice players against Australia, because he believed that this was the game to win. The lead changed six times during the course of the match, but in the end of this Pool B match Fiji came out on top. Final Score: Fiji 35 – Japan 31
Pic taken from sarugby.com
The Springboks started their World Cup campaign with a hard fought victory against Samoa. The game was very physical and threatened to boil over at times, but the class of the SA side was too much in the end for the Samoans.
SA dominated the lineouts and the scrums but for the first 30 minutes failed to impress. Samoa scored the first try of the half after good play by their backs. The SA back line never really got going in the first half and it was only thanks to individual brilliance from Bryan Habana that the Bokke scored their first try. A second try for the Bokke by Percy Montgomery gave SA a 21-7 half time lead, but all was not well in the SA camp.
The second half saw the SA back line gain more confidence, but it was only after Jean de Villiers left the field with an injury, replaced by Francois Steyn, that the back line started to look dangerous. The great possession provided by the forwards was used with better judgement and SA scored a further 6 tries in the second half. Final score: SA 59 Samoa 7.
Samoa can take heart out of their performance,they can certainly be a difficult opponent for England. Read the rest of this entry »
Portugal fought bravely in their first ever World Cup match but the greater physical strength of the Scottish forwards were too much in the end.
The Portuguese team certainly made friends with their wholehearted performance against a team that everyone expected them to be bullied by. Portugal showed a lot of guts and determination but in the end Scotland just had too much firepower. They scored 8 tries to 1, with fullback, Rory Lamont, scoring twice and causing Portugal problems whenever he touched the ball. Final score: Scotland 56 Portugal 10
Canada came out all guns blazing in their encounter against Wales, and for 0 minutes they were the dominating team on the field.
Two tries for the Canadians in the first half saw them leading by 12-9 at half time, and it looked like another upset was on the cards. After the break Wales played more constructive rugby after the experienced Stephen Jones and Colin Charvis were introduced. These players helped to settle things down and Wales started to dominate. The better quality possession the Welsh secured in the second half got converted into 5 tries whilst Canada only managed one more try in the second half. Final score: Wales 42 Canada 17.
