Round-Up: Day 1 & 2

And they’re off…

The RWC returned with a bang on Friday night as the hosts New Zealand kicked off proceedings with a convincing 41-10 win over a battling Tonga. The All Blacks were quickly into their stride and two tries each from Israel Dagg and the very impressive Richard Kahui helped the tournament favourites to a comfortable win. Dan Carter had an off night with the boot by his very high standards, but he certainly wasn’t alone in opening days of the tournament. More on that later.

A late try from replacement scrum-half Ben Youngs proved decisive as a sloppy and mistake ridden England fought off an injury hit Argentina to win 13-9 in Dunedin.

England’s first game of the tournament was far from a walk in the park. In fact, it was more of a crawl through a warzone as they came up against a motivated and physical Argentinian side.

The South Americans dominated the early possession and a Felipe Contepomi penalty gave them an early lead. But it was to be Contepomi’s last meaningful act in the game as he was forced off with a rib injury. Outside centre Gonzalo Tiesi followed soon after; feeling the full force of a dubiously late hit from Courtney Lawes.

But it was a game off missed chances with both sides’ frequently floundering opportunities to put points on the board. Between them, the sides missed ten shots at goal with England’s Wilkinson missing five penalties in total. It was a very uncharacteristic performance with the boot from the normally so reliable fly-half.

England’s discipline was their downfall with eight penalties being conceded in an error-ridden first half. Referee Bryce Lawrence finally lost his temper with the frequent infringements at the breakdown and sent Dan Cole to the sin-bin just before the break.

The Six Nations champions struggled to find the magic they had demonstrated during a successful build-up period and continued to force the play, leading to an unprecedented number of turnovers. Ben Foden broke the line mid-way through the first half, but that was as close as the 2007 finalists came during the first forty minutes.

The Argentinians continued in their brutal defensive manner and had the opportunities to cross the line themselves. Some weak first-up tackling allowed wingers Agulla and Camacho to carry the ball fifty metres downfield before being hauled down by the covering defence.

But with thirteen minutes left on the clock, Ben Youngs found a gap around the fringes of the ruck and accelerated in under the posts. It was England’s first real sign of quick-ball and the Leicester number nine showed just why Martin Johnson was so keen to have him on the plane down under.

It was dull and rusty, but most importantly it was a win. Johno’s boys are off to a winning start in New Zealand and with the rust now under the carpet, the Sweet Chariot can swing on to bigger and better things, hopefully.

For those of you that were fast asleep and couldn’t wake yourself up to watch Fiji take on Namibia; you missed the best game of the day. Fiji wing Vereniki Goneva crossed the line four times to become the first Fijian to score a World Cup hat-trick and in doing so, helped his side to a 49-25 win against rank outsiders Namibia.

Seventeen points from the boot of Dimitri Yachvili guided France to a comfortable victory over Japan. The French scored six tries and survived a late Japanese comeback before eventually running out winners 47-21.

Two late Simon Danielli tries saved Scotland’s blushes as a resolute Romanian side pushed them all the way. With twelve minutes remaining, Romania led 24-21, but couldn’t hold on; Scotland won 34-24.

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