Round-Up: Day 10-14

Surprise results were well and truly absent from the second round of games as the tournaments giants marched on towards the knock-out stages.

England remain unbeaten in the group stages, despite another below-par performance against Georgia. Two tries apiece for Chris Ashton and Shontayne Hape helped England to a 41-10.

The performance was certainly an improvement on the opening game, but the theme of indiscipline at the breakdown remained, preventing England from reaching anything close to their best.

There were glimpses of it however, Hape’s second try followed some good phase play and was finished in clinical style by the London Irish centre.

Manu Tuilagi burst through untouched to score under the posts early in the second half; the Samoan born centre now has three tries in four international appearances. Chris Ashton’s timely return to form was capped by his trademark ‘Ash Splash,’ and will provide the management with encouragement as they build towards the Tournaments latter stages.

But England will know that they have plenty to work on if they are to reach anywhere close to the heights of 2003. But two wins out of two is all that matters for the Johno’s men, with the stronger performances, hopefully just around the corner. The Six Nations campaign showed that the big performance is in there and is likely to appear as soon as the penalty count is reduced.

Wales got their World Cup up and running with a 17-10 victory over Samoa; Shane Williams scored the only try of the game with just fifteen minutes remaining to boost Wales’ chances of making it into the quarter-finals. James Hook and Rhys Priestland added two penalties each to cap a good performance against a strong Samoan outfit.

Vincent Clerc scored a superb hat-trick as France overcame a resilient Canada 46-19. The Canadians trailed by only nine points at the break and looked to be pushing the French all the way. However, France’s class overpowered Canada in the latter stages as they secured a comfortable bonus point win.

Italy scored nine tries in a resounding 53-17 win against Russia. Giulio Tonialatti and Tommasso Benvenuti scored twice each as the Italians cruised to a bonus point win.

Tonga secured their first win of the tournament with a 31-18 victory over Japan. The south sea islanders scored three tries and Kurt Morath kicked 16 points to keep hopes of a quarter-final place alive, however slim.

Reigning champions South Africa romped to an 87-0 destruction of Namibia. The Springboks scored twelve unanswered tries as they trounced the African minnows. Bryan Habana set a new try scoring record for South Africa as he crossed for his 37^th international try.

Round-Up: Day 6-9

Well how about that? Today is the day the World Cup was blown wide open, thanks to an inspired performance from a gutsy and passionate Irish side. Their 15-6 victory over Australia was far from pretty, but all that matters to 

Declan Kidney’s men is the end result; and what a result it was.

It was a try-less encounter, but what it lacked in five-pointers it made up for in drama and physical tenacity. Two penalties apiece for Sexton and O’Gara together with a Sexton drop-goal were enough to cause the competitions' biggest upset so far and put the Emerald Isle in poll position to top the group and avoid the likes of South Africa and New Zealand in the quarter finals.

The normally so fluent Australian side could only muster two James O’Connor penalties, and were far from their normal clinical selves; the Wallabies had many opportunities to create try scoring chances, but impatience proved to be their downfall as they forced the play in the final third. Quade Cooper was quiet and his loose reverse pass in the dying minutes; intercepted by Tommy Bowe summed up the Australian’s overall performance. O’Connor made good ground to haul the winger down metres short, but Ireland had the territory they required to close out the game and earn their first World Cup win over Australia.

In the earlier games, South Africa and Argentina both recorded confortable wins over weaker opposition. The Springboks beat Fiji 49-3, scoring six tries from six different scorers. Argentina got off the mark in the tournament with a 43-8 win over Romania.

Earlier in the week, a hat-trick from Alessana Tuilagi powered Samoa to a 49-12 victory over Namibia. The South-sea islanders looked sharp and clinical and could yet prove to be Wales’ undoing when the sides meet tomorrow in Hamilton.

Canada caused an upset as they beat Tonga 25-20, scoring three tries in the process. A try from Phil Mackenzie eight minutes from time proved to be the winning score as the Canadians secured a famous win.

Scotland secured their second win of the group stage as they struggled to victory over Georgia in Invercargill. In one of the most unattractive games of rugby you are ever likely to see, Dan Parks kicked all of the Scots points to keep their unbeaten record intact. Georgia continued to build on their ever growing reputation in the rugby world with a fighting performance.

New Zealand scored thirteen tries as they hammered Japan 83-7 in Hamilton. Richard Kahui and Sonny Bill-Williams scored twice each and fly-half Colin Slade scored 25 points in a convincing group stage win.

Finally, the USA made sure Russia’s World Cup debut ended in defeat as they ground out a 13-7 win in New Plymouth. Scrum Half Mike Petri scored the games’ only try with Chris Wyles adding two penalties and a conversion.  

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