Sports After Dark

The club season is over and now it is time for national teams to come together for the road to France and the Rugby World Cup. This weekend saw three test matches and a number of other international fixtures.

The Churchill Cup continued in England, while Pacific Nations Cup completed their opening round to go along side the three tests that were played, giving fans a feast of rugby over the weekend.

While the results went largely as expected, some highly fancied teams barely scraped home and some of rugby’s lesser nations showed they could be a real threat at the World Cup.

New Zealand Maori 59 Canada 23
The NZ Maori team opened their Churchill Cup defence with a strong win against a surprising Canada. Even though they were out-matched in almost all areas of the game, the Canadians never gave up and were rewarded with two late tries. Maori winger Anthony Tanaha was in unstoppable form, scoring two tries and troubling his opposite every time he touched the ball. The speed and power of the Maori forwards troubled the Canadian pack who often found themselves driven backwards at the breakdown, while the backs provided some hard hitting defence. This loss will see Canada go into the plate final against USA next weekend, while NZ Maori play Ireland A mid-week for a place in the cup final.

Australia A 60 Tonga 15
This weekend opened with what should have been the first game of the Pacific Nations Cup. The round 3 clash between Samoa and Fiji was played last weekend due to scheduling conflicts. Australia A put away a physical Tongan team in Sydney despite a lack of cohesion. Poor passing and general rust from some players kept Tonga in the game for most of the first half, before the Australian’s superior fitness saw them rack up 47 points in the second half. Winger Lachlan Turner showed his class, scoring a hat trick of tries, and league convert Ryan Cross managed two tries inside five minutes. The win briefly sent Australia A to the top of the Pacific Nations Cup.

Fiji 30 Japan 15
Leading 15-3 at half time, it looked like Japan were set to cause the first upset of the Pacific Nations Cup. But the bigger and more experienced Fijian side were able to regroup in the second half and score 27 unanswered points to launch themselves to the top of the table. New comer Taniela Rawaqa starred for Fiji scoring a try and landing two penalties and two conversions for a haul of 15 points. A late try to Isoa Neivua secured a bonus point for Fiji.

Australia 29 Wales 23
Following in the footsteps of their A side, the full Wallabies team looked decidedly rusty as they squeaked home against a Welsh side missing most of their stars. With time up on the clock and trailing by 22-23, the Wallabies launched a last desperate attack which culminated in replacement flanker Stephen Hoiles scoring in the right flank to seal the game. But before the Hoiles try it was a comedy of errors from the Wallabies, squandering chance after chance and allowing the Welsh to capitalise. In the first half a dropped ball followed by a dreadful attempt to clean up gifted the Welsh their first try, then an ill-advised midfield pass led to an intercept and a second try for Wales. Australia would not hit the lead until the 63rd minute and then only momentarily after a drop goal from Welsh first five James Hook. Despite the win the Australians have a lot to work on if they are to be competitive in next month’s Tri-nations tournament, while a largely second-string Welsh side have shown how dangerous their first-string team will be in France.

South Africa 58 England 10
An injury-ravaged England team were never expected to be much of a threat to the Springboks but few expected a record breaking score-line. After the game English captain Jason Robinson claimed, “We showed character but we weren’t good enough on the day.” Unfortunately that character shown by England allowed the Springboks to score four tries in the last 10 minutes of the game. Wingers Bryan Habana and Ashwin Willemse picked up two tries each and Percy Montgomery scored 23 points with his boot. England can take little away from a game where their traditionally strong set pieces fell apart, their forwards were going backwards and their only try came once the game was decided.

Argentina 22 Ireland 20
An 80th minute drop goal to first five Filipe Contepomi denied Ireland their first ever win in Argentina. The Irish led the game from the sixth minute and looked to be in control for most of the match but the boot of Contepomi kept the home side in touch. Ireland managed two tries to one, through debutant Brian Carney and a penalty try. This win against the more favoured Irish will boost Argentinean hopes of a good showing in this year’s Rugby World Cup.

Junior All Blacks 31 Samoa 10
Round 1 of the Pacific Nations Cup concluded in Apia with the Junior All Blacks showing good form against a determined Samoa. The home side was on the back foot almost immediately as the Juniors scored two quick tries to lead by 12-0 after only eight minutes. Fullback Gavin Williams landed a penalty goal to keep Samoa in touch, and once the Samoan forwards got into their work, they were able to gain equality with their fully professional opponents. Even though the forward battle was tight, the ball for the Juniors was faster and their backs made fewer mistakes. The Samoans did managed a late consolation try when Junior All Blacks’ half-back Jimmy Cowan threw a terrible pass near his own goal line which led to a turnover and a try to replacement David Lemi. Junior All Blacks’ captain Marty Holah played an outstanding game, winning several turnovers at the break-down while the five-eighths pairing of Stephen Donald and Stephen Brett were able to control the game thanks to front foot ball. Cowan also had an excellent game, running from the base of rucks and mauls effectively as well as distributing ball well.

Argentina beating Ireland is something of an upset, while Australia struggling against Wales was a surprise to most. It would seem that Rugby World Cup 2007 will be one of the toughest World Cups with a number of traditionally strong countries currently struggling while Argentina seem to finally be turning into a rugby power. The results from second tier competitions such as the Churchill and Pacific Nations Cups are also encouraging with minor nations showing great improvement.

Similar Posts:

• New Zealand Maori set to defend Churchill Cup
• Can anyone stop the All Black’s from another Slam?
• Why the Pacific Nations Cup is a good thing
• And so the Tri-Nations begins…
• Early upsets look unlikely at Rugby World Cup

The Weekend International Rugby Wrap by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.