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Week 4


South Africa v Samoa Australia v Russia France v Tonga England v ScotlandArgentina v Georgia New Zealand v Canada Wales v Fiji Ireland v Italy


South AfricaSOUTH AFRICA 13 - 5 SAMOASamoa

North Harbour Stadium, North Shore, Auckland - Friday 30 September
Pool D KO: 20:30 HT: 13-0 Att: 29,734

A first half Bryan Habana try led South Africa to a 13-5 victory over Samoa in a spiteful Pool D match at North Harbour Stadium on Friday.

The play was often brutal as Samoa made some severe inroads in the second spell and it boiled over when Paul Williams, man of the match in Samoa's last match, was sent off for striking Heinrich Brüssow in the face after the South African had hit Williams repeatedly to free himself from the Samoan's grip.

That was in the 70th minute and then South Africa replacement John Smit received a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on and then kicking the ball away, so both teams ended with 14 men on the field.
South Africa took a 13-0 lead into the second spell, but Samoa reduced the margin through George Stowers as the Pacific Islanders took the game to the Africans and dominated the spell.

The first action of the second half was a left thigh injury to first half try-scorer Habana from the kick-off. He stayed on the field, before eventually being replaced by Francois Hougaard in the 47th minute.
Samoa had threatened with some probing hard running and eventually succeeded in threading the defence with a scintilating back line move which ended with George Stowers getting the ball from Tusi Pisi and diving over with three South Africans in close attendance.

Pisi missed the conversion, but Samoa were on the board at 13-5.

Samoa were dominating play as they threw everything at South Africa, who in turn got a little ragged.
The Springboks were able to absorb the Samoa pressure and managed the occasional break themselves. On one of these forays, Bismarck du Plessis looked to have gone over for a try, but the attempt was ruled inconclusive.

Habana scored the first South Africa points, with his 40th Test try in the left hand corner after receiving a pass from Bismarck du Plessis in the ninth minute.

Morné Steyn posted the conversion from the touchline, which made him the first player in RWC 2011 to score 50 points.

Frans Steyn made it 10-0 with a penalty in the 24th minute and two minutes later some indiscipline from Kane Thompson resulted in another penalty, which Steyn dispatched to make it 13-0.

South Africa1 Tendai Mtawarira 2 Bismarck du Plessis 3 Jannie du Plessis 4 Danie Rossouw 5 VICTOR MATFIELD (C) 6 Heinrich Brüssow 7 Schalk Burger 8 Pierre Spies 9 Fourie du Preez 10 Morné Steyn 11 Bryan Habana 12 Frans Steyn 13 Jaque Fourie 14 JP Pietersen 15 Pat Lambie BENCH: 16 John Smit 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp 18 CJ van der Linde 19 Willem Alberts 20 Francois Louw 21 Francois Hougaard 22 Jean de Villiers

SCORERS T: Habana C: M Steyn P: F Steyn, M Steyn

Samoa1 Sakaria Taulafo 2 MAHONRI SCHWALGER (C) 3 Census Johnston 4 Daniel Leo 5 Kane Thompson 6 Taiasina Tuifua 7 Maurie Faasavalu 8 George Stowers 9 Kahn Fotuali'i 10 Tusi Pisi 11 Alesana Tuilagi 12 Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu 13 Seilala Mapusua 14 David Lemi 15 Paul Williams BENCH: 16 Ole Avei 17 Anthony Perenise 18 Logovi'i Mulipola 19 Joe Tekori 20 Ofisa Treviranus 21 Junior Poluleuligaga 22 George Pisi

SCORERS  T: Stowers

Referee: Nigel Owens (RFU)

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AustraliaAUSTRALIA 68 - 22 RUSSIARussia

Trafalgar Park, Nelson - Saturday 01 October
Pool C KO: 15:30 HT: 47-5 Att: 16,307

A makeshift Australia team cruised into the quarter-finals with an impressive 68-22 victory over Russia in their final Pool C match at Trafalgar Park on Saturday.

With injuries forcing coach Robbie Deans to shuffle his line-up, the main priority was a bonus-point win without any further mishap. And his players delivered the first part of the deal in record time.

They notched their fourth try in just 15 minutes, to secure the fastest bonus point of the tournament, as they scored at a rate of more than a point a minute for the first hour of the match.

Flanker David Pocock celebrated his return from injury with two tries and Drew Mitchell also crossed twice before he left the field with a hamstring strain that meant it was not all good news for coach Deans.

Berrick Barnes also grabbed two tries to cap a fine display at inside centre, while Ben McCalman, Stephen Moore, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Salesi Ma'afu collected a try apiece.

After missing his first attempt at goal, full back James O’Connor had a flawless afternoon with the boot slotting his next nine conversion attempts.

Although the match ended in a flurry of replacements and rain-soaked mistakes, Australia started in a fashion that should give them good heart ahead of their likely showdown with South Africa next week.

Radike Samo, making his first start on the wing since 1999, put in a powerful burst down the right that set up Barnes to sidestep his way to the tryline after six minutes.

Two minutes later Barnes was again in the action as he kicked ahead for Mitchell to score his ninth Rugby World Cup try, after a sniping break by scrum half Luke Burgess from inside his own 22.

Three minutes later the Wallabies got their third after a deft kick pass from Quade Cooper to Samo, who again showed his strength before some neat offloading saw number 8 McCalman gallop in under the posts.

The bonus point arrived in just the 15th minute when Pocock barged through some ineffective tackling after an Australian lineout to touch down.

Pocock stormed over for his second seven minutes later and O'Connor slotted another easy conversion to make the score 33-0.

Just when it seemed likely to turn embarrassing the Russians found new resolve and after some concerted pressure wing Vladimir Ostroushko scored out wide on the right after pouncing on ball spilled by Burgess.

But the Wallabies struck back immediately when Moore got on the end of a Pocock break to score his try and  Ashley-Cooper dived on a kick through by Cooper for a try that O'Connor converted with his sixth successful kick of the day.

It was the same story after the interval, with Ma'afu crashing over for a try within two minutes of the restart.

The arrival of replacement fly half Konstantin Rachkov boosted the Russians. His drop goal pegged the score back to 54-8 and, after Mitchell had scored his second try, he was on target with the conversion after wing Denis Simplikevich intercepted for a 50m sprint to the line.

As the Australians rang the changes they lost shape and sloppy errors crept into their game.

Rachkov got a try of his own with just over 10 minutes remaining and converted to make it 61-22.

But Barnes had the final say with Australia's 10th try following an interception just before the final whistle. O'Connor made no mistake with the conversion.

Australia1 James Slipper 2 Stephen Moore 3 Sekope Kepu 4 JAMES HORWILL (C)  5 Nathan Sharpe 6 Scott Higginbotham 7 David Pocock 8 Ben McCalman 9 Luke Burgess 10 Quade Cooper 11 Drew Mitchell 12 Berrick Barnes 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper 14 Radike Samo 15 James O'Connor BENCH:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau 17 Saia Faingaa 18 Salesi Ma'afu 19 Rob Simmons 20 Rocky Elsom 21 Will Genia 22 Nick Phipps

SCORERS T: Barnes (2), Mitchell (2), McCalman, Pocock (2), Moore, Ashley-Cooper, Ma'afu C: O'Connor (9)

Russia1 Sergey Popov 2 VLADISLAV KORSHUNOV (C)  3 Ivan Prishchepenko 4 Alexander Voytov 5 Adam Byrnes 6 Artem Fatakhov 7 Vyacheslav Grachev 8 Victor Gresev 9 Alexander Yanyushkin 10 Yury Kushnarev 11 Vladimir Ostroushko 12 Alexey Makovetskiy 13 Andrey Kuzin 14 Denis Simplikevich 15 Vasily Artemyev BENCH: 16 Evgeny Matveev 17 Vladimir Botvinnikov 18 Alexey Travkin 19 Andrey  Garbuzov 20 Alexander Shakirov 21 Konstantin Rachkov 22 Mikhail Babaev

SCORERS T: Ostrushko, Simplikevich, Rachkov C: Rachkov (2) DG: Rachkov

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (NZRU)

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FranceFRANCE 14 - 19 TONGATonga

Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington - Saturday 01 October
Pool A KO: 18:00 HT: 6-13 Att: 32,763

ONCE Tonga had gotten their haka out of the way, to progress to the quarter finals they needed to score four tries, secure the bonus point and beat France by a 7 point margin. It was a tall order. France simply had to secure a losing bonus point at worst to qualify as Pool A runners up. This was not so hard one would have surmised, but boy did Les Bleus turn the entire match into a French farce, only just scoring a try after the clock had long passed 80 minutes.

Tonga may well have been the underdogs sitting 13th in the IRB World Rankings, eight places below France at 5th position, especially having been beaten by New Zealand and Canada already, but the Islanders had a point to prove. That is exactly what they did.

France opened the scoring with a quick penalty from Dimitri Yachvili, but they could not even blame the ensuing result on referee Steve Walsh –though of course he was as useless as expected, whistle happy throughout the proceedings and hindering the flow of the game. Tonga equalised by the 6th minute with a penalty from Kurt Morath, and there the score remained until the second quarter.

Fabien Barcella had to replace Jean-Baptiste Poux early during a trip to the blood bin; Poux spent much of the game having this attended to as it appeared nothing could curb the blood flow. But aside from that, Morath missed an opportunity to take the lead, France played terribly, and Tonga attacked the 22 repeatedly but failed to score points from their visits.

France v Tonga Sukanaivalu HufangaFrance oddly opted to kick for goal and take 3 points rather than a lineout with a potential try from inside Tonga’s 22, but Yachvili was on target and France regained their lead momentarily. Tonga had other ideas, especially Sukanaivalu Hufanga who had earlier been denied a sure try from starting offside; this time Tonga won their lineout, played the ball out wide, chipped forward and Hufanga scored. Morath added the extras and the Islanders were convincingly 6-10 up with 28 minutes gone.

The Tongans continued to toy with Les Bleus, and would have disrupted any game plan France had - if only they had one. But the French were too busy conceding yet more penalties and Morath punished them by increasing the lead to 6-13, where it remained until the break. However, ‎with 2 minutes to go, hero of the hour Hufanga became the villain as he tipped Vincent Clerc on his head in a dangerous tackle, and was sin binned.

Despite the margin, France were still in contention for the quarter finals as long as they retained that losing bonus point. Les Bleus just had to play the rugby that the world is so used to seeing; this was not even close to the team that bounced New Zealand out of the last world cup. Tonga simply needed to keep their cool.

Tonga began the second half still a man down and by missing an easy penalty kick just outside the 22 which Morath pulled wide. Both sides started to ring in the changes from the reserves, and a cheap shot from Soane Tonga'uiha with a shoulder charge afforded Yachvili a penalty kick to narrow the gap to 9-13.

But the game showed no improvement in play from either team; the penalty count increased, tackles were missed, the ball was turned over repeatedly at the breakdown, and overall it was not much of a spectacle. Both sides had serious try scoring opportunities but spilled ball, knock ons and lack of support allowed no significant progression.

France v Tonga Fabrice EstebanezTonga’s yellow card was balanced out by the same for Fabrice Estebanez, who tipped tackled Halani Aulika in the 65th minute, though thankfully neither Aulika nor Clerc suffered any actual injury from the manœuvres.

The resulting penalty allowed Morath to increase Tonga’s lead by another 3 points. France eventually started heading in the right direction before a knock on, but this was immediately mirrored by Tonga. A free kick to the Islanders put them within reach of France’s 22 with an advantage. A drop goal attempt bounced off the post, but the advantage allowed Morath to up the score to 9-19, putting France in dire straits with just 8 minutes left on the clock.

Tonga again had a spectacular opportunity to score from Samiu Vahafolau who faced a wide open goal, but bizarrely he cornered, changed angle, had to then fight for the line in a drive but Tonga were held back by the French defence.

France did produce just a moment of insane genius as the clock was about to hit full time. Les Bleus were 5m out from the Tongan tryline, awarded a scrum which was reset, driven, reset and this continued from the 78th minute. The battle of the scrum carried on for some 4 minutes until France finally won the penalty directly in front of the posts. All they needed was the 3 points to secure the losing bonus point, since there was no way they could catch the Tongans.

But Les Bleus decided, in their crazed wisdom, that the option to take was another scrum, which they won, and played out wide, and Clerc collected the ball and flew over in the corner for the try! Walsh deferred to the TMO for confirmation which was given, Yachvili missed the conversion, but France ended the match with the required losing bonus point and 5 points to boot, 14-19.

France v Tonga The win

Tonga were deservedly the winners, but it was France that was heading Eden Park, Auckland to face England in the second of the quarter finals. Though if Les Bleus played the same game the following week, England would waltz into the semis.

France1 Jean-Baptiste Poux 2 William Servat 3 Luc Ducalcon 4 Pascal Pape 5 Lionel Nallet 6 THIERRY DUSAUTOIR (C) 7 Julien Bonnaire 8 Raphael Lakafia 9 Dimitri Yachvili 10 Morgan Parra 11 Alexis Palisson 12 Maxime Mermoz 13 Aurélien Rougerie 14 Vincent Clerc 15 Maxime Médard BENCH: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski 17 Fabien Barcella 18 Julien Pierre 19 Imanol Harinordoquy 20 Francois Trinh-Duc 21 Fabrice Estebanez 22 Cédric Heymans

SCORERS T: Clerc P: Yachvili (3)

Tonga1 Soane Tonga'uiha 2 Aleki Lutui 3 Kisi Pulu 4 Tukulua Lokotui 5 Paino Hehea 6 Sione Kalamafoni 7 FINAU MAKA (C) 8 Viliami Ma'afu 9 Taniela Moa 10 Kurt Morath 11 Sukanaivalu Hufanga 12 Andrew  Ma'ilei 13 Siale Piutau 14 Viliame Iongi 15 Vungakoto Lilo BENCH: 16 Ephraim Taukafa 17 Alisona Taumalolo 18 Halani Aulika 19 Joseph Tuineau 20 Samiu Vahafolau 21 Samisoni Fisilau 22 Alipate Fatafehi

SCORERS T: Humanga C: Morath P: Morath (4)

Referee: Steve Walsh (ARU)

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EnglandENGLAND 16 - 12 SCOTLANDScotland

Eden Park, Auckland - Saturday 01 October
Pool B KO: 20:30 HT: 3-9 Att: 58,213

ENGLAND versus Scotland...the auld enemies with 140 years of history. In 128 meetings, England had won 68 times. Scotland 42, and 18 draws. In recent years, England had lost to Scotland in even years at Murrayfield in ’00, ’06, ’08 and drew in ’10. The two proud rival nations had never played at a neutral venue, so on the other side of the planet at Eden Park, anything could happen.

England needed just 2 points to secure a quarter final berth; Scotland needed a win of an 8 point margin at least to oust their biggest rivals. And for approximately 60 seconds of the Rugby World Cup 2011, Scotland had done enough to retain their history of always making it through to the quarter finals. Until the inimitable Jonny Wilkinson and his golden boot kicked another one of his infamous drop goals and began the destruction of the heart of Scotland, made all the worse by him previously missing three penalties and a drop goal. As is often the case with England, the boys in white managed to pull it out of the bag when their backs were up against it, and that plane home was waiting on the runway.

England v Scotland pre matchIt began with Scotland on the front foot, and the weather threatened to favour the Celtic nation with memories of Murrayfield in 2000, when the homeside denied England the inaugural Six Nations Championship Grand Slam in the rain and squalling wind. Paterson opened the scoring for Scotland in the 8th minute, perfectly slotting over a penalty between the centre of the uprights.

Touch judge, Nigel Owens –arguably the best referee globally– for the first time at any international, advised match ref Craig Joubert to defer Dan Parks’ penalty to the TMO, who confirmed it did indeed go over the crossbar. 15 minutes in and Scotland were two scores ahead, whilst Jonny Wilkinson was to miss three difficult penalties by the half hour mark.

Penalties continued on both sides, and the 33rd minute finally afforded Jonny a good kick to half Scotland’s lead. The Celts hit back hard and charged into England’s 22, only stopped by a balletic tackle from Delon Armitage who pirouetted his opponent into touch with such grace. But the strong wind appeared to be halting the ball in mid-air at every high kick, so controlling the game by any other means than ball in hand was futile.

England v Scotland Dan Parks drop goal The referee could not get a handle on handbags being drawn frequently at breakdowns and scrums, and in the last moments of the first half, England prop Matt Stevens was pinged at the scrum again, affording Scotland a 22 lineout. Parks fell back into the zone and dropped a goal, taking his side into the break 9-3 up.

Scotland coach, Andy Robinson, having coached both England Rugby and their coach, Martin Johnson, had a distinct advantage on his opposite number and used this to full effect. Robinson had a plan to cause chaos and disrupt England's play at every turn. For the first half, it worked perfectly and Scotland looked the far more composed and dangerous side. But whatever was said in the England changing room at half time paid off.

Manu Tuilagi, fast-becoming one of the rising stars of this England squad alongside James Haskell, Tom Croft and Delon Armitage –all of whom performed admirably considering the team had no structure or leadership– began the second half by loosening the ball from the Scottish grip, allowing Armitage to break down the wing. But a foot in touch and the ball headed in the opposite direction. Soon after, another burst of inspiration came from scrum half, Ben Youngs who broke again and offloaded to Tindall. But the size of the tackle again was significant enough for the ball to fly forward.

Jonny’s poor kicking form continued right up to the final quarter, and the decision to even attempt some of those penalty kicks at the uprights seemed insane given the conditions. But once the changes began to ring in from the bench, the shape of the game changed for England at least.

Captain, Lewis Moody was forced to the blood bin, replaced by Nick Easter and moving James Haskell to 7. The scrum still was not working well for either side in all honesty, but after three resets, the Scots won the penalty which would put them into the quarter finals, provided they could maintain the lead. Parks nailed the penalty, Scotland were 9 points ahead, and the prospects looked miserable for England. Until Jonny’s drop goal. And within 5 minutes England clawed their way back from 3-12 to 9-12 thanks to Jonny’s boot.

As England’s game came together with moments of brilliance from Ben Foden and Chris Ashton, and an immediate impact was made by Tom Palmer off the bench, Scotland's game rapidly deteriorated. All reserves were brought on with the exception of Scott Lawson, Tom Croft saved another potential try from the grasp of Richie Gray, and penalties were traded until the final 10 minutes.    

England v Scotland Chris Ashton tryEngland’s scrum shored up as soon as Alex Corbisiero made his appearance in the front row, but both sides continued to hand the ball straight back to the opposition almost as soon as they made any gain. And then came the most significant passage of play.

A huge kick from Scotland put the ball into the goal area but was saved by Armitage, offloaded to Ashton who cleared it right away and set up an England lineout near the Scottish 22. Toby Flood opted to kick for the corner, and from a good lineout, the ball was played out wide and went from Flood to Ashton who flew over in the corner (with not a hint of a swandive!).

England v Scotland devasted Nathan HinesThe awkward conversion proved no issue for Flood, and England just idled away the last 2 minutes of the game. Scotland had the last hurrah with the 10th and final penalty from England, but having gifted 11 themselves, it was simply too little too late.

Save a miracle whitewash score from Georgia on the final day against Argentina, Scotland were on their way home, and though it was by no means a pretty journey, England were to face France in the very same place in exactly 7 days time.

England1 Matt Stevens 2 Steve Thompson 3 Dan Cole 4 Louis Deacon 5 Courtney Lawes 6 Tom Croft 7 LEWIS MOODY (C) 8 James Haskell 9 Ben Youngs 10 Jonny Wilkinson 11 Delon Armitage 12 Mike Tindall 13 Manu Tuilagi 14 Chris Ashton 15 Ben Foden BENCH: 16 Dylan Hartley 17 Alex Corbisiero 18 Tom Palmer 19 Nick Easter 20 Richard Wigglesworth 21 Toby Flood 22 Matt Banahan

SCORERS T: Ashton C: Flood P: Wilkinson (2) DG: Wilkinson

Scotland1 Allan Jacobsen 2 Ross Ford 3 Euan Murray  4 Richie Gray 5 ALASTAIR KELLOCK (C) 6 Ally Strokosch 7 John Barclay 8 Richie Vernon 9 Mike Blair 10 Ruaridh Jackson 11 Simon Danielli 12 Sean Lamont 13 Joe Ansbro 14 Max Evans 15 Chris Paterson BENCH: 16 Scott Lawson 17 Alasdair Dickinson 18 Nathan Hines 19 Ross Rennie 20 Chris Cusiter  21 Dan Parks 22 Nick de Luca

SCORERS P: Paterson (2), Parks DG: Parks

Referee: Craig Joubert (SARU)

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ArgentinaARGENTINA 25 - 7 GEORGIAGeorgia

Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North - Sunday 02 October
Pool B KO: 13:00 HT: 5-7 Att: 13,754

Argentina were made to scrap every inch of the way by a determined Georgia before running out 25-7 winners at Arena Manawatu on Sunday.

Georgia had given the Pumas a scare by leading 7-5 at the break before Felipe Contepomi restored Argentina’s lead with a penalty in the 52nd minute.

Contepomi, who missed two penalties and a conversion attempt in the first half of this final Pool B match, slotted another penalty to make it 11-7 going into the final quarter.

A Marcelo Bosch penalty attempt went well wide, before Argentina put the match out of reach.

A bullocking run by long-striding flanker Julio Farias Cabello set up the field position for the Argentine backs to sweep wide, Contepomi finishing off with a try, which he converted.

Agustín Gosio provided the icing on the cake with a 79th-minute try, converted by Bosch, after a neat kick ahead by Juan José Imhoff.

With Argentina needing only a bonus point to guarantee their place in the quarter-finals, the early exchanges were predictably tight, and the first points did not come until the 32nd minute - the longest any match of Rugby World Cup 2011 has gone without a score.

The match came alive in the 32nd minute when left wing Imhoff crossed to put Argentina 5-0 ahead.

Lasha Khmaladze hit back in the 39th minute, full back Malkhaz Urjukashvili converting, to send Georgia into the interval ahead.

Malkhaz Urjukashvili, who had missed a penalty, converted.

Argentina1 Marcos Ayerza 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena 3 Juan Figallo 4 Mariano Galarza 5 Patricio Albacete 6 Julio Farias Cabello 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamón 8 Leonardo Senatore 9 Nicolás Vergallo 10 Santiago Fernández 11 Juan Jose Imhoff 12 FELIPE CONTEPOMI (C) 13 Marcelo Bosch 14 Horacio Agulla 15 Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino BENCH: 16 Agustín Creevy 17 Martín Scelzo 18 Tomas Vallejos 19 Alejandro Campos 20 Alfredo Lalanne 21 Agustín Gosio 22 Martín Rodríguez

SCORERS T: Imhoff, Contepomi, Gosio C: Contepomi, Bosch P: Contepomi (2)

Georgia1 Vasil Kakovin 2 Akvsenti Giorgadze 3 David Kubriashvili 4 Levan Datunashvili 5 Vakhtang Maisuradze 6 Giorgi Chkhaidze 7 Viktor Kolelishvili 8 Mamuka Gorgodze 9 IRAKLI ABUSERIDZE (C) 10 Lasha Khmaladze 11 Alexander Todua 12 Tedo Zibzibadze 13 David Kacharava 14 Lekso Gugava 15 Malkhaz Urjukashvili BENCH: 16 Jaba Bregvadze 17 Goderdzi Shvelidze 18 Ilia Zedginidze 19 Giorgi Nemsadze 20 Bidzina Samkharadze 21 Merab Kvirikashvili 22 Lasha Malaguradze

SCORERS T: Khmaladze C: Urjukashvili

Referee: Alain Rolland (IRFU)

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New ZealandNEW ZEALAND 79 - 15 CANADACanada

Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington - Sunday 02 October
Pool A KO: 15:30 HT: 37-8 Att: 37,665

Wing Zac Guildford scored four tries as the All Blacks responded to their selection woes in style by wrapping up their Pool A campaign with a resounding 79-15 win over Canada at Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday.
Hours after influential fly half Dan Carter was ruled out of Rugby World Cup 2011 with a groin injury, New Zealand ran in 12 tries to give next Sunday’s quarter-final opponents Argentina plenty to think about.

Carter’s replacement Colin Slade had an erratic afternoon with the boot and limped off after an hour but Piri Weepu came off the bench and immediately slotted a conversion from the left touchline to suggest coach Graham Henry still has options.

Although the Canucks defended bravely and grabbed two tries of their own, the damage was done in a first half that featured a Guildford hat-trick and ended with the All Blacks 37-8 ahead.

Slade’s early nerves allowed Canada to take the lead within a minute when his clearance kick was charged down and Ander Monro slotted a penalty that resulted from the fallout.

Slade made amends five minutes later by darting through the Canada defence before throwing a long, well-weighted pass to left wing Guildford, who just squeezed over in the corner.

Flanker Victor Vito and right wing Israel Dagg also crossed the line and Slade kicked a penalty before Guildford got his second by showing great speed to capitalise on a fumble by Canada wing Conor Trainor.

His pace was again in evidence four minutes later when he sprinted clear to put Mils Muliaina in for a try in his 99th Test, and he was on the end of a move sparked by a clever kick-pass by Sonny Bill Williams to seal his hat-trick.

Trainor narrowed the gap for Canada by scoring a try in the left corner on the stroke of half-time.

Straight after the break Trainor repeated the dose by winning a race to the line from a kick ahead in broken play and Monro converted to make it 37-15.

But the All Blacks soon reasserted their authority when Conrad Smith took a pass from Williams and offloaded for scrum half Jimmy Cowan to score near the posts.

When Muliaina and Kieran Read were replaced after 50 minutes flanker Jerome Kaino moved round to number 8  and immediately took advantage of slack tackling to score the All Blacks’ eighth try, which Slade converted to make it 51-15.

Williams popped up on the left wing to beat the Canada cover for the ninth and Kaino got his second when the New Zealand scrum drove over beneath the posts. Weepu converted both and put in a kick ahead to produce Guildford’s fourth, for which he also added the two extra points to make it 72-15.

Weepu’s influence was also in evidence at the close when his inside pass put Vito in under the posts. He made no mistake with the conversion.

New Zealand1 Tony Woodcock 2 ANDREW HORE (C) 3 Owen Franks 4 Samuel Whitelock 5 Ali Williams 6 Jerome Kaino 7 Victor Vito 8 Kieran Read 9 Jimmy Cowan 10 Colin Slade 11 Zac Guildford 12 Sonny Bill Williams 13 Conrad Smith 14 Israel Dagg 15 Mils Muliaina BENCH: 16 Keven Mealamu 17 Ben Franks 18 Brad Thorn 19 Anthony Boric 20 Andy Ellis 21 Piri Weepu 22 Isaia Toeava

SCORERST: Guildford (4), Vito (2), Dagg, Muliaina, Cowan, Kaino (2), S Williams C: Slade (4), Weepu (4) P: Slade

Canada1 Hubert Buydens 2 PAT RIORDAN (C) 3 Jason Marshall 4 Jebb Sinclair 5 Jamie Cudmore 6 Adam Kleeberger 7 Chauncey O'Toole 8 Aaron Carpenter 9 Ed Fairhurst 10 Ander Monro 11 Phil Mackenzie 12 Ryan Smith 13 DTH Van Der Merwe 14 Conor Trainor 15 Matt Evans BENCH: 16 Ryan Hamilton 17 Scott Franklin 18 Andrew Tiedemann 19 Tyler Hotson 20 Nanyak Dala 21 Sean White 22 Nathan Hirayama

SCORERS T: Trainor (2) C: Monro P: Monro

Referee: Romain Poite (FFR)

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WalesWALES 66 - 0 FIJIFiji

Waikato Stadium, Hamilton - Sunday 02 October
Pool D KO: 18:00 HT: 31-0 Att: 28,476

Wales over-powered a mistake-ridden Fiji to win 66-0 in the final Pool D match at Waikato Stadium on Sunday, the Pacific Islanders' heaviest World Cup defeat.

The Welsh, comfortably second in their pool behind South Africa, were too strong in a game where Fiji failed to get going, and when they looked like making inroads, they invariably coughed up the ball.

Warren Gatland's side had gained the bonus point for four tries through skipper Sam Warburton on the stroke of half-time. They are set for a quarter-final against Australia, Italy or Ireland.

Fiji began the second spell 31-0 down, but looked good as they surged forward and were on attack for a number of minutes. They were eventually frustrated when they turned the ball over well inside Wales' 22m.

Then, on 51 minutes Jamie Roberts benefited from some nice backline inter-play to score his second try of the match. Priestland kept up his good kicking form to convert, and Wales were up 38-0.

Replacement hooker Lloyd Burns got the ball back from a Welsh lineout and burrowed over to make it 43-0 and fellow replacement Stephen Jones converted.

Soon after, Fiji were under the Wales crossbar, but they again lost the ball for the Dragons to clear.

The half-century was brought up in almost comical fashion. Fiji gave up the ball inside the Wales 22 and prop Gethin Jenkins kicked down the field. Fiji wing Albert James Vulivuli got a wicked bounce, which allowed Leigh Halfpenny to pick the ball up and he strolled over the line.

Another replacement, scrum half Lloyd Williams scampered over from a ruck to make it 57-0 and Stephen Jones kept up the accurate Welsh place kicking by converting.

The ninth try of the match was scored by Jonathan Davies at the death and Stephen Jones continued the 100 per cent record of conversion attempts.

The opening phases of the match were notable for some thrusting Wales' attacks and hard Fiji tackling.

But Fiji were having trouble in the set plays and it was from a botched lineout that Jamie Roberts waltzed through the defence to score in the sixth minute. Rhys Priestland converted.

Wales increased their lead in the 17th minute when Scott Williams scored his fourth try of RWC 2011 when he was on the end of the backline and made it to the line, hugging the left touchline. Priestland converted and Wales were up 14-0.

Four minutes later Fiji's defensive discipline lost its way with a penalty for offside, converted by Priestland for 17-0.

George North was next on the board in the 32nd minute after an exchange of passes through the backline - one suspicious of being forward.

North raced through the final remnants of the Fiji defence to dot down, Priestland converting. 

Wales15 Lee Byrne 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Scott Williams 12 Jamie Roberts 11 George North 10 Rhys Priestland 9 Mike Phillips 1 Gethin Jenkins 2 Huw Bennett 3 Adam Jones 4 Bradley Davies 5 Luke Charteris 6 Ryan Jones 7 SAM WARBURTON (C) 8 Toby Faletau BENCH: 16 Lloyd Burns 17 Paul James 18 Alun Wyn Jones 19 Andy Powell 20 Lloyd Williams 21 Stephen Jones 22 Jonathan Davies

SCORERS T: Roberts (2), S Williams, North, Warburton, Burns, Halfpenny, LD Williams, JJV Davies C: Priestland (5), SM Jones (4) P: Priestland

Fiji1 Waisea Nailago 2 Sunia Koto 3 Setefano Somoca 4 Leone Nakarawa 5 Wame Lewaravu 6 Rupeni Nasiga 7 Sakiusa Matadigo 8 NETANI EDWARD TALEI (C) 9 Vitori Tomu Buatava 10 Nicky Little 11 Michael Tagicakibau 12 Gaby Lovobalavu 13 Ravai Susau Fatiaki 14 Albert James Vulivuli 15 Iliesa Lomani Rakuka Keresoni  BENCH: 16 Viliame Veikoso 17 Campese Ma'afu 18 Akapusi Qera 19 Mala Ravulo 20 Nemia Kenatale 21 Seremaia Bai 22 Vereniki Goneva

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

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IrelandIRELAND 36 - 6 ITALYItaly

Otago Stadium, Dunedin - Sunday 02 October
Pool C KO: 20:30 HT: 9-6 Att:  28,027

Three-try Ireland blasted out of the blocks early in the second half to ease to a 36-6 win over Italy in the final Pool C match at Otago Stadium on Sunday.

Ireland, who finished top of their pool with this victory, will now face Wales in the first quarter-final at Wellington Regional Stadium next Saturday.

Captain Brian O'Driscoll crossed the Italy line first in the 47th minute and was soon followed by wing Keith Earls as Ireland overran their opponents.

With just over a minute remaining, wing Tommy Bowe came close to scoring, but failed to ground the ball in a chase with two Italian defenders.

However, Earls scored his second and Ireland's third try when sprinting into the left corner. Replacement Jonathan Sexton kicked the conversion for 36-6.

The Irish had held a 9-6 lead following a scrappy first half after Ronan O'Gara hit three penalties to Italian Mirco Bergamasco's two.

The succession of penalties continued just two minutes into the second half as O'Gara made it 12-6 when Italy were penalised for not rolling away at a ruck.

O'Gara failed to extend Ireland's six-point lead a few minutes later when he missed a drop goal attempt from just outside the Italian 22m.

However, Bowe broke through a gap in the Italy defence on the 47th minute, offloaded to centre O'Driscoll and he sprinted over the line for the match's opening try. O'Gara kicked the conversion for a 19-6 lead.

Then it was happy 24th birthday for left wing Earls when he crossed in the corner five minutes later after Gordon D'Arcy sparked the attack. O'Gara added the extras for a 26-6 advantage.

Ireland were well on top now and came close to adding a third try through Rob Kearney, but the full back was held up by the Azzurri defence.

Sexton, who had come on for O'Gara in the 67th minute, then landed a penalty three minutes later to extend Ireland's lead to 29-6 after Italy did not release the ball in a ruck.

Nerves appeared to get the better of both sides in this crucial match as there was little flow to first-half play, but several handling errors and numerous penalties.

The closest to a try in the first half came when Ireland's Bowe crossed the Italian line, only for play to be taken back by the referee for a forward pass from man of the match Sean O'Brien.

Ireland1 Cian Healy 2 Rory Best 3 Mike Ross 4 Donncha O'Callaghan 5 Paul O'Connell 6 Stephen Ferris 7 Sean O'Brien 8 Jamie Heaslip 9 Conor Murray 10 Ronan O'Gara 11 Keith Earls 12 Gordon D'Arcy 13 BRIAN O'DRISCOLL (C) 14 Tommy Bowe 15 Rob Kearney BENCH: 16 Sean Cronin 17 Tom Court 18 Donnacha Ryan 19 Denis Leamy 20 Eoin Reddan 21 Jonathan Sexton 22 Andrew Trimble

SCORERS T: O'Driscoll, Earls (2) C: O'Gara (2), Sexton P: O'Gara (4), Sexton

Italy1 Salvatore Perugini 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini 3 Martin Castrogiovanni 4 Quintin Geldenhuys 5 Cornelius van Zyl 6 Alessandro Zanni 7 Mauro Bergamasco 8 SERGIO PARISSE (C) 9 Fabio Semenzato 10 Luciano Orquera 11 Mirco Bergamasco 12 Gonzalo Garcia 13 Gonzalo Canale 14 Tommaso Benvenuti 15 Andrea Masi BENCH: 16 Fabio Ongaro 17 Andrea lo Cicero 18 Marco Bortolami 19 Paul Derbyshire 20 Edoardo Gori 21 Riccardo Bocchino 22 Luke McLean

SCORERS P: Mirco Bergamasco

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (SARU)

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* Italicised match reports are courtesy of Official Rugby World Cup 2011 and are temporary.


NB KO times above are local to New Zealand; for KO times across the globe, check out our schedule:

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