‘Boks trump England, France see off Wallabies
CARDIFF (United Kingdom): South Africa bounced back from a shock defeat by Ireland with a 31-28 victory over England on Saturday, as world champions New Zealand could a f ford to f ield a largely second-string team but still beat Scotland 24-16.
France notched up a thrilling 2 9 -2 6 v ictor y over Aust ra l ia, while Wales saw of f F iji 17-13 i n po s sibly one of t he wor st matches of rugby ever to be televised.
The Springboks, 1995 and 20 07 World Cup winners, ran out convincing victors over 2003 cha mpions Eng la nd in an enthralling match at Twickenham.
It was England’s second agonising three -point loss in as many weeks following the 24-21 defeat by New Zealand and their fifth i n a row -a lb eit fou r wer e ag a i n st t he All Blacks -- with this run their worst since they suffered seven straight reverses i n 2006.
While Stuart Lancaster’s side matched the Springboks up front, they failed to offer much behind the scrum, but the coach i nsisted the World Cup in 2015 would be a different matter.
“This series is obviously about winning first and for emo st and we haven’t achieved that in the f irst two games,” Lancaster said, with England having now also gone 12 matches without a victory against the ‘Boks.
“We’ve a l so ta l ke d ab out learning and developing as a group as we go into the World Cup.
“We need to na r row dow n i n ou r m i nds who, when t he wh ite -hot pres su re i s on i n 11 months’ t ime, can del iver. T hat ’s when it really does matter.”
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, however, said his side had passed a litmus test after the Dublin debacle.
“Sometimes you have to have a game like this where you do the basics right, ground out a win,” said Meyer in an ominous preWorld Cup warning.
“That’s also Test match rugby and, for me, that’s World Cupwinning rugby. There’s going to be three knockout games and sometimes you have to play like this as well.”
France followed up on their 4015 victory over Fiji with a hardfought, thrilling 29-26 win over Australia.
With j ust a point between the sides at half-time (17-16), four second-half penalties from Camille Lopez (3) and Rory Kockott saw off a hard-pressing Wallaby team who scored a late try through lock Rob Simmons with the hosts down to 14 men.
After going down 33-28 to Australia last weekend, Wales went head-to-head with another pool rival, Fiji, from next year’s World Cup.
And while the FrenchAustralian fare was a delight to watch, Wales played out a dire, error-ridden contest in the Millennium Stadium that would have left the 66,000 -plus fans as frustrated as coach Warren Gatland ahead of clashes against New Zealand and South Africa.
“I thought it was a good display by the forwards but we weren’t clinical enough behind and we made too many t urnovers,” lamented Gatland.
“That allowed them to stay in the game. What was close to being potentially a blow-out for us ended up being a dogfight.”
At Murrayfield, it took a 74th minute try from lock Jeremy Thrush to secure a 24-16 victory for an experimental All Blacks side i n a tight contest with Scotland.
The Scots have never beaten New Zealand, but were scenting history and within just a point of the world champions on the scoreboard until Thrush crossed the whitewash and Colin Slade converted to leave the visitors with a f lattering eight-point cushion of victory.
There was an unfamiliar look to the All Blacks’ line-up, although captain Richie McCaw and Dan Carter both started. There will likely be wholesale changes for the outing against Wales next Saturday.
“It was the perfect game for us,” said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. “We knew the strength of Scotland and what they were going to bring. They’re an up and coming side.
“For this tour, we wanted to give all the young guys at least two opportunities. The USA game (a 74 - 6 win in Chicago on November 1) was the f irst one and this one was a big step up.”
On Friday, Argentina pipped Italy 2 0 -18 while Ireland host Georgia on Sunday. - AFP