ENGLAND FINALLY WIN ALONG WITH SCOTLAND
The last time the South Africans came to Twickenham was back in '02. The Boks got caned 53-3, an omen to the Six Nations Grand Slam and World Cup triumph that came the following year. A pretty good reason why Clive Woodwood's side won by that sort of margin was down to this particular Boks side being the dirtiest rugby XV I've ever seen with Boks getting red carded and Jonny Wilkinson getting injured. Some things never change.
Of course, some things do change such as...the England side of 2006 getting hammered on a regular basis. The only consolation was that the Boks didn't come into Twickenham in much better shape have come off the back of a defeat to Ireland in Dublin. Both coaches feared for their jobs with Andy Robinson recalling the like of Joe Worsley, Josh Lewsey and Andrew Sheridan in the hope of the old guard turning back the clock while Martin Johnson put the boot into the RFU.
The men in white let their rugby do the talking on the pitch and it wasn't long before they forced a penalty which Hodgson kicked over. However if you're captain going to ram into an opposition player then you're going to concede a penalty and Butch James got to level the scores. England's kicker then got booed before taking another penalty, England regained the lead but the fans were wanting a try. Both sides had chances to get the first try though, the Boks got theirs to to yet more dodgy passes, this time round though Lewsey was there to provide the best individual defensive rugby play I've seen for ages! The Boks did have this kid with a boot though, Francios Steyn and if you give him the ball 45 yards out he'll get his side a drop goal. Finally the visitors took the lead after another wayward England ball was grabbed by Jean de Villers who ran through England's defence and set up James, who converted his own try and with Hodgson then off injured the visitors led 13-6 at half time.
The Boks then picked up where they left off in the second half, with James smoothly setting up Akona Ndungane for a second try. When Jean de Villiers got sin binned though, England had a window to play catchup and they took it with tactics that my grandfather compared to World War 1 trench warfare. All those half yards did add up to something and though Andy Goode may have dropped the ball, Mark Cuerto took care of business, leaving Goode to convert. South Africa then went on the attack again though and James re-extended the Bok lead with a penalty and as time went on it looked like an all-time record eighth defeat for England before Goode offered a glimmer of hope with a penalty. With Phil Vickery, another Sydney veteran being brought on though, England finally hit top gear for the first time this autumn, the Boks couldn't follow suit and the England pack drove over for a score, Vickery getting the credit before Goode converted to give England a late lead...and let the air out of the Bok tyres. England 23 South Africa 21 and I must say 'at last'!
Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have all given the big names of rugby individual headeaches at one point or another so I was surprised that they've all banded together under the banner 'Pacific Islands' recently. Scotland's previous history includes 'that' skin of teeth 22-20 win over Fiji during the group stages of the 2003 World Cup and they beat Samoa 18-11 last year. Having said that the this new outfit certainly hasn't won on this side of the world yet and I didn't expect them to do anything at Murrayfield.
Well the Islanders kicked off but that was initially nothing the Scots couldn't handle but the home side then got hit by an injury to Johnnie Beatie. However five a scrum five metres from the visitors tryline, the Scots wenty one way before finding Marcus di Rollo on the opposite wing for a try which Chris Patterson converted before the Islanders defence got munched again, this time David Callum ran over from close range with Patterson converting and things only got worse for the visitors when Epi Taone got sin binned for stamping and when Kelly Brown emerged from a tryline maul with the ball, Patterson converting, it looked like this was going to be a cinch and then Andrew Henderson joined the party with the Islanders defence nowhere, Patterson converting yet again. Finally the Islanders showed the Scots what they could do, the ball finding Rupeni Caucaunibuca out wide where no one could catch him. Patterson had the last word of the half with a penalty though and Scotland led 31-5 at half time.
In the second half though, the Islanders finally got their act together with Karmeli Ratuvoa robbing the Scotland defence and strolling to the tryline. More classy rugby from the Islanders got them another try when the smoothest passing around found Daniel Leo and the comeback was well and truly on. However the Islanders couldn't build on their momentum and Scotland then surged into attack but the Islaners didn't look in the mood for any more tries but did allow di Rollo space for a drop goal. Game over but the Islanders did get to have the last word as Ratuvuoa strolled through for one last try, converted by Tusi Pisi. 34-22 looked a bit more respectable for the visitors.
Elsewhere, Wales went up against Canada in the Millenium Stadium with the North American side opening the scoring with a James Pritchard penalty. Pritchard's opposite number James Hook replied by converting a Gareth Thomas penalty and though the Canadian kicker added two more pens, Hook converted tries, first from Shane Williams, then from Matthew Rees. Derek Daypuck hit a drop goal for Canada only for Hook to convert tries from Ryan Jones, Dwayne Peel and a second one from Thomas. Canada then finally got a try through Mike Pletch which Pritchard converted only for Hook to convert a Ceri Sweeney try. Wales's game with each side having one more converted try each, Michael Pyke for Canada and Tom Shaklin for Wales. Final score, 61-26.
Ireland are on awesome form at the moment and Australia faced no mercy at Lansdowne Road. Stirling Mortlock may have opened the scoring for the Aussies but Ireland responded when Ronan O Gara converted tries from Denis Hickie and Geordan Murphy. O'Gara beat MOrtlock 2-1 in a penalty kicking contest and with two sinbinnings to Ireland's one, the visitors came out empty handed. Some Irish fans are boasting "Ireland are the best team in the world" and on this form I can't blame them.
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