ENGLAND WIN WORLD CUP OPENER MESSILLY, SCOTLAND SMOOTHLY
So, here it is again. The Rugby World Cup, an insane sounding idea when it was first proposed in the early 1980s but it has since become the competition that all major countries want to win and all lesser nations to take part in. The '91 RWC was when I first got into the sport and chances are there will be more following in my footsteps from all over the world for the 2007 tournament in France. Four groups of five teams with neither England nor Scotland having needed to qualify having made the quarter finals in '03.
When England started out their 2003 campaign in Australia, I was a Uni student living in Teddington, but the task back then looked pretty straightforward. Sure enough, it was. A pool made up of Georgia, South Africa, Samoa and Uruguay was not just survived but topped even if we had the odd headache from the bigger sides, we took advantage of the newly imported "four points for a win, five points for a win + four tries" rule against the minnows.
First up in this year's tournament comes the USA. Not exactly a natural rugby power and we have anhiliated them in the past though our last matches against them were relatively tight affairs. Our last match against them on record was a friendly in San Francisco back in '01. I can't remember much about it but we won 48-19. We have also faced the Yanks in the World Cup before and I remember catching bits of the most recent occassion, a 37-9 win for the men in white at Twickenham in the group stages of '91!
This time out, well this Pool A opener really felt like a warmup for tougher tests to come - even an England team on very dodgy form couldn't fail to beat this side. OK, so Johnny's injured, again but Olly Barkley was solid enough back up for an opening rumble at the Fexix Bollaert stadium. Lawrence Dallalgio, Tom Rees and Joe Worsley were the other main notable selections and the hope was that this game was going to be over by half time and that we'd give people a wake up call.
Well we started out solidly enough with Barkley opening the scoring off the back of an early penalty but then England got caught offside, allowing the Yanks to equalise with a Mike Hercus penalty and that was followed up with a dodged bullet, the underdogs iniches from the tryline! It was generally becoming an England show and another Barkley pen gave us the lead back but we clearly weren't on top gear and it took the sinbinning of Vahafolau Esikia for us to really get clear air. First up was a third Barkley pen then try 1 finally came as an overlap was ripped open and Robinson did his stuff and then try 2 was banked just before half time Lewsey sparking off a string of passes which led to Barkley diving over before he converted to give England a 21-3 lead at half time.
Still, it was the Yanks that opened the second half in better mood and their defence looked like it was going be a factor in us getting any more tries untill Rees said 'sod this, I'm going to just surge through a load of Yanks for try 3'. After that though it got very hit and missfor England to such an extent as it became "where's try 4 coming from?" and in the meantime the Yanks started to get big ideas of their own. An overhaul of subs didn't do any good and Dalaglio getting sinbinned wasn't of much help either! The USA broke through for their own try when Matekitonga Moeakiola blasted through our defence, Hercus converting. England try 4 did not happen. A 28-10 win but that's not how you defend a World Cup!
Elsewhere, South Africa showed us how it should be done, and against Samoa at the Parc de Princes. Percy Montgomery opened the scoring with two early penalties but it was Samoan Gavin Willams that got the game's first try, which he converted to turn the game round. That was only temporary though. Tries from Bryan Habana, Montgomery(who converted his own try) and Jacques Fourie. Fourie's try was converted by Montgomery who then added a second try of his own before Habana completed a hat-trick and Montgomery added two more conversions! A fourth Habana try finished the game off with JP Pieterson still finding time to join the try party at the end(Montgomery converting), Boks won 59 7 to leave England 2nd in Pool A, four points ahead of third placed Tonga but still a point behind the group topping Boks!
Like England, Scotland are playing in their sixth Rugby World Cup in a row and back in '03 they had to deal with a pool made up of Japan, USA, New Zealand and Fiji. Well the first two of those games went smoothly enough but the All Blacks were always going to give the Scots a hammering which made the Fiji match a do-or-die game and the Fiji's did everything possible to make sure thaty it was die, only for a last minute try to see the Scots through.
First up this time round for the Scots was Portugal. The only time these two sides had faced each other previously was in a 1999 World Cup qualifying game(the IRB were being stingy with automatic qualifying spots for that tournament). The match was at Murrayfield, caps weren't officially awarded for the game and my main memory of it is Kenny Logan running in four tries on the way to a 85-11 win for the Scots, and the IRB learned not to be so stingy after that!
This time round? Well the Scots came to France off the back of a 27-3 defeat to South Africa at Murrayfield but anyone who remembered the '99 qualifying encounter won't have expected this largely-still amateur team to do much in their first ever World Cup match, which was at the Stade Geoffrey-Gischard with Marcus di Rollo making his comeback after returning from injury, both Lamont brothers in the starting lineup and Dan Parks as kicker for some unknown reason.
Well credit to the Portuguese, they looked solid early on, and Frank Hadden's orders to finish the game in 20 minutes looked to have fallen on death ears but then came a quick breakthrough and Rory Lamont bisected two Portuguese defenders for try 1, before surging right through the Portuguese half for try 2, Parks converting both. It didn't get any easier for the Portuguse, yet again the Scots had them against a wall and then came try 3, Rory Lamont completing his hat-trick under the posts, Parks converting again. The underdogs still decided to make a game of it though and just when the Scots thought they'd survived an attack, Pedro Carvalho surged through, Duarto Cardoso Pinto converting but their glory was short lived, Rob Dewey immidiately toasting the Portuguese defence for the all-important try 4, Parks converting again! Pinto kicked a penalty near the end of the half to give Portugal double figures but Scotland led 28-10 at half time.
That was as good as it got for the debutants scorewise but they still had plenty to say in terms of play, and definately after they got what they thought was a breakaway try. The moral of this story is, the video ref can't help you if there's been an offside deep in your own half! Scotland got back to business eventually, the Portuguese defence providing room for Dan Parks who converted his own try. Then Simon Webster ran through before setting up Southwell in the corner, Rory Lamont came close to completing his hat-trick but popped the ball up to Kelly Brown who joined the try scoring party and finally the Scottish attackers got to play pinball off the Portuguese defence before Ross Ford dived over. It was Patterson that converted the last three, Scotland won 56-10.
Elsewhere, New Zealand faced Italy at the Stade Velodrome. Well Richie McCaw grabbed two early All Black tries. Dan Carter converted both of those and added a penalty before converting tries from Dough Howlett, Mike Mulania and finally Sitiveni Sivivatu who got his second before Italy attempted some form of resistance through a Marko Stanjevic try converted by David Bortolussi. It was failed resistance though. Chris Jack got his first try and Howlett his second, Carter converting them both before Howlett completed his hat-trick. Jerry Collins added two final New Zealand tries with Luke McCallister converting both of them before Mirco Bergamasco gave Italy a second, consolation try, Roland de Marigny kicking the last point of the match. All Backs won 76-14. That leaves Scotland in second in Pool C, five points ahead of third place Romania and level with group leaders New Zealand but with a -17 points difference deficit.
In Pool B, Wales faced Canada at the Stade de la Beaujoire. James Hook opened the scoring for Wales with a three penalties but the Canadians sharply turned things round before halftime with one try from Jamie Cudmore and a second from Craig Culpan, and that one was converted by James Pritchard. Morgan Williams then extended Canada's lead before the Welsh finally got their act together, tries from Sonny Parker and Alun Wyn-Jones were both converted by Stephen Jones before Shane Willians added two tries, the second of which converted by STephen Jones. Colin Charvis finished the game off, Stephen Jones converted and Wales won 42-17. That puts them 2nd in Pool B, five points ahead of 3rd placed Fiji and level with leaders Australia but with a -41 point deficit to the Aussies.
Finally in Pool D, Ireland faced Namibia at the Chaban Delmas Stadium. Brian O'Driscoll picked up an early try, converted by Ronan O'Gara who then kicked a penalty before Andrew Trimble and Simon Easterby grabbed tries. Namibia replied with an Emile Wessels penalty. Ireland were then given a penalty try which O'Gara converted but then things went wrong for the men in green. Jacques Nieuwenhuis and Piet van Zyz got tries for Namibia, both converted by Wessels. Jerry Flannery put a gloss on the performance with a final try, giving the Irish a 32-17 win. That does actually leave Ireland top of Pool D. Not only are they four points ahead of third placed France but they're a point ahead of 2nd place Argentina.
So as things stand, the World Cup quarter finals would look like this:
South Africa vs Wales
Australia vs England
New Zealand vs Argentina
Ireland vs Scotland
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