ENGLAND STEP UP GEAR, SCOTLAND SCRABBLE INTO QUARTER FINALS

 

 

England were in a mess coming into the Pool A match with Samoa in the Stade de la Beaujoire. They last faced the islandersthe islanders in a friendly at Twickenham back in '05 and this was also a rematch of the tight 35-22 Pool C win in the Colonial Stadium during the '03 World Cup. Luckilly we used this match to get back on track. Corry got an immediate try, which Johnny converted before adding a drop goal. Loki Crichton replied for Samoa with two pens. Johnny replied with two pens of his own before converting a Sackey try. Chrichton grabed another three pens, Johnny grabbed one more and then Samoa got a try through Junior Polu, converted by Chrichton. Johnny added a pen and a drop goal before converting a second Corry try with Sackey grabbing his second try to secure a 44-22 win.

Next up was another bunch of islanders, Tonga and the only time we'd faced them previously was a Pool B game at Twickenham in the '99 World Cup and I wound up with a day off college as a result of it! It turned out to be an utter anhiliation. Jeremy Guscott, Phil Greening(no, I don't remember him either), Dan Luger, Austin Healey and Will Greenwood all got two tries each, Matt Dawson, Matt Perry and Richard Hill got a try each and in the pre-Wilkinson era, Paul Grayson kicked a ton of goals on the way to a 101-10 win.

Problem was, eight years is a long time and this certainly was not the same side who we'd anhiliated back in '99 as the Boks had already found out. So now we headed to the Parc de Princes for the ultimate in make or breaks, facing elimination at the first hurdle if we didn't win. With Robinson still injured that meant Lewsey at full back with Corry still captaining the side and Matt Stevens still in place of Vickery. Similar linep to Samoa and Ashton certainly expected it to do the business.

England dodged an early bullet first with Moody getting whacked and when Tonga opened the scoring with a Pierre Hola penalty it was a sign that we hadn't had a good start. We equalised in similar fashion through through Johnny but any big ideas we may have had got shut down when Epi Taone found holes in the England defence and Sukanivalu Hufanga found a few more to grab the first try of the game, Hola converting. However England had the next attack and a beautiful piece of play from Johnny saw him set up Sackey with a penalty kick out wide for a try. A load of messy play followed from both sides before Johnny gave England the lead with a drop goal. More attacking play forced another Wilkinson penalty and then we had the ultimate in sheer pace. Sackey collected the ball from a Tonga fumble in his own half and just ran and no one was able to catch him! England led 19-10 at half time!

England again had more of the play at the start of the second half but then they were dodging bullets again particularly with dangerous lobs and the Tongans were always going to get something from this kind of play, luckilly only a Hola penalty. When England finally got on the attack again though, they found an overlap and Easter set up Tait for try 3, Wilkinson converting. Now this was an England show with some of the smoothest play seen for a while which led to Farrell suckering the Tongan defence into giving him space for try 4, Johnny converting. There was a brief Tonga attack after that but then Johnny added a drop goal and it was game over. Tonga did have the last word though with Hale T Poole sliding through the England defence at the last minute for a consolation try, converted by Hola. England still won 36-20, capping the ultimate phoenix effort.

Elsewhere, Samoa beat the USA 25-21 in the Stade Geoffrey Gischard before the Eagles got hammered 64-15 at the Stade de la Mosson by South Africa. So, England finish in second in Pool A, five points ahead of third placed Tonga which puts us through to the quarter finals though five point behind group winners South Africa. England also finish nine points ahead of fourth place side Samoa to secure their spot in the 2011 World Cup! All this despite the men in white's dodgy start.

As for Scotland well in his wisdom, Frank Hadden had decided to field his reserves against New Zealand in their Pool C game at Murrayfield. This was a suicide run against a team who they last faced in November '05 in Murrayfield(where they got beaten 29-10) and then faced in a '99 World Cup quarter final at Murrayfield(and they got beaten 30-18). Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks and they clearly had no intentions of starting now. "Fine by us" said the Kiwis. Richie McCaw got the first try(converted by Dan Carter), Doug Hewlett got the second and Carter added a penalty before Byron Kelleher got the third. Carter added another penalty and Ali Williams got try 4 before Carter converted a try of his own and Howlett grabbed his second try. All Blacks won 40-0.

Now Scotland and Italy are Six Nations rivals and much more managable in theory. That didn't stop the Azzuri making idiots out of the Scots in this year's Six Nations at Murrayfield though, beating them 37-17. The Scots did better in the '06 Six Nations encounter at the Stadio Flaminio though, winning 13-10 but even that was a messy encounter. Prior to this tournament, Scotland had no history whatsoever against the Azzuri in the World Cup!

Now Frank Hadden's stunt vs the All Blacks had turned the Pool C encounter between the two sides at the Stade Geoffrey Gischard into certainly the biggest match in Italian rugby history and a winner takes all game for both sides. Scott Murray got to see some action vs the All Blacks but still didn't start for Scotland in this crucial game. It certainly looked like the group stages of this tournament would wind down to a close with one of it's tightest games.

It wasn't long into the match before Patterson got to kick a penalty to give Scotland the opening lead and the Azzuri were starting as they meant to go on. A second Patterson penalty gave the Scots a degree of comfort and the Italians were absolutely nowhere with Mauro Bergamasco sin binned early on...and then the Italians came out of nowhere with Mirco Bergamasco lobbing the Scottish defence for Alessandro Truncon to dive over and the try was converted by David Bortolussi, Italy took the lead and then Bortolussi added another penalty. Now things were nervy. Italy kept attacking but the Scots generally soaked them up and when the Scots attacked, Patterson was able to do what he does twice and turn the game round again after dodgy Italian challenges. Scotland led 12-10 at half time but the game was nowhere near over.

Scotland dodged one bullet early on in the second half due to a missed penalty and when Italy overdid a ruck Patterson showed how it should be done to give the Scots some form of breathing space. Italy's game just got messier and messier though, cue another Patterson pen but when the Azzuri countered it was the Scots turn to play rough. Hines got sin binned, Bortolussi pulled three back and when Euan Murray pulled down a maul Bortolussi took the Scots back to the edge and they played like it, neither side allowed for much class in their play near the end and if anything it was Italy that come close to turning the game round once again with a missed pen. Scotland won 18-16 though and that was a big relief.

Elsewhere, Romania beat Portugal 14-10 in Toulouse's La Stade and after a result like that, the Oaks deserved to get slaughtered 85-8 by New Zealand also at Le Stade. So, that meant that Scotland finished 2nd in Pool C, five points ahead of third placed Italy which puts them through to the quarter finals though six points behind group winners New Zealand. They also finished nine points ahead of fourth placed side Romania so have automatically qualified for the 2011 World Cup.

In Group B, Wales faced Fiji at the Stade de la Beaujoire. Stephen Jones opened the scoring with a penalty only for Fiji to turn the game round with a Akapusi Quera try converted by Nicky Little. Vilimoni Delasau got a second try for Fiji before Little added two pens to leave the Welsh in deep trouble, before converting Kele Leawere's try. The Welsh replied with tries from Alix Popham(converted by James Hook), Shane Williams(converted by Stephen Jones), Gareth Thomas and Mark Jones(converted by Stephen Jones) to seemingly turn round the massive deficit. Nicky Little kicked two penalties to give Fiji the lead back before Wales seemingly won the game with a Martyn Williams try. This year though it was Fiji who had the last minute burst, Graham Dewes going down with seconds on the clock, Little kicking over and Fiji won 38-34, forcing Wales down to third place to the pool, three points behind Fiji who went to the quarter finals in their place. However, the Dragons still finished nine points ahead of fourth placed Japan which means that they still automatically qualify for the 2011 World Cup which makes them jammy gits!

In Group D, Ireland faced Argentina at the Parc de Princes. Argentina opened the scoring with a Lucas Borges try. Ronan O'Gara opened the Irish scoring with a penalty but Juan Martin Hernandez replied with a drop goal for the Argies. The Irish still turned it round with Brian O'Driscoll grabbing a try which O'Gara converted only for Hernandez to give the Pumas the lead back with a drop goal. Horacio Agulla then got another Argie try, converted by Felice Contemponi who later added a penalty. Geordan Murphy came up with a classy try for Ireland but it was the last of the tournament for the men in green. Contepomi came up with two penalties and a drop goal, Argentina won 30-15. So the Irish finish third in the pool, six points behind second placed France which leaves them out of the tournament. However they finish four points ahead of fourth placed side Georgia, they're already garunteed a spot in the 2011 World Cup.

A poorly performing Ireland are garunteed a spot in the 2011 World Cup four years ahead of time just for doing better than Georgia. Even when the IRB are trying to avoid mismatches in the World Cup and so possibly reducing the number of qualifiers to 16. Which is a rediculous backwards step for the sport to take. If you reduce the number of qualifying teams then you are eventually going to get a closed shop. If there are 16 teams in 2011 then there are pretty good odds there will be the same 16 teams in 2015. Which would make the tournament a joke.

In the meantime the tournament moves into the quarter finals. England face Australia at the Stade Velodrome. The Aussies have at least one injury and on current form if they expect an easy run from England they'll have to think again. Scotland vs Argentina at the Stade de France has to be the freakiest RWC quarter final of all time though, the two sides have only one semi final appearance between them! Both matches are too close to call.

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