Scotland stunned Australia 9-8 and New Zealand continued its perfect touring record to beat England on Saturday, while Wales outclassed Argentina and South Africa finally won a match in Europe
with victory at Italy.
Australia flyhalf Matt Giteau missed an injury-time conversion after a try by Ryan Cross for the Scots, who led 9-3 after two penalties by Phil Godman and a drop goal by Chris Paterson, to end 16 straight losses to the Wallabies dating back to 1981.
”The error rate was something that really hurt us,” said Australia captain Rocky Elsom, adding that Giteau was still the right choice to kick the vital conversion attempt. ”If I was going to give a crucial kick to anyone, it would be Matt. He’s our kicker
and he’s the best we’ve got.”
Scotland coach Andy Robinson, who used to be in charge of England, praised his team’s aggressive defence.
”I’ve said to the team that is the most courageous performance I’ve ever been involved in,” Robinson said. ”The amount of ball that we gave Australia to play with throughout the game and the courage that the players had to get up and keep knocking them over (was exceptional). We needed a bit of luck. I thought the guys worked hard to establish that luck.”
New Zealand scored 13 unanswered second-half points and denied the opposition a try for a third straight game for a 19-6 win at Twickenham, with flyhalf Dan Carter becoming the All Blacks’
all-time leading scorer on his return from suspension.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry said his team’s performance was the best of its three so far.
”We’re delighted with that,” Henry said. ”You’re always disappointed when you don’t finish off more chances, but we played some quality rugby.”
But England can be happier too after mostly matching the visitors and trailing by just three points until All Blacks scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan touched down in the 57th minute.
”It may not have been reflected in what we did on the field, and people may disagree with that based on what they’ve seen,” team manager Martin Johnson said. ”But as a group of players who came
together a few weeks ago with the injuries we had, I think they have been fantastic.”
Carter converted for two of the 14 points that took him ahead of Andrew Mehrtens to 980 as New Zealand’s all-time leading scorer.
Jonny Wilkinson scored two penalties for England, which competed well but was still short of inspiration in midfield.
New Zealand faces France next weekend before rounding off its European tour with a match against the Barbarians. It has already beaten Wales and Italy without conceding a try.
”Defensively, we’re very sound,” Carter said. ”It’s something to be proud of for the boys.”
Bryan Habana, Jacque Fourie, Fourie Du Preez and Wynand Olivier all touched down for South Africa on Saturday, while Morne Steyn kicked 10 points and substitute Ruan Pienaar added a late
conversion.
The Springboks had previously lost to Leicester, France and Saracens.
”We prepared for a tough match,” South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said. ”We focused on the scrums. They drove us well and were very good in the mauls. You come into a game like this and the
focus isn’t on winning but how you play, and I’m pleased with the performance.”
In Cardiff, Stephen Jones scored 17 points for Wales and Shane Williams scored his 47th and 48th tries for Wales.
Martin Rodriguez picked up a try and kicked three penalties and a conversion to score all of Argentina’s points in a game littered with mistakes from both teams.
Jones’ quick thinking led to the only try of the first half in the 17th minute. The flyhalf tapped a penalty to himself and ran it in from outside the 22 after the Argentine players had turned their backs.
Jones kicked the conversion, as well as scoring two penalties to give Wales a halftime lead of 13-3.
The second try of the game came 20 seconds after the restart, when Williams capitalised on a kick that was charged down to run in to score. The Lions wing then weaved at speed through the defense
to score his second try in the 65th.
France scored seven tries to overwhelm Samoa 43-5 and raise expectations ahead of its match next week against New Zealand.
Francois Trinh-Duc scored two tries, Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Clerc, Yannick Jauzion, Thierry Dusautoir and Benjamin Fall all touched down. Scrumhalf Morgan Parra added eight points through conversions and replacement Jo Tekori scored Samoa’s lone try.
Keith Earls scored two of Ireland’s five tries and Jonathan Sexton kicked 16 points on his debut in a 41-6 romp over Fiji in Dublin.
Sexton kicked five conversions and two penalties while Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan also crossed Fiji’s line.
Fiji’s points came from two penalties by Nicky Little. – Sapa-AP