Rugby Mad Blog

England started as they meant to go on, with Captain Martin Corry [left] rumbling over in the corner within 2 minutes! Jonny did the honours and the Red Rose boys were 7-0 up immediately. Jonny struck a drop goal shortly after. Samoa’s Loki Crichton kept them in the running with a couple of penalties in the first quarter, but Wilkinson punted two of his own to redress the balance.

At the half hour, England were looking a bit flat, until great interplay between Simon Shaw and Mark Cueto pushed England upfield, then a chip ahead from Jonny Wilkinson put Paul Sackey over in the corner. Jonny added the two points to take England to 23-6. In the last couple of minutes of the half, Loki Crichton slotted two penalties to leave Samoa trailing by 23-12.

Samoa continued to claw back the deficit with another penalty kick just after the break, but it was cancelled out three minutes later when Jonny Wilkinson added three points of his own, having been felled by a high tackle from Brian Lima, to take the score to 26-15.

However, Samoa were far from giving up the ghost, and in the 47th minute, Junior Polu scored (it was close, the TMO had to be consulted) and Crichton converted – Samoa were back in the game, only 4 points behind at 26-22.

For the next twenty minutes, the score was stuck right there, although England came close around 55 minutes from a catch and drive manoeuvre, the forwards rumbled along, Samoa were penalised and Wilko missed a drop goal attempt while playing the advantage. Uncharacteristically, he also missed the resulting kick at goal.

Around 60 minutes, Samoa had a chance, camped deep in English territory, with forwards and backs involved, but England defended furiously and eventually turned over for a counter-atack.

A few substitutions for England followed, and they were beginning to look a little nervous. Crichton chipped ahead for Samoa, Andy Gomarsall [left] covered well. England scrapped on the floor, turned the ball over, and Nick Easter crashed his way upfield. Wilkinson could see that the try wasn’t on, and calmly popped a nerve-steadying drop goal, to take the score up to 29-22.

Samoa botched the restart kick, giving England a scrun in the centre of the field. Samoa infringed, so Jonny decided to kick for goal. He struck a beautiful, sweet kick straight through the middle of the posts, and England were 10 points ahead at 32-22.

As if the hammer home the advantage, Martin Corry went over in the 76th minute, for his second try, from a pass from Paul Sackey [right]. Jonny converted, but not to be out-done, Sackey snuck up the right wing for his second score in the 80th minute. This time, Jonny didn’t add the extra points, but England were home and dry with a 44-22 win.

Thank heavens for that! England showed some promising improvements after the South Africa debacle. Let’s hope they continue on their upward path for their game against Tonga next weekend.

With two wins under their belts already, Tonga were up for their clash with South Africa and played a fantastic game, nearly giving the Springboks a fright.

First blood went to the South Sea Islanders with Fly Half Pierre Hola slotting a penalty in the 9th minute; his South African counterpart Andre Pretorious missed two attempts at the posts. The Springboks passing was a bit sloppy, and the Tongan defence held firm until the 17th minute, when Ruan Pienaar snuck over the line after a quick tap and go penalty. Pretorious finally found the posts with the conversion. The score was 7-3 at half time, much tighter than most commentators would have guessed before the game.

There were no more points until the 44th minute, although both sides had opportuniities in the meantime. Tonga’s Kisi Pulu scored, driven over the line, and Hola converted, to take the Tongans into the lead 10-7!

Springbok coach Jake White brought on 5 heavies from the replacements bench at this point – damage limitation in mind. Pretorious missed another penalty chance at 47 minutes – his fourth wayward attempt. A couple of minutes later, Danie Rossouw [left] took a very heavy hit from the Tongan defence. Play stopped and he was stretchered off the field in a neck brace. Let’s hope the medical team were just being cautious.

The Tongans were caught offside a few minutes later, and this time Francois Steyn took the penalty and added 3 points. Then the floodgates opened and the Boks scored three tries in seven minutes. Juan Smit was the first to score at the end of a move which saw the South Africans run the whole length of the field. Next up was veteran Bobby Skinstad, making a record-breaking 90th appearance for the Springboks. The third was by Pienaar, taking the score to 27-10. Not exactly runaway, but the Boks thought they had done enough.

Tonga were having none of it, and still faught valiantly. Around 70 minutes, they managed two scores in two minutes, and kept pushing the South African defence. They came within a whisker of scoring again right at the end, but for a bad bounce which saw the ball go into touch.

The game finished up at 30-25 to South Africa, but it was a great fight all the way, and one of the most exciting of the tournament so far. Tonga are England’s last opponents in the pool stage next weekend, and they will underestimate them at their peril!