by Lewis Husbands

The following weekend Wales were again confident a win was within their grasp and that all would not be lost. Only a few changes were made since the previous week, but one major change of switching James Hook and Jamie Roberts seems to have paid off. Although Wales did not win, an awesome try by Shane Williams and another second half in which they turned up the pace bought Wales the respect of the Springboks. At 60 minutes Wales edged into the lead with a penalty by Stephen Jones, but the South Africans wasted no time in their comeback turning up the pressure on Wales and then sealing the deal by making 5 substitutions, in an attempt to top up energy levels and keep the power flowing in the build-up to the end- one of which (Bismarck du Plessis) scoring a try in the final minute to leave the final score:

South Africa 37 – Wales 21.

 

Meanwhile that morning England had been in New Zealand for the first of their International Test Matches against New Zealand, with England fielding a slightly different team than we saw in their 6Nations matches- undoubtedly due to the change in management in the England camp. England similarly were first to score, and for the first quarter they competed well with the score at 6 – 3 to England but shortly after any fight in their game was killed by a try from Conrad Smith. The only and meagre consolation came from two errors made by New Zealand that Topsy Ojo (on debut) managed to turn into tries. This was in no way enough to combat the All Black’s four tries leaving the final score at New Zealand 37 – 20 England.

Australia and Ireland’s match played out somewhat differently with Australia taking a try after only 6 minutes of play by Berrick Barnes but Ireland stood strong and on the 15^th minute Dennis Leamy crossed the Australian line to score a try, which Ronan O’Gara converted to take the visitors into the lead. This accomplishment was short-lived however as Australia struck back 6 minutes later with James Horwill scoring a try which was this time converted and then followed by a penalty (both) by Matt Giteau that took the Aussies into a 15 – 7 lead at half-time. In the opening minutes of the second half Australia looked as if they were simply going to stretch their lead with another penalty by Giteau but this seemed to spur Ireland on and a try by Ireland’s prodigal son Brian O’Driscoll which took his side within 6 points of Australia, but due to an injury O’Driscoll had to leave the park shortly afterwards. Despite periods of pressure for both sides the score remained Australia 18 – 12 Ireland at full-time.

 

The last of the day’s matches was in Buenos Aires as Scotland were in Argentina’s backyard in an attempt to beat them for the first time in 18 years and for 59 minutes Scotland dominated play to establish a 19 – 0 lead. However in the 60^th minute Argentina struck back with a try and looked to be on the offensive only to narrowly miss out on a second try only five minutes later. This wake-up call seemed to clear Scotland’s minds and with a sweet interception by Dan Parks they managed to score another try which Patterson easily converted from in front of the posts giving Scotland the score of 26 – 7 with less than 10 minutes left on the clock. However on the 80^th minute Scotland’s luck caught up with them and Haracio Agulla scored a try for Argentina which was narrowly converted by Federico Todeschini making the final score Argentina 14-26 Scotland. Meaning the Scots only just missed out on the 16 point lead they needed to attain a place in the top 8 of the IRB World Ranking, which would have meant they were where they needed to be to gain a favourable seeding for the next World Cup[i].

 

The Top 10 in the IRB World Rankings now stand (as of 16^th June)

 

Position (last week) ¦ Team                             ¦ Rating Points 

1(1)	SOUTH AFRICA	90.81
2(2)	NEW ZEALAND	89.71
3(3)	ARGENTINA	85.42
4(4)	AUSTRALIA	84.20
5(5)	ENGLAND	83.24
6(6)	WALES	80.12
7(7)	FRANCE	79.61
8(8)	IRELAND	77.18
9(10)	SCOTLAND	76.92
10(9)	FIJI	76.29

 

Meanwhile England were in New Zealand for the first of their Test Matches against New Zealand, with England fielding a slightly different team than we saw in their 6Nations matches- undoubtedly due to the change in management in the England camp. England similarly were first to score, and for the first quarter they competed well with the score at 6 – 3 to England but shortly after any fight in their game was killed by a try from Conrad Smith. The meagre consolation came from two errors made by New Zealand that Topsy Ojo (on debut) managed to turn into tries. This was in no way enough to combat the All Black’s four tries leaving the final score at 37 – 20 to New Zealand.

Australia and Ireland’s match played out somewhat differently with Australia taking a try after only 6 minutes of play by Berrick Barnes but Ireland stood strong and on the 15^th minute Dennis Leamy crossed the Australian line to score a try, which Ronan O’Gara converted to take the visitors into the lead. This accomplishment was short-lived however as Australia struck back 6 minutes later with James Horwill scoring a try which was this time converted and then followed by a penalty (both) by Matt Giteau that took the Aussies into a 15 – 7 lead at half-time. In the opening minutes of the second half Australia looked as if they were simply going to stretch their lead with another penalty by Giteau but this seemed to spur Ireland on and a try by Ireland’s prodigal son Brian O’Driscoll which took his side within 6 points of Australia, but due to an injury O’Driscoll had to leave the park shortly afterwards. Despite periods of pressure for both sides the score remained 18 – 12 at full-time to the Home Side.

 

The last of the day’s matches was in Buenos Aires as Scotland were in Argentina’s backyard in an attempt to beat them for the first time in 18 years and for 59 minutes Scotland dominated play to establish a 19 – 0 lead. However in the 60^th minute Argentina struck back with a try and looked to be on the offensive only to narrowly miss out on a second try only five minutes later. This wake-up call seemed to clear Scotland’s minds and with a sweet interception by Dan Parks they managed to score another try which Patterson easily converted from in front of the posts giving Scotland the score of 26 – 7 with less than 10 minutes left on the clock. However on the 80^th minute Scotland’s luck caught up with them and Haracio Agulla scored a try for Argentina which was narrowly converted by Federico Todeschini making the final score Argentina 14-26 Scotland. Meaning the Scots only just missed out on the 16 point lead they needed to attain a place in the top 8 of the IRB World Ranking, which would have meant they were where they needed to be to gain a favourable seeding for the next World Cup[i].

 

The Top 10 in the IRB World Rankings now stand (as of 16^th June)

 

Position (last week) ¦ Team                             ¦ Rating Points 

1(1)	SOUTH AFRICA	90.81
2(2)	NEW ZEALAND	89.71
3(3)	ARGENTINA	85.42
4(4)	AUSTRALIA	84.20
5(5)	ENGLAND	83.24
6(6)	WALES	80.12
7(7)	FRANCE	79.61
8(8)	IRELAND	77.18
9(10)	SCOTLAND	76.92
10(9)	FIJI	76.29

 

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