A fascinating round of games and this tournament is improving as we head to the finals. Here’s my review of the semi final action.
3 from 6, some teams really stood up and others just made too many mistakes.
Argentina 46 – 5 Italy
Australia 31 – 21 Scotland
New Zealand 45 – 7 France
Samoa 12 – 29 Japan
Ireland 12 – 22 Wales
South Africa 20 – 28 England
Argentina blitzed Italy and it was all over by the half hour mark, 26-0 and 4 tries in the bank. This tournament packs in the games and so it’s not surprise that they throttled back after that as there is still another game to come.
Australia didn’t have the same luxury and trailed Scotland 5-7 at half time. But the dominated the start of the second half and pulled out a big lead by the hour mark. Scotland will rue their missed opportunities as a come back in the last ten minutes was far too late to really worry the wallabies.
New Zealand thrashed the French even tough they were behind early on. Three tries in eight minutes before halftime sealed the contest. The French couldn’t hold not to the ball, getting turned over 20 times and only managed 1 clean break to New Zealand’s 13. The second half just had two tries in it, but allowed Li to become the highest try scorer in this competition.
Then we had the first of three upsets, Japan gained revenge for a loss earlier in the year to Samoa. Japan had looked poor up to this stage but did have a hard pool, they managed four tires to Samoa’s two, as they put that all behind them.
Wales backed up their 6 Nations win with a big performance in the first half. Three tries helped them to a 22-0 lead at half time. Ireland came out much better in the second half but couldn’t quite chase down that total as Wales weren’t able to add to it.
The South African’s were getting bossed in the forwards before they lost two to the sin bin for high tackles. They came out of that fairly good getting a penalty and only giving up an unconverted try. But a Penalty try just before half time confirmed England’s dominance. In the second half England stretched their lead and South Africa struggled chasing the game. Dropped balls giving up 12 scrums didn’t help their cause and only two late tires brought any respectability to the score line.
The Rugby Championship
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