New Zealand cling on to beat resilient South Africa

So after a month and a half of thrills and spills, we know our World Cup finalists. And it’s an all-Bledisloe affair after New Zealand snuck past South Africa on Saturday, with Australia clinically crushed Argentina a day later.

New Zealand did just enough to overcome a resilient South Africa 20-18 at Twickenham. As the rain poured down, it was ultimately their ability to strike when it mattered that saw them win the day. They dominated territory (enjoying close to 65% of the game in South Africa’s half) and when they found themselves twice camped on South Africa’s line, they came away with seven points on each occasion.

The first saw some delightful hands in tight spaces from Dan Carter and Richie McCaw set up Jerome Kaino who shrugged off the attentions of the scrambling defence to dive over in the corner. Crucially, Carter was allowed to reset his conversion after missing it first time up, with Bryan Habana sprinting off the line too early. He slotted it at the second attempt.

The second was equally vintage New Zealand, Ma’a Nonu finding himself with a two on two in 25 metres of space and arcing his run to draw both defenders, before sending the substitute Beauden Barrett into the corner.

In dire conditions there was a lot of kicking and in general both sides handled the weather well, but despite some brilliant Springbok defence and their valiant work at the breakdown, it was the Kiwis who marched on to another final after taking their chances when it mattered most.

Star man: Sam Whitelock

Clinical Australia teach Argentina a lesson

A day later in completely different conditions, Australia taught Argentina a lesson in how to be clinical under the blue Twickenham skies, collecting an ultimately comfortable 29-15 win in a game that felt more like a pool stage dead rubber than a semi-final for the pace it was played at.

The Pumas arrived with a similar outlook to the one that saw them heroically beat Ireland a week previously; namely, let’s give the ball some air and score some tries. But with more on the line this week, they were far less accurate and too often shot themselves in the foot in their own half – and sometimes 22 – gifting the waiting Wallabies points.

First up Nicolas Sanchez telegraphed an inside pass that Rob Simmons plucked out of the air with glee before galloping away to the line. Next it was Santiago Cordero who knocked on trying to take quick tap penalty in his own 22, with Bernard Foley throwing a gorgeous cut-out pass from the ensuing scrum to send Adam Ashley-Cooper in for his first try.

With Australia 14-3 to the good after just 11 minutes, Argentina were left with a mountain to climb – especially with David Pocock at his truffle hog-like best at the breakdown. And to their credit, they made a damn good go of it, Nico Sanchez making amends for his early error with some dangerous darts and Santiago Cordero bringing the whole of Twickenham to its feet with his dazzling running.

In the end, however, there were too many occasions when the Pumas knocked on in promising attacking situations, with Sanchez’s boot their only source of points in the end. Australia, in remarkably similar fashion to a week previously against Scotland, built the phases before spinning it wide where gaps continued to appear, Ashley-Cooper the beneficiary more often than not to finish with a hattrick.

Star man: David Pocock

Saracens & Leicester make it two from two in the Premiership

The second round of the Aviva Premiership saw two sides used to spending time at the top of the table gather there once again, Saracens and the Tigers recording back-to-back wins to become the only two unbeaten sides in the league.

Saracens dogged out a win against Gloucester with Owen Farrell proving the saviour, his penalty four minutes from time giving them a 17-15 win after Mike Ellery had scored the only try of the game earlier on Friday night. At the same time Sale were eking out a home win against Worcester Warriors, a last minute try from Jonny Leota giving them a bonus point 27-13 victory.

On Saturday Northampton set about erasing the memory of last weekend’s shock loss to Worcester by demolishing Newcastle 42-16 at stadium MK, both Ben Foden and Christian Day enjoying braces. Wasps snuck past Bath with the visitors’ debutant Niko Matawalu enjoying an ignominious debut, conceding a penalty try and receiving a yellow card that saw the home side come away 16-9 winners. Later in the evening, Exeter hammered London Irish 38-11 at Sandy Park.

Leicester and Harlequins completed the Premiership weekend on Sunday, the hosts squeaking past the Londoners 22-19 with Quins turning down a late shot at goal and a draw to go to the corner, only to ultimately come away with nothing.

Aviva Premiership star man: Ben Foden

Scarlets remain unbeaten to go top of PRO12

DTH van der Merwe continued his stunning scoring form in the Scarlets’ 25-22 win over Munster on Friday night, but the main plaudits must go to Steven Shingler who kicked a penalty with the last touch of the game to seal the win and send his side top of the league with five wins in five games.

On the same evening the Dragons were made to work hard for their 19-12 win over Treviso, while Ulster produced a professional display to overcome Cardiff 24-17 and Leinster saw off Glasgow 23-18 in Dublin.

Saturday saw Connacht continue to heap the misery on the Ospreys, winning 21-16 in Swansea to leave the Welsh side with just one win from five games. Zebre also recorded a shock and morale-boosting win over Edinburgh, downing the previously-unbeaten Scots 19-11 in Parma.

Guinness PRO12 star man: James Davies

Racing win Parisian derby as Clermont suffer first loss

Racing 92 completed a hard fought win over Parisian rivals Stade Français on Friday night, taking the spoils 27-18. The following day league leaders Clermont suffered their first loss of the season, being defeated by Montpellier 24-19 in a result that sees the Heraultois club close the gap at the top of the league to just one point.

Other results saw Castres lose 23-31 at home to Grenoble, Pau do likewise to Brive 13-18, Toulon demolish Oyoonax 61-3, Bordeaux sneak past Toulouse 12-10 and La Rochelle beat Agen 23-6.

Top 14 star man: Jonathan Pelissié

Hero of the weekend: Argentina have been an utter joy to watch at this World Cup, and for that their coach Daniel Hourcade has to take a lot of credit. He has moulded a group of highly talented youngsters, spattered with experienced heads like Fernandez Lobbe and Hernandez, into one of the best teams in the world. This was a World Cup too soon for them, but they will be challengers again in 2019 for sure.

Try of the weekend: I could watch Bernard Foley’s looped, cut-out pass for Adam Ashley-Cooper‘s first try on repeat for the rest of the day and not get bored. It brought about that rarest of beast – a try from first phase on a set piece, and it was a thing of real beauty.

Video credit: Rugby videos

Villain of the weekend: social media again erupted at a referee’s decision on Sunday, the TMO interrupting to recommend Wayne Barnes give a yellow card to Tomas Lavanini for a no arms tackle. It felt a very harsh decision when a penalty at most was probably the right call – especially given the lack of interest from the officials in things like dangerous clear outs at the ruck during the tournament.

By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images