Weekend rugby round up: Scores and reports from all nine Test matches played across the globe

In the craziest test match of the weekend England led 24-3 within the first twenty minutes with tries to Mike Brown, Elliot Daly and Owen Farrell, then somehow found themselves behind 29-27 at half time as the Boks hit back with a double to Sibusiso Nkosi and singles to Faf de Klerk and Willie Le Roux.

Some of these were due to some comical defending – Maro Itoje tripping to allow de Klerk in and Daly missing a regulation clearance to led Nkosi in for his first – but others, such as Le Roux, were simply poor defending brought on by poor attitude or alignment.

The second half was a much more standard affair with a try to Aphiwe Dyantyi putting the Boks out to a twelve point lead 39-27, before England clawed their way back to tries to Itoje and a long range score to Jonny May. But it was too little too late.

England seem to have some real issues with attitude and physical preparation and South Africa will only get better. As Rassie Erasmus said afterwards, it will be a huge game this week in Bloemfontein.

South Africa 42 (Sibusiso Nkosi 2, Faf de Klerk, Willie le Roux, Aphiwe Dyantyi tries; Handre Pollard 4 conversions, 3 penalties) defeated England 39 (Mike Brown, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Jonny May tries; Farrell 4 conversions, penalty, Daly penalty). HT: 29-27.

AUSTRALIA v IRELAND in Brisbane

Where did that come from? This was an extraordinary performance from Michael Cheika’s much maligned side led by a rejuvenated, super-human David Pocock.

Everything pointed to an Irish victory.

Australia were coming off just six days preparation, with three new caps in the 23, facing up to World No.2 Ireland, the current Six Nations Grand Slam champions, on a 12-game winning streak.

But Joe Schmidt erred in not starting all his big guns – Tadgh Furlong, Johnny Sexton, Dan Leavy and Cian Healy were all left out of the starting XV.

It opened a chink in Ireland’s armor and Pocock and the Men of Gold (closer to fluorescent yellow these days) came pouring through.

Even when Sexton was introduced in the second half, Australia’s self-belief had grown to such an extent that even the great Leinster man could make no difference.

The match was tightly poised at 11-9 before a late try to Pocock sealed it for the Wallabies – it was nothing more than they deserved, and Cheika’s team will be desperate to wrap up the series this Saturday in Melbourne.

Australia 18 (Bernard Foley, David Pocock tries; Foley conversion, 2 penalties) defeated Ireland 9 (Joe Carbery 3 penalties). HT: 8-6.

NEW ZEALAND v FRANCE in Auckland

The French were always on a hiding to nothing at a venue where the All Blacks have not lost for almost 40 Tests since 1994 but the home side were greatly assisted by some cavalier refereeing by the very confident English-man Luke Pearce.

With the score locked at 11-11 early in the second half, Pearce yellow carded France Paul Gabrillagues for a tackle on Ryan Crotty, without using the TMO for a second look. If he had taken the chance to use the video replay he would have seen that the tackle deserved a penalty if that.

Then while Gabrillagues was in the sin bin France winger Remi Grosso was hit by not one but two illegal tackles by Sam Cane and Ofa Tu’ungafasi that left Grosso’s head fractured in two places – but no action was taken by Pearce.

The sin-binning and non-sinbinning completely changed the course of the game and destroyed any brave French resistance.

The All Blacks turned on the razzle dazzle, as only they can, to score seven second half tries – one by Ardie Savea that also should not have been awarded as he was brought to ground before the line. Expect more of the same in Wellington this weekend.

New Zealand 52 (Rieko Ioane 2, Beauden Barrett, Codie Taylor, Ben Smith, Damian McKenzie, Ngani Laumape, Ardie Savea tries; Beauden Barrett 3 conversions, 2 penalties) defeated France 11 (Remy Grosso try; Morgan Parra 2 penalties). HT: 8-11.

FIJI v SAMOA in Suva

Fiji squeaked home 24-22 in their World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup opener despite having three players sin-binned at various stages.

The Flying Fijians led 17-3 at half-time, despite having centre Jale Vatubua and captain Akapusi Qera sinbinned for dangerous tackles, and stretched the lead to 24-3 while prop Eroni Mawi received a yellow card early in the second spell.

Kini Murimurivalu, Ben Volavola, Henry Seniloli and Vereniki Goneva scored tries for the defending champions, with Volavola adding two conversions.

With 20 minutes remaining Samoa started to overcome their high error count and began to pressure Fiji.

Scrum-half Melani Matavao, flanker Jack Lam and replacement scrum-half Dwayne Polataivaia all scored in the closing quarter but one missed conversion denied them a draw.

Fiji 24 (Kini Murimurivalu, Ben Volavola, Henry Seniloli, Vereniki Goneva tries; Volavola 2 conversions) defeated Samoa 22 (Melani Matavao, Jack Lam, Dwayne Polataivao tries; Tusi Pisi conversion, penalty, Ah See Tuala conversion). HT: 17-3.

GEORGIA v TONGA in Suva

Fullback Soso Matiashvili scored all of Georgia’s points as they staved off a strong finish by Tonga to win 16-15.

Matiashvili converted his own try from a 90-metre kick-and-chase, and landed three penalties as Georgia built a 16-3 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

However the Ikale Tahi (Sea Eagles), who had been pinned inside their own half for most of the match by Georgia’s accurate kicking, began to show signs of dominance when Racing 92 prop Ben Tameifuna came off the bench late in the game.

He brought stability to the pack as Tonga won two scrum penalties which led to tries by Viliami Lolohea and David Halaifonua.

But with time on the clock, a desperate attempt by Tonga to produce the match-winning points ended with a handling error.

Fiji play Georgia next week, while Tonga face Samoa.

Georgia 16 (Soso Matiashvili try, conversion, 3 penalties) defeated Tonga 15 (David Halaifonua, David Lolohea tries; Sonatane Takulua conversion, penalty). HT: 13-3.

USA v RUSSIA in Commerce City

Hooker Joe Taufete’e and winger Marcel Brache scored two tries each as the US ran in nine tries in all to beat Russia 62-13 in Colorado.

Taufete’e scored two tries in the first half and had a massive influence on the match before being replaced in the 47th minute. Brache scored on either side of halftime, including a brilliant individual try to end the first half with the United States ahead 34-13.

The former Stormers and Western Force Super Rugby player also provided a superb offload in the lead-up to a late try by Nate Augsburger.

The US play Scotland and Russia face Canada this weekend and US captain Blaine Scully said his team would have to improve to be competitive against the Scots.

USA 62 (Joe Taufete’e 2, John Quill, Paul Lasike, Marcel Brache 2, Nate Augspurger, Cameron Dolan, Blaine Scully tries; Alan MacGinty 4, Will Magie 3 conversions; Alan MacGinty penalty) defeated Russia 13 (Mikhail Babaev try; Yury Kushnarev conversion, Kushnarev 2 penalties)

JAPAN v ITALY in Oita

This was a result that surprised everyone except the Brave Blossoms.

An inspired performance from Kenki Fukuoka propelled Japan to a 34-17 win over Italy in Oita.

In front of a crowd of 25,824 the flying Japan wing scored one try, helped create another and defended heroically as Jamie Joseph’s side showed their Rugby World Cup preparations are well on track.

Flyhalf Yu Tamura weighed in with a good kicking performance while flanker Kazuki Himeno was in the thick of things up front as Japan picked up their second straight win over Italy following five losses.

Italian coach Conor O’Shea was left to rue what might have been.

“Our biggest issue is we need to finish,” the former Ireland fullback said. “We did some good things but let ourselves down.”

Japan 34 (Amanaki Mafi, Kenki Fukuoka, Lomano Lemeki, Kotaru Matsushima tries; Yu Tamura 4 conversions, 2 penalties) defeated Italy 17 (Tiziano Pasquali, Abraham Steyne tries; Tommaso Allan 2 conversions, penalty). HT: 17-14.

CANADA v SCOTLAND in Edmonton

Canada have a lot to improve on after a 48-10 shellacking by a developmental Scottish side.

George Turner struck for three tries as the Scots came away with a in front of a crowd of 12,824 at Commonwealth Stadium.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but there’s no better place to start than against a team of that calibre,” said Canada head coach Kinglsey Jones.

Scotland is currently ranked sixth in the world, while Canada is a distant 21st.

“The truth is we didn’t help ourselves,” said Jones. “We kicked away possession when we didn’t really need to. We needed to make those guys tackle and we didn’t do that often enough.

Canada have a chance to redeem themselves against Russia this weekend.

Scotland 48 (Byron McGuigan, Ruaridh Jackson, George Turner 3, Magnus Bradbury, Lewis Carmichael tries, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne 2, Blair Kinghorn 3 conversions, Hidalgo-Clyne) defeated Canada 10 (Penalty try; Shane O’Leary penalty)

ARGENTINA v WALES in San Juan

In perhaps the most impressive performance of the weekend a young Wales side defeated Argentina to grab the sole win for top tier northern hemisphere rugby in the first weekend of action in the June test window.

Wales showed efficiency on attack and tenacity on defence to defeat Argentina 23-10 and take a 1-0 lead in the two-test rugby series.

Two try-scoring chances came Wales’ way in the first half and they nailed both, through flanker James Davies and winger George North, both assisted by halfback Gareth Davies, opening a decisive 17-3 lead by halftime.

Argentina, in contrast, lacked precision on attack and paid heavily for the defensive lapse that led to North’s try.

The Pumas had ample possession inside Wales’ half and often carried the ball through long phases inside the Welsh 22, but their attacking threat was dulled by poor handling and a lack of discipline.

They struck back with a try to flanker Tomas Lezana in the second half but it was too little too late.

The win was Wales’ first in Argentina since 2004, and was a triumph for a relatively untested combination, missing several senior players through injury.

Wales 23 (James Davies, George North tries; Rhys Patchell 2 conversions, 2 penalties, Gareth Anscombe penalty) defeated Argentina 10 (Tomas Lezana try; Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias conversion, Nicolas Sanchez penalty). HT: 17-3.