New Zealand continued their perfect touring record to beat England on Saturday, while Wales outclassed Argentina and South Africa finally won a match in Europe with victory over Italy.
New Zealand scored 13 unanswered second-half points and denied the opposition a try for a third straight game for a 19-6 win over England at Twickenham, with flyhalf Dan Carter becoming the All Blacks’ all-time leading scorer on his return from suspension.
England mostly matched the visitors and trailing by just three points until All Blacks scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan touched down in the 57th minute.
PHOTO: AFP
“It may not have been reflected in what we did on the field and people may disagree with that based on what they’ve seen, but as a group of players who came together a few weeks ago with the injuries we had, I think they have been fantastic,” team manager Martin Johnson said.
Carter converted for two of the 14 points that took him ahead of Andrew Mehrtens to 980 as New Zealand’s all-time leading scorer.
Jonny Wilkinson scored two penalties for England, who competed well, but were still short of inspiration in midfield.
New Zealand face France next weekend, before rounding off their European tour with a match against the Barbarians. They have already beaten Wales and Italy without conceding a try.
Bryan Habana, Jacque Fourie, Fourie Du Preez and Wynand Olivier all touched down for South Africa against Italy on Saturday, while Morne Steyn kicked 10 points and substitute Ruan Pienaar added a late conversion.
The Springboks had previously lost to Leicester, France and Saracens.
“We prepared for a tough match,” South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said. “We focused on the scrums. They drove us well and were very good in the mauls.”
In Cardiff, Stephen Jones scored 17 points, while Shane Williams scored his 47th and 48th tries for Wales against Argentina.
Martin Rodriguez picked up a try and kicked three penalties and a conversion to score all of Argentina’s points in a game littered with mistakes by both teams.
Jones’ quick thinking led to the only try of the first half in the 17th minute. The flyhalf tapped a penalty to himself and ran it in from outside the 22, after the Argentine players had turned their backs. Jones kicked the conversion, as well as scoring two penalties to give Wales a halftime lead of 13-3.
The second try of the game came 20 seconds after the restart, when Williams capitalized on a kick that was charged down to run in to score. The Lions wing then weaved through the defense to score a second in the 65th minute.
France scored seven tries to overwhelm Samoa 43-5 and raise expectations ahead of their match next week against New Zealand.
Francois Trinh-Duc scored two tries, Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Clerc, Yannick Jauzion, Thierry Dusautoir and Benjamin Fall all touched down. Scrumhalf Morgan Parra added eight points through conversions and replacement Jo Tekori scored Samoa’s lone try.
Keith Earls scored two of Ireland’s five tries and Jonathan Sexton kicked 16 points on his debut in a 41-6 romp over Fiji in Dublin.
Sexton kicked five conversions and two penalties, while Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan also crossed Fiji’s line. Fiji’s points came from two penalties by Nicky Little.
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