It’s been nice to see the colonies playing so well today at the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Fiji, Wales and Scotland — six out of the eight sides playing today — are all members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
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New Zealand beat Romania ( 85 – 8 )
Good effort to Romania who scored eight more points than Scotland did against the All Blacks last weekend.
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Australia beat Canada ( 37 – 6 )
Australia’s victory wasn’t quite as decisive as I’d hoped, play was sloppy in places, given that they face England next week. That said they were siding a second team, so resting their main players is probably a good tactic: England must be beaten!
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Fiji beat Wales ( 38 – 34 )
I found this an inspiring game to watch. The first half was all about Fiji: what power and a display of some beautiful passages of rugby. The second half was all about Wales, returning from the half-time break by running in three tries.
But then Fiji powered over to a final try within the last four minutes. I’m not ashamed to say that I had tears in my eyes at the end of this match — sad that Wales would be leaving the World Cup, but delighted for Fiji who played like giants today.
But what of tonight’s game: Scotland v Italy. Scotland need at least a draw to go through to the quarter finals, where they will face the winner of Pool D (is there any doubt that this will be Argentina?). I wait nervously for the match to begin.
