Williams magic sinks Blitzboks
The result helped New Zealand advance to the Cup quarter-final as Pool A winners while South Africa progressed as runners up. Fiji ended the Pool B on top while they are joined in the next phase by Argentina. England and USA qualified from Pool C while Australia and Kenya progressed from Pool D.
The Blitzboks dominated the opening half by pinning New Zealand inside their territory, however, they could only manage a single score – thanks to quick thinking by Albertus Smith, who pounced on a loose line-out throw in. New Zealand made the most of the single opportunity they were given when Akira Ioane broke through the Blitzbok defence on the stroke of half-time and offloaded to Samuel Dickson who grabbed the easy score. A missed conversion meant South Africa held a slender 7-5 lead at the break.
Ioane was the catalyst in handing New Zealand the lead in the second half when he raced from inside his 22 to dot down under the posts and hand the home side a 12-7 lead with three minutes left in the match. Cheslin Kolbe showed his stepping ability to score in the final minute of the match to hand the Blitzboks a 14-12 lead.
However, Williams had the final say as New Zealand launched an attack from inside their half and his nifty offload put Tevan Webber through the heart of the Blitzbok defence to steal the victory.
Scotland held off a late Russian surge to claim a 19-17 victory and secure third place in the pool. Both sides scored on two occasions in the first half but it was the Scots who held a slender 12-10 lead at the break. Scotland stretched their lead to 19-10 with three minutes remaining in the match before Russia hit back with a try of their own to reduce the deficit to two points. Scotland held onto the restart and managed to put the ball into touch to bag the win.
Fiji proved why they are the number one ranked in this leg of the series when they brushed Argentina aside 31-10 to top Pool B. Fiji raced to a 14-0 lead after the opening three minutes before Argentina hit back with a try of their own to head into the half-time break trailing 5-14. Fiji turned on the style in the second half to score three tries to stretch their lead to 31-5. Argentina had the final say though as they scored with the final play of the match.
In the other Pool B encounter, Wales found themselves in quite a tussle as they outscored Japan five tries to four to claim a 33-28 victory. Japan held a slender 14-12 lead at the break after successfully converting both tries while Wales could only manage one conversion. Japan relinquished their lead in the 10th minute but regained their two-point advantage with a minute left in the contest. Wales scored at the death to claim the five-point victory.
Samoa threw the cat among the pigeons when they overcame England 17-14 in a tense affair. It was all Samoa in the first half as they ran in three tries to claim a 17-0 lead. England fought back valiantly in the second half but suffered their first defeat of the tournament.
The United States led from start to finish in their 29-21 victory over France to claim second place in Pool C. France opened the scoring before the USA ran in three tries to claim a 15-7 half-time lead. France were once again first on the board in the second half to narrow the gap to a solitary point but two quick tries by the Eagles saw them stretch their lead to 15 points. France has the last laugh though as they crossed the whitewash with the final play of the match.
Australia ended the day unbeaten to top Pool D after just getting past Kenya 17-12 in their final pool match. Australia opened the scoring but Kenya hit back as the half progressed to head into the break with a 12-7 lead. That proved to be the final time that Kenya would grab points in the match as Australia ran in two unconverted tries to claim the win.
Canada put in a mammoth effort as they thumped Portugal 42-7 in their final pool match. Canada ran in three unanswered first half tries to head into the break with a 21-0 lead. Portugal grabbed their only points of the match early in the second half before Canada added a further three tries to cruise home and snap up third place in the pool.
Results:
England 14-17 Samoa
France 21-29 United States
Wales 33-28 Japan
Argentina 10-31 Fiji
Canada 42-7 Portugal
Kenya 12-17 Australia
Scotland 19-17 Russia
South Africa v New Zealand
Pools:
Pool A: South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland, Russia
Pool B: Argentina, Fiji, Wales, Japan
Pool C: France, United States, England, Samoa
Pool D: Kenya, Australia, Canada, Portugal
