Rugby World Cup – Live!

Rugby World Cup – Live!

Final Scores

Scotland 34 – 24 Romania
Fiji 49 – 25 Namibia
France 47 – 21 Japan

Current Scores
Argentina 6 – 3 England

20:56 – Martin Rodriguez finally makes a kick, albeit from right in front of the posts. Argentina are ahead now, but deserve to be further in the lead.

20:53 – Felipe Contepomi has a relatively straightforward penalty kick, but drags it wide. Argentina could regret these misses later in the game.

20:48 – Some stiff tackling and good passing in the centre of the park, with both teams taking a deep breath after a frantic start.

20:43 – Chance for England to pull even now, with a penalty kick thanks to a high tackle. Johnny Wilkinson steps up and slots the ball right between the posts to put England on the board.

20:37 – Argentina open the scoring in this one, with a penalty kicked by Contepomi to bring up his 100th World Cup points.

20:32 – Some sloppy play in the centre of the park by ENgland gives Argentina the ball and put-in at the scrum. It’s important that both teams are more disciplined if they want to be successful in this tournament.

20:30 – England receive the kick-off, and we’re underway, with England wearing all black and Argentina in their familiar blue and white hoops.

20:25 – The anthems ring out, with both teams looking like they fully realise the magnitude of the task ahead for them. Argentina have only played one warm-up match in the run-up to the World Cup, and so will they have the edge and sharpness to take out a tough England team?

20:11 – England coach Martin Johnson has said that his team must win ‘at all costs’, and that includes winning ugly if necessary. Let’s hope that some early scores mean that this game doesn’t end up too difficult to watch!

20:01 – Time to make your coffee and grab some toast. The countdown to kick-off is 30 minutes! There is a buzz in the stadium as several players warm up on the pitch, and the atmosphere between rival supporters is jovial and friendly. That will all change, of course, when the whistle goes.

19:55 – Perhaps the best game of the tournament so far, with the Japanese team able to leave the loss with their heads held high. We now turn our attention to Argentina v England, and their first match in the Rugby World Cup 2011!

19:44 – Try number 6 for the French, and it really is lights-out now. The score flatters the French, but they’ll be happy to be through this battle with the victory.

19:39 – France have put the game beyond the plucky Japanese now, scoring another try to make it 42-21.

19:33 – France could be safe. A try and conversion from Les Bleus may have snuffed out Japan’s fightback, although there will still be a lot of questions asked in the French dressing room tonight.

19:28 – Some cagey play from both Japan and France, but nobody has made the breakthrough in terms of a try. Seven points is the gap, 14 minutes left in the game.

19:20 – Japan piling on the pressure to the French, who don’t seem to know what has hit them. This match looks like it’s going to have a very close finish.

19:11 – 30 minutes to go in the France v Japan match, and it’s game on. Another breakaway try from the Japanese have closed the gap to 7, Japan 18 – 25 France.

19:02 – We are currently in the middle of an excellent match between Japan and France. Les Bleus, expected to steamroller Japan are being matched with a team full of heart and drive, and the score is still respectable at France 25 – 11 Japan.

England v Argentina Preview

Argentina are coming off their finest Rugby World Cup yet, making it all the way to the semifinals. In 4 of their previous 5 outings, they had failed to make it past the group stage and despite not being at the level they were in 2007 they will in all likelihood battle it out with Scotland for the second spot in Pool B.

They are ranked number 9 in the IRB World Rankings after recording 3 wins and 3 losses in the past 12 months. With Felipe Contepomi as the playmaker, Argentina should prove to be a handful even if they aren’t at the level from 4 years ago.

England enter the 2011 RWC with a 5th place IRB ranking and a 8-4 record in the past year. As the Six Nations champions and having appeared in the final of the last two world cups, they certainly have a pedigree of stepping up when it matters.

With Martin Johnson running the team and Jonny Wilkinson still sticking around, they will plenty of experience and can make another trip to the finals if the pieces fall in the right direction. That means beating Argentina in a tough opener, if they fail to win their chances at reappearing in the finals all but vanishes.

England v Argentina Teams

England: Ben Foden, Chris Ashton, Manu Tuilagi, Mike Tindall (captain), Delon Armitage, Jonny Wilkinson, Richard Wigglesworth, Andrew Sheridan, Steve Thompson, Dan Cole, Louis Deacon, Courtney Lawes, Tom Croft, James Haskell, Nick Easter.

Replacements: Dylan Hartley, Matt Stevens, Tom Palmer, Tom Wood, Ben Youngs, Toby Flood, Matt Banahan.

Argentina: Martin Rodriguez, Gonzalo Camacho, Gonzalo Tiesi, Santiago Fernandez, Horacio Agulla, Felipe Contepomi (captain), Nicolas Vergallo, Rodrigo Roncero, Mario Ledesma, Juan Figallo, Manuel Carizza, Patricio Albacete, Julio Farias Cabello, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Juan Fernandez Lobbe.

Replacements: Agustin Creevy, Martin Scelzo, Mariano Galarza, Alejandro Campos, Alfredo Lalanne, Marcelo Bosch, Juan Jose Imhoff.