Rugby, two rings from the World Cup, Ireland and South Africa are now scary

Ireland and South Africa are sending out frightening signals: 19 days before the start of the rugby World Cup, on the Saturday dedicated to a new series of tests in view of the world championship, the Six Nations champions and the reigning world champions staged two performances of enormous level, destroying England at Twickenham (29-10) and Wales at Cardiff (52-16) respectively. France also wins, which, having received the very hard blow of the forfeit due to injury of its playmaker Romain Ntamack during the week, defeated Fiji 34-17 in Nantes at the end of a very difficult match.

England-Ireland 10-29

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At Twickenham it was unlocked by George Ford’s goal in the 5th minute, but in the 9th minute the English defense was punched in the center in midfield by Peter O’Mahony, who after the break launched Bundee Ake for a solo sprint up to the posts ( Ross Byrne transforms). In the 26th minute Ford misses a difficult goal, then just before the break, to certify a slight supremacy of the visitors, the second try arrives, signed by Garry Ringrose: the center receives a beautiful cross kick from Mack on the right Hansen takes the inside of Freddie Steward and escaping the tackle of Elliot Daly breaks over the line (this time Byrne does not convert). In the 53rd minute, a crazy and useless tackle by Billy Vunipola, who enters Andrew Porter directly from the shoulder: the yellow drawn by the referee inevitably turns red in a few minutes due to the high degree of danger found in the review. And the numerical superiority immediately pays off: the forwards conquer meters, James Ryan digs the break that allows Byrne to draw all alone on the left James Lowe, who effortlessly crushes the flag (Byrne still misses the conversion). Then Twickenham stood up to applaud Keith Earls, who entered the field for his 100th cap in the Ireland shirt. In the 65th minute the fourth try also arrives, signed by Hansen: the winger receives a long pass from Byrne on the right, returns inside to avoid Steward and crushes. If the game has been absent for months now, what the English certainly don’t lack is pride and so in the 71st minute they manage to find a try from Kyle Sinckler, who finalizes the work of the other forwards by picking up the oval and stretching out to crush from short distance (Ford transforms). But the difference between a team that has no identity and one that is by now a practically perfect mechanism re-emerges in 2 minutes, when Earls receives on the left out and with a spectacular somersault jumps the defender to dive for the flag. Jack Crowley transforms it for the final 29-10.

Wales-South Africa 16-52

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In Cardiff, South Africa finds its captain Siya Kolisi after the injury that had kept it sidelined since April, while Wales, right after the match, renounces to field Dan Biggar and Liam Williams, struggling with minor injuries that induce coach Warren Gatland to avoid unnecessary risks. This is how the son of Cai Evans made his debut at the extreme (his father Ieuan put together 72 caps between the 80s and 90s). It was an offload from Kolyisi in the 4th minute that freed hooker Malcolm Marx on 5 metres, who scored the first try of the match in a dive for the flag. Manie Libbok misses the conversion and then also a goal, while on the other side Sam Costelow puts in two free-kicks to make it 6-5 in the 20th minute. But in the 22nd minute the world champions come back forward with Canan Moodie’s try: after breaks from Rudolph Snyman and Marx who sink into the Welsh 22, the winger receives wide to the right from Willie le Roux, avoids a defender with an inside swerve and fly dive over the line. Costelow closes again from a position in the 25th minute, but in the 34th minute the Sprinboks make a comeback: with a pass kick, Libbok catches Moodie on the right in the in-goal area, but before him the Welsh winger Rio Dyer arrives on the ball, who voluntarily forwards the ball out with one hand, and so, in addition to the try (technique), the yellow card inevitably arrives. Two minutes go by and the fourth arrives: the South Africans break through to the left and kick towards the goal area, picks up Mason Grady, who suffers a tackle from Cheslin Kolbe, but instead of letting himself be brought down and conceding a scrum 5 meters away, he senselessly launches the ball in the air, so Jesse Kriel just has to pick it up and drop in the goal. Two individual nonsense of the Welsh decisive for the 24-9 on which we go to rest. In the 52nd minute Wales lost the ball in a very deep attack in the 22 with Dyer, who had a too easy pass intercepted by Pieter-Steph du Toit, the flanker escaped in the completely unguarded half of the field to then give the faster Kriel the honor of flying in goal. In the 59th minute, from a 5-metre maul, the South African attack builds the platform for du Toit to break through. Two more minutes go by and a by now completely crumbled Wales gives another interception for Moodie’s easy brace under the posts. In the 69th minute from a ruck in front of the posts, the ball goes out for Libbok, who with a long pass finds Damian Willemse (replaced for le Roux) free, who finds no obstacles and can sign the seventh (Libbok makes 4/4). For a foul in the same action, Welsh second line debutant Teddy Williams is yellow carded, then immediately afterwards for Willemse himself for a sprawling tackle on Dyer (in which he also recovers a cut on the head). In the 72nd minute Wales scored with substitute hooker Sam Parry’s breakthrough from close range (Evans converted).

France-Fiji 34-17

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To close the day’s programme, France defeated Fiji 34-17 in Nantes. A clear victory, but far from easy. The initial superiority leads to three placings by Melvin Jaminet in 10 minutes, then it is hooker Peato Mauvaka who finds the try on Francois Cros’ pass, crowning the superiority offshore (converts Jaminet). But his tenured colleague Tevita Ikanivere replies immediately, who breaks through by force from a few steps thanks to the work of the forwards (transforms Caleb Muntz). Before the interval, Blues scored again with prop Uini Atonio, who finalized an attack that seemed controlled by the Fijian defence, which had rejected the maul and other attempts. The second half opens with another goal from Jaminet, but in the 51st minute Semi Radradra reopens it: the Fijian center receives wide to the left after a long attack that crumbles the French defense, passes the opposing scrum-half Maxime Lucu and crushes (Muntz transforms ). In the 60th minute, however, Sekou Macalou intercepted a pass from Frank Lomani coming out of the touchline and found himself a highway wide open right up to the posts. Jaminet obviously transforms and in the 70th minute slips in fifth place which secures victory.