Rugby World Cup 2011: Second Week recaps - Rugby News
Three fixtures were held on the opening day of the second week in Rugby World Cup 2011, on September 17. Somehow or the other all these competitions ended as crowd amusing games. The first two matches were quite one sided as there was a huge difference between
the rivals, however, the third and last clash produced the first upset of the tournament.
Argentina took on Romania in the first match in Invercargill, which proved to be smooth sailing for the Pumas. Argentina cashed their first victory of the global show quite easily and with a handsome margin of 43-8. The Pumas scored six tries to put a mighty
total on the board.
Argentina dominated the rivals from the start of the game as they were successful in stealing an early lead just in the fourth minute. Santiago Fernandez created the breakthrough for his side which provided Rodriguez Gurruchage the centre of the team to
convert the ball into the Romanian goals.
A flood gate of easy tries was opened for Argentina as the match went on. They raised the total to 26-8 at the end of first half as three more tries were added to their score before break. Rodriguez Gurruchage displayed a wonderful show with his boots as
he guided the pill into the goals at every opportunity he was provided.
On the other hand, Romania looked off the colour in the first part of the encounter and managed to achieve a meagre total. The equation was further imbalanced in the second half as Argentina ended up with 43. Romania proved be an easy target for the South
Americans.
In the second match of the day, defending champs Springboks tamed Fiji with great ease at 49-3, in Wellington. Morne Steyn delivered a Man of the Match performance before a huge crowd of 33, 262 at a neutral venue.
Steyn hailed his team with five conversion and two penalty goals including a well executed try in the second half. Jaque Fourie, Frans Steyn and Danie Rossouw also helped their team with one each tries.
Meanwhile, the pacific nation, Fiji was restricted to the slight total of 3 despite their desperate efforts on the Boks scoring lines.
The last battle of the day brought Australia and Ireland face to face and on papers Wallabies were the clear favourites to clinch the victory. However, the downfall of their trusted fly-half, Quade Cooper proved fatal for them. Cooper missed number of opportunities
to score the penalty goals and ultimately met an unhappy end. Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O’Gara played vital roles in the triumph of Ireland. All the points were scored on penalties by the both sides and no try was involved in the match.
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