Rugby World Cup 2011: Week 2 recap - Rugby News
Rugby World Cup 2011 entered into the second week to unfold some more drama as three matches were played on September 18 when Samoa took on Wales in the first match of the day in Hamilton. It was a tough anticipated match as Samoa had thumped Namibia by
a monstrous margin of 49-12 in their last outing of the global showpiece. However, the Samoan side proved a piece of cake for the well prepared Wales side by a stunning defeat of 17-10.
The match started at a slow pace as the sides looked hesitant to make a bold run into the oppositions’ halves. However, James Hook broke the silence for Wales in the 11th minute of the match as he scored the opening try for his team. Welsh side
could not maintain their lead for a longer time in the match and the score was levelled by Paul Williams eight minute later in the same fashion.
Hook elevated his team with another penalty goal to put the Wales in lead once again which was finished in the last minute of first half by Anthony Perenise with a wonderful try. Shane Williams converted the opportunity successfully and gave his side a ray
of hope of winning second consecutive match of the tournament. Wales led the encounter by 10-6 at the break.
Samoa played a rusty game in the second half and their score remained stuck to the first half. On the other hand, Wales gave better output after the break and carried the day with a testing but comfortable lead of 17-10 in the end.
In the second fixture of the day, England trounced Georgia with a mighty difference of 31 points in Dunedin. England scored five tries in the match with the help of Shontayne Hape, Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and flying Chris Ashton. Toby Flood also boosted
the English side with 11 individual points. He kicked four conversions and one penalty goal in the match.
Georgia, as expected, cut a sorry figure to receive a second defeat in the event.
Canada and France met in the last competition of the day which proved a one sided battle in the end. Frsnce's Vincent Clerc made a hat-trick of tries in the game to set a big total on the board for his team. Morgan Parra had a wonderful day with his boots
as he kicked five penalties and four conversion goals for France and added 23 valuable points to his team’s total.
Meanwhile, Canada, making its debut in RWC 2011, was unable to make a good impression in the match and lost by a healthy lead of 27 points. Parra was declared Man of the Match for his splendid performance.
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