Rugby Union Roundup

Contepomi off target as Pumas beat Australia

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -- World champions Australia began their four-match tour on Saturday with an unattractive 17-6 win over Argentina on an unhappy night for the Pumas' Felipe Contepomi, who missed seven penalties.

Outside centre Matthew Burke kicked three penalties for the Wallabies and Stirling Mortlock claimed the only try of a lacklustre encounter, which ended with Argentina being booed off the field by a 50,000 crowd at the River Plate stadium.

Australia, beaten 33-31 by South Africa in their last outing in August, are treating the tour as an important warm-up for when they host the World Cup and defend their title -- with Argentina as their first opponents -- next October.

They set off for Ireland on Sunday and will also play England and Italy.

"We haven't played as badly as this for a long time," said Pumas winger Diego Albanese, who barely got a chance to show his burning pace.

"We're very angry with ourselves. We didn't feel Australia outclassed us but things didn't work, we lost a lot of balls."

Hooker Adam Freier and flanker David Croft both came off the bench in the second half to make their Wallaby debuts.

Winger Wendall Sailor, who has been nursing an injured knee, came on in the first half to replace Ben Tune, who went off with an apparent muscular problem.

Neither side managed to settle in a bad-tempered first-half.

The Wallabies drew first blood in the fourth minute with a Burke penalty but Contepomi tied the scores in the 25th minute with a penalty, making amends for one he had missed minutes earlier.

Burke then converted two more penalties to give Australia a 9-3 lead, while Contepomi converted one more and missed two others.

Only try

The only try of the match came in first half stoppage time when Stephen Larkham released Mortlock and the Australian winger zipped down the left flank to score in the corner to give Australia a 14-6 halftime lead.

There was little improvement after the break.

Tempers continued to flare and the game turned into a succession of rucks, with neither team capable of putting together any flowing moves.

Argentina put the visitors under more pressure but lacked inspiration to get past the Australian backline. They were not helped by the wayward kicking off Contepomi who missed four more penalties, including two sitters right in front of the post.

Australian Elton Flatley completed the scoring in injury time with another penalty.

Argentina -- 15-Ignacio Corleto, 14-Jose Maria Nunez Piossek, 13-Jose Orengo, 12-Lisandro Arbizu (captain), 11-Diego Albanese, 10-Felipe Contepomi, 9-Agustin Pichot, 8-Gonzalo Longo, 7-Rolando Martin, 6-Santiago Phelan (19-Martin Durand, 75), 5-Rimas Alvarez, 4-Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3-Omar Hasan, 2- Federico Mendez (16-Mario Ledesma, 66), 1-Mauricio Reggiardo.(17-Roberto Grau, 61)

Australia -- 15-Mat Rogers, 14-Ben Tune (22-Wendell Sailor, 13), 13-Matthew Burke (21-Elton Flatley, 75), 12-Daniel Herbert, 11-Stirling Mortlock, 10-Stephen Larkham, 9-George Gregan (captain), 8-Toutai Kefu, 7-George Smith, 6-Matt Cockburn (19-David Croft, 59), 5-Justin Harrison, 4-Dan Vickerman (18-David Giffin, 68), 3-Patricio Noriega (17-Ben Darwin, 75), 2-Jeremy Paul (16-Adam Freier, 68), 1-Bill Young

Castaignede back for France two years on

PARIS (Reuters) -- French fullback Thomas Castaignede will return to international rugby union action for France two years after his career was halted by a serious Achilles tendon injury.

The Saracens player has been recalled by French coach Bernard Laporte to replace the injured Clement Poitrenaud.

Toulouse fullback Poitrenaud, injured in a French championship match against Perpignan, will be out of action for three weeks and will miss France's November tests.

Poitrenaud left the pitch at halftime with rib problems and has been ruled out for the rest of the month.

"As a result of Clement's injury, Thomas has been recalled," France's spokesman Lionel Rossigneux told Reuters. "He'll join the rest of the French squad on Monday."

France meet South Africa on Saturday before hosting New Zealand and Canada.

Castaignede's career came to a halt on November 4 2000 when he snapped an Achilles tendon 15 minutes before the kickoff of an international match against world champions Australia at the Stade de France.

He needed three operations and 18 months to recover, making his return for his English club side Saracens on May 12.

During his brief period of splendour before the injury, the player nicknamed "the Little Prince" by French media won 34 caps and scored 222 points and 13 tries.

Rugby romantic

Born on January 1, 1975, Castaignede made his international debut in 1995 against Romania, scoring 22 points, and he hit the headlines with a last-minute drop-goal to beat England in the 1996 Five Nations.

At 21, Castaignede was regarded as a supremely gifted, mercurial number 10, arguably the world's best, a rugby romantic who encapsulated French flair.

He was elected European player of the Year in 1998 after steering France to their first back-to-back Grand Slams with a series of inspirational performances.

But his 1999 season was a disaster. He lost form and was moved from fly-half to full back and his World Cup was ended by injury after a single game against Canada.

When he returned to action, Castaignede left his formative club Stade Toulousain, with whom he had won the French championship in 1994 and 1995 and the European Cup in 1996, to join Castres but he signed for Saracens at the end of the 1999-2000 season.

But the second part of his playing life was stopped by the Stade de France injury.

Castaignede spent time during his lay-off with friend and compatriot Robert Pires, who was himself recovering from a knee injury which kept him out of soccer for seven months. Pires returned to action with his London club Arsenal last week.

Castaignede's recovery was plagued by a dispute between the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and Saracens about his wages as the FFR refused to pay compensation demanded by the English club.

Despite the support of Laporte and Saracens manager Wayne Shelford, Castaignede admitted his return to international level would not be an easy task.

"At the start, there's always a certain amount of fear of going backwards, which seems normal," he wrote in a column published by the Guardian newspaper.

"Then there is physical contact, tackles and finally you have to let go and play as if there has been no operation."

Mehrtens: Losing to England is the worst

LONDON (Reuters) -- All Blacks flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens hates losing to any team, but particularly England.

"They are the team that teams enjoy losing to the least because you're made to feel it pretty intensely afterwards by everyon" Mehrtens told a news conference on Saturday. "To come up short can be quite galling."

Mehrtens was speaking shortly after the new-look All Blacks squad, including 12 uncapped players -- the most since the "Baby Blacks" beat France 18-9 at Christchurch in 1986, arrived in London for the start of a European tour on which they will play tests against England, France and Wales.

Recent history suggests there is no love lost between the sides, the animosity stemming from England's 15-9 victory over the New Zealand team coached by Laurie Mains in 1993.

"I wasn't in that side," the 29-year old Mehrtens said. "But a lot of the senior guys drummed it in to us what happened when we were preparing for the semi-final (at the World Cup) in 1995.

"And we responded. Particularly that big guy on the left wing [Jonah Lomu]."

Lomu scored four tries in the 45-29 victory at Cape Town with trademark storming runs in which he charged around, and over the top of, several England players, including fullback Mike Catt.

Other recent incidents have also raised New Zealand hackles.

The England players walked around the pitch applauding the crowd after losing 25-8 at Old Trafford in 1997, actions misinterpreted by some as a lap of honor.

England hooker Richard Cockerill then advanced on Norm Hewitt and taunted him as his opponent led the pre-match haka at Twickenham in the next match. The pair ended up face to face with an angry Hewitt shoving Cockerill away.

Hewitt and Cockerill clashed again in 1998, the Englishman ending up with a black eye following a fight outside a bar after an under-strength England side lost 64-22 in Dunedin.

Fortress Twickenham

Next Saturday's match, apart from being an indicator of form before next year's World Cup in Australia, also takes on added intensity because England have not lost at Twickenham since they last played the All Blacks in the 1999 World Cup -- a run of 15 test matches.

"I think it is important to get that upper hand (for next year)," Mehrtens said.

"England have gone pretty well against Australia and South Africa in the last couple of years so they will obviously be trying to complete the sweep of the southern hemisphere nations.

"We'll be trying to redress that balance (and) in my experience with the All Blacks there is no need for extra motivation during the week."

The game also pits former England assistant coach John Mitchell, who has been in charge of the All Blacks for just over a year, against his old boss in Clive Woodward

"I haven't really thought about England," Mitchell said, who worked with Woodward from 1997-2000.

"My experience with England gave me the opportunity to get here [but] I'm really proud to be a New Zealander and there is nothing better representing your country and touring with other New Zealand lads is very special.

"Now I'm just looking forward to starting work on Monday."

No decision yet on All Black scrumhalf Devine

LONDON (Reuters) -- Newly selected All Blacks scrumhalf Steve Devine is still uncertain as to whether he can stay with the New Zealand squad for their European tour, a team spokesman said on Sunday.

Australian-born Devine was a surprise selection for New Zealand's three-match tour of England, France and Wales but on Saturday the NZRFU said on its website that he may be ineligible because he played for the Australian sevens team in 1998.

Under the International Rugby Board's (IRB) eligibility regulations, Devine can only play for Australia.

All Blacks coach John Mitchell said on Saturday the NZRFU was in discussion with the IRB over Devine's eligibility and a decision on whether the 25-year-old could stay with the squad would be known on Sunday.

But the New Zealand spokesman told Reuters on Sunday the team had not received a decision from the IRB and may not know whether the Auckland scrumhalf could stay with the squad until Monday.

Devine was not initially selected for the 2003 Auckland Blues Super 12 squad but has since been given a provincial contract following his All Blacks selection.

Former All Blacks halfback Mark Robinson was withdrawn from the Blues squad to make way for Devine.

New Zealand meet England on November 9 before playing France on November 16 and Wales on November 23.

 

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