South Africa 20 defeat Wales 15
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South Africa were too good for Wales winning 20-15 but Wales showed they were far from easybeats and will prove a challenge to defeat.
South Africa scored two tries to nil with Adrian Jacobs and Jean De Villiers scoring for the Boks.
South Africa lead 13-3 at half-time before Wales mounted a comeback through the boot of James Hook but were unable to score a try that would have got them over the line.
Wallabies 30 defeat Italy 20
The winning score by the Wallabies looks far more convincing than the actual win for Australia who won 30-20 against an Italian side that were unlucky to lose.
The Nick Mallett inspired Italy side were at times the clearly better side but lack of polish and brilliance of Wallabies rookie Quade Cooper got Australia over the line.
With scores locked at 20-20 with 10 minutes remaining Quade Cooper made an evasive 30metre run to beat four Italians to score. Cooper’s try clinched victory for an unconvincing Wallabies.
Deans will not take away any positives from the encounter and has lost his star Berrick Barnes for the rest of the tour and Timana Tahu who played well to a hamstring injury.
On a positive note Ben Alexander in the front row had a promising first run on test appearance and Matt Giteau was perfect with his kicking.
The Wallabies have lots to do to defeat England this weekend.
Meanwhile Mallett will be disappointed the Italian side could not qin the match but will be proud of their efforts.
Checkout the video highlights below from Fox Sports.
Heineken Cup Round 2 Results
The second round of the Heineken Cup was played over the weekend. Several teams have started to establish a nice lead in their groups after the second weekend. The Leinster, Munster and Leicester wagons roll on undefeated. While the Cardiff Blues, Toulouse, Stade Francais and Harlequins are the other undefeated teams;
Results from Roudn Two;
Sale 16 Munster 24
Montauban 19 Clermont 24
Leinster 41 Wasps 11
Castres 6 Edinburgh 13
Treviso 16 Leicester 60
Ospreys 15 Perpignan 9
Stade Francais 37 Scarlets 15
Harlequins 42 Ulster 21
Glasgow 16 Toulouse 22
Bath 13 Dragons 9
Boarritz 41 Calvisano 10
Cardiff Blues 37 Gloucester 24
Chris Latham stars for Worcester in European Challenge Cup
Chris Latham has overcome some early setbacks in his move to Europe and set Stadio Plebiscito in Italy alight scoring three tries in Worcester’s 55-6 win over Petrarca Padova in the first round of the European Challenge Cup.
Latham was electric scoring a hat-trick in his sides 9 try victory to commence the European Challenge Cup in fine form in hopes of avenging their defeat in the final from last year.
In other European Challenge Cup results Eddie Jones Saracens team thrashed Mont de Marsan 53-3 as a host of English clubs clocked up victories.
Heineken Cup: Toulouse edge Bath 18-16 in thriller
Toulouse produced a come from behind last gasp victory to defeat Bath 18-16 after a David Skrela penalty at the Stade Municipal. Toulouse were far from their usual expansive self being out-enthused by Bath and also taking a back seat to the expansive play of Bath.
Bath had their chances to secure victory, even scoring two tries to nil but were unable to secure victory mostly due to the wayward kicking of Buth James.
In other matches Leinster scored a 27-16 win over Edinburgh at their hoodoo ground Murrayfield to secure full points in the first round of the Heineken Cup. Leinster scored four tries to one with tries going to Rocky Elsom, Brian O’Driscoll, Shane Horgan and Felipe Contemponi.
Results from the first round of the Heineken Cup;
Sale 32 Clermont 15
Munster 19 Montauban 17
Wasps 25 Castres 11
Perpignan 29 Treviso 16
Leicester 12 Ospreys 6
Stade Francais 26 Ulster 10
Harlequins 29 Scarlets 22
Newport-Gwent 32 Glasgow 22
Cardiff Blues 56 Calvisano 20
Gloucester 22 Biarritz 10
Heineken Cup: Munster narrowly defeat Montauban 19-17
Munster started their defence of the Heineken Cup with a narrow 19-17 victory against Montauban, Montauban were less than four minutes from victory until the always reliable boot of O’Gara secured victory for Munster in what could have been the biggest upset in recent memory.
Munster were neither great nor terrible and were generally evenly matched against there undancied rivals from France. Both sides scored a try but it was O’Gara’s boot that saved Munster in the end. Munster will be hoping it was a match that allowed them to blow out any cobwebs before their next match.
In the other result from Friday Perpignan defeated Treviso 27-16. Perpignan scored three tries to one but were unable to shrug off the Italian side in a disappointing win at home. Perpignan was expected to collect the bonus point but failed and will be up against it next weekend against Ospreys.
Sale Sharks unbeaten run continues
The Sale Sharks continued their unbeaten start to the season as they downed star side Gloucester 23-9.
Sale sit atop the Guinness Premiership after four rounds much to the surprise of critics at the start of the season. Luke McAlister has been in sensational form for the Sharks and is the chief reason for their dominant performances this season.
In other weekend action Jonny Wilkinson became the all-time leading pointscorer in the Guinness Premiership after the Newcastle Falcons bounced back with a 17-3 victory over Bristol.
Wilkinson now sits atop the pointscoring record book with 1482 points, two points ahead of Andy Goode.
In other Guinness Premiership weekend results;
Bath 27 Worcester 19
Harlequins 27 London Irish 28
Saracens 26 Northampton 12
Leicester 19 Wasps 28
Guinness Premiership Results Round 3
Saracens finally registered a win 44-14 over the Newcastle Falcons to bring up their maiden victory under Eddie Jones reign as coach.
Saracens crushed the Falcons 5 tries to 2 but dropped off the pace in the last ten minutes after leading 44-0. Newcastle appear to have an uphill battle ahead of them to avoid relegation and will depend heavily on Jonny Wilkinson to keep them in the hun this season.
In other results from Round 3 in the Guinness Premiership;
Bristol 6 Sale 9
Gloucester 24 Harlequins 20
London Irish 16 Bath 20
Northampton 24 Wasps 20
Worcester 17 Leicester 19
Philips walk away from All Blacks Sponsorship
Philips will end their sponsorship deal with the New Zealand All Blacks on 31 January 2009 after 15 years as an All Blacks sponsor. The departure of Philips from the All Blacks sponsorship is a blow to New Zealand Rugby as Philips have been a huge supporter of the All Blacks.
Philips will focus their attention on larger markets such as the emerging developing nations of Brazil, Russia and China.
Pacific Islands name tour squad
The Pacific Islanders have named a 28 man squad for their tour of the northern hemisphere in November. The Pacific Islanders coached by Ilivasi Tabua will play England (8 Nov), France (15 Nov) and Italy (22 Nov) on their tour.
The team is a good mix of players from Tonga, Fiji and Samoa and are filled with players with World Cup experience, the Pacific Islanders squad is;
Soane Tonga’uiha (Tonga)
Kisi Pulu (Tonga)
Census Johnston (Samoa)
Justin Va’a (Samoa)
Sunia Koto (Fiji)
Aleki Lutui (Tonga)
Ifereimi Rawaqa (Fiji)
Kele Leawere (Fiji)
Hale T Pole (Tonga)
Daniel Leo (Samoa)
Nili Latu (Tonga)
Semisi Naevo (Fiji)
Viliami Vaki (Tonga)
George Stowers (Samoa)
Sisa Koyamaibole (Fiji)
Finau Maka (Tonga)
Mosese Rauluni (Fiji)
Sililo Martens (Tonga)
Seremaia Bai (Fiji)
Pierre Hola (Tonga)
Vilimoni Delasau (Fiji)
Sailosi Tagicakibau (Samoa)
Seilala Mapusua (Samoa)
Seru Rabeni (Fiji)
Kameli Ratuvou (Fiji)
Isireli Naqelevuki (Fiji)
Isireli Bobo (Fiji)
Gavin Williams (Samoa)