MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2015 SPORTS Italy secure 2019 World Cup berth EXETER: Italian fly-half Tommaso Allan Before taking his place in the lineout, refer- brought up a century of Test points yester- ee Romain Poite held out his hand and they day as Italy beat Romania 32-22 to secure shook hands exchnging pleasantries with the crucial third spot in World Cup Pool D. the lock patting the Frenchman on the The 22-year-old-who opted for the land back in a nice touch. of his mother’s birth rather than for The Romanians enjoyed a 10 minute Scotland where his father comes from- spell inside the Italian five metres area. But scored a try and kicked 12 points to secure hard as they knocked, the Italian line held the injury-depleted Italians their place at firm and they eventually forced their oppo- the 2019 World Cup. nents into conceding a penalty allowing The victory means Italy’s French coach them to clear their lines. Jacques Brunel departs on a winning note The Italians landed what appeared to be after 45 tests in charge. But he failed to rec- the killer blow shortly before the break tify the Italians sad record of being the only with a well worked move. Captain Quintin Tier One side never to reach the knockout Geldenhuys offloaded to Gori who passed stages of the tournament. to Allan. Florin Vlaicu, Romania’s record Test The fly-half broke through the points scorer, put them ahead in the fifth Romanian line and outstripped fullback minute with a long range penalty. Italy Catalin Fercu to touch down, wagging his scrum-half Edoardo Gori went close to put- finger and sticking his tongue out in cele- ting the Italians ahead a minute later but bration. he knocked on as he went to touch the ball He added the extras for a half-time lead down from his chip ahead. of 22-3. The Italians rubbed salt in the However, Italy made no mistake in the wound when they added another try in the eighth minute as the impressive Michele 47th minute. Alessandro Zanni burrowed Campagnaro-playing on his new club over and Allan added the conversion for Exeter’s home ground-broke a tackle and 29-3 and bring up his century. floated out a pass to Leonardo Sarto who Romania got a deserved try with 15 ran in unopposed. minutes remaining Adrian Apostol touch- Allan missed the conversion to leave the ing down-Vlaicu added the conversion for Italians 5-3 up-and they went a man up in 29-10. Boos rang out when Italy opted to the 16th minute as Romania’s South go for a pop at goal than for touch but African-born lock Johannes van Heerden Allan paid them no heed to add the three LEICESTER: Namibia’s Conrad Marais tackles Argentina’s Horacio Agulla during the Rugby World Cup Pool C match between Argentina and was sin-binned for lashing out at Gori. points for 32-10. The Romanians added a Namibia at the Leicester City Stadium. —AP The livewire scrum-half-picked out by third try in the final minutes. Valentin Parisse as one of the players capable of Poparlan raised his arms in celebration leading the team in the future-made no after touching down and Vlaicu added the mistake with the second try-scoring oppor- conversion for 32-17. The Romanians fin- Pumas pounce on Namibia tunity he was presented with and Allan ished strongly as Vlaicu’s long floated pass converted for 15-3. found Apostol who went in in the far left The hulking van Heerden returned. hand corner.—AFP LEICESTER: Argentina warmed up for the versions and a penalty, with Juan Pablo Socino came from Argentine mistakes as Tromp and Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a nine-try adding four further conversions. Greyling fed off wayward passes and poor hands romp as they defeated minnows Namibia 64-19 Namibia had to feed off scraps of possession to race clear and score, giving Argentina coach in their final Pool C match at the Leicester City but showed admirable determination to attack Daniel Hourcade something to ponder as they England bow out with Stadium yesterday. Too fast and physical for the and were rewarded with tries from wing Johan enter the knockout phase. African side, it was a comfortable day out for the Tromp, centre JC Greyling and scrumhalf Eugene The spirit in the Namibian camp was evident South Americans, who had made 11 changes for Jantjies, with flyhalf Theuns Kotze converting right to the death. Having scored their third try victory over Uruguay the match to give fringe players a run. two. past the 80-minute mark, giant prop Johnny Juan Martin Hernandez, one of the standouts Roared on a sizeable portion of the 30,198 Redelinghuys was given the chance to take the MANCHESTER: England brought a close to not waste any time looking at the final of the side that reached the 2007 semi-finals and crowd, Argentina showed a willingness to run conversion to mark his final international. their sorry Rugby World Cup campaign standings-two points behind Wales and six handed a rare outing in the number 10 shirt, set the ball at every opportunity and the pace of His attempt never looked like going over but with a predictably emphatic 60-3 victory adrift of group winners Australia. the ball rolling with the opening score. their attack often left Namibia clutching at air. drew one of the biggest cheers of the day. “We over Uruguay on Saturday in a final outing Lancaster, whose future in the job will Matias Moroni, with his first international try, The Africans missed 28 tackles in the opening were exposed a bit, it’s not the way we wanted that provided a crumb of comfort but did be picked over in the coming days, selected Horacio Agulla, Facundo Isa and Lucas Noguera period and Argentina none, showing who had to leave the World Cup, but we showed a lot of little to soothe the open wound of a pool- one of the most creative and attacking also crossed before the break as Argentina most of the ball but also the ease with which heart until the end,” Namibia captain Rohan stage exit. sides possible, loading the team with play- forged a 36-7 halftime lead before Matias Argentina were able to scythe through the Kitshoff told reporters. With irreparable damage already done makers charged with securing an emphatic Alemanno, Leonardo Senatore, Julian Montoya Namibian defence. Argentina, already confirmed quarter-finalists in consecutive defeats to Wales and victory. Nothing else would have been and Tomas Cubelli joined the fun in the second Wing Moroni’s try was one for the Namibia as runners-up in Pool C, will face the winners of Australia, this was little more than a 10-try deemed par against Uruguay, but there half. horror-reel as he brushed of a collection of fee- Irland and France’s Pool D decider in Cardiff late exercise in arithmetic in Manchester rather was often little fluidity to their play, even if Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias kicked four con- ble attempted tackles. Namibia’s first two tries yesterday. —Reuters than the expected rousing send-off into the score did tick over steadily. the quarter-finals. A penalty for Uruguay to open the scor- A hat-trick for both Nick Easter and Jack ing after two minutes seemed strangely fit- Nowell, two tries for Anthony Watson, one ting, before Watson promptly chased down Australia line from Henry Slade and a late penalty try saw a Nowell kick to touch down and restore England pile on the points against their normality. largely amateur opponents, whose fitness, Veteran number eight Easter, who up Scotland if not their will to stay in the contest, wilted began the tournament as a TV pundit as the match wore on. before being called into the squad to LONDON: Australia beat Wales 15-6 after withstand- “Uruguay took a bit of breaking down, replace the injured Billy Vunipola, then ing a late Welsh siege while down to 13 men on but we scored some great tries and every- twice bundled over from close range to Saturday to set up a Rugby World Cup quarter-final one got a run,” England coach Stuart give England a comfortable, if unspectacu- against Scotland, who beat Samoa in a thriller, and Lancaster said. “We put some good shapes lar, 21-3 advantage at the break. send the Welsh into a clash with South Africa. together, there were some good skills out A yellow card for Santiago Vilaseca at Neither side crossed the line at Twickenham in the there. “The reaction of the crowd was great. the close of the first half helped England to Pool A decider but only because of dogged Wallaby It’s been a tough week for the players, but get off to a flyer at the start of the second, resistance against Wales while scrumhalf Will Genia the crowd stuck behind them and gave us a with Watson touching down in the corner big lift.” for his second try two minutes after the and lock Dean Mumm were in the sin bin. It was always likely to be an awkward break. Then the floodgates opened. Flyhalf Bernard Foley kicked five penalties to two occasion for England; little more than a Outside centre Slade showed some neat from opposite number Dan Biggar as the Wallabies chance to alleviate a fraction of the embar- footwork before crossing in the corner, avoided a southern hemisphere clash between two rassment caused by their early tournament Nowell grabbed his first and Easter claimed sides who have twice won the title.