#WCR: The View from Japan: Super Saturday

Bright and early Saturday morning, South African time, the Wallabies kicked off their campaign against Fiji. Fiji have not beaten Australia in 65 years and their first half performance had one believing that streak was about to end.

The Flying Fijians out muscled and out ran a very sluggish Australia in the first 40 minutes. They lead 14-12 at half time but Australia took a more pragmatic approach with their tactics in the second half. They stuck to the basics, made better decisions and eventually breezed to a 39-21 win 

In the second game of the day, France and Argentina played out a thriller. Coming from 20-3 down, Los Pumas fought back to lead 21-20. France retook the lead with a well taken drop goal but the drama was saved for the final minute. Argentina fullback Emiliano Boffelli had a last minute penalty to win the game. 

While this is only the first game, this result will go a long way to deciding who progresses to the quarter final. Boffelli hit his penalty dead straight. It looked to be sailing through the middle of the uprights only to be cruelly blown wide of the left hand post by a very French sounding gust of wind. France scraped a 23-21 win. 

The main event of the day was the colossal duel between the Springboks and the All Blacks. South Africa dominated the first 20 minutes but the All Blacks scored 17 points in five minutes to take a 17-3 lead into half time.  

The Kiwi’s contained South Africa for most parts of the second half. Bok fans had little to cheer apart from a few line breaks from Cheslin Kolbe. Pieter-Steph Du Toit scored the only try for South Africa, capitalizing on a rare lapse in All Black concentration to walk in under the posts. It was all in vain though as New Zealand confidently finished 23-13 victors.