Tonight we will witness Percy Montgomery equal the most capped Springbok of all time record. The current record holder Joost van der Westhuizen played a total of 89 test matches for South Africa. Percy told reporters that he will play his usual game tonight and stand firm as the Springboks last line of defense.

Monty has been playing for the Springboks for roughly ten years now and has developed a reputation across the rugby globe. Montgomery will be moving to France after the RWC to play for the French Team Perpignan. We wish him all the best of luck.

First it was Jonny Wilkinson that got injured then it was the back up Olly Barkley. Now Brian Ashton has announced that Mike Catt will start in the number 10 jersey this Friday against the Springboks in Saint Denis.

This match between South Africa and England is no doubt the show piece of Pool A. Byran Habana spoke earlier in the week that the Springboks should watch out for their northern hemisphere opponents. Even after the disarray caused by the injuries the Springboks will not go into this game lightly. They will want to stamp their dominance from the first whistle.

Mike Catt will start at no 10 against the Springboks

England are following their downward spiral with their Captain Phil Vickery receiving a 2 match suspension.
Vickey tripped the America Paul Emerick.

He will not be the only big name that will not be avaliable for Friday night big Pool A clash. Schalk Burger has also been handed a 4 match suspension for his tackle in the air.

Argentina who gave us the awesome opening match were back on the field this Tuesday night and played against Georgia. From the beginning it was clear that Georgia was by no means going to go down easily.

At half time the score board showed 6-3 to Argentina. However as the second half progressed the Pumas experience showed through and they managed to score 27 points. Borges ran in 2 tries while Albacete and Aramburu also got a try a piece. Marcelo Loffreda had earlier showed his disapointment that the Pumas had been given 2 games so close to each other.

Wales took on the Canadian on yesterday. The Canadians came out guns blazing and managed to get themselves into a 17-9 lead.

This all changed going into the second half where the Welsh stepped it up after a few key changes were made. Jones came on for James hook and this seemed to make a big difference. The Welsh scored 5 tries in the final 30 mins to save them from what could have been a rather unexpected loss. Jenkins who has told the Welsh Public many times that they should judge him on the RWC performance should be feeling rather uneasy from the start that Wales underwent.

All in all the superior fitness of the Welsh was a definite factor in their final 30 mins try bonanza. One wonders if the Canadians had of been at a higher fitness level would we have seen a different result?

England managed a win against the rather inexperienced USA Eagles. Not a pretty affair for the English however the game was won.

England had the upper hand by far with regards to the forwards. The worrying thing is the the English didn’t manage to turn this dominance into many points. Most experts are saying that this years RWC will be won at the break down and the Eagles managed to match their opponents in this area. The US seemed to be their own worst enemy when their in experience showed a few times and opportunities to score went missing.

Robinson, Barkley, Rees managed to score for England while the Eagle’s Moeakiola crossed the English try line to give them their only try of the game.

English captain Phil Vickery might be banned for the crucial game against the Springboks this Friday. After he clearly tripped a player from the US. This is just another bad omen for the English, who many believe might not even make it out of the pool stages.

South Africa proved why the are the favorites of group A on Sunday.

The First half saw a passionate Samoan team come onto the field and throw everything that they had at the Springboks. If you look at the final score you would not really imagine the great performance that the Samoan team put on. No doubt that they were inspired from the opening game by Argentina’s victory.

Only in the second half did the flood gates open for South Africa. Bryan Habana scored 4 tries to open his world cup. Montgomery ran in 2 tries while JP Pietersen and Fourie shared one a piece. After a 52 point deficit Samoa’s coach Michael Jones believes that they will still win the remainders on their games. With the performance of the English against the US, this could very well be so. I think that the England Samoa game will be very interesting indeed!

Jean de Villiers was taken off the field with a arm injury 

Today saw the RWC favorites take on the Italians. Conrad Smith and Reuben Thorne where deemed unfit to play in todays pool C match and were replaced by Leon MacDonald and Isaia Toeava.The result was a complete walk over for the All Blacks who looked to be in true form.

I personally was expecting a bit more of a contest however after the opening try by the All Black captain Richie McCaw it seemed as if the Italians where in for a long afternoon. The All Blacks managed to run in 11 tries. McCaw 2, Howlett 3, Muliaina, Sivivatu 2, Jack, Collins 2. Not bad for a days work really. Doug Howletts hatrick has now made him All Blacks’ all-time record try-scorer.

The only good news that the other contenders for the RWC can take away from this game is that Italy managed to run in 2 tries against the mighty All Blacks. Marko Stanojevic managed to intercept a pass off the base of the New Zealand ruck while Mirco Bergamasco managed to find a gap in the All blacks defense to run in Italy’s second try.

Two yellow cards were handed out today. Firstly All Black prop forward Carl Hayman recieved one for punching followed by Italian prop forward Salvatore Perugini for taking a line out jumper in the air.

Well we are underway after last nights game. The opening game was the home nation France took on Argentina at St Denis.

From the opening whistle the Pumas seemed to have their game plan in action and a burning passion to win. The mighty forwards were slowing down the French and disrupting their game. France also were their own worst enemy on the night. 50/50 passes, unforced errors plagued he French play and lead to the opening and only try of the match. Rémy Martin threw a pass without looking and Horacio Agulla was on the receiving end of it. The pumas raced away and full back Corleto placed the ball over the French try line.

The second half saw a much better performance by the French however they just couldn’t break through the tough passionate defense of Argentina. Sébastian Chabal came on in the second half and his presence was made know.

Contempomi has brought his kicking boots while the French missed to 2 penalties which could have won them the game. 17-12 to Los Pumas and a cracking game to open up RWC France 2007!

Johnny Wilkinson has twisted his ankle in a training practice today! He has been ruled out of the opening match against the USA which will be played in Lens this Saturday. This is a critical blow for the defending world champs. Johnny Wilkinson was no doubt the star of the team and his presence will be missed on Saturday. Olly Barkley will be wearing the number 10 jersey in England’s opening match.

Brian Ashton (England’s Head Coach) was unable to say what the extent of the injury is at this time. Johnny will go for a scan this evening so that the medical experts can examine the damage done. A report on the injury is expected tomorrow.

The big question is will Johnny be fit for the Pool A crunch show down between the Springboks and England. Johnny absence in this game will be a great set back for England. The winner of the Pool A will have an easier route to the final and both South Africa and England will be putting it all on the line in Paris Next Friday.