Wallabies (47) 68 / Russia (5) 22 (Final Score)

The Australian Wallabies and Russia did battle in Nelson at 04:30 SA Time (15:30 NZ Time).

This was the live match discussion Article.

The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.

*******************

After a very good first half it looked like the Wallabies were going to put over 100 points over the Russians, but the wheels came off a bit for the Wallabies in the second half and the brave Russians came back hard, almost outscoring the Wallabies in the second half.

The Wallabies also lost Drew Mitchell, with what looked like a bad hamstring injury, ahead of the looming quarter final.

Scorers:

Wallabies:

• Penalties – 0
• Drop Goals – 0
• Tries – Berrick Barnes (2), Drew Mitchell (2), Ben McCalman (1), David Pocock (2), Stephen Moore(1), Adam Ashley-Cooper (1), Salesi Ma’afu (1)
  
• Conversions – James O’Connor (9)

Russia:

• Penalties – 0
• Drop Goals – Konstantin Rachkov (1)
• Tries – Vladimir Ostroushko (1), Denis Simplikevich (1), Konstantin Rachkov (1)
  
• Conversions – Konstantin Rachkov (2)

Teams:

Australia: 15 James O’Connor, 14 Radike Samo, 13 Adam Ashley Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill (captain), 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota Nau, 17 Saia Faingaa, 18 Salesi Ma’afu, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Rocky Elsom, 21 Will Genia, 22 Nick Phipps.

Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Andrey Kuzin, 12 Alexey Makovetskiy, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Alexander Yanyushkin, 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Vyacheslav Grachev, 6 Artem Fatakhov, 5 Adam Byrnes, 4 Alexander Voytov, 3 Ivan Prishchepenko, 2 Vladislav Korshunov (captain), 1 Sergey Popov.
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Vladimir Botvinnikov, 18 Alexey Travkin, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Alexander Shakirov, 21 Konstantin Rachkov, 22 Mikhail Babaev.

Date: Saturday 1 October
Venue: Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Kick off: 04:30 SA Time (15:30 NZ Time)
Expected weather conditions: 30% chance of rain with a high of 15°C, dropping to 9°C.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)