The storm had already claimed the lives of at least two people in China's Hainan and 16 people in the Philippines
asia9 hours ago
Australia's second-string showed how to finish with an 11-try blitz, thumping Uruguay 65-3 in their Rugby World Cup Pool A match on Sunday.
Left winger Drew Mitchell scored two of them to take his test tally to 32 - including 12 in World Cups.
Flankers Sean McMahon and Ben McCalman also got two each, with the others coming from centers Henry Speight, Matt Toomua, and Tevita Kuridrani, right winger Joseph Tomane, and lock and captain Dean Mumm.
That was a fun warm-up for Australia ahead of next weekend's massive game against England, which needs to bounce back after losing 28-25 to Wales.
Whoever loses that game could end up failing to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Mitchell shrugged off a below-par first-half performance to score two clinical tries after the break. He has a chance to overtake New Zealanders Doug Howlett (13) and Jonah Lomu (15) at this tournament for the most tries in World Cup history, although he has far tougher games coming up against England and Wales.
Australia picked up a bonus point in this rout, moving it level at the top of Pool A with Wales.
Featuring 14 changes from the lineup that beat Fiji 28-13, coach Michael Cheika's side would have scored even more tries if not for some sloppy handling errors.
Australia scored from all angles, giving Quade Cooper some difficult conversion attempts, and the mercurial flyhalf left his kicking boots behind him, making only five from 11.
He did better with his passing, however, setting up three tries and playing a part in the 10th with a typically powerful burst through the middle.
There were some heated exchanges during the match, with a couple of bouts of pushing and shoving. The Australians got irritated a few times by Los Teros. Somewhat predictably, Cooper failed to keep his composure, getting sin-binned for swinging an arm into scrumhalf Agustin Ormaechea's neck in the 15th minute.
The Wallabies should have scored from their first attack, but Mitchell clumsily dropped fullback Kurtley Beale's pass. It was a brief respite, with Mumm stealing from the Uruguay lineout and McMahon peeling off the back of a rolling maul.
Cooper missed those extras, but set up Tomane with a neat reverse pass and clipped over a tougher conversion from wide right to make it 12-0 with 10 minutes gone.
Australia made several clean breaks, but lacked a clinical edge in the first half, with another move ending when Speight failed to pick out either Mitchell or Beale on the overlap.
With Cooper off, flyhalf Felipe Berchesi reduced the arrears with a clean kick from 30 metres, prompting huge cheers from their fans at Villa Park.
Soon after, Mumm fended off right winger Leandro Leivas and touched down in the right corner.
Mitchell finally got his act together and, following a sweeping move from right to left, he fed Speight for a swallow dive into the right corner. Cooper converted for 24-3, and turned provider with another clever pass, setting up McCalman under the crossbar.
Mitchell opened the second-half floodgate, jinking through four tackles down the right, and then finishing off a wraparound move on the left thanks to another Cooper assist.
The eighth try came when McCalman collected a quick feed from Beale and ignored Mitchell's calls for a hat trick.
After that, Uruguay still had 18 minutes of punishment left.
McMahon peeled off another rolling maul, Beale flicked a sweet pass to Toomua, and replacement Kuridrani had just enough time to round off the scoring.
Meanwhile, some harsh words from coach Vern Cotter and an early second-half try that settled Scotland's nerves helped to subdue a robust United States in Leeds on Sunday
Captain Henry Pyrgos said the Scots made too many early errors, which left them trailing the Eagles 13-6 at halftime, but a score from wing Tim Visser straight after the break set them on course for the 39-16 bonus-point win.
"It was a tough team talk at halftime. Obviously the USA played really well in that first half, but we weren't clinical enough, we made a lot of mistakes and put ourselves under pressure," Pyrgos said.
"But credit to the boys, we came out in that second half and got a try straight away, which settled the nerves and allowed us to kick on and ultimately we got the five points. We just relaxed. We got into our structures, played rugby and looked after the ball." Coach Vern Cotter admitted he had been worried at the break, but praised his side's fitness as they fought back with five second-half tries.
"It is fair to say I was pretty concerned. We had chances and bombed them, so it was just a matter of having a calm, controlled mind. The boys did well, having had only four days between this and the Japan match." The Scots have secured two try-scoring bonus points in wins over Japan and the United States, sending them top of Pool B, but their toughest tests are still to come against South Africa on Saturday and then Samoa the following week. - Agencies
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