Australia marches
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from June 1995.
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The win lifted Australia back into title contention after disappointing performances against South Africa and Canada.
Hooker Michael Foley marked his first start in a test match with the opening try and left wing Roff took his tally to three tries in two tests by scoring in the 36th and 60th minutes of a physical match.
Fullback Matthew Burke converted both first-half tries and scored a second-half try, but missed four penalties before handing over the kicking to lock John Eales, who converted all four second-half tries scored by Roff, Burke, right wing Damian Smith and flanker David Wilson. Romania's lone score came from an early drop goal by flyhalf Ilie Ivanciuc. It ended the tournament winless after gaining one victory in each of its two previous World Cup appearances.
The victory was the second for Australia in its three pool A matches and, barring an unlikely Canadian upset over South Africa later Saturday, clinched a spot in the final eight for the defending champions.
"We played well enough in the second half - its another step forward for us," Australian coach Bob Dwyer said. "There was a lot of indecision about our play in the first half, but once we got the confidence to play we put it together much better."
Romania opened aggressively, winning a lot of lineout ball and forcing turnovers to make Australians look uncomfortable until Foley scored the first try in the 27th minute, emerging from a rolling maul to plant the ball. Roff's first try, nine minutes later, was a gem. Scrum-half George Gregan released Smith with a clever pass and Smith broke the defensive line with a surging 35-meter run before turning a long pass to the impressive Roff at 19 the youngest member of the Wallaby squad. Roff powered over in the left corner and Burke again converted to give Australia a 14-3 halftime advantage.
Romania threatened briefly with some inspired running rugby early in the second half, but the Australian defense held firm and the Wallabies took a match-winning lead in the 60th minute when Gregan swung the ball wide and it moved along the backline before center Daniel Herbert's clever pass gave Roff a clear path to the corner.
Burke crossed the line seven minutes later after collecting a clever reverse pass from inventive fyhalf Scott Bowen as the Romanian intensity began to drop. Smith ran in the fifth Australian try in the right corner in the 70th minute and Wilson crossed in injury time with the Romanian defensive line in tatters.
Despite resting several starters, including stars David Campese and Michael Lynagh, Australia showed its power as defending champions despite an opening loss to South Africa. "I thought we put things together very well," said standin captain Rod McCall. "The backs ran onto the ball very well they were impressive."
Dwyer was impressed with Roff and Eales, who never had kicked in a test before and had not practiced his kicking during the week. But Dwyer also said his team needed to focus better and concentrate the entire 80 minutes. Scorers:
AUSTRALIA 42: Tries - Michael Foley, Joe Roff (2), Matthew Burke, Damian Smith, David Wilson; Conversions - Matthew Burke (2), John Eales (4).
ROMANIA 3: Drop goals - Ilie Ivanciuc.
