Rugby Shorts

South Africa's hopes of ending a miserable year with a rare Grand Slam of the home unions ended in the driving Edinburgh rain as Scotland claimed a memorable 21-17 win at Murrayfield on Saturday.

New Zealand overwhelmed a game Ireland side 38-18 on Saturday to stay on course for its third Grand Slam of the home rugby unions in five years. The All Blacks have already beaten England and Scotland, and play Wales next Saturday in Cardiff. A victory there would mean a clean sweep of Britain and Ireland to match the achievements of 2005 and 2008.

Australia's rugby team recovered from last weekend's painful loss to England with a less-than-emphatic 32-14 win over Italy on Saturday. Winger Drew Mitchell stretched over the line for a try nine minutes in while Berrick Barnes was near-faultless with his place kicking having been brought into the Wallabies side as one of five changes from the defeat at Twickenham.

Captain Ryan Jones said he was culpable for Wales' 16-16 draw with Fiji after he conceded the last-minute penalty that let Seremaia Bai level the game. "I'm bitterly disappointed personally, that's my error that cost us," he said. "We talk about discipline all the time and I let myself and the team down."

England defeated Samoa 26-13 in their rugby union international match at Twickenham. Second-half tries from Matt Banahan and Tom Croft and Toby Flood’s four penalty kicks gave the home side the advantage over Samoa, which trailed just 6-3 at halftime.