South Africa hammer poor England

Ruan Pienaar charges down a kick by Danny Cipriani to score South Africa's second try against England.

South Africa maintained their perfect record on their autumn tour as they cruised to a crushing 42-6 victory over England at Twickenham. The world champions did the damage in a strong first-half showing as they opened up a 17-point lead inside the opening 25 minutes. The flanker Danie Rossoux powered over for the first try in the 15th minute, and four minutes later fly-half Ruan Pienaar charged down a kick from Danny Cipriani to run through for an unchallenged touchdown.

It was a good day for Pienaar who also kicked 15 points to finish with a personal tally of 20. Cipriani had two penalties for England, but Martin Johnson's side were largely outclassed by the visitors. Adrian Jacobs added a third try after the interval, with replacement Jaque Fourie touching down late on for a fourth try after running half the length of the field, before the winger Bryan Habana completed the scoring in stoppage time.

In other action, Ireland got the better of Argentina 17-3 in a close fought game at Croke Park thanks to the boot of Ronan O'Gara. Santiago Fernandez gave Argentina the lead with a penalty, but O'Gara then kicked three penalties of his own and a drop goal to put the Irish in charge, before Tommy Bowe scored a late try. Scotland comfortably defeated Canada 41-0 at Murrayfield

Nikki Walker and Ben Cairns scored first half tries for Scotland, before John Barclay, Ali Strokosch, Walker and Rory Lamont all crossed the whitewash in the second 40 minutes. The surprise of the day saw the Pacific Islands register a 25-17 success over Italy. Vilimani Delasau scored two tries for the islanders, who came out on top despite Andrea Marcato scoring 10 points for the home side.

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