England In Control and Titanic Polledri

England 45 - 7 USA

England dismantled USA in a much improved performance than the one against Tonga, as their set piece dominance and superiority in the forwards really gave the Americans no way into the game. Knowing that the conditions were probably not meant for slick handling, England played tight. They kicked for territory and they kept the ball close in the right areas of the pitch, letting the big boys batter down on the American defence. England never looked challenged and they will be most happy to come away with 10 points out of 10 and no injuries. It could've been the end of Piers Francis' tournament though as the centre flew up from the kick off to make the first tackle of the match. His head connected with the ball carrier and was probably lucky that the ref decided not to look at it, very strange considering the new directives. The American tackle, if you want to call it that, left no room for debate as the USA player threw his shoulder hard in Owen Farrell's head - who had already knocked the ball on moments earlier - with both arms pretty much tucked behind his back. Now a lot of people will say that serves Farrell right for all the dodgy tackles he's made and to a certain point I agree, in that he's been lucky to escape punishment for failing to wrap properly and leading high with the shoulder. Never though have I seen Farrell drive his shoulder so dangerously into an opponents head and have such a complete disregard for player safety. It's one thing to go high at someones chest and get the tackle wrong, it's another thing entirely to assault someone's head as Farrell was the recipient of, so all the fans saying it's time Farrell got some of his own medicine, I suggest you take another look at his tackles and maybe the law book too. 

Italy 48 - 7 Canada

As for Italy, it was a rampant win against Canada, as they cantered away with the win. Canada had no answer to Italy's back row, as they took Canada apart physically. Most impressive though was Jake Polledri, the Bristol born Gloucester player, who's dad had also represented the Azzurri at internal level. He possesses freakish strength in the contact area, fighting and rolling his way through tacklers, and also a neat turn of pace. On a rampant day, he beat 14 defenders, the most by any player in a single game during this tournament so far, and the most out of any forward in the history of the competition. This performance will come as no surprise to Gloucester supporters, who see Polledri at his barn storming best every weekend, and they'll be hugely thankful that he is signed up for the next few years at least, no doubt the big money French teams would be circling this outrageously good young talent.