Scotland ran in seven tries in a convincing victory over Tonga on Sunday evening. The Scots had seven different scorers as Tonga ran into yellow card trouble twice.

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England made it two wins from two at the Rugby World Cup tonight as three second half tries earned them a BP victory over Japan in Nice, Courtney Lawes leading from the front as captain.

This hard-fought victory sends the 2019 runners-up into pole position in Pool D, winning their opening two and leading the way with eight points, Japan stay rooted on five following their first bonus point win over Chile a week ago.

A jittery Japanese start invited early England pressure, George Ford extending his tournament points tally to thirty with an easy penalty four minutes in.

Within seven minutes, Japan coach, Jamie Joseph was forced into a substation, full-back Semisi Masirewa hobbling off with Lomano Lemeki on earlier than anticipated.

That didn’t stop them levelling with a quarter of an hour elapsed, their first scintillating break, conducted by scrumhalf, Yutaka Nagare, resulting in a penalty in front of the posts, slotted by Rikiya Matsuda.

It was then Lewis Ludlam to the rescue for Steve Borthwick’s side, Ford’s clearing kick charged down and hounded by Japan attackers in pursuit, Ludlam alert and composed to mop up successfully.

Lemiki then went close running onto a chip in behind, the bounce eluding him but Matsuda nosing the Brave Blossoms 6-3 in front from the tee.

Instantly, it was a lead lost though as Japan gifted attacking possession to England and Borthwick’s boys made it count, Ludlam latching onto the ball and getting over for the first try of the match in Nice, Ford adding the extras for a four-point lead.

Ford fired an uncharacteristic kick wide on the half hour, Matsuda making it a costly miss as he serenely slotted his third penalty to bring us to a 10-9 scoreline.

Applying the pressure to put daylight between them at the break, England knocked on the door once more but hooker, Jamie George’s knock-on denying them a second try, Ford though finished the half with a well-struck penalty restoring England’s four-point buffer at the interval.

A flurry of ferociously fast attacks commenced the second forty minutes with England’s rapid breaks into the twenty-two let down by a last-gasp wrong pass or handling error.

Scrappy but highly watchable, England kept kicking in behind but finding little joy to breaching the Japanese defence.

Once more, the Brave Blossoms bared their teeth, Matsuda going four from four with the boot to set English nerves jangling again.

They were instantly eased though as Ben Earl broke up field.  Recycling play, Ford’s pass hit Will Stuart then Joe Marler’s head bouncing for captain, Coutney Lawes to gather and run in unopposed, Ford adding the easy extras for a two-score margin.

Targeting the forwards, fleet of foot, Kotaro Matsushima on the wing showed a fresh pair of heels, dazzling as he surged up, his teammates though unable to get with him in time, as the attacking break went unconverted.

That proved costly as England swiftly sealed the win with a third try fourteen minutes from the end, Freddie Steward gathering Ford’s fantastic cross-field kick, the fly-half converting excellently to give Borthwick something more to smile about.

Pushing hard for the BP score, Japan resisted with incredibly resilient defending late on, England stepping up the tempo, free-flowing rugby pinning their opponents in.

Eventually, they got it centre Joe Marchant finishing off incessant pressure for the fourth try and BP, to ice the cake of a second successive group win.

Whilst still far from perfect, this was an England performance that was clinical, managed the match smartly and showed some attacking flair late on.

Japan now move into their rest week, not returning to RWC action on Thursday week (8pm KO), against Samoa at the Stadium de Toulouse.

England, meanwhile, face Chile in six days’ time on Saturday afternoon, a clash taking place at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille (4:45pm KO).

Full Time in Nice where Wales have beaten Portugal 28-8 in what was a much tighter contest than many had anticipated. Wales left it late to secure a bonus point try, much to the relief of Warren Gatland. How important could that extra point be by the end of the pool stages?

It was a fascinating opening ten minutes, with both sides eager to make a positive start to this game. Underdogs Portugal rattled Wales early on as they thrived in broken play, spreading the ball wide to their speedy outside backs. The wing duo of Vincent Pinto and Rodrigo Marta caused the Welsh defence a heap of issues early on in this game, as they constantly looked to keep the ball alive.

After weathering an early storm, Wales pierced the fierce Portuguese through the electric Louis Rees-Zammit on the right wing. With Wales keeping possession on the half-way line, Tomos Williams produced an excellent pass to Jac Morgan in the 15-metre channel. Morgan drew the attention of Marta, who attempted to make the tackle, but Morgan showed great skill to offload to his winger. Rees-Zammit produced his trademark chip-and-chase tactic, benefitting from an empty Portuguese backfield; the ball sat up nicely for the winger who was able to coast in for an easy score to give Wales the lead. A Leigh Halfpenny conversion added the extra two points.

Portugal, to their credit, refused to back down and showed great determination and skill to keep this game alive. Jeronimo Portela ran the show for Portugal, his running game causing plenty of problems for the Welsh defense. Unfortunately, Portugal showed their inexperience through their inability to be clinical in the final third, regularly spilling the ball or giving away unnecessary penalties.

With Wales struggling to gain a foothold in this game, matters were made worse in the 25^th minute as Johnny Williams was shown a yellow card for deliberately preventing an attack by ‘playing the ball on the floor’. In the ten minutes that followed, Portugal were excellent as they employed a brilliant kicking game that saw them win two ’50:22’s’, Portela’s kicks judged to perfection.

A Samuel Marques penalty in the 36^th minute would cut Wales’ lead to just four points, and it was no less than Portugal deserved. Wales were left exposed in the backfield on numerous occasions and Portugal capitalised on their man-advantage during the sin-bin period. Playing with a penalty advantage, Portela attempted a drop-goal, but his effort drifted wide. Marques’ following kick was hit perfectly through the posts.

Wales finished the half well, and would score their second try of the game with the clock in the red through Captain Dewi Lake. It looked as if Wales had scored a try just minutes earlier, as Johnny Williams looked to have grounded the ball to redeem his yellow card, but as he extended his arm to reach for the line, he knocked the ball on. Play was brought back as Wales were playing with penalty advantage. Lake opted for a ‘tap-and-go’ penalty, and drove straight at the Portuguese defence, who were unable to keep the powerful hooker out from close range.

It was a disappointing end to the first half for Portugal, who had played a brilliant 40 minutes of rugby, but they were sloppy when it mattered most and gave away numerous lazy penalties. They can take credit from forcing Wales to dog deep in that opening half however. Wales were far from their best in this opening 40 minutes, but they did enough to have two tries and an 11-point lead to their name at the break.

With the introduction of rain, the second half was noticeably lacking in quality, as both sides spilled the ball endlessly. Neither side were able to get a foothold at the start of the second half, making play heavily unstructured. Wales broke the stalemate in the 55^th minute through Jac Morgan, who was not due to partake in today’s game but came in to replace the injured Tommy Reffell. Following a series of dominant scrums, Wales opted to keep the ball in hand and give it to the forwards for a series of pick-and-go drives. Morgan picked up the ball and powered over the line to get Wales’ third try of the evening.

Portugal responded brilliantly with a try of their own in the 63^rd minute, an excellent set-piece strike-move directly from the training ground. Winning a penalty deep in the Welsh 22’ Portugal opted to kick for the corner to potentially maul a lineout over the line. When the moment came, Wales were tricked into setting up for a maul defence; Portugal’s Rafael Simoes caught the lineout before immediately passing it down to Nicolas Martins who was left completely unmarked. Martins had an easy finish from five metres out, as Wales had committed numbers to defend the maul. It was a brilliant training ground routine that was greeted by a chorus of applause from the travelling Portuguese fans.

Wales crossed the Portuguese try-line for a fourth time in this game in the 75^th minute with Gareth Davies, and Sam Costelow had converted the extra two points before referee Karl Dickson ruled out the try due to obstruction in the build-up. With time running out, Wales scrambled for a fourth try that would secure a critical bonus point.

Wales got their wish, as Taulupe Faletau crossed the line after breaking from the base of a dominant Welsh scrum, the number 8 powering past the outnumbered Portuguese defence.

That extra point could prove pivotal for Wales, who have looked poor in these opening two games, yet currently sit at the top of the pool with 10 points.

Full Time, Wales 28-8 Portugal