The United States won the World Cup\'s \'cold war\' against Russia Thursday as the All Blacks\' injury toll took a sudden turn for the worse and England were forced on the defensive over a lurid tabloid report.
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| Mike Petri of the US (centre) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a try during the 2011 Rugby World Cup pool C match against Russia in New Plymouth on September 15. |
In chilly conditions and bucketing rain in New Plymouth, the United States won an ugly encounter with Russia who showed grit and application with a late fightback on their World Cup debut before going down 13-6.
Mike Petri scored a first-half try and Chris Wyles landed two penalties as the Americans held on for a hard-earned Pool C win to add to their brave defeat to Ireland.
"It was a great victory for us," said coach Eddie O\'Sullivan. "We knew coming off the Ireland game we had something to build on but I reminded the guys Russia would play hard. It was a great game tonight in hard conditions."
Meanwhile the All Blacks caused consternation by announcing 99-Test captain Richie McCaw and full-backs Mils Muliaina and Israel Dagg would all miss Friday\'s Test with Japan with injuries, joining fly-half Daniel Carter as late withdrawals.
Coach Graham Henry angrily denied the minor injury problems -- respectively a calf strain, tight hamstring, abdominal strain and a sore back -- were fakes aimed at shielding the players before the All Blacks face France next week.
"There\'s no truth to that idea at all," Henry said, refuting suggestions that the problems may not be genuine. "Some people have got very fertile minds. That\'s not the case, it\'s ridiculous," he fumed.
"They\'re minor injuries and we have taken the precaution not to play them because we don\'t want to make them worse, it\'s as simple as that. We\'d be taking a risk if we played them and we can\'t afford to do that."
The raft of injuries give Isaia Toeava a chance at fullback with Colin Slade at fly-half. Hooker Keven Mealamu will captain the side with Victor Vito at number eight and Adam Thomson -- returning from an elbow injury -- openside flanker.
Australian winger James O\'Connor\'s rehabilitation after missing a public team event was completed as he was named in the Wallabies\' starting line-up to face Italy, replacing the injured Digby Ioane.
O\'Connor, who was banned then demoted to the bench after his no-show at the World Cup squad announcement in Sydney, will line up outside fly-half Quade Cooper, who shrugged off the "hate figure" tag he has worn since arriving in New Zealand.
"I feel a lot of love in New Zealand," said the New Zealand-born Cooper, who has been labelled \'public enemy number one\' in the country over his repeated run-ins with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
"Look around (press conference) there\'s a lot of love going on around here," he dead-panned. "To be honest I don\'t really care."
England played down a scandalous report in Britain\'s The Sun newspaper that said centre Mike Tindall, recently married to Queen Elizabeth\'s grand-daughter Zara Phillips, kissed and fondled a blonde while watching a dwarf-throwing contest.
The England camp did not address specific allegations in the report, which did not quote a named source, but said Tindall had simply been "relaxing" during a team trip to Queenstown.
"Mike and several of the players were enjoying an evening out after he had led the team to a hard-earned victory over Argentina," a spokesman said.
"Like all the lads he plays for England with a massive amount of passion and he was relaxing after a tough match."
Elsewhere Fiji promised not to abandon their trademark running game against defending champions South Africa, four years after giving them an almighty scare in the 2007 quarter-finals in France.
"We respect them but that doesn\'t mean we limit our expectation of what we\'re capable of executing on Saturday," said coach Sam Domoni.
"We\'ve seen a few things where we can maximise the team\'s performance and it should be a very good, exciting game."
New Zealand against Japan in Hamilton is Friday\'s only game while Fiji and South Africa, Argentina and Romania, and Australia and Ireland all play on Saturday.
