TOKYO, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- It was a bad day for both North American teams at the Rugby World Cup on Thursday. In the early kick-off, Italy ran in seven tries against Canada to win 48-7, while England thrashed the USA 45-7.
England, playing a weakened side, dominated the game for the duration of the 80 minutes, only conceding a try in the final play of the game.
The USA struggled to deal with the physical English forwards instantly putting the Americans on the back foot from the first minute. English fly-half George Ford ran through an open defense to open the scoring in the fifth minute.
Two tries later, from Billy Vunipola and Luke Cowen-Dickie, England went into half time 19-0 up after rarely being troubled by the American tax.
The second half continued in the same fashion as the first as in the 47th minute, winger Joe Cokanasiga continued the rout and added the fourth try for England's second try bonus point of the tournament.
Ten minutes later England's opposite winger Ruaridh McConnochie finished off a slick English backline move to compound the American misery.
Two further tries later from Lewis Ludlam and another for Cokanasiga took the score 45-0.
As the final gong sounded, the USA continued to play on, desperate for a consolation try and after two minutes of keeping the ball alive to finally went over the English try line to take the final score to 45-7.
In the Italy-Canada game, the Italians put their poor performance against Namibia behind them.
Despite winning the game against Namibia, they were far from fluid and from the first minute against Canada they were straight in the faces of the opposition.
The back three in the Italian forwards were omnipresent around the pitch for the whole game, and in the seventh-minute number eight Braam Steyn scored.
By the half, Italy went in 17-0 up and looking at their best.
Like in the England game, Italy continued to be ruthless with Canada. The Italian forwards dominated their set pieces and disrupted the Canadian forwards.
The Canadian weakness at lineouts was highlighted when in the 58th minute Italy were awarded a penalty try and an automatic seven points were added to take the score to 31-0.
In the 60th minute, Mattia Bellini crossed the try line to take the score to 36-0.
However, Canada finally strung together some decent play to grab a try in the 68th minute. Unfortunately for Canada, the try came too late to change the course of play and only five minutes later Italy were celebrating their sixth try.
A seventh by Minozzi completed the scoring and the game. The 48-7 scoreline reflected swift, accurate play from Italy.
