GLOUCESTER: Argentina maximized on Mamuka Gorgodze’s second half sin-binning to record a vital bonus-point 54-9 victory over Georgia on Friday to all but guarantee themselves the second automatic qualifying spot in Pool C.

Having been beaten 26-16 by champion New Zealand in their opening game, the Argentinians had to beat Georgia, who were surprise 17-10 winners over Tonga in their opener, to stay in the race for the knockout phase.

With two remaining pool games against Tonga and minnows Namibia on October 4 and 11, both in Leicester, Argentina will be out-and-out favorites to progress alongside the All Blacks into the quarterfinals.

Argentina were made to work hard in the first-half, enjoying just a 14-9 lead thanks to nine points from the boot of influential fly-half Nicolas Sanchez and Tomas Lavanini’s solitary try while Georgian veteran Merab Kvirikashvili kicked three penalties.

But when Georgian skipper Gorgodze was rightly sin binned in the 45th minute, the South Americans made hay, scoring three converted tries through Tomas Cubelli, Juan Imhoff and Santiago Cordero in the space of six minutes with some wonderful running rugby.

With Georgia flagging, Martin Landajo first scored, and then Cordero and Bosch grabbed their second tries, Marcelo Bosch hitting two conversions as Argentina racked up 40 unanswered points.

Sanchez got the scoreboard ticking with a cheeky sixth-minute drop-goal. As Georgia struggled to impose themselves, more pressure was exerted, the ball was moved right and lock Lavanini was on hand to crash over.

A blocking foul on Kvirikashvili by Lavanini’s locking partner Matias Alemanno saw the Georgian full-back, winning a national record 87th cap in his fourth World Cup, kick the penalty and a second shortly after.

The Pumas almost immediately restored their five-point lead after flanker Giorgi Tkhilaishvili was pinged by referee JP Doyle for a high tackle, Sanchez making no mistake with his pot at goal.

The Georgians refused to go away, however, Kvirikashvili bagging his third, and the ping-pong nature of the match continued after a second high tackle saw Sanchez again punish the Georgians.

Lasha Malaguradze went close with a drop-goal effort as Georgia, with hard-tackling Clermont flanker Viktor Kolelishvili and Toulon No 8 Gorgodze to the fore, pressed in the run-up to half-time, Argentina’s well-drilled defense holding firm.

Georgia’s hammerblow arrived five minutes into the second period, Gorgodze first penalized for a high tackle and then sin binned for preventing quick release as the Pumas pushed after a searing Sanchez break.

Lavanini was denied a second try after Doyle ruled he’d been held up over the line, but from the resulting scrum, Cubelli darted in for the first of three converted tries, a simple dart down the blindside too much for a stretched 14-man Georgian defense.

From the restart, the ball was whipped left and smart hands saw Racing 92 winger Imhoff in the clear as he outsprinted Kvirikashvili for the line.

With Gorgodze looking on from the sidelines, the Pumas nabbed the bonus point for scoring four or more tries when Cordero stepped in from his wing and showed a clean pair of heels to scoot in under the posts.

With Sanchez converting all three tries, Argentina were suddenly 35-9 up and the game was in the bag for the team that finished third in the 2007 World Cup.

The final 10 minutes saw the Argentinians turn the screw, Landajo being driven over before Cordero and Imhoff each grabbed a second try for a comprehensive victory.

All Blacks crush brave Namibia 58-14: In London, New Zealand ran in nine tries, including two each for wingers Nehe Milner-Skudder and Julian Savea, as they powered to a 58-14 win over Namibia on Thursday night, but the rugged Africans made the world champions work harder than expected.

Victor Vito, Malakai Fekitoa, Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith and Codie Taylor also grabbed a try apiece as a second-string All Blacks side made it two wins out of two in Rugby World Cup Pool C.

The biggest cheer at the Olympic Stadium, however, came in the second half when Namibia opted to kick for the line instead of going for three points and center Johan Deysel, a university student, showed the strength to stay on his feet despite two tackles and break through for a try.

Namibia, who have never won a World Cup game and whose line-up included a dentist, some farmers and a diamond trader, fought bravely to avoid the rout that some had expected in the meeting of the tournament’s top and bottom-ranked teams.

All Black coach Steve Hansen voiced frustration with the stop-start nature of the game but gave full credit to Namibia.

Things had looked ominous when, straight from the kick-off, the All Black forward ran a huge driving maul from their 22-meter line right up to half way.

Flyhalf Barrett kicked a penalty to open the scoring and a try on each wing — by Vito on the left and Milner-Skudder on the right — put New Zealand 15-0 ahead with under 10 minutes played.

It looked like the opening of the floodgates, but Namibia, tackling like men possessed, had different ideas.

Their nerves were settled when flyhalf Theuns Kotze kicked a penalty to put them on the scoreboard, and they enjoyed several promising attacks after intercepting stray passes as New Zealand showed occasional glimpses of fallibility.

Normal service was resumed when Sonny Bill Williams, tackled by two players, still managed to offload to Fekitoa for New Zealand’s third try under the posts.

Another Kotze penalty and tries from Barrett and Milner-Skudder made it 34-6 at halftime to New Zealand, captained for the first time by Sam Cane as Richie McCaw was rested on the bench.

In a scrappy second half, New Zealand were frequently frustrated by dogged Namibian defense but added four more tries, helped by the sin-binning of Jaco Engels for cynically knocking the ball out of Tawera Kerr-Barlow’s hands as the All Blacks pressed within meters of the try line.

Milner-Skudder was named man of the match for his weaving runs, brace of tries and a superb offload to set up hooker Taylor for the final try right at the death.

Match stats showed he had more ball carries — 10 — than any other player and made 95 meters in the game.

For New Zealand, Barrett kicked five conversions an