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5 stars who shone brightest in Round 2

Cape Town - There were tries aplenty over the Rugby World Cup weekend and, as a result, it was the backline players who benefited most. 

Some one-sided games made for some big scores with Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Argentina all rampant. Here are 5 players who stole the show from Thursday through to Sunday.

JP PIETERSEN (South Africa)

How good it is to have a South African heading up this list. And how good it is that it comes in the form of a player who was battling for form. Pietersen was clinical throughout the 46-6 win over Samoa, showing composure every time he was given the opportunity to finish. It was the first hat-trick of Pietersen's Test career, and it couldn't have come at a better time. That can only be good news for the Boks. 

DAN BIGGAR (Wales)

The result of the weekend was undoubtedly Wales stunning England 28-25 at Twickenham on Saturday night. The Welsh flyhalf slotted an incredible 23 points in the match - eight kicks from eight attempts. There had been concern over the Welsh goal-kicking coming into the tournament when Leigh Halfpenny was injured, but in Biggar Wales clearly have a new points metronome. 

DREW MITCHELL (Australia)

A couple of months ago Mitchell thought his overseas commitments had ruled him out of Wallabies World Cup contention. Now he is Australia's all-time leading try scorer at the tournament. Mitchell bagged two against Uruguay on Sunday to move ahead of Chris Latham to 12, and he is now just three behind all-time leading try scorer Jonah Lomu (15). But will Mitchell get another start at the tournament? 

CHRIS HENRY (Ireland)

The Irish flank was everywhere against Romania on Sunday, and capped his performance with a try. But what makes this story so special is that just 10 months ago Henry (30) underwent heart surgery after suffering from a blocked vessel in his brain. Quite remarkable. 

SANTIAGO CORDERO (Argentina)

The Pumas wing scored twice in his side's convincing win over Georgia on Friday. It was hard to separate his performance from wing partner Juan Imhoff, but perhaps the deciding factor was that both of Cordero's tries were impressive individual efforts - particularly the second one. 

Follow @LloydBurnard on Twitter.

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