Internationals
England head coach Stuart Lancaster says he has not panicked by replacing flyhalf George Ford with Owen Farrell for Saturday’s game with Wales.
Ford, 22, started last week’s 35 / 11 World Cup Pool A win over Fiji, but Farrell impressed off the bench.
Sam Burgess has been selected at inside centre after Jonathan Joseph was ruled out with a chest injury.
“I don’t think putting an in-form and confident Owen Farrell into the team is a risk,” said Lancaster.
Billy Vunipola comes in at No 8 for Ben Morgan, who has a knee injury, while James Haskell and Alex Goode step up to the bench for the 1st time.
France (17) 38 / 11 (6) Romania (Final Score)
France and Romania did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Olympic Park, London, England at 21:00 SA Time (21:00 French Time, 22:00 Rom Time, 20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Wallabies (18) 28 / 13 (3) Fiji (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and Fiji did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 17:45 SA Time (16:45 BST, 15:45 GMT, Thursday 01:45 AEST, Thursday 03:45 Fiji Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Scotland (12) 45 / 10 (7) Japan (Final Score)
Scotland and Japan did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester, England at 15:30 SA Time (14:30 BST, 13:30 GMT, 22:30 Japan Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Rugby World Cup debuts galore as Scotland’s tournament finally gets underway. After the group opened with a Double B (that’s a Bucking Belter) in Brighton will we have a Grand Guignolin Gloucester?
Only 4 players remain from Scotland’s last Rugby World Cup match, a 16 / 12 defeat to England in Auckland in 2011, with Ross Ford the only player in the same position for both games.
Japan bring 6 players into their starting line-up as they try to back up their stunning victory over former champions, South Africa. The Japanese bench features a 6 forwards to 2 backs split, which suggests they expect Scotland to try and overpower them up front and reinforcements will be required.
Richie McCaw
All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw pleaded guilty to a “dumb” moment which saw him sin-binned as his side struggled to beat Argentina in their Rugby World Cup opener.
McCaw, the most capped player in Test rugby, got a Yellow Card for tripping Argentina’s Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe half an hour into the game.
The Pumas took advantage of his 10 minutes of exile and later of the Yellow Card of Conrad Smith to stamp their authority on the Pool C game.
“It was dumb,” McCaw said of the incident.
“It was a reflex thing. It wasn’t the right thing to do and we suffered because of it and put the team under pressure, which you can’t afford to do,” the much respected captain said after.
The sentiment was shared by New Zealand coach Steve Hansen who said: “The 2 Yellow Cards today were pretty dumb.
Agustine Creevy
Good but not good enough was how Argentina captain Agustin Creevy rated his side’s performance in holding the All Blacks until the end of their Rugby World Cup match Sunday.
Argentina led 16 / 12, and an upset was on the cards, until an Aaron Smith try sparked the All Blacks into action and they came from behind to win the Pool C match 26 / 16.
“It was very hard,” Creevy said of the loss in front of 81 000 people at Wembley.
“The 1st-half was excellent, but the 2nd-half the pace was very fast, we made some mistakes and we were not able to recover from them.
“The All Blacks are the best in the world and they know how to score points.”
Creevy could not fault his side’s attitude and said they recognised they were closing on the world’s best teams.
David Pocock
Michael Hooper
World class loose forwards David Pocock and Michael Hooper have both been named in the Australian Wallabies run-on side to face Fiji in Cardiff on Wednesday.
The star quality of the Wallabies’ openside flankers Hooper and Pocock is undeniable and has forced coach Michael Cheika’s hand in starting them both against Fiji.
Australia will roll out the brilliant backrow, including blindside flank Scott Fardy, with Pocock filling the No 8 jersey.
It is just the 2nd time the pair will have started a match together, following a successful outing in a 27 / 19 win over the All Blacks in Sydney in August, but Cheika admits the combination cannot be held back any longer.
Cory Allen
Wales centre Cory Allen, who scored 3 of his country’s 8 tries in their Rugby World Cup opener against Uruguay, was ruled out of the rest of the tournament by a hamstring tear on Monday.
The Welsh, already rocked by injuries to key backs Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb in their final warm-up match, had 6 players added to their casualty list during Sunday’s 54 / 9 victory in Cardiff.
Allen pulled up with the injury in the 2nd half and after having scans was replaced in the squad by Tyler Morgan, who joins Scott Williams and Jamie Roberts to restore the number of specialist centres in the squad to 3.
British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies was ruled out of the tournament by a knee injury.
Wales next face England in a Twickenham clash on Saturday, which could go a long way to deciding which teams progress from Pool A, which also includes Australia and Fiji.
Yoann Huget
French coach Philippe Saint-Andre confirmed on Sunday that wing Yoann Huget is out for the rest of the Rugby World Cup after injuring his knee.
A tearful Huget was forced off during France’s 32 / 10 victory over Italy in their opening Rugby World Cup match on Saturday.
His place was taken by Castres wing Remy Grosso.
He has injured the ligaments in his right knee, Saint-Andre said in an interview.
Josh Strauss
Josh Strauss is set to make his debut for Scotland on Wednesday as he has been named as a replacement for the Rugby World Cup match against Japan in Gloucester. Fellow South African WP Nel has been named in the starting line up for this match.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 David Denton, 7 John Hardie, 6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Sean Maitland.
All Blacks (12) 26 / 16 (13) Los Pumas (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and Argentinian Pumas did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Wembley Stadium, London, England at 17:45 SA Time (16:45 BST, 15:45 GMT, 12:45 ARG Time, Monday 01:45 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Wales (28) 54 / 9 (9) Uruguay (Final Score)
Wales and Uruguay did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 15:30 SA Time (14:30 BST, 13:30 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Samoa (14) 25 / 16 (8) USA Eagles (Final Score)
Samoa and the USA Eagles did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Brighton Community Centre, Brighton, England at 13:00 SA Time (12:00 BST, 11:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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France (15) 32 / 10 (3) Italy (Final Score)
France and Italy did battle in the Rugby World Cup at
Twickenham Stadium, London at 21:00 SA Time (20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Japan (10) 34 / 32 (12) Springboks (Final Score)
Japan and the South African Springboks did battle in the Rugby World Cup at
The Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton at 17:45 SA Time (16:45 BST, 15:45 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
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Day 2 of Rugby World Cup 2015 is here. The opening ceremony is done and dusted and England have won the very 1st game of the tournament, with what could turn out to be a handy bonus point.
Crowds from Brighton to Gloucester will be gearing up to go to the games today with 4 matches in total to be played. The local broadcaster of the World Cup advertised that there would be 11 hours of coverage across their channels today.
The big game of the day for Springbok supporters takes place late this afternoon just outside Brighton as they face Japan in a stadium that for the World Cup is known as Brighton Community Stadium. It is normally a football ground, the home of Brighton and Hove Albion a Championship team who are top of that table at the moment.
The 1st match of the day, between Georgia and Tonga, kicks off at 15:30 SA Time (12:30 BST) and the last tonight at 20:00 BST (21:00 SA Time) when France and Italy meet.
Georgia will field the youngest player in Rugby World Cup history when scrum-half Vasil Lobzhanidze starts Saturday’s match against Tonga.
Lobzhanidze will be 18 years and 340 days old on Saturday, breaking the previous record set by the USA’s Thretton Palamo at RWC 2007 by 33 days. Lobzhanidze will also be the first 18-year-old to play a RWC match and the first player born in the professional era to play in the competition.
There are two changes from Georgia’s last match, a 13-10 defeat by Japan on 5 September, with Giorgi Tkhilaishvili replacing Shalva Sutiashvili at blindside flanker and right wing Tamaz Mchedlidze replacing Muraz Giorgodze. Both of the players dropping out of the starting 15 are on the replacements bench.
Only three players remain from the first 15 of Georgia’s last RWC match, a 25-7 defeat by Argentina four years ago. Back-row forwards Viktor Kolelishvili and captain Mamuka Gorgodze both played four years ago as did outside-centre Davit Kacharava.
There will be a Six Nations re-match as France and Italy do battle at Twickenham in the fifth match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup on Saturday night. The teams are in Pool D, alongside Ireland, Canada and Romania, and the match kicks off at 20:00 UK Time (21:00 SA Time).
Italy, who have made four changes since their last test, will set a new World Cup record for the most experienced front row as their starting trio boast a total of 227 test caps. The current record was set in 2011 when a front row with 215 caps between them took the field for the Springboks against Namibia.
Martin Castogiavanni will become Italy’s most capped player as he makes his 114th appearance for his country. He will reach this landmark as Sergio Parisse misses out due to injury. Leonarodo Ghiraldini will captain Italy for the 10th time in the absence of Parisse.
France’s coach Phillipe Saint-Andre has named a team that contains two South African born players – starting Fullback Scott Spedding and Loose forward Bernard le Roux who is on the bench. Rory Kockott misses out on selection for this match altogether. France will be captained by Thierry Dussatoir.
Japan have rung the changes and announced the eldest side in their Test history for their opening RWC 2015 match against South Africa on Saturday.
Head coach Eddie Jones makes five changes from the side that beat Georgia 13-10 in Gloucester on 5 September 2015, the side’s last Test match.
Akihito Yamada replaces Yoshikazu Fujita on the wing and Hendrik Tui moves from the wing to number eight. Fly-half Harumichi Tatekawa drops to the bench in place of Kosei Ono, and Kensuke Hatakeyama replaces Hiroshi Yamashita, who is named as a replacement. Tui’s move to number eight means there is no place for Koliniashi Holani, who is in the squad but not named in the match-day 23.
Only seven players in the 23 were in the match-day 22 for Japan’s last RWC match, the 23-23 draw against Canada on 27 September 2011.
The starting 15 for Saturday has an average age of 29 years and 310 days, eclipsing the side who played in the 13-10 win over Georgia on 5 September 2015, whose average was 29 years and 299 days.
Fiji coach John McKee has named his team to play England in the Rugby World Cup opening match at Twickeham Stadium, London on Friday.
Fiji have been able to include Crusaders winger Nemani Nadolo who missed the Pacific Nations Cup which Fiji were crowned champions.
McKee’s backline will be controlled by former Waratah and Super Rugby winner Ben Volavola.
“I am very pleased to be able to announce a very strong line-up for the opening match of RWC2015,” said McKee. “We have come through a very good preparation phase and are ready to move into the competition.
“All our players are fit and available for selection,” McKee added.
Jean de Villiers
South Africa’s head coach Heyneke Meyer has named a strong team to play Japan in their Rugby World Cup opening match in Brighton with Jean de Villiers as captain.
The Springboks starting team boasts a combined total of 880 Test caps and eclipses the previous most experienced South African side at 836 caps which played in the last Rugby World Cup match against Australia at the quarter final stage.
Meyer has opted to start with Patrick Lambie with Handre Pollard on the replacements bench. One surprise ommission from the line up is Damien de Allende who has made way for De Villiers but also possibly fallen out of favour as he is not named on the replacements bench.
In all the team has six changes from the side that beat Argentina in Buenos Aires a month ago. De Villiers’ inclusion at inside centre is the only change to the backline, while Francois Louw returns at the side of the scrum.
The tight five has been reshuffled, with Lood de Jager and Jannie du Plessis both back from injury, while Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira will start yet again.
On the bench, Coenie Oosthuizen, Fourie du Preez and JP Pietersen return from injury, while Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane and Siya Kolisi have also been included amongst the substitutes.
Jean de Villiers addresses the crowd at Eastbourne
The Springboks were given a vibrant and rousing reception at their official Rugby World Cup Welcoming Ceremony, held at the iconic Winter Gardens in Eastbourne on Sunday afternoon.
Hundreds of rugby fans lined the street and packed the venue as the Springboks, led out by coach Heyneke Meyer, entered the theatre to the sounds of well-known British hard rock band Led Zeppelin.
All the players received their Rugby World Cup caps and participation medals, while the team management were also awarded medals.
The Springboks and gathered crowd were addressed by Mr Oregan Hoskins, President of the South African Rugby Union and Deputy President of World Rugby, Mr Ian Richie, CEO of the Rugby Football Union and the Worshipful the Mayor of Eastbourne, Councillor Janet Coles.
Meyer and Springbok captain Jean de Villiers spoke on behalf of the team and thanked all the Springboks’ bases for the duration of the tournament for their efforts, as well as the throngs of fans who made the team feel welcome in England.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers stole the show. Master statesman and ambassador that he is, that had the crowd baying for more as he opened by turning his back on the audience to take a crowd selfie, encouraging them to participate in the background and gave a fabulous speech to underline his worth to the team off the field.
If you’re travelling around the UK this year, you’re likely to meet lots of overly-enthusiastic people watching the 2015 Rugby World Cup. These encounters may lead to a lot of awkward interrogation about your own interest in the sport. We are here to help you navigate this assault course of sporting banter with our in-depth bluffer’s guide to the game.
Before we start, it’s important to realise there are in fact two main types of rugby: rugby union and rugby league. Although these sound like synonyms and poorly differentiated, it turns out people who like rugby have noticed some minor differences. The Rugby World Cup is based on rugby union though, so we won’t bother explaining here why rugby league requires rollerblades and an intricate knowledge of microwave ovens.
Anyway, let’s get on with it.
Josh Strauss
WP Nel
You would think after years of repeated and soul-destroying failure in the Six Nations, those with an affection for the Scotland team would be looking at the upcoming Rugby World Cup with some trepidation.
Some do fear that a 2nd successive group stage exit is a distinct possibility but others will tell you that this tournament represents an opportunity for an emerging squad to spring some shocks on the rugby elite.
Scotland begin their campaign against Japan at Kingsholm on 23 September before facing the USA and 2-time champions South Africa ahead of the final – and potentially decisive – pool match against Samoa.
3 Former Scotland internationals were asked to assess how Scotland will fare in the World Cup.
- Chris Paterson ( CP ) is Scotland’s record cap holder and played in 4 World Cups from 1999 through to 2007.
- Peter Wright ( PW ) won 21 caps for Scotland, played at the 1995 World Cup and was selected for the 1993 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.
- John Beattie ( JB ) appeared 25 times for Scotland, was part of the 1984 Grand Slam winning squad and toured twice with the British & Irish Lions.
All players and team officials at Rugby World Cup 2015 will have to sign up to an anti-corruption and betting education programme, World Rugby has announced.
The governing body of rugby union has also contracted Sportradar, the world’s leading betting monitoring agency, to look out for any suspicious betting patterns on World Cup matches.
While there has never been a problem with match-fixing in rugby union, World Rugby expects betting on the World Cup to reach record levels.
Players have been told that they could be banned from rugby, or even jailed, if they bet on matches or intentionally perform below their best. They have also been told not to reveal confidential information, and to report anything suspicious.
Eben Etzebeth
Eben Etzebeth remains the only worry for the Springboks as they head into their opening week of this year’s Rugby World Cup.
While the Springboks have been trying to downplay the extent of the big lock’s calf injury ahead of Saturday’s opening game against Japan in Brighton, Dr Craig Roberts confirmed that he is still on track to make a comeback against the Japanese squad, but that a decision would only be taken later in the week.
Etzebeth remains the only injury worry in the 31-man squad and has had injury problems before, but while the medical team has ruled this a grade 1 injury, and therefore not too serious, the question will remain as to how fit he is at the moment.
Dr Roberts believes he should be ready, but the question remains, if he cannot take part in training on Monday and Tuesday, whether he should be risked in the opening game?
A lot of that will come down to what coach Heyneke Meyer wants, especially after he indicated that there are 1 or 2 players “who need a little bit more work” and therefore might not play this coming week.
Heyneke Meyer
Mastery of scrums, line drives and the breakdown will win the Rugby World Cup, South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer said after his 31-man squad arrived in England for the tournament on Saturday.
“These are 3 areas that will determine the outcome of the tournament and we have spent a lot of time working on them,” Meyer said.
Meyer also said winning the Rugby World Cup, which South Africa achieved in 1995 and 2007, would require playing “7 cup finals” over the next 2 months.
“All the opponents will be difficult and you have to approach each game as if it were a final. The challenge is to play 7 great games in a row.”
The Springboks, who are based on the South Coast of England in the little hamlet of Eastbourne, start their campaign next Saturday against Japan at Brighton in Pool B, with the coach suggesting it was an opportunity to give game time to players who have been working their way back to fitness after injury.
The winners of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday 31 October 2015 will receive, with glee, the Webb Ellis Cup.
That is the name the handsome cup carries – the Webb Ellis Cup.
It is a bit of a misnomer. It is named after a clergyman, the Reverend William Ellis, who died in 1872, but was credited with starting the rugby game in 1823.
The crediting happened 68 years after Ellis left Rugby School and 23 years after he died.
There is no record of his having played the game, certainly not of being its founder. His middle name was Webb, his mother’s maiden name, but his older brother was plain, Thomas Ellis.
The SA Under 18 Sevens team emulated the senior Springbok Sevens Blitzbokke when they also clinched the gold medal at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa in the early hours of Friday morning.
The South African boys won gold after their 31 / 20 defeat of Australia in the final, played in simmering heat on the South Pacific Island of Samoa. They finished the Games unbeaten after wins over Singapore (61 / 0), Namibia (46 / 0), England (19 / 14) and hosts Samoa (29 / 0).
The Springbok Sevens are the reigning Commonwealth Games champions after their gold medal success in Glasgow last year.
Sergio Parisse
Italy captain Sergio Parisse has declared himself unfit for the opening Rugby World Cup clash against France at Twickenham next week.
The 31-year-old Argentine-born No 8, capped 112 times by Italy and their star player, has not fully recovered after undergoing surgery to drain a hematoma last Monday.
He picked up the injury, a swelling of clotted blood, in a muscle in his left leg in Italy’s World Cup warm-up defeat to Wales in Cardiff last weekend.
The Italian federation initially said Parisse would not meet up with the Italy team in Rome on Saturday, but would instead link up “at a later date” in England.
Italy coach Jacques Brunel played down Parisse’s absence, but admitted the experienced Stade Francais player, considered 1 of the world’s best in his position, would be missed.
Japan Rugby
Japan coach Eddie Jones is sick of hearing about his team’s “brave” losses at the Rugby World Cup.
Japan has not won a match at the sport’s showcase event for 24 years, with their 1 and only triumph so far coming against Zimbabwe in 1991.
Japan has managed 2 creditable draws since then, 1 in 2007 and another 4 years later, but Jones wants to start chalking up some wins.
“At the welcome ceremony (for the 2015 Rugby World Cup) they showed a history of Japan at the World Cup and it was terrible,” Jones said.
“And then they asked do we want to see it again. It’s the patronization of Japanese rugby. They just say we are brave and do our best but can’t win.
Springbok Rugby World Cup squad farewell at Montecasino
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer and captain Jean de Villiers on Friday said they were emotionally overwhelmed by the wonderful farewell to the national team on Friday afternoon at Montecasino in Johannesburg.
Supporters packed the Piazza at Montecasino on a warm and sunny afternoon to bid farewell to the 31-man squad and management before they departed to England on Friday evening for the Rugby World Cup.
The Minister for Sport and Recreation South Africa, Mr Fikile A Mbalula, MP, closed the occasion by wishing the team well.
The Springboks spent an hour and a half with the public before they boarded the team bus for OR Tambo International Airport, where more fans arrived at to say good-bye. They are scheduled to land at Heathrow early on Saturday morning.
“We’ve not yet won anything, but we were treated like champions and it was really humbling to see this amazing support,” said Meyer.
4 Years on and the perennial question arises: which France side will turn up at the Rugby World Cup?
The 1 that, of all the northern hemisphere nations, reserves their best rugby for confronting traditional favourites the All Blacks at the quadrennial showpiece… OR the 1 that for all their natural talent sometimes looks a shambles?
A perfect example of this Jekyll and Hyde character was the manner they stumbled to defeat to Tonga 4 years ago before amazingly running the All Blacks close in the final.
Truth be told things are no clearer 4 years on as the reign of Philippe Saint-Andre has failed to produce any more rhythm or consistency to their performances and results than under previous coach Marc Lievremont.
Indeed under Saint-Andre they have never finished higher than 4th in the Six Nations, filling that spot on 3 occasions, and even had the humbling experiencing of finishing rock bottom in 2013.
It is 24 long years since Canadian rugby enjoyed its finest hour, battling through to the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup where they suffered a 29 / 13 defeat to mighty New Zealand.
The 2 decades since that memorable campaign have not been kind to the Canucks, who will arrive at this year’s Rugby World Cup on the back of a miserable run of results that gives little cause for optimism.
Canada lost 7 straight games in a row this year, including every game of the Pacific Nations Cup, which concluded with a defeat to old adversary the USA Eagles, who have now supplanted their neighbours as the pre-eminent force in North American rugby.
On current form, Canada will be lucky to secure a solitary victory in England, where their 1st round opponents are Six Nations giants Ireland, followed by France, Italy and minnows Romania.
Any momentum generated by back-to-back wins over the Glasgow Warriors and Georgia during the build-up was punctured by a comprehensive 47 / 18 defeat to Fiji in their final warm-up match on Sunday.