Rugby World Cup: Borthwick gets hands on in England training drill
The Rugby World Cup is now into its second round of fixtures, as the home nations look to get a foothold in their groups but hosts France became the first time to win back-to-back games after their 27-12 victory over Uruguay, nearly a week after their opening 27-13 win over New Zealand.
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Today (Friday) sees the All Blacks back in action as they take on Namibia, while Wales and Ireland are preparing for their second group games on Saturday against Portugal and South Africa respectively.
England will be without Tom Curry for their next match against Japan on Sunday, after he received a two-game suspension after being sent off in the hard-fought 27-10 win over Argentina.
Scotland are aiming to bounce back from their disappointing 18-3 defeat to South Africa in their opening match, a positive result next against Tonga will be necessary in order to advance from a difficult Pool B.
Keep up to date with all the latest news and matches at the Rugby World Cup below
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Ireland star fears Tonga threat due to Fekitoa
Ireland’s Conor Murray has picked out Malakai Fekitoa as the main threat for Tonga in their World Cup Pool B match in Nantes later today.
The 31-year-old was part of the All Blacks team that won the World Cup in 2015 and, now representing Tonga in this tournament, Murray has warned about the ability of his Munster team-mate.
“He’s a tough competitor, he really bought into our culture when he was at Munster,” the Ireland scrum-half said. “He wasn’t involved initially for the start of the season but he’s an ultimate pro, he was always doing extras and looking after himself really well. He fought his way back into the team and was a big part of our end-of-season run.
“He’s such a nice guy and actually led really well throughout the year in terms of his rugby knowledge, obviously being an All Black and where he is now and he’s been around the world. Really professional and a good leader.
“On the pitch he’s a massive threat. He’s really physical, a ridiculous athlete, and he’s quite intelligent. He can bring in players like Piutau and set those guys free. Their backline is littered with guys of the size and pace of Malakai so we have to be on our guard for those guys.”
Namibia’s Malan ‘gutted’ after horror injury
Namibia player Le Roux Malan is ‘gutted’ after suffering a serious injury that could force him to miss the rest of the World Cup, according to his brother.
The 24-year-old needed oxygen as he was carried off the field after suffering a horrific ankle injury in the first half of their defeat to the All Blacks.
A user on X claiming to be his brother, Stef Malan, has since provided an update on his welfare following the injury.
Fiji star’s dad sorry after Wales error
The father of Fiji’s Semi Radradra has apologised on his behalf after his late error denied Fiji the chance to complete a sensational turnaround against Wales in their 32-26 defeat.
Radradra had the chance to win it at the death, but knocked on out wide despite being under no pressure, allowing Wales to survive the late fightback. Surprisingly, Radradra’s father issued a plea for mercy after the 31-year-old’s error.
“I humbly ask if the people of Fiji can forgive my son,” Samisoni Waqavatu posted on social media.
“It has been hard for us as a family to accept what happened as we know we let people down. Once more I ask that you forgive us….. we are truly sorry.”
Namibia star’s nasty injury
Namibia’s Le Roux Malan suffered a nasty ankle injury in the first half of his country’s loss to New Zealand.
Malan appeared to leave the field with his ankle facing the wrong way. He was stretchered off and given oxygen.
The All Blacks posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Our thoughts are with Namibian centre Le Roux Malan. Wishing him all the best with his recovery.”
New Zealand beat Namibia 71-3
BY NEIL SQUIRES: New Zealand jumped back on the horse in emphatic fashion with an 11-try demolition of Namibia in Toulouse last night but had Ethan de Groot sent off for a high tackle.
After their opening night defeat against France, All Blacks coach Ian Foster demanded an immediate response against the Pool A minnows and he got it.
However, the loss of the replacement prop could cost them further down the line with a ban almost inevitable.
De Groot was sent to the sin-bin by English referee Luke Pearce for the challenge on Adriaan Booysen in the 71st minute and the sanction was upgraded after a bunker review.
Damian McKenzie led the way for New Zealand with 26 points including two first half tries.
Half-back partner Cam Roigard also crossed twice before the interval as the All Blacks opened up a 38-3 lead with Anton Lienert-Brown and Leicester Fainga’anuku also going over.
De Groot, Dalton Papali’i, David Havili, Caleb Clarke and Rieko Ioane added further tries after the break on a night when New Zealand second row Sam Whitelock equalled Richie McCaw’s All Black record of 148 caps.
It was defeat number 24 in 24 World Cup outings for the Welwitschias whose only points came from a penalty by Tiaan Swanepoel and who lost centre Le Roux Malan to a serious leg injury.
Borthwick takes a pop at World Cup officiating
Steve Borthwick has demanded greater consistency in officiating at the Rugby World Cup.
“Quite clearly what we all want is consistency and probably some transparency around the decision-making process,” said Borthwick.
“It has been said and noted that there has been a large amount of commentary from different sources about what appears to be a lack of consistency and transparency in the decision-making process.
“Now it’s not my role to comment on that, it’s World Rugby’s.”
Borthwick then added: “I note there was a tremendous amount of comment from World Rugby on Owen Farrell for a couple of weeks during our preparation for this tournament.
“It was a situation that went on and on with lots of comment from World Rugby. I note there hasn’t been very many comments from World Rugby – I’m told – in the last week or so. I will leave that to World Rugby.”
‘Alun Wyn-Jones and Justin Tipuric will still play a role for Wales’
Steve Baldwin believes Alun Wyn-Jones and Justin Tipuric will still play a key role in Wales’ tournament despite not making Wayne Pivac’s squad.
“They were two giants of the Wales game. But their experience won’t be lost,” Baldwin told Grosvenor Casinos
Jac Morgan has a really good relationship with Justin Tipuric. They speak a lot. Justin has an unbelievable rugby brain. I know if Jac has any questions he won’t hesitate to text Justin and have a conversation. Same with Al.He is playing in France at the minute but what experience to lean on. I am sure he will have said to Jac and Dewi ,’ If there’s anything you need then call me.’”
England ‘look forward’ to Japan test
England head coach Steve Borthwick insists his team are relishing the test of facing Japan after announcing his starting XI for Sunday’s match in Nice.
He said: “It was both pleasing and important that we were able to start our Rugby World Cup campaign with a good win against Argentina last Saturday.
“We hope that we were able to provide the supporters both here in France and at home with some great memories, and we are setting out to do the same again this Sunday in Nice.
“After another good week’s preparation in Le Touquet, we are looking forward to the challenge of playing a Japan side that will be full of confidence following their comprehensive win over Chile in their opening fixture of the competition.”
England’s lineup vs Japan
England’s line-up to face Japan this Sunday has been confirmed…
England XI: Steward; May, Marchant, Tuilagi, Daly; Ford, Mitchell; Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Chessum, Lawes (capt), Earl, Ludlam.
Replacements: Dan, Genge, Stuart, Martin, Vunipola, Youngs, Smith, Lawrence.
‘Wales can go far at the World Cup – there is no baggage’
Ex-Wales ace Scott Baldwin is backing the Dragons to have a deep run in this year’s tournament as they aren’t carrying any baggage and have a squad filled with world-class talent.
“There is no baggage. They are going to go into the tournament ready to play,” he told Grosvenor Casinos “I think they will do well. So much rests on the Fiji game.
“They have world-class players, have been together for a while and they will have so much confidence after beating England. If Wales can get some momentum with Gatland’s mindset and his nous around the game there is no telling where they can get to.
“Look at the backs they have got, Louis Rees-Zammit, Josh Adams, Rio Dyer, Liam Williams, Mason Grady, Nick Tomkins, Dan Biggar. As much as people say it is a young squad there is a lot of experience there. People underestimate Dan Biggar’s attacking game.”
Dawson wants England consistency
Former England star Matt Dawson has called for a consistent lineup from Steve Borthwick as they prepare to take on Japan on Sunday.
There will be some temptation to hand out opportunities for more fringe players to impress, but Dawson believes that another full-strength team is needed.
“It’s going to be tough – they played against Argentina with so much at stake for England off a terrible run, low in confidence”, Dawson told Sky Sports News.
“It was desperate to win for momentum, and they did it well. I just can’t see England ringing the changes. I think they’re likely to shuffle the back row potentially, to fill in the gap for Tom Curry.
“Also, consistency in selection is really important. It gives that team the flow, an energy and momentum that the whole squad can build from because there has to be an acceptance from that extended squad that only 15 players are going to go on the pitch, and 23 people are going to win the medal.”
Water breaks to stay
Amid concerns of the blistering heat in France, World Rugby have confirmed that water breaks will remain in use this weekend.
Players will take a break to hydrate on the 20 and 60-minute marks, although temperatures are expected to be cooler than the previous round’s heatwave.
Supporters are continuously being reminded to have water on them at and around stadiums, despite chaos being reported at arenas over a lack of drinks.
Uruguay captain roasts media
Uruguay captain Andres Vilaseca grilled the press after seeing a large turnout of media members in his post-match press conference, compared to their previous squad announcement.
Vilasca’s side were defiant despite losing to France on Thursday, as he was clearly hoping for more attendees to discuss the team prior to the match.
“Hello everybody, the first comment that comes to my mind is the number of journalists I see here,” he said. “Compared to the press conference for our team announcement where we only saw two people, so I just wanted to highlight how few journalists were there.
“Secondly I’m very proud of this team, maybe for some this was a surprise. They might have imagined that this was a historic game, for us within the group, we know we are well-prepared.
“We’ve been prepared for a long time, we came here today to win, to beat France with everything this involves, we need to be quite aware what’s just happened.”
Robinson sets England target
Former England winger Jason Robinson has set Steve Borthwick’s side the target of reaching the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup.
Though he admits that the team have “lost their way” he hopes that can be rediscovered in hopes of a strong tournament.
Speaking on the In The Zone podcast, Robinson said: “England should reach the semi-final when you look at how they can qualify. Looking at some of the groups, I’m so glad we’re not in with Ireland and South Africa. England don’t have to hit 100% form right away, if they can just claw back some, there’s no reason why England can’t get to a semi-final.
“At the moment, there’s some soul-searching to be done. England have just lost their way, how they play and lost their identity. What are we? When England play, we always have a strong pack, one to take on anybody in the world in scrums, line-outs, set-pieces and breakdowns. That becomes your platform to play off and at the moment, because we’ve lost form, teams are coming to Twickenham and thinking ‘we can do this’. In sport, you can build momentum and lose it really quickly.
“England have the ingredients in the team to make the cake. At the moment, they’re just not putting the right ingredients in at the right time. I’m hoping it was like the case in 2007 when everybody had written us off. I know how hard it is when you leave the field and you’ve been beaten, there’s no worse feeling, it’s not something you can park on a Saturday, this is in my head all week, in everything I do. You go shopping and somebody comes up to you and says ‘you guys were garbage at the weekend’, it just doesn’t leave you. That’s the drive to put it right.
“This is a very difficult time for England. I’ve watched the team over numerous years and I think that in this moment in time, we’ve not gone through a period where we’ve played as badly. We’re not getting the results and confidence doesn’t seem to be there. I suppose, looking at how we’re playing, we don’t seem to have found our game and what we are as a team. In 2003, we knew what we were. We knew our strengths and we played to them. England, at the moment, don’t know where those answers are coming from.”
England team announcement
England boss Steve Borthwick will be naming his team to face Japan at 5.00pm today, ahead of their clash on Sunday.
He is forced into at least one change from the team that started in the win over Argentina, as flank Tom Curry has been suspended for two games.
There will be a temptation to rotate the team, though defence coach Kevin Sinfield has played down the suggestion that caps will be given out for the sake of it.
While Northampton’s Lewis Ludlam is likely to come in for the suspended Curry, having impressed off the bench in England’s opening win. While prop Kyle Sinckler could return to the squad after a pectoral injury.
Fresh referee incident
Fans and pundits were enraged at the latest controversial refereeing decision as France lock Romain Taofifenua escaped a red card for a brutal tackle in their win over Uruguay.
He was shown a yellow card and after a lengthy review, the decision remained despite calls for it to be upgraded to red.
England’s Tom Curry had been sent off for a similar head-on-head collision against Argentina in the opening round, prompting fury among rugby fans.
Former Ireland star and Virgin Media Sport pundit Ian McKinley said he was “gobsmacked” at the call, while New Zealand icon Sean Fitzpatrick felt that the Frenchman was “lucky” not to be shown red.
Erasmus tipped for Ireland switch
Rassie Erasmus’ proposed move to Ireland has been described as “95 per cent sure” after initial reports had suggested that the South Africa director of rugby could leave his role.
Erasmus had reportedly been shortlisted to replace David Nucifora as the Ireland Rugby Football Union’s performance director as South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber is set to step down from his position after the World Cup.
Former South Africa captain Victor Matfield has now strongly tipped Erasmus to make the move to Ireland. he told The Rugby Pod: “It sounds like Rassie is going.
“He might stay for a few months just to get a few things in place. But knowing Rassie and knowing Jacques, those two do everything together, so I think the chance of him going to Ireland must be 90-95%.”
Wales can reach final
Wales boss Warren Gatland has insisted that his side can reach the World Cup final this year.
They are four-time semi-finalists, including twice under Gatland in 2011 and 2019, but have fallen short of reaching the final on each occasion – but the boss believes that they can go one further in France.
“We have always been confident in the past about World Cups and the opportunity to get the team together for an extended period,” Gatland said.
“We think that we have done well in previous World Cups and would like to get to a final of a World Cup.
“I stated beforehand don’t write us off and that this team is capable of doing something special, and I still believe that.
“Part of the key themes and key message before this World Cup was to make sure we are a hard team to beat, and if we are a hard team to beat then things can happen for you.”
England won’t fear Wales or Australia
Former England international James Simpson-Daniel has insisted that Steve Borthwick’s side will not fear the prospect of facing Wales or Australia in the quarter-finals.
After an impressive opening win against Argentina with just 14 men, Simpson-Daniel is excited about this England side and their World Cup prospects.
“We were a totally different side to the one that we saw in the build-up to the World Cup,” he told OLBG. “For whatever reason! It was almost like England had their ruthlessness back. Their discipline was better – the incident with Tom Curry notwithstanding – at no point in the game did it look like we were going to lose.
“We have talked about England feeding off the Saracens frenzy. They way they celebrate small things which give them energy. That was there against Argentina. It looked as though they’d really honed in on what they were up to and what they needed to do. Did it take the red card for that to happen? I hope not. I would have thought that would be there anyway.
“I am not getting carried away. I am not saying this side is going to win the World Cup. But you can’t get away from the fact that we are on the ’right side of the draw’. It is always great when something goes to plan. Their minds seemed really on the way, they all seemed to do their jobs well individually and collectively and if we take one game at a time, come the knockout stages I don’t think we would be fearing Wales or Australia in the quarter-finals if that’s how it pans out.
“It was a statement performance and at no time did the Pumas look to be able to dominate in any area play. And that was with a one-man advantage for 78 minutes. They will be bitterly disappointed. The bookies had them to win. We had complete control and dominance.”
World Rugby admits errors
Wales boss Warren Gatland has revealed that World Rugby has admitted that their referees have made mistakes at the World Cup.
The officiating has been a major talking point during the opening week, with England’s Tom Curry sent off and then South Africa’s Jesse Kriel escaped any punishment for a serious offence.
Many felt that Wales should have been punished more than one yellow card during their victory over Fiji, which Gatland has claimed that the governing body has conceded that mistakes were made.
“There’s a lot been said about us in terms of how unlucky Fiji were, but we’ve seen a number of clips ourselves to say that things were missed in the game too,” Gatland said.
“We sent a lot of clips in ourselves. We got clarity on that. The referees came back to us on those and were in agreement with a lot of things we’d sent in.”
France ‘frustrated’ despite win
France boss Fabien Galthie admitted that his team were “frustrated” in the dressing room after their 27-12 win over Uruguay on Thursday.
It was a hard-fought win, which was made sure of thanks to a 73rd-minute try from youngster Louis Bielle-Biarrey, but a nervy evening coupled with not picking up a bonus point has not left everyone in the camp happy.
“The players were frustrated in the changing room. We will try and understand the points to improve,” Galthie said.
“We had a France team that was nervous, who were trying too hard. We were made uncomfortable by Uruguay but we still won and we’re still satisfied.
England get Curry verdict
Legendary rugby referee Nigel Owens has addressed why England’s Tom Curry was sent off while South Africa star Jesse Kriel wasn’t sent off against Scotland for similar offences.
Curry is serving a two-match ban but Kriel’s participation in the tournament has not been hampered in the same way.
“It all comes down to something as simple as this,” Owens said. “If you [the referee] felt that Tom Curry was reckless and he could have done something to avoid what happened, then we don’t have any mitigation, and we have a red card.
“When the game is going ahead, the TMO will be looking at everything in the background. Just remember they have the Hawke-Eye system which has all the different angles, all the different views to look at instances in the game.
“The TMO is looking at this and will then decide if he needs to bring something to the referee to then put it up on the screen and officially look at it, or he feels ‘I can’t see anything wrong here’, so we won’t be showing the referee because there’s nothing to show and then we carry on with the game.”
Farrell rejects ‘naughty’ claim
Ireland boss Andy Farrell has rejected the idea that winger Mack Hansen had been left out of his side to face Romania because he was a “naughty boy”.
The head coach was bemused at the question at his press conference suggesting that Hansen was out because of a disciplinary issue.
“Where the hell did that come from?” He said. “You can ask him the question yourself, whether he was a naughty boy, because he wasn’t.”
Scotland hotel accident
Scotland Rugby have confirmed that hooker Dave Cherry has been forced to withdraw from the squad after an accident at their team hotel.
Cherry had been said to have hit his head after falling down the stairs earlier in the week, putting an end to his participation in France.
A team statement read: “Cherry suffered a concussion after an accident in the team hotel earlier this week and is now following the current return-to-play protocols.
“This means he is unavailable for at least the next 12 days. The decision was therefore taken to end his tournament involvement on medical grounds after he injured his head on Monday, slipping on hotel stairs, on a team day off.”
Cherry added: “I’m hugely disappointed to be leaving the squad with concussion. I’ve loved my time in camp over the summer and gaining my first World Cup cap on Sunday against South Africa. I want to wish the team all the best for the remainder of the competition.”
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