France

Kieran Crowley has chopped and changed his lineup to face France on Thursday, with seven switches in total from the team that ran Italy desperately close at Elland Road. Canada will need to manage their resources with another game on the horizon against Romania on Tuesday. Aaron Carpenter and Brett …

France have retained only two of the starting side that faced Romania, reverting to their first strength team for the match against Canada at Milton Keynes on Thursday. Only Wesley Fofana and Brice Dulin continue, as Philippe Saint-André opts not to take any chances against a team that gave Italy …

Hard to believe we’re already into week 3! The games are getting tougher, attrition is starting to become more of a factor, and a couple wild upsets have us all second guessing our picks. We’re splitting up the week once again, with our midweek choices up now and the weekend …

As a fan of the global game I take greater pleasure out of watching the pool phase of Rugby World Cups than many people certainly do but now this appears to have changed, and for the better. So good have the group matches been that we have been treated to more …

The Up and Under is a weekly feature on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week. UP Argentina Possibly the best half of rugby of any team in the tournament thus far was that produced in the second …

The scoreline ended heavily in favour of France, but their performance left much to be desired, with scenes of a demonstratively furious Philippe Saint-André in the change room at half time underlining the frustration of the head coach. Romania exerted their dominance early at the scrum and piled into the …

Predictions take 2… a? As the ’rounds’ start to mesh in with each other, we’re going to have to break up our week into two parts, so here are the mid-week matches from Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Before we get into it, a quick review of what happened last round. …

Romania will make their World Cup entrance on Wednesday against France at the Olympic Stadium. Head coach Lynn Howells has selected his strongest possible side for the Pool D match-up, making only one change to the run-on side that faced Tonga in the final warm-up match in Bucharest earlier this …

French Head Coach Phillipe Saint-André has made thirteen changes to his team that faced Italy on Saturday. Only no8 Louis Picamoles and left winger Noa Nakaitaci remain from the side which sees veteran hooker Dimitri Szarzewski named as captain. Szarzewski will join the Belgium born Vincent Debaty and New Zealand …

The Up and Under is a weekly feature on Americas Rugby News which reviews the best and worst from games involving the Americas teams over the previous week. UP Japan A spectacular, brilliant, unforgettable win against all odds by the world’s leading Asian nation over the best from Africa was …