South Africa

South Africa reminded everyone why they have to be taken seriously at the World Cup as the ground out a physical 34-16 win over a solid Scotland side. The Springboks dominated possession and territory throughout most of the match and survived an early second half comeback from the Scots before pulling …

Into the big weekend with some games doubling as extra knock-outs. Can Japan pick themselves up again after the tough match against Scotland? Does Samoa have another gear? Will England dig themselves out of the abyss with the Wallabies ready to trample on their dreams? Paul is our token ‘South American’ with …

Duncan Weir will start in the no10 shirt for Scotland against the Springboks on Saturday. Finn Russell misses out, still recovering from an ankle injury suffered against the USA on Sunday, one of a handful of first choice players left out of the run-on side. Gordon Reid and Fraser Brown …

Fourie du Preez will lead the Springboks for the first time in a test match, taking over the captaincy from Jean de Villiers after the centre was forced to drop out of the tournament with a broken jaw. Heyneke Meyer has made only three changes from the side that beat …

Two weeks in and the casualties are mounting in the World Cup. More than half of the teams (11 in total) have been forced to replace at least one player, three more if you count players who were originally named in the 31-man squad but were forced to withdraw before …

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 …

South African captain Jean de Villiers will play no further part in the Rugby World Cup it was confirmed this morning. The midfielder suffered a fractured jaw in captaining his team to a 46-6 victory over Samoa in Birmingham yesterday. He has been replaced by Jan Serfontein who will join the …

A second straight upset defeat wasn’t in the cards for South Africa as they post a convincing 46-6 victory over Samoa. In a position where they could not afford another loss, South Africa got a hat trick from JP Pietersen and 14 points from the boot of Handre Pollard. “Last week still hurts,” said Springbok …

Predictions take 2… b! The second part of this week’s predictions, this time covering the half-dozen games ahead on Saturday on Sunday. There are a couple doozies up ahead, so read below to hear from the pros! The midweek action went pretty much entirely as predicted, though once again Bryan’s dissension …