4:28 AM BST Lock Brodie Retallick has returned for the All Blacks in arguably their strongest side for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Ireland in Tokyo. The three-times world champions gave squad players and those returning from injury some game time and trialled combinations against Canada and Namibia but were unable to field their top

9:33 AM BST TOKYO — The frustration and hope in United States coach Gary Gold’s voice was evident in equal parts throughout the 2019 Rugby World Cup. His Eagles, who on Sunday signed off in Japan with a 31-19 loss to Tonga, resulting in a second straight 0-4 record at rugby’s global showpiece, had performed

8:37 AM BST Scottish Rugby have questioned whether misconduct charges levelled at them for their comments about the potential cancellation of their World Cup clash against Japan last weekend were “appropriate”. Tournament organisers on Tuesday said Scottish Rugby would be referred to a disputes committee after chief executive Mark Dodson threatened legal action to enforce

12:59 PM BST France centre Sofiane Guitoune has said the most important aspect of their preparation for Sunday’s World Cup quarterfinal against Wales has been learning how to stop themselves “acting like idiots” when they are in positions of dominance. In their pool matches against Argentina and Tonga, the French started well but ended up

10:09 AM BST World Rugby chief Brett Gosper said there would be no change to the hard line on high tackles at the Rugby World Cup and that the number of red cards would decrease once players changed their behaviour. There were seven red cards shown in the pool phase of this year’s tournament compared

8:28 AM BST Tonga hooker Paula Ngauamo has been banned for seven weeks for kicking an opponent in the head during his team’s 31-19 win over the United States in their final Pool C match at the Rugby World Cup. Ngauamo, 29, admitted he had committed foul play to World Rugby’s independent Judicial Committee. The

3:22 PM BST Bundee Aki’s Rugby World Cup is over after the Ireland centre received a three-game ban following his red card in his nation’s 47-5 win over Samoa on Saturday. Aki was sent off in the 29th minute for a high tackle on fly-half Ulupano Seuteni in Ireland’s final Pool A fixture, and head

5:50 AM BST ODAWARA, Japan — The Wallabies’ 0-6 record against England since the last World Cup is of no relevance ahead of this weekend’s quarterfinal in Japan, according to Australia coach Michael Cheika. While the Wallabies had been reluctant to engage on discussion around their potential showdown with England until Wales negotiated their final

3:55 PM BST YOKOHAMA — Japan captain Michael Leitch and coach Jamie Joseph said their win over Scotland was motivated by inspiring a country that was hit by Typhoon Hagibis on Saturday. The typhoon claimed 19 lives, with 16 people missing as of Sunday evening and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed. 1 Related The

2:43 PM BST Tom Hamilton Close Senior Writer • Joined ESPN in 2011• Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours• Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018 Laurence Edmondson Close F1 Editor • Joined ESPN in 2009• An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011 YOKOHAMA, Japan — The Rugby