11:20 AM BST New Zealand coach Steve Hansen was made honorary chief of police of the Japanese city of Beppu for the day on Thursday as a sign of respect for both him and his team. Hansen, who was decorated with a scarf and cap by Beppu’s regular police chief Yufumi Sato, said: “Very humbling

11:29 AM BST TOKYO — Wallabies winger Reece Hodge has been suspended for three weeks for a dangerous tackle on Fiji’s Peceli Yato in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup clash in Sapporo. The ban means Hodge will miss Australia’s remaining pool games against Wales, Uruguay and Georgia but leave him free to return for the quarterfinals.

1:50 AM BST KAMAISHI, Japan — Uruguay’s historic 30-27 win against Fiji in their opening Rugby World Cup match didn’t happen by chance; it was the result of a process Los Teros started off four years ago, after the 2015 RWC, when they suffered an overwhelming 47-15 defeat against the same team. Once their RWC

1:39 PM BST USA’s huge underdog status will put pressure on England when the two sides face each other in the Rugby World Cup on Thursday, U.S. coach Gary Gold has said. Gold, who took the helm at USA rugby in 2018, is under no illusions about the size of the task facing his team

12:00 PM BST Alex Diegel When USA Rugby departed the 2015 Rugby World Cup after a winless pool stage, they did so with a very clear message: Amateurism just isn’t going to cut it. 2 Related “One of the things that we know is that to be in the top eight [teams in the world],

3:57 AM BST TOKYO — Fiji coach John McKee has returned serve at Wallabies counterpart Michael Cheika, staunchly defending his team’s referral of Reece Hodge for a Rugby World Cup citing. McKee also questioned Cheika’s version of the spirit of rugby a day after the Australia coach slammed him for going “behind his back” which

Sydney FC have retained the majority of their star players for their defence of the 2019-20 W-League football competition. Newcastle Jets coach Ernie Merrick is on the hunt for a replacement to cover the absence until January of injured Irish import Wes Hoolahan. Newcastle have suffered a massive injury setback weeks out from the start

7:35 AM BST Scotland suffered a second injury setback in as many days after scrum-half Ali Price was ruled out of the rest of the Rugby World Cup Tuesday, with Edinburgh’s Henry Pyrgos called up as a replacement. Price sustained a foot injury in Scotland’s 27-3 defeat by Ireland in their opening Pool A match

11:12 AM BST The ninth Rugby World Cup got off to a wonderful start across the weekend with Tokyo, Yokohama, Sapporo and Hanazono all hosting matches. 1 Related Tournament hosts Japan got their campaign off to the perfect start with a bonus-point win in the opening match, before England bookended the weekend with an unconvincing

8:24 AM ET Wales produced a tale of two halves as an electric start secured a deserved 43-14 bonus-point victory over Georgia in their Rugby World Cup Pool D clash on Monday, before they wilted in the energy-sapping humidity at the City of Toyota Stadium. The Welsh were rampant as tries from Jonathan Davies, Justin