Graham Rowntree insists England will respect the threat posed by the Argentina scrum in their World Cup opener on Saturday.
Coach John Kirwan is looking beyond Japan's tough opening matches and ahead to Tonga and Canada to define the Asian champions' World Cup in New Zealand.
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan claims he has named his strongest possible XV for the World Cup opener against England.
The All Blacks have jettisoned their controversial player rotation policy and say they will stick with the hardcore of their first XV through the World Cup starting on Friday.
Lock Bakkies Botha could miss the Springboks' opening match of the World Cup against Wales on Sunday because of an Achilles injury, South Africa's communications manager Andy Colquhoun confirmed on Tuesday.
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has made just one change to his World Cup starting line-up against England from the team which took the field in the 28-13 defeat by Wales last month in a build-up match in Cardiff.
The highly-rated Western Province defence was uncharacteristically leaky against Griquas last Saturday, but that will not be the case this weekend when the Leopards make their Currie Cup appearance at Newlands.
Hooker William Servat and scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili were named in France's XV for their opening World Cup clash with Japan in North Harbour on Saturday despite Servat not having played since June 4.
James O'Connor paid the price on Tuesday for missing an official team function when he failed to regain his starting place for the Wallabies' World Cup opener against Italy this weekend.
The All Blacks suffered a fresh injury scare Tuesday with loosehead prop Tony Woodcock becoming the third member of the squad to be sidelined before the World Cup begins.
On a beautiful Labor Day weekend in Hanover, Dartmouth kicked off their fall season with a pair of tough tests against top Canadian sides Queen’s University and McGill University as part of the Dartmouth Rugby Classic presented by Rockwood and Royall Rugby.
New Zealand has welcomed Canada to the 2011 RUgby World Cup with a heart-warming ceremony at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands.
France coach Marc Lievremont has named a powerful line-up for Les Bleus' World Cup Pool A opener against Japan in Auckland on Saturday.
England manager Martin Johnson is confident his injured captain Lewis Moody still has a significant role to play in the Rugby World Cup.
Agustin Pichot's head tells him that England should beat Argentina by 30 points in Saturday's opening Rugby World Cup showdown in Dunedin.
