CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa selected 19-year-old utility back Canan Moodie in its squad on Monday for two Rugby Championship tests in Australia, while hooker Bongi Mbonambi was ruled out of the tour with injury.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ian Foster's future as All Blacks head coach will be decided later this week although his position seems a little more secure after his team’s win over South Africa at Johannesburg on Saturday.
SAN JUAN, Argentina (AP) — Argentina scored two tries in the first six minutes and went to beat Australia 48-17 on Saturday, posting its largest-ever win over the Wallabies and moving atop the Rugby Championship after two rounds.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — New Zealand lost a 15-point lead and then produced two tries in the last six minutes to come from behind and beat South Africa 35-23 in the Rugby Championship on Saturday to possibly save coach Ian Foster's job.
SAN JUAN, Argentina (AP) — Australia will feature a new flyhalf and Argentina three new players in its backline when the teams meet Saturday in their second Rugby Championship match in two weeks.
James O’Connor will take over at flyhalf from the injured Quade Cooper and center Lalakai Foketi will make his second test appearance as the Wallabies attempt to make it two wins in a row over the Pumas in their match at San Juan.
Former New Zealand No. 8 Kieran Read paused for a moment this week when looking for a word to best describe the South African rugby supporters at Ellis Park.
He settled on “maniacs.”
Current Kiwi flyhalf Richie Mo'unga said the effect of the high altitude at the hulking Johannesburg stadium makes you taste “the blood in your lungs.”
LONDON (AP) — English rugby club Exeter will stop playing its “Tomahawk Chop” chant during games as part of a rebrand to move away from a Native American theme that had come under increasing criticism.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Richie Mo'unga will start at No. 10 and Beauden Barrett was dropped to the bench as Ian Foster made four changes to New Zealand's starting team on Thursday with his job on the line in the second Rugby Championship test against South Africa.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Paul Green, who represented Australia during a decade-long playing career and then guided North Queensland Cowboys to its first National Rugby League premiership title during a successful run as a coach, has died.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Duane Vermeulen is back at No. 8 for his first test this year as South Africa made five changes to its starting lineup on Tuesday for its second Rugby Championship game against New Zealand.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa wing Kurt-Lee Arendse was suspended for four weeks on Monday for his highly dangerous mid-air tackle on New Zealand flyhalf Beauden Barrett in the Rugby Championship opener.
MENDOZA, Argentina (AP) — Australia without inspirational captain Michael Hooper overcame and overwhelmed fired-up host Argentina 41-26 in their Rugby Championship opener on Saturday.
The comeback win was soured with a likely ruptured Achilles injury for flyhalf Quade Cooper which may cruel the playmaker's prospects of taking part in next year's World Cup.
MBOMBELA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa ground down an out-of-form New Zealand to win 26-10 in the Rugby Championship opener on Saturday and pile the pressure on the All Blacks with their fifth loss in six games.
MENDOZA, Argentina (AP) — Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has withdrawn from the Rugby Championship test against Argentina on Saturday and will return to Australia for personal reasons.
Rugby Australia said in a statement early Saturday in Australia that the 121-test openside flanker “believes he’s not in the mindset to fulfill the responsibility that goes with leading and representing his country at this point in time."
There seems to be precious little for the All Blacks to cling on to as the world's most successful rugby team tries to climb out of its worst slump in 24 years.
A first home series win in 15 years.
A first home series win over Scotland in 28 years.
Following those three tests alongside the Andes almost three weeks ago, the Pumas have regathered in buoyant mood for the Rugby Championship with an even bigger goal in mind.
MBOMBELA, South Africa (AP) — Under-fire All Blacks coach Ian Foster kept faith with Beauden Barrett at flyhalf but brought wing Caleb Clarke and two new front-row forwards into his starting team for the first of two Rugby Championship tests in South Africa.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Southern Hemisphere rugby will be put on show and possibly on trial in the Rugby Championship which begins Saturday with a match between the World Cup-winning Springboks and defending champions New Zealand.
SYDNEY (AP) — Australia center Samu Kerevi is out for the rest of 2022 after damaging his knee at the Commonwealth Games.
Kerevi was given permission to play sevens rugby at the games in Birmingham to bolster Australia's medal hopes, but he was hurt on Saturday in a pool win against Kenya.
NELSPRUIT, South Africa (AP) — Malcolm Marx will start as South Africa's hooker in place of Bongi Mbonambi and Faf de Klerk has been recalled at scrumhalf for the first of two Rugby Championship home tests against New Zealand.
DUBLIN (AP) — With his stock high after masterminding a series win in New Zealand, Andy Farrell signed a contract extension as Ireland rugby coach on Friday that ties him to the position until 2025.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Red cards will result in 20-minute player suspensions in the Rugby Championship this season after organizers of the Southern Hemisphere tournament decided to continue a trial of laws around sanctions for serious foul play.
SYDNEY (AP) — Seven Manly Sea Eagles players have withdrawn from a National Rugby League match in Australia because they’re unwilling to wear their club's inclusion jersey.
The jersey has rainbow stripes and a rainbow collar — in place of the regular white sections — to support LGBTQ inclusion in sports, and the club plans to use it for one game against Sydney Roosters.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The All Blacks have replaced two assistant coaches in response to their recent home series loss to Ireland and ahead of a trip to South Africa at the start of the Rugby Championship.
KAWANA WATERS, Australia (AP) — Tonga has advanced to next year's Rugby World Cup in France after a 44-22 win over Hong Kong in the final of an Asia Pacific qualifying tournament on Saturday.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ian Foster has been retained as head coach but says changes, likely among only his assistants, will be made in response to the All Blacks' recent losing streak which culminated in a home series loss to Ireland.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The 19th team in the 20-team Rugby World Cup in France next year is set to be determined Saturday on what is expected to be a mud-splattered pitch in a 10,000-seat stadium north of Brisbane.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Lock Guido Petti, the only Pumas forward to start all three tests in the Scotland series, missed out on the Argentina squad to face Australia in the Rugby Championship.
SYDNEY (AP) — Fullback Jock Campbell has earned his first call-up and lock Rory Arnold has returned to Australia's 36-man squad for a two-test tour of Argentina.
Australia will play the Pumas in Rugby Championship tests on Aug.
SYDNEY (AP) — Rugby Australia has denounced the behavior of a fan who verbally abused visiting coach Eddie Jones and imposed a life ban on a man who climbed onto the roof of a grandstand during England’s series-deciding win over Australia in Sydney on the weekend.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — All Blacks head coach Ian Foster seems safe in his position for the moment though New Zealand Rugby on Sunday described the All Blacks' series defeat by Ireland as “not acceptable.”
SYDNEY (AP) — England held on through a 12-phase Wallabies attack with four minutes remaining to beat Australia 21-17 and clinch the three-match rugby series in the decider at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Ireland built an emphatic first-half lead, then held off New Zealand’s second-half rally to win the deciding third test match 32-22 on Saturday, recording its first-ever series win against the All Blacks and rocking New Zealand rugby a year out from a World Cup.
Argentina had momentum then Scotland earned it.
Neither has it anymore going into the last and decisive rugby match of their first three-test series, not after both tore up their own lineups.
SYDNEY (AP) — Harry Wilson has earned a spot in Australia’s starting lineup for the deciding third rugby test against England after a brutal series that has challenged the depth of both squads.
The Reds backrower was one of four changes to Australia’s starting XV for Saturday’s match, with Reece Hodge returning at fullback, lock Nick Frost picked to make his starting debut and veteran James Slipper returning at loosehead prop.
French senators said the chaos outside the national stadium that marred the Champions League soccer final was due to a series of mistakes by police and officials — and not the actions of previously blamed Liverpool fans — with “malfunction at every stage” before, during and after the game.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The release of World Rugby rankings this week was accompanied by little fanfare, though at a glance it seemed to represent one of the most significant power shifts in the global game for several years.
SYDNEY (AP) — England captain Courtney Lawes is quite OK about having teammates unavailable for the series-deciding rugby test against Australia after head injury assessment protocols because, he says, it’s evidence of the game’s progression.
SYDNEY (AP) — Lock Maro Itoje and flanker Sam Underhill have been withdrawn from England’s squad for the series-deciding rugby test against Australia after sustaining concussions in last Saturday’s 25-17 win in Brisbane.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A nagging fear that has settled in the back of the minds of New Zealand rugby fans in recent years blossomed Saturday into a stark and unavoidable realization: The All Blacks no longer are the best team in the world and may not be again, for a while at least.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Eddie Jones is seeing red. And yellow. They’re referee’s penalty cards, and the outspoken England coach says he’s seeing far too many of them in rugby.
Jones took a few minutes after England’s series-equaling 25-17 win over the Wallabies on Saturday to criticize the game's laws, adding it’s “out of control.”