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“I don’t care about the score, I just want to play well and win”, he said, adding that prop Samson Lee and full-back Liam Williams would both get run-outs after slowly coming back from injury.

Form: Victories over Japan, the United States and Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup this summer will have given Tonga confidence ahead of the World Cup but defeats to Fiji, as well as Scotland in November past year, suggest they are still outsiders to reach the knock-out stages.

“I know that there have been a lot of injuries, but the players have really recovered well”, Meyer told reporters. Mandela’s support of the Springboks – as the national rugby team is called – in the 1995 World Cup which was both hosted and ultimately...

“It can not be that, 21 years down the line, transformation is at a snail’s pace in all sectors”, he said.

“There never is one moment in selection”, emphasised Lancaster, again highlighting Burgess’s potential threat as a decoy runner.

Burgess’s selection is likely to prove highly controversial, especially as Burrell was ever-present in the last two Six Nations.

Morris said that they had not put a deadline on Japan Super Rugby team to sign their players as it is hard situation particularly given the “99 per cent ” of the target players are all at the World Cup next month.

England’s preparations for the home World Cup suffered a setback after they slumped to a 25-20 defeat by France that at least featured a stirring late fightback.

All Blacks hooker and Test centurion Keven Mealamu has announced he is hanging up his boots at the end of the 2015 season – but the good news for rugby fans and New Zealand Rugby is that he won’t be lost to the national game.

World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper says the organisation is focussed on ensuring players are offered the best care and are fully protected from the dangers of not treating head injuries in the correct way following a series of high profile incidents in recent months.

He could well be the biggest selection gamble in the Wallabies squad, but Kane Douglas couldn’t care less and is ready to repay the enormous faith shown in him by coach Michael Cheika.

The games begin with England v Fiji on Friday, September 18, and continue until Sunday, October 11, when the various winners and runners-up so far then start battling each other as we move towards the October 31 cup final.

If they do advance into the knockout stages, Johnson predicts they will benefit from having been battle hardened against high-calibre opposition.