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England No.8 Billy Vunipola is ruled out of the remainder of the Rugby World Cup with a knee injury, with Nick Easter taking his place in the Red Rose squad.

England now likely has to beat Australia next Saturday, back at Twickenham, to avoid elimination from the toughest ever pool at a World Cup.

It was just a bounce of the ball at my feet when I was running at 100 miles per hour, desperate to make something positive of it. “It is clearly obvious there was some contact with the head”, Edwards told a news conference.

There had been fears the 28-year-old could be cited after his shin connected with Welsh fullback Liam Williams’ head 14 minutes from time as the back-row forward attempted to hack a loose ball towards Wales’ line.

Wales’ injury-ravaged World Cup campaign looks set to take another major double hit.

FORMER Newport Gwent Dragons star Dan Lydiate hailed Wales’ stirring 28-25 World Cup victory over host nation England as a win that “will stick long in the memory”.

Lancaster reshuffled his side in an attempt to nullify Wales, including the introduction of Owen Farrell for George Ford, but they ultimately came up short against their Pool A rivals who snatched a 28-25 victory.

For Fiji coach John McKee, whose side have never beaten England, it was a case of what might have been.

Only when Lancaster virtually emptied his bench around the hour mark was there a notable change, with Billy and Mako Vunipola making immediate and direct progress, the team finally building multiple phases that finally had the islanders running out of steam and leaving holes.

It was the thighs that had it for Warren Gatland when he first saw George North in action.

Wales are refusing to be downhearted by the injury problems that are threatening to undermine their Rugby World Cup campaign, flanker Dan Lydiate said on Monday.

Fiji may be winless from two matches at this year’s Rugby World Cup, but Bath scrum-half Nikola Matawalu is confident his side are not far off as they get their heads down in preparation for next week’s showdown with Wales. First, I wanted to play good rugby...

With defensive captain Brad Barritt also failing to impress in only his second appearance back from a long-term injury, Joseph’s potential absence could leave the door open for the likes of Sam Burgess, Owen Farrell or even Henry Slade to stake a claim for a starting berth.

It was enough to impress England’s World Cup champion Jonny Wilkinson – who was commentating on the match for English television.

“But we’re under no illusions about what a tough, tough test this is going to be and we wouldn’t want it any other way”.