Tag

Australia warmed up for their eagerly-anticipated crunch match against England with a 65-3 demolition of Uruguay at Villa Park.

The Wallabies will feel the heat of the biggest match of the World Cup so far after arriving in London to start their preparation for the “pool of death” contest.

World Cup disciplinary chiefs have banned Fiji star Nemani Nadolo for one week for a risky tackle, ruling him out of the Pacific Islanders key match with Wales.

In a major blow to England’s chances of overturning their perilous position in Pool A of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, injury has ruled Billy Vunipola out for the remainder of the competition.

Fellow All Black Doug Howlett, by using 13 five-pointers, will be the only other game player above Mitchell upon the all-time World Cup tryscoring leaderboard. Farrell sprang out of the line and gave Wales a sniff and then Barritt couldn’t resist and got left for dead.

With half an hour remaining England looked on course to put themselves on the cusp of escaping the “pool of death” as they led Wales 22-12 thanks to a try from Gloucester Rugby’s Jonny May with Saracen Owen Farrell kicking the rest of the points.

Sky Sports’ Will Greenwood says the balance of the England team is off, but consistency in selection is key against Australia… His two-try performance made him Australia’s leading World Cup try scorer and equal second overall. Scott Williams, Liam Williams and...

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.

Speaking on Sunday at the Wales team base, assistant coach and defence specialist Shaun Edwards confirmed there is potential for fresh injury setbacks.

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.