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

England bemoaned their lack of discipline on yesterday, which allowed Wales flyhalf and man-of-the-match Dan Biggar to kick seven penalties and keep his team in contention throughout a Rugby World Cup thriller.

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.

“We see it as a great opportunity to come up against a very good and extremely stiff opposition, a team that is immeasurably passionate about playing for their country”.

Two try hero Mike Brown may be certain of his place in England’s next World Cup match, but England coach Stuart Lancaster could make changes for the clash with Wales.

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

Utilising the full depth of a 31-man squad has been a recurring mantra from head coaches at this Rugby World Cup and Joe Schmidt was no exception when he made wholesale changes for Ireland’s Pool D clash with Romania. Jonny Sexton is not part of this week’s squad.

Surprised to learn Ireland had set a new record for the World Cup’s oldest starting XV, Schmidt joked that 34-year-old scrum-half Eoin Reddan may have skewed the stats.

This interview appears in the current edition of Sport magazine. When we spoke to him, however, his enforced spell on the sidelines felt a natural place to start…

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.

Luke Fitzgerald has replaced him at inside-centre, the rest of the side was extremely predictable, as the strongest possible team for Ireland.

“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”.