The News Review:
- Springboks rule the rugby world
- Rugby: Deans set to be without Latham – report
- Rugby: Wallabies ready to embrace Deans’ style
- Ashton set to stay as England rugby coach: report
Springboks rule the rugby world
Namibian – Dec 18, 2007
The ruthlessly efficient Springboks were worthy winners of a World Cup where the success of Argentina and Fiji the exuberance of Tonga Namibia and debutants Portugal and a memorable quarter-final weekend over-ruled concerns about negative play to mark it as the best of the six played to date. That was good news as the World Cup casts a huge shadow over the rest of the game where almost all other test matches are now seen merely as preparation. This is particularly true in New Zealand where the side’s domination of the sport between tournaments has become almost an irrelevance alongside their consistent failure on the biggest stage. Coach Graham Henry spent four years building towards ctober 20 in Paris but despite an unprecedented no-stone-unturned approach watched his team go out in the quarter-finals for the first time. Henry’s policy was to build a virtually interchangeable 30-man squad where every player would be vastly experienced and all eventualities would be covered with key players rested from provincial games and even tests in a bid to ensure freshness in France.
Rugby: Deans set to be without Latham – report
New Zealand Herald – Dec 18, 2007
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Rugby: Wallabies ready to embrace Deans’ style
New Zealand Herald – Dec 18, 2007
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Ashton set to stay as England rugby coach: report
Turkish Press – Dec 18, 2007
Tuesday’s Standard said it was expected the 61-year-old Ashton whose current contract expires on December 31 would be handed a new one-year deal. Although England the 2003 champions reached ctober’s final where they lost 15-6 to South Africa in Paris senior players such as Lawrence Dallaglio and Mike Catt criticised Ashton’s performance in autobiographies published soon after the tournament. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) the national governing body tried to defuse the row over whether England had succeeded because of or in spite of Ashton by not making a decision on his future until receiving a report by Rob Andrew their director of elite rugby on the team’s World Cup performance. It is that report which is due to be presented to the RFU management board at their Twickenham headquarters here Wednesday.