England struggle
England was relatively comfortable in beating Tonga 35-3 at the Rugby World Cup on Sunday without the former champion being compelling in the opening game of its 2019 campaign.
Samoa-born centre Manu Tuilagi scored two tries in the first half to put England clear and Tonga didn't come close to an upset in the Pool C game at Sapporo Dome. Read full report.
World Rugby changes head injury assessment rules
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has revealed World Rugby have changed the process around head injury assessments at halftime to avoid another incident like the one in which Sam Cane was denied the right to play the second half against the Springboks.
During the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup opener at Yokohama, Cane was told to undergo an HIA at half time by the independent match doctor after taking a knock in the first half.
Cane passed the test but could not then return to the field, as half time lasted for 15 minutes, five more than the maximum time any player is allocated to undergo testing.
Hansen was understandably miffed at this situation after his side's 23-13 victory and today revealed it would not be repeated after World Rugby assured him the process would be amended. Read more
What the All Blacks say
Veteran hooker Dane Coles is rapt with the way the All Blacks overcame a nervous start to dominate their epic encounter with South Africa in their Rugby World Cup opener on Saturday night.
Coles revealed captain Kieran Read had to gather the team together after they looked rattled in the opening 15 minutes of the Pool B match.
"We weren't really that settled. Reado brought us in and said 'the next guy just hold the ball and the nearest guy just clean' so we could get a bit of momentum," Coles said yesterday.
"Once we settled down we made a few line breaks and put a bit of pressure on them. I don't know if it was nerves. I think it was just one person did it [throw the ball] and the next person thought he had to do it. Read more
Viewing status
Spark Sport confirmed that matches between Italy v Namibia, Ireland v Scotland and England v Tonga "all performed well".
"Despite having the games broadcast on TVNZ Duke, we still saw high numbers of customers choosing to stream on Spark Sport, particularly for the Ireland v Scotland game which brought in the highest viewership for the night," a statement said.
Tweet of the day
Coming up
Wales open their campaign against Georgia at City of Toyota Stadium from 10.15pm. Listen to live commentary on Radio Sport and follow live updates on nzherald.co.nz
