World Rugby

It will be remembered, perhaps unfairly, for the loss to Uruguay when the team had been heavily rotated to deal with a short turnaround after their opening loss against Australia. Although another defeat wasn’t in the script, it didn’t have any tangible effect on Fiji’s campaign.

It was a case of third time lucky for the 30-year-old playmaker, who was also nominated for the award in 2017 and 2018.

Tuwai was a key figure as Fiji won titles in Cape Town, Hamilton, Hong Kong, London and Paris to secure the 2018/19 World Series title, their first since 2016, and was named in the World Series 'Dream Team' for the third year running.

The Olympic gold medallist is the first Fijian player to win the award since Samisoni Viriviri in 2014.

He said Fiji's sevens success is a group effort.

Speaking to First Up, Impey shared his frustrations at what he said was unfair treatment of Pacific nations at the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

He took particular issue with the eligibility rules for tier two nations.

"I think the gap has got wider between tier one and tier two [nations]. I think World Rugby has got a lot to answer for in this space.

In particular I believe there should be eligibility rules which allow players who've played for tier one countries, such as the All Blacks, to go back after say a year and play for their countries of origin.

Rolland delivered the caution of the tournament start on Friday, telling teams that the number of sin bins and send-offs would be determined by players, rather than officials.

England coach Eddie Jones has been outspoken on the topic, describing as “ridiculous” the red card shown to All Blacks lock Scott Barrett for a dangerous tackle on Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper last month in Perth.

Australian Jones said the sending off “lacked common sense” and was inconsistent with how other similar incidents had been handled this year.

Fiji will play Tonga and Samoa face a New Zealand Heartland XV at Eden Park two years after the initial Pasifika Challenge saw Samoa take on New Zealand and Tonga play Wales at the same venue in 2017.

Ahead of this latest New Zealand celebration of Islands rugby, World Rugby has highlighted how it partnered with the three unions in a four-year high-performance support programme where direct and indirect support from the game’s governing global body is expected to reach £20 million from 2016-19.

Deans, a halfback who played 10 tests between 1987 and 1989, is understood to have lost his battle with cancer on late Thursday.

A tough halfback who represented Canterbury during its famous Ranfurly Shield reign between 1982-85, Deans was respected for his uncompromising attitude and work-rate around the field.

Although a member of the All Blacks squad that won the inaugural World Cup tournament that was held in New Zealand and Australia in 1987, Deans was unable to get a start ahead of captain David Kirk in any games.

England ended Grand Slam winners Wales' run of 14 consecutive victories with a 33-19 triumph at Twickenham on Sunday.

Tries from Billy Vunipola, Joe Cokanasiga and Luke Cowan-Dickie and a perfect kicking display from stand-in captain George Ford prevented a strong Wales side from replacing New Zealand at the top of the rankings.

It was events in Perth a day earlier that Jones was more keen to discuss, taking aim at the governing body for Jerome Garces' dismissal of All Black Barrett.

The six law trials follow a comprehensive evaluation by the expert Law Review Group which concluded that 50 percent of injuries and 76 percent of concussions occurred in tackles.

Depending on the success of the trials some of the new rules could be in place by the 2023 World Cup.

One of the closed trials will be to reduce tackle height to the waist in a bid to reduce head injuries.

The others are

Dan Carter: A Perfect 10 promises to show a side of former All Black Dan Carter, which has "never been seen before."

The new all-access doco, which releases this month also reveals the highs and lows of success, with Carter's wife, Honor revealing "the fame has been quite hard."

The film tracks Dan Carter's career and journey from rural New Zealand to becoming what some say is the greatest number 10 of all time, and has Carter saying "I don't want this feeling to ever end."

Rugby union chiefs wanted to launch a new cross-hemisphere Nations Championship from 2022, in which the first and second-placed sides of Europe's Six Nations would face off against the two countries at top of an expanded, six-team southern hemisphere Rugby Championship in end of year semi-finals and subsequent final.

The proposals were backed by a record commercial partnership worth nearly £5 billion ($6.6 billion) of investment.