Chris Rattue picks apart what he sees as the deficiencies in the Springbok team in The New Zealand Herald.

"The Springboks probably strolled out of Perth in a jubilant mood, but the pretenders to their crown should allow themselves a wee smile.

"The Springboks' Perth mirth. Not likely. Forget the glowing tributes to the tanks of this African corp because the Boks blew a golden opportunity to blast Robbie Deans' shaky Aussie regime to smithereens.

"The 2009 Tri-Nations title hunt is virtually over - and a premature congratulations to the Springboks in this - but it's also a case of let the games begin as the World Cup looms.

"The Springboks' cocky, alleged coach Peter de Villiers loves throwing in little jabs at the opposition, and he did it again in Perth by suggesting the Wallabies' attack was naive."

Stephen Jones, writing in The Sunday Times, is hopeful that rugby's difficult summer is drawing to a close.

"What on earth happened to rugby this August, a month that ended with accusations still flying? The weeks brought a firestorm of revelations and criticism, probably the fiercest barrage for 20 years. This fury can be divided into two roughly equal parts — one half pompous silly-season sermonising and score-settling; the other (largely from inside the sport) ferociously well-deserved savaging in three areas — abuse of hard recreational drugs by Bath players, the feigning of injury using fake blood, and inferior props wanting the scrummage phase to be depowered to take the pressure, literally, from their shoulders.

"Finally, substantially worse than any of the original offences, come the lying, cheating and bullying cover-up machinations by senior technical, administrative and medical figures at Harlequins, leading to the departure of director of rugby Dean Richards, physio Steph Brennan and now, chairman Charles Jillings. And, horribly, there was the deliberate cutting of Tom Williams, the hapless central figure — according to Williams — by a doctor.

"Are the resignations over? Mark Evans, the club’s chief executive, has a proud record in breathing life into two institutions, Saracens and Harlequins, but his stewardship of this issue has been a grisly failure. Both European Rugby Cup, in charge of the fateful Harlequins-Leinster Heineken quarter-final and whose clever strategy smoked out Quins, and the RFU threaten further action. I cannot believe Harlequins will play in the 2009-10 Heineken Cup. They must not."

The New Zealand Herald's Richard Loe believes that the selection debate ahead of the All Blacks' next Test will be a short one.

"I don't think the All Black selectors need to strain themselves too hard in picking the team to play the Springboks in Hamilton on September 12.

"Most of the attention is centering on the No 13 jersey after the injuries to Conrad Smith and Luke McAlister but I think McAlister's injury restores Ma'a Nonu to his rightful position anyway.

"Nonu did nothing wrong even when he was supposedly out of form and he did a great deal right when he came on against the Wallabies last week.

"McAlister, as I have said before, hadn't done enough to warrant selection anyway and he needs more provincial game time to work on his issues - like his tackling technique."

Greg Ford, writing on Rugby Heaven, takes a look at the stats to see whether or not criticisms of the Springboks' kicking game are valid.

"A quick inspection of the latest statistics from this year's Tri Nations confirms South Africa do kick more often than Henry's All Blacks and Robbie Deans's Wallabies. But the difference between the three sides is not as vast as some would like to believe.

"Before last night's Wallabies-Springboks match in Perth, de Villiers's side had, on average, kicked 35 times per match. By international standards that's not high. England in their pomp earlier this decade kicked far more often.

"The All Blacks have kicked the least so far this year - 27 times per match - giving Henry's beef some credibility. But if Henry wants to point the finger, then he should look no further than the Wallabies. They boot the ball 30 times per match, meaning the South Africans are not the only ones guilty of taking the easy option.

"The stats also reveal why the South Africans tend to kick more. They have dominated the possession stakes so far this season, which means they simply have been presented with more opportunities to kick."

Phil Wilkins explains on Rugby Heaven why he believes that John Smit is a fading force as Test-level scrummager.

"When head coach Robbie Deans spoke of "removing players from drinking at the trough", the Wallabies automatically reached for their throats around the jugular region.

“Deans was not raising an alcohol issue, but inferring that successive losses to New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri Nations were not acceptable. It was simply a new-blood-for-old policy, that players regularly drinking the poison of Test losses and becoming immune to the gall of defeat should make way for players with the self-assurance and skills to master the world.

“It was not a verbal dismissal to the scrap heap, but Deans's warning that a transfusion of heart and soul allied with youth and ambition was about to take place. The 19-18 Tri Nations loss to New Zealand in Sydney says the time has come.

“The irony of the Wallabies' 29-17 loss to South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town earlier this month was that Australia's best player, loose-head prop Benn Robinson, scrummed so powerfully against Springboks front-rower John Smit, starting at tight-head rather than hooker, that he intensified scrutiny on the man who led the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2007.”

Writing for The Australian, Bret Harris argues that the Springboks will have to play a far more open, attacking game if they are to defeat the Wallabies in Perth this weekend.

"South Africa has dominated the Tri-Nations tournament so far, but the Springboks will need to change their tactics on their Australasian tour to ensure further success.

"The Springboks have relied on playing for field position and pressuring the opposition into mistakes to beat the All Blacks (twice) and the Wallabies on South African soil. This strategy is based on the accumulation of points through penalty goals, although the Springboks have actually been the most prolific try-scorers of the three teams, albeit four from three games is hardly setting the world on fire.

"The Springboks, with a 6.7 average, have conceded the least number of penalties in the tournament with the All Blacks conceding 11.3 a game and the Wallabies 12.3. While the Springboks have been more disciplined than the All Blacks and the Wallabies, they have also played all of their three games on home soil.

"The Springboks will not be able to rely on the home-ground advantage of a favourable penalty count in Australia and New Zealand. They will need to score tries to win this game. As a result, they will need to look to run the ball more than they have thus far."

The Independent's Peter Bills is worried by the kicking-dominated Tri-Nations.

"Kicking is taking over the Tri-Nations - and it's official.

"Statistics from the first five matches of this year's tournament compared to its 2008 counterpart reveal an alarming increase in penalty goals kicked.

"But the figures also show an equally concerning drop in the number of tries scored. Both sets of figures provide strong evidence to support those who promoted and believed in the new ELVs which were largely killed off by the voting power of the northern hemisphere countries.

"Those who advocated sticking with them as a potentially enhanced attacking weapon in the game but feared going back to the old laws such as the maul, appear to have been largely vindicated by these figures. The current statistics should worry purists of the game."

Simon Halliday, writing for The Times, is dismayed at the scandal that has engulfed his former club, Harlequins.

"Like most people — inside or outside the game — I have been shocked by the recent revelations surrounding my former club and individuals within it, many of whom I have known well for a long time, especially Dean Richards, my former England colleague in many Five Nations campaigns and the 1991 World Cup.

"Having played for Harlequins while an Oxford student and then returned after my departure from Bath, I have a lot of affection for the club. But I believe that the damage to them and the game is inestimable and gets worse as more detail emerges. I can scarcely believe the collusion between the senior officials, in particular as it has affected the career of a young player who was asked to take the full force of the judgment against the club before he rightly decided to tell all.

"I have a special connection with Harlequins because in 1999 I was instrumental in saving the club from the clutches of the Beckwith brothers, who were shareholders. Harlequins were within three days of going into administration and my fellow directors and myself were desperately seeking a way out.

"Then a chance discussion with a corporate broking colleague at UBS led to a call being made to Duncan Saville [the Australian-based businessman], asking if he wanted to buy the club. He flew over and took a tour of the ground, after which there was a handshake and a call from our senior trustee to the Beckwiths to notify them. Saville assumed ownership and I met Charles Jillings, Saville’s right-hand man [and now the Harlequins chairman], for the first time. These two men deserve huge credit for saving a rugby institution."

What happened at Harlequins demonstrates that any notion of right or wrong in pursuit of victory in sport had long since vanished - writes Simon Barnes in The Times.

"There are two kinds of cheating in sport. The first is a spontaneous response to circumstances: to stick out a hand and push the ball in the net at football; to claim a catch when you know the ball hit the ground first in cricket; to elbow the player who has been annoying you when the referee is looking the other way. That, however regrettable, is part of the game and stopping it — or at least keeping it to a minimum — is what referees and umpires are for.

"Then there is the second kind, in which cheating is planned, plotted and orchestrated; when cheating involves the organisation and the connivance of figures of authority within the sport. This is not part of the game: it is an attempt to destroy the game."

Pressure was mounting on Tuesday night on Harlequins chairman Charles Jillings and chief executive Mark Evans to explain their actions in the light of claims by Tom Williams that both men attempted to limit the scope of his appeal that ultimately blew the lid on ‘Bloodgate’. Gavin Mairs reports for the Daily Telegraph.

"The judgment of Williams’s appeal revealed his evidence that Evans also warned him that a “full disclosure” at the appeal hearing would “make life extremely difficult for him at the club” and warned him that potential sanctions against Quins, including expulsion from the Heineken Cup and possible relegation from the Premiership would be his responsibility.

"...The club were unavailable for comment on Tuesday night but there was little sympathy for Harlequins at the European Rugby Cup clubs’ conference at a hotel near Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris. Refereeing interpretations of the tackle area and mauling were officially on the agenda but afterwards the buzz in the hotel bar centred on the sensational revelations contained in Williams’s judgment."

Quins tried to buy player's silence with huge 'compensation' offer according to shocking affidavit from appeal hearing. Read Chris Hewett's thoughts in the Independent.

"Harlequins, the club at the centre of the unprecedented "Bloodgate" scandal that has cost them the services of Dean Richards as their director of rugby as well as fines and expenses running to well over £500,000, were thrown into fresh turmoil last night after the full grisly details of the fake injury incident and subsequent cover-up were published by disciplinary officials. Even if the Rugby Football Union does not revisit this week's decision not to take further action against the Londoners – and the chances are that it will – the new revelations will wreck whatever is left of Quins' reputation and send them into freefall just 10 days before the start of the new Premiership season.

"To make matters worse, there is now considerable doubt as to whether Ian McGeechan, who coached the Lions during the summer and recently emerged as favourite to replace Richards, will wish to have his name associated with a sporting organisation in the throes of the biggest crisis in its 143-year history. It is thought McGeechan was prepared to consider a move to the Stoop provided there was no fresh controversy. Controversy is now the only show in town."

Harlequins wing Tom Williams insists his former boss had absolute power and he feared for his career if he did not obey - so writes Paul Rees in the Guardian.

"It emerged in the hearing that Richards and Brennan had simulated blood injuries, with Brennan told to buy fake blood capsules from a joke shop at Clapham Junction. Williams said he found Richards anything but a joke to work for and he found it impossible to approach or challenge the former England international.

"Williams told the appeal hearing that he was injured in a match in Richards's first season in charge, ending the game on crutches. "In my mid-season appraisal, he criticised my going down injured during play and ordered me to attend a camp with the Harlequins rugby league side to toughen me up. There was no discussion or seeking of my views." Richards denied criticising Williams and said the player had willingly attended the camp to improve his skills."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue offers measured praise for All Blacks coach Graham Henry after his side conjured a turnaround in their fortunes.

"You could analyse Saturday night's match to death and still end up in a dead end. One of the post-match interviewers talked about it as a return to running rugby. Yes, there was a lot of running around, but with all the botched moves - and this is an ideal point to suggest that Luke McAlister's reintroduction has done nothing for the All Blacks' cohesion - it certainly wasn't running rugby in its pure form.

"While the term "running rugby" focuses on the legs, it's only relevant if everyone is also catching the ball with their hands. Running rugby actually means passing and catching rugby. Yet the occasion, the significance, the transtasman rivalry and closeness of the score, meant it was gripping."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Paul Kelso expresses his surprise at the RFU's decision not to pursue the other players guilty of faking blood injuries.

"In a remarkable decision that will raise questions about rugby's commitment to rooting out cheating, the RFU said it would not hold a fresh investigation into the four previous occasions on which Harlequins faked blood injuries because it would "continue to attract comment and speculation which might further damage reputations." Instead, RFU chief executive Francis Baron said he will commission a task force "to review all issues associated with recent events"."

English rugby's governing body are to tackle state of the game following the headline-grabbing 'Bloodgate' incident - Rob Kitson gives us his take in the Guardian.

"Harlequins will breath a sigh of relief. The worst-case scenario would have been a points deduction and/or the loss of their Heineken Cup status given that a blood capsule was administered to a player during the course of last season's Guinness Premiership campaign. They appear to have weathered the worst of the storm.

"Will Skinner, the club's captain, insisted there was no rift between the squad and wing Tom Williams, whose evidence hastened Richards's resignation. Williams has had his ban reduced from 12 months to four on appeal, with the full written judgment to be released in the next 24 hours."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Peter Bills speaks to Tana Umaga about his first meeting with Brian O'Driscoll since that infamous spear tackle during the Lions' tour of New Zealand in 2005.

"It has taken 1,518 days, 50 and a half months and just 24 hours short of 217 weeks. But it has finally happened. Brian O'Driscoll has met Tana Umaga for the first time since the New Zealander's fateful tackle that ended the Irishman's Test series as captain of the 2005 British & Irish Lions, after just a minute of the 1st Test.

"The meeting took place not in the kind of rugby citadel one might have anticipated, such as Eden Park, Auckland, the ANZ stadium Sydney or the Millenium stadium, Cardiff. Instead, it was on a training ground at Nice rugby club beside the Mediterranean where two of the true greats of the game finally came face to face once more."

Writing in the Sunday Times, Stuart Barnes rubbishes those who claim that cheating is a product of the professional era.

"The blood capsule episode is no surprise, the botched nature of it was. “Cheat” is an emotive word in sport but yes, as a player, he knew how to escape the attention of a referee. So did the majority of us, even then in the amateur days. One of the shrillest of cries all week has been the link between the growth of professionalism and this “epidemic” of cheating. In the sense that there are more good teams who are capable of winning, the siren call has legitimacy but other than that it strikes a false note.

"Money is obviously important but why did teams such as Leicester and Bath do whatever they had to do to win in the days when medals and trophies were the only recompense? Winning, end of story; it was there before money and for the elite it still dominates."

Cheating has always been part of rugby union. In the supposedly all-amateur days, some players cheated society, writes Patrick Barclay in The Times.

"Cheating is hard to define. I read an interview with Richards that, though generally self-pitying, did contain one reasonable argument when he referred to the ball-tampering allegations against Mike Atherton and asked: “All he got was a slap on the wrist. Is there any difference?” Equally it might be said that everyone tampers with the cricket ball — but that, I sense, was also part of Richards’s pleading.

"Diego Maradona got away with what is considered, at least in England, the most outrageous piece of cheating. He was not banned by the World Cup authorities until eight years later, when he failed a drug test."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Richard Loe defends the under-fire Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.

"There's no question people are looking at Robbie's record and looking for more wins - and I don't think he has a lock on the coach's job for the 2011 World Cup. Which is as it should be, especially with reference to the current situation in New Zealand.

"But I was at a dinner this week with former Wallaby greats Phil Kearns and Tim Horan and asked them whether Deans was coming under pressure. They felt Graham Henry was under more and that Deans had already improved the Wallaby team "immensely"."

Footage kept from public view shows the gruesome sequence that left Harlequins with no defence in the 'Bloodgate' scandal. Stephen Jones reports in the Sunday Times.

"The same technology that has contributed to a clean-up of rugby and made it a less violent sport has now damned it. Levels of dirty play are down considerably these days because of the batteries of television cameras at the big games. Output from cameras that was never transmitted can be examined by disciplinary officers.

"Footage unseen by the public and revealed by us today is what condemned Dean Richards, the Harlequins director of rugby, as well as player Tom Williams, physio Steph Brennan, the Harlequins club and rugby itself, in the Bloodgate scandal. Bloodgate, which continues to ripple through the game, has seen the guilty parties banned from rugby for fabricating a blood injury using capsules of red dye."

Yes, every rugby match involves some form of 'cheating' but it is wrong to say the game is rotten to the core, writes Hugh Godwin in the Independent on Sunday.

"Those of us who know and value rugby for what it is – a rough, challenging and complex game demanding a certain level of understanding and complicity among its participants – were shocked by Dean Richards' BBC radio interview last Thursday evening. In his flat East Midlands tones he explained how he and some of his Harlequins colleagues attempted to cheat Leinster out of the Heineken Cup, and lie to the subsequent disciplinary hearing so that everyone might "get off".

"I got the same sick feeling in my stomach 21 years ago, in a press conference room in Seoul, South Korea, when the International Olympic Committee's Michele Verdier intoned the words "stanozolol ...it's an anabolic steroid". A couple of days beforehand I had witnessed Ben Johnson's world-record 100 metres run in the Olympic final; the greatest sporting moment I had seen in the flesh, or so I thought. The revelation of Johnson's doping opened my eyes and wounded the soul."

After a torrid summer the game is determined to fix its image, writes Paul Rees in the Guardian.

"Professional club rugby in England has never known such a summer of strife, but neither has it ever been so profitable as it prepares for the start of a new season next week. Never mind stories of drunken parties, punch-ups, cocaine sniffing, simulated mouth wounds and cover-ups, the 12 Premiership clubs can look forward to record receipts in the coming weeks from their umbrella organisation, Premier Rugby.

"The sport usually goes into summer hibernation, rarely commanding media attention after the end of international tours, but for the second year running, lurid tales have replaced the usual lack of interest: when Martin Johnson took over as the England team manager in July 2008, he did so as an investigation was being conducted into unfounded rape allegations made against some of the squad during the tour to New Zealand."

Richard Loe, writing in The New Zealand Herald, ponders the pressure on Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.

"It's been interesting talking to Australian rugby people this week about the so-called pressure coming on Robbie Deans. There is no question that people are looking at Robbie's record and are looking for more wins - and I don't think he has a lock on the coach's job for the 2011 World Cup.

"Which is as it should be, especially with reference to the current situation in New Zealand. But I was at a dinner this week with former Wallaby greats Phil Kearns and Tim Horan and asked them whether Deans was coming under pressure. They felt Graham Henry was under more and that Deans had already improved the Wallaby team "immensely".

"They said he'd got their hearts and heads in the right places; had lifted skill levels; had chosen the right personnel and was doing the right thing in bringing hard nuts like Rocky Elsom back. Still, what everyone wants is results."

In light of the 'Bloodgate' scandal and the incredible images of 'blood' flowing from Tom Williams' mouth, Harry Pearson writing in The Guardian thinks that Quins could have have done a better job!

"Last weekend Sir Alex Ferguson said that play-acting was killing football. That may be right. The only trouble is these days it's very hard to tell if football is really dying, or just clutching its throat and making gagging noises in order to disrupt the rhythm of its competitors.

Rugby union, meanwhile, has fallen victim to what everybody connected with the sport is calling "The Bloodgate Scandal". Frankly I'm disappointed that followers of the oval ball game have chosen to draw on a shabby piece of US political impropriety for their suffix to the Tom Williams business. I would have thought a club of Harlequins' tradition and standing might have adopted something more noble and blue-bloodedly British, christening the whole gory debacle "The Bloodfumo Affair", perhaps.

Former coach Dick Best tells us that the use of blood capsules in the Premiership is common nowadays. "I believe they are the sort you'd find on the set of any film with stunt scenes," he said last week. If this is indeed the case then we can only hope that in future rugby union will bring in some proper advisers on the use of the stuff, because I'd have to say Dean Richards and his men didn't make the most of what they had, Williams sloping off the field looking like a toddler who'd just had a raspberry slushy when they could have given us something like the final shoot-out in Bonnie and Clyde."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Wynne Gray analyses the All Blacks' decision to reunite Dan Carter and Luke McAlister.

"As much as the All Blacks detest the aerial ping-pong tactics that have become common in the game, they may have decided to be pragmatic and replicate the Wallaby strategies and those which have been so effective for the Springboks.

"If they have decided on a foundation forceback plan, even with Carter's skills and time, they need someone to take the pressure away from him in his international comeback. That concept means McAlister's kicking skills get him the nod over Nonu."

Harlequins were at the centre of another row last night for refusing to hand over a confidential document containing the names of players involved in four other matches in which fake blood was used to simulate an injury, The Times reveals.

"The existence of the secret paper, which also lists the games, came to light during Dean Richards's evidence to the appeal hearing in Glasgow on Monday, when the former England No 8 made a full and frank confession.

"It included admitting that he and Steph Brennan, the Harlequins physiotherapist, had worked together on four separate occasions in attempting to cheat, using red dye to simulate an injury.

"The Times has been told by a club source that ERC has demanded a copy of that document, which was compiled by Harlequins as part of their internal investigation. However, the club are resisting the order because they feel it would constitute a breach of trust."

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw is often accused of beating the Wallabies by living off-side - and now there's graphic evidence to prove it - according to the Australian Daily Telegraph.

"Damning Fox Sports footage clearly confirms McCaw's status as a serial offender with this shopping list of illegal plays that helped scuttle the Wallabies 22-16 in the first Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland last month.

"Analysis of the opening Bledisloe Cup game shows McCaw flagrantly entering the side of the ruck at least seven times, and contesting kicks while offside on at least three occasions. But despite being captured repeatedly failing to enter the breakdown from behind the last man's feet, McCaw proved "Mr Untouchable" by escaping without a single offside penalty all night. Referee Craig Joubert only pinged McCaw twice for unrelated ruck offences."

Writing in The Times, Matthew Syed insists that the most shocking aspect of the "deplorable" Bloodgate episode is that it forms part of a wider pattern of appalling behaviour within rugby.

"There comes a time when an institution is so deep in the mire, so steeped in scandal and immorality, so corrupted by greed and cynicism, that those on the inside are no longer able to perceive, still less comprehend, the extent of their own depravity.

"That is the sordid position in which rugby union finds itself as the world begins to absorb the sickening revelations that emerged from an appeal hearing in Glasgow on Monday evening."

Writing in The Independent, James Lawton offers his take on the damage caused by the 'Bloodgate' saga.

"There always had to be the fear that English rugby would make a poor job of handling the arrival of the professional game. All the years of denial that it was reasonable for an outstanding sportsman of modest means to put himself up for hire brought an inevitable backlash – and a frenzy to grab some of the new action. But then who could have imagined that they could have made quite such a mess of it?

"Well, we know now. Bloodgate has luridly filled in all of the grey areas. That and the descent into such barbarity and cynicism that the coach of the reigning world champions South Africa can escape unscathed from his claims of eye-gouging, which is to say threatening the eyesight of an opponent is part of a man's game."

As a global ban leaves the coach's career – and his club – in tatters, The Independent's Chris Hewett reports on a staggering fall from grace.

"Richards, a one-time policeman revered as one of the finest international forwards of his generation and the only coach ever to successfully defend the Heineken Cup – the competition he so notoriously besmirched by overseeing the bogus substitution of the wing Tom Williams with the aid of a blood capsule, and then orchestrating an attempted cover-up – is now off limits until 2012. He cannot so much as guide a colts team through a training session on a wet Tuesday night in his native Leicestershire, far less coach at the top level."

Peter Bills of The Independent believes that if Harlequins are allowed to compete in European competition this season it would be a “combination of travesty and farce”.

"The longer the Harlequins 'Bloodgate' affair goes on, the deeper the authorities pry into its evil, labyrinthine passages, the more mysterious it becomes. We tend to get more questions than answers, as the whole sorry saga drags on.

“The latest revelations and sentences are stunning. Dean Richards thrown out of rugby for three years, the club's fine stiffened in terms of immediate payment.

“Yet the most justified, inevitable punishment is not yet decided upon; namely, for how long will 'Quins be slung out of the Heineken Cup? Why not? On that one, there is no decision yet from the committee. Yet in the light of what has happened, it can be only a question of how long the club's exclusion lasts, not whether there is one or not.

“Should Harlequins not be excluded from the tournament, and a two year ban is the minimum period they should suffer, it would be a combination of travesty and farce. ERC would lose all vestige of respect and credibility if they handed down these suspensions and then allowed the club to stay in their lucrative tournament.”

Writing in The Independent, Terence Blacker argues that the ‘Blood-gate’ controversy has shown that cheating and the “weaselly form of non-apology" are endemic in rugby.

"There is nothing quite like big-time, high-profile sport to influence non-sporting behaviour in wider society. As the football season gets under way, we shall soon be hearing how some incident involving a player (pampered, overpaid, ill-disciplined) or a manager (ill-tempered, unsporting, disrespectful to authority) has set a terrible example to young people everywhere.

“Yet, compared to more apparently respectable games, football can often appear to be a sport of adamantine integrity. Tennis authorities were recently revealed to be promoting games by female players on the basis of their sexy looks rather than their talent. Now rugby union, another proudly blue-chip sport which traditionally likes to present itself as manly, decent and old-fashioned, has turned out to be a hotbed of corruption and moral obfuscation.

“When wrongdoing is discovered in the world of rugby, as it has in the recent case involving Harlequins, blame is passed from one person to another with the speed of a ball travelling down the All Blacks three-quarter line.”

On Rugby Heaven, Spiro Zavos dismisses Taine Randell’s claim that the Wallabies have become too like head coach Robbie Deans’ former side, the Crusaders, for their own good.

"So there was Taine Randell, the former All Blacks captain, putting the boot into Robbie Deans. According to Randell, the Wallabies under Deans are clones of the successful Canterbury Crusaders sides he coached to seven Super rugby titles. They kick a lot, have a slick back line that counter-attacks very well but lack mongrel in the pack. This playing style, Randell argued, works at the Super rugby level but not at the Test level.

“Deans was the assistant coach of the All Blacks in 2003. This side, Randall says, lost to England in a June Test because it was "bullied" by the England pack, and by the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup semi-final. Now sides are bullying the Deans-coached Wallabies pack in a similar manner.

“When I studied history an eternity ago, we were always taught to look at the context of the document under review and look behind the words for possible motives for what was written.“

On Rugby Heaven, Greg Growden argues that the Wallabies should implement a performance-related pay scheme in order to properly motivate the players.

"In the real world, those who perform are rewarded. In Wallabyland mediocrity is rewarded, due to a cosy Test remuneration system in which players get the same amount whether they win or lose.

“That could be about to change due to the strong possibility that under the new SANZAR broadcasting deal the way Australian players are paid will be revised, making it more incentive-based.

“This is not before time. Regardless of the result, the Wallabies enjoy about $11,500 per Test - on top of their substantial base salary and the honour of appearing in the green and gold. This has contributed to a meandering era in which you don't exactly see Wallabies devastated after losses. Go back and watch videos of defeats in recent years, and the reactions of certain players. Some are even laughing and joking, patting each other on the back, making one ponder about their commitment.

“Sure, many do get angry and they make the right ''we're filthy'' comments but it appears to have more to do with personal performance, than team effort. Too much is focused on number one.”

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue lauds Jamie Joseph for ignoring the wishes of the All Blacks.

"Jamie Joseph lost a battle in Rotorua but he won an important war. The Wellington coach is the man of the hour, the saviour, especially for those of us old enough to remember when provincial rugby was vital because of the tribalism involved.

"Joseph is a hero because for once, someone within the regime has stood up to the big brother NZRU and put what he believes is his own cause first.

"In terms of what is immediately best for his Wellington team or the All Blacks, you could argue that Joseph may have been right or wrong in ignoring All Black demands to play test men Cory Jane and Neemia Tialata against Bay of Plenty.

"Bottom line, though, is that Wellington have rights in this, and a lot of us are sick of the overbearing NZRU controlling so many rugby lives. The game needs to breathe."

Writing in The Herald on Sunday, Richard Loe calls for a change of management for the All Blacks.

"I watched Luke McAlister play on Thursday and thought it was worse than pathetic. If the selectors were watching him on Thursday, they'd have to conclude he didn't deserve a spot in the squad. I have not seen McAlister do anything since that duffed-up day in Cardiff in 2007 that justifies him being in a black jersey right now.

"This is the same old stuff we've had from this coaching panel since before the World Cup and people are sick of it.

"I think these guys are getting rattled. They are starting to say dumb things and to contradict themselves - like that nonsense over Dan Carter when Steve Hansen said it would be "panic" to bring him back in. What happens? They select him.

"It's fast becoming time they moved on, the sooner the better. Let's get a hard-nosed coach in - like Jamie Joseph.

"He's a good hard-bitten lad. I know he hasn't even coached Super 14 but we have some people in Super 14 who won't make the next level anyway."

Writing in The Independent, Peter Bills ran the rule over Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon debut and was impressed by what he saw.

"You couldn't quite call him the coolest guy in the ground. Not beside the Mediterranean, with temperatures still in the high 20s at 11pm.

"Yet with 17 points from that trusty left boot, a couple of audacious long touch kicks and his inherent ability to put his team where they would like to be, Jonny Wilkinson reminded his new audience at Toulon that, even at 30 and after almost a year out, plenty of his genius remains.

"The control Wilkinson has always exuded in his own life remains manifest upon the rugby field; unflustered, calm and decisive, the fly-half negotiated his latest comeback with the aplomb to be expected of a World Cup winner."

Writing in The Sunday Times, David Walsh speculates that the Harlequins CEO Mark Evans' role in the so called "Bloodgate" affair is the next to be scrutinised when Tom Williams gives his account tomorrow.

"Harlequins’ use of a capsule filled with red dye to falsely create an impression of injury to Williams has been called “Bloodgate” after its political forerunner, and perhaps the greatest similarity is that again on this occasion the cover-up has been more reprehensible than the original offence. It is also likely that the role of Harlequins chief executive Mark Evans will be called into question.

"Last weekend it became clear that Williams was determined to tell the truth at the appeal and once that happened, Harlequins’ house of cards began to crumble. First director of rugby Dean Richards resigned, which some saw as his belated acknowledgement of responsibility for something that happened on his shift. It should have come months before but Harlequins tried to brazen it out, insisting they had done nothing wrong. Without evidence of their involvement the three club officials originally charged, Richards, club doctor Wendy Chapman and physio Steph Brennan, were exonerated.

"But the most important question that must be asked of the club is who among their top management knew that the club was not going to accept responsibility for the fake injury at the original hearing? Is it conceivable that chief executive Mark Evans didn’t know what happened at the end of the Leinster match and wasn’t aware that his club would not own up to cheating in their evidence to the ERC disciplinary committee?"

Phil Wilkins, writing on Rugby Heaven, reflects on Australian rugby's road to professionalism.

"For decades, Australia had produced brilliant individuals but struggled to field outstanding combinations capable of winning trophies and Test series.

"One crucial factor was the raids of rugby league, locally and by wealthy English clubs, pecking the eyes out of rugby - the game which had whelped league back in 1907 through its neglect of injured players. The poaching of representative players occurred on a regular basis after the rejection of rugby for league by the colossus Dally Messenger, his imprints followed by immortals such as Trevor Allan, Ray Price and Wally Lewis.

"Whatever the validity of rugby's claim that it provided players with the priceless experience of camaraderie and travel, from school to club to representative ranks, there was no escaping the fact that players returned from memorable tours stone broke."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Wynne Gray has little sympathy for All Black coach Graham Henry in his club versus country disagreement.

"If Henry and his cohorts interrupted less, chose smaller squads and players who were showing regular form, there might be more sympathy.

"The current disquiet is only going to get worse with another gap after the Bledisloe in Sydney. Watch out for a mess in October, when the Tri-Nations series is over and there is a large interval before the All Blacks leave for their Northern Hemisphere tour.

"There will be pressure for most to play in the NPC and then a squad of 32 or so will be gone - with the semifinals and final still to be decided."

The New Zealand Herald's Wynne Gray thinks that All Black coach Graham Henry could use a little perspective.

"It is a classic rugby conundrum and one Graham Henry struggled with before he became All Blacks coach.

"His ethos now is that everyone should do what is best for the national team. His glowering demeanour and sparing words did not hide those feelings as he tried to avoid criticising Jamie Joseph for refusing to play All Blacks in his NPC side.

"Perhaps after six years with the international team, Henry has lost a little perspective on the difficulties in preparing sides at lower levels. He seems to get everything he needs, including pulling more than 30 players into an All Blacks refresher course this week in the middle of the national championship.

"Then he gets snarky when some players he wants to have a game are not picked by Wellington for a drive-by appearance before scarpering off to All Black duty."

Gavin Rich, writing on Supersport, sees similarities between the 2009 Springboks and their 1998 counterparts - and has some words of warning.

"When you have followed or covered rugby in South Africa for a long time, and you possess a reasonable memory, it is sometimes impossible not to spot the recurring themes and arguments.

"For instance, while much of the country celebrates the Springbok feat of completing the home leg of the Tri-Nations unbeaten, there are still many critics bemoaning the way they are do it. “What has happened to the spirit of adventure?” ask some and “Surely we should be scoring more tries!” lament others.

"This is nothing new for it has happened several times, including in the aftermath of the 2007 World Cup triumph. But for me the current debates are most reminiscent of 1998, the year the Boks won the Tri-Nations for the first time without losing a game.

"Like now, suffocation rugby was pretty much the order of the day, something that was suited to that team’s strength if you consider that the Boks of that period boasted arguably the best loose trio in the world and that in Henry Honiball and Pieter Muller, who stood together in the flyhalf/inside centre axis, they had rugby’s equivalent of the Rock of Gibraltar."

Rugby Heaven's Marc Hinton believes that the time is right for Dan Carter to make his international return.

"Carter yesterday declared himself not only happy to be back in black, but ready to start against the Wallabies in Sydney next Saturday night.

"And you know what? There was not a hint of cockiness about his declaration. Not a smack of smarminess. And certainly no disrespect to Stephen Donald who has not had it easy as the understudy.

"The 27-year-old 59-test All Black simply knows that when his body is right – and it finally is – and his mind is also in similarly fine fettle, then a test match holds no fears for him. Not even one as vital and pivotal as the All Blacks' fourth Tri-Nations outing which will determine if they have any hope of catching the runaway Springboks.

"Carter may have not played a test for nearly nine months, may have only had three games of rugby since a near six-month layoff with a ruptured Achilles tendon. But he knows himself, and right about now there's a familiar feeling creeping over him."

Chris Rattue, writing in The New Zealand Herald, believes that the international return of Dan Carter is cause for optimism.

"Caution has filled the room. Fear has swept the streets. Panic is in the air.

"We're all doomed - our matchwinner is back. He can't be ready because rugby is way more complicated than that," goes the cry.

"Wayne Smith, the All Black back coach, isn't even sure that the man he's just picked for the test squad is ready. Former All Black coaches are urging, you guessed it, caution. Bloggers and emailers can barely get their fingers out to tap the keyboards due to the wringing of their nervous hands.

"Breaking the habit of a lifetime, this column has searched long and hard and found a few reasons for optimism."

Rugby Heaven's Spiro Zavos sees plenty of similarities between the 2009 Springboks and the 2003 England World Cup-winning side.

"As I watched the Springboks kick virtually every ball their superb pack won from the Wallabies at Cape Town on their way to a 29-17 victory I had a sense that I'd seen all this before.

"When Morne Steyn kicked over his fifth penalty in the first half, with all the accuracy and aplomb of Jonny Wilkinson, I realised that this Springboks side is the clone of the England side that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, with the tactical addition of the midfield bomb developed by Argentina in the 2007 tournament.

"It's fashionable for rugby writers (and I have made the comment myself) to accuse the Springboks of not playing any rugby. What is clear after the Tri Nations Tests this year in South Africa, with the All Blacks and now the Wallabies being kicked off the paddock, is that the Springboks are playing terrific "rugby football", rather than "rugby".

"The rugby football game is based on forward power, good structured play with strong set pieces, good restarts and a consistent kicking game with points accumulated, in the main, through penalty goals, drop goals and the occasional try. The rugby game, on the other hand, tends to see the set pieces as a means to the end of running the ball where possible, and scoring tries rather than penalties as the main way to score points. This is the game Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Nations have generally espoused, and the style the lost and lamented ELVs encouraged."

Yesterday's Tri-Nations clash Newlands could be described as an utter waste of time in terms of entertainment, writes Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald.

"The Springboks are an awesome side, until they start trying to pass the ball to each other. They are to beautiful rugby what the infamous Wimbledon side were to beautiful soccer when Vinnie Jones played for them.

"The IRB must be tearing their hair out. They cop a lot of abuse, but at least the game's administrators are trying to make rugby a spectacle, even if they often fail."

South Africa are halfway to being a great side. But only halfway according to Peter Bills writing in the New Zealand Herald.

"Great sides don't rely just on goal kicking to win matches. Great teams may bully the opposition up front, like these Springboks, but their game plan doesn't end there, apart from a No 10 who kicks the leather off the ball.

When did you last see a Springbok side bring their fullback into the attacking line on the switch from a first phase move, the receiver searching earnestly for space? When did Peter de Villiers' side last spread the ball and set up Bryan Habana in some proper space?"

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, asks whether the coaches were to blame for the All Blacks' disappointing losses to the Springboks.

"There's been a lot of debate since that wholly dissatisfying loss to the Springboks about whether it was the coaches' fault or the players' fault.

"It was down to the coaches. I had to turn the TV off the other day when I saw Wayne Smith on a national programme saying they had played the test with counter-attacking tactics because the All Blacks couldn't take the Boks on up front. That kind of talk is poison. What are they trying to do? Smith even looked defeated - he turned up on TV in what looked like a tracksuit and some old flip-flops."

	Quins' Tom Williams is felled by a fake blood injury during his side's controversial Heineken Cup loss to Leinster last season © Getty Images

"As damaging as these events have been for rugby, the greater worry is that the game is losing its integrity and soul...

"What was most depressing about the Quins debacle was not the awfulness of the subterfuge that saw the “bloodied” Tom Williams replaced by Nick Evans five minutes from the end of the game against Leinster, but the refusal to own up to the charge when the world and its mother knew that the club was as guilty as sin...

"Rugby has long seen itself as the noblest of games, one that appeals to a man’s better instincts — you played hard but you respected your opponent, you tried everything to win but there was a line that you dare not cross. That image of the game now seems laughable. Rugby has become the game where you do whatever it takes and go however far you need to go beyond the laws to win."

Writing in the Scotland on Sunday, Richard Bath questions Simon Taylor's decision to withdraw from the international stage.

"Taylor's decision to forego the Autumn internationals against Fiji, Argentina and Australia will also help Robinson focus on which new players he wants to blood. Teenage second-row Richie Gray, centre Alex Groves, openside Alan Macdonald, fly-half Ruaridh Jackson and fullback Jim Thomson will all be in his thoughts. But if this is the start of the line for Robinson's Scotland, what of Taylor, the country's most conspicuously consistent world-class player over the past eight years?

"If he has chosen to draw a line under his international career – and at the moment that is a big if – then it is utterly fitting that he has chosen to do so at a time of his own choosing and on his own terms. It has always been thus with the big breakaway from Crieff. A fickle soul, he has always trodden his own path, away from the rest of the herd. Even to his teammates he has remained an enigma, and to the press – of whom he once wrote in his Times column: "Scotland has its fair share of pernicious, perfidious pressmen waiting to stick the knife in. Charisma-free, rugby illiterate non-entities, many of them" – he is a monosyllabic interview to be avoided at all costs. Which, you suspect, is the way he wants it."

Bathgate fall-out hides confusion created by rugby's double standards over drugs, alcohol and violence, writes james Corrigan in the Independent on Sunday.

"The NHS website advises that one of the most unpleasant reactions to cocaine are "involuntary jerking movements in the body". Spot on there. Whenever sporting governing bodies encounter the evil powder, their knees – and indeed, those of the media – happen to jerk so violently that all sense of comparable justice and ethical perspective are knocked flying.

The last month at Bath Rugby has been a headcase in point. Rarely have the twisted values of our profes- sional pursuits been so exposed and rarely have these distortions been so ignored. In the rush to scream of the drugs menace stalking our dressing rooms the great and the righteous of this trade have drawn a veil over the double standards in operation."

In The Saturday Star, Mike Greenaway is backing South Africa to beat Australia in Cape Town as he believes that Peter de Villiers is in possession of the strongest Springbok squad of the modern era.

”The thing with this Springbok team is that in every position there is a world class player. In the past, if you ran the rule over the starting line-up, there would be question marks here and there: Is this guy up to it, should so-and-so not be playing in the place of this fellow?.....

“Most exciting is the youthful newcomers who are adding value to the old guard. They are the only two players with their tally of caps in the single figures, then there is The Beast on 15 and after that the average rockets into the 40s.

“You are left with this impression: this is the most experienced, best balanced Springbok team of the modern era; they are confident after beating the All Blacks on successive weekends and they are at home against a Wallaby team that has shown little appetite over the years for playing in this country.”

On Rugby Heaven, Greg Growden outlines a seven-point plan that the Wallabies must adhere to if they are to beat the Springboks.

1. Stop being head cases and instead use your heads:

“The past three weeks have been agony for the Wallabies, as everyone keeps reminding them how they bungled Eden Park. They were well on their way to having the All Blacks Test won, until turning into Peter Pumpkinheads after 20 minutes, fluffing opportunities, allowing the referee to upset them and offering a free pass to an undeserving opposition.

“The All Blacks did virtually nothing that night to warrant victory, except exhibit greater drive and commitment, and the Wallabies allowed them to get away with a very basic game plan, which preyed on their mistakes.

“Yet again, the Wallabies' biggest problem is all in the heads. They slacken off at the wrong moments, lack the killer instinct and are not attuned to the full 80-minute performance. Too often they allow opponents to run over the top of them. They basically have to harden up.”

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Wynne Gray tells Graham Henry exactly what he needs to do if he is to turn the All Blacks’ season around.

"This is the time for the All Blacks to dig deep and for Graham Henry to deliver all his expertise. New Zealand needs Henry to assume the Great Redeemer epithet bestowed on him when he started his international coaching career with Wales.

"Selection:

"Pick those who have been in some form rather than others like Joe Rokocoko, Brendon Leonard, Rodney So'oialo and Neemia Tialata the selectors felt needed a turn on the tour of South Africa.

"The All Blacks should be the summit of test rugby selection rather than being a team where players get a shot from time to time. All the candidates should get in some matchplay in the next few weeks where their skill, enthusiasm and readiness can be judged for Bledisloe II in Sydney."

Wynne Gray, writing in The New Zealand Herald, believes that the Air New Zealand Cup is a vital development tool.

"A few years ago, the branding for New Zealand's premier domestic rugby competition was based around the True Colours theme. It seemed a good idea, until Auckland unveiled an alternate version of their traditional blue-and-white hoops. So much for True Colours.

"Auckland have reverted to their original jerseys this year and there is also a revisionist feel about the national championship.

"There was certainly a new fervour percolating around the opening round of this year's series last weekend, while on the other side of the world the All Blacks were going through their struggles.

"While much of the test scene has an artificial edge about it these days, there is enough of a raw attraction about the national championship to pull in admirers."

In The Independent, Peter Bills challenges the Springboks to make history by defending their World Cup in 2011.

"If the Springboks' march towards their first Tri-Nations title since 2004 continues apace on Saturday against Australia in Cape Town, and there seems no reason on earth why it shouldn't, then just one more target will stretch before these Springboks.

"In the 22 years of the Rugby World Cup, no country has ever won back-to-back tournaments. The closest anyone has come to rugby's Holy Grail was Australia, winners in 1999 and runners-up in 2003, and then after extra time.

"Manifestly, these South Africans have the capacity to make history in that regard. By the time of the next World Cup, they should still have most of this side available.

"The only question marks would appear to be against three players: John Smit, Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha. Smit will be 33 when the 2011 tournament starts in New Zealand, Matfield 35 and Botha 32. Otherwise, there is an argument to be made that just about every other player in the team will be, injuries permitting of course, virtually at their peak.

"These will be the ages in 2011 of the rest of the team that played in Durban last Saturday: Frans Steyn 24, JP Pietersen 25, Jaque Fourie 28, Jean de Villiers 30, Bryan Habana 28; Morne Steyn 27, Fourie du Preez 29; ‘Beast' Mtawarira 26, Bismarck du Plessis 27, Heinrich Brussow 25, Juan Smith 30 and Pierre Spies 26."

Chris Rattue, writing in The New Zealand Herald, believes that time is up for the All Blacks' coaching team.

"All Black coach Graham Henry and his cohorts should be sacked. Enough is enough.

"It's time for the clean out, the night of the long knives, the great purge. You would have to ask serious questions over the quality of the NZRU executive and board as well, given their dalliances with the national provincial competition and staggering decision to reappoint Henry after the last World Cup.

"The Kremlin is full of arrogance and rot, and it's well past the time when this decaying monolith is forced to start all over again. The national game needs leaders with clear thought, charisma and a positive outlook not based on excuse-making for their failures. The All Black coaching and selection panel is the immediate problem to sort out."

The New Zealand Herald's Wynne Gray takes a look at an area of perceived All Black strength that has failed to materialise - scrum-half.

"Halfback was always going to be one of the All Black strengths this season. Separating the merits of Jimmy Cowan, Piri Weepu and Brendon Leonard loomed as the most difficult task as the trio made a break ahead of injured former international Andy Ellis.

"Six tests into the season it remains an awkward choice, but for different reasons. Cowan was dragged off soon after halftime in the latest defeat to the Boks before Weepu gave another middling replacement display while Leonard watched from the stand.

"After a sparky Super 14 season ended by a hamstring injury, Leonard has not recaptured that zip against Italy or the Boks in his twin starts. He looks like he needs a regular burst of national championship matchplay to recapture that potency.

"Cowan has been the preferred halfback in the last four Bledisloe Cup tests where he has been abrasive and constructive. He was subdued in the weekend against the Boks and, presumably under instructions, used a strange mixture of box kicks in his own territory."

Owen Slot, writing in The Times, heads to Toulon to check up on Jonny Wilkinson's progress ahead of the new season.

"You do not need to know Jonny Wilkinson particularly well to enjoy his story of his maiden trip to the club gym. He tells it because it wryly mocks both himself and the culture at Toulon, his new team in the south of France.

"It is Day 1 and there he is in the gym, before 8am, as keen as any new recruit would be to make a good impression. He finds he is sandwiched between one group of club-mates, the 7am-ers and the second wave at 8am. He starts doing stretches and warm-ups but cannot get down to work because the 7am-ers all come and shake his hand with a warm “Ça va?” He then starts to do some weights but every time he gets going, one of the 8am-ers arrives and shakes his hand with another friendly “Ça va?” How can he be diligent, hard-working Jonny with all this going on?

"But within days, he has realised that acceptance must come before frustration. Every morning he must go through this, before he can put his Wilko hard-work head on; he, like everyone else in the squad, has to ensure that he has shaken hands with all the others. It is the French way.

"He is learning, but has not yet cracked, the regional differences of the morning greeting, the handshakes and hand slaps. Some do the French double-kiss, the players from the Mediterranean rest their heads against each other, like a kissing of temples."

On Rugby Heaven, Phil Wilkins takes a look back at the 1979 Wallabies.

""David Brockhoff was the son of a flour miller, emerging from the packaging plant at No.1 Glebe Road in the evenings and dashing off to training at Sydney University Oval covered in flour, the truest of white collar workers.

"But he was a blue collar worker by day, walking the waterside and industrial Sydney through Woolloomooloo, Surry Hills and Pyrmont as company salesman, boiling the billy with wharfies and bringing Blue Bottle lemonade to the girls "coming off duty" in Palmer Street.

"He never lost the common touch nor was afraid to make hard decisions. Tall, vigorous, an 11-second, 100-yard sprinter, he played for Scots College’s First XV for three years, represented Combined GPS, played his way into Sydney University’s First XV and toured New Zealand with Combined Australian Universities as breakaway only to be recalled for Australia’s two Tests against NZ Maori."

Gavin Rich, writing in The Cape Argus, advises caution over heralding Heinrich Brussow as the next big thing in world rugby.

"It's just that when you have been in this business for a while you learn to defer judgement. "Mistakes that have been made by this pen include referring to Chris Rossouw as 'the new Stephen Larkham' when he had played just one game for Western Province. Ouch!

"It happens to everyone. The other day I stumbled across the archive for my columns, and I came across one written eight years ago titled 'The new Joost is like Dolly the Sheep'.

"It was about a young scrumhalf being written up as the new Joost van der Westhuizen after he scored four tries for the Blue Bulls in a Currie Cup match. This was a guy many other critics, but not this one, were tipping to become a Bok. His name was Coenrad Groenewald. Anyone heard of him since then?"

Peter Bills, writing for The Belfast Telegraph, is pleased to see the understated Dan Carter back in action.

"As locations go for comebacks, it might have been sexier. North Harbour’s rugby ground just across the water from Auckland sees the return early this morning our time of a player who stands alone as certainly the most valuable in New Zealand and arguably in the entire game.

"Daniel Carter has not run onto a rugby ground to play a match since Saturday, January 31, when he represented the French club Perpignan against Stade Francais at the Stade de France. In the last minute of that club game, he tore an Achilles tendon.

"Thus, Carter’s return represents a significant event. Wearing the colours of his province Canterbury, Carter will seek to demonstrate that he is almost ready for a recall to the familiar jersey of the All Blacks.

"But what interests me most about Dan Carter is not what sort of a rugby player he is."