Springbok coach Peter De Villiers talks to his troops © Getty Images

Sports psychologist Henning Gericke divulges his 10-point plan for the Springboks on iol.co.za.

"There are a number of rugby supporters who don’t hold much hope of the Springboks winning the World Cup in New Zealand next year. The criticism of coach Peter de Villiers and several players has been harsh, to say the least, but it has also been justified: The Boks have not enjoyed a good 2010 season, losing five of their six matches in the Tri-Nations.

"But more than the poor results, several senior players lost form, poor selections were made and more recently De Villiers went behind the backs of his two assistant coaches Gary Gold and Dick Muir seeking new lieutenants.

"And now, a week out from the kickoff to the Grand Slam tour – which includes Tests against Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England and the Barbarians – the Boks have it all to do."

Eddie Butler ponders the respective hopes of the Home Unions prior to the arrival of the southern hemisphere's superpowers in The Observer.

"There used to be a digital display at London's Paddington station showing the size of the US national debt. Dollars rose by the fistful, by the nano-second, although I presume the bankers would have reassured us that the numbers that mattered, the trillions owed, moved more slowly. Hell, what did they know?

"The display has vanished, presumably because they ran out of space. It would have been interesting to see platforms 1, 2 and 3, with services to Penzance, Bristol Temple Meads and Swansea, elbowed aside by the General Motors bail-out.

"Still, as one counter stops running up debt, another ticks down time. As the November internationals approach, we are reminded that the 2011 Rugby World Cup clock is now running, with just over 10 months to go before the tournament opens in Auckland. And the question grows more pressing: is anybody in the northern hemisphere in any position to challenge the southern?"

Paul Ackford previews England's tilt at their November international programme in his blog for The Daily Telegraph.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all you need to know about England as they head into a demanding autumn schedule of fixtures against New Zealand, Australia, Samoa and South Africa, because if Johnson is right, if his two years in charge has been an exercise in getting England to the point where they can compete on equal terms with the best of the southern hemisphere, then he will have justified his appointment.

"There is an argument that he might have done just that. It is rather flimsy in nature and it won't bear too much scrutiny, but it is based on an improved performance against France in Paris in what, after all, was a Grand Slam game for the French, and a rare away victory against the Wallabies in the summer.

"Johnson can claim that those efforts were an indication of what England on his watch are at last capable of. He can also claim that in Ben Youngs, Courtney Lawes, Tom Croft, Ben Foden, Dan Cole and Chris Ashton, he has nurtured a crop of players who are a dozen or so games away from titling at world class."

Marc Hinton believes that England will struggle to deal with the pace of the game against New Zealand next weekend on stuff.co.nz.

"It was easy to imagine Martin Johnson's pasty Englishmen turning an even whiter shade of pale as they watched last night's pulsating fourth Bledisloe in Hong Kong snatched brilliantly at the finish by the Wallabies.

"The pace it was played at, the intensity, the skill level, they were all aspects that must have had the Englishmen glancing sideways in rather nervous fashion. "It's us next," they would have been thinking as James O'Connor sensationally stole a scintillating 26-24 victory for the Australians with his try and then testing conversion.

"But more than that, the fabulous Australian victory, achieved with a degree of assistance from some surprising shoddiness from the New Zealanders at the end, must have the English anticipating a backlash."

Richard Loe points the finger at several All Blacks in the wake of their Hong Kong loss to the Wallabies in The New Zealand Herald.

"Just as well Graham Henry got warned for speeding last week. After that match in Hong Kong last night, you get the feeling he might have had the book thrown at him if he'd been caught this week.

"The Wallabies deserved their win. They missed 14 or 16 points and should have won more easily than they did. Robbie Deans must have been tearing out his hair watching their mistakes; simple things like tactical kicking and balls hoofed out on the full.

"But - and this is a big but - the All Blacks did not play well. They looked rusty, tired, out of sorts for much of the match and you could point a finger at half a dozen of them."

Bath's Lewis Moody will make a timely return to action this weekend © Getty Images

Mark Lawford of the Daily Mail looks ahead to the eagerly awaited return to action of England's Lewis Moody.

"He's been a lousy patient but now Lewis Moody is ready to grab the ball by the horns again. The England captain suffered a potentially career-ending injury last month, a bang in the eye causing temporary blindness, giving him a headache and England boss Martin Johnson a migraine.

"It took the gloss of what had been a bright start at his new club Bath and with the World Cup less than a year away and the Investec Internationals over the next four weeks, the timing could not have been worse.

"But although the 32-year-old flanker bruised the retina of his left eye and has been told he will suffer permanent distorted vision as a result, the injury has cleared up enough in a month for him to return to action for Bath against Harlequins tomorrow - and then New Zealand on November if he can stay clear of further problems."

In his regular column in The Independent, former England boss Brian Ashton looks ahead to the autumnal Tests.

"Now we are just about done with the Octoberfest – or, in Saracens' case, the Oktoberfest – we can look towards the November Test-fest and ask ourselves the usual question: is it meaningful, or meaningless?

"A lot has been said and written just recently about the ever-increasing volume of international rugby, and depending on where you sit, cross-hemisphere matches between teams at the start of their season and opponents at the end of theirs are either full of importance or empty of significance.

"This much is certain: many of the finest players in the world will be in these islands over the next four weeks or so, and if they bring the best of their ambition with them, we stand a fighting chance of witnessing something memorable."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Tony Ward argues that Ireland boss Declan Kidney must field his strongest side in the upcoming clashes with the Springboks and the All Blacks.

"As thoughts now turn towards the Autumn Series and the South African challenge comes sharply into view, it is time to assess the objectives, the options and the likely plan of action for Declan Kidney ahead of a fixture schedule embracing four physically demanding Tests on successive November weekends for the first time.

"Naturally, the Springboks and All Blacks matches, probably in reverse order (with respect to the reigning world champions), leap out but if the Samoans travel with anything close to a full tank then they, along with the Argentinian visit to close the series, will offer little room for physical respite. Whatever else, the November Series is guaranteed to test Irish rugby in intensity and strength in depth.

"The application of the squad game is key in the modern era but Ireland must seize the day and that means fielding the strongest available side at each time of asking. For Kidney, Gert Smal and co, it necessitates balancing physical exertion with knocks and bruises in search of the most effective combination for each successive game. The option of experimentation with a view to New Zealand 2011 simply doesn't exist. Selection for each of the four games must be measured and based on the here and now."

The Sharks' Jacques Botes © Getty Images

Gavin Rich previews a potential classic of a Currie Cup final between the Sharks and Western Province on Supersport.

"The ability of an experienced Sharks tight five to turn the tables on the Western Province unit that dominated them three weeks ago will be what decides where the Absa Currie Cup trophy will be spending Christmas.

"That the two finalists in what is expected to be a classic finale to the South African home season at Absa Stadium are well matched has been documented over and over during the past two weeks.

"There really isn’t much separating the teams, who both won 10 matches in the league season, lost to pretty much the same opponents along the way, and who have both played crowd pleasing rugby for much of the competition."

Shaun Edwards bids farewell to one England legend in Phil Vickery and points out a future hero in Courtney Lawes in The Guardian.

"We all need our superstars. Players we can hook in to, possibly even bond with, even if it's only through the television. They are the jewels in the crown, the big men who stamp their identity on an era. So if one heads for retirement, it is more than convenient that another comes along to occupy the void left behind.

"If Phil Vickery, World Cup winner, England captain and arguably the best tight-head prop his country ever had, announced his retirement yesterday, then Courtney Lawes has been shouting his arrival for a little while now. It's just that on Sunday, at close quarters, it dawned on me just what the young man might achieve.

"First Vickery, as nice a man as he is a great player. The good guy who came first. In a lifetime playing at the top he has had half a dozen injuries that would have ended most careers, but until a few weeks ago he still hoped that he might get his England place back. That's resilience."

Greg Growden previews the Wallabies' Hong Kong showdown with New Zealand in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The Wallabies and All Blacks sides vary considerably in terms of age, success and consistency, but they have taken the same approach for tomorrow night's final Bledisloe Cup match by selecting only those accustomed to glory.

"It may be a dead rubber, and spectator interest in Hong Kong is lukewarm at best but, as shown by yesterday's team selections, both countries are treating it as possibly the most important cup encounter of the season.

"Less than a year from the World Cup and with no more trans-Tasman encounters for nine months, it is a significant encounter in which the Wallabies can gain much-needed momentum and confidence or suffer destabilisation. If they can't beat them at home or on neutral territory, what hope have the Wallabies in beating the All Blacks on their home turf in next year's World Cup? For the All Blacks, it is a chance to really assert their dominance."

Dylan Cleaver is struggling to define what a successful November tour for the All Blacks would look like in The New Zealand Herald.

"It is a curious situation when the All Blacks head off on a tour where it is simple to measure failure, but difficult to gauge success.

"There is an expectation that the All Blacks will come home unbeaten. Okay, there's an expectation that the All Blacks will win every test they play whether it's justified or not, but this time logic, not an inherent arrogance, tells you that potential pratfalls are few and far between.

"The Wallabies in Hong Kong tomorrow night loom as the biggest impediment to an unbeaten tour, though if Australia win it will be their first in 11 attempts."

Brian Moore pays tribute to the now retired Phil Vickery © Getty Images

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, former England hooker Brian Moore pays tribute to the retiring Phil Vickery.

"What do you do when the man with whom you are about to lock in mortal combat, has an oriental tattoo which translated means 'I'll fight you to the death' and when you know he is a qualified cattle inseminator? You feel nervous.

"Ever since his earliest playing days with Redruth, Philip John Vickery, MBE, has been posing problems for opposition props. On my last visit to Redruth the club was quick to remind me of Vickery's association and there was nothing but praise for his contribution and attitude while he was growing through their Colts team. That is what you get from people when you talk about Vickery – praise.

"Was it obvious that he would one day reach the highest heights? Yes, if you ask the Redruth faithful. Vickery's sheer power and size were different to the rest, as was his quiet determination and unwillingness to compromise when the tough stuff started. After gaining England Under 16 and Colts caps, Vickery's move to Gloucester was logical on both geographical and psychological levels. Gloucester rugby back then had an earthiness that brooked no pseuds, no posers and accepted only with reluctance, backs. Vickery was naturally attuned to the prosaic approach of Gloucester."

Peter Bills was in the Stade de France last weekend to see the latest in Stade Francais owner Max Guazzini's spectacular productions and he describes it in detail in The Irish Independent.

"It wasn't something you see at rugby grounds every week. Entombed within a faux wall, a plaster of Paris- type creation, the half-naked girl lay draped upon the top of a cage in which a huge leopard prowled. By the time eight enormous men, dressed only in silk loincloth, complete with another 16 dressed as Roman guards, had wheeled the float onto the field and to the centre of the Stade de France in Paris last Saturday night, the girl and the leopard hidden inside must have been rather well acquainted. So they opened the faux plaster, to appropriate music, and the audience gasped at the sight of this beautiful creature. The animal, I mean, but you could have put a different interpretation on it.

"The girl was helped down from the roof of the cage, clutching a golden rugby ball. She wore a thigh-length, silk sash-type creation, which was swung across her body, leaving one enormous breast completely uncovered. She walked to the sideline holding high the ball. And as the players from Stade Francais and Toulon exploded onto the pitch amid this chaotic backdrop of climactic music and spectacle, the half-naked girl handed the ball to a player. Never mind the man with the golden gun; this was rugby's version of the girl with the golden breast.

"When you attend one of Max Guazzini's French rugby spectaculars, it's best to leave behind any preconceived images of a rugby occasion. But this being Paris and this being a home game for Stade Francais, you go expecting anything."

Writing in The New Zealand Herald, Chris Rattue lets fly at Steve Hansen who has called for the country's rugby media to keep team news a secret until the management make announcements.

"They mistakenly believe that an entire country should be - and even is - in a Kremlin-style rugby camp. All journalists face tricky situations at times, and may choose to withhold a story knowing there will be a better payoff down the line. This can be a grey area of no hard and fast rights or wrongs.

"But a blanket agreement such as Hansen is suggesting is totally unacceptable. The rugby media, a thin line in this country, will fight such trends to the bitter end and cop the consequences if any. The rot must stop here. If Hansen doesn't want certain information in the media, he must try to keep it secret. And the media's job is to try and find out about it. Simple really. A number of journalists have suggested to me that Hansen might have been joking. He's never struck me as a comical bloke."

Gavin Henson he would never have spent his late 20s ballroom dancing if he had belief on the rugby pitch according to James Lawton © Getty Images

Writing in The Independent, James Lawton believes Gavin Henson lacks the belief that could have made him one of the greats.

"One of the more poignant aspects of Henson's situation is that at 28 he is a year older than his compatriot Barry John, arguably the greatest rugby player of them all, when he turned his back on the game a year after being crowned King John during a mesmerising tour of New Zealand. The comparison is savage because, psychologically, John was everything that Henson isn't – or ever likely to be. When he attended his first Welsh team session, John was asked by the older, and firmly established, Gareth Edwards how he would like the ball to be delivered, long or short. "You throw it, Gareth, I'll catch it," said the luminous neophyte.

"Henson was never going to dull the memory of John's genius but if he had showed, say five years ago, some of that self-confidence, the idea that he would be tentatively reconsidering a return to the game in 2010 would have been incredible. In 2005 he had a passionate rugby nation in his thrall. He was man of the match when the English were beaten and he landed a 48-metre penalty in the last moments. He had nerves of steel then, if not the deepest ambition.

"As late as the spring of last year Warren Gatland, the Welsh coach and assistant of the 2009 Lions in South Africa, was attempting to keep the door open for a reluctant protégé. He asked him to tour with Wales to keep alive a chance to make an impact with the Lions which was denied him four years earlier in New Zealand. Henson's mind and heart wasn't in it and now you have to wonder how deeply committed he is to possibly his last chance of exploiting gifts for which so many of his peers would give so much."

The Guardian's Owen Gibson meets RFU chief executive John Steele who is keen for England to deliver at all levels of rugby.

"It is for logistical rather than symbolic reasons that we are meeting at Old Albanian rugby club in Hertfordshire rather than Twickenham, but it allows Steele to make the point that he hopes to nurture the grassroots as well as the elite game, especially the enthusiastic volunteers that sustain it. "As a nation, our society and culture is changing. There are different pressures on young people. We have to move with the times and demonstrate why you should want to play rugby and why you should be part of a rugby club."

"The challenge is a pressing one. According to the latest Sport England figures, the number of adults playing rugby once a week has gone down from 230,300 in 2007-08 to 192,600 in the last 12 months. Rugby will also be hit disproportionately hard by the recent round of cuts that will reduce Sport England's spending on upfront capital projects, money that was often relied upon to refurbish changing rooms and clubhouses.

"Steele is pleasantly surprised by the ways in which the sport progressed while he was away. But while he was enjoying a successful tenure at UK Sport rugby did suffer the Bloodgate scandal and there was a creeping fear that professionalism was eating away at the values that have defined the game. He is clear that rugby must not follow football in recklessly speculating in the hope of reaping future rewards. "When professionalism started it was a bit like the Wild West and everyone was riding out to see what they could find. There is a more considered and objective approach now. We have to be realistic. There aren't many viable rugby businesses, they are reliant on benefactors or investors at whatever level."

Writing for the Irish Examiner, Donal Lenihan rubbishes the theory that rugby moves in four year cycles as he looks ahead to the November internationals.

"Exactly one year out from last Sunday night, a new world champion will be crowned in Auckland. Given that the November window of activity present the last chance for Ireland to face Tri Nations sides before they meet pool opponents Australia next September, the next few weeks provide an opportunity and a systems check for the Irish management.

"Firstly let me say that I don’t buy into the concept of the four years cycle. Yes the conclusion of a World Cup tournament can provide a fitting and timely exit strategy for a player who has given his all for club and country and such an approach is understandable. But for those who wish to continue on the international stage the prospect that he could be too long in the tooth by the next tournament should not preclude him from the immediate plans of the national coach.

"Ireland, in particular, does not have the luxury of discarding experience on that basis and it is clear this management has never gone down that road. Sometimes you can over-prepare for a World Cup. Take New Zealand in 2007 when Graham Henry attempted to plan from a year out as to what his squad would be doing every day in competition. This backfired spectacularly when his side crashed out against France in that epic Millennium Stadium quarter-final. New Zealand had expected to be playing Ireland in the Cardiff venue that night. By way of contrast England, in disarray after being hammered 36-0 by South Africa in only their second pool game, somehow re-invented themselves in the midst of a crisis to reach a second successive World Cup final against all the odds."

Jonny Wilkinson has been in fine form for Toulon this season © Getty Images

Peter Bills of The Independent is adamant that England team manager Martin Johnson should resist the urge to hand Jonny Wilkinson the No.10 jersey for the autumn internationals.

"Jonny Wilkinson kicked four penalties and dropped a goal to score all Toulon’s points in their 22-15 defeat by Stade Francais in Paris at the weekend.

"A neat statistical factor mirrored by another – Wilkinson is easily the leading points scorer in all of French rugby this season with 150 points after 10 games, an average of 15. He has been in superb form with the boot to propel Toulon into fourth place of the French League Top 14.

"And yet, and yet... if England are serious about expanding their game in anything like the same way countries such as New Zealand did this year in the Tri-Nations, there is no way on earth they should choose Wilkinson in their autumn internationals, certainly not in the starting role for the No.10 jersey."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Hugh Farrelly reviews the weekend's Magners League action.

"It probably says something about our current status in Celtic and European rugby, but when we get less than a 75pc return from our four professional teams on any given weekend, there is a distinct air of disappointment. The fact that two of those teams were playing against each other is almost irrelevant.

"For Ulster and Connacht, it was a hugely disappointing addition to the losing European experience of the fortnight before (Connacht in Italy, Ulster in France). At least Brian McLaughlin's men returned from Murrayfield with a bonus point for their evening's work. Alas, for Eric Elwood and Connacht, no such luck.

"They deserved better despite coming second to a fired-up Leinster - who dominated possession on the way to a fourth victory on the bounce. Make no mistake, the Joe Schmidt era is well and truly up and running.

"For Munster, too, it made for a fruitful Friday with a five-tries-to-one demolition of under-strength Treviso."

Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times attempts to get to the bottom of the sudden rise in injuries within Declan Kidney's Ireland squad.

"What has happened to the injury ratio among Irish players? Time was when the IRFU’s medical care and back-up were beyond reproach. Coupled with careful game management, this meant a relatively small pool of outstanding players could regularly pitch up and perform for country and province. But cracks are now appearing in the edifice.

"Remember the 15 Untouchables? Eddie O’Sullivan’s favoured XV went through the entire 2007 Six Nations virtually en bloc, only Brian O’Driscoll and Peter Stringer missing the second game against France at Croke Park. Excused duty from the ensuing summer tour to Argentina, sure enough the Untouchables rolled up for the World Cup opener against Namibia despite O’Driscoll’s scare in the Battle of Bayonne.

"Whatever went wrong in the World Cup, it wasn’t down to injuries, and between 2005 and 2010 only once did Ireland start more than 19 players in any one Six Nations campaign. Indeed, for the ’09 Grand Slam campaign, Declan Kidney could have picked the same 15 players for all five games had he so wanted, instead making three changes for the penultimate match against Scotland."

Wasps No.8 Andy Powell is set to win a recall for Wales’ clash against South Africa on November 13, according to Graham Clutton in the Daily Telegraph .

“Despite missing out on a place in coach Warren Gatland's 33-man squad for the upcoming, four-match series, it is understood that Powell will be called up after the opening game against Australia a week on Saturday.

The former Cardiff Blues forward was not eligible for that game anyway, as the November 6 showdown falls outside of the international window. His inclusion will certainly beef up a Wales pack that will need to be at its best against the Springboks, Fijians and finally, on November 27, against New Zealand.

For Powell himself, who won the first of his 12 caps against South Africa in November 2008, it would represent a realistic opportunity to challenge for a place in Gatland's World Cup squad next autumn.”

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Dylan Cleaver lays into the predictability of the ITM Cup and suggests that the National Provincial Championship has been a letdown this season.

"Bit of a damp squib that turned out to be, then. After a season that started out with a hundred potential storylines - the return of Tana Umaga, the introduction of Sonny Bill Williams - the national provincial championship has been pared down to a tired old cliche: the four functioning Super rugby franchise bases will take their place in the ITM Cup semifinals.

"Stifle yawn.

"The goodwill towards rugby that returned like a spring swell in rugby's heartland provinces will now be swamped by a wave of apathy as the metropolitans thumb their noses at the playoffs, their attention instead turning towards the corporate Christmas party season.

"The prospect of another (choose your own combination from the three) Auckland-Canterbury-Wellington final is no match for Grabbit & Loophole's Miami Vice-themed soiree at the Viaduct Basin.

"Waikato offer some hope of tournament salvation. Their demolition of Canterbury in the weekend was comprehensive and Waikato Stadium is small enough to offer the hope of a near full-house, though it has been a while since the turnstiles clicked at a decent cadence in Hamilton.

"It's a disappointing end to a great competition."

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Josh Rakic suggests that winger Rod Davies could be set to become the fastest player to appear for Australia.

"Queensland Reds flyer Rod Davies is set to become perhaps the fastest player to don a Wallabies jersey if he makes his Test debut against the All Blacks in Hong Kong on Saturday and his emergence has highlighted there will be big-name casualties when the Wallabies name their World Cup squad next year.

With a personal best time of 10.8 seconds over 100 metres - three tenths of a second faster than Lachie Turner, who beat Jarryd Hayne in the race to decide Australia's fastest footballer - Davies will give the already talented Wallabies back line some express speed, an asset Robbie Deans has long-said the Wallabies lacked."

Sonny Bill Williams spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald about his new life as an All Black.

"'IT FEELS', says Sonny Bill Williams, 'like something out of the movies'. The script is just how he would have written it. Knowing he's not a character in a film but a real-life All Black has finally given him the confidence to call himself a rugby player.

"In Williams's grand plan, missing selection for this tour wouldn't have been a disaster - he knew he still had time to prove himself before the World Cup next year. And he was never confident that, given the competition, he had done enough to be picked. 'To do it in such a short time makes it much more sweet,' he says.

"But at this stage of his return home, it wasn't really about the All Blacks, yet. 'Coming back was about proving myself,' he says. 'Because I had proven myself in rugby league. Ask any player when you talk about what it means to a lot of them it is family and things like that."

The New Zealand Herald's Richard Loe assesses the New Zealand squad and although he's not sure he likes what he sees, he says he trusts Graham Henry and co.

"It's a strange thing, this All Black team. There are form players here, injured players left behind there, and more injured players selected all over the place. I just don't get it. You can't sling too many arrows at this selection panel as they have coached a fine team with a pretty darned extraordinary record - but I'm blowed if I can follow their logic. Maybe that's a good thing.

"Maybe their World Cup rivals won't understand what they're doing either. That must be it. It's a clever plot to confuse the hell out of everyone. Why take injured players like Andrew Hore or Keven Mealamu or Sitiveni Sivivatu who have had no or next to no rugby? Everyone knows all three of them will be in the World Cup squad, fitness and form permitting.

"So why not let them rest and recover? There will be accusing glances and statements if any one of those three gets injured on tour now. Why not build depth and talent by taking others away and giving them international experience? The only reason I can think of is Graham Henry and the All Black panel are keen to break the world record of 23 tests unbeaten and are placing their trust in battle-hardened veterans to do that, rather than treat the tour as more of a team-building exercise."

Writing in Sunday Independent, Brendan Fanning recalls a moment when Matt Williams summed up criticising referees, before assessing their impact on the game.

"One of the better lines from the rollercoaster career of Matt Williams in Ireland came on a crisp January evening back in 2001. Standing outside the changing room at the Bective end of Donnybrook, the Leinster coach was asked would he like to comment on referee Ashley Rowden who had just played a central role in a game that ended 34-34, a result which steepened drastically Leinster's climb out of their Heineken Cup pool.

"His pallor and body language suggested visiting an unspeakable evil on the referee, who had whistled his team off the park in the second half, seeing a comfortable winning lead disappear. "Aw look mate, complaining about the referee is like giving out about your wife to your mother-in-law!" We thought about that one for a minute and reckoned that maybe the best policy would be to open an account with the local florist for the missus and her mammy."

The Northern Hemisphere rugby nations are resigned to playing catch-up with New Zealand in terms of high-level performance, according to former England coach Brian Ashton - he talks to the New Zealand Herald's Peter Bills.

"Ashton admits he is yet to be convinced by the efforts of many of the Northern Hemisphere players to match the fast, flowing, penetrative style of rugby New Zealand employed in the Tri-Nations this year to capitalise on the new law interpretations.

"The laws have just caught up with what New Zealand were doing a year or two ago. They are two years ahead of most other countries although Australia possibly has the potential to produce the same type of game. The game New Zealand are playing is quicker, with less errors. The ball is in play far more than in this part of the world.

"Ultimately, it is the last 20 minutes of a game that gives the New Zealanders such an advantage. That is when they can blow you away, as they have shown many times particularly in Johannesburg in the Tri-Nations this year."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Will Greenwood reflects on Exeter's start to the Premiership season.

"At my age, I like to think that I don't get surprised. I see myself as street smart and craggy, a wrinkled face testament to my growing wisdom. But every now and then, a Kinder Egg of a team turns up and all my punditry melts like chocolate in a child's pocket. How else can I account for Exeter?

"This was a team that everyone thought would struggle. Instead they are causing problems to everyone they come across. This is a team, remember, whose winger, Mark Foster, had the nickname of 'Digital' at his old club because he had no hands.

"Well, he has suddenly found his mitts, and both he and Exeter have looked dangerous almost every week. They are not the best side around. I will not pretend that they are. But they have looked mean and moody, and they have put their noses to the grindstone and shown total commitment. From their first day in the top competition they have revelled in getting in among it. And they are nasty with it too, not afraid to mix the rough stuff."

Watching a rugby match unfold from an elevated position is always fascinating according to former England and Bath boss Brian Ashton, writing in The Independent.

"I would venture to suggest that the ideal vantage points are always high up in the "gods". During my time with England, I would often join other members of the coaching team, usually Phil Larder or Dave Alred, in seats at the very top of the Twickenham stand and pass messages to Clive Woodward via radio link. There is no place for the lazy player to hide when he's being tracked by people who can see exactly what he is doing, or rather, what he isn't doing, and anyone taking a breather from the responsibilities of front-line decision-making is immediately found out.

"I vividly remember an occasion before the 1999 World Cup when I sat with a very young Jonny Wilkinson, watching England play a warm-up game against a team drawn from the northern Premiership clubs at Anfield, of all places. In the first half, we chose seats at precisely the viewing level Jonny would have had if he had been out there on the field. In the second, we retreated to the very top of the stadium and looked down on proceedings. Jonny's reaction was interesting. "I didn't realise how much space there is on a rugby field," he told me. As an exercise in building awareness, what we did that evening was a great success."

Bruce Craig, Bath's multimillionaire owner, is a philanthropist with an edge and no little ambition, writes The Guardian's Rob Kitson.

"Bruce Craig, Bath's multimillionaire owner, gestures towards an empty antique table in the wood-panelled, Gothic-tinged splendour of Farleigh House. "The next time you come and interview me hopefully we'll have the European Cup and the Premiership trophy on there," he says breezily. The conversation swiftly moves on but the sliver of ambition embedded in his casual remark is unmistakable. In the brave new world of Bruce Almighty, there is no such thing as second best.

It is hard to understate the scale of his vision for the club and, by extension, English rugby. Imagine a mixture of Rugby Special and Downton Abbey and you start to get the idea. As he conducts a personal guided tour of the walled gardens and estate, Craig sounds as excited as anyone. "Look," he says, as we round a corner and encounter yet another gorgeous stone residence. "That's Ian McGeechan's house. The knight in his castle." McGeechan has seen everything in rugby but this is a parallel universe.

Which, it turns out, is entirely deliberate on Craig's part. Build it – the world's most spectacularly located training pitch, a £100m city centre stadium – and he reckons they will come, whether they be fans, drooling sponsors or the sport's leading players. As the rest of the country reels from draconian cuts, he is not noticeably suffering any economic pain. Having presided over the £956m sale of the pharmaceutical logistics company he founded, he is the country's 229th wealthiest person according to the Sunday Times 2010 Rich List, which put his personal worth at more than £300m."

Andy Powell is enjoying his new life in London © Getty Images

The Telegraph's Brendan Gallagher finds out how Wales and Wasps No 8 Andy Powell is adapting to life in London.

"As for the anonymity bit, however, Powell fell spectacularly at the first hurdle. In his wisdom, he has been renting a flat by Vauxhall Bridge next to the imposing MI5 headquarters and unwittingly is thus probably one of the most observed and photographed citizens in Britain as he goes about his daily business.

"Mostly that involves heading off early every morning for the Wasps training ground in far-flung Ealing and dragging himself wearily back in the early afternoon, but at least once a week the MI5 security cameras will catch him scurrying to Vauxhall Underground Station with a funny shaped bag over his shoulder. Powell loves golf – not just golf buggies – but a 15-month drink driving ban following that incident earlier this year means he now has to travel to the many fine courses on the outskirts of London by tube or train. It is a strangely endearing image that the spooks have been capturing."

Writing in his Guardian column, Shaun Edwards believes the balls being used in the Aviva Premiership are taking away from the mystique of long range kicking.

"I want to talk about balls – not just any balls but the ones we are using in the Premiership. They seem to go miles. Kickers are regularly landing 60-yard penalties and I think there is a danger of the balance of the game being skewed. The lawmakers have not always been my favourite people but hats off to them this time because we now seem to be playing a game where the emphasis is on running rather than kicking, where risk gets its reward and where the supporters get value for their hard-earned entrance fee.

"From the footage I have seen there will not be many who grumbled at the past two weeks of Heineken Cup but we are back to the league this weekend and back to the Gilbert ball that worries me because I feel it is giving too much reward. Twice, late in the game against Gloucester last month, Nicky Robinson banged over kicks from 60 yards, though I am not complaining because a week earlier we had beaten Leicester with Dave Walder doing a similar job on them.

"Put simply, I think the ball goes too far and that technology has to be reined in. I am not blaming Gilbert. It is their job to make improvements but things can go too far. For example, golf has had to reconfigure tournament courses as players hit the ball farther and farther and tennis is a very different game since rackets doubled in size."

Has Brendan Venter got a point? © Getty Images

Paul Rees delves into Brendan Venter's latest rant at the game's officials in The Guardian.

"Brendan Venter, and Saracens, are in trouble again with European Rugby Cup Ltd. The club faces being fined for not sending captain Steve Borthwick to the Heineken Cup launch while Venter is being investigated for remarks he made after last weekend's defeat to Leinster at Wembley.

"Saying nothing may cost as much as saying too much. Venter was exasperated by the interpretations of the referee Christophe Berdos at the breakdown, feeling the Frenchman was last year's model because he persistently penalised the attacking side and consequently discouraged attacking intent.

"I asked European Rugby Cup how much effort had gone in to ensuring all the referees were on the same level," said Venter. "They said nothing. That's a disaster. I could have guaranteed you this would happen. We don't have enough systems in place to feed back and show everyone what to do. There is a real danger that if we don't take action, going into a World Cup year, the game of rugby is going to die, because the public won't come to watch."

Peter Bills believes that the refereeing of the November Tests will go a long way to deciding the future of the game in The Irish Independent.

"The future of rugby union worldwide as a game worth playing and watching rests in the hands of a group of spindly men in funny-coloured shirts with a large whistle stuffed into their tonsils.

"Like 'em or loathe 'em, referees hold the key to whether this game is going to slip back to the sort of slow, dreary stalemate of the past in which cheating was endemic, or flourish in the style New Zealand produced in this year's Tri Nations.

"We are privileged; we have seen the future of what could again be an absolutely magnificent game. It was demonstrated primarily in New Zealand's early matches in the Tri Nations and it was devastating rugby, played at high pace with skills to match."

Gavin Rich talks to Western Province coach Allister Coetzee prior to next weekend's Currie Cup final on Supersport.

"It is not often a team plays in and loses a major final and then gets a chance to learn from the experience and atone for the defeat just five months later.

"By the time next week’s eagerly anticipated Absa Currie Cup decider arrives in Durban, five months will be the amount of time, almost exactly, that would have elapsed for Western Province since they played the Vodacom Super 14 final against the Bulls.

"Okay, so make it five months and one day to be precise, for the Super 14 match was played on 29 May and the domestic final will be played on 30 October."

Wynne Gray takes a look at Stephen Donald's claims to be the All Blacks' back-up to Dan Carter in The New Zealand Herald.

"It took Stephen Donald seven tests before he graduated from the subs bench to wear the All Black No 10 jersey.

"That day in Hong Kong two years ago, Donald started the test against the Wallabies with Daniel Carter outside him as a second pivot. It was an idea which did not quite gel and Donald was subbed soon after halftime and the All Blacks reverted to their regular Carter-Ma'a Nonu axis.

"Unless Carter makes some powerful progress from his ankle injury in the next week or so, Donald looks as though he will direct the All Black backline once more next Saturday against the Wallabies in Hong Kong."

Has Martin Johnson got time on his hands? © Getty Images

Robert Kitson wonders whether the pressure will soon be back on the shoulders of England manager Martin Johnson in The Guardian.

"The shelf-life of a top rugby coach seems to be getting longer. Warren Gatland has just signed up for another four years in charge of Wales, Graham Henry will have spent seven years as All Black coach by the time the World Cup comes around. Sir Clive Woodward also had seven years at the helm of England. The penny seems to be dropping across the world that consistent Test success is not conceived overnight.

"Which makes it all the more important that unions select the right bloke at the outset. There is so much to weigh up: a candidate's man-management and diplomatic qualities, whether his record at club level (if applicable) is transferable to the international game, whether his teams will play a brand of rugby that people want to pay to watch (a not insignificant concern in some parts these days) and, by no means least, whether or not he is a natural born winner? Seven defeats in Wales's last 10 games have led some to suggest that Gatland is a lucky man. Can you still be defined as a winner when your team loses two matches in every three?

"It depends, clearly, upon which country you happen to be coaching. Wales have not beaten New Zealand since 1953, so criticising their present coach for failing to topple the All Blacks is a bit like slagging off Max Boyce for failing to sing like Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The key is whether a coach still looks and sounds energised and whether his players are still listening. In both cases Gatland cuts the mustard; if Wales did not want him, someone else definitely would."

Gavin Rich welcomes a possible tactical rethink from the Springboks prior to their Grand Slam tour on Supersport.

"One of the messages that has come out of the South African Rugby Union headquarters this week was that one of the main reasons a national training camp has been called this week is so that the players can get together and discuss a game-plan for the end of year tour.

"If that is so, then it makes sense. Clearly there is a lot for them to discuss after a Tri-Nations season where the Springboks bombed quite spectacularly and a Currie Cup season where the Sharks led the way in the league stages and up to the final playing a style of rugby which to a considerable extent mimics the high-tempo approach of the All Blacks.

"During the away leg of the Tri-Nations it became evident that the Boks were caught between a rock and a hard place in that the World Cup-winning template was no longer working against New Zealand and Australian teams that exploited the new law interpretations which favour attacking teams."

Richard Knowler tips Sonny Bill Williams to enjoy greater success in union than his code-crossing predecessors in The Press.

"Shontayne Hape, Lesley Vainakolo, Henry Paul and Sonny Bill Williams.

"They are all dual internationals, having played for the Kiwis rugby league team before jumping codes, but only one, Canterbury's Williams, has been named in an All Blacks side since rugby went professional in late 1995.

"History is littered with All Blacks who defected from the amateur ranks to chase the cash in rugby league, but finding those that have executed the move in reverse is more taxing."

Chris Rattue eulogises about Sonny Bill Williams while aiming his latest broadside at northern hemisphere rugby in The New Zealand Herald.

"Northern Hemisphere rugby should be trembling in its boots because an era is dawning in which their inept and often static brand of rugby will be left even further behind by the new breed of All Black super back.

"Whatever you may think of Sonny Bill Williams the person - and his actions towards the Canterbury Bulldogs and Kiwis still sticks firmly in this craw - the footballer is a remarkable beast, who has the potential to turn the All Blacks into a devastating unit.

"The size, power and skill of the All Black backline selected for next month's northern tour is something to behold. Williams, Ma'a Nonu, Hosea Gear, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Isaia Toeava and co represent a fearsome if somewhat unproven prospect. The All Blacks could throw the equally devastating Rene Ranger, Robbie Fruean and maybe even Richard Kahui into the mix, while Piri Weepu and Israel Dagg will figure when injuries are healed."

Ireland face a tough November schedule © Getty Images

Hugh Farrelly calls for form to be the key word during Ireland's November international campaign in The Irish Independent.

"All things considered, the first seven weeks of the Irish rugby season have gone pretty well.

"The combined challenges of injury issues, the micro-managing of international players and a couple of horrendous Heineken Cup draws had led to forecasts of a 'holding' season for Irish rugby -- low on trophies, high on World Cup influence.

"However, while all four provinces have had their off-days, they have come through well. Munster top the Magners League, with an unbeaten Ulster a point behind them in third, while Connacht have a five-team buffer between themselves and their customary berth on the basement floor."

Marc Hinton believes that Warren Gatland's decision to remain in Wales is a blow to New Zealand rugby on stuff.co.nz.

"Warren Gatland's surprise decision to re-up with Welsh rugby for another four years has some serious repercussions for New Zealand rugby.

"Gatland, the former All Black hooker, has extended his current contract with Wales through until the end of 2015, a deal purported to be worth as much as $1 million a year.

"The feeling is it must have been a heck of an offer to persuade Gatland to not only stay on in Wales for another four years, but to recommit so soon, still the best part of a year out from the World Cup."

Mark Thomas attempts to apply some sporting laws to the world of business in The New Zealand Herald.

"Not long ago, our All Blacks were labelled the "biggest cheats in world rugby". Our captain countered by asking who is squeaky clean, and even the NRL referees' boss was suspended over awarding a controversial try.

"Isn't it a good thing that sporting rules are so high-profile? It hammers home, to public and players alike, the importance of policies and why we have them - and that's just as true in the world of business as it is in the world of sport. But where was that scrutiny with the recent corporate collapses around the globe?"

Brendan Gallagher is firmly on the side of Premier Rugby in the latest club v country row between Wales and English clubs in The Daily Telegraph.

"The Wales coach is reportedly "fuming" that Premier Rugby, in accordance with IRB guidelines it should be stated, won't be releasing the likes of Dwayne Peel and Andy Powell until August 4 next summer which, by my reckoning, is a full 38 days before Wales' opening World Cup match against South Africa in Wellington. I mean really how can anybody be expected to prepare for a tournament in just 38 days?

"Seriously. Just how much time do international coaches want these days? If Gatland had selected the English-based duo for the autumn internationals yesterday he would have access to them for the best part of a month in November while another two months "together" beckons in February and March during the Six Nations. It's not as if national coaches will be getting to July next and starting from scratch most of the ground work should already be in place. If not why not?"

Leicester's Thomas Waldrom celebrates his try against the Scarlets © Getty Images

There are 24 teams in the Heineken Cup. No more than a fortnight into the tournament, it is transparently clear that two-thirds of them are making up the numbers, according to The Independent's Chris Hewett.

"Welford Road was an absolute bear pit yesterday: between them, the Tigers' coaches Richard Cockerill and Matt O'Connor generated more heat and noise than 82,000 England supporters ever produce at Twickenham, and even if the visitors had been tougher, nastier and less weak-minded than Scarlets, they would still have found it a scary place to be.

"The Welshmen are fast building a reputation as one of the best counter-attacking sides in Europe, but as they had no way of countering the Leicester pack in any phase of the forward game anywhere on the field, their opportunities to attack could be counted on the fingers of one hand. If they suffer a worse hiding than this any time soon, they will be within their rights to ask the almighty what it is he has against them.

"At the heart of the Midlanders' exceptional performance was Thomas Waldrom, their summer signing from All Black country. A useful career as a Super 14 back-rower with the Canterbury Crusaders, who win that elite competition at least as often as not, is testament to his powers, but it is doubtful whether the Christchurch faithful ever witnessed a better performance than the one he delivered here."

Sonny Bill Williams insists that once he puts the famous All Blacks jersey on he will be 'ready to rumble'. The New Zealand Herald's Wynne Gray reports.

"When Sonny Bill Williams turned on his mobile phone after flying north from Christchurch, the first message of congratulations came from his mum.

"About 20 messages popped up, but the first one I read was the old lady's, she was pretty happy," Williams revealed.

"Woo hoo I'm the proudest mum in New Zealand," the message read.

Williams' flight was delayed, but once he heard the news and detoured to complete his media duties at Eden Park, he was heading off to celebrate with his mother.

Williams thanked his rugby mentor Tana Umaga who had texted congratulations, All Black coaches Graham Henry and Wayne Smith for helping him to overcome his self doubts and the rugby public in New Zealand for being so supportive since his return home. "It has really helped my self-confidence as a person, grow."

Munster offered a signal of intent with a shock-and-awe slaughter of mighty Toulon, so writes the Irish Independent's Hugh Farrelly.

"Another riotous entry on Munster's 'Hooked on Classics' album, this thumping victory over Top 14 heavyweights Toulon had all the characteristics of the province's best European days over the last 10 years.

A 'win or bust' prerogative against highly rated opponents. A cacophony of noise from a Thomond Park full house determined to play their part in proceedings.

Refereeing injustice, as Wayne Barnes and his team ignored a preposterous pass that allowed Toulon open the try-scoring while Munster waited for the whistle to sound.

A pantomime villain in Felipe Contepomi, whose slow second-half trudge to the sin-bin elicited the loudest roars of the day.

Peter Stringer firing the ball out with dizzying speed and accuracy and executing a trademark ankle tap when Toulon broke free. Ronan O'Gara kicking the ball over from all angles and exuding the control that saw him honoured as this competition's most effective operator last season.

And, an overall intensity from the men in red jerseys that totally swamped the opposition, sounding out a war cry that will be heard all over Europe."

The pressure on Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and his assistants to keep their jobs appears to have brought about a change in plan and prompted them to opt for the strongest available team for South Africa’s Grand Slam tour next month. Sport24's Rudolph Lake reports.

"Sport24 understands that De Villiers decided to pick the strongest possible Bok team following discussions with senior players and rugby bosses the past week.

The Boks also play the Barbarians in the first week of December, but are unlikely to field a full-strength side then.

De Villiers and his two assistants, Dick Muir and Gary Gold, came under fire the past few weeks about the Springboks’ weak performances against New Zealand and Australia in the Tri-Nations. The Boks could win only one of their six Tests against the All Blacks and Wallabies.

De Villiers dodged the axe, while Gold and Muir stayed only because suitable replacements could not be found.

The South African Rugby Union (SARU) are, however, looking at how the Springbok coaching team can be strengthened, but are experiencing problems in convincing coaches to help the national team."

The Sunday Telegraph weighs up the challenge facing England manager Martin Johnson.

"The best coach of England in the professional era? Why, it must be that nice Clive Woodward, who notched up 12 consecutive victories home and away against South Africa, Australia and New Zealand en route to winning a World Cup, finishing with a 71 per cent success rate across his seven-year, 83-match stint in charge.

"And the worst? Well, Martin Johnson must be a candidate, as he heads into a demanding autumn with games against New Zealand, Australia, Samoa and South Africa. Andy Robinson ended his spell at England's helm with just 41 per cent of his matches won, but Johnson is only 2 per cent better. Yet here's the thing. Compare Johnson's and Woodward's records after 21 matches, the number Johnson has reached with England since assuming full control, and they are almost identical.

"The question, then, is what next for Johnson? It is highly unlikely that he will go the way of [Andy] Robinson and face the boot following his 22nd match in charge, even though that fixture against the All Blacks is likely to end in another defeat. But can he do a Woodward, who suffered only 12 defeats in his next 62 games, with a sequence of matches from November 2001 when England lost just twice in 31 outings?"

Writing following a trip to Asia for an HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Long Lunch, The Telegraph's Brian Moore reveals some interesting facts from outside rugby's comfortable top tier.

"By 2016, 80 per cent of the planet's population aged 20 and under will live in the Asia, including the Indian subcontinent.

"...If you ran a global business and 80 per cent of your future market was similarly situated, where would your concentration be in terms of development? Thus far the geographical spread of IRB funding has committed relatively little to this region and this must change if the IRB believes – as opposed to saying it believes – in globalising the game.

"This would also repay the debt owed to the Asian nations whose votes were decisive in admitting rugby into the Olympics, a progression that gives opportunities for growing rugby for which other sports would kill.

"What also has to change is the access to the four major world tournaments: the Six Nations, Tri-Nations, Pacific Nations Cup and the Nations Cup. It is in gaining access by guaranteed promotion to such competitions that Asian countries can attract more sponsorship and develop rugby without IRB money."

Bath's new owner Bruce Craig is quick to tell the team what he thinks of their performance – and some players quite like it. The Guardian's Mike Averis reports.

"Hicks and Gillett take note: Bath players are apparently getting used to – even quite enjoying, some say – their billionaire owner Bruce Craig joining in the post-match, midfield huddle. Apparently the new owner is quick on to the pitch to tell the players what he thinks of their performance. Last week, having seen his six-months-old investment go down for the third time in a row, Bruce "complimented the guys on their effort", according to the defence and skills coach Brad Davis. Such a difference from the previous owner Andrew Brownsword, who could walk around the Rec unrecognised even after a decade in control. But then again Craig is rather better versed in playing the game. As a scrum‑half he had a good schoolboy career and later played for Racing in Paris before turning his mind to making his many millions.

"He is supportive of what we are trying to do on the rugby side of things but at the same time he wants this club to be not just one of the European giants but the European giant," said Davis. "We have an honest group of players at an honest club and when there's honest feedback we are happy to hear it, from the supporters up to the chairman."

Sonny Bill Williams is all smiles following his All Blacks call-up © Getty Images

Perception and reality have never been bedfellows in the career of Sonny Bill Williams, according to the Sunday Herald's Gregor Paul.

"The tumultuous end of his NRL career; the association with Anthony Mundine and Khoder Nasser; the drink-driving charge and sexual escapade in a Sydney toilet have created the impression of a young man who doesn't see legal or social convention as something to respect.

"Today's inevitable confirmation of Williams as an All Black will throw up all manner of questions, none more relevant than whether the 24-year-old can assimilate into the world's best team.

"Rugby is a code steeped in valour and no team has an ingrained culture like the All Blacks. The value systems are clear and precedent set as to what qualities define a good All Black."

ARU high-performance director David Nucifora has declared the Wallabies will treat the coming spring tour as a shadow World Cup and pick their strongest side for every Test, according to the Sydney Morning Herald's Josh Rakic.

"The Wallabies will return to camp tomorrow and then depart for Hong Kong where they will take on the All Blacks, before starting their spring tour of Europe where they will take on Wales, England, Italy and France.

Coach Robbie Deans has declared the time for experimentation is over and Nucifora said the tournament was as good as a World Cup trial for every player - even the once untouchable superstars.

Advertisement: Story continues below ''It's certainly the intention to pick our strongest 22 we possibly can for every Test match,'' Nucifora told The Sun-Herald. ''That's not to say we'll stick with the same 22 the whole tour - that depends on the players. We'll be picking the best team on form, not the best team on paper. These blokes have their opportunity now, some blokes have missed out and it's what they do from here that counts now.''

He said the team had come along in the past year and there was enough depth to have rid the squad of complacency - something he said has been an issue in the past."

When Martin Castrogiovanni clocks off from his day job as Leicester's tight-head prop, the last thing he thinks about is rugby, so writes the Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford.

"Doesn't watch it, doesn't read about it, it doesn't even appear as a vague blur on his horizon. Timo, his Italian restaurant, which he bought with two partners when a combination of groin and shoulder problems sidelined him for seven months a couple of years back, keeps him occupied, as will a second Timo soon to open in Market Harborough. But that's about it.

"No other interests? I inquire. Hobbies, wife, kids, other sports? "I have a dog," he says deadpan. "I call him 'Fatty'. I stay with him." My incredulity obviously registers because he says, quickly, "What's wrong with that? Why can't I call my dog fat? He's a British bulldog, and, no, he's not fat, but people called me fat once so I wanted to call my dog Fatty. He loves it. He comes when I call his name. People ask me all the time, 'Why do you call a dog Fatty?' I didn't ask to be called Martin, but my parents called me Martin."

The British and Irish Lions will elbow the Heineken Cup off the rugby pages tomorrow when they are expected to announce the appointment of Scotland legend Andy Irvine as manager for the 2013 tour to Australia. Scotland on Sunday's Iain Morrison reports.

"The former president of the Scottish Rugby Union is keen to extend his long association with the Lions which stretches back to 1974 when he first toured South Africa as a 22-year-old player. Irvine toured three times in total as a Lion, with further trips to New Zealand in 1977 and South Africa again in 1980.

"The appointment of the manager will be accompanied by the announcement that HSBC has renewed its sponsorship of the Lions.

"Ian McGeechan is the only other obvious candidate for the position of Lions manager. However, he is contracted to Bath as director of rugby and is unlikely to be available.

"Irvine's likely recruitment will be a boost for Scottish rugby, which has failed to make much of a mark on the last two Lions tours. Two hookers, Gordon Bulloch and Ross Ford, were the only Scots to make Test appearances in 2005 and 2009 respectively, both off the bench and both in the final international."

Nick Youngs was in the England team who defeated New Zealand back in 1983. Twenty-seven years later, his son Ben – also a scrum-half– is hoping to do the same. The Independent on Sunday's Hugh Godwin talks to both men.

"There is a tempting lineage to Ben Youngs' life which points towards him winning with England against New Zealand in three weeks' time, but the Leicester scrum-half and rapidly rising star knows better than to rely on history. Unusually in a fixture which has been his country's least successful down the years, Youngs' father Nick and his specialist coach Kyran Bracken – former England scrum-halves both – each enjoyed a victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham, and on their debuts to boot. Youngs has three caps behindhim and all that matters is living up to expectations. "I can't stand still for one moment or this shirt will go in a blink of an eye," he says. More than a few good opponents have felt the same about him.

"Meeting the 21-year-old Youngs after training at Leicester, and catching up separately with his father and Bracken – who had their All Black triumphs in 1983 and 1993 respectively, both by 15-9 with not a try in sight – the clear impression is of a well-rounded talent built on solid foundations. Bracken is employed by Leicester to coach their half-backs once a fortnight. "I'm enjoying working with Ben to improve his game," he says. "Suffice to say, he is better than me or his dad. Our wins over New Zealand were in the amateur era and the game has changed massively. There is one parallel, though. The thrill of winning would be the same now as it was then."

Ryan Jones showed against London Irish in the Heineken Cup that if you are good the number on your back is not so important, according to The Observer's Eddie Butler.

"I don't suppose Ryan Jones fell to his knees in praise of the Ospreys' selection policy when he was picked in the second row to face Irish, but if he was anxious about his future as captain and No8 of Wales he disguised it pretty well. His performance in the No4 shirt, the one that normally comes with a set of donkey ears sewn on, was outstanding. His side gathered win points for themselves and denied a losing bonus point to their opponents.

"The Ospreys had nearly beaten Toulon with 33% possession and it seemed to chime with them that if primary ball-winning was an issue, at the lineout in particular, then they could make a virtue of mobility and the exertion of pressure in defence. Jones gave away a couple of penalties in time-honoured fashion for squirming into a position on the ground that delayed the exit of the ball, but he roamed and pounced and tackled and hit rucks with a vengeance, all part of the shuddering that reduced the game almost to a standstill in the closing minutes."

Will England come calling for Saracens' Steve Borthwick again? © Getty Images

Steve Borthwick cannot hide the pain of losing the captaincy and his place in Martin Johnson's England side. He tells The Independent's Chris Hewett how Saracens have helped him find solace.

"Knowing his luck, the recently-deposed England captain will soon be informed that he was caught speeding on the way home. It would round off the year neatly, if not nicely. Last March, a knee injury prevented him playing in the last Six Nations match against the Grand Slam-hunting French in Paris, and the problem hung around long enough to keep him off the summer tour of Australia – a trip on which the unfancied visitors ran into a Wallaby side so laughably weak in the scrum that the series was squared. On the strength of this flimsy evidence, the national manager Martin Johnson not only stripped him of the captaincy, but dumped him from his 32-man squad for next month's internationals at Twickenham. Would this be the same Johnson who had stuck by his skipper through thin and thinner for almost two years? Who had sworn by him at every turn? Who had defended him to the very hilt? Yes, that's the one.

"The decision tore Borthwick apart. He tries his damnedest not to show it, but you would have to be bat-blind not to see it in his eyes. Given what he has suffered these last few months, does he have the energy – the interest, even – to give it another go? "I could be playing this game at 45 and still want to represent my country," he replies. "The desire is there, inside me. You can't turn it off like a tap. Will Martin pick me again? How do I know? It's Martin's choice, and his alone. What I do know is that I'm fitter and stronger than ever and that I have years of good rugby left in me."

The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley previews Leinster's Heineken Cup clash with Saracens at Wembley.

"A near 50,000 crowd at Wembley for the Leinster galacticos, albeit without their greatest galactico of all; the men in red fighting for their lives in round two in front of a 27,000-packed house in their Thomond Park bear pit, the Springbok-infused Ulstermen sampling the delights of the Basque country in Biarritz and mouth-watering matches wherever else you look.

Even by Heineken Cup standards, this is not an average weekend.

Proving that he is not, after all, super human, no doubt to his great disappointment Brian O’Driscoll will not be adorning the new Wembley as Keith Wood and co did 11 years ago – when uncle Fester scored one of Ireland’s tries in the 29-23 win over Wales. In his stead, Joe Schmidt has opted to play Luke Fitzgerald in the number 13 jersey against Saracens today, thereby recalling Shane Horgan to the wing (as well as Cian Healy to the frontrow)."

The New Zealand Herald's Wynne Grey believes that if Southland hooker Jason Rutledge is good enough to tour with the All Blacks then he should be considered, his age is irrelevant.

"Old bullet-head has surged past 100 games for Southland and showed great tenacity, drive and accuracy in his specific tasks and general play. He will be 33 in December - but his powers show no signs of decay. Indeed you could argue he is improving with each season.

But mention his name as a possible All Black candidate and the reaction is generally unfavourable. Too old, you hear; past his use-by date, not a good investment. All I'll say is Brad Thorn.

If Rutledge is good enough he should be considered, his age is irrelevant. And it's not as if the country is flush with those wearing the No2 jersey."

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has spent the past few weeks trying to rid his side of its soft centre as he continues to transform the look of his team. The Sydney Morning Herald's Greg Growden reports.

"The Wallabies' inability to finish off matches, defeats in so-called ''unloseable'' Tests, and the All Blacks' recent trans-Tasman dominance have given rise to concern Australia are developing an inferiority complex. Deans is convinced the problem will not be fixed just by improvements in skill level, execution and tactics, but by getting the players' heads right, so they start believing they're winners.

He wants to harden them up for their northern hemisphere tour, starting with a showdown against New Zealand in Hong Kong on October 30 before they set off for four Tests in Europe. The Wallabies struggle to kill off opponents, as they showed when they lost by one point to England in Sydney, and then last month at the same venue let the All Blacks run over them in the dying minutes to lose 21-20, making it 10 wins out of 10 for the New Zealanders against Australia.

Little wonder there has been no talk over the past two weeks, while the Wallabies have been in camp in Sydney, of a possible unbeaten tour. Rather, the players and team management have focused their efforts on trying to make the team more ruthless, especially in the final quarter of matches."

The task of picking Scotland's greatest rugby players was never going to prove a simple one, but John Jeffrey , the chairman of selectors for the new Scottish Rugby Hall of Fame, has found it both one of the most taxing and enjoyable challenges he has faced. The Scotsman's David Ferguson reports.

"The SRU will announce the inaugural 12 entrants into this new Hall of Fame at a gala dinner at Murrayfield Stadium on 4 November. Jeffrey, along with a panel of Ian McGeechan, Norman Mair, Chris Rea and John Beattie, was handed the task of coming up with a player from eight different eras, and the door was left open for the panel to choose four other nominees who were not necessarily players but deserved recognition.

The Scotsman today looks back on the recent eras - the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s - and next weekend turn the spotlight on the legendary figures of the early part of Scottish rugby history, We finish up with a third part in our exclusive Hall of Fame series that focuses on the potential candidates for special recognition, without yet revealing those to be honoured in the first year.

Jeffrey told us: "One thing that can be guaranteed is that there was plenty of choice, from eras when perhaps Scotland weren't as successful as others but we had very good players just as much as there was in times like the Grand Slam periods when the players became household names. It was very hard, no doubt, but I also found it very enjoyable, and enlightening when you got to study players from the wartime and early part of the century. Hopefully, it will prove to be a great launch next month and bring the spotlight back on to many players and other figures in our game that we should be very proud of."

Warren Gatland is about to put pen to paper on a bumper new four-year deal with Wales. A WRU gamble, or do they really have a credible alternative? The Western Mail's Delme Parfitt explores.

"The decision to offer Warren Gatland a new contract running until 2015 is an indication not just of how highly the Welsh Rugby Union rate him, but also of the real dearth of alternative candidates for one of the hottest seats in the world game.

"That comment may produce a quizzical look from some. Hey, surely there are any number of top men out there who could have taken over had Gatland headed back to New Zealand? Well realistically, no there aren’t. We have to be circumspect when we consider this situation.

"...Gatland’s membership of the elite coaching strata is not in doubt, neither are his credentials as one of the best in the business. But the bottom line is that he currently needs some big results after 18 months of frustration on the scoreboard – and the looming opposition affords him next to no leeway."

Two giants of South Africa rugby - Juan Smith and Schalk Burger - will face off in the Currie Cup this weekend © Getty Images

Schalk Burger and Juan Smith meet in a colossal battle of the loose forwards in the Currie Cup semi-final between WP and Free State this weekend, Stephen Nell reports for Sport24.

"Schalk Burger and Juan Smith should be Springbok colleagues within a few weeks, but before then a colossal battle of the loose forwards is looming in Saturday’s Currie Cup semifinal at Newlands.

"Both captains have a talismanic effect on their teams. Burger’s return last week paved the way for Western Province to win the first game in their last five clashes against big unions as they comfortably saw off the Sharks.

"Smith’s presence in the Super 14 this year led to an average swing of 38 points in favour of the Cheetahs. The average score of games that Smith played this year was 30-24 to the Cheetahs, while in his absence it was 12-44 against them in four tour games.

"Burger was the captain of a Stormers team that reached the Super 14 final for the first time in the history of the Cape franchise this year."

The Irish Times' Gavin Cummiskey meets Ulster lock Johann Muller, one of four Springboks giving the province a new edge.

"It has long been established that the toughest place to go and win a game of rugby is New Zealand. Just ask the 2005 Lions. Or the 2007 Springboks.

"Before the last World Cup, then South Africa coach Jake White made the brave decision to sacrifice the Tri-Nations away matches to New Zealand and Australia in an attempt to find the best 30-man squad. With Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha put on ice, Johann Muller got his opportunity. If it wasn’t for these two brilliant locks we would know more about the man who will carry the battle to Imanol Harinordoquy and the Biarritz pack on Sunday.

"When Bobby Skinstad cried off from the Christchurch Test in 2007, the captaincy went automatically to Muller. Despite the 33-6 defeat to the supposedly world champions elect, White had seen enough to know how valuable the big man would be as a squad member."

Wallabies newcomer Van Humphries knows he has to return from Wallabies' tour with something of value. The Sydney Morning Herald's Greg Growden reports.

"For bragging rights in his Brisbane household, Van Humphries knows he has to return from the Wallabies' tour with something of value - his first Test cap.

"It's been a whirlwind few days, with Humphries's elevation to the Wallabies squad being matched by his partner, Donna Urquhart, winning a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in the women's doubles squash event on Wednesday.

''She'll be flashing that medal around a bit in the house now,'' Humphries said yesterday, shortly after being told he had made the Wallabies squad. ''So, hopefully, I have something to bring back from the Wallabies' tour to be able to put up next to her bronze medal.''

Wales coach Warren Gatland is inching closer to putting pen to paper on a new deal with the Welsh Rugby Union, the Western Mail's Paul Abbandonato writes.

"The Western Mail has learned Gatland is happy in principle with the four-year contract on the table and could sign on the dotted line before the autumn international opener against Australia on November 6. The matter is at a delicate stage with lawyers pouring over the fine detail of the bumper package which has been put in front of Gatland by the WRU hierarchy.

"Behind the scenes negotiations have been taking place for several weeks, with Gatland weighing up whether to remain with Wales or go home to New Zealand. Another contract offer, believed to be from from Super 14 side the Waikato Chiefs, is also on the table and Gatland has been weighing up the pros and cons of the two jobs."

New owner Bruce Craig has energised bath but after the Biarritz debacle last weekend, questions are being asked about the future of the side, writes The Independent's Chris Hewett.

"Brad Davis, a senior member of the back-room staff at Bath, describes this weekend's Heineken Cup visit to Aironi, the weakest side in the competition, as "massively important to us if we're to have any aspirations in Europe this season". This being the case, it is probably as well that the West Countrymen are unlikely to need a last-minute drop goal to secure victory. The art of the drop is not a favourite topic on the banks of the Avon right now, although it is very definitely on the agenda.

"In a jaw-dropping example of game mismanagement, Bath did not even attempt to "do a Wilkinson" against Biarritz at the Recreation Ground five days ago. By failing to recognise a match-winning opportunity that was staring them in the face, the key decision-makers – from Luke Watson and Michael Claassens to Sam Vesty and Olly Barkley – played straight into the hands of the Basques and ensured they and their colleagues would spend the week coming to terms with the fact that early elimination is barely a gnat's crotchet away."

Blues must up their game but they must feel there is a chance of a crucial win at Stade Pierre-Antoine, according to Shaun Edwards in The Guardian.

"Tonight Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys, two of the more favoured sides before the competition got under way, play matches which could go a long way to deciding how far they go in the competition. Ospreys because defeat at home to London Irish means a struggle to get out of Pool Three, where no second team is likely to go through. Cardiff because they should be sensing the chance of a vital away win against a side that can blow hot and cold.

"That said, the Blues were a long way off their best against Edinburgh, winning by a point, and Martyn Williams is now among the ranks of the missing while, but for a disputed try, Castres might have pulled off the shock of the first round at Northampton. I'm not suggesting the trip south will be easy, hardly anything is in Europe these days, but there's the sniff of a chance."

Are financial issues in danger of over-shadowing next year's Rugby World Cup? © Getty Images

Hard-line restrictions imposed by the IRB to keep the Rugby World Cup 'on message' make you wonder if the event is worth it, according to The Guardian's Paul Rees.

"The International Rugby Board will make a substantial profit: the more it makes, the more individual unions will receive, from big to small. It is one reason why the Rugby Football Union plans to clamp down on the commercial and media activities of the England players during the tournament.

"Players will be banned from using social networking sites as long as England are involved in the tournament. No making twits of themselves on Twitter or having to face punishment for a Facebook faux pas. And no newspaper columns, which would not be much of a loss given that they are already carefully censored.

"The ostensible reason for the crackdown is that the RFU does not want a repeat of some episodes in cricket in the summer when players, led by Kevin Pietersen, found that free speech cost. Remarks posted in the heat of the moment generated headlines and fines."

Medical tests and intuition will be crucial selection components before the All Black touring squad is announced on Sunday, according to the New Zealand Herald's Wynne Grey.

"The coaches want to take a shadow World Cup squad on the five-test trip but that aim has to be balanced against an expanding list of injured players.

"Some like Andrew Hore and Sitiveni Sivivatu are about to return from long-term injuries, others like Daniel Carter, Keven Mealamu, Rene Ranger and Israel Dagg are overcoming recent damage while the selectors will be looking anxiously at any further problems in this weekend's round of the ITM Cup.

"Mealamu was due to test his calf injury this weekend with Auckland but the hooker has been withdrawn because Corey Flynn has torn a calf muscle while Hore's return is still marginal."

Munster’s Donncha O’Callaghan in no mood to let down the fans ahead of the Toulon's visit to Thomond Park. The Irish Times Keith Duggan reports.

"This isn't quite a last stand for Munster but around the famous ground in Limerick this week, there was a growing sense that Munster – team and raucous fans – will have to concoct one of those days if they are to prevail against Toulon.

The French team, shimmering with wealth and a motley crew of superstars are seeking to inflict a third defeat in succession on the Irish club. A defeat here could seriously debilitate Munster’s season even as if just beginning. The losses to Leinster in the Magners League and London Irish in their opening Heineken Cup match were competitive.

Still, three on the trot would make for a black October. And the Munster players are in a familiar place: smarting and desperate for a return to what they know best.

“It is what gets you across the line,” Donncha O’Callaghan said of the Thomond Park atmosphere that has acquired an international mystique since European club competition caught hold."

The Bill McLaren Foundation is launching a new fundraising venture by putting up for sale freshly-printed copies of the commentator's world-famous crib sheets. The Scotsman's David Ferguson reports.

"The BBC commentator and journalist, who died at the beginning of this year, put together a giant sheet of information for every game that he commentated upon. The charts he used latterly were supplied by a Hawick printer after McLaren discovered them in use locally, and starting with the blank paper he would fill in over 1,000 facts and figures around the players and officials involved in the forthcoming game.

"He started receiving requests for copies before and after he retired and found that these became sought-after collector's items and agreed to them being copied for the benefit of charity. A number were made for the Scottish charity Hearts & Balls, which helps to support seriously-injured rugby players, and some have attracted several thousand pounds on their own in other charity auctions across Europe and the southern hemisphere."

New Zealand collect their Commonwealth Games gold medals © Getty Images

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Kelly Exelby reports from New Zealand's latest Commonwealth Games triumph.

"Whatever opposition teams throw at them it's almost as if the Games sevens title is now New Zealand's by right.

"With four bit-part All Blacks in his ranks - Ben Smith, Liam Messam, Hosea Gear and Zac Guildford - ironically it was Tietjens' sevens specialists who delivered the knockout blow.

"Tietjens' team hardly fired on the world circuit this year, losing their overall crown to Samoa and winning just two of the eight series tournaments. In the end it hardly mattered."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Hugh Farrelly previews Munster's Heineken Cup meeting with Toulon.

"Bankrolled by Mourad Boudjellal -- who made his millions in the cartoon business -- Toulon have been throwing their financial weight about for some time, having had the likes of Tana Umaga, George Gregan and Andrew Mehrtens on their salary sheet as they set about gaining a foothold in the top flight of French rugby.

"Since that was achieved, the same financial clout has allowed Boudjellal to assemble a squad of superstars that would do justice to one of his comic- strip fantasies, with Jonny Wilkinson, Felipe Contepomi, Carl Hayman, George Smith and Joe van Niekerk representing some of the most talented and well-established names in the world game.

"Munster have had a smattering of glamorous overseas signings over the years -- Christian Cullen, Doug Howlett and Jean de Villiers -- but their success has been driven by parochial power through an identification with the jersey and province rather than from acquired overseas talent."

Sport24's Rob Houwing writes on the likely relief at the Sharks and Western Province over the availability of their currently first-choice No 2s.

"In many respects they represent the stabilising fulcrum of the scrum, their lineout throwing and appreciation of the associated calls and nuances in that department is supposed to assure and mature like a fine cabernet sauvignon, and they are commonly expected, like cricket’s wicketkeepers, to become involved in the general gee-up process for the collective troops.

"So I can think of a few people in Durban and Cape Town, ahead of Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup semi-finals at these coastal hubs, who have heaved well-developed sighs of relief that Messrs Bismarck du Plessis, for the Sharks, and Western Province’s Deon Fourie will be at their stations against the Blue Bulls and Cheetahs respectively.

"In each case, possible absence might have affected the likelihood of both teams progressing to the October 30 showpiece more substantially than is realised."

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Greg Growden ponders the Wallabies' possible tour squad.

"It is known that Deans is still some way off from determining who will tour and who will stay behind, but those who are able to back-up after Tests and play in the two midweek matches - against Leicester Tigers on November 9 and Munster the following week - will have an advantage.

"Deans is treating these midweek games as serious Test trials, as shown during last year's spring tour when Quade Cooper used the Gloucester match, where he excelled against Carlos Spencer, to push his way into the Wallabies starting XV. And Deans will certainly not be treating the midweek team as the Australia B line-up."

The Independent's Chris Hewett senses there are signs of a new militancy on the far side of the Channel that could, if it goes unaddressed, lead to problems during the Six Nations early next year.

"It would be stretching a point to suggest that Jonny Wilkinson's participation in the forthcoming autumn internationals is at risk because of the hardy annual known as the club-versus-country row. Toulon, the increasingly powerful French Top 14 side he joined at the start of last season, have yet to confirm their willingness to meet the demands of the England manager Martin Johnson, who wants uninterrupted access to his Test squad for almost a fortnight before the meeting with New Zealand at Twickenham on 6 November. However, Wilkinson is all but certain to be released for the full build-up, as are two of his fellow exiles – the Stade Français forwards Tom Palmer and James Haskell.

"But there are signs of a new militancy on the far side of the Channel that could, if it goes unaddressed, lead to problems during the Six Nations early next year that would make last season's spat between Johnson and the Stade Français owner Max Guazzini, over the availability of Haskell, seem like an expression of entente cordiale."

Saracens' Alex Goode on the charge in France © Getty Images

English clubs could be left behind by the combined financial clout of the French giants, according to Mick Cleary in The Daily Telegraph.

"Don’t be fooled by Nigel Wray’s affable exterior. As any fan of Reggie Perrin knows, you don’t get to achieve what Wray has in business without having a cold-eyed grasp of bottom lines and a hard-nosed attitude as to what needs to be done.

"The Saracens chairman knows only too well that if his club do not get themselves sorted out with a new stadium or considerably better facilities than those on offer at Vicarage Road pretty damn soon, they will be also-rans.

"Wray was a guest of Clermont-Auvergne for Saturday’s Heineken Cup opening Pool Two game. It was a splendid occasion, from the moment the capacity crowd of 16,000 began jumping in unison to club anthems long before kick-off to the alarming, if absurd, sight of a 10-strong phalanx of security guards rushing out at the final whistle to pack in around Scottish referee Peter Allen as he left the field. Colour, noise, a whiff of menace – French rugby at its intoxicating best."

Tony Ward believes that Munster should turn to Paul Warwick to get their Heineken Cup camapign off and running in The Irish Independent.

"For Munster, it was in many ways mission accomplished at the Madejski. They did not play particularly well yet, in typically resilient fashion, eked out a bonus point that, in the end, they had every right to. London Irish coach Toby Booth has a bit to learn yet in his take on bonus point relevance.

"However, Tony McGahan does have cause for concern. When Paul O'Connell, Jerry Flannery, David Wallace, Lifeimi Mafi and Tomas O'Leary are fully fit and back in the mix, the two-time winners will be a different proposition but, for now, it's all hands to the pump in a qualifying path they know so well."

Richard Knowler salutes the colour and hardiness of the Southland faithful following their Ranfurly Shield reign in The Press.

"While Canterbury deserve all the plaudits slathered on them after Saturday night's Ranfurly Shield seizure, it seems rather churlish if another mob doesn't earn at least a few rounds of applause too.

"Hardy, original, vocal, and, yes, some can-throwing oafs were even a little bit feral, they were a bunch that left their own inimitable hoof prints on the New Zealand rugby landscape during Southland's shield tenure.

"No, we are not talking about the Southland players here – although they have certainly gained the nation's respect for sparking a surge of interest in the old log o'wood.

"Instead, this is about their supporters, who are are unlike any others in the country. If the crowd that packed their way into the Rugby Park terrace are anything to go by, the word "fashion" is not something that is a priority before a night at the footy in Invercargill."

Donald McRae meets the Premiership's most interesting coach, Saracens' Brendan Venter, in The Guardian.

"I'm a doctor rather than a coach," Brendan Venter says calmly, "and so we don't look to win matches. We look towards performing at a really high level. Winning is just a consequence of our reaching that level. It's a simple philosophy. You can't think about winning all the time. I'm far more interested in my players, along with me, improving as people. That's basically the only thing that really matters. There's nothing else."

"In the narrow and insular world of professional sport, Venter emerges as a rare presence. The 40-year-old director of rugby at Saracens combines his current role with a continuing immersion in his medical practice at home in Cape Town. Medicine is his primary passion; and yet there is hardly a more committed coach in English rugby. Venter burns with such passion that the South African has been subjected to bans and fines for altercations with opposition fans and for scathing criticism of referees. The thought arises that Venter would be a terrifyingly intense figure if rugby ever became more than just a secondary interest to a man who prides himself most on being a good doctor."

Sonny Bill Williams and Canterbury took the Ranfurly Shield away from Southland © Getty Images

The New Zealand Herald's Michael Guerin turns a phrase about Sonny Bill Williams' future in New Zealand.

"You can be forgiven for not liking him. I don't want to like him, not somebody this unfairly talented. With his super-charmed life, those looks, the insane ability, the international media profile.

"All style and magazine shoots and adoring young fans.And now the monster that is Canterbury rugby has beat up its brave little Southland cousins, he has the Ranfurly Shield to play with as well.Hardly seems fair when the snow-shovelling, real men of the South lose their most treasured possession to guys like him from Canterbury."

Gavin Rich reviews the Currie Cup season to date prior to next weekend's semi-finals on Supersport.

"When the dust had finally settled on an absorbing Absa Currie Cup league season, two things were clear -- the top four teams had made the semifinals, and there is not much separating those teams.

"The log table sums it up. Although the Sharks were always quite comfortably ahead in their race to grab top spot after their win over Western Province in Durban at the end of the first round, it was the bonus points accumulated along the way, rather than the number of wins, that made it thus.

"In the end the Sharks ended up with the same number of wins (10) as the second-placed WP and third-placed Free State Cheetahs, with the fourth-placed Bulls having won just one game less. Those four teams were significantly better than the next placed team, the Lions, who by losing to the Pumas in their last match saw their season peter out into a disappointing synopsis which read won seven and lost seven."

David Kelly believes that Leinster's marshalling of Sebastien Chabal was vital to their opening Heineken Cup success in The Irish Independent.

"Ronan O'Gara was once asked about the best practice when confronted with a totemic opponent. "Hammer the hammer," came the reply. Sebastien Chabal is such a talisman. Munster hammered him en route to their maiden Heineken Cup triumph. Ireland hammered him en route to their 2009 Grand Slam.

"And on Saturday, despite early encouragement for the Captain Caveman of modern rugby against Jamie Heaslip, Leinster repeatedly hammered him in a most impressive opening statement in their latest European foray.

"At an RDS which rocked to its ancient foundations despite the indecently early kick-off, Leinster traded blows with their aristocratic visitors for a half-hour before a scintillating four-minute scoring burst that transformed a cagey 3-3 into an authoritative 18-3."

Brian Moore believes that London Irish must find some added grit if they are to progress in Europe in The Daily Telegraph.

"For a start, both London Irish and Keane’s beloved Munster warmed up for a good 40 minutes on the pitch before kick-off.

"Keane had many anecdotes attributed to him. Most need no exaggeration, including one in which he was sitting in the changing room at Lansdowne Road lighting up, whereupon the trainer came in and told him to get on to the pitch for a warm-up. “Feck off,” was the reply, “I’m warm enough. I had the heater on in the car on the way”.

"It would have been delightful to see Keane grace a competition such as the Heineken Cup which, although the poorer cousin of football’s Champions League, is its superior in terms of the quality of pool games that precede its knockout stages."

Ronan O'Gara is welcome to the Madejski © Getty Images

Brendan Fanning looks at Munster's precious away bonus-point against London Irish in The Sunday Independent.

"On the flight to London yesterday morning the Aer Lingus hostess asked a man in a Munster jersey who was struggling to get his gear into the overhead locker if he had got over the shock of last weekend. Clearly she was a Leinster fan. Quick as a flash he looked at her and said: "Hold on a minute -- we could've flown Ryanair you know!"

"There and then you thought that Munster would have to be every bit as sharp if they were to survive at the Madejski Stadium where 20,188 turned up to see a tie the home club had been wishing for every time the names were being pulled out of the hat in this competition.

"Munster were a long way from sharp, but having trailed 6-20 early in the second half they did what they have done so often in the past and worked their way back into the game. The reward was a bonus point with literally the last play of the game, in which Ronan O'Gara threaded through a lovely ball for Sam Tuitupou to latch onto."

Bath prop David Flatman looks ahead to Sunday's meeting with Biarritz at the Rec, insisting that it's an early season must-win in The Independent on Sunday.

"Can you have a must-win game in October? Well, we have, and it's today. And the good news is that the team we have to beat are currently trailing French Top 14 leaders Toulouse by just four points.

"OK, so let's be frank. The club will not disappear if we come off second best but somehow this Heineken Cup clash at home to Biarritz feels like more than just a competition opener. Our start to the season has pitched and dived and, as is the way in sport at any level, it is the dives that stick so resolutely to the walls of the players' minds.

"This is an unfortunate phenomenon but one that can be tackled in just one way: by winning. Losing repeatedly does so much more than cost a team a few points in a table. It serves to perpetuate the plunge in morale, to exacerbate the sense of inadequacy and to feed the demons of defeat that lie hungry, waiting for a chance to feast on a man's fear."

Paul Ackford believes that we will see a new England this November, one crafted in the image of the All Blacks, in The Sunday Telegraph.

"At that time the evidence suggested that sides who managed that won the majority of their matches. But two years is an age in the evolution of elite sport, and the emphasis has shifted somewhat.

"Obviously, tries are still very much a going concern but, as the Tri-Nations demonstrated, they're two-a-penny these days, and a haul of three won't necessarily see off the top opponents.

"As England gear up for their four autumn internationals against New Zealand, Australia, Samoa and South Africa, the first against the All Blacks just a month distant, the talk is of 'red zones' and 'conversion rates', and of new selection criteria which contributed to the demise of former England captain Steve Borthwick."

Eddie Butler can't escape the spectre of rugby's referees, despite his best efforts, in The Observer.

"In my time away from these pages, dear readers, I have travelled high and low. I have been up Mount Kilimanjaro on the adventure of a lifetime and been washed by the monsoon waters of the lower Usk valley before the sporting milestone that was the Ryder Cup. And everywhere I have been it seems that the rugby referee has gone too. We talked about him at 20,000 feet over Africa, and discussed him even as Europe's golfers demanded that there be no other topic of conversation than their advance down a knife-edge towards victory. You think you've escaped, but there's the ref, by your side.

"His is not an easy lot. Just about the only line of common sense to survive the folly of the project known as the Experimental Law Variations after the 2007 World Cup came from the head of referees at the International Rugby Board, Paddy O'Brien, when he said that the whole aim was to reduce the subjectivity of the referee and thus make him less the centre of attention. It was a noble goal, but one missed by a country mile.

"On Friday night it was hardly the fault of John Lacey, a former wing with Shannon and Munster, and now a ref on the rise, that Northampton and Castres should allow nerves to undermine their deservedly lofty European ambitions. There was nothing any referee could do to cure a Bruce Reihana duck hook, apart from spare him the embarrassment, I suppose, by awarding his side no penalties."

Richard Loe believes that it's the wrong time for South Africa to be playing politics in The New Zealand Herald.

"It was interesting to hear Graham Henry say the other day the team he thought would be the All Blacks' biggest competition for the Rugby World Cup was Australia.

"I have been saying that for some time and what's going on in South African rugby is at least part of the reason the Boks are not rated as highly right now.

"I was over in South Africa recently, at a Murray Mexted IRANZ coaching stint, and who should turn up one day but Springbok coach Peter de Villiers. Well, all I can say is ... what an odd little man."

Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson will grace the Heineken Cup stage this weekend © Getty Images

The world's finest kickers will be out in force on the Heineken Cup's first weekend. Who will dominate the competition? The Independent's Chris Hewett previews the action.

"The poor misguided souls who sit on the International Rugby Board have tried everything under the sun – everything, that is, except the blindingly obvious – to wrest the game away from the goal-kickers and place it in the hands of the try-scorers, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on "experimental law variations" that were laughed out of court and changing "refereeing interpretations" at the tackle area more often than an incurable germaphobe changes his underpants.

"And what can we expect on this opening weekend of the sport's most captivating tournament? A masterclass in the art of booting an oval-shaped ball between a pair of vertical sticks.

"It is still a kicker's game, whatever the governing body would have us think, and until the IRB gets really serious about creating space for runners by restoring the essential dynamic of the boots-on-bodies ruck and abolishing tactical substitutions that allow a player to be replaced at the first sign of breathlessness or the moment he finds himself being dominated by his opposite number, the big matches will continue to be decided by "les buteurs", as the French call them."

Writing in the New Zealand Herald, Wynne Gray previews the forthcoming All Blacks squad announcement.

"It seems they are hell-bent on taking as many World Cup prospects as they can even if that means taking some like Andrew Hore, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Isaia Toeava on reputation and scant match play.

"The 30-strong squad is named next weekend when the Three Wise Men have to trim a few quality candidates from their touring party.

"My greatest intrigue will be who they identify as Richie McCaw's deputy, who they have fingered as the next-best under the changing laws and shape of the game to understudy the skipper.

"Since Messrs Henry, Hansen and Smith took over, the All Black duties in 2004, they have seen McCaw do battle for them in 68 of the 86 tests they've been together."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Tony Ward reflects on the life and career of the late Moss Keane.

"Moss was an extraordinary athlete, gifted with exceptional natural strength.

"His ability to wrestle the ball free (turnover in modern parlance) when back-pedalling in a retreating maul was uncanny.

"He was solid and as reliable as they come in the line-out. You knew (as an out-half) when the ball was called on Moss (whether at two or four), there was every chance of him taking it (and, remember, this was way before lifting arrived).

"Moss was as natural as his late coming to the game suggests, but it was his inherent honesty at scrum time and bravery in the loose that set him apart -- and I can vouch for that at first-hand, given the number of times he protected me from rogue forward runners."

The Scotsman's David Ferguson talks to Edinburgh and Scotland's Scott MacLeod about his career and remaining ambitions.

"Andy Warhol's forecast that everyone would have their 15 minutes of fame resonates horribly in these Simon Cowell times of instant 'celebrity' entertainment, but one tends to imagine that in sport 15 minutes is nowhere near enough to earn recognition.

"Careers are built on consistency, but, in fact, star status can come from periods of time much, much shorter. Scotland's leading rugby players are entering the Heineken Cup this weekend determined to help Edinburgh and Glasgow make their mark, but knowing that, with more eyes watching than at any other time, the next two weeks could have a major influence on their future in the game, and the prospect of fame.

"Scott MacLeod is the only Scot involved with either team to know what it feels like to reach as far as the semi-finals of the northern hemisphere's leading tournament and rugby's top club event in the world. And his confidence and whole reason for being has been lifted hugely by a 15-minute appearance that passed many by."

Despite a succession of back operations and other procedures, Phil Vickery still hopes to play in another World Cup. The Guardian's Rob Kitson reports.

"Phil Vickery's shoes say much about him. There is a hole in one of the soles and the heels are badly worn but there remains a certain battered quality about them. Closer inspection reveals they are the same butterscotch Oliver Sweeneys supplied to the 2003 World Cup-winning squad. They could easily serve as a symbol of the long, hard road English rugby has trodden in the intervening seven years.

"So, too, does Vickery's newly published autobiography Raging Bull (HarperCollins, £20). How long will it be before another English prop forward has publishers fighting over his life story, a tale so soaringly inspirational and brutally painful that printed words struggle to do it justice? As the Cornishman gazes around his publishers' modern offices in Hammersmith, you wonder whether the bright young things at their keyboards fully appreciate the punishment their latest author has absorbed. England have had few more endearingly stubborn captains, nor a player who put the "grit" into integrity more often."

Who will lift the Heineken Cup this season? © Getty Images

As the Heineken Cup kicks off, Premiership sides face a tough test to upset the continental elite's growing dominance according to the Independent's Chris Hewett.

"In one sense, the performance of the English clubs in last season's Heineken Cup demonstrated a profound understanding of the meaning of Europe: they were as flat as the Netherlands, as anonymous as Luxembourg and as bankrupt as Greece. According to the men who run rugby at Premiership level, it was nothing more than a "blip" – a word no doubt heard in the boardroom of Lehmann Brothers when business first took a turn for the worse. It was no "blip", as the statistics demonstrate all too clearly.

"The English contingent participated in only five of the first seven Heineken Cup tournaments from 1995: those renowned visionaries at the Rugby Football Union prevented them playing in the first year; the clubs stopped themselves playing three years later. The return? Four titles, at a delivery rate of 80 per cent. The record since 2002 tells a very different story: two victories in eight attempts, both by Wasps. Over the same period, there have been three all-French finals.

"Mark McCafferty, the chief executive of Premier Rugby, excuses last term's damp-squibbery by pointing to the parlous state in which the English contenders found themselves at the start of the competition. He has a point, but not much of one."

Leinster and Munster must beat the best teams in Europe just to get out of their Heineken Cup pools, writes the Irish Times' Liam Toland.

"If you're going to win the Heineken Cup then you have to beat the best in Europe. This certainly makes sense but unfortunately both Munster and Leinster must beat the best in Europe to simply get out of their groups. Ulster, by contrast, have a great chance to build on an excellent start in the Magners League.

All three provinces have not hit the heights that will come with more rugby and continuity of selection. In the meantime, timing is all important and as Bayonne entertain (bash) Harlequins, fellow Amlin Challenge Cup Pool One side Connacht should be easing past Italians I Cavalieri Estra in Stadio Lungobisenzio.

Timing is certainly key for Ulster, with the best of starts, at home to Aironi Rugby, while fellow poolers Bath inflict some pain on Biarritz Olympique.

As always, the middle two fixtures is the making of the Heineken Cup season, not necessarily based on who you play but who you don’t.

In most cases the Irish provinces can control their own destinies but for Munster and Leinster such tough groups can be made all the easier if London Irish and Toulon and Saracens and Racing Métro 92 neutralise each other in the middle weeks."

So the Boks are fit and strong again? Does this mean that when they board the plane to take them to Dublin, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London, that they will actually be fresher than their opponents from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England on their Grand Slam tour? Sport24's JJ Harmse writes.

"I remember when Jake White introduced fitness levels to the Bok squad early in his tenure, it was a well guarded secret at the time that captain John Smit did not pass on a couple of benchmarks set.

And who is the most talked about Springbok when it comes to fitness in the country?

Ricky Januarie of course.

Any mention on whether he became slimmer and/or faster and/or fitter?

Not a chance!

Can one suspect that telling us Bryan and Jaque are quicker and Bakkies and Bismarck are stronger, but not telling us anything about Ricky, that there is nothing good to tell about the scrumhalf?

Or am I too cynical about this?"

Wallabies prop Sekope Kepu has performed the famous Kiwi haka, now he wants the opportunity to face it wearing an Australian jersey. AAP's Adrian Warren reports.

"Kepu, 24, was named in the Wallabies' 40-man training squad chosen this week for the seven-match spring tour of Hong Kong and Europe.

The Waratahs star had the choice of three countries to represent, and has already played for two. Born in Australia of Tongan parents and raised in New Zealand, Kepu represented the Kiwis at under-17, -19 and -21 levels before moving across the Tasman to join NSW. The Sydney-born prop's decision paid off, with him making three Test appearances over the past two years.

Advertisement: Story continues below His parents still live in New Zealand and Kepu would love the opportunity to play against the mighty All Blacks when Australia open their tour with a Bledisloe Cup clash against them in Hong Kong on October 30.

''Once upon a time I was coming up through the [NZ] grades doing the haka at the beginning of the game,'' Kepu said yesterday. ''Having to oppose the haka is something I look forward to doing one day and I'll work towards trying to put myself in the best position to come up against them.''

Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips has been given a rocket about slow service from the base of the scrum by Ospreys director of rugby Scott Johnson. The Western Mail's Andy Howell reports.

"Johnson’s blast will be a real wake-up call to a player who, after his exploits with the Lions in South Africa last year, made it clear he sees himself as one of the best No 9s in the world.

"Now, as the Ospreys prepare to open their Heineken Cup campaign with a mouthwatering clash against Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon in the south of France tomorrow, Phillips, who has only just returned from a knee injury that disrupted his pre-season, has been left in no doubt he needs to raise his game several notches.

"Asked why the 2008 Grand Slam hero was pedestrian getting the ball away from the breakdown, the former Wales and Australia skills coach replied: “I wish I knew why, to be honest, mate."

The English sides must do better and Ospreys and Cardiff Blues could be the stiffest threat to a Clermont-Toulouse monopoly in this season's Heineken Cup according to the Guardian's Rob Kitson.

"Barely has one European side departed a sodden Wales than 24 teams from the same continent begin the long, mud-spattered haul towards Cardiff next May. As with the Ryder Cup, it pays not to assume a predictable journey. Logic suggests the 16th edition of the Heineken Cup will again be drenched in celebratory French champagne but, as in matchplay golf, the spirit of the Marquis de Sade is never far away.

"Exquisite torture is a fair way to describe a tournament which grows ever harder to win. In the case of Pools Two and Three, simply qualifying for the last eight will demand such reserves of willpower that survivors will feel they have withstood half a dozen hurricanes. Clermont Auvergne, Racing Métro, Leinster or Saracens? Munster, Ospreys, Toulon or London Irish? Even those clubs who finish third will be suffused with quiet pride."

No one at the RFU will escape the gaze of new chief executive John Steele © Getty Images

John Steele, the Rugby Football Union’s new chief executive, has intensified the pressure on Martin Johnson ahead of the autumn internationals. The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Mairs reports.

"Steele says he will act before the 2011 World Cup if he feels there has been a lack of progress leading on from the summer victory over Australia.

"The former UK Sport chief executive is currently engaged in a comprehensive review of the entire workings of the RFU and says no area of the organisation will escape scrutiny, including Johnson and his England coaching team of John Wells, Graham Rowntree, Mike Ford and Brian Smith.

"Steele is adamant that England’s current world ranking of sixth is not acceptable and is determined that the team build on their victory over Australia in Sydney back in June, to emerge as serious contenders for next year’s World Cup.

"Following preliminary meetings with Johnson, Steele has given his unequivocal support to the England manager.

"But in a move clearly designed to promote greater accountability for the performances of the England team, he has stopped short of endorsing the England coaching ticket right through to the World Cup, which kicks-off next September in New Zealand."

Luke Watson is sorry for the mistakes he made and wants to return to South Africa. Sport24's Philip de Bruin reports.

"Watson, who unleashed a torrent of fury by saying that he had to keep himself from vomiting on the Springbok jersey, talks about his errors in judgment in the latest edition of SA Rugby magazine.

“I now understand why so many people in South Africa didn’t like me. I was a political pawn, even if I had good intentions,” he said.

The former Springbok loose forward is currently the captain of English club side Bath.

“If I could get the chance again, I would do a lot of things differently. I regret going to the camp (of former Springbok coach Jake White in 2007) knowing that the coach did not want me there,” said Watson.

“I did things that were not always my own choice. In reality I was a political pawn. I had good intentions and wanted to promote a certain cause. But I also knew that I did not want to be there – just as little as Jake and the other players wanted me there. Looking back I was wrong."

The Scotsman's David Ferguson talks to Glasgow fullback Bernardo Stortoni and learns that Scotland are tapping into his skill base.

"He is technically a 'Puma' not a salmon, but watching Glasgow's full-back Bernardo Stortoni leaping through the air to claim a high ball is the closest some might find to such natural beauty in rugby.

"Yet, in insisting that it was not through mere courage nor natural ability, the popular Argentine internationalist this week spoke enthusiastically about how he was trying to educate the next generation of Scots on the importance of mastering such skills.

"Stortoni is recognised by leading coaches across the world as one of the foremost catchers of a rugby ball and while Glasgow supporters are treated to his ability on a regular basis the Scotland coaching team have taken him on board to help spread the word of how he achieves such consistency across the country."

Cardiff Blues' Tom Shanklin believes the competition for places in the centre bodes well for Wales this season. The Western Mail's Simon Thomas reports.

"Shanklin himself has looked back close to his best, having recovered from the knee injury that ruled him out of Wales’ summer tour of New Zealand, while there’s more good news with James Hook having just made his comeback from shoulder surgery.

So, although Jamie Roberts remains sidelined after a wrist operation, coach Warren Gatland will have plenty of quality options for the autumn internationals.

And with Lions man of the series Roberts expected back for the Blues in December, Gatland will be even more spoiled for choice come the Six Nations.

“I think the competition bodes well,” said Shanklin.

“Whether I’m involved or not, we’ve got good strength in depth in the centre.

“Jonathan Davies and Andrew Bishop have got more experience now than they did, say two years ago, and know what it’s like and that’s showing.

“They will both have benefited from going to New Zealand in the summer. The Tests may have been lost, but you come away knowing what it’s like, knowing how good you need to be and how fit and strong you need to be to play at the top level."

Former Ireland lock Moss Keane has lost a long battle with cancer © Getty Images

The words “legend” and “larger than life” are perhaps used a little too freely nowadays but in the case of Moss Keane they could hardly be more apt. The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley writes.

"News that he has passed away following a lengthy battle with cancer at the age of 62 will have saddened everyone in Irish rugby and much further beyond.

A native of Currow, Co Kerry, Keane was a truly iconic Munster, Ireland and Lions hero of the amateur era and yet much more than that too. Innately kind and good-humoured, a liver of life and raconteur with a sharp mind and wit, as Ciarán Fitzgerald observed yesterday, Keane never appeared to be in a bad mood and bore his long illness with typical good humour and remarkable equanimity.

The tributes which poured in yesterday demonstrate that there have been few more popular people in the game or Irish sport."

Writing for Sport24, Rob Houwing believes the Springboks are asking for trouble by delaying their tour squad selection until after the Currie Cup finale.

"As if there hasn’t been enough tumult in the camp over coaching matters, the Springbok team are also going to have to hit the ground running on their Grand Slam tour.

"Confirmation by SARU on Tuesday that the national squad for the traditional end-of-year tour will only be named after the Absa Currie Cup final on October 30 means there will be precious little time for players to digest their inclusion or, more importantly, acclimatise ahead of the tough first assignment against Ireland in Dublin just a week later.

"Nobody needs reminding that the Irish achieved their own Grand Slam (winning all matches in the Six Nations) in 2009 and were runners-up to France this year – they have also won all of their last three home Tests against South Africa.

"So it is hardly a soft start for the Boks, and a real “rush job” will be required to get them ready, minus trusty leader John Smit, for their first challenge of the European winter.

"Certainly the fortnight between the Currie Cup semi-finals on October 16 and final, while a blessing for certain hard-pressed domestic players who will appreciate the rest, is beginning to look more and more like an unhelpful curse from a Springbok perspective."

It is easy to get seduced by the sheer exoticism of a club like Toulouse, according to the Daily Telegraph's Mick Cleary.

"The Heineken Cup champions boast a Michelin-starred clubhouse restaurant, extravagant clothing boutiques, blue-chip sponsors and of course glamourpuss players such as Frédéric Michalak.

If you want a true insight as to why Toulouse will once again start this Heineken Cup campaign as one of the front-runners then look no further than the twitchy, fretful, stubbled-chinned, slightly down-at-heel head coach, Guy Novès.

He never rests, he never lets us rest," says Michalak, Toulouse's pin-up fly-half. "He is competitive in his very being, and that is why we are too. He is never satisfied. Believe me, never."

There are echoes of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in Novès's relationship with Toulouse. In fact, the umbilical cord cuts even deeper given that the wiry Novès was once a wing for Toulouse, one who won two French titles. But the passion, the urgency, the relentlessness, the bottled-up rage that Ferguson brings to the task is also the hallmark of Novès."

Dan Biggar aims to gun down his boyhood hero Jonny Wilkinson when the Ospreys open their bid for European glory with a glamorous tie in the Pool Three “group of death” at French big spenders Toulon on Saturday. The Western Mail's Andy Howell reports.

"Was Jonny a boyhood favourite?

“Yes. definitely,” beamed Biggar. “Back in 2003-02, he was probably the best player in the world. At that time, he was certainly someone I liked to model my game around. He was certainly someone I looked up to as a role model, so just to be able to step on the same pitch as him is almost a dream come true.”

But, typically, Biggar, 21 in 10 days time and with just six Wales caps to his name, quickly added: “Those things are nice but I won’t be thinking about that on Saturday. It’s a massive challenge but I’m not daunted by it. It’s one I’m very much looking forward to, just being on the same pitch as someone of the quality of Jonny Wilkinson. I will be looking to give as good as I get against Jonny but, obviously, it’s going to be a very tough task.”

Writing in The Independent, Chris Hewett reports on an unlikely avenue for Sale and England prop Andrew Sheridan.

"Andrew Sheridan is probably not the greatest guitarist since Django Reinhardt, although he could knock Pete Townshend into a cocked hat when it comes to reducing a Fender Stratocaster to its component parts: he is, after all, a master bricklayer who just happens to be one of the most fearsome scrummagers in world rugby. He doesn't sing like Tammy Wynette, either. If he did, he'd never live it down.

"Yet Sheridan, the Sale and England loose-head prop who can rearrange an opponent's ribs with a single flexing of the biceps in the tree trunk that passes for his left arm, quietly fancies himself as a self-accompanying crooner of gentle country and western-style love songs. Yes, honestly. He has just released an album of his own material on iTunes, and is charging people the going rate for the privilege of listening to it."

If England are to produce players who focus more on beauty than brawn, an RFU pilot scheme may just be the answer, according to The Guardian's Rob Kitson.

"A question: what type of rugby player does England want to produce? On the eve of a new Heineken Cup campaign it is clearly a pertinent one. Why does England, with the odd exception, tend to produce more players who are less instinctive with ball in hand and prefer to look for contact more than, say, their French or Kiwi counterparts? What shapes that traditional mould and how can it be broken?

"The answer may just be nigh. Sitting opposite me is a man called Gary Townsend, a self-confessed rugby nut. He also happens to be the RFU's player-development manager and his sights are set on mini-rugby, specifically the introduction of contact which has traditionally begun at under-nine level. A mini-revolution is already under way. A little-advertised pilot scheme is up and running in Hampshire, Warwickshire and Durham, which Townsend believes will have a marked effect on future generations. He also hopes it will reverse the alarming drop-off in participation levels currently vexing those within the community game."

Can Canterbury regain the Shield? © Getty Images

Canterbury must view their Ranfurly Shield challenge against Southland as an 'us against them' battle. According to Richard Knowler in The Press, everyone else is.

"As they hunch inside their foxholes to prepare for this weekend's Ranfurly Shield challenge, the Canterbury players will probably feel the rest of New Zealand is about to declare war on them.

"As they try to do a job on Southland in Invercargill on Saturday night, it will not just be the local crowd willing the challengers to lose at Rugby Park. Most couch potatoes around the country, barring those from between the Rakaia and the Waimakariri rivers, will be backing just one team and it won't be wrapped in red and black.

"Rugby supporters are no different – folks around the planet love to back the underdog and Canterbury, the NPC titleholders that are sitting at the top of the competition, will be Public Enemy No1."

Peter Fenton slams the 'dysfunctional' Shute Shield following Sydney University's latest triumph in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"So 5410 intrepid rugby supporters attended the time-honoured Shute Shield final between guess who? That's right. Again. This is much the same number as last year but 10,000 fewer than it drew year after year, before professionalism. Knockin' em dead aren't we? The national coach rightly took the Wallabies and Waratahs out of their cocoons, encouraging and allowing them to play club rugby. The finals series produced some great games but only the club faithful gave a damn. Why? Let me tell you.

"The competition is dysfunctional. Any competition where the top couple of teams can beat the bottom couple by a hundred points is dysfunctional. Rugby, sporting more academics than any code, is the only game not intelligent enough to produce a competitive club competition. No salary cap, no draft, no remuneration for junior clubs that produce a Wallaby, nothing. Just let' em play. Let the rich poach from the poor, and don't send any newly contracted players to the poorer clubs. The professional players' agreement prevents this. So the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and those at the top end worry only that the Wallabies or Waratahs are doing OK."

Munster skipper Paul O'Connell rarely misses a chance to shine in Europe and is eager to return to the top table. Hugh Farrelly talks to the region's missing heart in The Irish Independent.

"For Munster to head into European competition without their captain and totem Paul O'Connell is more than a little disconcerting ... shades of Hamlet without the Prince.

"The Heineken Cup is Munster's stage and O'Connell has been a key cast member since his debut off the bench against Harlequins in October 2001. After playing a central role in Munster's triumph in 2006, O'Connell was the leading man when he lifted their second trophy in 2008 and his absence from the opening rounds of this year's competition creates a considerable void.

"The likes of Mick O'Driscoll and Donnacha Ryan have proved their effectiveness as understudies but O'Connell's return from the groin problem that has ruined his year cannot come soon enough for player, province or national coach Declan Kidney. Thus, it was especially encouraging to hear O'Connell speak in such positive terms about his rehabilitation at the Dublin section of the Heineken Cup launch in the wonderfully appointed Grand Canal Theatre yesterday."

Could the Blues taste European success again this year? © Getty Images

Writing in the Wales on Sunday, Barry John tips Cardiff Blues to lead the Welsh charge in Europe.

"If any Welsh side is going to make it out of their pool, I fancy the Blues to do so. Xavier Rush is playing well and Casey Laulala is a tremendous playmaker, while young Lloyd Williams looks a real talent at scrum-half.

"He’s very sharp and very quick when he sees a gap around broken play. The back-to-back games against Northampton in December will be make-or-break for the Blues.

"But if they get through that it could be knock-out games in Cardiff all the way, with the final being at the Millennium Stadium. If I were Dai Young, I would put that all down in the dressing room. I’d say, ‘Boys, don’t worry about your passports. There’s no need, we are staying at home!”

An irregular heartbeat has been, perversely, the source of Robbie Fruean's consistent form this ITM Cup. So writes Gregor Paul in the New Zealand Herald.

"At the core of Fruean's improvement has been a medical and training regime that was struck upon by accident.

Fruean had been selected to play the opening game of the campaign against Hawke's Bay but had to withdraw because of an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) in the build-up to the game.

He was put under surveillance - Fruean had heart surgery in 2008 after contracting rheumatic fever - and his medical team opted to try a different drug regime.

The change in medication has been a revelation and Fruean's heart is now operating close to full capacity as opposed to the 50 per cent it managed during Super 14 - which was why he tended to fade midway through the second half.

He's also embarked on a new conditioning regime where he runs for longer at a slower pace which has strengthened his heart and given him a better conditioning base. He's fitter with improved aerobic capacity and that has been a factor in his growing confidence."

Writin in the New Zealand Herald, Bevan Hurley laments the tragic loss of rugby-made Ezra Sitagata.

"Young Ezra Sitagata could "swerve, pass and tackle like a pro" when he was named player of the year for his Ardmore Marist Under 7s rugby side last year.

But when he turned up for pre-season training this year, it was to break the news to teammates that he wouldn't be playing for the "Green Machine" in the upcoming season.

Doctors had found a massive cancerous tumour in the middle of his brain in February and, due to its location, were unable to operate.

The rare condition, known as brainstem glioma, is an aggressive form of cancer that spreads quickly through the nervous system."

Writing in the Irish Independent, Tony Ward reflects on Leinster's Magners League victory over Munster.

"The days of Rua Tipoki and Lifeimi Mafi wreaking havoc in midfield seem consigned to the dim and distant past.

"Much is made, understandably, of the massive void left by Paul O'Connell's absence, but the ongoing loss of Keith Earls is every bit as great.

"What Mafi once was, in terms of off-the-cuff inventiveness, Earls unquestionably still is. Without him the Munster back line is bereft of guile. I have long been an admirer of Mafi's all-singing all-dancing ultra-competitive style but on Saturday the South Sea Islander disappointed me badly.

"If the game and this competition is to retain any semblance of credibility, then Mafi ought to have two very serious issues of indiscipline to address. And for once may we be spared 'siege' rantings from the usual source within the Munster camp?"

Rassie Erasmus is the man who will be tasked with rescuing the Springboks, according to Rapport's Rudolph Lake.

"It has been reliably learned that Erasmus will be appointed as South Africa under-20 coach in the next week or two and he will then also be used as strategic consultant and technical advisor of the struggling Springbok rugby team.

Erasmus will advise the Bok coaching team of Peter de Villiers, Dick Muir and Gary Gold when South Africa tour Britain and Ireland next month.

He will also be part of the Bok management team when the team defends its world crown in New Zealand next year.

Erasmus is currently director of coaching at Western Province and contracted to them until the end of 2012."

Writing in The Guardian, Paul Rees previews the start of this season's Heineken Cup.

"Steve Borthwick's absence from the British leg of the Heineken Cup launch in Cardiff last week was fittingly symbolic: the English went missing in Europe last season, failing to provide a semi-finalist for only the second time in the 13 years they had taken part in the tournament.

England do not have a team in the top three of the European rankings and only two, Leicester and Wasps, are in the leading 10. The Premiership clubs are envious of the spending power of their French rivals, as well as the regions in Wales and the provinces in Ireland, while Italy's two teams in the Magners League, Treviso and Aironi, have playing budgets of €8m (£6.9m).

Leicester's opening game this Saturday is in Treviso. "A few years ago you would have expected to win there comfortably, but they are no longer the poor relations," Richard Cockerill, the Tigers' director of rugby, says. "They have already beaten Scarlets and Leinster at home in the league and you have to treat them with a huge amount of respect. When you first looked at the pool you thought it was better than others, but it will come down to form."

Gloucester's win on Friday night was hard for David Flatman to watch © Getty Images

"I have often wondered what possible enjoyment a rugby steward can take from a couple of hours stood staring into the crowd and away from the action. To travel to a sporting occasion big enough to warrant that amount of staff suggests that the event itself might be worth watching but, like the Queen's Guard, they stand firm, their indifference and focus the stuff of legend.

"On Friday night, though, at The Rec, I might gladly have swapped my team jacket for a high-vis yellownumber and turned the other cheek. It was, in so many ways, a grim evening at the office. Sometimes in sport one can do little but shrug the shoulders and take it on the chin – but this time it was tough.

"Physical exertion aside, I honestly think watching is harder than playing. Sure, we lame and lazy were nicely tucked up in the bar sipping tea and nibbling on sandwiches while others were doing our job for us, but the feeling of uselessness bites hard on these nights. And, I'll say it, especially against Gloucester. The sight of the team running out to battle makes one feel impotent and removed. The mist forming around the gorillas at scrum time reminds the injured player that while those on the field are giving so much, we are giving so little. Cheering, moaning, celebrating and advising. It is all just background noise."

Rory Best admits he might have left Ulster for pastures new if it hadn't been for some new signings - and his herd of cattle - speaking to John O'Brien in <The Sunday Independent.

"Last month Best turned 28 and the years of Ulster mediocrity are beginning to grate. He sees the likes of Stephen Ferris and Darren Cave, the fearlessness and confidence they exude, and imagines he too must have been like that five or six years ago. The years bring knocks and bruises, though, and the wilting doubts that accumulate with them can drag a player under unless he has the mental fortitude to overcome them.

"He recently signed a new two-year deal to stay at Ulster, but there were times he thought his future might lie elsewhere. Because he has been a loyal servant and tends a small herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle on his father's farm on the Armagh border, he feared they might take him for granted and regard him as an easy sell. But he needed to know they were serious about building a winning team. Something formidable. Something lasting.

"I'm at a stage where I want to win something meaningful. Not a one-off like the League title in '06. Win something and then next year threaten to win it again. My dream is to do that with Ulster. But I had to think very carefully and that's why I held off a bit to sign. I sat down with David [Humphreys] and Brian [McLaughlin] and they talked about the calibre of player they wanted to sign. Had those signings not happened it would've been a very difficult decision."

Tana Umaga may get back to Super rugby, argues The NZ Herald's Gregor Paul, but perhaps not on the pitch.

"There are other factors that weigh, probably more heavily, against his inclusion. He's being carefully managed through the ITM Cup, almost playing one game on, one off. When he does play, it's usually for no more than 60 minutes. When he has played, he's been effective and his presence is enough to inspire those around him. Yet he's been intermittent in the sense that he's involved for a period then steps back.

"The picture is further complicated in trying to determine how Umaga would handle the step up to the next level. The jump in speed, physicality and intensity between ITM Cup and Super 15 is a large one.Chiefs coach Ian Foster says Umaga has a bright future as a coach and that an invitation to spend time with the franchise next year has been extended. Last year Foster's back-up team included forwards coach Craig Stevenson and lineout specialist Keith Robinson so Umaga could be used sporadically without overlapping anyone's existing portfolio."

British & Irish Lions captain Ronnie Dawson and All Blacks captain Wilson Whineray lead out their teams before the start of the first Test at Dunedin in 1959 © Getty Images

Prolific sports writer Bob Howitt tracks Whineray's path to the top in A Perfect Gentleman The Sir Wilson Whineray Story - reviewed by Colin Meads and Andrew Stone in the New Zealand Herald.

"Howitt's 18th book on the game fills a gaping hole in rugby annals, given Whineray's status among the best of All Black captains, and the absence until now of a decent biography of one of the game's most respected figures. In the book, written with Whineray's reluctant co-operation, Howitt unearths some forgotten tales to add to rugby's storehouse, and presents a portrait of a man who over-achieved on the footy paddock and again rose to top when his playing days were finished, carving out a remarkable business career.

"...As a player, Whineray was tough and durable. He wore the black jersey 77 times, and was All Black skipper on 69 of those occasions.

"All up he got on the park for 240 first class games. He did not shirk from the tough stuff, an attitude that might have sprung from his boyhood love of boxing and heavyweight titles won while at university.

"One of Howitt's yarns illustrates Whineray's steel: in April 1957 the rising rugby star played the first 40 minutes of a South Island trial in Christchurch and then drove to Dunedin with three Lincoln College students to reclaim his heavyweight university boxing title in the Town Hall feature fight that evening."

All Blacks legend Colin Meads chats to the New Zealand Herald's Michele Hewitson and declares his amazement at the public's interest in him.

"He talks about himself in the third person. "There was going to be a film made on Colin Meads." And, "You can get Colin Meads overkill, can't you?" And, "I just carry on being Colin Meads." This is almost always a symptom of advanced megalomania, usually found in people who think they're important, or famous.

"With him, it's the opposite: a way of dissociating himself from that other bloke, the important and famous Colin Meads as opposed to the other one who sits at home and reads about himself and says, "This is bloody ridiculous!"

The Irish Times' talks to Leinster's Isa Nacewa ahead of their high-profile clash with Munster.

"For the most part we’ve no idea what is going on in a player’s life, and often make judgements as pundits or supporters which never take that into account. Yet a happy and contented person makes for a better player, and you can tell from Isa Nacewa’s performances this season that he’s in a good place.

"...Just one bum note. Leinster’s results so far. “I think what’s most frustrating is that we have been completely in the game, either right in it or leading, and then we’ve had say a 15-minute spell in each game, an afternoon snooze as some have called it. And that’s just down to concentration.”

"It’s in these spells especially when their defence becomes passive and porous. “We don’t have a defence coach in place at the moment but that isn’t an excuse. We’ve got foundations in place that we’re just not living up to. Even when we’re getting beaten around the ruck, that’s where we’re meant to be the most solid. That’s our heart defence and when we’re getting beaten in there or soaking tackles or going back and missing them, that’s a huge area we have to look on.”

Writing in the Irish Independent, Hugh Farrelly tips the presence of Jamie Heaslip to inspire Leinster to greater things in their Aviva Stadium clash with Munster.

"In these pages last month, Jamie Heaslip outlined his rugby goals for the next 12 months. "Win everything," he said simply. "I don't play to lose."

"While the sentiment may have been a tad unrealistic (as demonstrated by Leinster's one from four league record in September) the intent was admirable and, if you were a team-mate of Heaslip's, inspirational. Which is why Joe Schmidt's decision to name the Kildare man as captain for tonight's Magners League clash with Munster at Lansdowne Road looks such an astute call.

"Leinster are up against it, riddled by injury, playing well below par and facing a Munster side that arrives at the sold-out Aviva-sponsored stadium with the type of confident strut that stems from being the only team in the league with a 100pc record.

"In this situation, Leinster need leaders and Heaslip is imbued with just the type of Henry V 'follow me' quality required to drive others on. He has captained Leinster once before, in a 38-23 win over Glasgow at the RDS in November 2006."

In an era when size matters so much, The Scotsman's Allan Massie reports that we are craving more skill.

"a game for players of all shapes and sizes. This has always been the boast. Some 40 years ago there was a Springbok scrum-half who didn't quite measure 5 foot even in long-studded boots. Recently fears have been expressed that this was no longer true, and that rugby was moving towards a situation where almost everyone was more than 6 foot high and weighted at least 15st.

"Happily this hasn't quite proved to be the case. There is still room, even at the highest level, for lightly-built players like Chris Paterson and others, like Glasgow's admirable Colin Gregor, who are anything but mastadons. Nor have portly props quite disappeared, even if beer bellies, at least at the top level, are a rarer sight than they used to be."

Writing in The Independent, Brian Ashton reflects on Saracens' decision to send captain Steve Borthwick on a team-bonding trip to the Munich Beer Festival rather than the Heineken Cup launch.

"But Steve is a smart guy, and he would have foreseen the potential problems. Did it cross his mind to impress on Saracens that as he would be the one singled out for his non-appearance, it might be sensible to forgo the delights of lederhosen-clad bar staff and pitch up in Cardiff instead?

"On a much more serious subject, did it ever occur to Tom Williams, the Harlequins wing who notoriously obeyed orders to bite on a fake-blood capsule, to refuse to participate in this piece of naked cheating and tell the management they should stick the offending object elsewhere in their own anatomy? It leaves me wondering whether teams are in danger of "unionising" the union game by insisting that their players show complete solidarity in following the party line."

Injuries in the Leicester squad could present rising star George Ford with his first taste of Premiership rugby against Saracens. The Guardian's Rob Kitson reports.

"Four months can be a savagely long time in rugby as Leicester will underline when they run out to face Saracens tomorrow. Just three members of the Tigers' starting XV who beat Sarries in a classic Premiership final will kick off this weekend's scheduled reunion, with captain-for-the-day Tom Croft the only surviving forward. For such unheralded players as Rob Hawkins, Ed Slater, Joe Duffey and Sam Harrison, the chance to make a name for themselves has definitely arrived.

"The same, in a subtly different way, applies to the 17-year-old George Ford, about whom we will hear plenty in the coming years. The son of England's defence coach, Mike Ford, has already captained England's Under-18 team – he first represented them at the age of 15 – and is widely regarded as the most precocious backline talent to emerge since a low‑profile figure called Jonny Wilkinson. Poised to make his league debut off the bench this weekend, he is already the youngest player to appear in a professional club game, having made his Leicester debut aged 16 years and 237 days in the LV Cup last November."

Salary caps and relegation are exercising the mind of London Irish star Nick Kennedy © Getty Images

London Irish lock Nick Kennedy assesses the challenges facing his club at European level in his Telegraph blog.

"In France the authorities decided to curb their teams’ previously infinite salary budgets for the new 2010/11 season and duly restricted teams to a paltry £7.1million limit. Yes, that’s right, £3million more than their Anglo Saxon opponents. At London Irish we have a squad of 34 players and a quick look at the website of our pool opponents Toulon, shows no fewer than 47 first team players.

"Having nearly twice as money to pay in salaries and therefore larger squad sizes means that French teams can perform more consistently in both domestic and European competitions. They are able to field one side for their Top 14 games and then a whole new, well-rested one for the Heineken Cup games. This is a luxury that English teams definitely do not have. Irish sides tend to prioritise the Heineken Cup much more than their domestic league as in Ireland the Heineken Cup is considered the Holy Grail. It is very rare that the top players will play week in week out in the Magners League and then start a Heineken Cup game.

"English clubs can rarely afford to rest players for Premiership games; the schedule is so tough and the standard so competitive that no team is safe from dropping down to the Championship as recent relegations have shown. If a team in the Magners League has a bad season there is always next year, that isn’t the case in England. The Heineken cup is a challenge we thoroughly look forward to, but not until next week."

Leinster host Munster at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday and writing in The Irish Times a man who played for both sides in this fixture, Liam Toland, explains why the fixture is fundamental to Ireland's success.

"Prof Michael E Porter, based at Harvard Business School, noted competition brought out the best in successful multinational companies. “Porter’s Diamond” from his book The Competitive Advantage of Nations can give us an insight into the tomorrow’s benefits. The value of this derby fixture directly explains why Irish rugby has secured four Heineken Cups, a Grand Slam and many Triple Crowns in the professional era.

"BMW and Mercedes have for many years hammered the multinational competition, not because they wanted to better the Japanese or the Americans but because they insisted on beating each other. They achieved such high standards before export through their own competition that on arriving into international waters they were unstoppable. We have already witnessed the value of local competition between Jonny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara, particularly to O’Gara.

"Porter’s determining factors start with the God-given stuff where Irish rugby is comparatively weakest of any rugby nation; factor conditions, the material resources, ie the player, the weather and location. We have small numbers, small frames and poor weather. Consequently the second factor becomes key to surmounting the first negative; related and supported industries. The GAA provides us with a key advantage of footballing skills in our rugby players. Centres of excellence such as UL, through its sports science, is another. The provincial academies and specialised coaching such as around the scrum are relatively new and enormously beneficial."

Writing in his Guardian Shaun Edwards has cast his eye across to the French Top 14 who will use referees from across the channel in this weekend's round of games.

"Three Irish referees plus one each from England, Wales and Scotland will oversee matches in an attempt to familiarise French clubs with, according to the French referees commission, another style of officiating ahead of the opening rounds of European competition.

"The six referees are not among the better‑known officials on the circuit, but the plumb job goes to Peter Fitzgibbon, the most recent addition to a growing line of good Irish referees, who gets to control the match between the European champions Toulouse and the current league leaders Racing Métro (who, incidently, will be without their coach, Pierre Berbizier, for the next 60 days after a spat with the referee Christophe Berdos).

"Now, I am no expert on the ways of French referees, but this exchange of officials seems to be a clever move and it's good to see the French putting their hands in their pockets in a good cause because there has been considerable unease in some quarters about the way the new directives at the breakdown have been applied in the Top 14."