Your rugby headlines on Sunday August 7
New Zealand hit 'lowest point in history'
The outcry over New Zealand rugby moved to a new level overnight following their Rugby Championship loss to South Africa.
Kurt-Lee Arendse's maiden Test try condemned the All Blacks to three straight defeats against the Springboks for the first time since 1998 as 14-man South Africa triumphed 26-10 in this season's tournament opener. It was also New Zealand's fifth defeat in their last six matches.
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The result sees coach Ian Foster come under even more increasing pressure for his job as his side dropped to fifth in the world rankings.
The media piled on the agony with headlines such as 'Lowest in history', 'Time for a re-set' and 'Strangled suffocated and bent to Boks' will.'
Radio New Zealand called the defeat 'another extension of the gaping wound that is the national side, festering with pus and infection.'
The New Zealand Herald taunted: 'England have poked their nose ahead of the All Blacks in the world rugby rankings, with beleaguered Ian Foster's side lying fifth. It is a position almost unimaginable when the All Blacks were riding high under Steve Hansen.'
The two sides meet again in Johannesburg in a week's time, where anything other than a New Zealand victory could easily see Foster forced out of his job.
Cooper blow as Wallabies win
Australia recovered from trailing at half-time to wrap up a 41-26 bonus-point victory over Argentina in their own Rugby Championship opener in Mendoza, where Quade Cooper sustained another injury blow.
Argentina, led by Australian-born head coach Michael Cheika, had opened up a 19-10 lead at the interval, helped by an early try from Pablo Matera and the boot of fly-half Emiliano Boffelli.
Australia, already without captain Michael Hooper after he returned home due to not feeling in the right mindset to play, were dealt a setback early in the second half when Cooper - who missed recent series defeat to England because of injury - went down with a leg poblem and had to be helped off the field.
The Wallabies, though, fought back with a try from Fraser McReight before Juan Martin Gonzalez finished off a fine Argentina counter-attack in the corner to further extend the Pumas lead at 26-17.
A penalty try started Australia's recovery before Reece Hodge kicked them into the lead for the first time just after the hour mark, with hooker Folau Fainga'a going over for another score and Len Ikitau touching down a bonus-point try during stoppage time to complete the turnaround.
Williams: 'Some people will think I'm crazy'
Wayne Pivac's former assistant Gareth Williams admits Welsh fans will think he is 'crazy' to quit the national team to join a regional side.
Williams was Wales' breakdown coach but has opted instead to take up a full-time role with the Scarlets. It leaves Pivac needing to find a new expert for the contact area as the World Cup looms closer.
"Leaving the Wales job was a difficult choice to make and I didn't arrive at the decision lightly," Williams said in the Rugby Paper. "I'm aware some people will probably say it's a crazy decision to leave an international job so close to the World Cup, but this move feels right.
"I'm confident Wales will go on to have success over the next year and the tour to South Africa was a big step in right direction."
Explaining why he chose to join the Scarlets, he said: "I felt coaching at club level on a day to day basis was the right thing for my development."
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