Here are your rugby morning headlines for Wednesday March 23.
Springboks star opens up on joining Six Nations
Pieter-Steph du Toit is the first South African player to publicly comment on the prospect of the Springboks joining the Six Nations.
It has been reported that South Africa could switch from the Rugby Championship to the Six Nations from 2025, a mooted plan which has been met with mixed reviews. The talk isn't going away despite Italy finally ending their barren run by beating Wales.
Read next: Wales' 2023 Rugby World Cup squad as things stand sees several Six Nations players miss out
And Du Toit, one of the Springboks' leading players, has opened up on the idea, saying the time factor would suit South Africa.
"My personal opinion is it would be sad to leave the Rugby Championship and not play against New Zealand, Australia and Argentina," the back-row, who was the 2019 World Rugby Player of the Year, told the Daily Mail.
"But I guess there also comes a stage where you have to move on."
Du Toit said he wasn't sure if this was 'the right time' but pointed out there were advantages to South Africa joining the Six Nations. He says switching to the northern hemisphere tournament would be beneficial in terms of travel and time difference, with South Africa just two hours in front.
"There are definitely pros and cons in terms of moving from the Rugby Championship. Everything changes and you just have to adapt to it," he went on.
"As players we struggle to sleep when we go to New Zealand and Australia and it's the same for them when they come to South Africa. It plays a massive role. It might be a bit easier going north with the travelling. I think that would definitely be one of the positives and would definitely make it a lot better in terms of preparation."
Nigel Owens makes Eddie-Gatland comparison
Nigel Owens expects under-fire England boss Eddie Jones to bounce back just like Warren Gatland did during his time in charge of Wales.
Jones has come in for criticism after another below-par Six Nations campaign by England, prompting the RFU to release a statement backing their head coach in the aftermath of the campaign. England eventually finished third, level on points with Scotland having won only two of their five matches, but ended on a sour note with a 25-13 defeat by France.
Owens, though, believes Jones can turn things around. With 18 months until the World Cup, the Welshman thinks that the Australian is the best man to take England to France next year for the global showpiece and used former Wales boss Gatland as an example.
“When you’re 18 months out from a World Cup it’s a big ask to change any coaching set-up really,” Owens told William Hill. “It’d be a huge gamble to do that. Eddie’s won a Grand Slam with England, Six Nations titles, he took them to the last World Cup final and outplayed New Zealand in that semi-final. They played brilliantly in that game, probably one of the best England performances that one has seen. So, he’s definitely still got the ability to lead them into the World Cup.
“If you look back at Warren Gatland, there were times in that 10 or 11 years coaching Wales when he didn’t have the best of seasons. But then the next season he got things right and would bounce back. Wales went to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2019, the quarter-finals in 2015 and the semi-final in 2011 which they should have won.
"It’ll be interesting to see how Eddie and England go over the summer and in the autumn as they do need to now start getting some wins in and build up some confidence as the World Cup is getting closer."
Should Wayne Pivac be replaced as Wales boss? Have your say here.
England warned over sponsors
England have been warned they could lose key revenue from sponsors if Eddie Jones does not turn their fortunes around swiftly.
Former RFU boss Francis Baron told the Telegraph he would not have tolerated woeful back-to-back Six Nations for England, with Jones insisting things will be right come the World Cup.
And Baron, RFU chief executive when England conquered the world in 2003, says sponsors will disappear unless the Six Nations is treated as a key objective.
England came under heavy fire for releasing a statement on Sunday saying they were happy to be making progress under Jones. But Baron said the 'jam tomorrow' attitude "would not have happened under my watch.”
He went on: “The Six Nations is one of the major revenue-earners for the RFU. To downgrade the value of competition is not acceptable.
"I would not have thought that our sponsors, who pay a lot of money to be associated with a successful England team, would be very happy with that impression. I would also think that CVC who have paid a lot of money to buy a stake in the Six Nations, would not be happy.
"The results speak for themselves. I am not saying whether the coach is the right person or not to take the job forward but I would like to see Bill Sweeney come out and explain why he believes England are on the right track, the strategy is right and the head coach is right. I don’t want to see an unattributable press release telling me everything is fine when I and millions of rugby fans can see things are not fine.”
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Hogg tipped to lose Scotland captaincy
Ex-Scotland international Craig Chalmers believes Stuart Hogg could lose the captaincy after breaking team protocol.
Hogg was one of six players found to have attended a bar after returning to Edinburgh following their win over Italy in Rome. The Scotland skipper apologised for his actions but head coach Gregor Townsend did little to reassure Hogg he would stay on as captain.
And now, former Scotland fly-half Chalmers believes change could be afoot. Speaking to The Nine programme on BBC Scotland, he said: “I think he’s going to find it very hard to hold on to the captaincy.
“I don’t think he should have been given it in the first place. Full-back’s not a great place to captain from because you’ve got to be in amongst it, round about the referee, asking questions, finding stuff out. I think he will relinquish it."
When asked who could take over from Hogg if he is given the boot, he replied: “We’ve just got to see who takes over. What leaders are there? Are there enough leaders in that team? Hamish Watson maybe.
“Jamie Ritchie, for me, is the guy that’s going to be there long term but will he be fit for the tour to Argentina in the summer? I’m not too sure. But, yes, I think there will be a change.”
England scrum-half quits for New Zealand return
Former England scrum-half Willi Heinz has been released from his contract with Gallagher Premiership club Worcester by mutual agreement.
The Warriors said that 35-year-old Heinz, who joined Worcester from Gloucester last summer, will return to his native New Zealand. Heinz's family recently returned to New Zealand and Worcester said they are "fully supportive of his request to rejoin them there".
Heinz won 13 caps and was a member of England's 2019 World Cup squad in Japan. His final Test match appearance came during the 2020 Six Nations, when he went on as a replacement against Wales at Twickenham.
