Here are the latest rugby headlines on Tuesday, November 8.
Wales set for injury boost
Wales wing Alex Cuthbert is set to be in contention to face Argentina this weekend to provide Wayne Pivac with a welcome injury boost.
Ospreys back-three man Cuthbert, 32, has been pictured in Wales training on Monday alongside last weekend's debutant Rio Dyer, scrum-half Taulupe Faletau, centre Nick Tompkins and No. 8 Taulupe Faletau.
Competition: Win one of four free pairs of tickets to watch Wales v Argentina courtesy of Dove Men+Care
Cuthbert hasn't started a match this season having picked up a shoulder injury in the second Test against South Africa in July, but Wales head coach Wayne Pivac revealed in the wake of the 55-23 defeat to the All Blacks that Cuthbert would likely to come into contention to face Los Pumas, and publication of imagery showing him in training will come as a further boost.
Wales are also due to hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon where we will likely learn if anyone else will come into contention.
"We’ll assess everyone," Pivac said on Saturday. "Tommy Reffell took a bump on the ribs so we’ll monitor him. There’ll be sore and battered bodies. I think Alex Cuthbert will be right for next week. We won’t be pushing people before they’re ready."
The Welsh Rugby Union shared a social media post on Monday, along with four training pictures, which said: "Back to work with a big week ahead..."
Fears grow for missing Levi Davis
The loved ones of 24-year-old ex-Bath rugby player Levi Davis, who is missing in Barcelona, are "terrified", according to his friend.
Davis, who once appeared on Celebrity X Factor, was last seen leaving a pub in Barcelona on Saturday, October 29.
Former Leicester Tigers and Wasps player Tom Varndell told ITV: "[We're] obviously very concerned at the moment. We just want to track him down as soon as possible and get him home to his mum. The fact that he hasn't made contact with anybody since the 29 October, not even his mum, is extremely worrying right now. It is so out of character for Levi to not make any contact whatsoever."
Mr Varndell, who has started a social media campaign to help locate Mr Davis, continued: "I've been in contact with his brothers and sisters, mum and they're just all terrified about what is going on. It's a case of just trying to get all of the facts in place, trying to find out how many people have seen him and then piece that together without jumping to conclusions. At the moment, you can come up with so many different scenarios of how he's gone missing or where is he and obviously your mind does tend to go down darker paths, especially in a situation like this. We just want to track him down as soon as possible and get him home to his mum."
He added: "He suffers massively from depression and he does have bouts of feeling very low and down and I think that's on the back of him. He bounced onto the scene in rugby very suddenly, he went up like a rocket, it was brilliant. Then there was the X Factor, then after that he got into some difficulty, and I think he struggled massively in that. His personal situation, it's very complicated.
Mr Varndell said Levi went to see a friend in Ibiza when he suddenly left the apartment and friend he was staying with, leaving all of his belongings behind, and got on a boat to Barcelona before he was last seen on October 29 leaving an Irish bar at around 10.05pm.
Get your brilliant 48-page Wales at the World Cup preview special - it's a must-have historical souvenir
England 'unwatchable'
Parts of England's game has been branded "unwatchable" by Sir Clive Woodward amid a warning that Eddie Jones and his bosses need to "wise up" on their legacy or they risk overseeing "finishing English rugby".
Speaking in the aftermath of the 30-29 defeat to Argentina, England’s Rugby World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive believes the current side lacked spark and imagination for the majority of the match (until Jack van Poortvliet came on), but insists the players are not the issue.
"Everyone was bored out of their brains," Sir Clive said of England v Argentina in his Daily Mail column. "You are not always going to play brilliantly but there was not a single memorable moment from an England player, nor any sign of innovation, creativity or boldness — it was really poor. England’s playing pool is as good as anyone in the world. I could nit-pick about individuals but the fault here lies with the way they are coached and selected.
"At every opportunity England slowed the game down. You cannot win doing this and, more importantly, the game is unwatchable. Eddie got the selection badly wrong and the way England played was even worse. Jones and those he supposedly reports to need to wise up and quickly or their legacy will be seen as finishing English rugby. It’s not a case of changing the personnel, it’s a case of changing the way we play."
France call up 15 extra players
France have called up 15 extra players ahead of this weekend's Test against South Africa, including a replacement for injured lock Killian Geraci. He was a late withdrawal from France’s 30-29 win over Australia in their Autumn Nations Series match on Saturday, and he has since been withdrawn from the squad due to a knee injury.
Eight of the 15 new players called up to prepare for the match against the world champion Springboks have never played for France. The 2023 Rugby World Cup hosts and favourites had to pull out all stops to deny the Wallabies a famous victory, snatching a record 11th straight Test win with a try to winger Damien Penaud five minutes from full-time.
France squad for South Africa Test: Gregory Alldritt, Uini Atonio, Cyril Baille, Alexandre Becognee, Pierre Bourgarit, Bastien Chalureau, Dylan Cretin, Sipili Falatea, Thibaud Flament, Mohamed Haouas, Anthony Jelonch, Jordan Joseph, Thomas Lavault, Sekou Macalou, Julien Marchand, Peato Mauvaka, Charles Ollivon, Remi Picquette, Dany Priso, Yoan Tanga, Romain Taofifenua, Reda Wardi, Cameron Woki, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Leo Berdeu, Pierre Boudehent, Anthony Bouthier, Baptiste Couilloud, Jonathan Danty, Ethan Dumortier, Antoine Dupont, Samuel Ezeala, Gael Fickou, Emilien Gailleton, Matthieu Jalibert, Matthis Lebel, Maxime Lucu, Yoram Moefana, Romain Ntamack, Damian Penaud, Alivereti Raka, Thomas Ramos.
Maro Itoje urges England to address slow starts
Maro Itoje admits England must urgently address their habit of starting new campaigns with a defeat as they once again face the task of rebuilding from a position of weakness. Argentina claimed only their second win at Twickenham on Sunday after ending a 10-Test losing run in the fixture with a 30-29 victory in the Autumn Nations Series opener.
It was deja vu for England, meanwhile, as they emulated the Six Nations and July tour of Australia by falling at the first hurdle - a trend that head coach Eddie Jones blames on a lack of preparation time. With their players scattered across the globe and some even in action on the previous weekend, the Pumas may raise an eyebrow at Jones' claim, especially given the cohesion they displayed. If the pattern continues into the World Cup next year England could be facing disaster and Itoje knows it cannot be allowed to continue.
"We have 11 clubs now and everyone is playing a different style of rugby, everyone has a different thought process," Itoje said. "We haven't perhaps been so good at flicking the switch to England mode. And that's something we need to get better at, because this is not something we want to embrace or continue any longer.
"One thing is being aware of it and we know that's becoming a bit of a trend. We need to get back on England time, England mode and the England way of thinking a bit sooner, and create that teamship a bit sooner than we have sometimes. It can take a week or two to get going but we need to get going from the off. The group is tight and together off the field, but we need to translate that on to the field. No one's going to be shouting at each other, or calling people out. It's just being honest with each other about where we were good, where we were bad and where we need to improve. We all want to improve because we don't want results like this."
Japan are next up on Saturday before heavyweights New Zealand and South Africa swagger into the capital looking to claim statement wins ahead of the World Cup.
READ NEXT:
Wayne Pivac's Wales coaching record compared to Warren Gatland
New World Rugby rankings see Wales drop into third tier despite being World Cup top seeds
Former Wales international slams 'dreadful' atmosphere at Wales v New Zealand
