Your rugby morning headlines for Friday August 5.
Foster told he 'has to win'
New Zealand boss Ian Foster has seen the pressure pile up further down under as his in crisis team prepare to kick off their Rugby Championship campaign.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the coach will 'be expected to resign' if the Blacks lose to world champions South Africa in back-to-back matches.
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The Springboks head into the encounters in confident mood after their recent victory over Wayne Pivac's Wales.
The new bout of headlines come amid a full blown crisis in New Zealand rugby. Chief executive Mark Robinson refused to give any guarantees over Foster's future in a recent interview, while Steve Hansen and David Moffett laid into what is happening. Sam Cane and his side have lost four of their last five games, creating an unprecedented flurry of criticism.
Former coach Hansen defended Foster and instead demanded the New Zealand Board undertake a review into themselves. Moffett, who used to run the game down under before taking charge of the Welsh Rugby Union, was even stronger in his criticism and demanded the head of Robinson.
With senior players also having hit out at what they feel is unfair criticism, it creates a cocktail of pressure ahead of what is bound to be a compelling showdown in Mbombela tomorrow as the tournament kicks off. The second South Africa versus New Zealand clash takes place in Johannesburg a week on.
Cooper back for Wallabies
Quade Cooper is back in action for Australia in the Rugby Championship's second game on Saturday after missing the Test series against England this summer.
The mercurial fly-half had been due to start the first Test against Eddie Jones' side but pulled out after sustaining an injury in the warm-up that would eventually keep him out of the entire three weeks.
His selection adds a little bit of spice to proceedings as the Wallabies get their campaign underway against Argentina, because it means he'll be facing former coach Michael Cheika, who essentially cast Cooper aside.
Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallia, Santiago Cordero, Matias Orlando, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Emiliano Boffelli, Santiago Carreras, Tomas Cubelli; Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Julian Montoya (C), Francisco Gomez Kodela, Matias Alemanno, Tomas Lavanini, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera.
Australia: Tom Wright; Jordan Petaia, Len Ikitau, Hunter Paisami, Marika Koroibete; Quade Cooper, Nic White; James Slipper, Folau Fainga'a, Allan Alaalatoa; Darcy Swain, Matt Philip; Jed Holloway, Michael Hooper (C), Rob Valetini
Wales face decision on coach
Wales boss Wayne Pivac will decide upon the next step after losing his assistant Gareth Williams to the Scarlets.
Williams, who had responsibility for the contact area among head coach Pivac's support team, will join the region as defence coach. He left his post with the Welsh Rugby Union after last month's third Test defeat against world champions South Africa.
Williams was appointed on a full-time basis just over a year ago, having initially started work with Pivac during the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup.
Pivac said: "It is a shame to lose one of the coaching team just over a year out to Rugby World Cup, but I understand Gareth's decision and I am pleased for him.
"He is not going far, and it will be great having a good young coach moving from the national team into the regional system to further their development.
"This is also an important element in increasing alignment between international and domestic rugby in Wales."
It also leaves Pivac needing to make a major call over who to replace Williams with in the Wales set-up, or whether he fills the void with his current backroom team. Wales legend Sam Warburton previously held a similar role among Pivac's assistants, while defence coach Gethin Jenkins was credited with the team's more resilient defensive performances in the three Tests versus the Springboks.
Pivac views the contact area as pivotal in modern day rugby and will assess what to do next in time for Wales' four autumn internationals at the Principality Stadium.
New URC coach calls for home ground to be a fortress
New Glasgow boss Franco Smith insists he wants to turn Scotstoun into a fortress next year. The former Italy boss replaces Danny Wilson in charge of the Scottish side, who underperformed for periods last season.
Smith has been selected as the man to turn things around and it begins, he believes, with making their home turf a tough place to come.
"The fans are our 24th player and we need them," he told the BBC. "One of our values is to make Scotstoun an unbeatable ground, a place where no other team comes and wins. We need the place full. Hopefully the way we go about our business means it will be full and they will be our extra player."
On how he addressed his squad for the first time, he said: "They've got to rediscover the reason why they play the game. Professional rugby over the years has forced everybody to be really detailed and disciplined and that's part of the process, but we must keep the joy and excitement.
"I want to organise players so they can express themselves, so they can get enjoyment and be creative in what they do. Having worked in Italy and South Africa and all across the world, winning is important, of course. There's a lot of pressure to win and that's the objective, but you can't lose that excitement."
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Today's rugby news as eligibility row erupts and new role for Welsh rugby boss
