Here's your round-up of all the latest rugby headlines for Monday, November 14.
Wales to learn injury damage
Wales will today learn the cost of the damage suffered in the Test victory over Argentina at the weekend.
Head coach Wayne Pivac saw two of his players leave the field in what looked like significant pain; Dan Lydiate was forced off after 28 minutes with a wrist injury, while Will Rowlands appeared in discomfort in the second period holding his arm.
Pivac said post-match they would likely found out the extent of the injuries imminently.
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"Will Rowlands is a shoulder so we’ll get a scan on that on Monday and we will know more then," he said. "Dan was an arm so we’ll know more about that next week."
The outcome of these examinations could well determine Pivac's selection for the upcoming Tests against Georgia and Australia.
"We’ll see how everyone scrubs up on Monday," he added. "We want to learn as much as we can in this window about the guys in the squad.
"It’s not just on the pitch out there on an afternoon like today, it’s also what we’re seeing in training. The boys go live at each other for several periods throughout the week and we see what a lot of the younger guys are capable of.
"Where we can, we will have a look. But certainly we have to make sure that we are building results as well. That’s very important to us."
Pivac is expected to make changes to his side, although he insists they will not be wholesale as he tries to maintain momentum ahead of facing the Wallabies.
Woodward: Northern hemisphere power shift clear
Former England coach Sir Clive Woodward says the power shift in world rugby is clear to see.
England, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy all saw off southern hemisphere opposition this weekend, while Scotland came close to achieving their first-ever win over New Zealand only to tail off.
Woodward believes England should hold no inferiority contest when they face the All Blacks and believes there has been a change in the balance between the two hemispheres.
He said in the Daily Mail : "I was a little perplexed to pick up the newspaper on Sunday and read Eddie Jones’ comments about the All Blacks being ‘there for the taking’. I thought the myth around the New Zealand aura was blown away a long time ago.
"There really should be no fear factor of these Southern Hemisphere teams and Jones is living in the past by even highlighting it.
"England are just as good as New Zealand. The power shift towards the Northern Hemisphere is clear to see. Five of the Six Nations teams won their games this weekend and for a long time Scotland looked like they were going to make it a clean sweep against the All Blacks.
"Twickenham is a tough place to come to. We need to start reminding people of that. England do not need to build up the All Blacks. Stuart Lancaster’s team beat New Zealand at home in 2012 and England have won this fixture enough to debunk any myths about the opposition."
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RFU - Next England coach doesn't have to be English
England rugby chiefs insist Eddie Jones' successor doesn't necessarily have to be English.
Leicester's Steve Borthwick, La Rochelle's Ronan O'Gara and Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson are all reportedly in the frame to take over as national team boss, with RFU chief Bill Sweeney keen to confirm an appointment by next May.
Sweeney said: “If it was an English person it makes life a bit easier. The first priority is it’s got to be the right person, if they are English then that’s great. As a leading rugby nation we should be developing English coaches and an English style of play. That should be long-term and therefore the preference would be to have an English setup as far as I’m concerned.
“We said we’d announce in May. It could be earlier than that. Sometimes it’s not within your control. It’s in good shape. We’ve got a list of candidates we think could do a very good job. It’s not just the head coach, it’s the whole coaching set-up.”
Calls for new Red Roses coach after World Cup final slips away
Meanwhile, calls have been made for England head coach Simon Middleton to step aside from his Red Roses coaching role.
England saw their World Cup dream slip away following defeat to New Zealand in the final at Eden Park.
World Cup winner and English rugby legend Maggie Alphonsi is one of those calling for Middleton to step aside, echoing fellow World Cup winner Nolli Waterman's desire for a fresh face at the helm.
Middleton, who masterminded a 30-game unbeaten run before their recent final, took over as England head coach in 2016 and is contracted until June 2023.
"We need to think about the future," Alphonsi said in her Telegraph column. "Some senior England players are most likely going to retire now that the World Cup is over and there’s a lot of young players in that squad to develop over the next three years in time for a home tournament in 2025. And if you’re going to shake it up, you need to do it at the beginning of a World Cup cycle to allow a new coach a decent amount of time to become embedded within the system. England have fallen short and I think it’s healthy we acknowledge that. The Rugby Football Union has rightly led the way with ground-breaking investment into the women’s game, they have nothing to show for it. The team that has been the most in-form team during the whole of the last World Cup cycle lost to the most in-form team in the final."
In the wake of the defeat, Middleton refused to be drawn on his future, saying he had "no idea" when he will discuss it with Rugby Football Union bosses. "I work for a great group of people and I know they'll support me in whatever decision we think is right," he said.
Asked if he would be happy for Middleton to stay on, RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said: "It's up to him, partly. It's a joint decision. We haven't sat down, he hasn't told us what he wants to do yet. He probably needs a bit of a break to let the dust settle, but we'll have that conversation when we get back.
"We've got a very comprehensive coach succession planning programme in place. Both for the men's and women's game it's handled in exactly the same way. We've got a range of coaches and coaching support staff that we're looking at in terms of where we go next."
Scotland remember Cattigan
Scotland fans came together on the eighth minute of Sunday's clash against New Zealand to remember former Scotland Women's No. 8 Siobhan Cattigan, who died aged 26 a year ago this month.
Fans had been unofficially asked to consider standing and applauding to remember the back-rower, who should have been representing here country at the Women's World Cup stage this autumn.
Cattigan's parents Morven and Neil, who have joined the brain injury lawsuit against the game's governing bodies, have previously said "something catastrophic had happened to Siobhan's brain". No cause of death was given after she passed away.
Her family has since raised concerns about the support their daughter received after suffering head injuries in February 2020 and April 2021. The Sunday Times has previously reported “it had got to the point where she could no longer live with the pain in her head and Siobhan succumbed to an irrational thought and impulsive action”.
Progressive Rugby, a lobby group bidding to improve rugby's record on head injuries and concussions, said on Twitter afterwards: "Wonderful to hear the #8thminuteOvation for Siobhan Cattigan at Murrayfield. Even louder this weekend and rightly noted by commentators. Some things are more important than rugby."
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