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Fans back soon in Britain

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a four-part plan to lift the coronavirus lockdown.

Outdoor sports including football, golf and tennis will be allowed to resume in England from 29 March.

The plan to ease lockdown requires four tests on vaccines, infection rates and new coronavirus variants to be met.

"The turnstiles of our sports stadia will once again rotate," said Johnson.

Leisure centres, gyms and swimming pools can open from 12 April.

Fans allowed in stands for Super Rugby Aotearoa

There will be no limit on crowd numbers when the Highlanders play the Chiefs at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on Saturday and the Blues host the Hurricanes at Eden Park the following day.

Fans will be able to buy tickets to the opening two matches from today after the Government confirmed New Zealand will move to Alert Level 1 at midnight tonight lifting all restrictions on mass gatherings including at stadiums.

New Zealand Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said the Government announcement was fantastic news for rugby.

Rugby fans flock to famous dog statue in Tokyo

A constant crowd gathers around Tokyo's most famous dog, tourists lining up to take pictures and selfies.

Adoring fans are nothing new for Hachikō, except now he dons a Japanese rugby jersey, and it's clearly an added thrill for those who have travelled to Japan especially for the Rugby World Cup.

Rugby fans are drawn here, all with strong reckons on which team can lift the World Cup trophy at the end of the tournament.

"Our hearts are always with the ABs," Aucklander Scott Cordes said.

Global fan base for rugby continues to grow

One in three of the world's 800 million rugby followers are Indian, Chinese, American or Brazilian, according to World Rugby's largest fan surveys.

There are 33 million fans in the US, with national team the Eagles having won two Olympic gold medals and qualified for all but one Rugby World Cup, but China has the same number of fans even though their world No.66 ranked national team are yet to play in a major tournament.

India, with a national side far from even contending a regional rugby title, has 25 million fans, as many as Australia's entire population.

Calls for calm as tensions rise among Tongan and Samoan rugby league fans

Police have confirmed they have received calls regarding "celebrations'' in parts of Auckland, particularly in Otahuhu, where vehicles decked out in national flags have been lining the streets and beeping horns continuously.

Groups of supporters have also turned out in force on a daily basis.

After Mate Ma'a Tonga's thrilling win against Scotland on Sunday, legions of fans and supporters turned out to the streets of Otahuhu to celebrate.

Twitter slams Wendy Williams after Ariana Grande shaming comments

The 51-year-old talk show host found herself on the receiving end of rampant criticism after she made a few controversial comments about Ariana Grande and seemingly body-shamed the 22-year-old pop star on The Wendy Williams Show.

"She's 21. She'll forever look 12," Williams said as the audience laughed. "And I don't mean that in a good way. It's nice to look younger than you are, but when you look too young and then you're short—she's only like 4'11". I don't look at her as, like, a woman."