Rugby World Cup

The Scarlets number 10 suffered a third concussion in 12 months during Wales’ 19-10 defeat against Ireland in Dublin.

He went off midway through the first half following an attempted tackle on Ireland back-row forward CJ Stander.

It was Patchell’s first Test start since June last year when he starred with a 20-point haul against Argentina in Santa Fe.

He is one of two fly-halves in Wales head coach Warren Gatland’s 31-man squad for Japan, having edged out Jarrod Evans to secure a place alongside Dan Biggar.

Australia wrapped up their pre-World Cup Test campaign with a 34-15 win over Samoa in Sydney on Saturday.

A good first-half display, which was rewarded with a 22-3 halftime lead, was offset by an unconvincing second-half performance, with Samoa scoring the first 12 points, before two late tries pushed the home side clear.

Cheika said the game had been a really good hit out for the Wallabies, who now have a 3-2 record this year.

The Dark Blues round off their warm-up schedule against the Lelos at Murrayfield on Friday night before jetting out for Japan first thing on Monday morning.

Having beaten France at home and then thumped the Georgians in Tbilisi last week, Townsend is desperate to keep the Scots’ momentum building ahead of their tournament opener with Ireland on September 22.

Laumape failed to make the four-man midfield chosen by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen last month, which includes two-time World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams, Ryan Crotty, Jack Goodhue and Anton Lienert-Brown.

Despite 108-cap veteran Owen Franks also missing out on the squad, the reaction to Laumape’s omission caused arguably the biggest stir on social media.

The Hurricanes centre hasn’t spoken to media since the squad announcement but has since posted to his Instagram.

The former England fly-half believes the class of 2019 boasts a back line full of rare-breed talents that can strike fear into opponents in Japan. England will launch their World Cup bid against Tonga on September 22, with former Newcastle and Toulon fly-half Wilkinson backing Jones’ men to peak at the right time.

“The momentum is rolling, they are peaking,” Wilkinson said. “I’d definitely like to think they can win it. What’s impressed me most is that every time they get a chance to regroup they always come back stronger.

Forwards Josh Strauss, Matt Fagerson and Magnus Bradbury all missed out but NZ-born Thomson was selected due to his ability to slot into the second row if necessary.

Thomson, who made six appearances for the Māori All Blacks between 2013 and 2015, left the Hurricanes in 2018 to play for Welsh club Scarlets in the Pro14 competition.

The 33-year-old Kepu, who last year became the first prop to play 100 Tests for Australia, announced on Monday his plans to step down from international rugby.

It brings to an end his ties to Australian rugby after quitting the NSW Waratahs to play with UK club London Irish after the global tournament in Japan, which starts later this month.

Kepu is set to farewell fans at the Wallabies' final World Cup warm-up game, against Samoa at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.

Pisi played in both the 2011 and 2015 tournament and is still playing professionally in Japan. He played with two of his brothers Ken and George at the last World Cup in England.

Alaalatoa's father Vili was in the first Samoa side to play at the World Cup in 1991, while his younger brother Allan has been named in the Australian squad for the tournament.

Michael made his first appearance for the side in a match against a New Zealand Heartland XV on Saturday and could potentially face Allan next week in Sydney when Samoa play the Wallabies.

The 108-test, dual World Cup-winning veteran was the biggest name left out of Steve Hansen’s 31-man squad, which was announced at Eden Park in Auckland on Wednesday.

Hansen and his fellow selectors – Ian Foster and Grant Fox – have instead opted for the likes of Nepo Laulala, Ofa Tu’ungafasi and Angus Ta’avao, who they believe present a bigger ball-carrying threat than Franks.

Hansen congratulated the players named in the squad and offered his commiseration's to those who missed out.

"Over the last couple of months we've spent a lot of time building our game, working on the individual skill sets we want and as selectors, taking the time to get really clear we wanted to put together from a selection point of view, for this team.