World Cup

England outclass France in Perth

Les Chanticleers needed to beat their traditional rivals to have a chance of playing in the quarter-finals, yet England snuffed out any chance of that happening with four tries inside the first 20 minutes.

Gareth Widdop opened England's scoring in the second minute after ghosting through on the right side, and Stefan Ratchford crossed two minutes later on the same edge.

James Graham made it three tries in 10 minutes, before Mark Percival scored in the 18th minute after some quick passing.

All Whites keep World Cup hopes alive

The All Whites suffered a big blow just before kick off when star striker Chris Wood was forced to the bench with a hamstring injury.

He was replaced in the starting team by Kosta Barbourouses.

However, the All Whites responded well to the setback holding their own against a classy Peruvian team which dominated much of the early possession and territory.

Qualifying spots on offer at Oceania 7s Champs

A record eight women's teams are competing this year and for hosts Fiji the goal is straight forward - trying to regain the title they won two years ago.

The Fijiana play Samoa and Tonga in their first two pool matches but captain Ana Maria Rociqa said they already have an eye on their final match of the day against the defending women's champions.

"We have Australia in our pool game. We played against them at Central Coast (two weeks ago) in the quarter finals and we lost," she said.

Iceland qualify for World cup

Keeping the momentum going from its inspiring run to the 2016 European Championship quarterfinals, Iceland topped Europe Group I and advanced automatically to the finals in Russia next year at the expense of favourite Croatia.

Iceland is the smallest nation in terms of population - 330,000 - to make the World Cup. The previous smallest country to have reached the finals was Trinidad & Tobago in 2006, with 1.3 million people.

Gylfi Sigurdsson put the hosts ahead in in the first half and Johann Gudmundsson made it 2-0 in the second.

Toa Samoa keen on Anthony Milford return

The 22-year-old Broncos star represented Samoa at the last World Cup and told the Courier Mail he was available to face England in May.

International eligibility laws were relaxed last year, allowing eligible players to nominate both a tier one and tier two nation to represent, with no stand-down periods and the ability to switch multiple times.

Milford is free to play for Samoa if he's overlooked by Australia and could even play for both this year, as well as the Queensland State of Origin team.

Jones says England's World Cup plan is still on track

The Six Nations champions headed to Dublin in search of a record-breaking 19th Test victory only to barely fire a shot as they fell 13-9 to an Ireland side that could have won by much more.

England are attempting to arrange an additional fixture with the All Blacks at Twickenham in November, but media reacted with scorn to their failure to claim a place in history.

Among the words used to describe the display at the Aviva Stadium were "thuggish", "brain dead", "arrogant", "wrecking balls in chains" and "back to square one".

History beckons for Smith, Thurston

Now Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston can etch their names into the history books as they close in on the magical mark of 2,000 points in the NRL.

Only four players – Hazem El Masri (2,418 points), Andrew Johns (2,176), Jason Taylor (2,107) and Daryl Halligan (2,034) – have achieved the feat, and it would be fitting if these two modern-day superstars joined the illustrious list.

England rugby league coach Wayne Bennett open to picking eligible NRL players for the Lions

Speaking at a media opportunity in Manchester, Bennett also shouldered responsibility for a controversial training camp in Dubai last month being cancelled, saying he did not communicate properly with Super League clubs.

He also said he would not extend his contract with the Rugby Football League before the World Cup, to be held in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in October, November and December.

Carlos Alberto dies following heart attack

FIFA confirmed the news this morning.

Alberto scored Brazil's fourth goal in their 4-1 win over Italy in Mexico's Azteca Stadium, a thumping drive that ended a move involving nine players, before hoisting the Jules Rimet trophy as Brazil won the title for the third time.

The classy defender played for Fluminense, Santos, Flamengo and New York Cosmos and won the nickname "The Captain" for his leadership qualities.

He was capped 53 times by Brazil.

   

Manuel Neuer named Germany captain

The Bayern Munich goalkeeper assumes the armband with immediate effect, his first game leading the national team set to be Germany's opening match of World Cup qualifying against Norway on Sunday.

Schweinsteiger's illustrious international career came to an end on Wednesday as Germany beat Finland 2-0 in Monchengladbach, the midfielder winning his 121st and final cap.