BORDEAUX, France _ Canada faces Japan at the Rugby World Cup onTuesday with only pride at stake _ and the chance to preserve itsrecord of having won at least once at every World Cup it hascontested. ``I read that this morning,'' Japan's coach John ...

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) _ Frank Hadden wants his Scotland lineupto take the high ground against Romania. Scotland coach Hadden picked his biggest forward pack, wanting tomatch muscle with Romania, and recalled goalkicking utility ChrisPaterson for ...

LONDON (AP) _ France has already lost its Grand Slam chance. Imagine if struggling Scotland stopped the French from winning the Six Nations rugby title, too. With France, Ireland and England all tied on points going into Saturday's final round of ga ...

Winning the 2003 World Cup was the worst thing tohappen to English rugby because it concealed the dispute betweenclub and country over the availability of players. That's the view of Clive Woodward, who said he coached England tothe World Cup title ...

Andy Robinson quit as England rugby coach Wednesday, less then 10 months before the team begins defence of the World Cup. The Rugby Football Union announced that Robinson was ``standing down'' and that it would be looking for a replacement head coach ...

Less than 10 months before England starts defence of the Rugby World Cup, it is on the verge of changing its head coach. After a worst ever record of eight losses in nine games, the only issue appears to be whether Andy Robinson resigns or is fired, ...

Captain Richie McCaw said the All Blackswere offended at not being allowed to perform their pre-match hakain front of Wales before notching a record win at Millennium Stadiumon Saturday. The Welsh Rugby Union said it warned New Zealand six weeks ago ...

Captain Darren Lockyer's try in thesecond period of extra time gave Australia a 16-12 win Saturday overNew Zealand in the Tri-Nations rugby league tournament final. The teams were tied 12-12 after regulation time and playedthrough one extra session ...

Italy's national rugby team provedtoo much for Canada on Saturday. The 12th-ranked Italians defeated Canada 41-6, dominating theCanadians with a strong second half. Fly half Ander Monro kicked two first-half penalties for the13th-ranked Canadians, w ...

Italy is ranked just one spot above Canada by the International Rugby Board, but in reality the two teams are worlds apart. Italy is a fully professional squad, while Canada's domestic-based players are all amateur. The Italians play tough top-10 op ...