Tuesday, November 2

Loose change - Sky Sports - Minnows should contest their own World Cup, reckons Stuart

A quick guide to RWC 2015 - IRB - A lightning fast guide to the next Rugby World Cup that takes place in England in four years time. With the glow of New Zealand fading as it disappears slowly in the rear-view mirror, the mind starts to wander towards four years time. From stadium negotiations to ticket registration, work is already well underway to ensure RWC 2015 in England matches the excitement generated over the last two months as the All Blacks marched towards glory.

Tons of reasons to support the monarchs of sport - The Guardian - Vivian Jenkins left a legacy in the print and on the pitch but George Pope was closer to the thoughts of Bill Grundy than the great Pelé

From France facing the haka to SheepWorld - The Telegraph - It’s done. The World Cup was a magical few weeks with some wonderful and woeful performances.

Stadium Tsar overdue for Super City - New Zealand Herald - The Rugby World Cup is ours, and so too, unfortunately, is an outdated and expensively redesigned Eden Park. The tournament was a brilliant success in most respects, but Auckland has been left holding a costly white elephant with no quality alternatives available.

World Cup farce rumbles on - BBC - Alastair Eykyn on English rugby's continued troubles

Never A Dull Moment - Scrum.com - In hindsight it was the World Cup that had almost everything. There were more top end thrillers than ever before - Wales/South Africa, Argentina/Scotland, Argentina/England, Ireland/Australia, Wales/Ireland, Australia/South Africa, Wales/France and finally, unforgettably, New Zealand/France - plus a host of great pool games between the lesser lights with that 23-23 draw between Canada and Japan probably the stand-out.

stop blaming the referee every time you suffer defeat - The Telegraph - Saturday’s Aviva Premiership rugby did not match the quality of the World Cup but there were distinct echoes of it and what is good and bad about the professional game at the moment.

State of the Nation: New Zealand - Planet Rugby - As we do after every major tournament, we take a look at the state of affairs in each of rugby's leading nations. Next up, New Zealand.

Schriever's rugby standouts ready for national military tournament - Schriever Air Force Base - Second Lieutenants Nick Goirigolzarri, 4th Space Operations Squadron and Carson Cleveland, 2nd Space Operations Squadron, spent this past weekend running, tackling and passing an oval-shaped white ball around. The pair of Schriever lieutenants are keeping in shape and enjoying the camaraderie of teammates, but their training on the rugby pitch this past weekend had a more focused intent. They're gearing up for next month's Armed Forces Championship Rugby tournament

Schmidt to bide time over Reddan for Munster tie - Independent.ie - Champions Leinster may have launched their Heineken Cup campaign yesterday, but in their own minds the trophy had already been handed back.

Loose Pass - Planet Rugby - This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the RWC Final fall-out, England's brat pack problems, the overcoming of huge injustice and a small philosophical thought on refereeing...

Lewis 'Mad Dog' Moody has exposed the lunacy of English rugby's rulers - The Guardian - Martin Johnson must have known a captain apt to run a dick-of-the-day competition was unlikely to provide a calming influence

Moody: I should have banned the whole team from going out - The Daily Mail - As we took off from Heathrow for New Zealand and the 2011 World Cup, I looked around the cabin at my England colleagues. None of us had any idea how the next eight weeks would pan out. But the thought occurred to me that I could have left Pennyhill Park, our training base, for the last time as an England player. What was not in doubt was that this would be my final World Cup.

Dusautoir joins the greats with World Cup show - 6 Nations - If the difference between the great and the merely very good is how you perform on the biggest stage, Thierry Dusautoir has surely secured his place in rugby's hallowed pantheon.

Eastern promise - Sky Sports - Dave Walder on why England players could hone their skills with a move to Japan's Top League.