All Blacks coach

RNZ reprots his son, Luke, has severe epilepsy. It's not something Schmidt often talks about but he's conscious that increasing the awareness of epilepsy can be a positive step toward normalising it, as much as it can be normalised.

"Luke's condition began from a tumour that was discovered when he was five and he had the surgery to remove it pretty soon after the discovery. He's had a number of surgeries since and medication is used to control the seizures as best they can be controlled, but they don't stop the seizures from happening.

Former Ireland coach now All Blacks selector and analyst Joe Schmidt will be given an expanded role with the team.

The All Blacks produced one of the best performances in recent times to upset the Springboks at Ellis Park last Sunday.

However, Foster's job had come under scrutiny following a run of five defeats from their last seven games, with NZR boss Mark Robinson refusing to back Foster after the All Blacks victory in Johannesburg.

'We feel it is a new dawn for this team' - Robinson

Former Wellington, Highlanders and New Zealand Maori coach Jamie Joseph has extended his tenure in charge of the Japanese national side.

The ex-All Blacks flanker was considered one of the three remaining leading contenders to replace Steve Hansen.

But confirmation of his new four-year contract with Japan has taken him out of the running.

The All Blacks, who name their 31-man World Cup squad next week play Tonga in Hamilton on September 7th before facing South Africa in their opening Pool B clash two weeks later.

Hansen said he was wary of his first-choice players losing sharpness between last weekend's 36-0 victory over Australia at Eden Park and their World Cup opener.

"We'd like probably most of the frontliners to get some form of game-time in the Tonga game, otherwise it's too big a break before we play South Africa," Hansen said in comments published by Stuff Media.

Hansen comes off contract with New Zealand Rugby after the tournament in Japan, which runs next September and October.

It's widely expected Hansen will step down as coach.

There have been suggestions he could move into a newly created role as Director of Rugby at NZR, with current assistant coach Ian Foster promoted to the head coaches role.

However it's more likely Hansen will simply walk away.

The All Blacks face England for the first time in four years this weekend at a sold-out Twickenham.

Hansen has further raised expectations for the highly-anticipated clash by declaring it bigger than last year's British and Irish Lions tour.

While the 59-year-old would be open to the idea of more regular meetings between the two countries, he has concerns about the knock-on effect.

"As long as it doesn't create more logjams in the calendar," replied Hansen, when asked if he would like to face England more often.

The All Blacks thumped Australia 37-20 in Yokohama on Saturday to complete a 3-0 Bledisloe Cup whitewash, but Hansen warned that players will continue to risk injury unless they get enough rest.

"They don't get enough of a break," he said on Sunday.

"You can't keep going round and round and round without running out of petrol  -- at some stage you've got to recharge the tank."

New Zealand face 2019 World Cup hosts Japan in Tokyo next weekend before completing their five-match tour against England, Ireland and Italy.

Christchurch again missed out on any test matches this year and the champion Crusaders will defend their Super Rugby title this weekend at a home ground that could sell more tickets than seat people.

The debate over whether to build a new 465 million dollar, 25 thousand seat roofed stadium in Christchurch continues to rage.

However Hansen isn't sitting on the fence, citing Dunedin's stadium, which recently held an Ed Sheeran concert which brought big social and economic benefits to the city, as a prime example of why Christchurch is missing a trick.

After Owen Farrell had levelled the score at 15-15 with a 78th-minute penalty, the All Blacks looked set to be given a chance to claim victory when referee Poite awarded a penalty to the hosts from the restart.

However, after consulting the television match official and his touch judges, Poite ultimately decided that Lions hooker Ken Owens was accidentally offside when collecting a knock-on from full-back Liam Williams, meaning New Zealand were only granted a scrum rather than the opportunity to kick at goal.