Rugby Union

Sweeney is a member of the working group considering a radical overhaul of the game’s global calendar, with alignment of the seasons in both hemispheres central to the conversations as the European nations consider playing through their hottest months of the year.

It was a move made by rugby league in the mid-1990s with the creation of the Super League, and Sweeney said their experience could not be ignored.

The 32-year-old Williams' playing future has been the subject of intense speculation virtually every year since he walked out on a five-year contract with rugby league's Canterbury Bulldogs in 2008 to play union in France.

Williams was forced into clarifying his future after a former Sydney Roosters player told an Australian radio station at the weekend that he would join the club in August after the Auckland Blues' season ended.

"I love being a part of the Blues Rugby team & All Blacks," Williams wrote on his Twitter account on Monday.

"I feel he'll stay in rugby," Mundine, a former NRL player turned professional boxer, said.

"As great as rugby league is, rugby is the world game. Lots of countries play it all over Europe and South Africa, it's massive. I went to South Africa to watch him play a [Super Rugby] game and they had fans waiting outside the hotel room. It's a big thing. It's the biggest sport over there. It's crazy."

Yet England, off color so far in this tournament, dazzled at Twickenham to not only retain their Six Nations title but equal the world record of 18 consecutive Test victories for a Tier One side, set by New Zealand last year.

While Rio 2016 endured more than its fair share of problems, the Games produced some iconic moments of sporting greatness that will live long in the memory.

From Neymar's penalty that lifted a nation, to Usain Bolt's 'treble treble' and Michael Phelps' 23rd gold, here we bring you 10 standout highlights.

He played 38 tests and 75 matches for the All Blacks in the 1970s but he was also Samoa's head coach at the 1991 World Cup.

Samoa beat Wales and Argentina to finish second behind Australia in their group, which made the rugby world suddenly take sit up and notice of teams from the Pacific Islands.

His son Paul played for Samoa at the last World Cup and he said he could never understand why it had taken so long for New Zealand to play in Samoa.