World Rugby

New Zealand Rugby have confirmed the 2021 competition will run with just the same five New Zealand teams as this year, with the addition of a one-off final.

The NZR chair, Brent Impey, said none of the Pacific team bids were both competitive on the field and financially sustainable off the field.

"We are not in a position financially - we're running multi-million dollar losses - to subsidise anything, " he said.

"If we've got money it needs to go into our community, it needs to go into our provinces, so I'm sorry we do not have the money to compromise."

The TRU signed a tripartite agreement with World Rugby and the Tonga Government on Friday , after the global governing body had threatened to pull all financial support.

The new partnership will see a Joint Management Committee take charge of the Union until long-standing governance issues are resolved.

Inoke Afeaki said the TRU had been in a "real mess" for a long time and World Rugby should have intervened earlier.

"I think they're whipping a dead horse," he claimed.

World Rugby is set to pull all funding to TRU if it fails to sign a tripartite agreement to work alongside the Tonga government and global governing body by the end of the day.

The agreement would see an interim management group take charge of the Union until long-standing governance issues are resolved.

Pacific Rugby Players Chairman Hale T Pole said the TRU had already missed two deadlines from World Rugby.

"I spoke to [World Rugby Head Of Development And International Relations] David Carrigy the other day and I'm due for a call tonight with him," he said.

Tonga defeated Papua New Guinea in March to set up a showdown against the Manusina for a berth in the final World Cup repechage tournament.

The match was meant to take place in Apia in April but was postponed indefinitely because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With global borders still shut, the teams were discussing the prospect of playing the game in Auckland in November, with both squads to be selected from players already based in New Zealand.

Samoa assistant coach, Cynthia Ta'ala-Timaloa, said it was probably their best option.

Having also been the first woman to take charge of a Premiership Cup game in 2018, Cox was an assistant referee in Bath’s contest with Wasps at The Rec. 

The appointment was very well received by rugby fans – and there has been a hugely positive reaction on social media regharding these strides towards greater inclusivity in the sport. 

While some have questioned why it has taken this long for this to happen, especially as Joy Neville has been refereeing in the Guinness PRO14 for quite some time, the next step is to see a female refereeing a Premiership match. 

The Welsh Rugby Union scrapped its team in a radical move that mirrored the decision taken a few weeks earlier by the RFU with its England 7s teams. 

With fears growing over the preparations of teams for the showpiece 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, the game’s global governing body have unveiled an investment strategy fund valued at $2.5million US (£1.86m) that can be accessed by teams to cover the cost of trainm  ing camps, competition support, technical and sports science and medical programmes.

Amenoni Nasilasila was sentenced to eight years in September for the 2018 rape of a young woman.

Last week, the 26-year-old Olympic gold medallist was reportedly seen training with the Namosi rugby teams in Suva.

But women's rights groups say the preferential treatment of high-profile prisoners has to stop.

Shamima Ali, of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, said the fact that Nasilasila's non-parole period was six years also highlighted the complete disregard by the department to allow him to participate in training with the Prisons and Namosi rugby teams.

It would be the first international sports federation to prohibit transgender women from competing.

World Rugby said it had undertaken a review of its "rugby-specific transgender guidelines" in light of the "latest peer reviewed research".

It said it was committed to "ensuring a safe and inclusive playing environment at all levels of the game".

The All Blacks are scheduled to play England in London on November 7, Wales in Cardiff the following weekend and then Scotland in Edinburgh.

But the coronavirus pandemic has thrown the tours in doubt and the Six Nations unions are now looking at a safer alternative.

The Telegraph reported that Japan and Fiji were expected to be confirmed as the two guest nations to join the Six Nations sides in an inaugural eight-team tournament in November and December.

World Rugby, Sanzaar, the Six Nations, the British and Irish Lions and representatives of top European clubs attended.

Robinson said the Six Nations Unions, such as England and France, are keen to sort the calendar out, but French and English clubs rejected the plans.

"Sanzaar and Six Nations were the ones who took the working proposals to the meeting...and we are very very aligned as we are with World Rugby and the various Players Associations around the world.