New Zealand hooker Dane Coles defended England’s ‘V-formation’ response to the All Blacks haka before the World Cup semi-final, joking that the RFU “earn a shitload of money so they’ll be able to pay the fine.”

Three days on and the images from Belo Horizonte that stick in the mind are not those of David Luiz’s Sideshow Bob- standing-on-a-rake routine, nor Germany’s seven wonders, but instead it’s the youngsters and grown men crying in the stands.

The German FA have expressed their disappointment over FIFA’s decision to suspend Torsten Frings for tomorrow’s World Cup semi-final clash with Italy.