Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll has been voted as Rugby World magazine’s player of the decade.

WORLD champions South Africa suffered a second successive loss on their northern hemisphere tour as France triumphed in Toulouse last night.

South Africa’s big names are back in the starting XV for the Test match against France on Friday.

ANY hopes Munster may have harboured of star signing Jean de Villiers arriving early in Ireland were dashed in Brisbane on Saturday as Australia recorded a remarkable 21-9 Tri-Nations win over South Africa.

THE Tri-Nations tournament is South Africa’s to lose after Peter de Villiers’ side racked up their fourth straight win with a 32-25 victory over Australia in Perth on Saturday.

Ruan Pienaar was today handed a surprise recall to the starting line-up for South Africa’s Tri-Nations encounter against Australia in Perth on Saturday.

VICTOR MATFIELD believes the last two weeks which have produced back-to-back Tri-Nations victories over New Zealand will count for nothing when South Africa run out against Australia in Cape Town.

NEW ZEALAND were left to lament costly errors after going down 28-19 to South Africa in the Tri-Nations match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

SOUTH AFRICA coach Peter de Villiers has backed Jaque Fourie to fill the void created by the loss of centre Adi Jacobs for the Springboks’ Tri-Nations opener against New Zealand on Saturday.

THE smiles were back and promises kept as the 2009 British and Irish Lions produced the performance of this South African tour to emphatically avoid a whitewash at Ellis Park, Johannesburg on Saturday with a victory that highlighted just how unlucky they were to lose the three-game Test series.

Peter de Villiers has made 10 changes to his South Africa side to face the British and Irish Lions in the third Test at Ellis Park on Saturday.

IRELAND full-back Rob Kearney, who realised a lifetime ambition when coming on for the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday, believes a Test series victory is still possible.

Heinrich Brussow has walked straight into South Africa's starting line-up for the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Durban on Saturday.

PETER DE VILLIERS yesterday named two uncapped players in the South Africa squad to face the Lions in a three-match Test series to be played in late June and early July.

WYNAND OLIVIER has been named in the Bulls starting line-up for the Super 14 final against the Chiefs on Saturday, despite having yet to recover from a hip injury that kept him out of the semi-final last week.

GORDON D’ARCY’s slim Lions prospects were eliminated yesterday when head coach Ian McGeechan confirmed he would not be calling up a replacement for the injured Tom Shanklin.

ALL BLACK fly-half Dan Carter has been ruled out of Perpignan’s European Cup game against Leicester on Saturday despite starting a six-month contract for the French side yesterday.

South Africa captain John Smit will lead a star-studded Barbarians side against Australia in Wednesday’s Olympic centenary clash at Wembley.

Wales star Shane Williams has been named in the Barbarians squad for next month’s London Olympic Centenary match against Australia at Wembley.

Uncapped prop Heinke van der Merwe has been included in the South Africa squad for the clashes with Wales and the Barbarians.

South Africa coach Jake White has recalled prop CJ van der Linde for Sunday's World Cup semi-final against Argentina in Paris.

SPRINGBOK coach Jake White saluted the leadership of his senior players after South Africa survived a major World Cup quarter-final fright against Fiji at Stade Velodrome.

MARTIN CORRY claims England will “draw strength from adversity” when they go into battle as huge World Cup underdogs against South Africa tonight.

South Africa coach Jake White has handed 20-year-old full-back Francois Steyn a starting berth at inside centre for Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match against Scotland.

There were few surprise inclusions as South Africa named their 30-man World Cup squad today.

South Africa coach Jake White will make a late decision over his fly-half for the Tri-Nations clash against New Zealand at the Westpac Trust stadium in Wellington on Saturday.

WALLABIES sharpshooter Stirling Mortlock has vowed to improve his mediocre strike-rate as rain is set to make goal-kicking a key factor in this morning’s Tri-Nations clash against South Africa.

South Africa coach Jake White has made seven changes to his starting XV for the Test against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

ENGLAND coach Andy Robinson last night formally ruled World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson out of his autumn Test plans.

Springboks coach Jake White has made one enforced change in his starting line-up for Saturday’s clash against England at Twickenham.

Springbok coach Jake White has made three changes to his 22-man squad for Saturday’s clash with Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

Ashwin Willemse was the shock inclusion when South Africa coach Jake White named his team on Friday to play Wales at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on Saturday, November 6.

New South African coach Jake White has recalled Percy Montgomery in his 22-man squad which plays two test matches against Ireland next month.