Here are the latest rugby headlines on Sunday, July 24.
All Blacks axe two assistants
Brad Mooar and John Plumtree have left the All Blacks coaching team as head coach Ian Foster has reshuffled his backroom staff in the wake of their first series defeat to Ireland.
Ex-Scarlets boss Mooar has left his backs coach role while former Swansea coach Plumtree's spell as forwards coach has ended following Ireland's historic 2-1 series win in the southern hemisphere earlier this month. A statement from New Zealand Rugby said the pair "have now parted ways with the group".
Crusaders and Fiji forwards coach Jason Ryan will join up with the squad in Wellington next week ahead of their Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship campaign, which will see them come up against South Africa, Argentina and Australia.
Foster, who will take charge of the backs in the short term, said: "Right now, I am really feeling for two fine men who are great rugby coaches that made an enormous contribution to the All Blacks. I have no doubt both coaches will go on to great success and I want to thank them for their hard work."
Foster has been under pressure since the Ireland series but will remain in post. He will be assisted by new independent selector Joe Schmidt, the former Ireland head coach, as he attempts to repair the damage ahead of next year's World Cup in France.
A statement said: "Joe Schmidt now formally starts his role as independent All Blacks selector. In addition to that, Schmidt has a key analysis role and will work with Foster on overall strategy and attack play."
'All Blacks captain Sam Cane isn't good enough for Italy team'
All Blacks captain Sam Cane isn't good enough to get into Italy's team, according to Stuart Barnes.
The former England fly-half, who believes Ardie Savea is among the best open-sides on the planet but is played at No. 8 to accommodate Cane, wrote in his column for The Times: "Foster has 'got a lot of faith in Sam'. Judged by the recent tour, it is faith of a religious disposition. There’s little in the way of evidence.
"The Springboks wouldn’t think of swapping their captain for anyone, let alone New Zealand’s skipper... Tommy Reffell arrived on the Test stage in South Africa with some superb performances for Wales. Would Wales swap their seven for Cane?
"Gregor Townsend made Hamish Watson Scotland’s captain in the absence of Stuart Hogg and the open-side was one of the outstanding players in the series. Thanks, Sam, but you’re not for Scotland either.
"England suffered from open-side injuries but Tom Curry and Sam Underhill are ahead of Cane, while Lewis Ludlam is progressing so quickly New Zealand’s skipper would struggle to make the England squad."
After ruling out Cane's form to fit France, too, Barnes added: "While we are on mainland Europe, let’s be brutally honest. His fellow New Zealander, Kieran Crowley, now in charge of Italy, wouldn’t swap his inspiring Michale Lamero for the brave, battered but decidedly second-hand looking Cane. Good enough for New Zealand, not for Italy."
Rugby bosses to seek racism feedback
English rugby authorities will launch a feedback process to discover the extent of racism in the game in the wake of allegations made by former England international Luther Burrell.
Burrell last month received apologies from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) after he said racism was "rife" within the sport and that racist "banter" had become normalised among team-mates.
The RFU, the sport's national governing body, intends to begin a joint initiative alongside PRL and the Rugby Players Association (RPA) to uncover the scale of the issue.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney has twice met Burrell in recent weeks and said the player will be "part of the process".
Investigations are already under way to determine if any of the abuse experienced by the 32-year-old happened at Newcastle, his most recent club.
"It is very important and good for Luther to speak up," said Sweeney. "He has been very open, very transparent. He's explaining and telling us his feelings and his views in terms of what has happened.
"In terms of two tangible things coming out of that, we've reached an agreement with Newcastle in terms of what we have to do in there and to do the right appropriate independent review of what has happened there. That is the first stage. And he is fully involved in that, he is aware of all of that.
"And then, secondly, we are setting up - I don't have the right word for it right now - but it is basically a means and a process jointly with the RPA and with PRL to go out to the broader professional game and create the right environment for people to be able to feed back in their views. I think it is important to go through that because until you go through that, you don't know, you don't get your arms around the extent of the issue."
Huddersfield-born centre Burrell, who is of Jamaican descent, said he has been on the receiving end of comments about slavery, bananas and fried chicken. He hoped to "empower younger generations" by speaking out and also said he will "never name names but it's gone on for too long".
Read next:
Wales' 50 young talents who could be the future of Welsh rugby as succession planning revealed
Sam Warburton reveals he considered quitting at 25 in wake of tragedy
New Zealand's Akira Ioane and Justin Marshall make contact after late-night confrontation goes viral
Wales facing 'falsest of dawns' in stark wake-up call after win in South Africa
