Here's your round-up of all the latest rugby news for Monday, November 21.
Six Wallabies stars out of Wales clash
Australia have confirmed that six players are set to head home before the team's final autumn tour clash against Wales next weekend.
The Wallabies will head to Cardiff to take on Wales at the Principality Stadium, having suffered a narrow loss 13-10 loss at the hands of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium last time out.
Prop Taniela Toupou suffered a ruptured Achilles during that clash, while David Porecki and Nic White will also miss the clash with Wayne Pivac's men after suffering a criteria one concussion during the first half of the match in Dublin.
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Andrew Kellaway meanwhile appears to have sustained a fractured metatarsal and will fly back to Australia for further scans.
Rob Valetini (ankle) and inside centre Hunter Paisami (knee) will also require scans.
Dawson's mind blown by Smith decision
England World Cup winner Matt Dawson has slammed Marcus Smith's decision to kick the ball out and settle for a draw in the final play of Saturday's match against New Zealand.
England came back to level the score at 25-25 after being 25-6 down with just 10 minutes to play. But, with the clock turned red and England back in possession, Smith decided enough was enough as he put the ball into touch despite New Zealand being down to 14 men. The fact England did not go for a famous win surprised many.
Dawson wrote in his BBC column: "When I watched Smith kick that ball out of play on the final play of the match, it stopped me in my tracks.
"It made me really question England's mentality. Are they happy with a draw? They had a choice to take them on and use the momentum to snatch a famous victory. They seemed to have won the referee round, they had New Zealand rattled, the least they could have done was work through some phases and see if they could make some progress downfield.
"New Zealand were a man down and flagging. They wouldn't have been committing people to the breakdown to turn over ball or force a potentially match-winning penalty.
"It blew my mind that England wouldn't even have a go. I don't know where the decision came from, but someone somewhere had clearly made the call to claim the kick-off and kick straight out.
"I want the team to have a different mindset. I wanted them to sense they had the upper hand and ruthlessly exploit the position they were in rather than cash in on the scoreline they had.
"A draw against New Zealand, considering where England were, was an admirable result, but it could have been even better."
Jones set to land USA job
Eddie Jones is reportedly on the brink of agreeing to became the new head coach of the USA rugby team.
The Sydney Morning Herald report the deal is not 'set in stone' but is close, with Jones to leave his England role after the World Cup next year. Jones could lead the Americans all the way to the 2031 World Cup, which is being hosted by the country.
As for Jones' England replacement, the RFU are said by the Times to have drawn up a list of three contenders in Steve Borthwick, Scott Robertson and Ronan O'Gara.
Van der Flier named best in the world
Ireland's Josh van der Flier has been crowned World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year.
The Leinster flanker beat team-mate Johnny Sexton, holder Antoine Dupont and South Africa's Lukanyo Am to the top award, becoming the third Irish winner to claim the accolade after Keith Wood in 2000 and Sexton in 2018.
Van der Flier had already won the Players and Rugby Writers’ Player of the Year award earlier this year, and was also named European Player of the Year in May.
He was a leading light in Ireland’s series win in New Zealand, as well as the Triple Crown success in the Six Nations.
New Zealand's Ruahei Demant was named Women's Player of the Year after the Black Fearns' stunning World Cup triumph.
Meanwhile, Ireland Sevens star Terry Kennedy was also named Men’s Sevens Player of the Year, capping off a hugely successful night for Irish rugby.
Scotland must aim to win World Cup, says van der Merwe
Scotland must aim to win the Rugby World Cup.
That's according to Duhan van der Merwe, who insists his team are strong enough to go all the way in France.
The winger scored his 14th try in 23 Tests after going over in the 52-29 victory over Argentina, a win he says shows they have the attacking talent needed to aim as high as possible.
“(The aim) is, obviously, win the World Cup,” he said. “I truly believe we are capable of that.
“The boys are on fire at the moment. Being around for the last three years and watching Scotland before, I think the depth at the moment might be the best there’s ever been.
“That is a big positive. On a Tuesday or Wednesday, we call them the muggies, the guys not in the (matchplay) 23, they make it really tough for us. That just shows the depth of our squad at the moment. If someone gets injured, someone else comes in and gets the opportunity and we know they’ll do the job.”
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