21 September (Whangarei) With buckets of pride at stake, and both teams yet to taste victory, this match promises another tooth-and-nail tussle. Tonga and Japan could barely be separated in last week’s International Rugby Board rankings. They’re placed 12th and 13th respectively. If you’re still a neutral, you may pick an emotional favourite ...

16 September (Hamilton) New Zealand and Japan square off tonight in a match that will be tinged with sadness and remembrance – as it begins with a minute’s silence to remember the victims of the Christchurch earthquakes and Japan tsunami earlier this year. There’s little question who will win on the field (am I tempting fate?). But on our mea ...

While the nation awaits kick-off for the 6-week countdown to find out who’ll come out on top of the international rugby scrum, we’ve been crunching the numbers to see which of the 20 nations comes out on top in relative social equality.  We want to get people thinking about both local and global inequality – in association with the Caritas S ...