Rugby World Cup gossip: Lancaster, Dawson, Cotter, Best

England coach Stuart Lancaster is facing an uncertain future after his side were knocked out

Sunday, 4 October

Stuart Lancaster says he will consider his future as England coach after the host nation were eliminated from the World Cup at the group stage.(Sunday Telegraph)

However the Rugby Football Union will be reluctant to make a hasty decision on Lancaster's fate. (Observer)

World Cup-winning England scrum-half Matt Dawson says Lancaster must go.(Sun on Sunday - subscription required)

Former England flanker Neil Back says Lancaster should remain in charge, but says he is "not sure the World Cup can recover" from having its hosts dumped out at such an early stage. (Independent on Sunday)

Elimination from their own tournament must go down as the worst day in England's rugby history, says ex-England fly-half Stuart Barnes.(Sunday Times - subscription required)

Former England number 8 Lawrence Dallaglio believes Ireland are good enough to win the World Cup. (Sunday Times - subscription required)

Hooker Rory Best says Ireland will be "steamrollered" if they are not prepared for the physical challenge of facing Italy.(Observer)

Scotland coach Vern Cotter has a cunning plan to soften up Samoa before their crunch match in Pool B - buy their manager two crates of beer. (Sunday Mirror)

Saturday, 3 October

Classical singer Camilla Kerslake - England captain Chris Robshaw's partner - says she has been abused in the street in the aftermath of the World Cup hosts' defeat by Wales. (Sun)

Australia centre Israel Folau believes his years of experience in Grand Finals, State of Origin matches and rugby league World Cups will help him cope with the pressure of playing England at Twickenham. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Israel Folau in relaxed mood during a swimming session at the University of Bath

Wales kicking coach Neil Jenkins is tipping Dan Biggar to soon challenge the likes of New Zealand legend Dan Carter as the best No 10 in the world, after landing 13 out of 13 kicks so far at the World Cup. (Mail)

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt says he will be happy even if Ireland scrape a narrow and unconvincing win against Italy on Sunday because the Azzurri are "fighting for their lives".(Guardian)

Georgia coach Milton Haig believes his team's performance in the 43-10 defeat by world champions New Zealand on Friday is proof they deserve to be added to the Six Nations.(Sport 24)

New Zealand selector Grant Fox was frustrated by some elements of the performance against Georgia, but urged fans to "keep calm" after hearing of growing anxiety at home about whether the All Blacks can successfully retain their title. (New Zealand Herald)

Scotland prop Gordon Reid says hearing Flower of Scotland before Saturday's match against South Africa will give him a "buzz" and extra "fire".(Record)

Friday, 2 October

Sir Clive Woodward is confident England can beat Australia at Twickenham on Saturday, claiming Michael Cheika's side are "not the brightest team". (ESPN)

England outside-half Danny Cipriani has invited unwanted attention on to England on the eve of their critical clash with Australia by declaring that not a single Wallaby would be good enough to be selected in Stuart Lancaster's team. (Paddy Power)

With the pressure mounting ahead of England's must-win clash against Australia, England captain has turned to his dog, Rico, for comfort. (Telegraph)

England's elimination from the Rugby World Cup could knock billions off the value of the UK stock market in a single day, according to one leading expert. (London Evening Standard)

The New Zealand squad enjoyed a round of crazy golf in Cardiff before their clash with Georgia on Friday night

Former Australia international Lote Tuqiri believes England centre Sam Burgess has been harshly treated and is hoping the Wallabies don't feel the backlash in Saturday's match at Twickenham. (Sydney Morning Herald)

The New Zealand Herald has formulated a list of the hardest men in rugby union, with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw coming out on top. South Africa's Schalk Burger is second, with Wales' Alun Wyn Jones fourth. (New Zealand Herald)

Former England scrum-half Austin Healey has said England must harness their fury at all the negativity from former players, coaches and the media and hit the Wallabies hard. (Telegraph)

New Zealand have asked for the windows at their city centre hotel in Cardiff to be soundproofed after being kept awake on Saturday evening by boisterous Wales supporters. (Guardian)

Injured Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny has said he wanted to watch Wales' clash with England at Twickenham but the pain in his knee two weeks after surgery was "still a bit too much". (Wales Online)

England outside-half Owen Farrell has vowed to fight to protect Stuart Lancaster's tenure and keep England's World Cup dream alive. (Mail)

Thursday, 1 October

The World Cup's tallest player - Ireland's 6ft 11in Devin Toner - was a frustrated bystander during his team's outing to Alton Towers because the second-row was too tall to go on the rides. (Mail)

Boxing champion Joe Calzaghe has impressed the Wales team with his never-say-die team talk before their World Cup match with Fiji on Thursday. (Independent)

Japan coach Eddie Jones expects Australia to have a huge advantage at the breakdown in their World Cup match against England on Saturday, tipping Michael Hooper and David Pocock to dominate Chris Robshaw. (Irish Times)

The Wales squad were presented with their shirts for the Fiji match by injured Welsh duo Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb

England have been installed as favourites to still top Pool A by some bookmakers despite losing to Wales on Saturday. (Wales Online)

Former Australia outside-half Michael Lynagh is puzzled as to why England centre Sam Burgess has been hailed for his personality because by that logic, he says, talk show host James Corden would do as good a job. (Mail)

Former Wales captain Ryan Jones has said Wales' Dan Biggar is the best fly-half in Britain and Ireland and would be a shoo-in to start for the Lions. (Wales Online)

Wallabies playmaker Quade Cooper has once again put himself under the spotlight for his use of social media by posting a highlights video of his game against Uruguay accompanied by the foul-mouthed lyrics of a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Australia centre Matt Giteau has said former England outside-half and good friend Jonny Wilkinson has not been answering his calls this week before the crucial match between the two nations at Twickenham. (New Zealand Herald)

Wednesday, 30 September

England inside centre Sam Burgess "lacks the sense of timing required at international level" and his "naivety embarrassed those around him", says ex-Ireland international Gordon D'Arcy. (Irish Times)

The Rugby World Cup "looks set to be the most popular sporting event ever" - despite it being the most expensive in history. (Mail)

France head coach Philippe Saint-Andre has threatened to hold team talks in the showers after claiming he was unaware that his half-time dressing room rant during their match against Romania was filmed and shown on television. (ESPN)

Tonga's players prepared for their match against Namibia by visiting fast food restaurant Nando's for 10 days in a row. (Mirror)

Former England captain Martin Johnson says Stuart Lancaster's side will need to score at least 25 points if they are to beat Australia on Saturday. (Reuters)

South Africa's Jean de Villiers, who retired after breaking his jaw against Samoa, received a great reception on his arrival back in his homeland. He was met at the airport by children from his former school who sang the national anthem to him. (Sky Sports)

South Africa captain Jean de Villiers received a great reception on his return to his country

Ireland are not thinking about making World Cup history and reaching the semi-finals for a first time, despite their perfect start to the tournament, wing Keith Earls has insisted. (Telegraph)

Tickets for England's match against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday are on sale for £60,000. (Star)

South Africa's line-outs in their Pool B match against Scotland at St James' Park in Newcastle on Saturday will come under scrutiny. The Springboks are worried that coded messages in Afrikaans may be understood by a number of Scottish players, including South-Africa born Josh Strauss and WP Nel. (Rugby World Cup website)

New Zealand may resort to sound-proofing their Cardiff hotel rooms this week, in order to combat noisy Welsh fans. (Wales Online)

Tuesday, 29 September

England centre Sam Burgess has tweeted Wales centre Scott Williams, who has suffered a tournament-ending injury, and said his "Scott who" response to a question on the Welshman was "banter". "All the best with the recovery lad... last week was just banter btw, I knew. Was just playing around with a question asked," tweeted the dual-code international.

England scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth has criticised three-time Grand Slam winning captain Will Carling by accusing him of being out of touch with modern professional rugby. (BBC Radio 5 live)

Carling has responded to Wigglesworth by joking on Twitter that he is an "old fart" and says England can beat Australia at Twickenham on Saturday - but only if they learn from the mistakes they made against Wales.

All Black Dan Carter met with One Direction's Niall Horan backstage after the group's O2 show

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has laughed off suggestions that English spies have infiltrated his Rugby World Cup training camp. "We don't even know what we're doing so how is anyone watching us going to know what we're doing," he said. (ESPN)

England choked under pressure against Wales with mind-numbing decisions, says former New Zealand and Wales coach Graham Henry. (Guardian)

After Wales moved to second in the world rankings, the New Zealand Herald, disagreeing with the latest table, have come up with their own - pushing Warren Gatland's men to eighth in the world. (New Zealand Herald)

Former Australia winger David Campese has said England were robotic and wilted in the heat of battle in their defeat by Wales. (Telegraph)

Monday, 28 September

Romania may have been hammered 44-10 by Ireland at Wembley but that didn't stop Florin Surugiu getting down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend after his country's defeat. (Mail)

Former Wales prop Adam Jones had this message on Twitter for some of England's famous names after Wales won the crucial World Cup group game between the two countries: "David Cameron, Wayne Rooney, Gary Barlow, Martin Johnson, your boys took one hell of a beating."

"It pains me to say it but England looked like a team of amateurs playing against streetwise professionals in the last 20 minutes at Twickenham," was ex-England coach Sir Clive Woodward's take on his former side blowing their lead and losing to Wales. (Mail)

Former England hooker Brian Moore says "indiscipline" cost England and added: "In too many games under Stuart Lancaster, England have not been able to see the job through." (Telegraph)

Meanwhile, former Wales international Jonathan Davies said: "In my lifetime I have not seen a better Wales win. Maybe when they beat New Zealand in 1953, that was better, but I did not see that." (Telegraph)

Former England player Paul Ackford said: "England have come to resemble their head coach's image: wholesome, compassionate, likeable, but - sadly - toothless." (Times - subscription required)

New Zealand travelled to Cardiff for the their next match against Georgia but were given a sleepless night because of Wales fans celebrating their country's win over England. (Wales Online)

Australia coach Michael Cheika believes his side are the underdogs for the crucial game against England at Twickenham on Saturday. (Mirror)

The Wallabies have reported an incident which involved a photographer taking pictures of a closed training session to tournament officials. (Sun - subscription required)