Melbourne Rebels and Australia star James O'Connor is in doubt for the Test matches against Scotland and Wales in June due to a lacerated liver.

Struggling state shocked to discover it produces dozens of bizarre research papers that no one reads

Tackling The Issues

Australia coach Robbie Deans breathed a sigh of relief after playmaker Quade Cooper was cleared by a match review panel after being cited for dropping his knee into Richie McCaw's head during the Wallabies' 25-20 win over the All Blacks in Brisbane.

It's been billed as a preview of this year's World Cup final. But tomorrow's Bledisloe Cup opener also has a whiff of the 2003 tournament decider about it. New Zealand - a nation that delighted in lampooning the Dad's Army (average age a shade over 28) sent out to play by Clive Woodward - will field a side with an average age of 29.

Police in Australia were forced to use pepper spray on a kangaroo after it attacked an elderly woman in her back garden.

Two Australian police officers were forced to use pepper spray to fight off a rogue kangaroo that attacked an elderly woman in her backyard in an Outback town, it was reported yesterday.

Less than three weeks after the International Rugby Board introduced new guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of concussion – one of the principal scourges of modern-day union – the brilliant Wallaby midfielder Berrick Barnes has decided to take an indefinite break from the game after suffering a number of "footballers' migraines", as the Australians describe it.

Hull KR are still waiting for their big Kangaroo signing to turn up: despite a dash to Tonga to get a passport on the intervention of the islands' prime minister, Willie Mason is still without a work permit. And the club could also lose two other Australian forwards at the end of the season, in Michael Vella and Ben Galea.

Caroline Wozniacki's press conferences are rapidly becoming as entertaining as her matches. Forty-eight hours after she answered questions ranging from global warming to Kenny Dalglish's return at Liverpool, the world No 1 told reporters here at the Australian Open that she had suffered a cut on her leg when she was attacked by a baby kangaroo in a wildlife park.

Martin Johnson warned England the time has come to start turning Twickenham into a feared venue once again.