Ashton Shuns Academy Post But Rfu Seeks to Keep Him on Board

Brian Ashton is set to turn down the job of head of the national academy, but the Rugby Football Union remains hopeful that the former England coach will continue to have a role with the governing body.

Reports from the RFU's annual meeting said it was keen to keep Ashton on board, although disquiet was expressed by members at the manner in which his removal from the England job was handled.

The RFU chairman, Martyn Thomas, told the meeting that officials had admitted failures in how they dealt with Ashton but stressed that it still wanted to work with him, even though he conceded that Ashton would not head the academy. "I am very confident Brian will be remaining and will have a role within the RFU," Thomas said. An announcement is expected within a fortnight.

Thomas also promised that discipline would improve under England's new team manager, Martin Johnson, as concerns were raised over events on the recent tour of New Zealand, which brought two heavy Test defeats and allegations of player misconduct.

Australia's coach, Robbie Deans, said after his side opened their Tri-Nations campaign with a 16-9 win over South Africa in Perth that they could still improve. He praised "a job well done against a side we have a lot of respect for" but warned that they would need to perform better against New Zealand this Saturday in Sydney.

The Wallabies coach is himself a New Zealander and is eagerly anticipating meeting his compatriots. "There's a lot of scope for improvement in the details and we can add to what we did do right tonight," he said. "I suspect next week will be very special and there'll be a fair amount of banter. But I'm looking forward to it." The Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said: "There's a lot of hurt because we are not losers. We expected a better contest. This is not the best thing to happen to us."

Australia scored two tries, through the wing Lote Tuqiri and center Stirling Mortlock, and Deans praised both efforts, Mortlock's coming when the Australia captain muscled through three tackles.

Tuqiri's effort gave Australia a 5-3 lead at half-time and they maintained their advantage throughout the second period, but it took a last-minute drop-goal from Berrick Barnes to finally kill off the South African challenge. Penalties kicked by Francois Steyn and Butch James were all South Africa could muster in response.

Italy will bid to stage the World Cup in 2015 or 2019, the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) revealed yesterday. The FIR said that the International Rugby Board would name the hosts of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups in July next year. New Zealand will stage the next tournament in 2011.