The All Blacks are set to lose a cornerstone of their Test pack, with 42-Test veteran prop Kees Meeuws to take up a European contract at the end of the year. Media reports have linked Meeuws to a French club and it is understood the loosehead prop was leaving the country for lifestyle reasons.

A strike four minutes from the end by substitute striker Kabamba Musasa earned the Democratic Republic of Congo a 1-0 win over Bafana Bafana in a hard fought World Cup Group 2 qualifier played at the Stade de Martys. Bafana had the better of a tense first 45 minutes and should have had a penalty in the 13th minute.

Bill Clinton, the former US president, checked himself into a New York City hospital on Friday for heart bypass surgery after suffering chest pains and a shortness of breath. ”He will be having surgery early in the week,” his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton said last night after visiting her husband in hospital.

John Kerry launched a stinging and personal counter-attack against George Bush’s administration, singling out Dick Cheney, the vice-president, for having ”refused to serve” in Vietnam. The ferocity of the Democratic party’s presidential challenger marked a sharp change in his campaign tactics.

The Amazon rainforest and savanna lands are being destroyed at a rate of 1,2-million hectares a year to feed Europe’s insatiable desire for more soya bean production, according to a research report on Friday. The UK is one of the chief customers for South American soya production.