South Africa sign World Cup agreement

South Africa's squad have become the first players from a major nation to sign the participation agreement for the World Cup, which begins in Sydney on 10 October.

"I believe that most of the issues have been addressed and I personally can't see why there would be any difficulty in signing this agreement," the Rugby World Cup director, Rian Oberholzer, said. "The participation agreement has changed dramatically from the first draft to the one we have just signed."

Players unions around the world had objected to the original participation agreement as it appeared to give RWC a free licence to exploit players' images. The International Rugby Players' Association were also unhappy that RWC are not going to pay prize-money - although there will be so-called cash incentives - at the tournament.

"The first draft was quite restrictive on players and the rights they had to protecting their own image and their own likeness," Oberholzer said. "The players had an issue with that and the way it has been addressed by RWC is that players' images will not be used for commercial purposes and will not be linked to any sponsor of RWC and any products linked to the tournament."

Oberholzer said that cash incentives for success in the tournament had also been agreed with the Springbok squad who had asked that they not be made public.

The deadline for signing the RWC participation agreement is 31 July.

England have extended their lead at the top of the world rankings following their victories in New Zealand and Australia. Argentina, who have attained seventh place, their highest-ever position in the world, moving above Scotland.