Laporte for ministry after World Cup:France coach Bernard Laporte will move from the trainer's bench to a government desk after the World Cup ends in October following his appointment by President Nicolas Sarkozy as a junior minister for sport.

The 42-year-old Laporte, renowned in France for his blunt, confrontational style and distinctive southwestern accent, said last year he would step down after the World Cup to go into business. But his long-standing links with Sarkozy appear to have made a political career more attractive.

The bespectacled Laporte, a solid club professional as a player, has steered France to Six Nations grand slams in 2002 and 2004 and titles in 2006 and 2007.

He took France to the 2003 World Cup in Australia, where they were eliminated by the eventual champions, England.

A recent biography suggested he was ready for a major change, quoting him: "For the first time in my life, I have a desire for the future . . . I don't want to rush things. The opportunity has to come up."

Henry tells Blacks to hit greens

New Zealand coach Graham Henry wants his players to relax instead of hitting the training pitch ahead of next Saturday's Tri-Nations clash with South Africa in Durban.

The match has been billed as a possible preview of October's World Cup final but Henry has ordered his players to stay calm and play golf or go fishing, the coach hoping the short break will help them freshen up.

"We don't want to overdo it otherwise we'll be worse off," Henry told journalists. "We've just got to be intelligent as to how we prepare."

Despite dominating world rugby for the past three seasons, the All Blacks have always struggled in South Africa. They have lost one match there in each of the past three years, yet have been unbeaten elsewhere since 2003.

"It's obviously the biggest challenge that we face in rugby at the moment, which is stimulating," Henry said.

Danielli gets Scotland call-up

Scotland coach Frank Hadden has added the 13-times-capped wing Simon Danielli to his World Cup training squad.

Danielli (27), who joins Ulster for the forthcoming season from Border Reivers, was omitted from the squad named earlier this month after he injured a groin in Scotland A's Churchill Cup clash with Ireland A at Twickenham.

Hadden said he would monitor Danielli's progress and announced: "Simon has . . . been assessed by our medical team. His injury was not as bad as first feared and we have decided that he is worthy of consideration for a place in our World Cup squad."