New Zealand

It is the worst it has been for the code which is considered the national sport in the country.

PNG, which was usually in the top five in past years, has dropped out of sight and now sits at number 14, plunging three place from 11^th spot out of 35 countries in the new  RLIF World Rankings issued recently.

Pandanus, known by Marshallese people as the “divine tree”, produces a seasonal fruit with an edible flesh that is cooked, dried or simply chewed on by locals.

Marshall Islands company, Robert Reimers Associates, has started extracting juice from the fruit to make what it calls kolomomor juice.

Iva Reimers-Roberto of Robert Reimers Associates brought pure pandanus juice to New Zealand as part of Pacific Islands Trade and Invest New Zealand trade mission.

The Palais finished fourth out of five countries.

In their round 5 match this morning, they were thrashed by Fiji 43-0.

The Palais later met Fiji again in the semi-final losing again 40-0.

In the third and fourth play-off this afternoon, the Palais went down to Cook Islands 32-0.

Fiji went on to beat Samoa 55-0 in the final to book their spot in the 2016 Olympic Games sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro.

Second placed Samoa and third placed Cook Islands have earned themselves invitations to the final qualification tournament for the Rio Olympics. 

On the final day of the Championship, the Pukpuks won the quarter final this morning against Cook Islands 19-7.

They advanced to meet Australia who beat them 36-0 in the semi-final.

The Pukpuks then faced off in the afternoon in the third and fourth play-off going down to Samoa 54-0.

Australia beat Tonga 50-0 to automatically qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro.

Wonderful tries from Nehe Milner-Skudder and Ma'a Nonu had given the All Blacks a 21-3 lead early in the second half before David Pocock and Tevita Kuridrani struck back.

With 15 minutes to go there were just four points in it, but a nerveless long-distance drop-goal and penalty from Dan Carter snatched back control.

And when replacement Beauden Barrett sprinted away on to Ben Smith's clearing kick at the death history was made, with New Zealand also becoming the first three-time champions of the world.

Some very, very big names are playing their last games in All Black jerseys and they'll leave a a sizeable hole.

Here's a quick rundown of who's heading off and where they're going:

-Dan Carter (111 caps) is going to Racing 92, a Parisian club known for their outrageous wealth and commitment to aristocratic exclusivity.

-Ma'a Nonu (101 caps) is headed to Toulon, whose owner Mourad Boudjellal courted controversy by comparing some debatable refereeing decisions to being sodomised.

The All Blacks were five points behind at half-time with a man in the sin-bin as four penalties from Handre Pollard cancelled out Jerome Kaino's early try.

A Dan Carter drop-goal and a Beauden Barrett try put the champions ahead.

South Africa replied with two penalties but a Carter effort in between secured victory despite ferocious Bok defence.

It was seldom pretty but once again in this World Cup there was a gripping finale, the All Blacks holding that two-point lead for the last 12 minutes as their opponents finally tired.

The 34-year-old loosehead, who was retiring after the tournament, sustained the injury as the reigning champions beat Tonga 47-9 on Saturday to cruise into the quarter-finals as Pool C winners.

The injury will take at least three weeks to heal, so Woodcock's out of the Cup - and rugby.

The third most-capped prop in the history of the game behind Gethin Jenkins of Wales and England's Jason Leonard, Woodcock scored New Zealand's only try in their 2011 World Cup final triumph.

Tonga were arguably the better side early on, dominating the breakdown and scrum and forcing a host of penalties.

However, Ben Smith and prop Tony Woodcock both scored first-half tries to give the All Blacks breathing space.

Nehe Milner-Skudder scored twice before Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Cane and Ma'a Nonu applied some second-half gloss.

The permutations

Losses to Georgia and Argentina have all but ended the Ikale Tahi's hopes of making the knockout rounds.

A bonus-point victory against the defending champions would keep alive Tonga's faint hopes of reaching the quarter finals.