New Zealand have appointed Ian Foster to coach the All Blacks, replacing Steve Hansen who left the post at the end of the Rugby World Cup.

Foster, 54, served as Hansen's assistant for eight years and saw off competition from Crusaders coach Scott Robertson to earn his promotion.

"I feel truly privileged and honoured to be given this opportunity," he said.

Warren Gatland and Joe Schmidt, former Wales and Ireland coaches respectively, had been linked with the job.

Dave Rennie, who will leave Glasgow to take up the head coach role with Australia in July, and Jamie Joseph, who committed to leading Japan to another World Cup, had also been suggested as possible replacements for Hansen.

New Zealand Rugby contacted 26 coaches over the vacancy, but Foster and Robertson, who has overseen three successive Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders, were the only two confirmed candidates.

"I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved in the All Blacks over the last eight years and I'm excited and energised by a new coaching team who will join me," said Foster, who will announce his four-strong team of assistants at a later date.

New Zealand won the World Cup in 2011 and 2015, but were beaten by England in the semi-finals of the 2019 tournament in Japan.

INDIANAPOLIS – Hidden Horsepower by Total Seal, a new podcast hosted by Joe Castello and Keith Jones, will debut during the PRI Trade Show this week in Indianapolis.

Hidden Horsepower by Total Seal will feature top engine builders such as Pat Musi, Jason Line and others as they chat with Hidden Horsepower’s host Castello and Jones, the director of technical sales at Total Seal Piston Rings.

This new podcast launches Thursday during the PRI Trade Show and is available now on Sound Cloud, Stitcher, and Spotify and will soon be available on Google Play and Apple Podcasts.

“Our new Hidden Horsepower podcasts will feature racers and leading engine builders from every form of motorsports,” said Matt Hartford, CEO and president of Total Seal. “Each featured personality will share their in-depth and personal stories as they travel the world of racing and high performance.”

“The first episode of our new Hidden Horsepower podcast features Jason Line, who drives the KB Racing Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro Pro Stock car in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series,” added Jones. “Jason and I talk about Pro Stock racing and how piston ring development has unlocked the Hidden Horsepower that racers need to be competitive. The second episode features Pat Musi, owner of Pat Musi Racing Engines. Musi is recognized as one of the leading drag racing engine builders for Pro Mod and Top Sportsman Drag Race Engines.”

Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel has asserted that superstar Kylian Mbappe must respect his choices during matches after the France international was visibly annoyed at being substituted late on during the 3-1 win away at Montpellier in Ligue 1 last Saturday.

Mbappe, 20, scored PSG's second goal and teed up the third for Mauro Icardi before making way for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the dying moments and then shrugging off Tuchel's attempts to speak with him as he left the pitch.

The German was unconcerned by the incident ahead of Wednesday's Champions League Group A closer at home to Galatasaray and wants to see greater acceptance of his decisions from Mbappe -- as well as greater respect towards other squad members when being substituted.

"Kylian is not too hard to manage," said Tuchel at Parc des Princes. "However, yes, he does have a special mentality! That is normal with his state of mind -- his ambitions and his titles. He always wants to win and never likes to leave the pitch.

"Kylian must accept these are my decisions, though. He has to show respect to the player coming on in his place. I did not take his reaction personally. He was disappointed, but it was forgotten after a few moments because of his respect for Eric Maxim and me -- it was no big deal!"

Tuchel also hit back at criticism of the team for being unable to play as a cohesive unit since Mbappe and Neymar's full returns despite an impressive late flurry in Montpellier.

The former Borussia Dortmund and Mainz 05 boss believes PSG are finding their feet with their star pair back in the fold.

"Without Neymar and Kylian, we lacked extraordinary quality -- we really had to play together, as a team, to win," Tuchel said. "Everyone in the dressing room is convinced by what these two bring us.

"Now, we have to find our state of mind. Against Montpellier, we found it -- in the end. There is also no big deal with Kylian!

"These two are important to the squad. I am waiting for another step forward against Galatasaray. We must play as a team -- it is vital if you want to win!"

Goalkeeper Keylor Navas added on the topic of Neymar and Mbappe that he sees "happy players in the dressing room -- the squad is healthy and united."

Tuchel also addressed Edinson Cavani's latest fitness issues and suggested he could involve the Uruguay international against the Turkish outfit this midweek.

"Edinson felt a pain in his calf before Montpellier," he said. "He has returned to squad training. It is frustrating for him to not have much rhythm, but it was my decision to leave Mauro and another attacker on the pitch.

"It is not Edi's fault, nor against him -- he is very professional and very positive. He has lost a few more days, so logically a bit of pace too.

"If possible, I will give him a few minutes against Galatasaray. He needs to get back into the swing of things, he must -- we need him!"

Regardless of the result, PSG have secured top spot in their group, so should receive a favourable latter stage draw next week.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has banned his players from watching replays of their 7-2 Champions League home defeat by Bayern Munich earlier in the campaign as they prepare to face the Germans in the reverse fixture later on Wednesday.

Mauricio Pochettino was in charge for the demolition by the German champions on Oct. 1 and while Mourinho, who replaced him last month, has watched video of the match he said he did not want the players reminded of it.

"I forbid any image of it," Mourinho said at his prematch news conference. "I watched it a couple of times: me, my staff and analysts try to go through every single aspect of that but not one single image for the boys. No. Not at all.

"There is a certain way that we try to play football and try to develop our principles of play and we're totally focused on us."

Both teams are already through to the knockout rounds and Mourinho, who has left Dele Alli, Serge Aurier, Harry Kane and Jan Vertonghen at home, said he would use the game to assess several fringe players.

"I arrive in mid-season, without four, five, six weeks to work and know the players -- so we have to do everything while we are running," he added.

"It's very important to me that the players are coachable and open. I think the boys need me and my job is to help them."

Carlos Vela has an offer to join Barcelona in the January transfer window, Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Jonathan Dos Santos has claimed.

Vela, a forward with Los Angeles FC, was a Barcelona target a year ago but the La Liga champions opted to sign Kevin Prince-Boateng instead.

"It's true that he has that offer on the table and I honestly don't know what he is going to do," Mexico international Dos Santos, a youth product of Barcelona, told Colombian radio station W Radio.

"He is very happy in Los Angeles, with his team. It's a unique opportunity the fact that Barcelona wants him, it's the best team in the world. As a Mexican I hope that it can happen for him."

Vela, 30, joined the MLS franchise from Real Sociedad in January 2018 and this year won the Most Valuable Player Award for his performances. He scored a league-record 34 goals to win the 2019 MLS Golden Boot.

Dos Santos, who played five seasons for Barcelona's first team before joining Villarreal in 2014, said: "He's had a spectacular season.

"He is on holiday, I haven't spoken to him because I don't want to bother him. Whatever is good for him, I'll be happy."

- All major completed transfer deals

In October, Vela left the door open at the possibility of playing on loan at Barca until the end of the season, stating to the New York Times: "Who could say no to playing with Messi for four months and then come back to L.A.?

"Enjoy, learn and then come back home."

Barca are keen to strengthen their attack in the winter transfer window with France forward Ousmane Dembele out until the New Year with a recurring muscular problem.

Justice (retd) RM Lodha, who was appointed by the Supreme Court in 2015 to reform the BCCI, has said the board's move to amend the constitution he had framed was "unfortunate". The constitution, which provides for sweeping changes to the way in which Indian cricket is run, was approved by the Supreme Court in August 2018.

Lodha referred to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and said a former cricketer would never have headed the board if it wasn't for his reforms in the first place.

The most radical amendments include altering the rules concerning the cooling-off period for administrators that currently bars them from office for three years after serving a six-year period in office, relaxing various disqualification criteria and removing the need for any changes to the constitution to be approved by the Supreme Court. Ganguly and BCCI secretary Jay Shah are currently set to serve only till June 2020 since they had been heads of their respective state boards for more than five years before their current roles.

Among the other amendments proposed by the BCCI board is watering down the "conflict of interest clauses" that exist in the constitution and giving more power to the board secretary. That is a distinct shift from before where the CEO held more power.

"It's very unfortunate," Lodha was quoted as saying in an interview by Hindustan Times. "I thought a cricketer at the helm of affairs will understand that it was only our reforms which brought him to this position.

"If the earlier system was in vogue, perhaps no cricketer could have ever dreamt of heading a body like the BCCI," Lodha said. "The way politics is played in cricket administration, I don't think any cricketer would have been able to get this position but for these reforms.

"That's all the more reason for those in charge now to respect the reforms and try to fully implement them, instead of changing them," Lodha said. "Let reforms work over a period of time and see how transparency, accountability come into the administration."

Lodha conceded that it was legally impossible to stop family members of former board members from contesting elections. But he hoped that more "independent" people would come to the fore in the long run.

Lodha also said he wished that the Committee of Administrators, led by Vinod Rai, implemented the reforms much faster. "They took a lot of time in implementation," he said. "Their job was to implement the SC order by which our committee's report was accepted. It should have been done a long time back. They took three years.

"As a matter of fact, the second election should have been due by this time because the first order was passed in July, 2016. The first election after reforms has taken place in 2019."

The Lodha Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court in 2015, was headed by Lodha, a former Chief Justice of India, along with former Supreme Court Justices RV Raveendran and Ashok Bhan.

Alex Carey is "nipping at the heels" of Tim Paine but the future of Australia's Test captain remains in his own hands, according to Adam Gilchrist.

It is not beyond the realms that the New Zealand series, which starts in Perth on Thursday, marks Paine's last home internationals. After the Sydney Test in early January, Australia's next assignment is a two-match series in Bangladesh in June before the next home summer.

Steven Smith's leadership ban will be completed at the end of March which means he will be eligible for a return to captaincy, and Gilchrist picked out him and Pat Cummins as potential options to replace Paine. The upturn in Australia's Test form this year has cemented Paine's position and it appears unlikely he will be pushed out, but having turned 35 a few days ago there may also come a time when he feels it is time to move on.

From a batting point of view, Carey has made 143 and 73 in his last two Sheffield Shield outings and is the natural successor to Paine. It is a position Gilchrist has first-hand experience of, having been the man who replaced Ian Healy in 1999.

"I reckon while ever he is in the team he should be captain," Gilchrist, who is a Fox Cricket commentator, said. "And then let's see after these three Tests - that is the summer for him. See how he feels at the end of this summer. I feel it was more of a light-hearted comment when he said it might be his last summer. But like all players that are getting to that age bracket, it's almost a summer-by-summer analysis.

"It's almost like deja vu - not for him, but for me - when you've got a guy like Alex Carey nipping at his heels. He's starting to show some really promising signs of consistency now in his Sheffield Shield cricket. With his overall game and where the attention gets drawn to is his run-scoring. His wicketkeeping seems to be extremely consistent. As is Paine's. But Carey is now starting to really accumulate important runs in first-class cricket, so that is going to really put pressure on him.

"If he is playing next summer, Paine should be captain of the Australian cricket team. But we will have to see at the end of the summer if he is still in there - whether it's his own personal judgement or the selectors'. As long as he warrants a spot in the team, he can keep leading the team. I'm amazed at the way he has helped rebuild and reshape the team after the disaster of South Africa."

Though Paine's Test average remains a modest 30.97 (he has barely been needed so far this summer with the prolific returns of Australia's top order), Gilchrist believes he has a significant innings him should Australia need it.

"Tim's chipped in with some really important innings," Gilchrist said. "He hasn't got the breakthrough runs but he plays a decent role with the bat. I'd be surprised if in this series there's not a time when we're under pressure whether it's a 40, 50 or a 70 that he plays his role. He's so experienced he can fulfill that. The only time the attention is drawn to him is if someone else is breathing down his neck that they may be able to add value."

From Paine's point of view, he said he had not given his future any more thought since the start of the international season. "In terms of competition, when you are playing for Australia as the wicketkeeper, there's constant competition," he said. "We are renowned for having excellent wicketkeeper-batsmen and that's no different at the moment. As I touched on, it's a great environment in our set-up and I'm enjoying every minute of it and will continue to do so as long as I can."