Rob Andrew, who announced his retirement from rugby yesterday, is a man with the Midas touch.

Not content with an England record 396 points, harvested from a 71-cap Test career that spanned 12 years, he transformed Newcastle Falcons from mid-second division status into Premiership champions in less than three years.

He will remain on Tyneside having recently agreed a new contract that will keep him at Kingston Park until September 2002.

By then, he will have spent seven years at the helm of the club.

Andrew scored 570 league points for the Falcons from 69 appearances - he had previously amassed 748 in 1977 with Wasps - and will leave a huge void, even though Newcastle can call upon England out-half prodigy Jonny Wilkinson.

Meanwhile, the Australian rugby squad left home yesterday with the slogan "Bring Back Bill" tagging their campaign to win their second rugby union World Cup.

Senior centre Tim Horan, who is preparing for his third World Cup, is certain the Wallabies would not get lost in the hype surrounding the tournament which kicks off in Wales on October 1st.

"There's a lot of things away from the World Cup that you have to make sure you're in control of and that it doesn't interfere with your preparation," Horan said. The Wallabies had a minor hitch when lock Tom Bowman's departure with the rest of the team was delayed by a nasty shin gash.

Bowman will remain in Australia until the swelling around the gash subsides. The Wallabies will start second favourites behind New Zealand but Australian captain John Eales warned that the tournament was the most open since its inception in 1987, with the northern hemisphere teams aiming for their first triumph.

"Any of five or six teams could win it and we know that it's going to be very tough," Eales said.