SBW back for Bledisloe opener after appeal

Sonny Bill Williams will be available to face Australia on August 19 after successfully arguing a Counties Manukau clash should count in his four-match ban.

Sonny Bill Williams is free to play in the Bledisloe Cup opener after successfully arguing that a warm-up clash on August 11 should count towards his ban.

Williams was sent off in the first half of the second British and Irish Lions Test last month and hit with a four-match suspension.

World Rugby initially ruled that the All Blacks' match against Counties Manukau and Taranaki on August 11 was not "meaningful" but has now 'been deemed to comply within the regulations' definition of a match'.

Williams is now suspended from all forms of rugby up to and including August 11.