Wales Rugby News
A bonus point win for Ireland kept them in the Triple Crown and Championship hunt
6 mins. The ball is won by Ireland and they work up to the 11 phases, moving left with some big McCloskey carries, before returning to the shadow of the posts. The ball is moved short to Stockdale off his wing to go over close to the posts.
Crowley converts.
Continue reading...Wales captain wants energy from home supporters
Galthié beefs up pack for visit of in-form Italy
The Wales captain, Dewi Lake, has urged fans in Cardiff to lift his side for the Six Nations meeting with Scotland on Saturday.
After last week’s record thrashing by France, Wales have lost 13 consecutive Six Nations matches, while Scotland arrive at the Principality Stadium in upbeat mood after their handsome Calcutta Cup triumph over England.
Continue reading...Five changes to the XV that stunned England
Wales call up Bath-born Gabriel Hamer-Webb
Gregor Townsend expects Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe to be fuelled by “huge determination” against Wales after they were restored to Scotland’s starting XV for Saturday’s Six Nations meeting in Cardiff.
The British & Irish Lions duo were high-profile omissions from the 23 for the first two championship matches against Italy and England amid question marks about their form. The Toulouse back Kinghorn will start at full-back in place of Tom Jordan, who drops to the bench, while Van der Merwe, Scotland’s record try-scorer, returns at wing to take over from Jamie Dobie, who is out due to injury.
Continue reading...Ollie Cracknell one of four changes in the Welsh team
Doris urges Ireland team to take greater responsibility
The Wales coach, Steve Tandy, has made four changes to his starting XV for the daunting visit of France to the Principality Stadium on Sunday, including Ollie Cracknell at No 8 as they seek to arrest a 12-game losing streak in the Six Nations.
Following last weekend’s 48-7 defeat to England, beleaguered Wales have beefed up their pack with the inclusion of Cracknell for a first Six Nations start, and two changes in the front row as the props Rhys Carré and Tomas Francis replace Nicky Smith and Archie Griffin.
Continue reading...England 48-7 Wales
Earl, Roebuck and Freeman also score tries for hosts
No surprises here, not even a hint of one. England have had tougher training sessions in preparation for this Six Nations and by the end the scoreboard spoke for itself. Wales were not so much beaten as buried beneath an avalanche of seven white tries including a first-half hat-trick for the pacy Bath wing Henry Arundell on his first England start since the 2023 World Cup.
If not quite as big a rout as England’s 68-14 win in Cardiff 11 months ago, the flashing red warning lights were visible from the moment the visitors had two players sent to the sin bin in the first quarter. They never looked like recovering and, in its own way, this disappointment will sting as much as the 73-0 defeat by South Africa in November.
Continue reading...The off-field politics are toxic, Wales are on a terrible run and England are flying, but everyone needs Saturday’s game to be competitive at Twickenham
Are you a Wales fan reading this on the train to London? If so, let’s huddle in tight and try to stay positive. In round one of the Six Nations everyone starts equal. There is rain around and England have a couple of significant injuries. Steve Tandy is a capable guy and there are some talented individuals at his disposal. In this grand old championship miracles have been known to happen.
C’mon boys, believe. That red jersey still represents something special. All that history, all that fabled lineage. Gareth, Gerald, Jiffy, Alun Wyn … they’re all right with you. It’s only 80 minutes and opportunity knocks. Under the radar is a useful place to be. And, look, it’s not even called Twickenham these days. Allianz Stadium could be anywhere.
Continue reading...Lightning-fast attacker lines up at full-back against England insisting that his gridiron tilt will only help his rugby
The late, great Tom Petty wrote the song that, ultimately, defined Louis Rees-Zammit’s American football adventure. “Runnin’ down a dream, that never would come to me …” Twelve months ago Rees-Zammit was in New Orleans watching the Superbowl and still hoping to carve out a multimillion dollar NFL career. Now here he is, back in a Welsh rugby shirt and eager to make up for lost time.
Sliding doors and all that. This weekend in America all roads lead to this year’s Superbowl in California: the Seattle Seahawks v the New England Patriots . But as Wales’s 25-year-old prodigal son prepares for the contrasting vibes and smells of a sodden Twickenham in February, he insists he still has no regrets about the gridiron flirtation that removed him from Six Nations circulation for two years.
Continue reading...Wing unable to complete training session on Thursday
Daly the leading alternative if Exeter player ruled out
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso has given England a late injury scare before they start their Six Nations campaign against Wales on Saturday after pulling up in training.
The Exeter wing was unable to complete England’s session at Pennyhill Park due to a leg injury with Steve Borthwick’s medical staff investigating its extent on Thursday night.
Continue reading...Head coach linked with new role after Rugby World Cup
‘I’ve not signed a contract,’ says Scot before Italy clash
Gregor Townsend has claimed reports he is to take over at Newcastle after the 2027 World Cup is an attempt to “disrupt” Scotland before the Six Nations.
The 52-year-old last year took on a consultancy role with Red Bull, who own Newcastle and it was reported on Thursday that Townsend will take charge of the Prem club when his contract with Scotland expires after next year’s World Cup in Australia.
Continue reading...Doubt over regions is fast escalating into a civil war
Six Nations squad announcement overshadowed
The prevailing mood in Welsh rugby has been frequently dark, but rarely this bible black. Once upon a time a Six Nations squad announcement would have topped the agenda across the country; on Tuesday it felt like a semicolon in a much bigger narrative. Even Wales have never selected seven players whose club is in imminent danger of being axed by their own union.
The bare facts of the situation are increasingly stark for all involved. The existing owners of Ospreys, Wales’s most successful region of the past two decades, have just been nominated controversially as the preferred bidders for Cardiff, potentially clearing the way to reduce the number of Welsh professional sides from four to three. The internecine politics have become so increasingly toxic that Steve Tandy, the national head coach, had to plead for rugby‑related questions at his lunchtime squad announcement.
Continue reading...Champions South Africa face Italy, Georgia and Romania
Ireland and Scotland in pool with Uruguay and Portugal
The host nation Australia will face their traditional rivals New Zealand at the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 after the draw was made in Sydney on Wednesday.
The Wallabies, hosting a second men’s tournament, were guaranteed to face a top-ranked nation in Pool A due to a current world ranking of seventh, and the renewal of their fierce rivalry with the All Blacks is perhaps the most appetising possible outcome from the draw.
The potential for a “Bledisloe Cup” opening match to kick off the global showpiece, on 1 October 2027 in Perth, will be a hugely attractive prospect for fans. Chile, playing at a second Rugby World Cup after their debut in France in 2023, and debutants Hong Kong are also in Pool A.
England, who won the men’s tournament in Australia 22 years ago, have been pitted against their Six Nations rivals Wales, with Tonga and Zimbabwe the other sides in Pool F. Wales famously defeated England at their home tournament a decade ago before a second loss, to Australia, consigned the hosts to an early exit.
Mid-range offence could see eight-week ban
Apology after match will be considered
Eben Etzebeth is expected to appear at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday after his red card for alleged eye-gouging in the dominant victory against Wales on Saturday, with the Springboks lock potentially facing a long ban. The verdict is likely to be announced on Wednesday.
As South Africa closed in on a record 73-0 victory in Cardiff, Etzebeth clashed with the Welsh back-rower Alex Mann, appearing to make contact with his opponent’s left eye in a fracas involving several players from both sides.
Continue reading...The Springboks delivered their autumn clean sweep of Europe with a record defeat of Wales in Cardiff
6 mins. It’s taken six minutes, but the first scrum penalty is awarded against Wales after the Boks drop the hammer and shove the Welsh pack back to Bridgend, splintering it along the way.
4 mins. Two passes are all that’s needed from the Boks to get Moodie running outside Mee on the blindside . The SA winger then completely airswipes his attempt to kick the ball forward to start a foot race with the retreating defence which cues some laughs from the crowd. Gotta take your fun where you can find it at Wales games these days…
Continue reading...As Wales prepare to face the Pumas, the only thing uniting anyone is a lack of trust in the WRU to sort the game out
It’s a wet Wednesday afternoon and Wales are holding an open training session at the Principality Stadium. Admission is free, apart from the £1 booking fee, and the 6,000 seats they’ve made available are filled with raucous kids and weary parents looking for something new to do during a rainy half-term day. The announcer keeps reminding everyone that tickets are still available for all four of Wales’ autumn internationals, against Argentina on Sunday, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. No one in the media seats can quite remember the last time there were spare tickets for a Test match against the All Blacks.
I join a couple of old boys loitering in the back rows. They’re Mervyn and Steve, down from Pontypridd. The previous Friday the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) had announced its grand plan to revitalise the sport, which included – almost an hour into the press conference – the revelation that it is going to scrap one of the four regional teams. Everyone agrees that the four regions are overstretched and underfunded. A Welsh team has not finished in the top seven of the United Rugby Championship (URC) since before the pandemic. The decision to make a cut was easy enough. The harder part is figuring out who, why and when, and the hardest is persuading everyone to go along with it.
Continue reading...Tandy names winger in squad after 21-month absence
Rhys Carré also included after he requalifies for selection
Louis Rees-Zammit is in line for an international rugby comeback for Wales next month 21 months after abandoning the sport to try his luck in American football. Rees-Zammit, now 24, is among 39 players named in the first squad to be picked by the new national head coach, Steve Tandy.
The British and Irish Lions winger, who won the most recent of his 32 caps at the 2023 World Cup, made the switch to American football in January 2024 but ended up not featuring in a competitive NFL game. He returned to union in August when he joined the English Prem side Bristol.
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