The latest rugby news from Wales and beyond
Your rugby evening headlines on Saturday, June 28.
Former Wales star appointed head coach of SRC club
Former Wales forwards Jonathan Thomas has been appointed head coach of Super Rygbi Cymru outfit Swansea RFC.
Thomas won 67 caps for Wales and played an integral role in two Six Nations Grand Slam-winning campaigns in 2005 and 2008. The 42-year-old began his playing career at Swansea before joining the Ospreys when the game went regional in 2003.
After making 188 appearances for the Ospreys, which included 14 tries, he joined Worcester Warriors in 2013 before retiring in 2015 after getting diagnosed with epilepsy.
Thomas has coached at the highest level with Bristol Bears (defence) and Worcester where he was head coach.
He was also part of Warren Gatland’s backroom team with Wales, helping his country reach the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup in 2023 before departing in the December of that year.
Thomas has now taken the helm at Swansea and will be tasked with reinvigorating the famous Welsh club who finished bottom of the SRC table last season.
”Swansea RFC has always been close to my heart,” said Thomas. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
“It was the club that gave me the opportunity and I’ll always be grateful.
“It’s a big part of who I am and my time with the club at the start of my career really helped shape me as a person and a player.
“I’m really excited about taking up this role and helping this historic club move forward.
“Since I first signed for Swansea as a youngster 25 years ago, it’s been a relentless journey, always looking forward, and it’s only when I’ve taken the last six months out to recharge have I really been able to appreciate the journey I’ve been on.
“I looked at the team towards the end of last season and they certainly didn’t look like a team that should have been at the foot of the table.
“I need to get know the players I’m working with and find out more about their character and desire to improve
“Yes, there’s plenty of work to do, starting straight away, but the foundations of a good side is there and it’ll be my responsibility to build on that.
“It’s exciting for the club and it’s exciting for me.
“Swansea is a big club with a proud history and I want to do that justice, while understanding our relationship with the Ospreys, where I know Mark Jones really well and expect to work closely with him.”
WRU postpone revamp of women’s game
The Welsh Rugby Union has put the brakes on the proposed revamp of the professional women’s game in Wales, according to the BBC.
Celtic Challenge teams Gwalia Lightning and Brython Thunder were to be replaced by new teams but this has been postponed.
The WRU had initially asked the four professional clubs – Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets – along with certain universities to bid to form new women’s teams.
But the BBC report they have seen an internal email between senior WRU officials who have paused the process due to “the ongoing transformation in the men’s game.”
The WRU recently gave two-year notice to the Ospreys and Scarlets who refused to sign the new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) due to concerns the governing body had plans to turn Cardiff into a “super region” after it had acquired the capital city club.
As it stands there is the very real possibility the WRU could go down to three, if not two, professional men’s teams. Join WalesOnline Rugby’s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
This has had a knock-on effect on plans to further develop the women’s game.
According to the BBC an email from the WRU’s head of women’s rugby, Belinda Moore, said: “We have made the decision that Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning will continue to represent Wales in the flagship tournament next season.
“We have taken this in the best interest of our players and management teams and believe this is the right way to guarantee a professional elite sporting environment for our players in the necessary timeframe.
“It remains central to the WRU’s strategy to grow marketable and commercially viable high-performance clubs for our women players in Wales and we will revisit this in the near future.
“I would like to thank all parties for the work they have done to date during the tender process, it is not wasted, and we look forward to picking this up again in earnest at the appropriate time.”
Losing ‘exceptional’ Williams would be a huge blow for Lions, says former England wing
Former British & Irish Lions wing Ugo Monye labelled Tomos Williams’ performance as ‘exceptional’ in the 54-7 victory over the Western Force in Perth.
The 30-year-old was outstanding and scored two tries for the Lions before getting forced off the field with a hamstring injury.
Lions head coach Andy Farrell said it was too early to judge the seriousness of Williams’ injury but he will almost certainly be out of the midweek game against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.
This poses a significant problem for the Lions with Jamison Gibson-Park also struggling with injury which would leave Alex Mitchell as the only fit number nine.
“Tomos Williams has been exceptional,” Monye told the BBC. “The worry now for the Lions is with Jamison Gibson-Park struggling with injury and yet to play, and Williams with a possible hamstring problem, is them being left light at scrum-half.”
If both Gibson-Park and Williams were to be sidelined for a couple of games Farrell would almost certainly have to bring a new nine into the squad.
England’s Jack van Poortvliet trained with the squad in Portugal while Ben White is currently in New Zealand with Scotland.
