The latest rugby news from Wales and around the world
Here are your rugby headlines for Thursday, July 10.
Lions coach’s advice helps Wales in crucial week
Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt says he has given his players ‘time to grieve’ this week after taking some advice from Lions coach Andy Farrell.
Last week’s defeat against Japan in Kitakyushu was their 18th consecutive loss at Test level, dropping them further down the world rankings to 14th. Wales have a chance to bounce back in Kobe this Saturday, with the second Test.
Ahead of this weekend’s match, Sherratt revealed he had taken heed of some advice from the Lions coach during his first interim spell as Wales coach to help navigate this week.
“I learned from the Six Nations,” said Sherratt. “I’ll actually tell you how it happened.
“I met Andy Farrell after the Scotland game and he asked what we’d done that week. He kind of said sometimes when players has had an emotional run, they need time to grieve.
“It just made complete sense to me. Grieving over anything takes time.
“So we gave them two days off and just left them alone for two days. I’ll be honest, it was a tough changing room after. The boys had put so much into the week that what I didn’t want to do was get them back in Monday and almost reopen the wounds.
“We had two days off, first and foremost. That was the most important thing. We showed them the score at 60 minutes, which was 19-7 to us.
“We didn’t get enough set-piece in quality positions in the last 20 minutes. We were just really factual saying if we can do that, we’ve got a chance of winning the game.
“Genuinely, if you came in and watched training, you wouldn’t know if was a team who’s won 10 on the trot or lost 10 on the trot. They’re a good group and I think we’ve gone back into as good a place as we can.”
Fresh Lions injury worry as star sent for scan
By Duncan Bech, PA Rugby Union Correspondent, Canberra
The British and Irish Lions are sweating on the fitness of Blair Kinghorn as they face the possibility of losing another full-back to injury.
Kinghorn took a bang to his knee early in the Lions’ 36-24 victory over ACT Brumbies in Canberra and attempted to play on before eventually limping off in the 25th minute.
The Scotland star, seen as a likely starter in the first Test against Australia on July 19, thumped the pitch in frustration when he first felt the injury and he is waiting to find out the extent of the damage. According to The Telegraph, he is set for a scan on the knee.
The Lions have already seen Elliot Daly forced out of the tour because of a fractured forearm and after calling up playmaker Owen Farrell as his replacement, Kinghorn and Keenan are left as the only specialist full-backs in the squad, although Marcus Smith provides cover in the position.
“Blair is in good spirits. He got a bang on the knee, he carried on for quite a bit but there was no need to keep him going,” head coach Andy Farrell said.
“He’s on the bed now, singing away. There is a bit of music there and he’s singing away as he’s being assessed, so we’ll see how he comes through that.
“It’s late, we have got an early flight in the morning and I don’t know what the medical plan is, but we will get on top of that.”
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McGeechan backs Morgan for Test start
Jac Morgan may have missed out on the British & Irish Lions’ clash with the ACT Brumbies — but that could work in his favour when it comes to Test selection.
The Wales captain was a notable absentee from Wednesday’s 36-24 win in Canberra, with Tom Curry starting at openside flanker in what many viewed as a dry run for the first Test against Australia on July 19.
Curry delivered a mixed performance before being replaced by Josh van der Flier, another contender for the No. 7 jersey. But Lions legend Sir Ian McGeechan believes Morgan is now the frontrunner to start the Test series opener.
“I think 7 is going to be an interesting choice because there’s something there that just needs to be nailed,” McGeechan told Sky Sports.
“I’d be tempted to go with Jac Morgan. He had that intensity and game involvement when he played at 7.”
McGeechan also suggested the Lions could go with a powerful blindside in Ollie Chessum to complement Morgan’s presence at the breakdown and add pressure at the line-out.
Former Lions skipper Sam Warburton, who captained both Wales and the composite side from the back row, also threw his support behind Morgan, pointing to McGeechan after his verdict and saying “Geech, my guy!” and confirming he would start him in the Test XV.
Former England fly-half Andy Goode concurred that Morgan should start at openside.
He posted on X after the match: “Jac Morgan’s stock rose from the stands today, could and should be the starting test 7 for the lions.”
Whiffin full of praise after Wales U20s’ comeback win
Wales U20s head coach Richard Whiffin praised the character of his side after they came from behind to beat Spain U20s in Verona, writes Steffan Thomas.
In the final pool match of the World Rugby U20s World Championship Wales faced the very real possibility of an embarrassing defeat as they trailed 18-14 at half-time.
But an impressive second-half comeback allowed them to claim a 35-25 victory.
“We made it hard for myself,” said Whiffin. “We knew it was going to be a tough game because they are a decent team.
“They stuck in it well and made it quite niggly. I’m pleased we got a result at the end of it. We challenged the boys a little bit around our work rate off the ball.
“We felt we were a little bit one paced on both sides of the ball.
“Our collision was down and we were losing races to the breakdown so we challenged the team to up that little bit of intensity around that area.
“We certainly saw that in the second-half and to be fair throughout the game when we kept hold of the ball through a number of phases we ended up with some good scores off the back of it.”
Whiffin had particular praise for the impact made by replacement outside-half Harri Ford along with the performance of second-row Luke Evans who saved Wales on a number of occasions by holding up players in the tackle which often resulted in turnovers.
“That’s what Fordy is all about and he made a big impact from the bench,” he said.
“He’s someone who will always execute where the space is. He’s a brave rugby player and that’s what you want.
“It’s (physicality) something we’ve been focusing on.
“Teams are always going to get some field position pressure and for us to be able to clamp that ball, hold them up and stop them getting scores is important.
“It’s important and we practise the technique around it. You’ve got to have a bit of physicality to be able to do it.”
