The latest rugby news from Wales and around the world
These are your morning headlines on Friday, June 20
Lions shirts to bear names
The British & Irish Lions will wear names on the backs of their shirts for the first time against Argentina this evening. Andy Farrell’s side take on the Pumas in a warm-up match in Dublin tonight in preparation for their three-Test tour of Australia. And for the first-ever time, the touring side will enter the field with the players’ names on their jerseys.
This practice has been commonplace in football for the best part of three decades but in rugby it is a relatively new thing. The 2024 edition of the Six Nations saw each union have names on shirts.
It is understood the name will be placed above the number on the back of the jersey. The new development is being viewed as a positive to help market the game to the global masses. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said in 2022 of England’s move to do it: “We think player names on shirts may have the potential to bring fans closer to the international stars of our game and we look forward to seeing the reaction to this initiative.”
Schmidt takes swipe
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt has aimed a swipe at the Lions’ foreign-born stars, labelling Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu the “southern hemisphere centre partnership”.
The Lions have already hit back at Schmidt’s comments, with Richard Wigglesworth, the Lions assistant coach, believing the comment to be a distraction method.
Schmidt actually handed Aki his Ireland debut and was generally complimentary, but first said: “Yeah, the southern hemisphere centre partnership, they’ll be pretty formidable.”
He added: “I coached Bundee for a number of years and know him really well. I respect him massively as a player. Sione I’ve had glancing conversations with. You don’t get to be captain of a national team without being a great bloke and really professional.”
Wigglesworth responded: “I think it’s [been said] just to get guys like you to ask a question and to take us away from the thing that is a hell of a lot more important.
“I don’t know if they are questioning their commitment. Everyone has earned the right to pull on the Lions jersey. They are, to a man, incredibly proud to be here and we’ve not talked about anything around your background or how you have got here, it is what sort of player you are and what sort of man you are, and we have got great men and great players.”
Wood: Give Lions players next summer off
Ireland legend Keith Wood believes players who tour with the Lions should be given the following summer off to avoid burnout.
The rugby schedule is becoming increasing congested, with seasons crammed in around international windows and tournaments.
Wood is well placed to comment on the potential risks to players, having toured with the Lions in 1997 and 2001. And he feels player welfare should be brought into consideration.
He said: “The Lions could be the last bastion for some of the original Corinthian values of the sport and I don’t think that is overplaying it.
“The Lions should never be marginalised into a smaller window and I am a big proponent of player welfare and players are playing for far too long in the season and far too much rugby is going on and the level of hits are so much bigger.
“I am in awe of some of the fitness levels of the players and I am happy enough for the Lions to always be in a four-year window but I wish the following year they would have no summer tour for the players that go on it.
“They need a summer off in a four-year cycle and we want these players to play on and on because they are that good. I had two tours a year after my Lions tours and they were extraordinarily difficult.
“What the Lions takes out of you needs some time to put back in and what it takes out of you is this huge mental and physical toll that you have to go through to understand how everyone else plays in about four weeks. It’s incredibly intense and worth every single bit of it.
“A Lions tour that succeeds tends to put everything that makes you good as a player and as a team out on the table for everyone else to see. All your strengths and weaknesses and that is one of the hardest things you can do.
“On a Lions tour, it doesn’t guarantee success but by God does it go a long way to loving those guys you are with. I lose it when I see the guys from 97 – these are guys we put our bodies on the block together and it was that honesty that goes into it.
“My dad played for the Lions in 1959 and I grew up in Lions house and I love it for what the players are going to experience (in Australia) and it is one of the pinnacles you can have in your career and all you want is that they embrace it with that level of honesty and they can see every bit of it and that is pretty magic.”
Borthwick wants ‘as many England players as possible’ with Lions
By Robert O’Connor, PA
England head coach Steve Borthwick wants “as many England players as possible” involved with the Lions as he prepares an unfamiliar line-up to face France at Twickenham on Saturday.
There are five uncapped names in an experimental England squad that was announced on Thursday, three of whom are set to start the match, with 14 players currently in Dublin with Andy Farrell’s side for Friday’s game against Argentina following Jack van Poortvliet’s call-up this week.
Amongst those playing from the start in west London will be Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson, selected after an impressive year in what was only a second professional season at Kingsholm for the 23-year-old, during which he ranked top in carries, tackles, and passes amongst centres in the Premiership.
With this summer’s tour of Argentina and the United States overlapping with the Lions’ time in Australia, Borthwick is looking forward to experimenting with his side beyond Saturday’s non-cap international.
“We’ve spoken very publicly, we want as many England players in that Lions squad as possible,” he said. “JVP is over there at the minute with them. There might be situations where other England players join that squad and we’ll be delighted for our players to do that.
“It creates opportunities for others in the England squad. What I’m seeing so far this week is players grabbing that opportunity.
“Seb Atkinson, starting at 12 this week, the way he has embraced training, the way he’s jumped into it. He’s smashed every record we have on GPS in terms of his running.
“We have a group of players – Sladey (Henry Slade), Tommy Freeman, Freddie Steward – Seb has come in and put himself right in that mix or even just above that. When that happens, you’re raising the standard of everybody.”
Also set to start on Saturday is Bath flanker Guy Pepper fresh from a starring role in Saturday’s Premiership final win over Leicester.
The 22-year-old, who was awarded man of the match as Bath ended a 29-year wait for the title, was called up to train with the team during the 2024 Six Nations having made an impression on Borthwick during his time at Newcastle.
“You’ve seen enormous growth in Guy,” he said. “The first time I met Guy was about 18 months ago at a hotel in Newcastle airport. I had a coffee with Guy and watched his game the next day.
“He hurt his hip and had to leave the field after about 30 minutes but in that 30 minutes he played so well. I thought then this is a player that’s got a future in the England team.
“Since then his game has grown and grown. You saw his performance Saturday in the Premiership final, he’s been tremendous. I’m looking forward to seeing him at this level.”
Borthwick pointed to the emergence of Tom Curry for England in 2017 when the Lions were touring as reason why Saturday’s non-cap match should be respected.
“The way change happens is, when opportunity comes along, somebody grabs it,” said Borthwick. “The players understand that.
“The number of players in 2017 who emerged on that tour that summer who played such significant roles in a team that went to the World Cup final a few years later in 2019, the likes of Sam Underhill, Tom Curry, Mark Wilson emerged on that tour.
“That’s the opportunity that presents itself this summer.”
