The latest headlines from Wales and around the world
These are your evening rugby headlines on Monday, July 28.
Bombshell details emerge of major changes to global rugby
Bombshell new details have emerged over the proposed major changes to the current global rugby order, with a breakaway league reportedly attracting the interest of Liverpool and Manchester United’s owners as it promises million-dollar salaries to some of the game’s biggest stars.
Plans for the proposed new rebel league R360 – which is being driven by former England star Mike Tindall – are rapidly gaining momentum, according to Mail Sport, and it is primed to begin in just over a year.
The publication reports that Fenway Sports Group – who also own the Boston Red Sox and other sports franchises as well as Premier League champions Liverpool – are interested in becoming franchise owners in the proposed league, as well as the Glazer family, who own more than 70 per cent of United. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby
Red Bull are also interested in acquiring a franchise, with league organisers now understood to have secured backing for the proposed eight new men’s teams, with each costing around £15 million.
With such huge external investment already secured, it is believed that contracts worth up to around $1 million (£740,000) per season are being offered to some of the game’s biggest stars.
Tindall – who is backed by a team of 30 people working to get the league up and running – is hoping to create ‘generational change’ for rugby, with the first season currently slated to run between September and December next year, with just eight games to be played in total.
Plans are reportedly also in the works for a second and third season that would see a maximum of 16 games played per campaign, in a dramatic reduction from the current demands placed on players at club level. Mail Sport also reports that R360 plan to give players 12 weeks off every year.
Players are said to be “queuing up” to join the breakaway league, with at least 10 members of England’s matchday squad for their Six Nations clash with Wales in Cardiff earlier this year agreeing in principle to join, according to the Mail.
Due to current RFU rules, if those players were to join R360, they would have to give up their Test careers in the process, as only Premiership players are eligible for Test selection. However, it is believed that the rebel league is keen for it to work alongside the international game, while the money and opportunities on offer may well tempt players to give up their Test ambitions.
The other big details to emerge around the proposed new league include each franchise eventually having squads of 35 players each and being based in London, Tokyo, Dubai, Cape Town, Boston and Miami, as well as two other venues that are yet to be decided.
It is planned for games to be played in different locations around the world, like in Formula One, while matches will also be screened on free-to-air TV initially.
A player draft will also be held to determine who plays for which team, while there are also plans for four women’s sides to be created further down the line.
Wallabies call up ex-All Black for third Test
Australia have called up former New Zealand prop Aidan Ross ahead of the third Test against the British and Irish Lions in Sydney this weekend.
Joe Schmidt’s side head into the final match of the series looking to avoid a 3-0 whitewash, having watched their commanding 18-point lead fall away against Andy Farrell’s side in Melbourne in the second Test.
Ahead of the game, they have called in Ross to bolster the front row, with the 29-year-old already familiar with Farrell’s men having faced them twice already this summer.
After turning out for the Queensland Reds in their 12-52 defeat at the start of the month, he took on the Lions again as part of an invitational Australia and New Zealand side that lost heavily in a 48-0 thumping by the tourists.
Ross previously played for New Zealand in two Test defeats to Ireland in 2022, but was born in Australia and now qualifies to play for Schmidt’s side following his three-year stand down period.
The news comes just a month after the loosehead said he had not spoken to Schmidt about a potential call-up to the Wallabies squad.
“It’d be awesome,” Ross said last month. “I was born here and I’ve got plans … to set up a life here with my family post-rugby.
“There’s been no chat there (with Schmidt), no comms. I’ve just been doing my thing and if the opportunity arises then so be it – she’d be a pretty full-on month.”
In other news from the Australia camp, wing Harry Potter has been ruled out of the third Test after straining his hamstring during the defeat in Melbourne.
Jones: I was on emotional rollercoaster
By Duncan Bech, PA
Huw Jones admitted he had been riding an emotional rollercoaster, culminating in the British and Irish Lions clinching a series victory over Australia.
Andy Farrell’s men have returned to Sydney intent on becoming the first Lions team to complete a Test whitewash since the 1927 visit to Argentina – an aspiration made possible by Saturday’s gripping 29-26 triumph in Melbourne.
Jones was destined to miss one of the greatest matches in the tourists’ storied history after initially being left out of the starting XV, despite having impressed in the Suncorp Stadium opener.
But having been dropped for Garry Ringrose, he was reinstated at outside centre when the Ireland star self-reported a return of the concussion symptoms that had forced him to miss the first Test.
“It was a pretty mental week. I had the initial disappointment of not being in the squad on the Tuesday,” Jones said. “I had a chat with Andy and I was gutted. I got over that and was ready to get behind the boys.
“And then on Thursday we trained and Garry – to be fair to him – said his head just wasn’t right. I think he may have got a knock in the session and went to the doctor.
“That’s brave. And pulling yourself out as well. It was at the end of training, I had no idea that he was struggling, I chatted to Garry afterwards and he was emotional. Its one of those….you think ‘I’ll be all right’ but if it’s bad, it’s bad.
“But like people have said, it’s just a game. Your head’s very important, you only get one brain and all that. If he felt the need to say that he was struggling, then fair play to him. I just hope that he gets over it very quickly.
“I was gutted for him because he deserved to play and I know he would have been unbelievable. Sometimes that’s rugby and that’s sport. So I got a nod after that session. I was ready to step in and luckily I’d run some of the plays on Tuesday, so I was ready to go and got the job done.”
Jones played a key part in the Lions’ comeback from 18 points down after showing his strength to power over just before half-time, but it was Hugo Keenan’s dashing finish with 51 seconds left that ignited the celebrations. Remarkably, Keenan’s try was the first time the Lions had led in the second Test.
“What a game. Unbelievable. We made it hard for ourselves, ill-discipline and all that, but came back at the end and Hugo….what a finish. It was a good feeling,” Jones said.
“It’s a cliche, but we never stopped believing, even at half-time. Even if we’d been further down, we still had the belief that we’d go on and win.”
Farrell has given his squad two days off to celebrate Saturday’s achievement with the players being joined by their friends and family. They resume training on Tuesday when the Lions will begin plotting the downfall of the Wallabies for a third-successive weekend. Farrell is scheduled to name his starting XV and bench on Thursday.
