Wales women vs England

Posted on Mar 13, 2013

Wales Women have made six changes to the side to face England in the final game of the RBS 6 Nations championship on Sunday at the Talbot Athletic Ground (KO 2.30pm).

Amy Day replaces Laura Prosser at scrum half while Charlie Murray makes her first start of the campaign after impressing as a replacement in Sunday’s win away to Scotland where she scored a second half try. Philippa Tuttiett makes way for her on the wing.

The pack has been boosted with 157 caps with the introduction of prop Jenny Davies, hooker Lowri Harries, second row Gemma Hallett and back row Catrina Nicholas. Megan York, Carys Phillips, Vicky Owens and Nia Davies all move down to the replacements bench.

Wales Women’s head coach Rhys Edwards has no qualms about making so many changes against a strong England side.

“Charlie had her first opportunity against Scotland and looked dangerous every time she got her hands on the ball," he said. "She took her try really well while Amy also did well when she got her chance.

“In the forwards all the players who are coming in for the England game made an impact when they came on against Scotland. They steadied the ship in what was a tough game in demanding conditions. We can’t afford to start slowly against England so I think their experience will prove invaluable.”

Wales’ win against Scotland last Sunday has edged them in front of Italy for the last spot up for grabs in the race for automatic qualification for next year’s World Cup.

“Italy still have an outside chance of overturning that but they would have to beat Ireland this weekend and we would have to concede an avalanche of points against England,” said Edwards.

“But our mind-set is to go out and beat England. We played well against Ireland in our first game at Talbot Athletic Ground to lose by only two points. The following week they then beat England by 25-0. We’ve just to go for it.”

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Second place Scarlets to secure their status

Posted on Oct 26, 2012

Second-placed Scarlets turn their attention back to the RaboDirect PRO12 on Friday night with a crucial game in Murrayfield to help secure their position at the top of the league.

Keen to put the disappointment of their last two weekends in the Heineken Cup firmly behind them, the Scarlets travel to Edinburgh intent on backing up their strong start to their Celtic campaign.

A good result away from home in Scotland followed by Italians Zebre at Parc y Scarlets next weekend would keep the Scarlets in the race for the top four play-off spots – as well as being a positive send-off to their 12 Scarlets internationals who join Wales at the weekend.

And the West Wales side will be looking to some fresh faces in their starting line-up to take their opportunities well, as an intense and brutally physical few weeks on the field has taken its toll on the Scarlets’ injury list.

A total of 14 players from the Scarlets squad are unavailable for selection for Edinburgh. The region is also still awaiting the arrival of their South African Prop Jacobie Adriaanse, who is expected to arrive at Parc y Scarlets on November 1st having completed his Currie Cup campaign with former South African Super side, Lions.

Centres Jonathan Davies and Gareth Maule are both unavailable, so Nick Reynolds comes into the centre alongside Wales international Scott Williams. Argentinian international Tomás Vallejos gets his first start in a Scarlets jersey and Aled Thomas is handed the pivotal role at outside half with Rhys Priestland on the bench.  New signing from the Ospreys Gareth Owen, who has returned from injury, gets his first opportunity for the Scarlets on the bench.

Edinburgh Rugby have now lost five successive matches in all competitions, whilst their only win at Murrayfield this season came against Zebre on 14 September. The Welshmen have already won in Scotland this season: 18-13 at Glasgow on 7 September. Each team won its respective home game when the two sides met last season, whilst Scarlets’ only win at Murrayfield in nine visits so far came on 8 January 2011.

Simon Easterby Head Coach of the Scarlets said:  “This is an important game for us and with a limited turnaround this week, our focus has been on our game and getting some of the execution and decision-making issues we faced last weekend put right.  We will be better at the things in our control and put pressure on Edinburgh.

“We just can’t let the last two results affect the strong start we’ve made in the league and for us the negatives from those two fixtures are a motivating factor for us to kick-on now.

“It’s certainly not doom and gloom, we have plenty of positives to focus on – our execution could have been better last weekend but that’s also partly about playing one of the best sides in the Europe for the last three years.

“The players are all very focused on this game of us and have an opportunity to go to Edinburgh and back up the hard work and commitment we’ve already given to our league campaign.

“There is a realisation for everyone that we played against the European champions and semi finalists over the past fortnight and for 40 minutes in both those games we competed well against Clermont and Leinster.

“We have been slightly handicapped by not being fully loaded in terms of our squad earlier this season which has affected our preparations for these two rounds.”

Easterby says that his team are fully aware that Edinburgh will want to turn their fortunes around starting with a home win on Friday night.

He said:  “Edinburgh will see every game now as an opportunity to turn around and it will be no different against us; we’ve had couple of good results up there in the last couple of years after a few years of not traveling well in Scotland.”

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Horgan stays with Neath

Posted on Oct 12, 2012

Neath RFC have confirmed that despite speculation, Patrick Horgan will be staying at The Gnoll as head coach.

A clear way forward has been established to progress matters which are crucial to the future of the club, and Horgan will be in charge of preparations and accompany the team to Scotland for Saturday’s British and Irish Cup tie at Stirling County.

Neither club nor coach will be making further comment on this matter.

Saturday’s match is the first of six for the Blacks in this four-team group where the winners qualify for the quarter finals later in the season.

Welsh rivals Bedwas are in the same group and the two sides clash at The Gnoll on Saturday 20th October, while English Championship side Bedford Blues complete the numbers.

Horgan said: “This is the chance for us to kick-start our season. We want to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible.

“The British and Irish Cup is a special competition for us. It’s the biggest competition that some of these boys have ever played in. We don’t take any games lightly and it’ll be a tough challenge up there. We’re all looking forward to it.”

Neath RFC assistant coach Leigh Davies adds: “It’s a fresh challenge and it will give us a different environment from the Welsh leagues – different style of play, different referees, different interpretations. It’ll be a good exercise for us as a group to go away and be in each other’s company. We didn’t have a great pre-season together so this will be a bit of a bonding exercise where we go away, play a team we don’t know and enjoy each other’s company.

“I’m pleased to hear that a number of fans are flying up to Scotland with us. Born in Neath, I know how faithful the Neath crowd is. They’ve all travelled well this season supporting the boys. Hopefully we can give them something to cheer about up there.”

Ian Evans disciplinary hearing

Posted on Sep 6, 2012

Ian Evans, the Ospreys lock forward, appeared today before an independent RaboDirect PRO12 Disciplinary Committee in Edinburgh, having been sent off by the referee in the match against Benetton Treviso last Friday after receiving two yellow cards in the first half of the match.

The Disciplinary Committee, chaired by John Kirk (Scotland), along with Paul Minto (Scotland) and Dr Barry O’Driscoll (Ireland), having looked at the incidents and listened to the player’s explanations, considered that the sending off was not a sufficient sanction in itself but, rather than issue a suspension, formally reprimanded Ian Evans for the second incident, a dangerous tackle, and warned him as to his future conduct.

Scarlets Team Announcement v Glasgow Warriors

Posted on Sep 6, 2012

The Scarlets travel to the home of Glasgow Warriors on Friday evening (kick off 1935) for the first-ever RaboDirect PRO12 fixture in the new Scotstoun Stadium.

With the two teams neck and neck over their last six encounters with three wins a piece, there will be plenty at stake in the second round of the league competition with the Scarlets eager to back up their win at home at the weekend with one on the road.

The Scarlets know they have to improve on their away records in Scotland and after a convincing win at home against Leinster last weekend, there are just two changes to 23 that travel to Glasgow this weekend.

Welsh international first choice Rhys Priestland starts at outside half with a strong back-line ready to fire again as Jon Davies and Scott Williams pair in the centre partnership with last weekend try scorers Andy Fenby and George North on the two wings and Tavis Knoyle at scrum-half.

Up front captain no8 Rob McCusker leads his side alongside Johnathan Edwards and Aaron Shingler in the back row, the second row remains unchanged from last weekend with Richard Kelly and new signing George Earle; Matthew Rees comes in at hooker with Rhodri Jones and Deacon Manu in the front row.

Glasgow Warriors tripped up 10-18 at Ulster in round one of the RaboDirect PRO12. The Warriors lost their opening two games of the 2011/12 season but just one of their last nine matches against the Welsh regions.

The Scarlets defeated Leinster 45-20 at Parc y Scarlets last Saturday and are now unbeaten in their last four PRO12 encounters. Scarlets have lost on their last two visits to Scotland. Both clashes between the two sides last season were won by the home side on the day, whilst Scarlets have won just once in Glasgow on their last seven visits.

Scarlets team v Glasgow Warriors Friday 7th September 2012, Scotstoun Stadium kick off 1935: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Andy Fenby 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 1 Rhodri Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Deacon Manu, 4 George Earle, 5 Richard Kelly, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Johnathan Edwards, 8 Rob McCusker (capt)

Replacements: Ken Owens, Phil John, Peter Edwards, Sione Timani, Kieran Murphy, Gareth Davies, Aled Thomas, Adam Warren.

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