Here are the latest rugby morning headlines on Sunday, September 12.
Halfpenny’s Wales season wiped out
Wales will be without Leigh Halfpenny for the entire international season, according to reports.
The Rugby Paper say Halfpenny is not expected to play again until after the Six Nations, meaning the full-back will be unavailable for Wales’ nine matches over the autumn and Six Nations.
Halfpenny suffered a horror knee ligament injury in the opening minutes of his 100th Test against Canada two months ago and is targeting an April return.
He turns 33 this year but still has strong international and club ambitions.
Fellow Wales injury victims George North and Justin Tipuric are both said to be targeting returns around Christmas.
Greatest Lions XV leaves out Alun Wyn
Six Welshmen have been chosen in a greatest-ever Lions XV that’s based significantly around nine players who featured on the triumphant tours in 1971 and 1974 tours.
There are also some huge omissions from the line-up picked on the Planet Rugby website, among them Gerald Davies, Alun Wyn Jones, Scott Gibbs, Phil Bennett and Sam Warburton.
The Welsh players who feature are JPR Williams, JJ Williams, Barry John, Gareth Edwards, Graham Price and Mervyn Davies.
JJ, scorer of 22 tries from 26 Lions games in 1974 and 1977, claims the the left-wing spot ahead of Jason Robinson, David Duckham and Rory Underwood. His performances in the Tests in South Africa on the first of those tours helped the Lions win a series in the republic for the first time since 1896.
Planet Rugby says: “Although the mercurial Robinson pushes him very close, the five Test tries scored by Welsh whippet, JJ Williams , means he simply has to be our Lions left wing.”
Barry John shades Phil Bennett for the No. 10 position.
Benny excelled in South Africa in ’74, playing career-best rugby, but John had starred in New Zealand three years earlier, when the Lions posted a historic series success.
“This one boils down to which of two Welshmen was the greatest?” says James While, who did the picking.
“It’s an age old argument and one that divides Wales itself; Benny or Barry, and the answer has never been clear.
“However, in a Lions context, only one pivot has ever orchestrated a series win in New Zealand and for that reason, our Lions greatest fly-half is ‘The King’ — Barry John.”
Irish legend Tony O’Reilly keeps Gerald Davies out of the No. 14 shirt, with Mike Gibson picked at inside centre ahead of Gibbs. Up front, Willie John McBride and Gordon Brown feature at lock ahead of the likes of Alun Wyn Jones and Martin Johnson.
Naming Mervyn Davies at No. 8 in front of Dean Richards, Alun Pask and Jim Telfer, the website says: “Whilst we have four wonderful players who could all grace our greatest Lions number eight shirt with ease, Mervyn Davies’ reputation and record speaks for itself and he completes our team.”
Planet Rugby’s greatest Lions XV: JPR Williams; Tony O’Reilly, Jeremy Guscott, Mike Gibson, JJ Williams; Barry John, Gareth Edwards; Ian Maclauchlan, Keith Wood, Graham Price, Willie John McBride, Gordon Brown, Mike Teague, Richard Hill and Mervyn Davies.
Blow for Jones and Howley
Welsh coaches Kingsley Jones and Rob Howley suffered Rugby World Cup disappointment as their Canada team went down to the USA.
The Eagles won 38-16 on Saturday to advance to the next phase in World Cup qualifying.
The top two teams in North American rugby collided in a second leg to determine who would progress, with the Canucks having emerged 34-21 winners in the first leg.
But the Eagles sealed a sufficiently convincing win in Glendale, Colorado, to win 59-50 on aggregate and secure their spot as North America 1 in qualifying.
The United States and Uruguay will now compete to advance to France as Americas 1, although Canada’s chances of making it to the big stage in two years are far from over.
They now go into into the fourth round of Americas qualifying, where they’ll face Chile in a home-and-away series of their own on October 2 and 9.
The winner of that two-legged clash will advance to face whoever loses between the United States and Uruguay next July, a showdown that will decide who qualifies as Americas 2.
Defeat in that fixture still won’t mean the end of their World Cup dream, however, as the loser has one more opportunity to book their place in a play-off tournament to be held in November 2022.
Canada have featured in every edition of the Rugby World Cup to date.
Saracens favourites to win title
Even after a season spent in the Championship, Saracens have been installed as favourites to win the Gallagher Premiership title.
Having served their time for repeatedly breaching salary cap regulations, the fallen champions are back in the top flight after making light work of the second tier of English rugby.
Ealing Trailfinders, the Championship’s heavyweights, were swatted aside with ease in the two-leg play-off final and bookmakers fully expect Saracens to topple their Premiership rivals too.
A glance through their squad explains why they are being positioned as favourites to seize the crown won by Harlequins in such dazzling style last season.
Despite the fallout from the salary cap crisis, they managed to retain their influential England contingent, with Mako and Billy Vunipola, Jamie George, Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly agreeing to stay despite the prospect of a season outside the Premiership.
And they were equally successful at keeping the next tier of players, with Ben Earl, Max Malins, Nick Tompkins, Alex Goode, Alex Lozowski and Nick Isiekwe departing on loan but now back at the StoneX Stadium en masse.
For the latest rugby news, interviews and analysis sent straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our Welsh rugby newsletter.
Read More
Related Articles
Read More
Related Articles
