These are your rugby headlines on Thursday, July 25.
Thomas threat at 12
Wales international Lloyd Williams says his former Cardiff teammate Ben Thomas impressed during their tour of Australia, but could offer even more at 12.
While Gatland’s men suffered a 2-0 series loss to Australia, they improved over the course of the two Tests with their second defeat in Melbourne widely seen as their best performance of 2024 so far. Thomas, meanwhile, was one of the success stories of the tour as he impressed with his goal kicking, distribution and game management at fly-half.
Williams, who played alongside the 26-year-old at Arms Park before moving to Ealing Trailfinders, admits to being sceptical of Thomas – who also plays at centre and full-back – playing at 10 under Gatland. However, he claimed he was central to Wales’ improvement over the course of the tour. He does, though, think playing 12 could increase his impact further.
“I think Ben is a really good player, I’ve seen the best of him at 12 but I actually thought he did really well in the second Test,” he told the SportIn Wales podcast. “I thought he was the difference why Wales looked a bit better.
“I could see Ben being a real influence at 12… not to say he can’t play [at 10] because he showed that he could, but I thought you can probably see him have more of an influence on the game in other positions.
“But that is where they chose to play him and that’s that. I guess I wasn’t surprised to see him play after Gats’ comments pre-tour about how he wanted a more physical 10, which was something that I’m not sure is quite top of the priority list for outside halfs, but he decided that is the route he wanted to go down. I think Ben, out of the 10s on tour, that was the fit there.”
Williams added: “He did well in tough circumstances. As I say, the second Test – not taking away from anything he did in the first – he had a few real nice touches with the ball after a bit of a shaky start.
“Ben’s a good player, he’s played some very good stuff at 15, 12 and at 10 for Cardiff over the years and he’s just got it. But I guess probably the next step is where he can really cement that position down and make it his own and achieve things in that Wales jersey.”
Gatland is currently trialling Thomas’ Cardiff team-mate Mason Grady at 12, despite him rarely playing the role at club level, with Thomas often wearing the jersey.
Rugby team booed at Olympics
Argentina’s rugby team were booed throughout their opening sevens appearance at the Olympics amid a race row involving the national football side.
The sevens team, one of the favourites for gold in Paris, were greeted by loud jeers when they took the field against Kenya, with the tense atmosphere continuing during the game. It comes after Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez was filmed singing a racist chant after the football world campions’ Copa America triumph. In the song he stereotyped France squad members as being “all from Angola” or having a “Nigerian” mother and “Cameroonian” father, as well as making crude insults and accusations about Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe’s sexuality. Wesley Fofana, Fernandez’s French team-mate at Chelsea, described the video as “uninhibited racism”.
The Stade de France crowd certainly voiced their disapproval, which was in stark contrast to the jubilant scenes that greeted France’s opening win over the USA thanks to Antoine Dupont’s inspired performance.
France XVs’ recent rugby tour of Argentina ended under a huge cloud after French players Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou were placed under house arrest following allegations of sexual assault.
Global game set for £60 billion boost
World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin says the future World Cups in the United States could provide a game-changing economic boost for the global game.
The governing body believe that the men’s and women’s World Cups – due to be held in the States in 2033 and 2031 respectively – could bank up to $80 billion (£62 billion) in economic opportunities over the next 20 years, reports the Telegraph.
That figure is an estimate of the growth of the US rights and commercial market, with World Rugby attempting to grow the game and access the huge financial benefits on offer across the Atlantic. The body estimates that access to just one per cent of the sports rights market would double rugby’s current global economy.
As part of their efforts to expand the game in the States, Ireland and New Zealand will meet again in Chicago next summer, while England will be hosted by the USA. Those fixtures follow sold-out clashes this year between Fiji and the All Blacks in San Diego and Scotland’s meeting with the USA in Washington DC.
“As a sport that’s reliant on a small number of established markets which tend to be quite small, we need the big economies and the big populations to help ensure we have a bright and sustainable future,” Gilpin told Telegraph Sport.
“Some of the modelling we’ve done, if rugby was to command one per cent of the sports rights market in the US, which sounds like a small number but is still not easy, that would double rugby’s global economy. That is the size of the prize in terms of the amount of money being spent on sport in the US. The yield per fan – which is quite a cold, business-like way of looking at it – is much higher in the US across sport than in Europe or other parts of the world.”
He added: “Lots of investment and partnership is needed, not just with US Rugby and Major League Rugby but with investors and major stakeholders. Part of that is taking a long-term view
“Hopefully 2031 and 2033 are just staging posts on a 20-year journey for rugby to be a really established sport in the US. There is a lot of rugby already played in the US, great high-school and college pathways, it’s how do we bring those more aligned.”
Evans moves on from Dragons
Tighthead prop Nathan Evans has joined Newport RFC on a permanent deal after being released by the Dragons.
The 22-year-old played for the Black and Ambers last season while with the Dragons academy, making 29 appearances and starting in the Premiership final.
With his professional debut coming against Munster in November, he was released by the Rodney Parade outfit at the end of last season, the South Wales Argus reports.
A former Wales U20s international, Evans will now compete with Garin Harris and Ollie Drake for the starting tighthead position ahead of the inaugural Super Rygbi season.
Confirming the signing, the club said: “Croeso ‘Nol Nathan. A familiar face already to the B&A Wall having made 29 appearances for the club on permit from the Dragons. We’re delighted that Nathan Evans joins us on a permanent basis.”
Van der Merwe eyes record
By Anthony Brown, PA
Duhan van der Merwe will have the chance to become Scotland’s all-time record try-scorer on Saturday after being restored to the starting XV as one of 13 changes for the fourth and final game of their Americas tour against Uruguay.
The Edinburgh wing moved level with Stuart Hogg on 27 international tries in the victory over USA in Washington earlier this month and, after being rested against Chile last weekend, he returns in Montevideo to form part of a back three also featuring club-mate Harry Paterson and Kyle Rowe.
Stand-off Ben Healy and Rowe, the Glasgow back who switches from full-back to the wing, are the only two players to retain their places in the side that started the 52-11 win in Santiago.
Gregor Townsend’s 23 is made up entirely of Scottish-based players as the match takes place out of the official Test window. Rory Darge returns to captain the side and will be part of a back-row also comprising Luke Crosbie and Matt Fagerson at number eight.
Centre Huw Jones, who will win his 50th cap, and Ewan Ashman will share vice-captain duties, with Max Williamson set to win his fourth cap when he lines up in the second row alongside Glasgow team-mate Scott Cummings.
The bench – with a 5/3 split – includes the experienced quartet of Pierre Schoeman, Jamie Ritchie, Adam Hastings and Kyle Steyn. The Scots are bidding to complete their tour with a clean sweep of victories after wide-margin wins over Canada, USA and Chile.
Scotland: H Paterson, K Rowe, H Jones, S McDowall, D Van Der Merwe, B Healy, G Horne; R Sutherland, E Ashman, J Sebastian, M Williamson, S Cummings, L Crosbie, R Darge (c), M Fagerson.
Replacements: P Harrison, P Schoeman, M Walker, G Brown, J Ritchie, J Dobie, A Hastings, K Steyn.