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The last-minute try of Rhys Patchell gave the Scarlets a win of 33-26 in their game of pre-season at Bristol.

At the half time Scarlets had trailed 26-12, but beckoned a senior players batch from the bench and then they scored three tries with the help of the Ryan Elias hooker, Steff Evans wing and Patchell fly-half.

Samson Lee Prop came on as well to prove his fitness after recovering from the knee injury, which made him to miss the summer tour of Wales.

The hat-trick of Aled Summerhill saw Cardiff Blues claim a victory of 34-23 at their friendly London Scottish.

During the first half of the match, the wing scored two times, and Kirby Myhill and Harri Millard also crossed to help Blues take the lead to 24-11 at the break.

Summerhill and Macauley Cook went over in the second period
Jack Roberts, who was playing at the Centre, and signed from Leicester Tigers along with flanker Jim Botham, made their debuts in Blues.

On the other hand, the Dragons lost 50-24 against Exeter who is the champions Aviva Premiership at Sandy Park.

In spite of two center’s first-half tries Adam Warren, Exeter led the match with 21-14 at half-time. And they even pulled away the match after the restart, even though Adam Hughes wing added a third try.

On Sunday, Ospreys lost from bath with the score 14-28 at the Liberty Stadium.
Joe Thomas playing at the Centers and Owen Watkin in the second half crossed for the home side, with James Hook converted both tries.

Luke Charteris and Rhys Priestland (Welsh internationals) began the match for the visitors; however, Sam Underhill the former Ospreys flanker missed the fixture through injury for his new team.

More information can be collected online about the Wasps performance.

On Friday, 23 June, Wales will go all out against Samoa in Apia.

Rory Thornton who features in lock position for Ospreys is eager to win his first cap and feature in his first match for the Wales Rugby Team.

During the 2017 Six Nations, Thornton was never featured with the other squad members as well as back in 2016 at the autumn internationals.

The 22 year old noted that the journey so far has been a process of building himself up and training hard and he was ecstatic when his name was called out on the team sheet.
“It’s been building as I’ve been in a few camps now, but to finally get my name called out on that team sheet was an awesome feeling,” he said.

“I’ve been champing at the bit these last few camps, training hard.” the Ospreys lock added.

He would be replacing Cory Hill, who was called up to join the British and Lions squad after Wales thrashed Tonga in a 24-6 victory.

Warming the bench are two other uncapped players just like Thornton- lock Adam Beard and scrum half Tomos Williams.

The 2016-17 season had him appearing 25 times for his club side. However, he hopes that his transition to the international setting would be a big one.

He who spoke to BBC Wales Sport further went on to talk about his time so far at Ospreys and the experiences he has gathered especially with his involvement in the Pro12 and the [European] Challenge Cup.

The former Wales under-20 captain is not belittling the Samoan team whom he believes are much more experienced unlike his team which features a largely inexperienced squad. Between themselves, the forwards of the Wales squad have won just 31 caps.

Rugby has a wheelchair version as well, which has its own series of tournaments and even a World Cup event.

This year the Wheelchair World Cup would be hosted in France. The Wales Rugby League has its own team for this disability sports league based out of Deeside. This team is looking for sponsors in order to participate in the World Cup event that will be held in France. It will take place between July 18th and 28th. The venues are several located in southern France for the participating teams.

However the Wales teams need money and funds. There have been fund cuts due to which Wales Rugby League as well as a Disability Sports Wales organization might be in a rut to support the team based out of the Deeside Leisure Center. Or else it looks as if the players would need to fund their travel across the channel to take part in the World Cup. The competition will have six nations participating and players would need to have their travel and accommodation expenses covered for about a week if they reach the finals. Wales had come third in the 2013 World Cup after they beat Australia.

This was a major accomplishment as no team from Wales has even been able to beat the Australians at rugby before. This having taken place in an international league definitely points to the potentials of the team. The disability team from Wales will be defending their trophy in Scotland on 29th April where again the staff members and players would have to pay for their own expenses. The team is delighted to have been confirmed by their entry in the World Cup for which training and preparations will commence in May and June. Open training camps will also be held to add more potential talents to the team.

Luke Charteris, one of the players who feature for the Wales Rugby Team on the international level as a lock has reiterated that it takes more than just being big and brawny to go far in Rugby.

The 33-year old believes that skill and speed, would trump over big and brawny anytime, any day. In 2015, statistics gathered from the game against Ireland in the Six Nations tournament, showed that Luke had made about 37 tackles in that particular game.

This is 10 tackles more than any other player so far in a single game since the history of the Six Nations. Looking back to the period, Luke talks about the game and how he was relieved when the final whistle was blown.

“All I remember is being relieved the game was over,” he said.

He also notes that his position as a lock has never been that easy, and that the belief that every player featuring in that position should be sculpted to look likes a slab of granite is inappropriate.

“Guys in the past didn’t have time to do the training that we do now, so there has been a big leap. But there’s only so far it can go – it will start to plateau. Everybody who plays the game now is an athlete. Skilful and speedy is going to beat big and brawny every time,” he also mentioned.

He also sees himself as being quite privileged to play along some of the finest rugby players in the world. For him, he sees Paul O’Connell as a childhood inspiration.
Concluding, Charteris talked about how little things separate some players from the others.

“It is the little things that separate the truly exceptional players from the very good ones. He relentlessly pushes himself and everyone around him,” he added on an endnote.

“An upward curve” was the best phrase Jonathan Davies, Centre for Wales could find to describe the performance of his Wales Rugby team during the autumn international series.

Wales’ last game played against the Springboks where they demolished their counterparts 27-13, was the third victory they have so far had over their counterparts in about 110 years. Earlier wins against Argentina and Japan had also helped Wales secure a 75 per cent success-rate in the autumn international series.

This autumn is Wales’ best since 2012, as they ended their November schedule with an unbeaten run that featured 3 games.

Despite criticisms about Wales’s style of play for some part of the November schedule, they are in high spirits and momentum readying themselves for the RBS 6 Nations Championship this season.

“I think it has been an upward curve,” Wales centre Davies said.
“We have always said that traditionally we get better as a team when we stay together longer, and I think it showed.

“There has been a lot of criticism over the way we’ve played. In parts (against South Africa) we showed we could silence those critics.

“Whatever they think, it is their own opinion obviously, but we have beaten South Africa, and that’s the most important thing.

Davies also talked about the South African Rugby team, calling them a Rugby Championship team, and one of the best teams so far since a few years back. However, he was also confident that his team can beat any other team they face, no matter what form they appear.

He went further to note that his team had beaten South Africa twice, once recently, and the other about 2 years ago.

With a wonderful end to the autumn international series, Rob Howley, Wales interim head coach believes that his players can now go home and enjoy Christmas.

An Englishman has been added to the coaching staff of the Wales international rugby team.

The new backs coach for the team is Matt Sherratt and he is currently the coach of the Blues team. Matt will be combining his job with Wales with what he does at the Arms Park. Wales feel that Sherratt’s tactics will work wonders for the team as they are getting ready for the autumn internationals of this season.

There was a vacancy for the backs coach in the Wales team after head coach of Wales Warren Gatland moved on to the Lions. This meant that Rob Howley had to fill his shoes and thereby Matt was picked as the backs coach for the team. He had joined the Blues team from Bristol only this summer. Danny Wilson and Matt worked together in Bristol and he always wanted to have Matt as a coach for the Wales team.

Sherratt also had an impressive start as the head coach of the Blues as the team won all their three opening matches of Guinness Pro12. This could have prompted the Wales Rugby Union management to bring him to this country. Sherratt said that he is very happy to join the Wales coaching team and is looking forward to working with the coaching staff and the management along with the Wales squad for the forthcoming international campaign.

He thanked the Wales rugby management for allowing him to show his prowess for the team. He is looking forward to this autumn season and believes that this experience of coaching at the highest level will benefit him as well as the Blues team.
The head coach of Wales team Howley is happy with the inclusion of Sherratt to the coaching team. He said that Matt is quite young, but has a lot of experience and he is sure to be an asset for the Wales coaching team.

With the second Test coming up this weekend against New Zealand, Wales’s team is making certain changes.

For instance, Rhys Patchell and Luke Charteris are being brought in to replace North and Davies. The changes are being made by Warren Gatland in preparation to face the All Blacks team in Wellington. The defeat match that was played by the Welsh team on Tuesday saw Luke Charteris in action. Indeed, all the players had a humbling experience in the Tuesday’s match.

Two changes were made by Warren Gatland. He has made the decision for the changes to fortify his team as they prepare themselves to meet the All Blacks team in the second Test on Saturday in Wellington. Liam Williams, the full back player for the team, is being moved to the wing. He is considered one of the star players of the team. The first Test that was played in Auckland last weekend ended in a defeat for the team. Williams will be taking over the position of George North who is injured. Luke Charteris would be in the second row to replace Bradley Davies. The latter will be moving to the bench.

There has been several line outs lost at Eden Park. For that reason Gatland is getting Charteris back so that the problem can be solved. The match that was arranged by Gatland with the Chiefs resulted in a humiliating finish for the team. However, Gatland remains undeterred and he is pushing his players to keep their eyes on the ground and to play with confidence. He feels that the team is able to retain the ball. There were moments in the first test when the team played well. He feels that the same performance needs to be repeated in the second Test for the team to taste success.

You might be looking forward to knowing when the tour of the Wales rugby team begins.

For the fans and the followers it is important to know when the matches would be held so that they can time their daily schedule around the same. The summer matches are coming up in New Zealand and here are updates on the different fixtures of the same.

Warren Gatland has the honor of announcing the squad he would be taking with him to the tour. It would be a Test match in rugby and hence, choosing the players who would clash with the world champions in New Zealand would be tough. There would be three Test series held in the next month. The winners would be eligible for the Webb Ellis Trophy. There would also be a warm up game among the six nations grand slam winner. It would be held at Twickenham. There would be a match with the rugby leaders at Gatland’s homeland as well.

Warren Gatland would be planning to take along a squad of 36 men. There is the game with the Chiefs coming up mid week as well as the three Test series. Hence, a team of 36 men would help to ensure that enough extras are taken to sustain cases of injury and to keep the team playing on. This is a new ploy against the plan of taking 32 men who were taken from the tour in 2014 in South Africa. The players who are injured would not be part of the squad going for the tour. That includes Alex Cuthbert, who has a knee injury and Justin Tipuric who need to recover from a concussion he obtained from the final game played against Italy in the Six Nations league.

The 51 years old Warren Gatland from New Zealand who is the coach of the Wales Rugby Team may not be able to coach the team for long after Roger Lewis Resigned from his post of Chief Executive of the Welsh Rugby Union.

Roger Lewis stepped down from his post last year in the month of October. Gatland is bound by contract to coach the Wales Rugby Team till the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Gatland’s homeland is New Zealand and in order to perform his duties as the head coach of the Welsh Rugby team, in the year 2007, he had to move to Wales. He agreed to a contract extension in the year 2013 which makes him bound to perform his duties for the team as the head coach until the 2019 Rugby World Cup ends.

The head coach has made it clear that he doesn’t want to resign from his post due to the change that took place in the position of Chief Executive of the National Rugby Union of Wales.

But he does think that the current chief executive may want to remove him. According to Gatland, there is indeed a possibility that the change that took place in the position of Chief Executive will affect his position. He didn’t want to say anything more in this regard but he did say that such decisions are generally not within the capacities of a person of his position to make.

He said that he is committed to see his team through the 2019 Rugby World Cup. One can only hope of continuing further but in the end an individual’s performance is judged by the result according to Mr. Gatland. He said that often certain decisions concerning an individual are taken by some other individuals. He said that when Roger Lewis was Chief Executive, he made huge contributions for the team

Scarlets and the Wales Rugby Team prop Samson Lee has become the latest of a long list of players to sign the new national dual contract (NDC) with his region as well as the welsh Rugby Union (WRU).

The 22 year old tight head prop, who won the first of his nine caps for Wales as a substitute against Argentina in 2013 was thought to have been holding out for a better contract, but in the end, put pen to paper to what was offered to him. He played in all of his country’s autumn internationals in 2014, including their historic reverse against South Africa.

Speaking at his unveiling at the Scarlets, Lee said that the decision came easily to him. He added that this new national dual contract is the best of both worlds, adding that it allowed him to commit his future to his region where he is enjoying his rugby immensely and where he also feels at home but it also allows him exciting times ahead with the Wales Rugby Team.

He went on to add that he is hopeful of repaying the faith put in him y both the Scarlets and the WRU and he is delighted that he will get a lot of opportunities to play at the club’s home stadium for the foreseeable future.

Lee is currently out of action with neck injury as well as a suspected disc problem.

He established himself as the first choice tight head prop for the Wales Rugby Team since he replaced Adam Jones against South Africa in Durban and has become a key cog in Warren Gatland’s side since then.

Gatland said that he is delighted that Lee has signed the contract, adding that he has proven himself for club and country and still has a lot to offer.