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The latest rugby stories making headlines from Wales and around the world
These are your headlines on the evening of Monday, May 11
Wales yet to make decision on captaincy
Steve Tandy says no decision has been made on who will captain Wales this summer, despite Jac Morgan’s return from injury.
The British and Irish Lions openside has been included in Tandy’s 48-man extended squad for the summer, having returned from a dislocated shoulder picked up in Wales’ opening autumn match against Argentina last November.
Having captained Wales in Tandy’s first match in charge, the injury has kept him sidelined for the remaining eight – with Ospreys co-captain Dewi Lake skippering the side in his absence.
Despite currently being injured with his own shoulder injury, Lake – who was co-captain with Morgan at the 2023 World Cup – has been named in Wales’ summer squad and is expected to be fit.
As such, no captain has been named at this stage – with Tandy admitting the coaching group will make a decision later in the summer.
“For us, it’s about having a really good think about it now the squad has been announced,” said Tandy. “Jac’s up and running.
“We’ve got some really good young leaders coming through, Jac being a major one of them. I thought the way Dewi went about his business in the Six Nations was outstanding.
“Then we’ve got Dafydd Jenkins, Tomos Williams and Josh Adams – boys who have been leading throughout. It’s how we managed the leadership situation properly, having chats with the boys about how we manufacture that going forward.”
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Morgan and Lake were handed the co-captaincy ahead of the 2023 World Cup – with the back-row captaining his country in the matches against Fiji, Australia and Argentina.
Lake captained the pool games against Portugal and Georgia – even after Morgan ended up starting the Portugal one as a late replacement for Tommy Reffell.
The two have since shared the role, largely depending on who was injured.
Jenkins was captain during the 2024 Six Nations when both were sidelined, then Lake was skipper when Morgan missed the 2024 summer tour of Australia.
Lake retained the captaincy for the 2024 autumn despite Morgan’s return, but when the hooker was injured for the start of the 2025 Six Nations, Morgan wound up leading Wales in all five matches.
With Morgan on the Lions tour last summer, Lake was handed the role for the Japan tour – but the openside was Tandy’s choice for his first squad, although injury meant Lake has been captain for the rest of the current season.
Regardless of who ends up leading Wales across the four matches this summer, Tandy says he’s delighted to have Morgan back.
“He’s a world-class player and a world-class bloke as well,” he added. “You see what it means to him playing rugby.
“He’s always been around the group, even in the Six Nations popping his head in. It’s brilliant for him to be back playing, but it’s awesome for us as a nation that we’re bringing someone of a world class quality back in.”
WRU confirm interest in team in English pyramid
The WRU have confirmed their interest in entering a team in England’s top-flight women’s competition.
Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) is looking to expand its competition from nine teams and is considering teams outside of their borders.
PWR opened the “expression of interest” back in April and the WRU have now taken a first step in shoring up their interest.
Dave Reddin, WRU director of rugby and elite performance, said: “We are heavily invested in the growth in Women’s rugby.
“The prospect of having Welsh representation in the PWR as a potential part of that is a really exciting option we have to investigate.
“Taking this official step allows us to understand the proposition from PWR more fully and what would be required from us to participate in any league expansion.
“The Celtic Challenge is key to the player development pathway in Wales, and we have 28 players in the current senior W6N squad who have played in the league to underline it’s status to the WRU.”
Sean Lynn, Wales head coach, has previously been vocal in his backing of the move, having coached with Gloucester-Hartpury.
He added: “From my personal experience, having worked within the PWR, I appreciate what the league has done for women’s rugby globally and its ability to attract the best players from around the world.
“There has always been a significant Welsh player representation in the PWR, and I know there has always been an appetite for Welsh teams to play in the league.”
Wales has two women’s sides, Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning, which compete against Scottish and Irish teams in the Celtic Challenge.
Participation in an Anglo-Welsh competition would likely be more appealing, with 28 of Wales’ 38 Six Nations squad plying their trade in the PWR.
Baxter revels in big win
By Press Association Sport staff
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said the 35-12 victory over reigning Gallagher Prem champions Bath was “right up there” with the special days he has had at Sandy Park.
Chiefs produced their first league victory over their West Country rivals since December 2022 to give them a five-point cushion over fifth-placed Bristol in the battle for the play-off places.
“That was pretty special because there was a lot hanging on that game, and Bath are a very good side,” said Baxter.
“They have controlled us pretty well over the last couple of seasons but today was a bit different, and our second-half performance into that wind was something special because that scenario was ready-made for Bath.
“They are so good in that situation, they had the wind so they could control territory, with a killer front row to bring on, and there was a relatively small difference in the scoreboard (13-5 to Chiefs).
“But we turned up and played some very good rugby in that second half and it was a very important win for us.”
One of the key performers for Chiefs was Australian international centre Len Ikitau, who looked back to his brilliant best after his recent return from a lengthy injury lay-off.
“Len looked way better today and it just shows that after a decent amount of time out of the game, it is expecting a lot early on for him to perform really well.
“Today will give Len a lot of confidence and he will get better and better over the next three to four weeks and I am really looking forward to seeing him play at Twickenham against Harlequins next week,” explained Baxter.
Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan had no complaints over the result or the 20-minute first-half red card for lock Quinn Roux.
“It is always difficult to come here to Sandy Park and I thought Exeter put us under a huge amount of pressure,” he said.
“We got beaten by a better team on the day. I thought we handled the 20-minute red card pretty well and we had an opportunity just before half-time that we didn’t finish.
“We had the wind in the second half and, with 15 minutes to go, it was a one-score game and then we lost a line-out. In this league if you are only 99 per cent there you get punished and Chiefs punished us in that last 10 minutes.”
It has been an amazing weekend in the Prem, with leaders Northampton also suffering a heavy defeat at third-placed Leicester, and van Graan added: “This is an incredible league, and there have been some big results this weekend.
“We have two home games left, against Newcastle and Leicester, and one away match at Bristol and we will take them one by one but this is going to go down to the wire in the first weekend in June.”
