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The latest rugby news stories from wales and the wider world
These are your morning headlines on Sunday, January 11.
Lonely Peel under pressure
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel cut a lonely and dejected figure once again as the Welsh side suffered another demoralising defeat despite coming close in the Champions Cup against Pau.
Peel saw his side go down 47-38 at home to the French outfit despite a comeback after being 26-10 down. They went on to lead in the second half and looked on course for a rare win this season.
They edged ahead moments after the restart when Taine Plumtree burst through and Hawkins increased the lead to 12.
But Pau hit back through Remi Seneca, Theo Attissogbe and Siate Tokolahi to secure the victory.
Peel, who has looked thoroughly despondent after recent defeats, was seen on TV looking dejected once again, with Premier Sports pundit Lawrence Dallaglio feeling he is taking huge personal responsibility as pressure mounts on him.
Dallaglio said: “There’s another picture of Dwayne Peel on his own. I don’t understand why the other coaches aren’t around him. It feels like the whole world is on his shoulders. He’s obviously the head man. You do feel like that was one that got away.
“Other games you could say they weren’t good enough, the quality wasn’t there. I think they will be more disappointed with that one because they were so close.”
Fellow pundit Tom Shanklin added: “Some of the play is still a little bit basic. They concede a lot of points. Pau were ruthless and Scarlets weren’t.”
Van Zyl delighted with statement Cardiff victory
Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl was thrilled with the way his side claimed an impressive 32-13 victory over French giants Racing 92.
Tries from Tom Bowen, Rory Thornton, Keiron Assiratti and player of the match Ben Thomas, along with a combined 12 points from the boots of Callum Sheedy and Jacob Beetham, got Cardiff over the line.
Cardiff are all but guaranteed qualification for the knockout stages with a trip to Exeter Chiefs to come next week.
“I’m very happy,” he said.
“With Liam Belcher’s 100th game, a few boys coming back from injury… look after the derbies it just felt like we were a little bit cramped in with a little bit of pressure, whereas tonight it just felt like the boys went out to play and enjoyed it.
“We focused on the stuff that made us play well at the beginning of the season. After the derbies, we went back and said, “Look, let’s just focus on what made us play well.
“That’s easier to do against a French team you don’t really know. So we focused on what we do and tried to put it on the field.
“The impact of the bench was really positive. We freshened it up. The derbies was almost the same group for a few games, which I said the other day. But we need to use the squad. We can’t just keep playing the same players. That’s why we have a squad. They performed well.”
Cardiff will qualify for the round of 16 today if the Cheetahs beat Ulster with a bonus point.
“There are still a few games to happen on Sunday,” said van Zyl.
“We’ll take (Exeter) as a challenge. It will be a challenge because we know how good they’ve been this season. We’ll refocus on Monday and Tuesday because we play Sunday, and then see what happens on the day.
“We’ll have to get the selection right to make sure we keep the boys fresh then with Benetton, which will be short turnaround from Sunday to Saturday.
“We can look at all the ways the log might end up, but it’s just a game of rugby. We need to go out, perform, and see what happens at the end of the day.”
Dragons to hold ‘deep review’
Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia has urged his side to bounce back quickly after a humiliating 74-21 defeat to Benetton in Treviso.
The Welsh club had been in good form on the back of three recent rare wins but shipped 11 tries in Italy and must beat Newcastle Red Bulls at Rodney Parade next Friday if they are to qualify for the round of 16 in the Challenge Cup.
“We didn’t take our moments – we were second best in most parts of game,” Tiatia told the Dragons website.
“I’m disappointed around the performance as a collective. We know that we are better than what we showed here.
“We need to learn from it. We’ll have a deep review and then we’ll move forward.
“We’ve got a short turnaround to Newcastle at Rodney Parade now. We’ve got to take the learnings, move forward and be a lot better back at home.”
Dragons captain Rhodri Williams echoed Tiatia’s message ahead of next Friday’s huge clash with Newcastle.
“Full credit to Benetton, they physically dominated that game and got on the front foot,” Williams told the Dragons website.
“We need to be a lot better next week and we need to look forward.
“We’ve a big game back home and we have momentum back there. We need to use that.
“Benetton came at us, got on the front foot and dominated.
“It’s important we take our learnings, but we can’t dwell on this too long. We need to get back home and put the wrongs right.”
Bristol and Bulls play out stunner
PA staff
Bristol ran riot in a remarkable first half to secure their place in the Investec Champions Cup knockout phase with a 61-49 victory over the Bulls in Pretoria.
The South African hosts fielded 10 Springboks in their starting XV in the hope of registering a first win of the group campaign yet were still swept aside at Loftus Versfeld.
Bristol started like a freight train, running in three tries inside the opening 10 minutes and seven in total to build a interval 47-28 lead.
Wing Noah Heward crossed twice and there were also touch downs for Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Max Lahiff, Kalaveti Ravouvou and Kieran Marmion.
The Bulls offered more resistance in the second half but Bristol continued to fire shots with Heward completing his hat-trick, Pedro Rubiolo breaching the whitewash and Ravouvou running in his second.
A third win in as many outings in the competition lifts the Bears to the top of Pool Four above main rivals Northampton and Bordeaux, who collide at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday.
Exeter throw it away
PA staff
Stade Francais fly-half Leo Barre’s late penalty in Paris clinched his side a thrilling 27-25 win against Exeter in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Exeter, who drew their opening pool game 31-31 at Racing 92 last month, let slip a 22-0 lead to trail 24-22 with 10 minutes left before Henry Slade’s drop goal edged them back in front, only for Barre and Stade Francais to have the last word.
The Devon side appeared to be in control when 17-0 ahead at the break through tries from wing Paul Brown-Bampoe and Australia prop Scott Sio, both converted by Slade, who also landed a first-half penalty.
Sio barged over for his second try soon after the restart – Slade missed his conversion attempt – before two tries in eight minutes from Giorgi Melikidze and Thibaut Motassi reduced the deficit to 22-12.
Stade Francais further reduced the arrears to 22-19 after being awarded a penalty try and they went over through Charles Laloi to edge 24-22 ahead.
Slade’s 71st-minute drop goal swung the game back in Exeter’s favour, but Barre’s decisive penalty with four minutes remaining sealed Stade Francais a memorable win.
