Here are your rugby morning headlines for Sunday, May 11.
Here are your rugby morning headlines for Sunday, May 11.
Biggar: Williams made Lions tour by ‘flip of a coin’
Dan Biggar believes Tomos Williams scraped into the Lions squad on a 50/50 call between the Welshman and his Toulon team-mate Ben White.
The Scottish scrum-half missed out, with Williams joining Jamison Gibson-Park and Alex Mitchell on the tour. Biggar believes it was likely one of few very close calls as Andy Farrell made his selection for the trip to Australia. While he praised Gloucester scrum-half Williams’ X-factor, he believes White was unfortunate.
Biggar told The Rugby Pod: “Ben White is particularly unlucky. I look at the rest of the squad and I thought, ‘where would there have been real 50/50 calls?’
“That nine position would have been one of them, I think potentially between Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw, I think potentially Pierre Schoeman and Nicky Smith.
“Maybe David Ribbans is unlucky but I look elsewhere and I don’t see that many other ones where I thought it was a real 50/50 call.
“Ben White is the unluckiest because that would have been the most 50/50 of calls in selection.
“I don’t think anyone would have had any complaints if Ben White had been picked on that plane, he probably had a better Six Nations than Tomos Williams, by a fair bit.
“Maybe being in France and out of sight, out of mind a little bit perhaps counted against Ben, but he’s been excellent when he has played.
“I will say that Tomos Williams has got that X-factor, he’s got that ability to change the game from that point of view as well. It would have been an absolute flip of the coin that one.” Join WalesOnline Rugby’s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
McGeechan reveals cancer diagnosis
Lions legend Sir Ian McGeechan has revealed he has prostate cancer.
In an interview with the Telegraph, the former Lions head coach disclosed that he has been undergoing radiotherapy.
The 79-year-old is currently with Championship club Doncaster as consultant director of rugby and is one of the most famous names associated with the touring side.
“I have prostate cancer,” he told the publication. “I have just completed a six-week course of radiotherapy. I feel all right, really, just a bit more tired. I always sleep well anyway so it has probably just added to it. I have to wait six weeks then have scans and a review of how effective the treatment has been.
“I have told the players here before the treatment started because there would be times when I would not be around for meetings or on the training field with them. The players have asked me how it is going and have been very good.
“I don’t want to make a big thing of it, but it is important to get the message out about urging people to go and get tested.”
Cardiff turn attention to play-off decider
Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt has turned his focus to the club’s play-off shoot-out after their hopes of finishing in the URC’s top eight took a dent in South Africa.
The 45-21 defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria has seen the Blue and Blacks drop down to the final play-off spot, following wins for Benetton, Munster and the Stormers.
The club now head to Cape Town to face the Stormers in their final league game of the season on Friday.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” he said. “We wanted to come here and get points to help us push into the play-offs.
“But if I’m honest, it’s the toughest place to come in the league. If you look at their record, they’ve been in last two finals, I think they’ve won 23 of their last 25 games here. There’s the lltitude, heat, travel, it’s a tough ask.
“It probably took us 40 minutes to get up to speed. I said at half-time we need to get two things out of the game, we need to get a bit of respect back and try and get four tries.
“I think we did the first. We stuck at it, it could have got messy and then we just didn’t have enough quality at times. We didn’t put enough together to get the four tries.
“You do probably need a little bit of luck over here as well, as I said it’s a very tough place to come and I think you can see the respect that they showed us with their selection.”
He added: “If we just go back to probably day one, in terms of this season being about growth, we’ve doubled the games that we’ve won.
“On Friday night, we’ve got the Stormers and I think if we’d have said to any of our supporters or anyone at the club that we’re in last game of the season and we need a point or two to be in the play-off, people would have snapped our hand off.
“So, listen, today was disappointing first half. The boys showed a lot of courage second half, and didn’t quite get a point, but we’re going to Stormers next week, trying to pick up a win or some points to get ourselves in the play-off, which is important for the players and for the club.
“It’s in a six-day turnaround, and that was a tough game, and there’s travel, so we’ll give the players two days now, they need to freshen up.
“I’ve learned the hard way with that is if you try and over-coach in these short weeks and the players take the field with mental fatigue and physical fatigue you’re done before you start.
“So two days off, look forward on Tuesday and Wednesday, team run, walk through and then attack Stormers.”
Bristol boss Pat Lam revels in ‘wonderful occasion’ after beating Bath in Cardiff
By Andrew Baldock, PA Rugby Union Correspondent
Bristol boss Pat Lam reflected on “a wonderful occasion” after his team remained firmly in Gallagher Premiership play-off contention with a 36-14 victory over local rivals Bath at the Principality Stadium.
The Premiership’s first game in Wales attracted a crowd of 51,095, with a fixture Bristol billed as the club’s ‘Big Day Out’ not disappointing under a closed roof.
“It was a wonderful occasion. Both sets of fans came out in numbers,” Lam said.
“I have had the privilege to play in this stadium, and the boys are buzzing. It is an experience they won’t forget.”
Bristol’s bonus-point win took them third ahead of next Friday’s crunch away clash against play-off rivals Sale Sharks.
And Lam added: “Finals rugby has come early for ourselves, Leicester, Sale, Saracens, Gloucester and potentially Harlequins. We are all playing finals rugby every week.
“We have set up a shoot-out with Sale on Friday night. It is a massive game, and we are going to have to recover and reset well.
“One of my highlights of last season was winning at Sale. I know how tough that is. They are on great form, which is why our recovery this week is so important.
“It is going to be a phenomenal game. It is a Test match for both teams.”
Bristol prevailed despite collecting four yellow cards and twice being temporarily reduced to 13 players as discipline frequently let them down.
“The senior players have addressed it,” Lam said. “They said we are happy with the win, we are happy we have beaten Bath, we are happy with the five points, but we have got to stop giving away things for free.
“Discipline has been a problem in a lot of our losses. It doesn’t help, so the players have already taken charge of that.”
While a much-changed Bath – head of rugby Johann Van Graan made 13 changes following a European Challenge Cup semi-final victory over Edinburgh with his team already assured of Premiership top spot – battled hard, they came up short.
Gabriel Ibitoye, Rich Lane, Fitz Harding, Gabriel Oghre, Will Capon and Viliame Mata scored Bristol’s tries, with AJ MacGinty kicking three conversions, while Ciaran Donoghue and Ewan Richards touched down for Bath, both converted by Donoghue.
Bath, guaranteed a home play-off, face remaining Premiership fixtures against Leicester and Saracens that sandwiches a Challenge Cup final appointment with Lyon back at the Principality Stadium on May 23.
Van Graan said: “The occasion was magnificent, and credit to Bristol. It was a Test match environment today.
“In terms of our team, we loved the build-up and it felt like a Test match, a really big game of rugby.
“We left a few opportunities out there, and we could have capitalised better when they were down to 13 men, but I am immensely proud of the guys.”
Danny Wilson backs Marcus Smith to be a star for British and Irish Lions
By Duncan Bech, PA England Rugby Correspondent
Marcus Smith was backed to feature in the British and Irish Lions’ Test series against Australia this summer after piloting Harlequins to a 38-19 Gallagher Premiership victory over Gloucester.
Smith will take part in his second Lions tour after being included in Andy Farrell’s 38-man squad and is battling Finn Russell and Fin Smith for the fly-half duties, as well as providing an option at full-back.
While his display in a six-try demolition of Gloucester at Allianz Stadium was short on his customary individual fireworks, he expertly steered the team around the field in a display which delighted Quins head coach Danny Wilson.
“Marcus is over the moon about being selected for the Lions. What I’m really pleased about is that two days after he gets the news, he puts in a performance like that,” Wilson said.
“He wants to get to the next level. He wants to prove he should be starting, should be a Test-match Lion. I have all the faith in the world he’ll get there.
“He was outstanding against Gloucester in terms of managing the game, picking when to kick and when to run. He gave us a weapon that caused Gloucester major problems.
“I don’t think our recent results and him playing 15 for England would have made him feel confident that he was a shoe-in for the Lions.
“His work ethic is phenomenal – he has talent, but also a work ethic that makes that talent what it is.
“Against Leicester he was excellent, managed the game really well for us and showed he is a Test match 10 and he did it again against Gloucester. His kicking was really accurate, giving Gloucester a lot of problems.”
Gloucester’s pursuit of a play-off place was dealt a significant blow after they were swept aside at Twickenham, paying the price for a feeble display lacking fight or purpose.
They could still finish in the top four, but boss George Skivington insisted the last two matches of the season are now important for another reason.
“We need to win those games for pride. I’m gutted and embarrassed. We have blown a massive opportunity and Friday night against Newcastle is about showing what we are about,” Skivington said.
“It was very tough to take. I don’t think we showed up, if I am honest. The other coaches and I were scratching our heads after five minutes, we didn’t think we were in the game. We got beaten in every aspect of the game.”
