The latest rugby news stories from Wales and beyond
Lions Andrew Porter, Henry Pollock and Will Stuart(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Here are the latest rugby headlines on the evening of Wednesday, July 16.
Australian great tips Wallabies to ‘shut Lions up’
Australian rugby great Chris Latham is confident the Wallabies can shut the British & Irish Lions up in the first Test on Saturday.
Latham was a world class full-back in his day and played a key part in the Wallabies claiming a 2-1 series win over Graham Henry’s Lions in 2001. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
Lions backrower Henry Pollock riled up the Wallabies earlier this week by insisting a “3-0 series whitewash is definitely on the table.”
The Lions class of 2025 are strong favourites to take home the spoils against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies in Brisbane but Latham is confident it won’t be easy for the tourists.
“For me, and I’m sure for every Aussie, it’s like, ‘OK, righto.. We’ll shut you up’,” Latham told the Telegraph.
“I’m a Queenslander and it’s ingrained in us to be underdogs and be able to pull a win out from nothing.
“This [talk] is perfect for us. I’ve been feeling this now for the last probably three, four weeks while the Lions have been thrashing everyone else and getting cockier and cockier.
“Everything you read, it’s about ‘how good are we’ and ‘we’re building’ and ‘this is so great’. It’s like, ‘Yeah, you keep talking that, you keep believing that’.”
Latham is confident an Australia side which boasts world class talent such as rugby league convert Joseph Sua’ali’i can win the Test series.
“Without a doubt [Australia can win],” he told the Telegraph.
“This is what we’re built on. This is the Aussie spirit. We’re built on being the underdog.
“We’re built on being the outcast. I probably shouldn’t say this but we were sent here on a boat and we built something from nothing. We’re tough.
“I’ve heard it all before. The ‘best Lions team to ever come out’, Australia’s ‘got no chance’. We went 1-0 down in ’01 and came back to win the next two.
“My heart hopes and wants Australia to do well. We need to be competitive, make sure these games go down to the wire, create heroes for the kids.”
WRU boss defends Wales’ World Cup preparations in Australia
By Phil Blanche, PA
Welsh rugby boss Belinda Moore has defended the decision to prepare for the 2025 Women’s World Cup in England on the other side of the world.
Wales travel Down Under on Thursday for a two-Test series against Australia, with matches in Brisbane on July 26 and Sydney on August 1.
Sean Lynn’s squad will have clocked up 20,000 air miles before returning for their tournament opener against Scotland in Salford on August 23 – a contest crucial as far as qualification for the knock-out stages is concerned with world number two-ranked Canada in their pool.
Moore said the decision to prepare for the World Cup in Australia was taken before her appointment as head of women’s rugby in Wales in January, but insisted there are positive factors to the exhausting trip.
“This is part of a reciprocal arrangement as Australia came here before WXV on their way to South Africa,” Moore said as Wales’ World Cup kit was unveiled in Carmarthenshire.
“We covered the hosting costs there and we have to go to camp somewhere, so this is cost-effective oddly.
“It gives us a chance to play a team ranked two or three places above us who are going to provide stern opposition, and see how much the work we have put in has paid off.
“We’ve got two really strong matches and a three-week block in camp. There will be a good training environment with the Australians giving us good facilities.
“We get back early in August three weeks ahead of the tournament. Southern hemisphere teams are coming over later than that and no-one’s suggesting New Zealand won’t be ready to play.
“We’re back in time for full recovery and we’ll be ready for the World Cup when it comes.”
Women’s rugby in Wales has been in turmoil in recent years, despite the Welsh Rugby Union handing out its first professional contracts to female players in 2022.
The WRU faced a series of allegations and scandals relating to the treatment of its women’s national team, including claims of sexism and misogyny.
WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood and chief executive Abi Tierney apologised last autumn over the way contract negotiations were conducted with the national women’s squad.
Players had been threatened with withdrawal from WXV2 and the 2025 World Cup if they did not agree to a “final offer” ultimatum within a three-hour deadline.
Moore said: “We’re absolutely looking forward to the future. Do I think the team is in a better place? Yes. 100 per cent.
“The feedback I get from the players is positive and these are all steps in the right direction.”
Future Lions tour of France set for discussion
A potential British & Irish Lions tour of France is expected to be discussed in a meeting in Melbourne next week, according to reports.
The Guardian are reporting Lions powerbrokers will discuss “a new business model” in Melbourne next week, while the vice-president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) Abdel Benazzi believes a tour of France would work. Ahead of the tour of New Zealand in four years’ time the Lions are expected to face France in Paris for the first time since 1989 before jetting off to the Southern Hemisphere.
The Guardian reports the Lions are contracted to tour New Zealand in 2029 but the tours of South Africa in 2033 and Australia in 2037 have not formally been agreed.
“If you look at the legacy and the reputation of the Lions, of course they have the tradition with the south, our position as a neighbour is that we can do something together in the future,” Benazzi told the Guardian.
“We had contact, not formally, just a friendly chat with the guys from the Lions and they started thinking maybe it would be a good idea.
“We don’t have a formal decision now but maybe we will talk about having two meetings with the [women] and the Lions and the men and the Lions in the future.
“Maybe in 2027 and 2029. We don’t think of just one shot, we think of a programme for the future.
“It’s good for everyone because it’s powerful and we want to share it with this institution.
“I want to spend a bit of time with the staff and just think about how we can build a new business model with this institution between France and the Lions.
“For me and for France, we want to build something interesting for both.
“How we can build something bigger for rugby, for everyone around the world with this meeting and secondly, how we can build some business between the two institutions, the Lions and France, and everyone will be happy with that.”
A Lions tour of France would undoubtedly be a commercial success, while the warm-up games against the likes of Toulouse and Bordeaux would be far more challenging than a tour of Australia.
Wales and Lions great Mike Phillips took to social media last week to throw his support behind a potential tour of France but it would have opposition from the Southern Hemisphere.
“We don’t want to steal something from the south,” Benazzi told the Guardian.
“We just want to do something extra.
“It’s a legacy and that’s very important but we have a lot of things to share together. Being neighbours is important for supporters.
“I spoke with an agency that brings a lot of people to Australia this year and they said to me it would be very good business for people coming from the UK to France.
“I think we missed a lot of time since 1989, not using our relationship but now we understand each other. I don’t understand why we spent 40 years waiting to start contact with this institution.”
Welsh rugby has the talent to thrive, says coach
Wales U20s head coach Richard Whiffin is adamant Welsh rugby has the talent to thrive.
These are dark times for Welsh rugby with the senior men’s national side having only recently broken a cycle of 18 straight defeats while Wales U20s have only won once so far in the U20s World Championship in Italy.
But Whiffin is confident there is the talent coming through the pathway to enable Welsh rugby to thrive in the future.
“I 100 per-cent believe Wales has the talent to thrive,” he told RugbyPass.
“We have the passion for the jersey, the motivation, the geography and we can most definitely produce serious players but it’s a numbers game. Population-wise there’s much less room for error.
“Firstly, it’s about getting them used to winning in a Wales jersey and secondly it’s about getting them rugby-ready for the professional game and ready to play in the URC, if called upon.
“Can they maintain their professionalism and dedication at their regions when they’re not getting a sniff and they may not for a year or two because they’re still not the finished article?
“It’s about being resilient, waiting for your time but taking it when you get the opportunity, taking it. Coaches are a lot more forgiving if these young boys play with no fear.”
The Welsh Rugby Union recently decided to scrap its Exiles programme but Whiffin is confident the new system will yield good results.
“I have a strong network in England and a good coaching relationship with the likes of Wayne Thompson at Gloucester, Bath’s Craig Lilley and John Barnes at Bristol,” he told RugbyPass.
“Those West Country clubs are very clear they want the best players at their club whether they’re Welsh, Scottish, Irish and of course English qualified players, because they need the funding.
“We are open. For us it’s knowing they’re getting high-quality coaching and we have still access to them from an age-grade point of view.
“Our job is to make sure we deliver programmes at regional and national level with the WPP that are so appealing players feel moving back to Wales is the best option. These things do take time. There is no quick fix.”