{"id":121334,"date":"2025-05-22T02:03:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T02:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/121334\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T02:03:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T02:03:19","slug":"tonights-rugby-news-as-stars-welsh-rugby-exit-announced-24-hours-after-wales-squad-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/121334\/","title":{"rendered":"Tonight&#8217;s rugby news as star&#8217;s Welsh rugby exit announced 24 hours after Wales squad blow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The latest headlines from Wales and around the world<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_CDF_250425_CF_Cardiff_v_Munster_054JPG.jpg\" alt=\"Hamer-Webb will leave Cardiff this summer\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Hamer-Webb will leave Cardiff this summer(Image: Chris Fairweather\/Huw Evans Agency)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">These are your evening rugby headlines on Wednesday, May 21.<\/p>\n<p>Welsh-qualified star leaves region<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Welsh-qualified wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb will leave <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/cardiff\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Cardiff<\/a> this summer, the region has confirmed. The 24-year-old wing, who is eligible for both Wales and England, joined the club on a short-term deal last season before signing a permanent deal ahead of the current campaign &#8211; but will now leave Arms Park for pastures new. He has been linked with a move to Leicester Tigers in the Gallagher Premiership after a fine end to the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">His last four games for Matt Sherratt&#8217;s side saw him score seven tries, with an impressive Judgement Day hat-trick against the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/ospreys\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Ospreys<\/a> followed by tries against Munster, Bulls and the Stormers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Hamer-Webb&#8217;s fine form saw him tipped for a potential call-up to Sherratt&#8217;s Wales squad for the summer tour of Japan, but uncapped Ospreys wing Keelan Giles was preferred instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Cardiff confirmed the former Bath wing&#8217;s exit on Wednesday afternoon as he thanked the club, team-mates and fans for their support. <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/walesrugby.substack.com\/subscribe?coupon=7b6a76da\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Thank you to the club for the opportunity to represent the city that means so much to my family,&#8221; said Hamer-Webb. &#8220;Most importantly, I&#8217;d like to thanks my team-mates and the fans for the many memories I am leaving with.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Williams nominated for top award<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams is one of five players nominated for the Premiership Rugby player of the season award.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 30-year-old has been a standout performer for Gloucester this season following his move from Cardiff last summer, with his impressive form seeing him named in Andy Farrell&#8217;s British &amp; Irish Lions squad for this summer&#8217;s tour of Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Williams has been nominated for the top award as part of a shortlist that also features fellow Lion Finn Russell as well as Sale playmaker George Ford, Bath prop Thomas du Toit and Saracens back row Tom Willis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">He is not the only Welshman put forward for an award, with Wales Women&#8217;s coach Sean Lynn nominated for the Premiership Women&#8217;s Rugby director of rugby of the season gong, having led Gloucester-Hartpury to a third straight PWR title before joining the Welsh national set-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Among the players nominated for breakthrough player of the season is Northampton flanker and Lions call-up Henry Pollock, Gloucester prop Afolabi Fasogbon, Sale front row Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Leicester centre Joseph Woodward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The winners will be announced at the Rugby Awards in London on June 3, with the awards from Premiership Rugby, Premiership Women&#8217;s Rugby, the Rugby Players&#8217; Association and Rugby Football Union all set to be presented at the same event.<\/p>\n<p>S4C to show top match for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">S4C have confirmed that they will provide exclusive free-to-air live coverage of the Champions Cup final this weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Northampton Saints and Bordeaux will fight it out for European club rugby&#8217;s top prize on Saturday, with the Principality Stadium playing host to the hotly-anticipated clash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The Welsh broadcaster has confirmed that the final will be shown live across the UK on all S4C platforms, both on TV and on online via S4C Clic and <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/bbc\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC<\/a> iPlayer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">It will also be broadcast on S4C Chwaraeon\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">English commentary will also be available across all of the platforms showing the game, except for BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The coverage will be fronted by Catrin Heledd, with the presenter joined by Lyn Jones, Sioned Harries, Shane Williams and Rhys Priestland for expert analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Commentary will be provided in English by Gareth Charles, with Gareth Roberts delivering the Welsh-language commentary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Lauren Jenkins and Rhodri Gomer &#8211; who represented Saints between 2003 and 2007 &#8211; will also be reporting from the sidelines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Ahead of the final, S4C will also air a special programme celebrating 30 years of Welsh involvement in European rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Wales Rugby in Europe 30 will be shown at 9pm on Thursday, May 22, and will be available on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer.<\/p>\n<p>Wales to host groundbreaking event<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The 2025 <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/six-nations\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Six Nations<\/a> Women&#8217;s Summer Series, which is aimed at offering future stars of the women&#8217;s game international experience, will be held in Wales, it has been confirmed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The first edition of the competition, held in Parma last year, led to 14 players earning their first caps for their respective senior teams during the recent Women&#8217;s Six Nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Those graduates included Wales forwards Maisie Davies and Alaw Pyrs, who both featured under new boss Sean Lynn during the campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">While the competition features predominantly U20 players, each of the participating Six Nations unions can also include up to five U23 players in their matchday squad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">This year&#8217;s competition will be held at the Centre for Sporting Excellence in Ystrad Mynach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The series will comprise three competitive match days, with fixtures to be held on Saturday July 5, Friday 11 and Thursday 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest headlines from Wales and around the worldHamer-Webb will leave Cardiff this summer(Image: Chris Fairweather\/Huw Evans Agency)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[13416,4151,54128,79,30169,16,15,14260],"class_list":{"0":"post-121334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-cardiff-rugby","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-s4c","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tomos-williams","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wales-rugby-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114549031745614628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}