{"id":524615,"date":"2025-10-24T11:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T11:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/524615\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T11:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T11:34:11","slug":"jac-morgan-set-for-return-as-wales-international-to-make-debut-in-welsh-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/524615\/","title":{"rendered":"Jac Morgan set for return as Wales international to make debut in Welsh derby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wales captain Jac Morgan will make his first appearance of the season this weekend as he is named on the bench for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/ospreys\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ospreys;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Ospreys<\/a>&#8216; derby against Dragons at Rodney Parade on Saturday (kick-off: 5.30pm).<\/p>\n<p>The back-row hasn&#8217;t featured since the British and Irish Lions&#8217; third Test against Australia in Sydney in the summer, having picked up an injury while doing physical testing with the Welsh Rugby Union. However, days after being named in Steve Tandy&#8217;s first squad as Wales coach, the 25-year-old will make his first appearance in Saturday&#8217;s URC clash.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>With club captain Morgan only on the bench, Dewi Lake will continue to skipper the side in his absence.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"content-list\">\n<li\/>\n<li\/><\/ul>\n<p>New signing Ryan Smith makes his debut for the club, starting alongside Wales call-up James Fender in the second-row.<\/p>\n<p>Huw Sutton lines up on the blindside, with Harri Deaves and Ross Moriarty &#8211; both overlooked by Wales this week &#8211; completing the back-row.<\/p>\n<p>In the backs, Iestyn Hopkins is named on the left wing &#8211; with Keelan Giles out injured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelsh derbies are one of the first games that you target when the fixture list comes out, so we\u2019re excited,&#8221; said Ospreys head coach Mark Jones.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRodney Parade is a dangerous place to go. The Dragons are a good side, especially when they put their best side out and play to their standard. Although they\u2019ve had a long streak without a win, a lot of their performances have been very strong at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for the Dragons, Wales back-row Thomas Young will make his debut for the club after joining from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/cardiff\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Cardiff;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Cardiff<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The Men of Gwent head into this Welsh derby without head coach Filo Tiatia, who has flown back to New Zealand for personal reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Dale MacLeod, who will take charge in place of Tiatia, has made six changes from the side that were beaten by Cardiff last Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Woodman, Chris Coleman, Matthew Screech, Huw Anderson and Joe Westwood are the other changes &#8211; with Rio Dyer missing out through injury days after his Wales recall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOspreys will be a tough side, and they will come to us and challenge us,\u201d said defence coach MacLeod.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey will be physical, they will be tough, and they will stay in the fight for 80 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be at our very best to beat them. That is all we are focussed on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Dragons RFC<\/b>: Angus O\u2019Brien (c); Fine Inisi, Joe Westwood, Aneurin Owen, Huw Anderson; Tinus de Beer, Rhodri Williams; Wyn Jones, Brodie Coghlan, Chris Coleman, Matthew Screech, Ben Carter (C), Ryan Woodman, Thomas Young, Aaron Wainwright<\/p>\n<p><b>Replacements<\/b>: Oli Burrows, Rodrigo Martinez, Dillon Lewis, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harry Beddall, Niall Armstrong, Cai Evans, David Richards<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><b>Ospreys:<\/b> Jack Walsh; Dan Kasende, Phil Cokanasiga, Keiran Williams, Iestyn Hopkins; Dan Edwards, Reuben Morgan-Williams; Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake (c), Tom Botha, Ryan Smith, James Fender, Huw Sutton, Harri Deaves, Ross Moriarty.<\/p>\n<p><b>Replacements:<\/b> Lewis Lloyd, Garyn Phillips, Ben Warren, Rhys Davies, Jac Morgan, Luke Davies, Evardi Boshoff, Max Nagy.<\/p>\n<p><b>Follow all of our social channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Swans news. Sign up to our<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=aac78459-03ba-4d9c-830a-016965aa8145&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:daily newsletter here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> daily newsletter here<\/b><\/a><b> and our<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/C7QBdMA45pND02kwnBoABC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:WhatsApp channel here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> WhatsApp channel here<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>You can also follow us on social media on our<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SwanseaCityLive\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X account;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> X account<\/b><\/a><b> and<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwanseaCityWalesOnline\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> Facebook<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Our Swansea City correspondent Tom Coleman is also on social media. He can be found on his<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/tomEcoleman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X account here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> X account here<\/b><\/a><b>, on<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tom.colemanwo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> Instagram<\/b><\/a><b>, on<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@tom.colemanwol\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:TikTok;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> TikTok<\/b><\/a> <b>and on<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TomColemanWOL\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><b> Facebook<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wales captain Jac Morgan will make his first appearance of the season this weekend as he is named&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,5313,170309,170317,170319,4884,170315,170313,170314,23126,170318,170316,15032,116142,166018,170310,23125,170311,16,15,1764,170312,14261],"class_list":{"0":"post-524615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-british-and-irish-lions","10":"tag-captain-morgan","11":"tag-chris-coleman","12":"tag-filo-tiatia","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-harri-deaves","15":"tag-huw-anderson","16":"tag-iestyn-hopkins","17":"tag-jac-morgan","18":"tag-james-fender","19":"tag-matthew-screech","20":"tag-ospreys","21":"tag-rodney-parade","22":"tag-ross-moriarty","23":"tag-ryan-smith","24":"tag-steve-tandy","25":"tag-thomas-young","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom","28":"tag-wales","29":"tag-wales-this-week","30":"tag-welsh-rugby-union"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115428934721389733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524615","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=524615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}