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Rees-Zammit was withdrawn from the Bristol line-up on Sunday but is now set to return(Image: Bob Bradford – CameraSport via Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe latest rugby news from Wales and around the worldRees-Zammit was withdrawn from the Bristol line-up on Sunday but is now set to return(Image: Bob Bradford – CameraSport via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
These are your evening rugby headlines on Wednesday, December 17.<\/p>\n
Rees-Zammit update issued<\/p>\n
Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam has issued an injury update on Louis Rees-Zammit after the Wales star was a late withdrawal from his squad to face Pau over the weekend.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old was due to start Sunday’s Champions Cup clash at Ashton Gate at full-back, but was taken out of the matchday squad alongside Max Lahiff just two hours before kick-off.<\/p>\n
With Bristol set to face Harlequins in the Big Game 17 at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham this weekend, Lam has issued an update on both Rees-Zammit and Lahiff, with the pair expected to be back in the mix for selection ahead of the clash.<\/p>\n
Running through his available players, the head coach said: \u201cI think Harry Randall could be back a week earlier. Rich Lane, Noah Heward, Bill Mata is pushing it. He’s definitely in for Newcastle.<\/p>\n
“But, you know, I’ve got to balance that as a coach as a lot of the players want to play, you know, because it’s a big game and going to Twickenham, but I have got to balance it out with all the fixtures to come.<\/p>\n
“Zam [Rees-Zammit] was keen to go against Pau, but when you run as quickly as he does, the last thing you want is to have a tight calf. I wasn’t prepared to take the risk. If it was a final, then maybe he would have been out there.”<\/p>\n
Macleod reveals Wales camp message<\/p>\n
Scarlets captain Josh Macleod has revealed he has only heard positive things from players who were in the Wales camp during the autumn internationals, with squad members “starting to love being there again”.<\/p>\n
The back rower was ruled out of contention for Steve Tandy’s first squad as Wales head coach due to a pectoral muscle injury, but said he had seen “a few green shoots appear” over the course of the campaign despite some bruising defeats.<\/p>\n
Wales’ autumn ended on a brutal note as they suffered a record 73-0 home defeat at the hands of South Africa, having also been blown away by Argentina in the opening game of the campaign.<\/p>\n
However, those results came either side of a crucial win over Japan and an impressive performance in defeat to New Zealand, and Macleod has been encouraged from what he has heard from the players involved over the autumn.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I heard from camp was that the boys are really starting to love being there again which is part of the battle”, the 29-year-old told RugbyPass.<\/a><\/p>\n “You\u2019ve got to enjoy the environment you\u2019re in and everything I heard was positive on that note.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen a few green shoots appear over the autumn \u2013 after 50-60 minutes in the New Zealand game, no-one had Wales at 24-21 did they? If that\u2019s not something to build off I\u2019m not entirely sure what is.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously it\u2019s ups and downs but I\u2019ve got a lot of faith that this will be a young, aspiring team with big aspirations moving forward,” he added. “Hopefully Six Nations<\/a> time will start the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Wallabies star banned<\/p>\n Australia international Jordan Uelese has been banned for four weeks after striking an opponent while playing for Montpellier in the Challenge Cup.<\/p>\n The hooker, who was playing as a flanker in his side’s clash with Zebre last week, escaped unpunished during the match after striking opposition front rower Shilo Klein in the face just before the hour mark.<\/p>\n However, he was later cited and this week faced a disciplinary committee who upheld the citing complaint and determined an entry point of a six-week suspension for the offence.<\/p>\n The ban was then reduced by two weeks due to Uelese’s clear disciplinary record, with the 28-year-old set to miss his side’s Top 14 clashes with Castres, Pau and Bayonne, as well as their Challenge Cup meeting with Connacht.<\/p>\n However, he will be free to play again from January 12, meaning he could make his return against the Ospreys<\/a> in Europe on January 17.<\/p>\n Van Zyl: We can’t look too far ahead<\/p>\n Corniel van Zyl says Cardiff<\/a> can’t get too ahead of themselves ahead of their derby clash with the Scarlets<\/a> on Friday night, despite sitting second in the URC table.<\/p>\n The region have taken five wins from their opening six matches with only the Stormers ahead of them heading into the next round of fixtures – but van Zyl has played down the significance of their league position as they prepare to face their Welsh rivals, who they have not beaten at home in nearly five years.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously it\u2019s easier to look back at things when you\u2019re getting results, so it\u2019s positive at the moment,\u201d he said. “But it\u2019s not worth looking too far ahead. This game this week is the most important thing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see (our league position) and a good place to be in, but it\u2019s impossible to say where you\u2019re going to end up. You have to take it week by week. Ultimately it\u2019s just the next game that matters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spoke about the momentum after Zebre, which pushed us in the right direction, and then we fed a lot of positives into Ulster. There\u2019s definitely momentum building, but again, it\u2019s about this week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re fully aware it\u2019s been a long time since we beat them here,” van Zyl added. “But there are things to be excited about. It\u2019ll be packed, they\u2019ll bring a lot of supporters, and that\u2019s what derbies are about.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll go out, put our game on the pitch, and show what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our<\/strong> free daily newsletter here<\/strong><\/a> and our <\/strong>WhatsApp channel here<\/strong><\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest rugby news from Wales and around the worldRees-Zammit was withdrawn from the Bristol line-up on Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[21571,47465,4151,79,23127,16,15,14260],"class_list":{"0":"post-638638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-bristol-bears","9":"tag-louis-rees-zammit","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-todays-updates","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wales-rugby-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115736296614169098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638638","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=638638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}