Your rugby morning headlines for Tuesday, October 25.
Roberts explains Pivac's calls
Jamie Roberts has offered insight into what Wayne Pivac is thinking after his shock decision to leave Rhys Carre and Ross Moriarty out of Wales' squad for the November Tests.
The omission of loose-head Carre raised eyebrows, given he appeared to be the form prop in Wales, Pivac explaining that he missed a conditioning target that was set for him. Cardiff boss Dai Young later explained that it was a weight goal.
Moriarty's omission has had less of an explanation, but Roberts believes it may well be that Pivac is attempting to motivate the pair of them heading into the Rugby World Cup year.
Speaking on Premier Sports, Roberts said: "It feels like a bit of a rocket from me."
He continued of Carre: "We saw his performance last night and he played really well for Cardiff off the back of being disappointed.
"Some of the selections in the squad - Rhys being one of them - shows Wayne knows his starting team and then he's looked at the second and third choices and thought 'right, I'm going to have a look at the next guy in this November window'.
"He hopes that the second choice takes the news well, reacts well and comes back knocking on the door of first choice in the Six Nations. Whether it's a smart move remains to be seen.
"Rhys Carre is Test player, he's definitely a Test 23 in that Wales side at the minute. But you hope he reacts well to that news."
On Moriarty, the former centre added: "Whether he starts in the Welsh back-row at the minute, maybe not considering how well they went in South Africa.
"So you think 'right, we'll leave Ross out and have a look at others' knowing full well that Ross Moriarty, come the Six Nations, is going to be very hungry.
"There's method in the madness but it remains to be seen how they go in November."
Explosive Wainwright superb
Aaron Wainwright is another one looking to give Wayne Pivac a nudge after being left out of his autumn plans.
Wainwright came from nowhere to make his Wales debut in Argentina under Warren Gatland before becoming a key part of the squad at the World Cup the following year.
He has since accrued an impressive 38 caps, but has not made a Wales appearance since the summer of 2021. The 25-year-old has once again been deemed surplus to requirements by Pivac for this autumn, but his boss at domestic level was singing his praises after the Dragons' victory over the Ospreys.
“I thought Aaron was superb,” said Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan.
“He’s an elusive, strong ball-carrier and we saw that out there. He’s so explosive and, having him on your shoulder, he holds people, preserves space and we can execute then.
“He was really good at what he’s good at and the other stuff will come, for sure. He has some specific work-ons. That’s obviously between him and Wayne.”
Hooper opens up on mental health
Australian rugby star Michael Hooper has opened up on his mental health after he withdrew from a Test match against Argentina at the 11th hour earlier this year.
The then-Wallabies skipper returned home to Australia and put the decision down to a combination of home-sickness and thoughts of retirement.
The 30-year-old has been a mainstay in the Wallabies side for the best part of a decade and speculation over his future has been rife.
Speaking to the media for the first time since his withdrawal from the side, he said: “I’d been playing the game for a long time, had some great changes in my life happen this year and I think there were a lot of things running through my head that showed up in Argentina.
"Argentina wasn’t the place where I could sort those things out. I wanted to be around family, I wanted to be in a place that I could put the time in that I wanted to put in.
“That doesn’t mean now that I’m sitting here completely cured, it’s not like that at all. But at that point in time I needed to be somewhere else and that wasn’t Argentina.
"I know that’s quite vague but I’m still getting my head around it. It’s not that long ago. But I’m feeling in a place now where I’m keen to be here.”
He added: “It came around suddenly. It was probably exacerbated being overseas but certainly, where I’m at in my career and things like that, you start to look at post rugby.
"There’s a lot more elements than being a 22-year-old pretty much concerned about yourself. That played into it.
"I think it’s only natural that as an athlete there’s going to be a transition point in my career, and that was a factor."
Hooper is preparing to tour with Australia this autumn and could well face Wales in Cardiff on November 26.
Wales fall to Tonga
Wales fell 32-6 to Tonga after giving their more vaunted opponents an early shock in the Rugby League World Cup.
A Wales side made up predominantly of part-time players with day jobs away from the tournament actually led 6-4 heading towards -time approached, with Kyle Evans’s try putting them ahead.
But Tonga hit back with a hat-trick of tries from Daniel Tupou and predictably proved too strong in the end.
Wales coach John Kear said of his team: “You’ve got to take your hat off to them. They committed totally against a big, physical team and I’m proud of them. They gave everything.”
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