Your rugby morning headlines for Wednesday, July 6.
Nigel Owens questions Rees-Zammit yellow
Nigel Owens says Louis Rees-Zammit should not have been sin-binned following his last-ditch tackle on Willie le Roux.
The wing ace scored two tries as Wales looked on course to secure a famous first win over the Springboks on South African soil. However, the visitors were down on numbers late on, at one stage being reduced to 12 players as Rees-Zammit, Alun Wyn Jones and Rhys Carre were yellow carded for separate offences.
With just shy of seven minutes left on the clock in the first Test, Rees-Zammit was penalised after hauling down le Roux as the 32-year-old appeared destined to cross the whitewash. The Wales man was adjudged to have intentionally slowed play down, with the Springboks scoring a penalty try from the following play.
But top referee Owens believes Rees-Zammit was desperately unfortunate to be sent to the sin-bin. "Not as a Welshman but as an ex-referee, yes for me it was a bit harsh...” he told World Rugby.
"A player does a defending tackle, he needs to release the player on the ground, he needs to get up on his feet on the right side behind the ball and the ball carrier with the back towards his own try-line and then on his feet to play the ball.
"For me, this is textbook defending by Louis Rees-Zammit. Great tackle, releases, gets to his feet so you have a clear release and then he gets on the ball legally on his feet. This, for me, is a very harsh penalty, let alone a yellow card. For me this was textbook defending and should have been play on."
Blueprint for Wales success against Springboks revealed
Will Rowlands admits Wales must significantly improve their discipline and cut down the number of penalties if they are to emerge victorious against South Africa this summer.
“It was a game we could have won and definitely should have drawn, that’s why we feel so disappointed,” said Rowlands of the first Test. "There were some good aspects about our performance, and we put them under some pressure, but there are definitely things for us to work on that ultimately stopped us from getting a result.
“Our discipline is one of them. We gave away too many penalties which led to them getting a number of driving lineouts in our 22. They are hard to defend and we have to focus on cutting down the number of penalties we concede to limit their chances. We need to be able to impose our game on them.”
The second Test at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein gets underway at 4.05pm on Saturday.
Nienaber: People expected Wales to roll over
Springbok boss Jacques Nienaber says his side always knew the series against Wales would be hotly-contested, despite 'a lot of people' thinking his side would breeze past the tourists.
Heading into the trip, Wayne Pivac's men were widely written off but gave the world champions a scare before blowing an 18-3 half time lead at Loftus Versfeld. It turned into a painful night for Wales, losing the match with the last kick of the game as Damian Willemse capped a superb performance with the decisive penalty.
Wales will name their team for the next game on Thursday but Nienaber has gone early and made wholesale changes to his side. Though he maintains that they are not underestimating the challenge that lies ahead.
He said: "From the start of our preparation camps, a lot of people expected Wales to be a roll over based on their performance in the Six Nations. But all we can do is look at the reality and the last five Test matches they've lost - yes they've lost them - but there was one score in all of those Test matches.
"That's between South Africa, France, England in Twickenham. These are big games and they could have gone either way. From the outset we thought it was going to be a tight game and tight series.
"Wales are one team that can bring it physically. There are a couple of those teams in the world and Wales are one of them. That's going to be the challenge for our debutants and they know it.
"But we believe they're good enough to handle that."
Farrell's classy gesture revealed
Henry Arundell has revealed he was handed a shirt by Owen Farrell as a memento following his try-scoring debut for England against Australia.
Eddie Jones' side controlled proceedings for long periods in the first Test, but a late collapse saw them lose 30-28 to the Wallabies - who played more than half of the game with just 14 men following the dismissal of Darcy Swain. However, the visitors salvaged some pride with two late tries, the first of which was scored in stunning fashion by Arundell who had only been on the pitch for seven minutes.
And following the game, the 19-year-old revealed he was the proud recipient of a jersey from centre Farrell in the changing room. "On a personal level and for my family as well, it was an incredible, incredible day," Arundell told Sky Sports.
"I didn't think I'd ever do that type of thing, so I'm really excited about that, but there's a bigger focus. It's great to score a try, but guys like Owen Farrell have almost played 100 Tests and that's the goal for me, to be at that sort of level.
"Owen gave me one of his shirts after the game to say well done. There's a mutual understanding that great, that's happened, but the Test series is the main thing - and winning the World Cup next year."
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Wales boss signs new World Cup deal
Ioan Cunningham will lead Wales Women through to the 2025 Rugby World Cup, the Welsh Rugby Union has announced.
The announcement comes amid a significant boost to the women's game in Wales, with no fewer than 17 players being handed new full-time contracts by the WRU covering July to December for this autumn's World Cup. These are in addition to the 12 players who took up the first 12 full-time deals in January.
“First things first, I’m delighted with this latest investment in players and staff which will give the players the best opportunity to succeed in October," said Cunningham. “We are competing against other nations across the world, who are continually raising the bar themselves so it’s vital to keep improving to have a chance of getting ahead of that progression curve.
“I’m delighted to stay on with this group. I love working with the players and staff every day and look forward to seeing how far we can go over the next few years, not just with this squad but with the next crop of players coming through too.”
You can read the full update from the WRU on the women's game here.
England star to miss second Test as Cooper's tour in doubt
Quade Cooper is doubtful for the remainder of Australia's summer series against England due to a calf injury.
The 34-year-old was due to start in Saturday's first Test but sustained the problem during the warm-up in Perth, with Noah Lolesio replacing him at fly-half. And reports from Australia suggest Cooper will miss this weekend's second Test at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane while he is highly doubtful to be involved in the third and final Test in Sydney on July 16.
Speaking after the Wallabies' 30-28 triumph over England last time out, head coach Dave Rennie said: “We’re not sure the extent of that but he couldn’t push off the calf, so we’ll assess and have a clear idea during the week."
Meanwhile, Jonny May is set to miss the second Test after taking longer than expected to recover from Covid-19. The winger tested positive for the virus after England arrived in Australia, meaning he missed the first Test in order to isolate in line with government guidelines.
However, the 32-year-old is yet to resume training and is now expected to be unavailable to face the Wallabies on Saturday.
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