Here are your rugby evening headlines for Friday, 19 August.
Tipuric date set and Francis latest
Wales international Justin Tipuric is poised to make his long-awaited return to playing action when the Ospreys host Northampton Saints in a friendly at the Brewery Field on September 2.
The peerless openside hasn’t been seen on a rugby field since smashing his scapula while on Lions duty against Japan on June 26 last year — more than 400 days ago.
The Ospreys have decided to hold him back for the friendly with Hartpury University at Alpas Arena on Saturday, but the 85-cap Trebanos product is expected back for their final pre-season workout, against the Saints in Bridgend.
Head coach Toby Booth said: “Justin’s in full training, which is good. We are not involving him against Hartpury, but we’ll have a look at him in the Northampton game in a fortnight’s time with a view to him starting the season.
“It’s great news for him, the region, his family, our supporters — everyone.
“Justin’s a guy who lives and breathes the Ospreys. He’s passionate about the region and so for him to be denied the opportunity for him to be out there for such a long period of time would have been very frustrating.
“We’re delighted to have him back.
“He suffered a very complex injury, one you only usually see in road traffic collisions.
“To have him available again, with no repercussions as he moves through the contact stages, is great.”
More bright news for the Ospreys is that prop Tomas Francis is on the mend after recovering from the concussion he suffered in Wales’ opening Test against South Africa this summer. “He’s had to have an extended time away and be signed off by specialists," said Booth.
“But Franny’s OK.
“He has no symptoms and we don’t foresee problems.”
England No. 8 moving closer to Gloucester deal
England international and Montpellier No. 8 Zach Mercer has reportedly signed a long-term deal with Gloucester that would see him be eligible for selection at next year's World Cup in France.
French newspaper Midi Libre, who cover Montpellier, have reported that the 25-year-old is set to move to Kingsholm when his contract in France expires next June, meaning Eddie Jones will be able to pick him for the World Cup later that year. Mercer previously won two caps for England, but had fallen out of favour before heading abroad in 2021.
Since heading to France, Mercer has taken his game to a new level - with his performances in Montpellier's title win earning rave reviews. "Too bad the English realized that (he was so good) when he was with us," said Montpellier sports director Philippe Saint-André a few weeks ago.
READ MORE: Welsh Premiership to increase to 14 clubs as Nigel Walker's plan to cut teams is blown apart
Springboks' flight to Australia delayed
South Africa's preparations ahead of their Rugby Championship clash with Australia were disrupted when their flight to Adelaide was delayed.
The Springboks were due to fly out on Thursday, but after their flight was grounded due to complications with the flight crew, they were forced to fly out a day later. However, coach Jacques Nienaber isn't too concerned about what effect this will have on the world champions.
“We are a solution-driven team and we will not gain anything by allowing unforeseen circumstances such as this to derail our plans,” Nienaber said.
“The coaches and conditioning staff have already adapted our training programme to suit our delayed arrival in Australia and we will get back down to business as soon as possible when we arrive Down Under.
“Fortunately this group of players have been together all season and they know our game plan and what we need to do to get our Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign back on track, and that is our sole focus at this point.
“We lost a little preparation and travel recovery time, but we have a massive task ahead of us, so we will do everything possible to adapt to the conditions and time zone as quickly as possible once we arrive in Australia and return to the training field.”
WRU launch women's coaching programme
The Welsh Rugby Union in collaboration with Cardiff Metropolitan have launched a ground-breaking Women in High Performance Coaching Programme to enhance the opportunities for women within the performance pathway.
At the launch of the programme, WRU performance director Nigel Walker said it was important that the WRU is seen as an organisation in sport which is open to all.
“We need to be as inclusive as we possibly can be in all aspects of this great game of ours,” he said.
“We’ve been looking for female coaches over the past few months and it’s a very short list at the moment and we need to improve that. And we need to improve it with female coaches who have a 360 degree look at the game.
“I think that if I am standing here in five or 10 years’ time, I hope we will be reflecting on the vast number of female coaches which inhabit the rugby landscape at all levels.”
The programme hopes to enable, encourage, and inspire women coaches to make an impact in their rugby coaching context and, in doing so, begin to change the industrial status quo.
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