Here are the latest rugby headlines on Tuesday, June 27.
Rugby World Cup set to use 10-minute red-card review system
The Rugby World Cup is set to employ a system for potentially upgrading yellow cards to red during matches, according to reports.
The “foul play review system”, informally known as the “bunker” method, for upgrading cards has been trialled in the southern hemisphere's Super Rugby Pacific competition this season and is also in use at the ongoing World Rugby Under-20 Championship in South Africa.
The Times report that World Rugby is primed to introduce the system to the global showpiece in France this September.
Players would be sent off if they commit an obvious act of foul play, but where incidents are not clear-cut, the player would go to the sin-bin for 10 minutes as a second TMO in the "bunker" reviews the relevant footage. The yellow card would then either be upgraded to a red, with the player unable to return or be replaced, or remain yellow, with the player able to return to the field after 10 minutes.
If there are no major hitches when used during northern hemisphere World Cup warm-ups this summer, The Times say the system will come in for the World Cup.
A a 'shot clock' timer on scrums, line-outs and kicks at goal in order to speed the game is also set to be brought in.
While time limits of 60 seconds for a penalty and 90 seconds for a conversion are already in place for kickers, they are regularly ignored.
Gatland gets new Six Nations option
Warren Gatland will be able to call upon Wales-qualified back-rower Taine Plumtree during the 2023/24 Six Nations, with the forward's move to join the Scarlets next season officially announced on Tuesday.
Born in Swansea, the 23-year-old back-rower is set to arrive in Wales this week after confirming his move from New Zealand, where he has been playing Super Rugby for the Auckland-based Blues and provincial rugby for Wellington. Taine is the son of John Plumtree, the former Swansea head coach and All Blacks and Ireland assistant coach.
The signing was first trailed by WalesOnline earlier this month.
Plumtree was selected for the World Junior Championships in 2019 - playing for the Baby Blacks against Wales in that tournament in Argentina - with his senior career beginning with Wellington in New Zealand’s provincial competition, the Mitre 10 Cup. He made his Super Rugby debut for the Blues in 2021 and has continued to impress for Wellington, scoring a hat-trick of tries in a game against Northland.
Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel said: “Taine is an athletic, versatile forward who is able to play across the back row. We have been impressed by what we have seen of him with Wellington and when he has featured for the Blues in Super Rugby. He is a player of huge potential and we are excited for him to join the young generation of Scarlets who are coming through the ranks here. I am sure he will fit in well with the style of rugby we like to play and we’re looking forward to welcoming into the group ahead of the new season.”
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Wales heartbreaker suffers injury blow
South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard has been ruled out of the Rugby Championship as he is given time to recover from a calf injury.
Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus confirmed the news on Tuesday, with Pollard currently in camp in Pretoria as the squad prepare for their first Rugby Championship match against Australia on July 8. They will then face New Zealand and Argentina to complete the shortened tournament on July 29. The 'Boks will then play warm-up matches against Argentina in Buenos Aires on August 5, Wales in Cardiff on August 19 and the All Blacks at Twickenham on August 25 in preparation of their World Cup title defence, and it is one of these fixtures Pollard is targeting a return.
The World Cup in France kicks off on September 8 and the Springboks face Scotland in Pool B in Marseille on September 10.
At the 2019 tournament, of course, it was Pollard who ended Wales' hopes of reaching their first World Cup final when he kicked a penalty four minutes from time in the semi-final to send South Africa through to the final.
“The only real concern, and it will be touch and go to play a Rugby Championship game, will be Handré Pollard, and I am not including the Argentina Test match on August 5,” Erasmus said when asked about the Boks' injury concerns for the championship.
“Handrè is a bit of a worry and he will not be able to play in the Rugby Championship. It is a calf injury he suffered playing for his club Leicester — that’s why we have Elton Jantjies here so Handrè can fully recover and we don’t push him too early. His [Pollard's] situation is more or less the same as Siya [Kolisi] — we are looking at either the Argentina, Wales or New Zealand [World Cup warm-up] Tests, which are not part of the Rugby Championship."
Wales U20s make two changes after pushing New Zealand
Wales U20s head coach Mark Jones has made two changes to his team to face Japan at the U20 World Rugby Championship on Thursday, June 29 (1pm UK kick-off time, live on S4C).
Wales will be looking to bounce back after a single-point loss to Pool A rivals New Zealand in their opening game on Saturday.
Louis Fletcher comes in at tighthead prop for Ellis Fackrell, while Ospreys lock Evan Hill earns his first start after coming on as a second-half replacement against New Zealand. There are also two new additions on the bench, with tighthead prop Kian Hire and back-rower Mackenzie Martin getting the nod.
Jones says the selection is a vote of confidence to the side which earned two bonus points against New Zealand.
"We’ve identified some areas in our game we want to rectify which might have got us over the line, giving the boys the opportunity to fix up those areas," he said. "It’s a reward for the boys – we haven’t had many games, so we need to build some cohesion in the team, and we want to make the team difficult to get in to.
"Although it was a positive performance in lots of areas, we didn’t win. And it wasn’t as good a performance as we expected from ourselves. Looking at the score-line, had we performed to the level we expected we probably would have got over the line. We’re all about the performance and usually winning takes care of itself.
"We’ve spent a lot of our time fixing up our own game – we have looked at Japan, it’s clear their score-line against France isn’t flattering but it wasn’t very flattering when we played them [in the Six Nations]. We’re certainly not taking them lightly but our focus is to improve as a group."
Wales U20s: 15. Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby), 14. Llien Morgan (Ospreys), 13. Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby), 12. Bryn Bradley (Harlequins), 11. Harri Houston (Ospreys), 10. Dan Edwards (Ospreys), 9. Archie Hughes (Scarlets), 1. Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (Dragons), 2. Lewis Lloyd (Ospreys), 3. Louis Fletcher (Ospreys), 4. Evan Hill (Ospreys), 5. Jonny Green (Harlequins), 6. Ryan Woodman (Dragons – capt), 7. Lucas De La Rus (Cardiff Rugby), 8. Morgan Morse (Ospreys).
Replacements: 16. Sam Scarfe (Dragons), 17. Josh Morse (Scarlets), 18. Kian Hire (Ospreys), 19. Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby), 20. Seb Driscoll (Harlequins), 21. Tom Florence (Ospreys), 22. Harri Wiilde (Cardiff Rugby), 23. Harri Wiliams (Scarlets).
Premiership Women's Rugby hailed as 'new era' following launch
By Rebecca Johnson, PA
The launch of Premiership Women's Rugby has been hailed as a "new era" with the aim of making England home to the most "competitive, progressive and sustainable" domestic rugby competition in the world, says chief executive Belinda Moore. PWR is replacing the Premier 15s and will manage the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby club competition, which kicks off in the autumn.
PWR has been established to deliver a 10-year strategy for women's rugby in England, which includes starting a new 10-team league in partnership with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the clubs. Women's rugby is already seeing a steady rise in popularity with a record crowd of 9,668 watching Gloucester-Hartpury beat Exeter 34-19 in the Allianz Premier 15s final at 'Queensholm' - Kingsholm having been rebranded for the day - on Saturday.
Additionally, a record-breaking crowd of 58,498 watched England lift their fifth successive Six Nations crown after beating France at Twickenham in April, with Wales Women twice breaking their Cardiff Arms Park attendance record during the tournament, and PWR chief Moore has outlined the aims for the new competition.
She said: "Our ambition is to transform the league into the world's most competitive, progressive, and sustainable domestic rugby competition.
"Elite women's rugby in England has never been in a stronger place. We have just seen Gloucester-Hartpury win the Allianz Premier 15s with a thrilling victory over Exeter Chiefs, in front of a record crowd at the newly-named Queensholm. The final was the culmination of a season which has confirmed that we have strong player talent depth as the foundation to grow the league over the next decade.
"The new era starts today, and the competition's new look and feel is designed to be powerful, dynamic, and eye-catching. It aims to capture the excitement and high energy of the league, the players, the fans, and the sport as a whole."
