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Wales Online
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Katie Sands

Tonight's rugby news as Wales and Lions fly-half dies and regional player to face the All Blacks

Here are the latest rugby evening headlines for Thursday, August 25.

Former Wales and Lions player dies

Former Wales, Lions and Llanelli player D. Ken Jones has died aged 81, the Scarlets have announced.

Jones, who made his Llanelli RFC debut in 1959 while still at Gwendraeth Grammar School, played more than 140 games for the club and represented Wales and the British and Irish Lions.

"From Cross Hands, he started out at Tumble RFC, then played five seasons for the Scarlets at centre and fly-half before moving to Cardiff RFC in 1965," a Scarlets statement said. "He also represented Oxford University where he won a Varsity Blue. Jones was capped 10 times for Wales while at the Scarlets and toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions in 1962, playing in three Tests. He also toured New Zealand and Australia in 1966 while a Cardiff player."

READ MORE: Super Rugby import and two Wales internationals to make Dragons debuts

Dragons scrum-half to face All Blacks

The Dragons' Gonzalo Bertanou will start at scrum-half for Argentina when they face the All Blacks on Saturday (8.45am UK kick-off time).

It is one of three changes made by Los Pumas boss Michael Cheika for the Rugby Championship Test against New Zealand. Joel Sclavi moves up from the bench to replace Gomez Kodela at tighthead prop and Lucio Cinti, nominally a centre, will start on the left wing in place of Imhoff in Christchurch. The third change sees Matias Orlando come in at inside centre to partner Matias Moroni in place of Jeronimo de la Fuente, who pulled a hamstring against the Wallabies.

On the bench, Santiago Socino backs up skipper Julian Montoya at hooker and props Mayco Vivas and Eduardo Bello have come in to cover the the front row.

Wales train alongside opponents ahead of first World Cup warm-up

Wales Women have been training alongside Canada ahead of their World Cup warm-up on Saturday in Halifax. Head coach Ioan Cunningham has named an experimental side, giving opportunities to those who were restricted during the Six Nations. Jasmine Joyce starts after undergoing surgery and three players will earn their first caps. Read the full team news here.

After a joint training session with Canada, who are ranked fourth in the world, former Scarlets forwards coach Cunningham said: "The exercise was excellent for us, we got so much learning from it which is exactly what we want we wanted.

"We got some tough lessons but we also saw some of the good work that's been put in over the last four or five weeks which was pleasing to see in different circumstances.

"The players haven’t had any live rugby apart from against each other in the past few months so it was great to get out of our comfort zones against players you don't meet every day. That was the purpose for us. We know we have to raise our game for Saturday for sure, that was clear to see. The level of athlete that the Canada have got is impressive which makes Saturday’s challenge exciting."

Stormers on the move due to Bieber gig

The Stormers will be forced to move home matches to alternative venues due to clashes with Justin Bieber concerts.

Canadian singer Bieber is due to perform at Cape Town's DHL Stadium on Wednesday, September 28. It means the Stormers' first two home fixtures of the new United Rugby Championship season against Connacht (September 24) and Edinburgh (October 1) will be played in Stellenbosch, according to EWN.

Bieber is also due to hold a concert at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on October 1. The 2022/23 URC season kicks off on September 16.

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