Here are the latest rugby evening headlines on Wednesday, July 20.
Wales team merges with England and Scotland to form Great Britain
Wales will no longer participate in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series next season after it was announced the Welsh, English and Scottish will combine to form a Great Britain men's and women's team instead.
The move has been ratified and mandated by World Rugby, aligning the governing bodies' future direction of sevens and connection to its Olympic status. It means that Great Britain will be a representative team in the World Series for men and women, replacing England, Scotland and Wales in the men's competition and England in the women's, although each union will retain individual Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup status, depending on qualification.
Read more: Wales' pre-season fixtures in full as teams prepare for Anglo-Welsh showdowns
The respective unions and World Rugby are in discussions regarding further playing opportunities for the England, Scotland and Wales teams. Great Britain's men won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and were fourth in Tokyo last year, while GB women finished fourth on both of those occasions.
WRU performance director Nigel Walker said: "We will maintain male and female sevens programmes in Wales to develop players and coaches and make sure there is a pipeline of talent culminating in the opportunity to push for GB selection, and ultimately compete at an Olympics."
Prospects for the men's and women's GB squads looked bleak a year before Tokyo, though, amid significant cuts made to British sevens programmes.
Although funding was then obtained ahead of the Olympics via a commercial partnership struck between the RFU, Scottish Rugby, WRU and The National Lottery promotional fund, post-Tokyo uncertainty remained.
The WRU had suspended the men's Wales Sevens team in 2020 due to the impact of Covid before Richie Pugh was drafted in last autumn to become head of sevens. As for Wales' women, players returned to Sevens action following the 2021 Six Nations.
A statement said coaches and playing squads would be confirmed ahead of the World Series men's opener in Hong Kong in November and women's launch in Dubai the following month.
'France pack would trump South Africa right now'
Leinster legend and Fiji international Isa Nacewa believes Grand Slam champions France would overthrow South Africa, especially up front.
Les Bleus, currently ranked second in the world one place above the Springboks, host the world champions on November 12 in Marseille, and it looks like France are being backed already.
Speaking on the latest episode of Sky Sport‘s ‘The Breakdown’, Nacewa said: "The French are an absolute beast.
"Their forward pack would, in my eyes, trump South Africa right now. They’ve got a physical presence and a game nouse that would trump South Africa with ease and we’ve seen what they can do.
"Their backs, they don’t need to have much structure, game-plan and flair – they’ve got a little bit and that’s enough – but that is their style. They know that they go to that and they do it very, very well. But they are absolute beasts at the breakdown."
Wales internationals sign new deals
Wales backs duo Hannah Jones and Lisa Neumann have put pen to paper on fresh deals to remain with Gloucester-Hartpury in England's Allianz Premier 15s next season.
The abrasive centre and hard-running winger respectively join the likes of Wales team-mates Bethan Lewis, Gwen Crabb, Kelsey Jones, Sisilia Tuipulotu, Lleucu George, Cara Hope, Cerys Hale and Kerin Lake on agreeing new terms ahead of the 2022/23 season.
The heavily Welsh-represented team finished fourth in the league last season.
Sale sign England international on short-term deal
Sale have signed England international scrum-half Joe Simpson on a short-term deal. The Sharks said that Simpson had agreed a six-month contract ahead of the new Gallagher Premiership season, which kicks off on September 9.
Simpson, 34, made almost 250 appearances for Wasps before joining Gloucester in 2019. He had loan spells at Saracens and Bath last term. Sale scrum-halves Raffi Quirke and Will Cliff are currently sidelined with injuries.
"We felt that we were short of a bit of experience in the scrum-half position, and Joe brings that in abundance," Sale rugby director Alex Sanderson said. "He is a proven performer who has played at the very highest level for the past decade and more, and we are sure he will be a brilliant addition to what is a very young squad."
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