Here are the latest rugby headlines on Wednesday, December 7.
Gatland suffers Anscombe blow
Luckless Gareth Anscombe is ‘unlikely’ to be available for the start of the Six Nations because of the shoulder injury he picked up while on Wales duty against Australia.
It’s a setback for the Ospreys and Warren Gatland as he prepares to start his second stint as Wales head coach. Anscombe was his first-choice fly-half in the 2019 Grand Slam campaign and the coach recently namechecked him as someone who impressed in the autumn.
Anscombe left the field in obvious pain during the second half in the 39-34 loss to the Wallabies. Now it transpires he could face a lengthy time on the sidelines.
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“Gareth Anscombe is a long-term injury,” said Ospreys head coach Toby Booth.
“He’s in the same scenario that Justin Tipuric was in with his shoulder blade, so that’s a difficult one. We’ll see how that goes.
“He’s back in the building and doing everything he can to get back as soon as he can.
“It’s not as bad as Justin’s. The timeline is still going to be pretty lengthy, though. It depends on how the bone growth goes, which is an individual thing.”
At least Wales and the Ospreys can console themselves that the injury isn’t as serious as the one that sidelined Tipuric after he was hurt in a Lions tour warm-up match in 2021. He ended up being out for 14 months.
But Anscombe could still struggle to make the starting grid for the Six Nations, which begins for Wales with a home game against Ireland on February 4. Asked directly whether he felt the 31-year-old would be ready for the opening of the 2023 tournament, Booth replied: “It’s going to be unlikely, for sure.
“But we just want to get him back playing as soon as we can, whenever we can."
Haskell slams Jones' sacking as 'utter madness'
Former England international James Haskell has slammed the RFU's decision to sack Eddie Jones as head coach, describing him as "by far and away the best coach I've ever worked with".
Jones was relieved of his duties on Tuesday after seven years in charge and the highest win percentage of any England coach in history, with the 62-year-old winning three Six Nations championships and one Grand Slam during his time at the helm, as well as reaching the Rugby World Cup final in 2019.
He is set to be replaced by Leicester Tigers coach Steve Borthwick after a disappointing Autumn Series campaign saw England fall to defeats against South Africa and Argentina.
Speaking to Sky Sports following Jones' dismissal, Haskell, who won 77 caps for England and played under the Australian coach between 2016 and 2018, described the RFU's decision to sack him ahead of next year's Rugby World Cup as "utter madness," and pointed the finger at "grumpy old journalists" and "miserable fans" who had "gang[ed] up to get rid of him".
"Personally, it's utter madness," he said. "You have literally taken the most successful World Cup coach, with a 90 percent winning record, and binned him nine months before a World Cup. He’s been to three World Cup finals. He’s won one and lost two. And he took Japan to some of the biggest upsets they’ve ever had."
While conceding that recent results were "disappointing," the former Wasps and Northampton Saints flanker argued there were no "catastrophic errors" and claimed the decision to sack Jones was based "rhetoric and nonsense" rather than facts.
“A lot of times, if you upset people and don’t conform, and Eddie Jones doesn’t conform - does he get everything right? No, I don’t think anybody gets everything right - unfortunately, I think that because Eddie didn’t conform, didn’t play to the media’s tune, there were some guys that just didn’t want him in there.
"What some of these older heads are doing and some of these older journalists who don’t like Eddie, who don’t actually come down and watch training, they don’t speak to any of the current players, they’re not particularly popular with current players because of their opinions because they’re there to sell newspapers, then you’ve got ex-coaches who have agendas and vendettas who are able to use their media platform to put things out there. It’s not based on fact, it’s rhetoric, it’s nonsense."
Haskell added that Jones was the best coach he had ever worked with, claiming that other international coaches had created "some of the worst environments" he had been involved in as a player.
"Eddie’s there to put the best players on the field and I had five international coaches with England, and they were some of the worst environments I’ve ever been part of," said Haskell. “Eddie Jones is by far and away the best coach I’ve ever worked with. He understood how to get the best out of the players, create a competitive environment, create a professional environment, and some of these journalists, when they recommend coaches to take over, the people they’re suggesting are not in the same league as Eddie Jones.”
Wilkinson reportedly in line for England coaching role
England legend Jonny Wilkinson is set to land a coaching role in a new-look England set-up ahead of next year's World Cup, according to reports.
Rugby news website Ruck is reporting that the 43-year-old, whose drop goal famously won England the World Cup in 2003, is in line to join Steve Borthwick - who is expected to replace the outgoing Eddie Jones - as part of the men's national coaching team over the summer.
They report that Wilkinson will sign a short-term deal and work with the likes of Owen Farrell and Marcus Smith as a specialist kicking coach ahead of the tournament in France next autumn. The former England star worked with Jones' side as they made it to the World Cup final in Japan three years ago.
The RFU reportedly faced competition from Les Bleus to secure former Toulon star Wilkinson, who was linked with a move across the Channel earlier this year.
Streaming service makes further move into rugby market
Scandinavian streaming service Viaplay has agreed a deal to broadcast EPCR Challenge Cup games in the UK until the end of the 2023/24 season, marking a further expansion of its rugby coverage.
The two-year-deal comes after Viaplay launched in the UK on November 1. It already has rights to the United Rugby Championship and Top14 competitions in its rugby portfolio, as well as all Euro and World Cup qualifying matches for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland's men's football teams, NGL ice hockey, the PDC European Tour of Darts and others.
The Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup will be played over eight weekends, with the journey to the 2023 finals at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium kicking off on Friday, December 9.
Live first-round fixtures being shown on Viaplay include Bath v Glasgow Warriors, Connacht v Newcastle Falcons and Perpignan v Bristol Bears. Former players including John Barclay, Tom Shanklin and Matt Banahan will be among Viaplay’s analysts for its Challenge Cup coverage.
Ed Breeze, Viaplay Group head of sports UK, said: “We are thrilled to partner with EPCR and to secure even more world-class rugby to complement our URC and Top14 coverage. Rugby is a top priority for Viaplay in the UK, and our viewers can look forward to some of the very best action from the EPCR Challenge Cup over the coming two years.”
The announcement also follows previous confirmation of multi-year broadcast agreement renewals by BT Sport in the UK and Ireland, by beIN SPORTS and France Télévisions in France, and by S4C in Wales.
MND funding announcement after Rob Burrow plea
The UK Government's health secretary has pledged to make an announcement on motor neurone disease (MND) research funding "in days" after Rob Burrow hit out at the "stupid Government" in a row over the whereabouts of the money.
More than a year ago, the UK Government had committed at least £50million to help find new therapies, and eventually a cure, for MND, a condition in which the brain and nerves progressively degenerate. But the Department of Health and Social Care was accused of withholding the research funding following the death of former Scotland rugby international Doddie Weir from MND earlier this month.
Following the former Lions legend's death, the Motor Neurone Disease Association said none of the money promised was in the hands of researchers.
Burrow, who was also diagnosed with MND in 2019, accused ministers of holding back the money, taking to Twitter to ask: "How many more warriors die before this stupid government give the 50m they said they would give?" His former Leeds Rhinos teammate Kevin Sinfield, who recently ran 300 miles to fundraise for MND charities, also said he "can't see any reason" why scientists cannot access the funding.
Challenged about the statement on BBC Breakfast, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "It's a massive priority because I have so much respect for what Rob has done, for what Kevin has done, for Doddie Weir and Ed Slater, the Gloucestershire and former England and Leicester player. It's something I've taken a huge personal interest in. The frustration was we've got the funding, the funding is all agreed, there was a concern among our science community in terms of the fact that some of the bids had come in and were not what they felt were needed from a scientific point of view. I prioritise that. I'm expecting to be in a position to announce something very, very shortly on that and really to address Rob's concern."
He added the announcement would be in "days not weeks".
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