Here are the latest rugby evening headlines on Friday, September 2.
Pivac holds talks with Dragons over Rowlands
Wales boss Wayne Pivac has met with Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan to discuss plans for his Test cohort, with a season-long plan for star player Will Rowlands high on the agenda.
The powerful lock, 30, won't be featuring in pre-season but is set to be available for the side's season opener on September 17 against Edinburgh.
The two rugby bosses met on Monday to have one of a number of meetings to be staged throughout the season.
"I think most of the focus is around Will has played a huge amount of game time," Ryan said. "You predict forward and you can see him being involved more than some of the others, so it's about trying to get a player plan that suits Wales and suits ourselves. Those conversations were positive around how we see the season mapping out.
"I don't see him playing in the pre-season games given his load. I certainly think the others, Taine [Basham] and Ben [Carter], will look to be getting back in. Those like Ross [Moriarty] and Waino [Aaron Wainwright] will be appearing in the next few weeks as well."
Wales back-rower Aaron Wainwright has been earmarked for a return from a foot injury in a pre-season fixture against the Scarlets next weekend.
Night of Anglo-Welsh rugby fixtures
Wales' four pro teams are all in pre-season action tonight when they all come up against English Premiership opposition.
Parc y Scarlets plays host to Dwayne Peel's men as they welcome Bristol Bears down the M4, with new All Blacks signing Vaea Fifita set to make his debut. Read more here.
The Ospreys host Northampton Saints at Bridgend's Brewery Field, where flanker Justin Tipuric will make his return after 14 months out injured. Full team news here.
The Dragons host Wasps at Rodney Parade where Ashton Hewitt and Ross Moriarty will both make their long-awaited returns from injury. See how the teams line up here.
Finally, Cardiff travel to Kingsholm Stadium to face Gloucester, with director of rugby Dai Young putting his faith in a number of youngsters. Read more on the team news here.
Gloucester v Cardiff kicks off at 7.45pm, with all the others starting at 7pm. You'll be able to keep up to date on all four matches via WalesOnline's home of rugby here.
Moriarty back in training the day after becoming a dad
Ross Moriarty returned to Dragons training just a day after becoming a dad for the first time, with director of rugby Dean Ryan revealing the Wales international is "desperate" to get back on the field.
Fit-again Moriarty will make his long-awaited return to action in Friday's pre-season game against Wasps following knee surgery. A comeback was on the cards last week for the team's opening pre-season match against Bristol but Moriarty withdrew as he awaited the birth of his daughter Delilah Mae, who was born on Sunday. The back-rower revealed the happy news on social media and spoke of his pride in partner Jordanna Williams.
"I think they had a pretty tough time, not so much him but certainly his partner, last week," Dean Ryan said. "I think they were waiting for hospital beds, etc. so it wasn't possible for him to play last week.
"He turned up out of the blue on Monday for the afternoon training session ready to go. To be honest, we weren't expecting him. We thought probably Tuesday we might see him, but he came in on Monday and he's been keen to get back involved.
"He's a father now. Great to see him back on the field firstly from his injury, and looking forward to seeing him going into this year."
More injury woe for Welsh back-rower
Dragons back-rower Ollie Griffiths is set to miss the start of the United Rugby Championship after suffering more injury woe.
The 27-year-old, who can play across the back row, crossed the whitewash in the pre-season defeat to Bristol last week but was forced off later in the first half having injured his back.
He has seen a specialist and is still waiting for the full diagnosis, with the URC opener against Edinburgh on September 17 looming.
"Ollie Griffiths got a pull in his back," director of rugby Dean Ryan said. "We'll wait and see what length of time that injury will be. Possibly [a doubt for the start of the season]. I'm only being hesitant as the information is quite new for us in terms of what that is. It's also an injury I've not really seen before."
Super Rugby import to add 'sparkle'
Super Rugby import and former New Zealand U20s international Sio Tomkinson is set to add "sparkle" to the Dragons' backline this season.
The former Highlanders back, who can play centre or wing, arrived in Wales this summer and has been named on the bench to face Wasps on Friday evening.
"I think everyone should be excited about watching him," Dean Ryan said of him. "He hasn't played for nine months either, so it's his first game because he was injured for the tail end of Super Rugby.
"We've been really excited about what we can see day in, day out, and combinations that we can play around with. I think we've always lacked, I suppose, something that just adds a little bit of sparkle outside 12. We've played a lot of people there over the years but we've probably ended up playing phase rugby when we could have probably capitalised on opportunities that were there. It gives us that little bit more of a cutting edge."
England star who suffered horror injury against Wales targets World Cup spot
England boss Simon Middleton has delivered a positive fitness bulletin on wing Abby Dow, who suffered a broken leg during England's TikTok Six Nations victory over Wales in April.
"Abby is ahead of where we hoped. Everything is on track," Middleton added.
"She won't play before the World Cup, but we knew that anyway. We have got a few things in place to make sure she is ready to go. She may well be available for the Fiji game, which is certainly what we are hoping for, and we are very optimistic at this point in time."
Wales' second and final World Cup warm-up is against the Red Roses on Wednesday, September 14.
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