The latest rugby news stories from Wales and beyond today
Here are your rugby morning headlines for Friday, February 27.
Thomas desperate to play for Ospreys after falling down Wales pecking order
Wales prop Gareth Thomas admits it has been tough falling out of favour with the national team.
Having made his debut in the summer of 2021, the Ospreys loosehead has never gone more than two matches since without being involved in a Wales matchday squad. However, this year’s Six Nations has seen the 44-cap Thomas fall behind Rhys Carre and Nicky Smith – not playing in Wales’ first three matches of the tournament.
Following his longest spell out of the national team’s 23, Thomas is back with the Ospreys this weekend for their clash with Ulster in Bridgend.
“It’s tough to be fair,” said Thomas. “The last couple of years, I’ve not been left out of the team.
“So prepping the team every week, it is hard. The environment is so good now, you just want to be involved. I’m just trying to work my way back.”
On dealing with the coaches, Thomas added: “We’ve had good chats. All of them are facilitating whatever you need to work on to get better. There’s a bit of everything, a bit on the gameplan as well. I know what I need to do and I am doing it.
“I spoke to Steve after the game on the weekend and he said he is seeing stuff like that, a lot of the unseen stuff. It’s good to know they are watching you do your extras, doing everything you can to be involved. I’m ready to go whenever I’m called upon.”
Minutes with the Ospreys will help him push his case ahead of the final games against Ireland and Italy, with this weekend marking a special occasion for Thomas – his 150th appearance for his club. Thomas admits he was very keen to be released from Wales to help the Ospreys and achieve his milestone on home turf.
“I was pretty much begging Steve (Tandy) to come back last week,” said Thomas. “Playing my 150th game at home in front of my family.
“It has flown by, but I’m quite proud to achieve that. If you look at my position and who has achieved that, there’s only three or four top-end looseheads who has done that. It’s class to be in a group with them.”
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RFU ready to rubber-stamp radical plans
The Rugby Football Union are expected to rubber-stamp a radical new structure for the English game today.
Today will see a RFU council meeting held in which a new model seeing the Gallagher Prem separated from the rest of English rugby’s pyramid is expected to be signed off – with promotion and relegation scrapped immediately.
The Prem would then look to expand from 10 teams to 12 by 2030, with further expansion possible beyond that.
The likes of Wasps, Worcester and London Irish could all return to the top flight in the future as English rugby looks to grow the Prem.
There has been no relegation since Saracens went down in 2020, while the club were the last team to gain promotion to the Prem the following year.
There is currently a mechanism for promotion and relegation between the Prem and Champ – but Ealing Trailfinders have continually failed to meet the standards to go up.
Under the new plans, ambitious clubs would still be able to apply for a place in the Prem, but would need to meet a variety of revamped criteria. But BBC Sport report that any club, rather than just the Champ winners, would be able to apply.
“We are lifting the bar on what we want clubs to do across various areas,” one leading executive told BBC Sport.
That could open the door for the likes of Coventry and Wasps.
An Anglo-Welsh league has long been floated as a possible solution to Welsh rugby’s ills, but sources suggest that it remains a non-starter until at least 2030, which is when the current English TV deal expires.
Promising Welsh youngster commits to club
Dragons scrum-half Che Hope has signed a contract extension to stay at Rodney Parade.
The promising 23-year-old’s deal was up this summer, but he has committed to at least another two years at Rodney Parade.
The scrum-half has enjoyed a strong campaign, scoring four tries in 10 matches to put him in the frame for a Wales call-up.
“Che has got our attack flowing, particularly in the last block of games, and we’re excited to see that impact in the years to come,” said Dragons assistant coach Matt O’Brien.
“What is really pleasing is that Che still has a lot of growth in his game and we can now look forward to him to continuing to kick on with us in the seasons ahead.”