Here are your rugby morning headlines for Sunday, May 24.
Here are your rugby morning headlines for Sunday, May 24.
Shane’s son picks up award
Wales legend Shane Williams’ son has been celebrating more success in his own fledgling rugby journey, after being named Amman United Youth’s player of the season.
Carter, also a wing, picked up the award just weeks after helping Amman lift the WRU U18s Cup at the Principality Stadium. He knocked over two penalties and two conversions to help them beat Pontypool United 30-13 in the final.
The Wales legend coaches the side, which also includes two players who featured for Wales U18s at the recent U18s Six Nations Festival in France.
“He’s pretty quick, he’s got footwork and he kicks off both feet,” Williams told WalesOnline earlier this year when asked about son Carter.
“He’s a bit more of a footballer than I was to be perfectly honest with you. His skillset is definitely better than mine.
“He plays full-back, wing and can also play 10. He’s a bit of an all-rounder and a bit like James Hook.
“He also kicks at goal so that’s not a bad person to try to emulate. He’s had a great season.
“He’s had a couple of setbacks over the last couple of years with injury and non-selection. I’ve just let him deal with that himself and he’s bounced back bigger, better and stronger.
“He’s had a lovely season so it would be perfect for him and the rest of the boys to finish the season off in style.”
Lydiate signs off
Dan Lydiate has signed off his time with the Dragons ahead of a move to a new job with Wales this summer.
Lydiate has been appointed specialist coach focusing on defensive contact skills, having worked with Wales on secondment for the last two campaigns.
He will link up with Steve Tandy’s team in time for matches against the Barbarians, Fiji, Argentina and South Africa this summer.
After one season in a full-time role at Rodney Parade, the 72-cap back-row will now move into the Test arena as a coach.
He wrote a message on X to supporters, saying: “End to another season @dragonsrfc. My time has come to and end here but grateful for the opportunity for the people I have worked with . This year has taught me me a lot as my 1st year as a coach.
“Onto pastures news and looking forward to ripping into the next adventure.”
Lions star set to leave
Ireland and Lions winger James Lowe is reportedly set to leave Leinster next month after missing their Champions Cup final defeat.
The 33-year-old did not feature in the loss to Bordeaux, having only recently returned from injury. But Lowe, who toured Australia with the Lions last year, is reportedly nearing the exit door in Dublin.
The former Chiefs winger, who joined Leinster in 2017, has spoken to clubs in England and France, according to RugbyPass.
The report adds that there’s a strong chance he will leave when his deal expires at the end of next month, as Leinster no longer get central funding for the wing.
Leinster paid for poor first half, admits captain Caelan Doris
By Duncan Bech, Press Association Rugby Union Correspondent
Caelan Doris admitted Leinster were punished for their poor first half as Bordeaux retained their Investec Champions Cup crown with a 41-19 victory in the final at Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium.
A 35-7 interval deficit that saw Leinster’s line breached five times, including twice by wing magician Louis Bielle-Biarrey, left them with an impossible task in their pursuit of a fifth European title.
They have now fallen in the final five times since their most recent triumph in 2018, with the last four of those losses coming against French opposition.
“You have to credit Bordeaux,” captain Doris told Premier Sports. “Some of their attack in that first half was incredibly hard to deal with.
“We’ve obviously scouted them thoroughly and a lot of it starts with the contact area. If you’re not winning that, you can see what they can do.
“They’re capable of big moments out of nothing. A lot of the scraps and stuff went their way earlier on, but it comes from the contact area, which we didn’t deal with well enough.
“We left ourselves too tall a mountain to climb. Proud of the effort of our boys in the second half, trying to climb back.
“Felt there were quite a few opportunities that we didn’t take out there, which is obviously incredibly disappointing.”
Leinster will turn their attention to defending their United Rugby Championship title once they have recovered from another European disappointment.
“It’s an incredibly tough competition to win,” Doris said. “We’ve been in the latter stages quite a few times.
“I’m proud of the boys for the resilience we’ve shown to keep coming back and no doubt we’ll be back better again next year. We’ve got to stay together.”
Bordeaux prop Ben Tameifuna won two turnovers to make a big impact off the bench and he described the champions’ performance as “the perfect match”.
Tameifuna said: “It’s just a huge relief. It’s probably one of the few times I’ve been nervous in my career because going back-to-back is huge.
“We just had to stick together because Leinster are a top team. We know they have internationals right through the squad, from one to 23.
“We had a huge role on the bench to come on and bring a bit of energy and try and match physicality. I feel we did that and we played a perfect match.”
Munster CEO apologises
Munster chief executive Ian Flanagan has apologised to supporters after the province were forced to backtrack on appointing Roger Randle as an assistant coach.
Randle’s appointment was met with criticism, after previous rape allegations against the former New Zealand player from 1997 re-emerged. Randle has consistently protested his innocence, while he was not charged over the allegations.
Three former Munster players – Billy Holland, Killian Keane and Mick O’Driscoll – resigned from the club’s Professional Games Committee.
Flanagan has said that he took full responsibility for the failed process surrounding Randle’s initial appointment.
“I understand that. I accept it. I acknowledge it,” Flanagan told the Irish Examiner. “And I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s just supporters. We have a lot of stakeholders and I know there’s disappointment out there from a lot of people.
“I know there is upset out there from a lot of people and this is a significant motivation for commissioning the independent review that we want to assure people.
“Firstly, I want to apologise to those people for how it did unfold and hold our hands up and say, we want to learn from this.
“We do want to re-establish trust… and we want to reassure everyone that we are going to learn from this and we are going to strengthen our processes and our governance so that it doesn’t happen again.”
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Bielle-Biarrey crowned Europe’s best
Bordeaux winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey was named EPCR Player of the Year after guiding his side to their second Champions Cup title.
The French wing scored twice in the hammering of Leinster in Bilbao on Saturday, ensuring he finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 10 tries.
Bielle-Biarrey was chosen by the judges as their choice for the prize following the 41-19 win over the Irish province.
He becomes the fourth successive Frenchman to win the award, with team-mate Damian Penaud having won it last year.
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