Today's rugby news as imminent announcement to spark Welsh rugby's biggest fight yet

Wales Online

8 hours ago

Today's rugby news as imminent announcement to spark Welsh rugby's biggest fight yet
These are the rugby stories making headlines on Tuesday, August 19.
The Welsh Rugby Union is to announce its plan imminently
(Image: Getty)
These are your rugby headlines on Tuesday, August 19.
‌
Fight for survival to begin
Welsh rugby will enter its most turbulent stage yet in the next 48 hours as the WRU presents its preferred plan to rip up the game as we know it and cut from four to three or two teams.
‌
Ahead of that announcement, which will spark a six-week consultation period with the current professional clubs and the game's main stakeholders, each side has now spoken out to lay down their credentials to survive the cut and fight for a rugby future.
‌
On Monday night the Dragons followed the Ospreys and Scarlets in declaring they have no intention of going quietly. Cardiff, of course, are currently owned and run by the WRU after the union's takeover when the club fell into administration earlier this year. The WRU, however, do not see a future model where rugby is not played in the capital city.
It's understood senior figures within the WRU want a switch to two teams going forward, one in the east and one in the west. That would require mergers of some sort in the first instance, but there is little sign of any of the teams budging from their staunch positions of protecting their own identities.
The Scarlets' new investors have already stated they have no desire to merge with the Ospreys, insisting they should be the team in the west, while the Ospreys are ploughing ahead with plans to redevelop St Helen's and insisting their future will be fruitful financially and on the pitch. In an example of the tension that is set to build over the coming weeks, a Scarlets supporters club and local politicians objected to the Ospreys' St Helen's plans, sparking anger in Swansea.
Article continues below
The fight for survival is already playing out publicly and the rhetoric is likely to reach new levels, with an independent panel to be formed to decide who goes if no consensus can be reached. There is also the prospect of legal action down the line from whoever fails to make it, with the new season beginning amid tension and inevitable acrimony.
Wales star's sympathy for opponents
Wales co-captain Kate Williams says she has sympathy with her Scottish counterparts as they endure unsettling contract uncertainty.
‌
On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, more than half of the Scotland squad fear being left without a contract come the end of the tournament, reported the BBC earlier this summer.
Welsh players know only too well the situation and the upheaval it can bring having gone through something similar last season when the squad were handed ultimatums to sign - or their own place in the World Cup would come under threat. An apology was later issued by the WRU.
"I wouldn't wish what we went through on any other team," said back-row forward Williams.
‌
"It's really poor timing for them, that they're going through this now. I guess our timing was possibly a bit better."
Wales and Scotland are due to lock horns during the competition but Williams added that sympathy will stop when they step onto the pitch in Salford.
"We are here to play rugby and we're here to win that Test match," said the Gloucester-Hartpury flanker.
‌
"We know how important it is, so it's just going to be who's better on the day."
Tuipulotu on a mission
By Phil Blanche, PA
Wales prop Sisilia Tuipulotu is on a mission to beat her father Sione's achievement of playing at two different World Cups.
‌
Tuipulotu senior represented Tonga at the 1999 and 2007 men's World Cups, but spent five years of his career in Wales in the early 2000s at Caerphilly and the Newport-Gwent Dragons.
Rugby is in the family blood as Sisilia's brother Kepu played for England at this summer's World Under-20 Championship and her cousin Carwyn plays for French Top-14 side Pau.
Other cousins include Wales and British Lions number eight great Taulupe Faletau and England's Vunipola brothers.
‌
'It's really cool to have people doing this before me,' said Tuipulotu, 22, who has recovered from hamstring surgery to make Wales' World Cup opener against Scotland in Salford on Saturday.
'To have that support there from my family really means a lot. I'm grateful to have them.
'My dad set the bar on World Cups, but I want to try and beat what he's done. So we'll see how that goes.
‌
'He doesn't really speak much about his experiences unless we go and ask him. He isn't much of a talker. You've got to try and poke him.'
Newport-born Tuipulotu was still a teenager at the previous World Cup three years ago and admits to having had 'a lot of nerves' in New Zealand.
She has become a key player in the Wales pack since, but her place at the 2025 edition in England was put at risk by going under the knife at the start of February.
‌
'I'm back in one piece and my hamstring is now the strongest it has ever been,' said Tuipulotu, who returned for the World Cup warm-up summer series in Australia, which Wales drew 1-1.
'I'm a big believer that everything that happens for a reason, but coming back after the operation was tough both physically and mentally.
'I've been telling the physios to get me back out there even though I couldn't run in straight lines.
‌
'I missed my graduation ceremony (after studying psychology at the University of Gloucestershire) but I was able to watch it on Teams in Australia, and I'm very excited to be back out there with the ball in my hands.'
After their opener against Scotland, Wales remain at the Salford Community Stadium to take on Pool B favourites Canada on August 30 before playing Fiji in Exeter on September 6.
Bristol reveal Rees-Zammit competition
Bristol Rugby head of recruitment Gethin Watts says there were teams from Japan, France and other clubs in England vying for Louis Rees-Zammit's signature.
‌
The Wales winger put pen to paper on a deal last week to join the Ashton Gate side after bringing an end to his 18-month stint in American football.
The former Gloucester man tried valiantly to make his name in the NFL but the 24-year-old decided it was time to return to the sport in which he made his name. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
And Watts, Ospreys, Cardiff and the Welsh Rugby Union, believes the Bears have a "responsibility" to make sure he re-adapts to rugby as smoothly as possible.
‌
"He's a very talented player and there were a lot of clubs from Japan, France and England chasing him so we're chuffed he signed," he said.
"The way we play the game, and the way he wants to play the game - it's a perfect match.
"Physically he's in a good place, but there's a responsibility on us to integrate him back into rugby carefully.
Article continues below
"We're not going to rush him straight away. We need to assess him. Training is completely different to how we do things over here."