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Wales Online
2 days ago
- Sport
- Wales Online
Welsh rugby awards: Best player, worst signings and team of the season
Welsh rugby awards: Best player, worst signings and team of the season The URC season is finally over for Wales' four professional clubs and it's time to dish out the awards Scarlets full-back Blair Murray on his way to scoring a try against Leinster (Image: Huw Evans Agency ) It's the end of another long season for Wales' four professional clubs - Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets - with plenty of drama both on and off the pitch. Operating from a salary cap of just £4.5m, three of Wales' professional clubs achieved competitiveness in the United Rugby Championship, with the Scarlets reaching the end of season play-offs and qualifying for next season's Investec Champions Cup. The Ospreys went furthest in Europe reaching the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup before bowing out with a disappointing home defeat to Lyon. But there were plenty of players who impressed significantly throughout the season. Here are the WalesOnline awards at the end of another season. Player of the season - Blair Murray A year ago very few people would have heard of the 23-year-old when he originally signed for the Scarlets, but he has proved to be an excellent signing. Murray was playing for Canterbury in the Bunnings NPC but with some excellent work by Scarlets recruitment and operations officer James Davies he was picked up by the west Walians. Murray is electric with the ball in hand and has the ability to create opportunities out of absolutely nothing while he is also a deadly finisher. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. The Scarlets flyer is currently joint top of the URC try scoring charts with nine touchdowns which emphasises the impact he has made in west Wales. Murray - who is Welsh qualified courtesy of his Tonyrefail born mother - was also one of Wales' better players in a disappointing campaign, making such an impression he was touted as a British & Irish Lions bolter. Signing of the season - Marnus van der Merwe In all honesty Murray could and should also take this title but South African hooker Marnus van der Merwe has been just as good for the Scarlets. The west Walians struggled badly upfront last season and the 28-year-old has played a big part in the Scarlets' resurgence. Van der Merwe is an explosive ball carrier who regularly gets over the gain line and is extremely physical in defence, while his work in the set-piece is also top class. Stylistically, the former Cheetahs hooker is similar to Springboks World Cup winner Malcolm Marx with his ability to win turnovers at the breakdown as good as any openside in the URC. The Scarlets star has made such an impact this season he has been included in the Springboks alignment camp and is expected to be included in Rassie Erasmus' squad for summer Tests against Italy and Georgia before the Rugby Championship begins in August. Unsung hero - Harri Millard The 28-year-old who can play centre or wing has been outstanding for Cardiff this season. Millard may not be a big name but he has been one of the most consistent performers in the Welsh game this season. The Cardiff man has scored some important tries for Matt Sherratt's side this and is level with Blair Murray and the Stormers' Leolin Zas as the top try scorer in the URC with nine. Millard is a safe pair of hands and rarely makes mistakes while he is dangerous with the ball in hand. There has to be an honourable mention to his Cardiff teammate Alun Lawrence who a couple of years ago found himself without a job after English Championship outfit Jersey Reds went to the wall. Luckily the 26-year-old was offered an opportunity to return to Cardiff where he has been a consistent performer over the past couple of seasons. Young player of the season - Macs Page The 20-year-old Scarlets back - who can cover both centre and wing - edges out Ospreys backrower Morgan Morse for this award. In his first full season of professional rugby, Page made a big impression and there were a number of standout moments for the man from Crymych who just oozes class. Page has scored five tries this season with his stunning score against Zebre in October arguably the try of the season. The rising Scarlets star is pure X-factor with his explosive physicality, electric footwork, pace and finishing ability marking him out as a star of the future. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free His performances have not gone unnoticed, with Page in line to win his first senior international cap on Wales' tour of Japan this summer. Coach of the season - Dwayne Peel A year ago the former Wales scrum-half's future was openly questioned after an extremely poor season which included a shocking home defeat to Georgian outfit Black Lion. But the Scarlets board decided to stick with Peel and he has repaid the faith by turning around the fortunes of the Llanelli-based club. At the start of the season Peel stated the club's goal was to be competitive this season and they have certainly achieved that. A strong recruitment drive last summer significantly strengthened the pack - the Scarlets' Achilles heel last season - while the experienced Leigh Jones was brought in as rugby performance director to support Peel. The Scarlets have been competitive in all bar a couple of games this season and while they fell on the wrong side of some narrow defeats to begin with, things finally clicked into place during the latter part of the season. After last season's struggles, to finish as the only Welsh representative in the URC play-offs which has also led to Champions Cup qualification, is a significant step in the right direction. Peel deserves praise for how he has turned the Scarlets around and he is no doubt a better coach as a result of last season's struggles. Biggest disappointment - The Dragons' signings It has been a shocking season at Rodney Parade with the Dragons finishing bottom of the URC table with just one win to their name - 20 points short of 15th placed Zebre. This is in large parts down to getting last season's recruitment drive so badly wrong. Apart from Wales international Shane Lewis-Hughes, the Dragons' new signings have flopped badly. Much was expected of highly-rated Australian signing Harry Wilson but while the centre made a decent start to the season he has not had anywhere near the impact required and looks set for an early exit. Powerful No 8 Solomone Funaki was also expected to be a key player for the Dragons this season but has spent most of his time on the sidelines and has not figured at all for Filo Tiatia's side. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. Former Scarlets lock Steve Cummins has also been a big disappointment and such a poor recruitment cycle undoubtedly played a part in former head coach Dai Flanagan leaving his role in October. Article continues below Things are looking a bit brighter next season with new head coach Filo Tiatia having recruited heavily again and it goes without saying the Dragons board will be expecting a huge improvement. Team of the season Blair Murray (Scarlets); Tom Rogers (Scarlets), Harri Millard (Cardiff), Johnny Williams (Scarlets); Gabriel Hamer-Webb (Cardiff); Dan Edwards (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets); Alec Hepburn (Scarlets), Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets), Henry Thomas (Scarlets), Josh McNally (Cardiff), Teddy Williams (Cardiff), Jac Morgan (Ospreys), Josh Macleod (Scarlets), Morgan Morris (Ospreys)
Irish Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Scarlets and the secret weapon that defeated Leinster in April
Leinster head into their URC quarter-final with Scarlets at the Aviva this afternoon as hot, hot favourites. The bookies are offering Scarlets at even money plus-24 points despite the Welsh team winning the similar fixture by 13 points in Llanelli in late April. The match was marked by Scarlets hiding their kicking intent well, using four different players - full-back Blair Murray, centre Johnny Williams and half-backs Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies (injured today), at various times to take on the task. Lesser noted was the pressure put on the Blues front-row with Ronan Kelleher labelling Scarlets 'tricky' and Leo Cullen adding there was some 'messing around' which starting trio Healy-Kelleher-Clarkson starting didn't quite get to grips with "Yeh, there was a little bit of just sort of messing around in terms of weight," offered Cullen who has recalled Andrew Porter to loose-head for the clash. "So in the scrum there's obviously different teams will do things differently, what they (Scarlets) will do is they will load up their locks (second-rows) off their knees and there can be a lot of weight that comes forward on the bind phase and it's trying to deal with some of that weight. "We are a team that comes off split-stance, we would like to have a gap so then you're able to so we have stability, whereas that's a different philosophy. "And obviously there's a lot of debate goes around with Scrum Coaches and referees and that's why they would communicate quite a lot in the dressing room. "Every time a referee comes into a dressing room before a game, who does he talk to? He talks to the front-row first." Scarlet loosehead Alec Hepburn stayed in the fight for 78 minutes last April essentially getting the better of Thomas Clarkson and 50th minute replacement Rabah Slimani and this will clearly be an area Leinster will be looking to improve on. Porter's restoration to loosehead and the interesting selection of Kelleher is down to the idea he is a better scrummager than Dan Sheehan (with the reverse applicable at lineout time). "No," said Cullen when asked where Scarlets doing anything illegal or was the referee at fault at Parc y Scarlets, "we wouldn't have complained but we would have an ongoing conversation pre and post games. That's why we just had normal course events." The end of the season is in sight - and linear - in that the focus is one competition, winning three games. 'Exactly, we want to extend it out now, it's not the worst thing to do as a career, train in the good weather. And for the group as well, the group wants to continue on. "Scarlets will be saying the same thing, they'll be hugely motivated, it's a big deal for them, they haven't been in a play-off game in a little while so we lost to them in the 2017 semi-final and that was a game that stung for a while as well." It was, to be fair, quite the shock at the RDS at the time. "They haven't changed that drastically in the way they play since then, strong poachers at the ball, Johnny Barclay and Tadhg Beirne were there, if you remember they had a player sent off in that game, no11 Steff Evans, after 37 minutes. "We played against 14 men, they were very clinical, they scored a couple of tries before half time which takes my memory back to recent memory, back to Northampton. "We conceded 17 points in the 12 minutes prior to half time when Northampton had a man in the bin. That's a proper sucker punch to a team,isn't it? "Everyone looks back at the Northampton game whether your mind goes to not being quite right, whatever it is, the players certainl talk like they were right mentally. "But there was a period before the half, ironically after we scored to go 15-10 up and then we conceded three tries, when we go 15-27 down at half-time and get stung by that. "Making sure we deal with that and learn from the past, I'm talking a long time ago in 2017 when Scarlets won a semi-final here, they'll be drawing on whatever they can draw on." It is knockout rugby from herein, no second chances, no backdoors. "It's on the day, it's not about what happened before. Scarlets, don't care if they are eighth or first, they are just here for a knockout game, and spoil the party for us, and go on and extend their season." "The players need to make sure that they do that. They need to make sure that however good Scarlets are going to be they will do everything in their power to be better than them so but the reality is that we know it's just about being one better than the opposition. "Listen to Bordeaux talking after the weekend, I don't think they said they played particularly well but they just need to play better than the opposition so unfortunately that's knockout games, what they come down to be that little bit better than the opposition." Scarlets captain Josh Macleod admits that while his side posted 35 points in attack the last time the sides met, he expects to have to work harder on the other side of the ball today.'I am not too sure, but one thing I do know is that when you get into knockouts, defences win you championships and we need to be there. "Attack is not really my forte, but if we can score another 35 points it will go a long way to winning the game. "We will try to be positive, we have a gameplan that we have installed, and yes, we do know that come the 80 minutes we are going to have to score that three, four, five tries in order to beat them.' Leinster: Hugo Keenan, Jimmy O'Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (CAPT) Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley Scarlets: Blair Murray, Tom Rogers, Joe Roberts, Johnny Williams, Ellis Mee, Sam Costelow, Archie Hughes, Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Josh Macleod (CAPT), Taine Plumtree Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Kemsley Mathias, Sam Wainwright, Dan Davis, Jarrod Taylor, Efan Jones, Ioan Lloyd, Macs Page
Wales Online
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
WRU scrap programme that has discovered hidden Wales stars in controversial move
WRU scrap programme that has discovered hidden Wales stars in controversial move The WRU's exiles programme has come to an end Archie Griffin was originally identified by the WRU's exiles programme (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd ) The Welsh Rugby Union has scrapped its exiles programme, WalesOnline has learnt. WalesOnline understands the WRU has parted ways with its National Exiles Officer Gareth Davies - a terrific servant to the game in Wales. The exiles programme has been scrapped altogether, with the WRU now focusing on the 'retention and repatriation' of young players who are already in Wales or young players who have recently left the country. This decision is as a result of the WRU's transformation programme where it will focus on cutting costs and making savings of £5m. In recent years the Exiles programme has produced about 100 players who have won Wales u18 and u20s caps, awarded senior regional contracts and been involved with the senior men's national squad. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. Most of these first came to Exiles events as 14 or 15-year-olds and the programme has been successful over the years with young players also getting help educationally. Article continues below The latest senior squad selected to tour Japan this summer includes Archie Griffin (Wiltshire), Freddie Thomas (Gloucestershire) and Johnny Williams (Berkshire); they all came into the Exiles programme as 15-year-olds. Blair Murray has settled into Welsh rugby with ease. (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency ) Others in the squad such as Taine Plumtree, Tommy Reffell, Sam Costelow and Blair Murray were also monitored via the Exiles programme. This decision is a head scratcher given Wales' small talent pool in comparison to other tier one nations and the threat of English fee- paying schools offering scholarships to young Welsh players. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free As a result Welsh-born youngsters like Exeter Chiefs No 8 Kane James have ended up representing England U20s. The WRU will now put a huge emphasis on trying to bring Welsh-qualified players back to Wales. Article continues below It has already begun this process with the likes of England U20s full-back Ioan Jones signing for the Scarlets along while the likes of front-row duo James Talamai and Codi Purnell have left England for the Dragons. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. The WRU has also launched the Wales Pathway Players programme where up to 60 players will receive access to nationally-run group clinics to work on their technical, tactical and physical development; locally-delivered position-specific coaching sessions; regular one-on-one support and advice from S&C specialist coaches and nutritionists, along with mentoring from current or recently retired senior professional players.
The Citizen
11-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
URC result: Lions crash to Scarlets at home
It was an exciting game with both teams prepared to run the ball from all parts of the field. The Lions suffered a 10th defeat from 17 games in this season's United Rugby Championship when they crashed 19-32 to Welsh side Scarlets at Ellis Park on Sunday. The Lions went into the game knowing they had already been eliminated from the URC competition, with two rounds remaining. They managed to score three tries to the visitors' four in a flat performance. Results elsewhere in the competition on Saturday meant the Lions couldn't get into the top eight for a place in the quarter-finals. Before they kicked off on Sunday, the Lions were 13th with 35 points, while the team in eighth position, Cardiff Rugby, had 46 points. Not even two bonus point wins (for a total of 10) in their two remaining games would be enough for the Lions. What this all means is the Lions will fail to make the top eight and the playoffs for the fourth season in a row. On Sunday, despite having plenty of possession, the home team fell behind 7-0 after 15 minutes and then 14-0 after 28 minutes, both Scarlets' tries coming from fullback Blair Murray. The best the Lions could do was a converted try by scrumhalf Nico Steyn. This, despite the fact the visitors from Wales were twice reduced to playing with 14 men in the half. And to rub further salt into the Lions' wounds, Scarlets converted a drop-goal on half-time to change sides 17-7 up. And things got worse at the start of the second half when Taine Plumtree, son of Sharks coach John, finished off after some excellent play by the Scarlets to help his team go 22-7 up. In the space of 10 minutes though the Lions, who fought hard throughout but looked to be lacking in the creative department and in defence, scored two tries through wing David Kriel to close the gap to just three points, and give themselves a chance of pulling off the win. But centre Johnny Williams would score his team's fourth try in the 72nd minute to help Scarlets open up a 10-point gap and the on the stroke of fulltime the visitors slotted a penalty to register a famous win at Ellis Park. The Lions host Ospreys in their final regular season game next Saturday.
The Herald Scotland
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Exciting young stars to old stagers – 6 possible British and Irish Lions bolters
An uncapped Will Greenwood and dual-code international John Bentley were maybe the Lions' last true bolters in South Africa 28 years ago, but Farrell could easily pluck rabbits from the hat. Here, the PA news agency identifies six possibles. Blair Murray Blair Murray has made a mark with Wales (Joe Giddens/PA) Welsh supporters have had precious little to cheer since the 2023 World Cup, with the national team on a run of 17 successive Test defeats and a new head coach yet to be appointed following Warren Gatland's mid-Six Nations exit, but Scarlets back Murray has proved a shining light. Equally adept at wing or full-back, Murray's electric pace and an ability to prise open defences have contributed to his stock rising rapidly across just eight Wales appearances. Tom Jordan Tom Jordan starred for Scotland in the 2025 Six Nations (Jane Barlow/PA) Scotland's back division gained acclaim during this season's Six Nations and Jordan was at the heart of many impressive moments. Lions centre positions will be hotly contested – Huw Jones, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu look certainties – but Jordan offers something different in that he can also comfortably fill full-back and fly-half roles. Such versatility might easily catch Farrell's eye. Owen Farrell Owen Farrell has not played for England since the 2023 World Cup (David Davies/PA). Whether or not Farrell accompanies his father on the Lions' mission Down Under has proved a major talking point – and it is fair to say that opinion is divided. The former Saracens fly-half has not played for England since the 2023 World Cup and subsequently joined French club Racing 92, but the 33-year-old offers huge experience gained from 112 England caps and three Lions tours, while fitting the bill of a proven Test-match animal. Either way, it is a fascinating call for Farrell senior. Theo Dan Saracens and England forward Theo Dan has many admirers (Andrew Matthews/PA) It is widely expected that Ireland's Dan Sheehan will be the Test hooker in Australia, but who accompanies him on tour is an area of debate. Farrell will take two, possibly three, other players in that position, with England pair Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ireland's Ronan Kelleher and former Wales captain Dewi Lake having their admirers. But Saracens forward Dan, who made his England debut in 2023, combines the power of a front-row forward with running and handling skills most backs would be proud of. Courtney Lawes 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃 From start to finish, @Courtney_Lawes' England career was something special 🌹👏 — England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 26, 2023 England caps centurion Lawes might have retired from Test rugby after the 2023 World Cup, but he would still tick many boxes for the Lions such as experience, leadership, versatility (a second-row and back-row option) and a player who commands respect. He featured in five Lions Tests during the 2017 and 2021 tours and, following a stellar career with Northampton, he is now driving Brive's promotion push from the French second division. Henry Pollock Henry Pollock's at it again 🥶 — Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) May 3, 2025 England back-row forward Pollock is not so much knocking on the door for Lions selection, but taking it off its hinges. His highlights reel is ridiculously good for a 20-year-old, combining eye-catching solo tries with critical turnovers, huge defensive shifts and an all-action presence that underlines him as a rare talent. He touched down twice on his England debut in March and has played a major role during Northampton's run to the Champions Cup final, making him hard to ignore.
