1 week Ago By [email protected] (Steffan Thomas)
These are your headlines on the morning of Sunday, April 6. English club move to tie down Wales star Wales star Tomos Williams is close to signing a new long-term contract with Gloucester, according to reports. RugbyPass are reporting the Cherry & Whites are working hard to tie Williams down for the foreseeable future.
The 30-year-old's current contract does not expire until the end of next season and it emphasises how much of a positive impact he has had at Kingsholm that Gloucester are so keen to retain his services. Williams will be able to talk to other clubs when he enters the final year of his deal and is sure to be high up on a number of clubs' shopping lists. The experienced Wales international has been outstanding for Gloucester since arriving from Cardiff and has undoubtedly been the best signing in the Gallagher Premiership this season.
Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. Williams is a terrific attacking scrum-half who has scored seven tries for Gloucester this term. Kingsholm has a strong Welsh presence with Williams joined by Max Llewellyn, Freddie Thomas, Gareth Anscombe and Josh Hathaway, while the likes of rising Wales U20s stars Caio James and Deian Gwynne are in the academy.
Pontypridd RFC crowned champions Pontypridd RFC thrashed Cross Keys 43-12 to win the Premiership Cup at the Principality Stadium. Wing Joe Davies (2), centre Stuart Floyd-Ellis, hooker Rob Jones, scrum-half Lucus Welch and lock Kristian Parker scored tries for Pontypridd. Cross Keys could only muster two tries courtesy of Corey Nicholls, while they were also awarded a penalty try.
The other two finals were entertaining affairs as Llanelli Wanderers claimed a dramatic 35-32 victory over Tondu in the Championship Cup while Caernarfon won the Division One Cup after a last-minute try propelled the north Walians to a 30-29 win over Bridgend Athletic. Cardiff challenged to reach URC play-offs after Challenge Cup defeat Matt Sherratt has challenged Cardiff to reach the United Rugby Championship play-offs after their Challenge Cup campaign came to an end with a 35-20 defeat to Connacht in Galway. Cardiff are currently ninth in the URC table but are level on points with Edinburgh who occupy the final play-off place.
Despite falling short in the Challenge Cup Sherratt is confident his side have the ability to make the play-offs. "It's a tight league and I think it will go right to the end," Sherratt told Premier Sports. "There's a lot of teams that can get into the top eight but that's our ambition.
"It's something we didn't speak about last year. This year we've got a group here who want to finish the season and go to the last game with something to play for. "There's a good group here who are invested in what we do.
Culturally we are a good side. It's just making sure we are in the hunt over those last two or three games." Tries from Matthew Devine, Sean Jansen, Finn Treacy, Shayne Bolton and Paul Boyle, along with a combined 10 points from the boots of JJ Hanrahan and Josh Ioane, fired Connacht into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.
Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas and Josh Adams scored Cardiff's tries while Callum Sheedy and Thomas kicked five points between them. Cardiff fought hard but Sherratt bemoaned their lack of accuracy. "It was two teams who were pretty evenly matched but ultimately they took their chances and we didn't," he added.
"I think we conceded 21 points when we were down to 14 men. I think the one before half-time was a bit of a killer blow as well. "We had a couple of five-metre entries where we knocked the ball on and got penalised.
That was the difference in the end. "It's probably the unforced ones we need to have a look at. We want to have a look at the contact area and we want to be brave with the ball which is going to leave a bit of separation occasionally.
"It's the ones that you can avoid...
the not rolling, the offsides and the blocking at the end in terms of the five-metre lineouts. It's just making sure we get those right and get more of our game on the field." Wales internationals suffer humilation in Ireland Wales internationals Leigh Halfpenny and Wyn Jones were part of a Harlequins side who suffered a 62-0 humiliation against Leinster in Dublin.
Halfpenny started at full-back while loosehead Jones took to the field as a late replacement as the English club got taken to the cleaners in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup. Harlequins conceded 10 tries at Croke Park with Sam Prendergast, Joe McCarthy, Jamie Osborne, Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose, Dan Sheehan, Ross Byrne, and James Lowe (twice) touching down while Leinster also claimed a penalty try. Elsewhere, Wales prop Nicky Smith was part of a Leicester Tigers side who suffered a heavy 43-19 defeat to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstound.
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