Here’s the latest rugby news for Friday, April 7th.
Urios: Scarlets’ favorites tonight
The Scarlets will have history, form and possibly even referee Wayne Barnes when they host Clermont-Auvergne on Friday, according to the French club’s coach Christophe Urios.
Clermont may have beaten Bristol in the round of 16 of the European Challenge Cup, but Urios believes his team’s quarter-finals at Parc y Scarlets will be much tougher.
The referee of the match is Barnes, an Englishman considered by many to be the best in the world, but unofficial, according to Urios, his team really understands that.
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“Once again, we won’t be favourites,” said Urios, looking back at the match, which is broadcast live on S4C. “We are playing away from home against a team that has a long history of successes at home (remarkable and convincing victories over the South African provinces) and an English referee that we will have to adapt to. It’s hard to win a European game away from home.
The Scarlets are one of those teams that have true team spirit and can make people thrive and develop on that team. It would be a trap to believe that what lies ahead with the Scarlets will be easier than what we face in Bristol. The Scarlets are the pride of Welsh rugby and Welsh rugby isn’t as bad as we think.
“Away from home, we need a lot of solidarity and a strong team. The victory against Bristol gave us confidence and allowed us to play well, but we know it will also be very difficult for us against a Scarlets team that has collective strength.”
Clermont have already won the Challenge Cup three times, in 1999, 2007 and 2019, but they are ageless. They currently sit 10th in France’s Top 14 with just nine wins from 21 league games this season, and were relegated from the Heineken Champions Cup to Division Two of the Challenge Cup after finishing ninth in Group B after three defeats. consecutive. They did, however, bounce back to beat Bristol Bears 33-26 in the Round of 16 to earn the trip to Llanelli.
Scarlets manager Dwayne Peel said: “Clermont has a great history in European rugby union and has some quality star names. That’s what it’s all about, a great team, a great audience, it’s a challenge that excites us all. It will be a great event”.
Scarlets v Clermont will be streamed live on S4C on Friday night at 7:55pm
Dai Young bets on Eurocup semi-finals in Cardiff
Dy Young warned that Cardiff must be at the top of their game when they travel to Treviso for the Challenge Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.
The Blues and Whites secured their spot in the Round of 16 after winning a thrilling Round of 16 clash against Sale Sharks last week. But Young is well aware of the threats posed by a strong Benetton side, who have beaten the likes of Ulster, Glasgow, Scarlets, Connacht and Stade Français at home this season.
“If you look at some of the wins they’ve had at home, they’ve beaten some of the best teams out there. It’s a quality team and we knew that last year when we went out and dropped our pants, explains the director of rugby.
“They are a fantastic team playing great rugby and we have to make sure we are close to our best level. If we don’t, we won’t win, it’s that simple.
“Last year’s loss must hurt a little, because if it doesn’t, we’ll be playing the wrong game. We saw where we went wrong and what we need to correct.
“But this game was as much about us as it was about them. It was definitely a long game away for us and we got there and we didn’t compete in any areas. We were in second place and looked like a low energy team and the game was too far away.
“It’s not the case this season, but we know we’ll have to be at our best because they play really good rugby. If you’re not prepared defensively, if you don’t win the encounters, if you don’t get a winning line and they start to get the ball quickly, they can shoot and score down. They score a lot of tries at home.”
Young also believes there is plenty of motivation ahead of Saturday’s clash as the team look to claim a third European title for the club.
The former Wales international added: “The main thing we’ve been talking about this week is that unfortunately in every region there are a lot of players moving on and Cardiff is no different. A lot of these players have been together for a long time, so there’s a lot of excitement there. They want to try to do something together, and this is probably the last chance for this current group to try to achieve something.”
Dee is trying to shake off injury issues
Wales and Dragons hooker Elliot Dee is looking to put the frustration of the past 18 months behind him after signing a new contract with his hometown club.
He joined Harrison Caddy, Jack Dixon, Joe Davies, Lloyd Fairbrother, Ollie Griffiths and Ashton Hewitt to clinch new contracts with Gwent’s Men last week.
The 29-year-old, a product of the Dragons’ youth system, has played an impressive 142 games since making his senior debut in 2016, moving up to 13th in the all-time rankings. But the Wales international bitch admits the last two seasons have struggled through injuries, with the first-row limited to 10 games this season.
Dee now wants to put that behind her and look forward with renewed determination under Dai Flanagan.
“It’s been a tough 18 months with a lot of discomfort and I haven’t been able to hit my pace,” he said. “I’m happy with the position we are at the Dragons and I’m enjoying working again and I’m proud to wear the shirt. I think most of the games I’ve played in the last two seasons are five, it’s just not enough to find form.
“I still feel I have a lot to offer with a Dragons shirt and many milestones to reach. I want to keep playing with the guys I went through and see good times.”
“The contract definitely takes a load off my mind,” he added. “It’s been a long time and a lot of uncertainty; Now I have to think not only about myself, but also about my young family. There’s nothing better than playing for a local club that means a lot to you, so I intend to give it my all for the next two seasons and then come back.”
The Dragons are already licking their wounds after having scored 70 points against Glasgow last weekend. Dee says the result is still impressive and emphasizes that this kind of performance shouldn’t happen at this level.
“We are very disappointed with the performance. There have been times when we’ve scored tries, but this is one of the first times this season we’ve been there and felt completely beaten.” Dee said.
“Fair play to them, they showed why they are one of the best teams in our league and our performance must have been the result of some tough times in Welsh rugby. We have to stick together and get out of a big, big hole.”
He added: “There is a lot of work to do in pre-season to try and catch up. The effort is unquestionable, whenever we wear the shirt we give everything, we give ourselves to everything.
“I’m still very proud to be part of this group and represent my region, but we have to improve. It is absolutely fair, we cannot afford such losses.
“We as players have a huge responsibility to stay behind other nations in the league. We don’t want to go to places like Glasgow and lose badly.
“We want to climb the table. Nobody is going to work to do a dumb job, we all want to win and now we have the right environment. We just have to go down and get it right.”
Steyn’s World Cup hangs by a thread
South African star François Steyn’s World Cup hopes are on the line after the veteran underwent surgery on a knee problem.
The veteran, looking to play in his fourth World Cup, suffered the injury during the Cheetahs’ 32-7 Currie Cup win over the Bulls in Bloemfontein last month.
Now it looks like the injury is worse than expected.
Cheetahs coach Hose Fourie said, “He’ll be out for about two or three months.
“Frances had an X-ray of her knee and the prognosis was worse than the doctor initially thought. It will be an important period on the side. Our medical team believes that most of the Currie Cup will still last.”
“It dashed his hopes, he really wanted to go to the World Cup,” added Fourie.
“He has worked a lot since the beginning of the year after the previous injury, [and] he lost some weight. It’s a big setback for him, I hope he comes back soon and maybe there’s still an open door for him, but we’re disconnected with the Boca coaches at the moment.
We’ll see how it goes, but first he has to recover and get back on the pitch.”
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Malcolm Wall outlines his vision for Welsh rugby, discusses the challenge of the three regions and explains how things are about to get better
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The exiled Wales international is considering a move to Welsh rugby as the Scarlets become favorites to sign him.
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Scotland ‘talk with Warren Gatland’ on replacing Gregor Townsend: reports
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Young Welsh international breaks England records and continues to win man of the match awards
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How Dwayne Peele started living up to the hype by building something special with the Scarlets
Source: Wales Online

I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.