Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit has been sensationally released by his club Gloucester with immediate effect so he can “pursue his dream” of a career in American football. The Premiership club made the stunning announcement as Wales head coach Warren Gatland prepared to unveil his squad for the Guinness Six Nations Championship. Gloucester said: “Gloucester Rugby have agreed to release winger Louis Rees-Zammit with immediate effect to enable the 22-year-old to pursue his dream of playing in the National Football League.

Leigh Halfpenny looks set to continue his rugby career in the southern hemisphere after he makes a final Wales appearance on Saturday. The Wales full-back, who has won 101 caps, will bow out of international rugby following the Barbarians’ Principality Stadium visit.

Wales coach Warren Gatland has named a squad of 23 to take on former captain Alun Wyn Jones and the Barbarians in Cardiff on Nov. 4, with 16 retained players from their Rugby World Cup campaign in France. Gatland, though, will be without a significant number of his leading players through injury and the inability to call on those contracted to clubs in England, France and Japan as the fixture falls outside of the international window.

Warren Gatland is to remain as Wales head coach and lead them to the 2027 World Cup – his fifth in charge. Gatland placed his future in the hands of the Welsh Rugby Union following his side’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina on Saturday.

The Rugby World Cup quarter-finals kick off with a banger in Marseille, as Wales meet Argentina for the right to face either Ireland or New Zealand in Saint-Denis in the last four. Wales have yet to put a foot wrong in France, qualifying out of Pool C with 19 points and four wins in four matches, rounding off the first stage of the competition with a 43-19 win over Georgia in Nantes last Saturday.

Wales have been backed by Australian legend David Campese to comfortably dispose of Argentina in Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final. The former Wallabies wing – whose own team failed to make it out of Wales’ pool – believes Wales will win by 15 points and insists the key figure will be Wales outside-half Dan Biggar.

Welsh fans were in a great place to witness what might have been the best weekend of rugby ever, starting with a mechanical elephant and ending with a Portuguese flourish. Nantes, either in the stadium or in a bar with a TV, was a special place to be.

Will Rowlands says it was Wales’ “minimum standard” to reach the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals. Wales have arrived at the knockout phase for a fourth successive tournament. They went on to make the last four in 2011 and 2019.

Louis Rees-Zammit is firmly in the frame to emulate his Wales colleague Josh Adams as top try-scorer at a Rugby World Cup. But Gloucester wing Rees-Zammit says that team success is the “end goal” as Wales build towards a World Cup quarter-final against Argentina in Marseille next Saturday.

Wales say Dan Biggar is still in his recovery stage as he battles to be fit for their World Cup quarter-final. Gareth Anscombe, who scored 23 points in the record 40-6 victory over Australia, will start the final pool match against Georgia on Saturday instead of Biggar, who went off early during the Wallabies clash after suffering a pectoral muscle strain.

Gareth Anscombe picked up the Player of the Match award for his match-winning performance off the bench for Wales in Lyon, but he missed out on a Welsh World Cup record. Having struck the post with his first kick of the night after replacing the injured Dan Biggar early on in the first half, he then put together a series of eight successive kicks that condemned Australia to a record defeat against Wales.

Warren Gatland has promised to keep Wales players’ feet nailed to the ground in spite of soaring expectations after their hammering of Australia. The Wales coach insists Wales will not start looking further down the track than necessary after they cruised into the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a record 40-6 win.