Robin McBryde was a vital cog in Warren Gatland’s Wales back-room team for 12 years. In that time Wales won four Six Nations titles and reached two World Cup semi-finals. Now, the former Scarlets hooker is in charge of Leinster’s forwards and chats to Steffan Thomas about his new life in the Irish capital. Welsh […]

John Mulvihill is demanding his Cardiff Blues team start the new rugby season in the same way they ended the current one.The Blues coach saw his region end a fractured, disrupted campaign by overcoming the Ospreys 29-20 at borrowed Rodney Parade in their final match of the Guinness Pro 14 on Sunday. The victory left the Blues with a record of seven wins and eight defeats from their 15 games, spread over the course of 11 months – not great, but nowhere near as poor as the Ospreys, for whom Sunday’s defeat was their 11th, with just a couple of victories and two draws.

Brock James was one of Europe’s most influential players during a monumental decade with Clermont Auvergne in France. Now, his former teammate Lee Byrne reckons James could prove just as influential at the Ospreys, as he tells Graham Thomas. Brock James has been pinpointed as the coach who can give the Ospreys back their wings. The seal of approval for the region’s new attack coach has come from their former Wales star Lee Byrne, who was a clubmate of James’s at Clermont Auvergne.

George North has apologised to his Ospreys teammates after the red card that undermined the region’s chance of victory in their first match for five months. The Wales wing held up his hands after being dismissed just 14 minutes into Sunday’s Guinness Pro 14 clash at home to the Dragons, which ended in a 20-20 draw. It was the first red card of North’s 10-year professional career and it came after the 29-year-old, playing in his 254th professional game for club and country, sent opposite number Ashton Hewitt into a tail-spin as he clattered into him at a kick-off at the Liberty Stadium.

Dean Ryan expects the Ospreys to be pumped up and firing as they step on to the field on Sunday for their first game under new head coach Toby Booth. The Dragons boss has banished any thoughts in his camp about the game being a meaningless exercise for the home side. There may not be Guinness Pro 14 play-off places at stake, but it is a Welsh derby. “I saw first-hand the passion that comes with a Welsh derby game last season and I don’t expect to get an easy ride from the Ospreys in what will be Toby’s first game in charge,” said Ryan.

The Guinness Pro14 returns next weekend – a league tournament that has many things going for it compared to others. It has more tries per game than rivals in England and France, higher ball in play times, and more opportunities for young players. The ability to see big name stars? Err, not so good on that one as Peter Jackson outlines. The Pro14 can boast a dual headline act beyond compare, a pair of players born 35 years ago on opposite sides of the Irish Sea. Alun-Wyn Jones and Johnny Sexton belong to the elite, specialists in the art of winning Grand Slams and not losing a Lions’ Test series in New Zealand.

By Alex Bywater Former Ospreys wing Lesley Klim’s remarkable rugby journey saw him battle a childhood of family tragedy and the temptations of drugs and alcohol to make it as a professional. The Namibian international wing represented his country at last year’s World Cup and went head-to-head with eventual winners South Africa and New Zealand […]

Alun Wyn Jones may be poised to become the most capped rugby player in history – but his first plan is to impress his new boss. The Wales captain is scheduled to pass Richie McCaw’s mark of 148 international caps this autumn, but his more immediate aim is to show new Ospreys coach Toby Booth the true meaning of staying power. Jones has been involved in his 18th senior pre-season routine with the Ospreys in recent days, but his first since Booth became head coach and the former London Irish chief says: “He’s at the start of his career for me.

New Ospreys head coach Toby Booth has been backed to take them to the top of Welsh rugby again and competing for the Pro 14 title. The commendation has come from the region’s former Wales prop Paul James, who believes Booth is the man to bring the good times back to the Liberty Stadium. The Ospreys currently lay bottom of Conference A of the Guinness Pro 14 and their two remaining matches, when the re-start happens later this month, will not lead to them being involved in the shake-up for the play-offs.

Mike Ruddock has signed a permanent contract with the Ospreys, which will see him remain at the region for at least the next three years. Ruddock, who also won a Grand Slam when he was in charge of Wales, came on board with the Ospreys as performance director on a short-term deal last December, at a time when the region were struggling badly. Now, he has switched to a longer term position as development director at the Ospreys, who have appointed Toby Booth as head coach and Brock James as their new attack coach.

Aled Brew’s time at Bath may have run out, but the former Wales wing insists he’s not ready to hang up his boots just yet. Brew may be 34 next month, but he tells Peter Jackson he wants two more years – wherever that might take him. It was never meant to be Aled Brew’s last match for Bath, a cruelly brief appearance fully four months before the season’s scheduled close. Leicester at home in late January brought the Welshman’s road at the Rec to a sudden dead-end. When injury put him out of action within the opening quarter, nobody watching his early exit imagined they wouldn’t be seeing him again.

Welsh rugby’s regional players will return from furlough next week as they prepare to re-start their Guinness Pro 14 season. Players from Cardiff Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets and the Dragons will return to organised training for the first time, although in small groups, with strict social distancing and following a Covid-19 testing regime. The routines will be basic, with no close contact, with the hope the sessions can be normalised as the squads head towards the planned resumption of matches on August 22.