Wales’ leading rugby players are facing more massive pay cuts with plans for funding from the Welsh Rugby Union to the regions to be slashed by £23m. Stars of the Ospreys, Scarlets, Cardiff Blues and Dragons have already seen their wages reduced by 25 per cent for the past three months. Now, they are facing more cuts – some will see reductions of £100,000-a-year – as well as redundancies following a devastating update from the WRU on how the current sporting shutdown is going to affect its income in the year ahead.

Aled Davies can take his rugby to new heights according to his new boss at Saracens, Mark McCall. The Wales scrum-half has left the Ospreys to join the London club, even though they have just been relegated from the Gallagher Premiership. The move will mean a halt to Davies’s Wales career as he was won 20 caps – 40 less than the 60 required to be eligible for national selection if a player is based outside of the four Welsh regions.

Dan Biggar has been branded “world class” by his club coach Chris Boyd. The Northampton Saints director of rugby, who guided Beauden Barrett’s Hurricanes to the Super Rugby title in 2016, reckons the Wales No. 10 is “as good as anyone I’ve ever coached.” Boyd has highlighted the exemplary attitude of the 30-year-old Biggar, who will be looking to add to his 83 Welsh caps when rugby returns from lockdown.

New Ospreys co-owner James Davies-Yandle insists he plumped for buying the Welsh region after examining all the top teams in Europe. Y11 Sports and Media chief executive Davies-Yandle, along with his business partner, financier Donald Tang, have both joined the board of Ospreys Rugby as directors after purchasing a 75.1% stake last week. Davies-Yandle has a family background in the Swansea areas but insists his multi-million pound investment is about making more money – by growing the region within a sport that still has potential – rather than sentiment.

A year ago many thought Welsh regional rugby side the Ospreys were dead and buried as talks of a merger with the Scarlets dominated the headlines. Now, the most successful of the four Welsh professional teams over the past 17 years can contemplate a more positive future following what they describe as a “multi-year, multi-million-pound […]

Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb has revealed why he has been burning the midnight oil to help the National Health Service during the coronavirus crisis. Webb has been working regular night shifts for Vale of Glamorgan-based company TJ Morgan, who make PPE (personal protective equipment) masks for the NHS. Rugby has come to a stop during the global pandemic and the 31-year-old British and Irish Lions star has explained the motive to work on a production line.

The Ospreys’ training base at Llandarcy Academy of Sport is to be transformed into a field hospital in a bid to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Work has already started at Llandarcy – which is part of the Neath Port Talbot College Group of Colleges – and will be completed in the next three to four weeks. The beds would be used for COVID-19 patients and other patients who need medical care, but they will be nursed in separate areas.

It was Shane Williams’ final match for the Ospreys and confirmation again of his genius for timing. There were only two minutes left of the 2013 RaboDirect Pro12 final – a classic which is being re-shown by S4C on Saturday at 5.45pm – when Williams chose to shape the match to suit his own purposes. Leinster were leading 30-24 at the RDS Showground in Dublin and hanging on to a lead they felt certain would bring them the title.

Mike Ruddock insists Toby Booth convinced the Ospreys players he was the man to take the region out of its desperate slump. The current Harlequins assistant coach will take in charge at the Liberty Stadium for the start of the 2020/21 season after their long search for a replacement to sacked Allen Clarke came to an end. Ruddock – hired as performance director earlier this season – has revealed that senior Ospreys players were involved in the assessment process and gave their thumbs-up that Booth was the man for the job.

As Wales gear up for their Six Nations opener on Saturday, Peter Jackson of The Rugby Paper pays tribute to the last player in the tournament to reach scoring perfection – James Hook, who will retire from rugby at the end of the season. James Hook did something a long time ago which no British or Irish player has done in the Six Nations since. He went through the card, ticking all four boxes in the scoring book: try, conversion, penalty, drop goal.

The Ospreys are searching for a young, charismatic coach to take over and have added Dwayne Peel to a hit list of options. The 38-year-old former Wales scrum-half – currently coaching at Ulster – fits the age profile the region are seeking in a new talisman to revive their fortunes. The Ospreys have been impressed by the impact Brad Mooar has had at the Scarlets – on and off the field – in just a few months and want a coach in a similar mould to both lift a downtrodden squad and re-connect with a disillusioned fan base.

Alun Wyn Jones can defy logic and figure in the next World Cup, according to his new Wales forwards coach. But Jonathan Humphreys – one of the right-hand men to new Wales chief Wayne Pivac – insists Jones will also come under pressure from the next generation of Wales stars. At the age of 34, the 134-times capped Wales international is approaching the end of a glittering career, but former Wales skipper Humphreys is confident he can coax a few more years from the Ospreys legend’s tank.