Josh Turnbull has revealed he turned down what would have been a lucrative deal to move to English club rugby in favour of trying to win more caps with Wales. The offer to join a side Turnbull refuses to name came when the 33-year-old forward swapped home region Scarlets for current side Cardiff Blues seven years ago. Turnbull doesn’t regret the decision and he is hopeful his stunning domestic form this season for Cardiff will earn him selection with Wales this summer.

By Steffan Thomas Louis Rees-Zammit has been backed to keep pace with South African superstar Cheslin Kolbe when they meet on the Lions tour this summer. Rees-Zammit enjoyed a sensational season with Wales that climaxed with the Gloucester wing earning a place in the British and Irish Lions squad to face the Springboks in three […]

The Dragons play their final home game of the season on Saturday night – in Cardiff. The laying of a new pitch at Rodney Parade means the match against Glasgow is at Cardiff City Stadium. For Richard Hibbard it means the end of another season’s rugby in Wales, his 18th as a professional player, during which time he has learned one invaluable lesson  – it’s not all about rugby, as he tells Graham Thomas. Richard Hibbard has warned that young players who devote all their time to rugby and nothing else risk ending up hating the sport. The Dragons hooker has recently agreed a new one-year contract with the region which will see him pass his 38th birthday midway through next season.

The historic name of Cardiff Demons has been resurrected for a return to rugby league, after the general public voted for this to be the name of the new Betfred Women’s Super League franchise that is being run by Wales Rugby League, and based in the Welsh capital.

Wales Rugby League have named a 24-strong Women’s squad out of which they’ll select their 17 for the test match against England in Warrington on Friday June 25 (kick-off 6pm). Eleven players remain from the first ever squad in 2019 who went on to beat England Lions, with a further 11 of the 13 potential new caps coming from the elite athlete ID days that were held by WRL in both the north and south of Wales in April.

Michael Collins is confident the Ospreys can challenge for silverware over the next couple of seasons and believes he’s the man to unleash their potent back division. The 27-year-old centre currently plies his trade for the Highlanders in Super Rugby and will join the Ospreys next season, having enjoyed a brief stint at the Scarlets in 2016. Wales coach Wayne Pivac is a big fan of the Welsh-qualified utility back, but Collins insists his full focus is on performing for the Ospreys.

Rob Howley believes Welsh rugby must sort out its player pathway if its teams are ever to compete again for Europe’s top prizes. The former Wales coach – who is back home on a break from his current job as assistant coach with Canada – has called for changes in the structure of the game he used to work in. With the two European finals having taken place this weekend, and the four Welsh regions as far away from success as ever, Howley insists only a shake-up of the current structure for younger players can solve the problem.

Hadleigh Parkes’ first season in Japan has seen him win the Six Nations bragging rights with team-mate George Kruis and move to within one game of a first Top League title. Now, only the ‘Golden One’ – his former Hurricanes colleague Beauden Barrett – stands between the ex-Wales centre and more silverware in the Far East. Parkes, now 33, won 29 caps for Wales but left the Scarlets and Welsh rugby last summer for a move to Japan with Panasonic Wild Knights where he plays alongside England’s Kruis.

It’s cup final week for two Welsh rugby players at different ends of their career spectrum and in two different hemispheres. On Friday night, the former Wales U18 and U20 captain Tommy Reffell hopes to help Leicester Tigers win the European Challenge Cup at Twickenham, while two days later the 2019 Grand Slam centre Hadleigh Parkes will aim to become the first Welsh player to win the Top League title in Japan. The 22-year-old Reffell has featured in three of the Tigers games in Europe this season and was a starter in the back row last weekend in the Premiership when they overcame Harlequins at Welford Road.

Cardiff Blues have become embroiled in a row over their ambition to retain a strong link with Welsh Premiership side, Cardiff RFC. The Blues are turning back the clock this summer by ditching their appendage and re-branding themselves as simply, Cardiff Rugby. In a further attempt to emphasise their historical roots, they also plan to refer to the current club side as the “Rags” – indicating they want to run them as their official reserve side.

Ospreys hooker Scott Otten has retired from professional rugby on medical advice. The 26-year-old Swansea-born forward – who has been with the Ospreys for a decade – suffered a serious neck injury against the Dragons in January. “For me, retirement from rugby has come way too early,” said Otten.

Dragons wing Rio Dyer says speed tips from former Olympic sprinter Darren Campbell is the reason behind his stunning end-of-season finish. The former Wales Under-20 back has been in scintillating form for the men from Rodney Parade in the last two weeks with his remarkable pace standing out. Dyer has now revealed the secret behind his speed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has struck many rugby clubs across Wales, but few players in the professional game have been as deeply affected as Wales and Ospreys star Bradley Davies. Speaking about his illness for the first time, Davies has admitted monitoring his own oxygen levels due to breathing problems, left him fearful about his long-term health, as he tells Alex Bywater. Bradley Davies has revealed he feels lucky to be alive after a serious scare with Covid-19 left him checking his own oxygen levels. The Wales international, a Test-hardened 66-cap veteran, has admitted he felt “scared” by the impact of the virus on his health just a few weeks ago.

The Lions has revised their tour of South Africa this summer and will now only be based in two venues for their entire trip. The tourists – who will include 10 Welsh players, including British and Irish Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones – have been forced to re-draw their plans due to the ongoing chaos in South Africa caused by Covid-19. The revised format reduces travel between cities and training venues and will mean the Lions will only stay in two locations – one near Johannesburg and the other close to Cape Town.

Dwayne Peel has been labelled a winner and backed to become a major success after being appointed head coach of the Scarlets. The Wales and British & Irish Lions scrum-half will be the number one coach at the Scarlets after they dramatically parted ways with Glenn Delaney less than an hour after their derby win over the Ospreys last weekend. Only three weeks ago they announced Peel was to work underneath Delaney who was to be promoted to the role of director of rugby.

It’s a long way from Llandovery to the Lions, but Wyn Jones and Tadhg Beirne will bridge the divide this summer. Five years ago, Wales prop Jones and Ireland forward Beirne could be found playing in the same West Wales club side in the Welsh Premiership. It can be a long journey from club rugby to playing for the Lions for most players, but to travel from playing in front of crowds of a couple of hundred hardy locals at Church Bank, to facing the world champions, the Springboks in South Africa, is an impressive stretch.

Toby Booth believes the Ospreys have signed another leader with the recruitment of New Zealander Michael Collins. The 27-year-old – who is eligible for Wales through his grandfather – will move to the Liberty Stadium this summer from the Highlanders on a two-year deal. The New Zealand Under-20 three-quarter, who can play centre or full back, played in the Blues side that defeated the British and Irish Lions in 2017.

Ken Owens was one of 10 Welsh players and four Scarlets to make the British and Irish Lions squad, but there’s no rest for The Sheriff. He’s back in action on Saturday in the Rainbow Cup against the Ospreys, underlining the dedication that will make him the Lions’ Test hooker, says Adam Jones as he tells Graham Thomas. Ken Owens is “nailed on” to become the Lions Test hooker this summer, according to his former Wales front row teammate Adam Jones. Owens was one of four Scarlets and 10 Welsh players named on Thursday in the Lions squad to tour South Africa.

Alun Wyn Jones believes the number of captaincy candidates for this summer’s British and Irish Lions’ tour to South Africa reached “probably double figures”. And Jones acclaimed the leadership quality of England lock Maro Itoje, who was widely thought to be his main rival for Lions captaincy duties. Wales skipper Jones will lead the 2021 Lions, adding another gilt-edged entry to a career CV that already includes five Six Nations titles, three Grand Slams and two World Cup semi-final appearances.

Warren Gatland believes he has picked a British & Irish Lions squad that can go to South Africa and beat the world champion Springboks this summer. The former Wales head coach will complete a clean-sweep of southern hemisphere tours as the head coach of the Lions when he follows on from his success in winning the series in Australia in 2013 and drawing in New Zealand four years ago with the trip to South Africa. Gatland today named a 37-man touring party for the Castle Lager Series and once again his first pick was a Welsh captain for the third successive tour.