Ospreys boss Toby Booth says his team’s emotional Heineken Champions Cup win out in Montpellier has set the benchmark ahead of the BKT United Rugby Championship festive derbies. Booth’s men pulled off a stunning 21-10 victory away to the French title holders thanks to tries from hooker Sam Parry, centre Kieran Williams and Player of the Match, No.8 Morgan Morris. It’s handed them a huge boost in morale as they prepare for the URC Boxing Day clash at home to the Scarlets and then the New Year’s Day trip to the Arms Park to take on Cardiff.

By Simon Thomas It’s been a momentous few weeks in the rugby life of young Sam Costelow. His fine early season form in the BKT United Rugby Championship saw the Scarlets fly-half named in Wales’ squad for the autumn internationals – but that was just the start of it. The late withdrawal of team-mate Leigh […]

Ken Owens has revealed he was determined to recover from a back injury in order to resume a normal life rather than play rugby again for Wales. The Scarlets hooker is set to play his first international match for 15 months when Wales face New Zealand at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. The 35-year-old is four matches into his comeback but could well be asked to start against the All Blacks as coach Wayne Pivac seeks the platform of a solid set-piece.

The All Blacks have arrived in Wales to prepare for Saturday’s opening clash in the Autumn Nations Series against Wales at Principality Stadium and will get a reminder today (Monday) of what it means to beat them. Memories of the ‘day the pubs ran dry’ in Llanelli have been creeping out of the woodwork for some time now and will be celebrated exactly 50 years on. They have preserved the scoreboard at Parc Y Scarlets that registered one of the most famous club victories over New Zealand and 9-3 was instantly immortalised by Max Boyce’s emotive poem about the final score.

Scarlets prop Steff Thomas has paid tribute to former All Black Ben Franks for the form that has been keeping British Lion Wyn Jones out of the starting line-up. Thomas will be on the bench on Saturday night as the Scarlets seek their first victory of the season at home to bottom club Zebre. But for the four previous matches so far, the loose-head spot has gone to Thomas, rather than Wales international Jones, who toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions last year.

Finding themselves under stress back in the kitchen, Cardiff’s resilience and determination in serving up a win over the Scarlets last weekend pleased Dai Young – but the club’s director of rugby knows there are still plenty of issues front of house. A second victory of the season moved Cardiff up to 10th in the URC table and lifted some of the clouds that had gathered over the Arms Park after a stormy few days. But the allegations of poor behaviour levelled at some players might not have raised so many hackles among supporters had they come after relative success on the field.

Dwayne Peel has promised the weekend’s Welsh derby between his Scarlets side and Cardiff will be “edgy” with both teams desperate to avoid another defeat. The Scarlets head coach has made six changes to his starting XV as the west Walians go in search of their first win of the season. Peel’s side will be smarting after a disappointing defeat in Treviso last Saturday but have a Cardiff Rugby side who are looking to set the record straight standing in their way, and one disrupted by an ongoing investigation into player behaviour in a pub last Saturday night, following a match they had lost.

Toby Booth has told the Ospreys it’s time to wise up after what’s shaping up to be a disappointing weekend for the four Welsh regions. Only the Dragons – who host Munster on Sunday afternoon – can prvent a clean sweep of defeats for the Welsh sides in the United Rugby Championship. With Cardiff having conceded eight tries in a 52-24 thrashing in Glasgow, the Scarlets also shipped over a half century of points at home to Ulster, and leaked seven tries, in going down 55-39.

It may be that other events have overshadowed its build-up, or that last season’s Welsh contribution was extremely modest, but the United Rugby Championship is back this weekend. The summer break has sometimes appeared long and disjointed, but Daniel Parker has tied it all together in one very helpful preview. Thanks, Dan. After what feels like a long and disjointed summer break, the United Rugby Championship returns this weekend. The pick of the opening round matches is the Loughor Bridge derby between the Ospreys and the Scarlets – a tie which should set the early tone of the new campaign for Wales’ two best-performing regions last term

Jonathan Davies insists his priority now is to help the Scarlets achieve a super-charged start to the season and that any Wales ambitions must flow from that. The 34-year-old was left out of Wayne Pivac’s squad that toured South Africa this summer, but that does not mean he has accepted his international days are over. But what has changed for a player who has been as integral as anyone to the national cause for over a decade is the pecking order of his personal focus.

Star-gazers looking for the future bright lights of Welsh rugby should tune in to the start of the National Schools and Colleges League this week, according to former Pontypridd, Newport and Cardiff full back Llywarch ap Myrddin. The current director of rugby at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf has a proud reputation to uphold from the school that has produced the likes of Jamie Roberts, Jamie and Nicky Robinson, Rhys Patchell, Seb Davies, Ioan Lloyd and Manon Johnes in recent years. But according to ap Myrddin, it’s not just live TV games or highlights shows that can catapult players forward these days. So, too, can their highlights reel on social media.

By Steffan Thomas VAEA FIFITA has been tipped to take the United Rugby Championship by storm following his high-profile move from Wasps to Scarlets. The 11-times capped All Black, who has now thrown his lot in with Tonga following the change to World Rugby’s eligibility laws, can play lock or blindside, and his signing is […]