The latest rugby news from Wales and around the world

17:10, 06 Sep 2025Updated 17:35, 06 Sep 2025

Former Wales captain Ken Owens has hit out at the impact Welsh rugby’s radical plans could have on communities(Image: BBC Sport)

Here are your rugby evening headlines for Saturday, September 6.

Wales World Cup campaign not a success, says former Lions star

Ken Owens insists Wales Women’s World Cup campaign has not been a success despite the Welsh Rugby Union saying otherwise.

Wales have lost all three games at this year’s competition and have clearly regressed since reaching the quarter-final at the last World Cup. This is on top of finishing the recent Six Nations with a Wooden Spoon.

Despite a series of poor results the WRU’s head of women’s rugby, Belinda Moore, insists it has not been a failure.

“You definitely can’t say they’ve failed,” Moore told BBC Radio Wales.

“We are talking about a sport which is very much in the emergence.

“What has been brilliant about this World Cup is seeing the growth, the number of fans and the digital engagement.

“The stadium here is full today so I think failed is a really negative word to use.

“As we grow and develop so do all the other teams around us, they aren’t standing still, so the competition gets harder as teams get invested around the world.”

But former Wales hooker Owens took a very different view to Moore.

“From a growth point of view there’s more fans here and all the rest of it but from a performance point of view I don’t know what the WRU’s expectation was of this women’s team coming into this tournament,” Owens told the BBC.

“Perhaps they do view this as successful but three years ago in the World Cup the women’s team got to a quarter-final.

“For me as a Welsh person a quarter-final is the minimum standard.

“If that’s the expectation of the WRU – is to go out in group stages- then it’s a sad case.

“There has been positives in the growth of the game but as a nation and for myself as a proud Welshman for us a quarter-final is a minimum.

“We lost comfortably against Scotland in the first game, we lost comfortably against Canada, albeit a slightly better performance and at half-time we are down against Fiji.

“It depends what the expectation of the WRU is.

“For me from a performance point of view it hasn’t been successful.”

Cardiff crush Richmond to start season with a bang

Cardiff thrashed English Championship outfit Richmond 71-10 to get their season off to a flying start.

Pre-season results count for very little in the grand scheme of things but nevertheless Matt Sherratt would have been pleased with what he saw at the Arms Park.

Cardiff started with a bang as returning Wales star Mason Grady smashed through the Richmond defence to put Harri Millard over for the opening try.

After a period of sustained pressure Wales U20s prop Ioan Emanuel powered over the line for a try on his debut.

Richmond hit back with a try from a driving lineout before Ellis Bevan raced clear for Cardiff’s third score.

Wales U20s graduate Elijah Evans was the architect of Cardiff’s fourth try as he found a gap on the outside before sending Tom Bowen racing clear for a try.

Bevan was soon celebrating his second try of the game before Millard put Bowen over for a brace of tries which meant Cardiff took a 47-5 lead into half-time.

Taine Basham made a strong start to life at the Arms Park as he smashed over the line for a score before Evan Rees powered over from short-range off the back of a well-worked driving lineout.

A nice training ground move put Callum Sheedy over before Richmond hit back with a try of their own.

But Cardiff had the last laugh as Daf Hughes touched down after another powerful maul from the hosts.

Ospreys start the season with pre-season defeat to the Chiefs

The Ospreys started pre-season with a 38-26 defeat to Exeter Chiefs at the Brewery Field.

Welsh born Italy international Stephen Varney scored the first try of the game before Campbell Ridl crossed for Exeter’s second to give the visitors a 12-0 lead.

Fans favourite Harri Deaves scored the Ospreys’ first try of the season but Ben Hammersley hit back with Exeter’s third score to give Rob Baxter’s side a 24-7 lead at the interval.

The Ospreys started the second-half strongly with Wales international backrower Ross Moriarty powering over for a try on his debut.

But Exeter put the game to bed with two tries – one from Jimmy Roots and the second from Harry Ascheri.

However, the Ospreys finished strongly as new signing Harri Williams made a break to put Phil Cokanasiga over shortly before Gwylim Evans scored a late consolation try.

Dragons claim comfortable win

The Dragons claimed a comfortable 45-12 victory over Hartpury in their first pre-season game.

Filo Tiatia’s side started like a house on fire with a brilliant break by Huw Anderson who offloaded to Jac Lloyd before Dai Richard touched down for the opening try of the season.

But Hartpury hit straight back when No 8 Harry Bazalgette powered over from short-range.

Promising youngster Rhys Cole claimed the Dragons’ second try before Morgan Lloyd set up Harri Keddie for the third score which gave the visitors a commanding 19-7 lead at the interval.

The Dragons scored a terrific team try after the break with some nice handling from Thomas Young, Ewan Rosser and Harri Ackerman put Niall Armstrong over for a try on his debut.

Cole claimed his brace with a tremendous individual try before Ceri Clark hit back for the hosts.

The Dragons turned the screw therafter as Matthew Screech powered over before a well-timed pass from Oli Burrows put Aneurin Owen over to seal the victory for the visitors.