Here are your rugby morning headlines for Saturday, May 30.
Lam reveals death of grandson
Bristol coach Pat Lam dedicated Friday night’s win 21-19 win over Bath to his daughter, Nealana, following the tragic death of her baby son, Nico.
The emotional coach revealed the desperately sad news following the match, with Nico’s funeral held on Tuesday. Nealana and her partner, Dan, were in the crowd on Friday night as Lam’s side bounced back from the humiliating 94-33 defeat to Northampton to keep their English Prem play-off hopes alive.
Lam, the Bristol director of rugby, said: “I wanted to dedicate this result to my Bristolian grandson Nico, my beautiful daughter Nealana and her partner Dan. I said to the boys on Monday, I’m really excited, one because the sun is coming out, two was that on Tuesday we finally got some closure as a family to recent events, and three, it was an opportunity to play Bath and have closure for what happened at Northampton [where they conceded 94 points] and show that was 100 per cent a one-off.
“Rugby teaches you life lessons. It’s about highs and lows, emotion, and how you adapt and grow. Sometimes you go through very deep lows to come back stronger, and that’s what makes the sport and its players what they are.
“There’s a lot of love and support around the team. That’s what it’s about. We come together as one group, analyse the game, and focus on doing our jobs. We don’t always know what people are going through in their personal lives, but I thought their performance today reflected real character.”
Bristol were second best in the first half to deservedly trail 19-7 at the interval.
But inspired by a tremendous performance from centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg, they turned a pulsating game at Ashton Gate on its head to achieve a memorable victory.
Bristol’s tries came from Fitz Harding and Max Lahiff, in addition to a penalty try award, with both AJ MacGinty and Tom Jordan adding conversions.
Ollie Lawrence, Guy Pepper and Thomas du Toit scored Bath’s tries with Ciaran Donoghue kicking two conversions.
World rugby star reveals sepsis battle
Former Australia scrum-half Nic White has revealed he was left fighting for his life after developing sepsis following routine surgery.
The ex-Wallabies star spent almost a month in hospital after a post-operation infection spread dangerously close to his lungs, throat and heart. The 35-year-old has now opened up on the ordeal – admitting there were moments where his condition was “touch and go”.
White, who played over 100 times for Australia, underwent surgery in Perth in October to correct his bowed legs – with the operation initially appearing to have gone smoothly.
However, around five weeks later, complications emerged after an infection developed.
“About five weeks post-operation, I got an infection and I probably left it a little bit too long to get sorted,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Maybe that’s the extra rugby player in me, it went a bit far.”
The infection escalated rapidly, leading to sepsis – a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body reacting severely to infection.
“It got quite bad, to the point where I got sepsis and it got to my lungs and throat, and pretty close to the heart, which was pretty scary,” White said.
He added: “It was probably a couple of days and nights there in hospital that were a bit touch and go.”
White remained in hospital for several weeks, with the illness taking a major toll on the former scrum-half. He revealed he had lost 12kgs and needed a wheelchair at times during his recovery.
Now working as an assistant coach with Western Force following his retirement from playing, White says the experience has changed his outlook.
“This year hasn’t quite gone to plan, but it puts things in perspective pretty quick as well, on a lot of fronts, with family and footy,” he said.
White earned 77 caps for Australia during a distinguished international career and initially retired following the Wallabies’ series victory over the British and Irish Lions before briefly returning for further Tests.
The scrum-half says he is now focused solely on regaining full health.
“A lot of people ask me things like, ‘Do you miss the game?’” he said. “No, not at all. Man, I’m flat stick just getting healthy again.”
Wales duo leave club
Welsh international duo Alisha and Jasmine Joyce will leave Bristol Bears this summer.
The pair, who welcomed son Ralphie last year, are among 11 to leave Ashton Gate. They head back to Wales to be closer to their families as they raise Ralphie.
Since joining the club in 2020, they have helped the Bears to two top-four finishes and a PWR final.
Compatriots Jenna de Vera and Savannah Picton-Powell have also left Bristol, who have been offered central contracts by the WRU.
Former England star makes ‘blacklisting’ claim
Former England full-back Mike Brown claims he has been erased by former club Harlequins, with his calls to improve the club’s fortunes falling on deaf ears.
Brown has previously been vocal on LinkedIn about the state of his former club and has now spoken to the media about his concerns.
“There are certain individuals who are still there that mean I’ve not got a relationship with that great club,” Brown, who played 281 times for the club told Planet Rugby. “It feels I’ve kind of been blacklisted, which is a shame.
“It feels, without getting into too much detail, I’ve been erased from the place.
He added: “It’s frustrating. And part of me not having the relationship I’d love to have there is me vocalising that. And getting a bit of backlash about that.
“A number of things I put out there didn’t land very well. Maybe a few of them hit home. But let’s go through it, talk about it.
“They don’t seem to want to ask why people like myself, or Danny [Care] and Ugo [Monye] on TV, are saying what we are. To actually sit down and go through the points.
“Instead, they’re happy to go and get a part-time consultant from the other side of the world who’s never experienced Quins or the Premiership.
“It’s upsetting for me, and while I still believe at some point I will end up there, I’m at a point where I’ve gone from wanting to be involved in some capacity to getting on with doing my own thing.
“If they take offence to a small LinkedIn post, I’m like, ‘Wow. Okay, there’s definitely an issue there, so let’s just leave it’.”
Glasgow through in URC play-off
Franco Smith heaped praise on captain Kyle Steyn for his pivotal contribution to Glasgow’s 33-21 United Rugby Championship quarter-final victory over Connacht at Scotstoun.
With the quarter-final deadlocked at 7-7 at the break after Patrick Schickerling cancelled out Cian Prendergast’s early opener for Connacht, Steyn made a sensational try-saving tackle to deny Josh Ioane just before the half-hour.
The Warriors skipper then chipped in with two tries of his own after the break, while Josh McKay and Jare Oguntibeju also crossed the line in the second half.
“I don’t like to single out players and I’ve said it in the changing room as well now, Kyle ended up scoring two tries but it didn’t count as much as that one tackle he turned around,” said head coach Smith.
“That just proved his leadership through action and it was as if the whole team bought into it straight away and the half-time chat actually was so much easier after that example.”
It was confirmed after the victory over eighth seeds Connacht that Glasgow will play their semi-final against Bulls or Munster next Saturday at Murrayfield. The final would also be at the national stadium if Smith’s side get there.
Scrum-half George Horne is a doubt after going off in the second half with a hand issue.
“We’ll have a look, I think it’s his hand and his thumb he got stood on,” said Smith. “Currently there’s no diagnosis done or prognosis. We’ll have more clarity on Monday.”
Smith was pleased with the way his side recovered from a slow start to suppress their Galway visitors.
“I’m really happy with the result,” he said. “You could see we hadn’t played for 10 days. We weren’t collision-ready in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but that got better.
“We ended up making enough tackles and Connacht ended up making almost 250 tackles, so we’ve asked a lot of questions to tire them out.”