The latest rugby news on the evening of Wednesday, October 22
Louis Rees-Zammit of Bristol Bears(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)
These are your rugby headlines on the evening of Wednesday, October 22
Rees-Zammit to miss Bears game
Bristol Bears chief Pat Lam has provided a further update on the fitness of Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit, confirming the 24-year-old will again miss their game this weekend.
Rees-Zammit limped off the field during the defeat to Saracens earlier this month, with a foot injury keeping him sidelined since then. Yesterday, the former Gloucester man was welcomed back into the Wales international fold, being selected in Steve Tandy’s first squad for the upcoming autumn internationals.
Lam provided good and bad news – that the flyer’s rehab was going well but that he would sit out the trip to The Rec to face Bath this weekend.
Lam said: “He is rehabbing at the moment. He will not be available for this game here, but his rehab is going really well. Wales’ medical team are happy that he is on track.”
Tandy himself updated supporters on Rees-Zammit’s condition shortly after announcing his 39-man squad on Tuesday, with games against Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa lined up next month.
“He’s tracking really well,” explained Tandy. “He hurt his toe against Saracens – there were some incredible moments in that game for us – he’s tracking really well and hopefully he will be available for Argentina.”
Farrell’s exclusion divides opinion
Former England international Andy Goode says it makes “complete sense” for Owen Farrell to have been excluded from Steve Borthwick’s England squad for the autumn.
Farrell is back in the international reckoning, performing well for the Lions during the summer in their 2-1 series win over the Wallabies.
He hasn’t played for England since 2023, taking a break from Test match rugby to prioritise his and his family’s wellbeing after some criticism from supporters went too far. Now back from his stint with Racing and having re-joined Saracens, he is eligible once again but former fly-half Goode believes his omission is the right call.
“Owen Farrell is the only other real big-name absentee and while he is coming off the back of a British & Irish Lions tour, he hasn’t played loads of rugby recently, and it makes complete sense to me that he hasn’t been included,” Goode wrote in his RugbyPass column.
“Assuming he actually wants to play for England again, he’ll be back involved over the course of the next year if his form continues to be good, but we all know what he can do, and it’s Fraser Dingwall and Max Ojomoh’s time to shine.
“The latter made his debut against the USA in the summer and has started this season on fire, while the former is in pole position after starting the last couple of Six Nations games. They’ve started just five Tests between them and we need to see what they can do at the highest level with a run in the team.”
However, former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar says he thinks England have made a mistake leaving the highly-experienced man out of their plans.
“Where England are short at the minute, I’d say, is 12s,” Biggar said on The Rugby Pod. “This was tailor-made for Owen Farrell. There are not a lot of options there.
“I think he’s come back, and he wasn’t anywhere near his best against Quins, but he’s looked fit, he’s looked hungry, he’s looked confident, back to a little bit of the Owen Farrell in that Saracens environment.
“The big talk in the summer was about wanting him in there for his leadership and experience. You want your best, most experienced players involved now to push towards the top of the world rankings and then maybe you phase them out later. It’s a big gamble to leave him out.”
Rigg’s loan spell ends
Exeter Chiefs have confirmed Will Rigg has returned to the club following a short loan spell with Cardiff.
Cardiff only announced his signing, along with Osian Roberts from Sale Sharks, on October 9 in a bid to ease the club’s injury crisis and he he now left just 13 days later.
“We’re low on numbers with those boys out,” said coach Corniel van Zyl earlier this month.
“We’ve managed to have a short-term solution getting those boys in and they trained with us today, which helped us. Slowly, we’ll get them into the system.”
But centre Rigg is already back at Sandy Park.
As part of an injury update from Rob Baxter, the club wrote on their website: “Will Rigg has also rejoined the Chiefs squad from a short loan period to Cardiff Rugby and is involved in full-time training.”
England star’s red card overturned
Luke Cowan-Dickie has avoided a ban after the 20-minute red card he received over the weekend was overturned.
The England hooker was sent off following a high tackle on Sarries back-rower Tom Willis, with referee Matthew Carley giving Cowan-Dickie his marching orders.
The next day, he was named in Steve Borthwick’s England squad for the autumn and would have faced a nervous wait over the outcome of the independent panel looking at the incident.
He and Borthwick can now breathe a sigh of relief, with the red card overturned.
Sale Sharks’ statement read: “The case of Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sale Sharks, was heard on papers by an independent panel chaired by Daniel Gore (Chair), Becky Essex and Tony Wheat.
“Luke Cowan-Dickie was shown a 20-minute red card for a dangerous tackle and contact with an opponent’s head, contrary to World Rugby Law 9.13, during a game against Saracens on Saturday 18th October.
“The panel convened yesterday evening to hear the case and, after careful deliberation, has decided to overturn the red card issued to Cowan-Dickie. The panel had the advantage of hearing oral testimony from both players involved in the incident. Additionally, they reviewed video footage from various angles and considered submissions from all parties concerned.
“Taking all this evidence into account, and without any criticism of the Match Official Team, the panel concluded that the red card should be overturned. As a result, Cowan-Dickie is free to play with immediate effect.”
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