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Biggar has named two Welsh talents he is excited to watch during the Six Nations(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)
These are your evening rugby headlines on Sunday, February 1.
Biggar names Wales’ most exciting duo
Dan Biggar says Eddie James and Mason Grady can give Wales “a different dimension” in the upcoming Six Nations as he named the two 23-year-olds as the players he is most excited to watch ahead of the tournament.
Wales have gone through some pain in midfield in recent years and have not been spoilt for choice with destructive carriers in the centre, with the current absence of Max Llewellyn another blow for Steve Tandy and his side.
But the likes of James and Grady – who stand at 6ft 4in and 6ft 5in respectively – are seen as two powerhouse options who can match the physicality of other Six Nations midfields, with Biggar seeing them as “pretty handy” talents for Tandy to deploy during the championship.
Asked which young talents he was most looking forward to watching, the former Wales fly-half told The Rugby Pod: “It’s challenging because I think any young players coming into this Welsh team at the minute, it’s not easy work to have a real impact because of the struggles on the pitch and and obviously off the pitch.
“But I like the look of somebody like an Eddie James in the centre and I think I like the look of Mason Grady, mainly because Wales are probably lacking in that power department. You can have all the nice shape, the nice play and everything that you want in your game, [but] unless you can get yourself going forward… that’s what I quite like about those two selections.
“Now, whether they feature in every game or all the time or whatever, I just think that gives Wales a little bit more of a different dynamic to play rather than trying to be nice and neat and tidy,” he continued. “[They can] try and get some some real physicality in their game and how they use them will be a challenge.
“It’s not just simply giving them the ball and expecting them to run over people. It’s how they can put them into space and use them in the right areas. Those two have got lots and lots of of potential to bring a physicality to this team which perhaps they haven’t had for for a couple of years.”
Comparing them to the powerful midfield options Wales used to boast, Biggar added: “Pretty much my whole career, I played with Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, they were handy as a 10, to be able to just give them the ball.
“I think Mason Grady will play a lot on the wing, but I think the ability for those guys to come in and carry off ten in the midfield is pretty handy.
“You look at someone like Jamie Roberts, Jon Davies, George North, Alex Cuthbert, they [Grady and James] fit that mould more than potentially a ball player. I think it’s important they they have a ball player at 12, whether that’s Ben Thomas, whether that’s Joe Hawkins or whoever. But those two will give them a bit of a different dimension.”
Star ‘millimetres from death’
South African tighthead Carlu Sadie has revealed he was “two millimetres from death” after snapping a ligament in his neck while playing for club side Bordeaux.
The 28-year-old was in action against Lyon in January last year when he felt a jolt in his neck, but chose to play on. At the next scrum, he felt three more loud “cracks” and then couldn’t lift his neck up, admitting that it felt as if his head was “loose” and “rattling around”.
While he was initially sent home with a neck brace, he was later taken to hospital and underwent scans, which revealed he had snapped one of the vertebrae at the top of his neck “clean off”, with the doctor telling him he came incredibly close to losing his life.
Sadie’s injury was very similar to the one suffered by his compatriot Steven Kitshoff, with the two-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok ultimately forced to retire from the sport after coming close to death himself.
The news left the Bordeaux star in tears as he feared for his health and career, but remarkably he was able to return to playing in August, having undergone surgery and extensive rehabilitation.
Reflecting on his ordeal in an emotional interview with RugbyPass, Sadie recalled the moment he realised something was wrong.
“I’d been sent home with a neck brace, and when I got out of the shower, went to dry my head and had that feeling, tat-tat-tat in my neck,” he said. “I phoned the doctor at quarter to two in the morning. That night, everything runs through your head. My wife phoned me and, I’ll never forget, kept me on WhatsApp call the whole night while I was home alone.”
After seeing a doctor, the prop asked how long it would take for his damaged vertebrae to grow back, to which the stunned medic replied: “Mate, that’s not growing back. You were 2mm away from death.”
Sadie continued: “I was in complete shock. The only thing I could think of was, ‘the same as Kitshoff?’ It was exactly the same thing. Two weeks earlier, we were in the training centre and the boys were asking me, because I’m South African, what had happened to Kitshoff. I’d told them the chances of him playing again were not positive. Two weeks on, I get the same news.
“The specialist told me I would have to go for an operation, take some bone from my hip, put it in my neck, and put two screws in my neck. He said ‘at the moment, if you get a massive smack, you are dead; whiplash, you are dead.’ I asked him when we were doing the operation. I had to drive my car… anything could happen, a guy could smack into you from the back.”
Recalling the four-and-a-half-hour procedure he underwent, the tighthead revealed that the surgeon told him there was “a 50-50 chance” he might die on the operating table.
“You’ve got two arteries taking blood to your brain and then you’ve got the spinal cord,” he said. “When I’m putting the two screws in your neck, if I touch the cord, you’re done. If I touch the arteries, you are bleeding out on the table.”
Thankfully, the procedure went to plan and, against the odds, Sadie returned to play eight months after the initial injury, dropping nearly 15kg during the recovery process and playing 19 matches for Bordeaux so far this season.
Leinster extend winning streak
By Press Association Sport Staff
Scott Penny ran in three tries as Leinster secured a 28-20 United Rugby Championship bonus-point victory over Edinburgh at the Aviva Stadium.
It is the 11th straight victory across all competitions for Leo Cullen’s side, who sit second with 39 points, five shy of table-topping Glasgow Warriors.
Edinburgh were hoping to secure a first victory over Leinster since March 2019, but it was the hosts who struck first when Max Deegan touched down for an opening 13th-minute try, successfully converted by Charlie Tector.
Duhan van der Merwe and Malelili Satala struck back with tries for Edinburgh, but Ross Thompson, who had earlier missed a penalty, could not convert the first try, though added a 23rd-minute penalty.
Penny then scored his hat-trick in the 44th, 68th and 74th minutes, Tector booting the extras on all three.
Charlie Shiel crossed the whitewash to draw Edinburgh closer with a last-gasp try, Cammy Scott missing the conversion as Edinburgh ran out of time to stage a comeback.
Connacht clinch bonus point win
By Press Association Sport Staff
Connacht secured a bonus point deep into overtime as they clinched a 31-15 United Rugby Championship victory at Zebre.
Oisin McCormack finished a driving maul in the 11th minute of stoppage time to secure a maximum five-point haul, but Stuart Lancaster’s team were made to work for the win.
Zebre finished the first half 3-0 ahead but the scoreline failed to reflect an open game, with the hosts particularly willing to attack from deep and Connacht guilty off overplaying.
However, it took the Irish visitors just 41 seconds after the interval to get off the mark as Joe Joyce pounced when a clearance was charged down.
Number eight Sean Jansen crossed twice but Zebre were tenacious, hitting back in the 56th minute when scrum-half Gonzalo Garcia dummied and touched down with an outstretched arm.
A powerful run from Bautista Stavile kept the hosts in touch and in a sign of the tension in Parma, Sam Gilbert landed a 79th-minute penalty to keep Connacht out of reach.