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Woodman (left) described Wales training as “another level”(Image: Getty Images)
These are your latest rugby headlines on Monday, March 23.
Bulked-up Wales star targets return
Dragons star Ryan Woodman is hoping for a return to the Wales squad after getting a first taste of a Test rugby environment during the Six Nations.
The 22-year-old was called into camp by Steve Tandy for the final two rounds of the recent championship following an injury to Taine Plumtree and trained with the squad ahead of their games against Ireland and Italy.
While he didn’t make it into a matchday squad, the highly-rated forward is expected to get another shot at a senior cap during the Nations Championships this summer, and he says he now knows what to do to reach the required level following his time in camp.
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“It was a really good experience and loads of fun,” he told the BBC as he reflected on his two weeks with Wales. “I learnt a lot and have seen where I need to be to get to that level in the future.
“I’ve been given work-ons but the main message is to keep doing what I have been doing and hopefully I can progress to get there.”
“The intensity of it is something that I had never experienced. Professional rugby is intense but training with Wales is another level. Hopefully I can train like that with the Dragons.”
Woodman has been given work-ons by the Wales management, and Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia has since discussed an action plan with the forward to help put the feedback into practice.
In a bid to boost his physicality, the former Wales U20s captain has also bulked up, with Wales listing his weight as 18 stone, having been previously been listed as just under 17 stone by the URC.
“My main goal for the season was to be more of a physical presence, I want to be a big six,” said Woodman, who stands at 6ft 5in. “I definitely still have improvements to make but I am going in the right direction.”
Lam defends decision to rest stars
By Press Association Sport Staff
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam defended his decision to rest a host of star names, despite seeing his side lose valuable ground in the race for the play-offs in a 33-19 Gallagher Prem defeat at Leicester.
Lam chose to leave out Ellis Genge, Louis Rees-Zammit and Tom Jordan, while their opponents were near full strength. As a result, Leicester were able to pick up a crucial five points to climb up to third in the table as Bristol came away with nothing and dropped to fifth.
That was rough justice on the men from the west country, with the game evenly contested until eight points from the home side in the dying stages broke Bristol’s hearts.
Joaquin Moro, Hanro Liebenberg, Izaia Perese and Gabriel Hamer-Webb scored Leicester’s tries, with Billy Searle adding two conversions and three penalties. Fitz Harding scored two tries for Bristol and Kalaveti Ravouvou the other, with both Sam Worsley and James Williams adding conversions.
Lam said: “It was always going to be the decision to leave the players out and play them next week as it’s tough being in camp for an eight-week period.
“The boys would have probably been happy to play, but we make the decision for them and we preferred to stick with the training group that we’ve had to prepare for this fixture.
“Welford Road is always a tough place to come and you need to savour any victory you have here and you have to earn it by being at your best and we weren’t today.
“I’m disappointed as it was a really good game, but Leicester are in good form and we squandered a lot of opportunities by conceding 18 turnovers. Also our discipline wasn’t good enough as we gave away penalties to allow them to take the game away from us.”
Davies: Leinster clash is an international for us
Scarlets interim director of rugby Nigel Davies says his side are treating Friday’s clash with URC defending champions Leinster “as an international” after beating Zebre.
The Welsh region beat their Italian visitors 36-17 on Friday, scoring six tries including a brace from flanker Jarrod Taylor, but now face a “huge challenge” at the Aviva Stadium.
Their task is not helped by an emerging injury crisis at hooker, with Ryan Elias and Marnus van der Merwe both forced off with head injuries against Zebre.
Speaking after Friday night’s game, Davies said his side’s focus would immediately turn to Leinster, adding: “We are looking at that game as an international.
“The boys deserve a lot of credit for what they are doing and deserve to enjoy this win, but we have told them we are going to play an international rugby game, so we need to get into that mindset.
“It is a huge challenge for us, but we have a capable bunch of players who can go there and put a big performance in and who knows?”
Reflecting on the victory over Zebre, he added: “I am really pleased for the boys. We were clinical, we were clear in terms of what we wanted to do and we delivered a performance out there.
“The first half was very pleasing. We planned not to give them any ins, our set piece was excellent, our scrum and line-out gave us a good platform to play off and we managed the game very well.”
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