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Jones has made wholesale changes to his team(Image: Gareth Everett/Huw Evans Agency)

These are your evening rugby headlines on Thursday, October 1.

Ospreys make 12 changes

Ospreys head coach Mark Jones has made 12 changes to his starting side ahead of their United Rugby Championship clash with the Lions on Saturday.

The Welsh side were comprehensively beaten by the Sharks in Durban last weekend as they fell to a 41-24 defeat, and will now head to Johannesburg with a very different-looking side.

Flanker Liam Wright, full-back Iestyn Hopkins and wing Tom Rogers are the only survivors from their opening weekend loss, with the former named a co-captain alongside the returning Keelan Giles.

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Giles is one of five changes in the backs, with Keiran Williams and Evardi Boshoff lining up together in midfield and Wales internationals Dan Edwards and Kieran Hardy forming the half-back pairing.

An almost entirely new front row sees Gareth Thomas, Efan Daniel and Rhys Henry brought in, with Huw Sutton and Ryan Smith in the engine room. Harri Deaves and Morgan Morse join Wright in the back row.

The Lions come into this weekend’s contest off the back of a narrow 27-26 win over reigning champions Leinster, having only fallen to one home defeat last season. The Ospreys have not recorded a win over the South African side since 2024.

Lions: Chamberlain; Mpeke, Adams, Kriel, Cronje; Smith, Steyn; Venter, Both, Lombard, Oosthuizen, Delport, Pretorius, Qoma, F Horn (capt)

Replacements: Brandon, Kotze, Schoeman, Andrews, Mahashe, Sjoblom, M van der Berg, Q Horn.

Ospreys: Hopkins; Rogers, Boshoff, K Williams, Giles (co-capt); Edwards, Hardy; G Thomas, Daniel, Henry, Sutton, Smith, Wright (co-capt), Deaves, Morse.

Replacements: L Lloyd, C Jones, Warren, R Davies, Moriarty, Morgan-Williams, Creighton, L Morgan.

Howe in line for debut

Highly-rated teenager Tom Howe is set to make his senior debut for Cardiff when they face Zebre in the URC on Friday night.

The 18-year-old hooker – who has already represented Wales at U20s level – has long been tipped for a future at the highest level, with former Welsh international Scott Baldwin saying that he has “the highest of ceilings I’ve seen of a hooker coming through in Wales”.

His senior breakthrough seemed inevitable this season and he is set to make his bow from the bench at Cardiff Arms Park tomorrow night, when he will become the youngest front row forward to represent the region since 2008.

Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl has made four changes to his side after their derby victory over the Scarlets, with Daf Hughes moving into the front row and James Botham joining Alex Mann and Taine Basham in the back row.

In the backs, Tom Bowen and Harri Millard start on the wings, with Jacob Beetham moving to full-back.

“Everyone wants to get their season off to a good start so we were very pleased to have done that. It was a positive start but it wasn’t perfect,” said van Zyl “There’s stuff to work on so we’ll take it from there and keep growing and improving as a team.

“We are looking forward to getting back to the Arms Park and want to build on the record we achieved at home last season. We have great support in Cardiff and we want to give that home support performances that they can be proud of.

“The home advantage is massive. When we engage the crowd and give them reasons to start singing and cheering it really makes a difference. We have a responsibility to perform well for them but to also connect with them.

“Zebre had a difficult result against the Bulls last week, but we know they are tough team to break down,” he added. “They are unbelievably good at the breakdown. We struggled against that last year.

“So, we will need to be better than we were against the Scarlets and the boys are determined to do that.”

Cardiff: Beetham; Millard, Malan, B Thomas, Bowen; Sheedy, Mulder; Sio, D Hughes, Sebastian, McNally (capt), T Williams, Mann, Botham, Basham.

Replacements: Howe, Barratt, S Wainwright, Thornton, E Lloyd, Bevan, J Evans, Emanuel.

Zebre: Montemauri; Belloni, Bertaccini, Mazza (capt), Gesi; Allan, Dominguez; Pisani, Minervino, Castellano, Canali, Krumov, Ruffolo, Locatelli, Ruggeri

Replacements: Quattrini, Pelliccioli, Barbotti, Ortombina, Ferrari, Guana, Zanon, Da Re

Embattled rugby chief steps down

Munster chief executive Ian Flanagan has confirmed that he will leave his position at the end of October, months after the province launched a review into the governance of the organisation.

Earlier this year, the club’s decision to appoint New Zealander Roger Randle as attack coach was met by a major backlash, after a 1997 rape allegation resurfaced. The charge was later dropped by the complainant and Randle has always denied the allegation, but the fallout from his proposed appointment led to a series of resignations within the province.

Former players Billy Holland, Killian Keane and Mick O’Driscoll stepped down as independent nominees on Munster’s Professional Game Committee, while members of the club’s voluntary Commercial Advisory Group also resigned.

Weeks after it was confirmed that Randle would no longer be joining the province by “mutual agreement”, Munster commissioned an independent governance and organisational review.

Now, it has been announced that Flanagan will step down from his role at the end of the month, with the URC side issuing a statement on Thursday.

“Munster Rugby and the IRFU today confirm that Ian Flanagan has informed the Board of Munster Rugby of his decision to step down from his position as CEO at the end of October,” the statement read.

“An Interim CEO will be announced in the coming weeks and a recruitment process for a permanent successor will be undertaken in due course.”

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