The rugby headlines from Wales and around the world
Louis Rees-Zammit of Bristol is tackled by Nick Tompkins of Saracens(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Here are your morning rugby headlines on Sunday, October 5.
Bristol will ‘wait and see’ after Rees-Zammit injury
Pat Lam says Bristol Bears will have to ‘wait and see’ the extent of Louis Rees-Zammit’s injury.
The Wales wing injured his toe during Bristol’s 50-17 hiding at Saracens and had to be helped off the field.
This will come as a big worry to new Wales head coach Steve Tandy who will be keen to have the 24-year-old fit and firing ahead of the November internationals.
Bristol have an injury crisis with Rees-Zammit, Welsh-qualified centre Joe Jenkins and Scotland’s Tom Jordan leaving the field injured.
“It looks like Joe Jenkins’ hamstring got stretched in a bad position at the breakdown,” Lam told TNT Sports.
“Tom Jordan took a knock to his ribs and Zam hurt his toe.
“Both of the last two particularly, we will see how they are.
“We took Tom off as a precaution. He’s a tough bugger, he would have kept going.
“I’ll wait and see and find out whether they are out for next week or not.”
Due to their injury crisis Bristol are considering bringing in some injury cover. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
“The recruitment team will be looking around for some extra players and we’ve been doing that in the background,” Lam added.
“But it’s finding the right players, people in contract, so that’s always a tricky one at this time of the year, but we are searching everywhere.
“There are players who are dead keen but then getting released is the other side of it, so that’s the challenge our recruitment team has to work through.”
Rugby club’s terrorist threat
By PA Sport Staff
St Helens were given a police escort away from Hull KR’s Craven Park on Saturday night after what the club described as a “terrorist threat” that was sent to their Instagram account.
Police officers stood near the team coach as players and staff departed the ground shortly after the club’s 20-12 Super League semi-final play-off defeat.
St Helens said they were taking the threat, that PA news agency understands was posted from an unknown account during the second half of the fixture, with the “utmost seriousness”.
A St Helens spokesman said: “The club had a terrorist threat sent to the Saints’ Instagram account.
“It was reported to the St Helens Ground Safety Officer and they spoke to Hull KR’s Ground Safety Officer. They are treating it with the utmost seriousness.”
Welsh rugby needs transformational change, says WRU chief
Dave Reddin is adamant Welsh rugby needs transformational change and cannot take a short-term view when deciding the future of the professional game.
With the consultation process now over there will be a series of Welsh Rugby Union board meetings before a final decision on the structure of the professional game, including the number of clubs, is announced at the end of this month.
Reddin’s optimal solution, which included a reduction from four to two professional clubs and significant central control, has resulted in significant pushback.
And while he admits the final decision may well be different, the WRU has to be bold, he said.
“There is a huge amount of talent out there in Welsh rugby and in order to harness that, we’ve got to look further forward – it’s about the making the right decision for the future, not just a decision for right now,” said Reddin.
“What we can’t do is take a short-term view, making things better for a couple of years, to end up back at square one.
“We need transformational change that leads to permanent and sustained improvement which continues to develop and grow.”
Reddin has been involved in 31 meetings over the course of the consultation process and has revealed despite some pushback there has been areas of agreement.
He also says if there isn’t consensus on the best way forward a tendering process could begin.
“The WRU executive team are currently hard at it analysing and assimilating all of the information we have collected throughout consultation,” he said.
“This will form the basis for the recommendation which will be submitted along with a number of supporting papers for review and consideration for the first board meeting on October 8.
“This meeting is not a decision point for the board, it’s about bringing them all up to speed with the huge amount of information and insight we have gathered.
“The ideal way to proceed if the outcome results in a change to the number of professional clubs, would be through consensus. In other words, the ownership groups behind the clubs are onboard with the direction of travel.
“The other method would be via a tender process.
“The final decision has to be based on a rationale that we believe is the best for the entire system and the future of the game in Wales, as opposed to one particular group that might object to it.
“As part of this we must also consider a sustainable phased approach to delivery and investment, focused on identifying and implementing the most appropriate solutions for the immediate two-to three-year period, while concurrently planning for longer-term priorities and goals.”
Cardiff must build on performance
Cardiff captain Liam Belcher believes his side can build on a strong performance in their 23-20 defeat to Munster at Thomond Park.
Cardiff were excellent for large period of the game with a hat-trick from Wales U20s wing Bowen along with a try from Josh Adams giving the Welsh club a real shot at victory.
But they failed to convert a single try in difficult conditions in Limerick which ultimately cost them the game.
“I think we are just building on what we did last year,” he told Premier Sports.
“We spoke about fighting and enjoyment.
“I think we showed a lot of fight and enjoyment for us is playing the way we play.
“I thought we played some really good nice stuff.
“It’s just about building on what we did last year and it’s nice to see we can go away to places like this.
“Obviously we didn’t get the win but we got two points and on another day you are winning that game.”
Belcher also praised the efforts of hat-trick hero Bowen.
“He’s an exciting young prospect isn’t he and the way we play suits his style,” he told Premier Sports.
“I thought we put a good performance on but just one or two things didn’t go our way in the end which helped them get over the line I guess.
“We got excited about coming away. Thomond is a really great place to play and the challenge ahead of us.
“There were a few discipline issues which gave them some field position especially with that weather.”