These are the rugby stories making headlines on the evening of Thursday, November 6.Gareth Anscombe says Steve Tandy has earnt his shot at the Wales job (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)

These are your rugby headlines on the evening of Thursday, November 6.

Anscombe: Tandy has proved his worth

Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe says he’s looking forward to what Steve Tandy can bring to the national side, calling his arrival “exciting”.

Tandy takes charge of his first campaign this autumn following spells with Scotland, the British Lions and a stint Down Under with the Waratahs.

Anscombe, now plying his trade in France with Aviron Bayonnais, says Tandy has earnt his shot at the top job in Welsh rugby.

“I think it’s exciting with Steve coming in, he’s proved his worth,” he said in an interview with EPCR.

“The fact that he’s gone outside Wales to broaden his horizons and to learn form a couple of different environments is really beneficial for him, and I think it’ll be really beneficial for Wales.

“They’ve got a really tough, testing autumn coming up, so it’ll be tough.

“But, you like to think it’s only going to improve from here.

“A couple of those boys now have gained some real experience and hopefully, if a few guys stay fit, that squad can only get better.”

The 46-times-capped fly-half added that the summer win over Japan will have taken some of the pressure off a young group of players.

“I’m relieved for the group that they got a test win,” he said.

“It was important that they broke that streak in some really tough and testing conditions with a fairly young group.”

Lions star dropped for first time

By Anthony Brown, PA

Gregor Townsend revealed joint-record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe has been dropped for Scotland’s showdown with New Zealand on Saturday because of the “consistently strong form” of wing rival Kyle Steyn.

Edinburgh pair Darcy Graham and Van der Merwe have generally always got the nod to start for the national team when fit.

But Glasgow wing Steyn – an able deputy whenever called upon in recent seasons – has been selected ahead of two-time British and Irish Lions tourist Van der Merwe for the visit of the All Blacks to Murrayfield.

“It’s really rewarding Kyle’s form this season, and probably since he came back from injury after the Six Nations,” said Townsend.

“He was very good in the summer tour, but really it’s about this season. Not all of our players have been able to play a number of games leading into this tournament, but Kyle’s been consistently strong in all aspects of his game so he’s earned this opportunity.”

Van der Merwe, who scored a double in last weekend’s 85-0 rout of the United States, is not in the 23, with versatile back duo Tom Jordan and Jamie Dobie preferred on the bench.

“He was actually okay,” Townsend said when asked how Van der Merwe took news of his omission. “It’s the first time Duhan has been dropped from the Scotland team, the first time I’ve had to drop him. I get on really well with Duhan.

“It was a brilliant occasion last week for him with his 50th cap, you could see how emotional he was with that. He’s really connected with the staff and the players.

“Of course he’d be disappointed but he’s trained well this week and that’s all you ask for players, to park the disappointment and get behind the team that’s selected at the weekend.”

Former captain Jamie Ritchie, who enjoyed a strong Six Nations, was also left out of the 23 after a tough start to the season with Perpignan.

“Jamie was very, very good last year, then got injured in that Fiji game (in the summer),” said Townsend, who opted instead for the “cohesion” of the Glasgow back-row trio Gregor Brown, Matt Fagerson and Jack Dempsey.

“It’s been difficult for him in Perpignan. They’ve lost every game, but he’s actually done a lot of good things for Perpignan. We just felt he misses out this week because other guys are playing better.”

Influential prop Zander Fagerson was unable to win his battle for fitness after being sidelined since April, with Edinburgh’s D’Arcy Rae handed only his second start at tighthead.

“This time last week, I thought Zander would be available because he trained on the Tuesday and Wednesday,” said Townsend. “But his knee just wasn’t 100 per cent right.

“We still believe he’ll play some part in this series, but not this weekend.”

Asked about the challenge Scotland face as they bid to defeat the All Blacks for the first time, Townsend said: “One of the biggest you get in rugby right now.

“They’re a form side, they’re a cohesive side. They’ve picked, I believe, the strongest team available to them.

“We’re playing the number two team in the world. We’ve just got to deliver close to our best performance this weekend.”

Scotland: B Kinghorn (Toulouse), D Graham (Edinburgh), R Hutchinson (Northampton), S Tuipulotu (Glasgow), K Steyn (Glasgow), F Russell (Bath), B White (Toulon); P Schoeman (Edinburgh), E Ashman (Edinburgh), D Rae (Edinburgh), S Cummings (Glasgow), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh), G Brown (Glasgow), M Fagerson (Glasgow), J Dempsey (Glasgow).

Replacements: G Turner (Harlequins), R Sutherland (Glasgow), E Millar Mills (Northampton), M Sykes (Edinburgh), R Darge (Glasgow), J Bayliss (Bath), J Dobie (Glasgow), T Jordan (Bristol).

New Zealand: Will Jordan; Leroy Carter, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Quinn Tupaea, Caleb Clarke; Beauden Barrett, Cam Roigard; Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor, Fletcher Newell, Josh Lord, Fabian Holland, Wallace Sititi, Ardie Savea (c), Peter Lakai.

Replacements: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tamaiti Williams, Pasilio Tosi, Sam Darry, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Cortez Ratima, Billy Proctor, Damian McKenzie.

Wainwright: Players focused

By Phil Blanche, PA

Aaron Wainwright insists Wales players are focused on rugby and not the current crisis in the domestic game with jobs threatened by plans to cut one of the nation’s four regions.

The Welsh Rugby Union announced last month that it plans to lose one of its teams and grant three licences for men’s clubs – one for Cardiff, one in the east and one in the west – possibly as early as next season in 2026-27.

The bombshell announcement came on the eve of November’s Autumn Nations Series matches, with new head coach Steve Tandy having to deal with far bigger issues than team selection.

Tandy has said the “elephant in the room” cannot be avoided during Wales’ autumn build-up and the former Ospreys boss has encouraged players to talk about the turmoil facing the domestic game.

But Dragons back-rower Wainwright insists rugby politics or job security fears have not been on the players’ minds ahead of Sunday’s clash with Argentina in Cardiff on Sunday.

“We haven’t really spoken about that (cutting a region) coming in to camp,” said Wainwright, the 2024 Wales player of the year and first home-based player to discuss the situation publicly since captain Jac Morgan addressed the media last week.

“The message has been, ‘Let’s concentrate on the rugby, concentrate on what we can control’.

“Going forward over the next couple of weeks, if we can put in some good performances in, the stuff off the field will take care of itself.

“We’ve got a fresh coaching group and our target has been to get our heads around the next couple of weeks and really focus on the rugby.

“If we get our heads around that, and focus on our jobs come Sunday, then we’ll be in a good place to go forward.”

Wainwright was part of the Wales team that ended an 18-game losing run – the longest of any Tier One nation – by beating Japan 31-22 in Kobe four months ago.

Wales open their autumn campaign against Argentina – ranked sixth in the world rankings and six places above them – before visits from Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.

Wainwright said: “They’re a very emotional side, very emotionally charged. It’s going to be a big physical contest and we’ve spoken a lot this week about imposing our game.

“It’s a chance to get back at home, playing in front of a full crowd at the Principality Stadium. That’s the carrot dangling in front of everyone.

“A lot of the boys in this campaign were in Japan, and it’s about using that momentum and taking it into the autumn.

“It definitely feels there’s some confidence in training, and having no fear in the way that we’re playing.

“I know it’s a little bit different in training to playing in international games, but it’s a chance to build a new identity and hopefully that starts to come through.”

England ring the changes

By Duncan Bech, PA Rugby Union Correspondent

England have overhauled their team for Saturday’s match against Fiji with full-back Marcus Smith and fly-half Fin Smith given starts at Allianz Stadium.

Ellis Genge will lead the team as one of two co-captains, the second being regular skipper Maro Itoje who is named on the bench for the first time since 2017.

There are only eight survivors from the 25-7 victory over Australia that opened the autumn and just six retain the same starting jersey with Tommy Freeman moving to the wing and Ben Earl slotting in at openside flanker.

Earl’s back row move is to accommodate Chandler Cunningham-South’s first start at number eight as head coach Steve Borthwick looks to build depth in the position following Tom Willis’ decision to join Bordeaux next season.

Ollie Lawrence makes his first appearance of the autumn having completed his recovery from the ruptured Achilles that ruled him out of the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.

Lawrence partners Fraser Dingwall in midfield and they will operate outside Fin Smith, who has ousted George Ford from the number 10 jersey against the Islanders.

Ford is omitted from the 23 entirely due to Borthwick continuing with the six-two split between forwards and backs on the bench, which sees Ben Spencer and Henry Arundell provide cover behind the scrum and Henry Pollock retain his super-sub role.

Freddie Steward has failed to recover from his hand injury so Marcus Smith is given the full-back duties having missed the Wallabies victory entirely. If Fin Smith is injured during the match, his namesake will take over as chief conductor.

The ankle problem suffered by Tom Roebuck results in Freeman’s return to the wing after being tried out at outside centre against Australia.

“It was a pleasing start to the series against Australia last weekend and we know we’ll need to take another step forward against Fiji,” Borthwick said.

“The focus for us this week is on improving on last weekend’s performance and continuing to develop our game.

“Fiji are a dangerous team with power and quality right across the pitch. They play with physicality and skill, so we’ll need to bring intensity, accuracy and discipline in everything that we do.”

England: M Smith (Harlequins); T Freeman (Northampton Saints), O Lawrence (Bath Rugby), F Dingwall (Northampton Saints), I Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs); F Smith (Northampton Saints), A Mitchell (Northampton Saints); E Genge (Bristol Bears, co-captain), L Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), J Heyes (Leicester Tigers), A Coles (Northampton Saints), O Chessum (Leicester Tigers), G Pepper (Bath Rugby), B Earl (Saracens), C Cunningham-South (Harlequins).

Replacements: J George (Saracens), F Baxter (Harlequins), A Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), M Itoje (Saracens, co-captain), T Curry (Sale Sharks), H Pollock (Northampton Saints), B Spencer (Bath Rugby), H Arundell (Bath Rugby).

Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here for all the breaking news.

You can also follow us on social media on our X account, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

For more exclusive stories and in-depth analysis, you can sign up for the Inside Welsh Rugby substack newsletter here.