![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_GettyImages-2269827656.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe latest rugby news from Wales and around the world<\/p>\n
Rees-Zammit is set for another spell on the sidelines<\/p>\n
These are your evening rugby headlines on Sunday, April 19.<\/p>\n
Fuming coach questions Welsh star’s injury<\/p>\n
Sharks head coach JP Pietersen has questioned whether the Ospreys<\/a> deliberately “took away the scrum contest” during his side’s defeat to the Welsh region on Saturday, querying whether injuries to the opposition’s front row players were legitimate.<\/p>\n The South African outfit fell to a 21-17 defeat in Bridgend<\/a>, with their play-off hopes now all but ended. While the Ospreys had the upper hand in the set-piece battle in the first half, winning several scrum penalties, the introduction of Springbok front rowers Ox Nche and Vincent Koch 15 minutes into the second half saw momentum swing the other way.<\/p>\n But when replacement loosehead Garyn Phillips went off injured, following the departures of Gareth Thomas and Tom Botha, the Ospreys went down to 14 men and referee Mike Adamson ruled that the last quarter of the match would be played with uncontested scrums.<\/p>\n JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n Despite Phepsi Buthelezi crossing for his second try of the game 10 minutes from time, the Ospreys were able to hold on for an impressive home victory.<\/p>\n But Pietersen was far from impressed following the full-time whistle as he questioned the authenticity of Phillips’ injury.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had an unbelievable three scrums, dominated them and scrummed them off the ball,” said the Sharks boss. “That was good to see, and when we were five meters out from the line, we scrummed them off the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only got a 5m scrum back, and their prop got injured. To be honest, that is the question mark. We don\u2019t know, did he get injured, or were Ospreys taking the contest away from us?<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know for sure, and I can\u2019t talk on behalf of Ospreys, but it certainly took the contest away from the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Coach issues Rees-Zammit injury update<\/p>\n Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam says Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit will be sidelined for up to four weeks.<\/p>\n Rees-Zammit injured his knee in training, the Bears said earlier this week, with a \u201ctwist\u201d the only detail provided.<\/p>\n Speaking after his side’s convincing win over Gloucester on Friday night, Lam confirmed the 25-year-old didn\u2019t require surgery and provided more detail around the injury, explaining that he expected his player to be out for three or four weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he injured his knee,” he said. “He came down, went to his knees, so at the moment, thankfully, no surgery, but he could be at least three, maybe four weeks.<\/p>\n “So, we\u2019ll see what happens, he should be out three, maybe four weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n If Lam is correct, that would rule Rees-Zammit out of matches against Newcastle Red Bulls, Saracens and possibly Northampton Saints, who they are due to face on May 15 at Franklin\u2019s Gardens.<\/p>\n The Bears finish their PREM Rugby season with a home clash against Bath (May 29) and an away trip to Sale (June 6).<\/p>\n van Graan thrilled with Bath\u2019s bonus-point victory<\/p>\n By Press Association Sport Staff<\/p>\n Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan was \u201cvery glad\u201d to secure a bonus point as side returned to the bread-and-butter of the Gallagher PREM with a 48-15 home victory over Harlequins.<\/p>\n Santi Carreras starred for the hosts with two first-half tries as Bath ran in eight in total to consolidate second place in the table.<\/p>\n Van Graan said: \u201cAfter the high of the last two weeks in the Champions Cup, it was important that we backed it up in the Premiership. Scoring 48 points at home with eight tries to two is a satisfying win.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was certainly not our best performance of the season, but we came for five (points) and we got five.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a classic, but for us the most important thing was to win the game and get a bonus point. As in every game there will be some learnings. There will be things we can do better \u2013 one or two bits around the ruck where Quins came hard at us.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking ahead to next weekend\u2019s opponents, top-of-the-table Northampton, van Graan said: \u201cLook, they\u2019re a very good side. They scored a winning try in the last minute today so there\u2019s huge respect. We\u2019ll just make sure we run our own race. We\u2019re looking forward to meeting them again.\u201d<\/p>\n On skipper Ben Spencer, who withdrew with a shoulder problem before kick-off, van Graan said: \u201cWe could have played him, but he was in a bit of discomfort so we decided not to risk him.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a> and our WhatsApp channel here<\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest rugby news from Wales and around the world Rees-Zammit is set for another spell on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[40189,40188,22069,26771,5903,101,7168,56,54,16296,55,9015],"class_list":["post-539797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-bristol-bears","tag-english-premiership-rugby","tag-louis-rees-zammit","tag-ospreys","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-todays-updates","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-rugby-championship","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}