{"id":601043,"date":"2026-05-24T07:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601043\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T07:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:12:16","slug":"lions-star-fires-warning-to-welsh-club-and-rugby-chief-stood-down-as-statement-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601043\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions star fires warning to Welsh club and rugby chief stood down as statement released"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The latest rugby news and headlines from Wales and beyond<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_JS404061259.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Morgan Lloyd is a &quot;fine&quot; scrum-half and his pathway might be getting blocked by the Dragons, says ex-Wales wing Gareth Evans\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Morgan Lloyd is a &#8220;fine&#8221; scrum-half and his pathway might be getting blocked by the Dragons, says ex-Wales wing Gareth Evans(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Here are your rugby evening headlines for Saturday, May 23.<\/p>\n<p>Lions star fires warning to Welsh club<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Former <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/newport\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Newport<\/a> and Wales wing Gareth Evans has questioned what the Dragons&#8217; signing of Super Rugby scrum-half Ere Enari will mean for some of the club&#8217;s young Welsh nines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Men of Gwent announced the signing of Samoa scrum-half Enari from the Hurricanes earlier this week as they look to build on a promising campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Enari, who has also played for New Zealand U20s, Crusaders and Moana Pasifika, will be battling with Che Hope and Rhodri Williams for the starting spot at Rodney Parade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE <a aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Walesrugbynews\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">However, Evans has questioned what the move will mean for young Dragons half-back Morgan Lloyd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Drags signing a scrum half from NZ will be disappointing for Morgan Lloyd, a fine, local player,&#8221; posted Evans on social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">When an X user replied that the Dragons were bringing in Enari to help develop young Welsh talent, Evans &#8211; who won three caps for Wales and a further three caps for the British and Irish Lions on the tour of New Zealand in 1977 &#8211; said: &#8220;Are you thinking that Lloyd is going to get plenty of game time then? Because that\u2019s what he\u2019ll be wondering. Guaranteed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;They\u2019ve strengthened the pecking order above him. I\u2019m thinking from a players perspective.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Scottish rugby plunged into leadership crisis<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Scottish Rugby has been plunged into a leadership crisis after the governing body confirmed chief executive Alex Williamson has taken a period of extended leave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Williamson was appointed in September 2024 with a mission to address significant financial losses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">However, reports in Scotland say he has been instructed to take time off work, with no explanation given.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Williamson&#8217;s duties have been taken up by other members within the organisation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A spokesman for Scottish Rugby said: \u201cOur chief executive Alex Williamson is currently on a period of extended leave, during which time his duties are being shared by the executive team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">His absence comes at a time when the organisation is attempting to build on the success of the men\u2019s national team, which finished third in this year\u2019s <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/six-nations\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Six Nations<\/a> Championship with victories over England, Wales and France.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_JS362293494.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Scottish rugby has been plunged into a leadership crisis\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Scottish rugby has been plunged into a leadership crisis<\/p>\n<p>Bordeaux-Begles retain Champions Cup after Leinster hammering<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Bordeaux-Begles retained their Champions Cup crown with a dominant 41-19 victory over Leinster in Bilbao.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Irish province have not won European rugby&#8217;s premier competition since the last time it was held at San Mames Stadium in Spain, back in 2018. Since then, the Dublin outfit had lost four out of the last seven finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">However, any hopes of ending that wait for a fifth title were blown away by the French club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Leinster had opened the scoring through Tommy O&#8217;Brien after six minutes, but that was about as good as it got for the URC club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">France scrum-half Maxime Lucu crossed for Bordeaux&#8217;s first, before Pablo Uberti put the French side ahead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Louis Bielle-Biarrey lived up to his tag as the world&#8217;s best finisher, crossing for two first-half scores to firmly put the defending champions in charge &#8211; with the second in particular a brilliant score off the back of good work by Damian Penaud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Bordeaux then crossed for their fifth just before half-time when Yoram Moefana picked off a pass in his own half to race away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Leinster threatened a comeback briefly in the second-half, with second-row Joe McCarthy diving over while Lucu was in the bin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">However, the scrum-half returned to knock over two penalties to make the result safe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Garry Ringrose crossed for a late score shortly before Ugo Boniface was shown a yellow card, but it mattered little as Bordeaux eased to their second Champions Cup in as many years &#8211; having lifted the trophy for the first time in <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/cardiff\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Cardiff<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p>England star still needs to prove himself despite European success<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">England No. 8 Billy Vunipola says he still needs to prove himself at Montpellier despite playing a starring role in their Challenge Cup triumph on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The 33-year-old barged over for a first-half try and set up a second as Montpellier hammered Ulster in Bilbao, keeping up their hopes of a domestic and European double.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cIf I say that (I\u2019ve proved myself), I\u2019ll get too comfortable,\u201d the 33-year-old told Premier Sports. \u201cI\u2019ll stay humble, we\u2019ll have a good night, and we\u2019ve got a big game in the Top 14 next weekend as well.<\/p>\n<p>Wales Rugby VIP hospitality tickets<\/p>\n<p>This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/affiliates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Learn more<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Content Image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Wales-Women-v-Women-Barbarians.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Prices vary<\/p>\n<p>Seat Unique<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"AffiliateContent_content-buy-btn__xWiVO buy-btn\" aria-label=\"Buy button\" href=\"https:\/\/track.webgains.com\/click.html?wgcampaignid=1475915&amp;wgprogramid=306113&amp;clickref=Regionals-football.london&amp;wgtarget=https:\/\/seatunique.com\/sport-tickets\/rugby-union\/wales-rugby-tickets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\">Book tickets here<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Seat Unique offers VIP hospitality tickets for Wales&#8217; autumn internationals including New Zealand and Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s the sun in Montpellier \u2013 honestly it\u2019s given me a new lease of life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cAnd the challenge to try and help this team win things and do better than they did two years ago. It\u2019s been a great challenge. I\u2019ve enjoyed it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe recruitment has been really good in terms of bringing up the young boys and my role is just trying to set a good example.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t always do it \u2013 my wife will attest to that \u2013 but I try my best, man, I try my best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our<a aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=e90f3817-255f-4349-881b-d9a4515d3f52&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\"> free daily newsletter here<\/a> and our <a aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/L8kRCygN2HM6E7iILK0spC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">WhatsApp channel here<\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest rugby news and headlines from Wales and beyond Morgan Lloyd is a &#8220;fine&#8221; scrum-half and his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3481,26923,5903,48695,101,7168,56,54,55,9015],"class_list":["post-601043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-british-and-irish-lions","tag-dragons","tag-rugby","tag-scotland-rugby-union-team","tag-sports","tag-todays-updates","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601043","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=601043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}