rugby

The last Red Roses camp before the Rugby World Cup squad is named will be in Treviso, Italy in July.

It is the first foreign camp England’s women have been taken on, but despite the excitement the head coach is promising it will be one the toughest and hottest they have experienced.

“The heat will in itself create its own duress” said Mitchell, with temperatures in the region averaging around 30C in the summer.

“I think our tournament might be hot, so I think we’ll benefit from that. It will probably be our most uncomfortable training camp of all of them because it will be hot and you’ll get bothered.”

After England lost the last Rugby World Cup final after an early red card for wing Lydia Thompson, the coaches are keen to ensure no stone will be left unturned to prepare the side for all eventualities.

“The amount that we’ve layered on our game will put them under a lot of questions through scenarios,” said Mitchell. “The unfairness that comes in the games through the cards, those sorts of things. The play-to-rest ratios will be probably a little bit lower as well. We can create a really quite niggly camp if you like.

“We want to be ready for any form of unfairness and it will come at some point. Look at the way cards and HIA’s (Head Injury Assessments) have advanced the game in that area.

“We’ve definitely got to do it because it’s going to come in the tournament. I’d rather be ready for every eventuality and even then, we probably won’t be ready for every eventuality.

“If we don’t create that exposure, then we’re probably going to let ourselves down like the last World Cup.”

More than 520 additional former rugby players have joined a concussion lawsuit against the sport’s authorities, according to the law firm bringing the case.

Rylands Garth says there are now more than 1,100 former players involved, with 784 from rugby union and 319 from rugby league.

Steve Thompson, Mark Regan and Phil Vickery – part of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup-winning squad – former Wales stars Gavin Henson, Colin Charvis and Ryan Jones and England and British and Lions scrum-half Harry Ellis are among those seeking damages from World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.

In November, former British and Irish Lions duo Lee Byrne and Phil Greening were confirmed to have joined the concussion lawsuit.

The former players claim the governing bodies were negligent in failing to take reasonable action to protect them from serious brain injuries.

A similar action is being taken against the Rugby Football League (RFL) and the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA).

“Players continue to play almost all-year round, with many elite players soon to embark on extremely physical summer tours across the rugby world. We will continue to fight for justice for those who gave so much to the game,” a Rylands Garth spokesperson said.

When one competition becomes your season’s lodestar, all else on offer will feel diminished.

Prop Andrew Porter made as much clear in a 2023 interview that pops up again and again on social media after Leinster’s European defeats.

“You don’t see many URC or Pro14s or whatever you have on the jersey. You see those stars that are on the jersey,” he said in 2023 before the second of those finals against La Rochelle.

Yet, there is a sense that this year the domestic bread and butter has taken on a greater significance this year.

After a run of four straight titles between 2018 and 2021, Leinster have not won any of the last three, a time period that encompasses the inclusion of South African sides Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Lions in the competition.

Forwards coach Robin McBryde said it would represent “a step in the right direction” and it will not have gone unnoticed that this particular piece of silverware has also proved to be elusive of late.

While plenty of their squad have enjoyed successes with Ireland, after three seasons, there would be value simply in the act of winning silverware again.

“For Ireland we have been able to do that in recent years, but we haven’t been able to transfer that with Leinster,” said Lowe.

“It doesn’t mean that because you have won with Ireland you are going to win with Leinster.

“You still have to come back here and perform on the biggest of days and under the most amount of pressure. That’s what we want to do.”

Evans is part of Wales’ 10-player mixed squad and she will not be the only one to break records on Saturday.

Jodie Boyd-Ward will become the sport’s most capped player when she leads Wales out at Archers Arena.

The 32-year-old is currently on 44 international appearances, level with Welshman Harry Jones.

“It truly is an honour to be asked to captain Wales for the Celtic Cup, especially as it’s an opportunity to lead the squad out and look to reclaim the trophy,” Boyd-Ward said.

“Last year, I knew after an amazing tour to the US, that I needed to take some time out after not taking a break for the whole of my wheelchair rugby league career.

“Now I’m back and feeling better than ever, I’m looking forward to getting stuck in with the team and also seeing how both Scotland and Ireland have continued their development, as I know we have at Wales.”

Wales’ World Cup captain from 2022, Stuart Williams, is named as vice-captain.

The 40-year-old, who is Wales’ record international try scorer with 66, returns to the side after missing last year’s Wales matches.

Ospreys and Scarlets have accused the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) of making a U-turn after the governing body announced it will move away from a model of four evenly funded professional sides.

WRU bosses say they now intend to implement a new two-tier funding system a decision which Ospreys say has “created more destabilising and debilitating uncertainty in our game”.

Ospreys and Scarlets did not sign up to Welsh rugby’s new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) by the deadline of 8 May.

The agreement was signed by Dragons and Cardiff, who were last month taken over by the WRU having served formal notification that they intended to enter administration.

Last week Ospreys and Scarlets said they had asked the WRU for assurances that the takeover “will not disproportionally benefit Cardiff and disadvantage the independent clubs”.

After Ospreys and Scarlets had not signed, WRU have served a two-year notice on the current agreement that underpins the Welsh professional game.

That current PRA runs out in 2027 although it was due to be superseded by the new five-year deal.

On Sunday, the WRU released a statement saying that with those clubs not signing by the deadline set, it had therefore taken the “difficult but necessary decision to issue the formal two-year notice to terminate the current PRA agreement in order, in particular, to proceed with its debt refinancing.”

The governing body made the announcement amid reports it intends to cut a team from its professional tier.

The WRU has neither confirmed nor denied if cutting a team is part of its plans.

The WRU had continually insisted maintaining four professional sides on an equal footing was at the heart of its long-term strategy that was launched in 2024.

The governing body say that was their preference from the outset, but the system will not return to the model “given seismic changes in the rugby landscape”.

The WRU now says it has taken “the difficult but necessary decision” to issue the formal two-year notice to terminate the current PRA agreement, in particular, to proceed with its debt refinancing with its bank, NatWest.

They say it was not a decision that was taken lightly, however “given the WRU’s duties to the game in Wales as a whole, the broader performance, financial and strategic needs of the game must take precedence”.

“When I announced the headline strategy back in July 2024, I said one thing is for certain, given the challenges facing rugby in Wales and globally, there will be times when we need to adjust our course,” said Tierney.

“We must seize this opportunity. Our continued aim is to build a resilient and world-class structure that will support Welsh rugby’s next generation and beyond.”

The Professional Rugby Board (PRB) is the organisation set up to represent the four professional sides and the WRU.

“The next phase of consultation, as always, will be conducted with the best interests of the whole of Welsh rugby at its heart,” said PRB chair Malcolm Wall, who is also a WRU board member.