Sport

Wales name squad for Scotland clash

Published

3 weeks ago

November 1, 2018

WALES have named two uncapped players in their 23-man squad for their opening Under Armour Series clash against Scotland with wing Luke Morgan named in the starting XV and fly-half Jarrod Evans named on the bench.

Morgan, Wales Sevens’ all-time leading try scorer, will make his debut at Principality Stadium alongside the experienced duo of British & Irish Lions George North and Leigh Halfpenny.

Eight Lions in total are named for Wales including 2017 Player of the Series Jonathan Davies who returns from injury to feature for his country for the first time since 2017. He partners regional teammate Hadleigh Parkes in the midfield with Gareth Anscombe and Gareth Davies partnering at half-back.

Nicky Smith, Ken Owens and Dillon Lewis make-up the front-three combination, with Lewis making his first start at home for Wales.

Cory Hill and captain Alun Wyn Jones continue their partnership in the second-row with Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Ross Moriarty linking up to make an all Lions back-row.

Wales and Scotland will go head-to-head in Cardiff on Saturday for the Doddie Weir Cup and the hosts are looking forward to kicking off their 2018/19 campaign according, to Rob Howley.

“We are excited to kick off our autumn campaign on Saturday and it was great to welcome Warren back yesterday,” said Howley.

“Warren has been in constant dialogue with us over the past week and we have selected a very strong squad for this weekend.

“It is great to reward players on form and we are looking forward to seeing Luke make his debut on the wing. He has come through the Sevens system, he will bring a point of difference to the squad and it’s a great opportunity for him. Likewise it will be good to see Jarrod from the bench and hopefully seeing some x-factor from him.

“We have created good strength in depth, especially from the summer and have a nice balance bringing seven Lions back into the team.

“We are very respectful of this Scotland team and are looking forward to what should be a great opening match”

Elliot Dee, Rob Evans and Leon Brown provide the front-row cover on the bench with Adam Beard and Aaron Wainwright completing the forward contingent. Tomos Williams, uncapped Evans and Scarlets wing Steff Evans complete the replacements.

WALES SQUAD TO PLAY SCOTLAND (Saturday November 3 KO 14.45)

Leigh Halfpenny (78 Caps)
George North (76 Caps)
Jonathan Davies (65 Caps)
Hadleigh Parkes (8 Caps)
Luke Morgan (*UNCAPPED)
Gareth Anscombe (18 Caps)
Gareth Davies (33 Davies)
Nicky Smith (21 Caps)
Ken Owens (57 Caps)
Dillon Lewis (5 Caps)
Cory Hill (18 Caps)
Alun Wyn Jones (117 Caps) (CAPT)
Dan Lydiate (62 Caps)
Just Tipuric (57 Caps)
Ross Moriarty (23 Caps)

REPLACEMENTS:

Elliot Dee (10 Caps)
Rob Evans (27 Caps)
Leon Brown (3 Caps)
Adam Beard (4 Caps)
Aaron Wainwright (1 Cap)
Tomos Williams (2 Caps)
Jarrod Evans (UNCAPPED)
Steff Evans (10 Caps)

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Lamphey pull out of league

Published

4 days ago

November 15, 2018

James Hemingray

LAMPHEY Football Club has announced that they have withdrawn their team from the Pembrokeshire Football League.

The Club has cited a lack of players as a reason for their withdrawal but they are now the third team to have done so in a short space of time.

Last season West Dragons and Angle took themselves out of the league for similar reasons.

It means their last match was an 11-1 defeat to Hakin United in the Senior Cup on Saturday (Nov 10) and their game with Goodwick this weekend has now been cancelled.

The Pembrokeshire Football League confirmed the news on their Facebook page saying: “Just to confirm that this morning the League received the sad news from Lamphey that they are withdrawing from the Pembrokeshire League with immediate effect.

“They are citing lack of players as the reasoning for their withdrawal. The League Tables will be amended accordingly.”

Lamphey had not won in their eight games played but had managed three draws. Those points will now be taken away and it is likely that only one team will be relegated from the first division.

Sport

Veteran Vikings on top

Published

6 days ago

November 14, 2018

James Hemingray

HAKIN United are top of the Welsh Veterans League following a 6-0 victory over Nelson Cavaliers at the Observatory last Sunday (Nov 11).

The result puts the Vikings one point ahead of current Champions Trefelin BGC, with the Port Talbot outfit having a game in hand.

However, last Sunday, despite the final score, It was Nelson that were missing the early chances with Hakin goalkeeper Jason Morgan saving a one on one and a penalty before Hakin took the lead midway through the first half.

Stuart MacDonald broke down the left and set up Matthew Price for a tap in to make it 1-0.

Minutes later, Hakin doubled their lead as Michael McCarthy headed home a MacDonald corner.

Just before half time, McCarthy put Price in the clear and the striker hammered a shot into the bottom corner to make it 3-0.

Early in the second half, Nelson missed another penalty before Price set up McCarthy to score from close range.

Ali Davies put Leigh Walters through to lift the ball over the keeper for number five and the same two players combined again for Walters to score his second, beating the keeper at his post.

Hakin next play in the Welsh Veterans Cup Preliminary Round away to Pencoed Athletic on Sunday (Nov 25).

Hakin United: Jason Morgan, Gerard Gray, Nigel Delaney, Richard Bland, Adam Collins, Ali Davies, Shaun Mills, Richard Nash, Michael McCarthy, Leigh Waters, Leighton Edwards. Subs: Nigel Armstrong, Matthew Price, Stuart MacDonald, Jamie Phillips, Gary Dawes.

Sport

Blues too good for Neyland

Published

6 days ago

November 13, 2018

James Hemingray

HAVERFORDWEST closed the gap to leaders Neyland as they condemned them to a second defeat in as many games on Saturday (Nov 10).

The Blues made a good start and it was Craig Barnett who put them into the lead with a try which he then converted. Barnett then added the extras for a 7-0 lead.

Haverfordwest continued to put the pressure on and Barnett extended their lead with a penalty.

Barnett then added two further penalties before half time to give his side a 16-0 lead at the break.

Both sides had chances to score at the start of the second half but errors meant the score stayed the same.

Patrick Bellerby came close to scoring for the All Blacks but Haverfordwest defended well to keep him out.

At the other end a Neyland clearance kick was blocked and kicked on with Barnett giving chase but he was beaten to the ball by Bellerby and Neyland were able to clear.

The visitors then went up the other end and came close to scoring but they gave the ball away. The referee was not happy with the scrums and after three attempts gave a penalty to Neyland from which Luke Griffiths-Dawes dived over. George Evans sent the resulting penalty wide.

Any thoughts Neyland had of making a comeback were quickly dashed as Jamie Zambas increased the home side’s lead with a converted try.

Neyland did pull another try back late on through Craig Power and Evans converted but it wasn’t enough as the Blues saw the game out.

The All Blacks are still top of the table but Haverfordwest are now just a point behind. Milford lie in third, two points behind with two games in hand on their rivals.

The teams are next in action on Saturday, November 24, when leaders Neyland travel to St Davids and Haverfordwest are also away to Llanybydder.