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Wales name 42-man Rugby World Cup Training Squad

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WALES have named a 42-man training squad to prepare for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which includes 18 players with RWC experience and two uncapped players in prop Rhys Carre and wing Owen Lane.

Thirty-six of Wales’ 2019 Grand Slam squad are named in the training squad which is made up of 23 forwards and 19 backs.

The players will link up with Wales on a rolling start, after each has received four weeks off following their final club/regional game.

Preparations will begin at the state-of-the-art WRU National Centre of Excellence with the whole squad expected in camp by the middle to end of June.

The rigorous schedule will prepare the squad for their first overseas training camp in the Swiss AlpsAs per 2015, the squad will head to Fiesch in Switzerland for an intensive fortnight.

They will ‘live high’ and ‘train low’ in the resort then return to Cardiff for more preparation ahead of back-to-back fixtures against England at Twickenham (August 11) and Principality Stadium respectively (August 17).

The morning after their second clash with England the squad will head to the heat of Turkey for warm-weather training in the purpose built Gloria Sports Arena before flying home for their final two preparation matches. Wales will face Ireland in Cardiff on August 31 and announce their 31-man RWC squad the following week. They then face the return fixture in Dublin on September 7.

Uncapped Carre joins fellow props Leon Brown, Rob Evans, Tomas Francis, Wyn Jones, Samson Lee, Dillon Lewis and Nicky Smith.

Ken Owens, who featured for Wales at the 2011 and 2015 RWCs is named alongside Elliot Dee and Ryan Elias.

Alun Wyn Jones, who has appeared in three of the game’s showpiece tournaments (’07, ’11, ’15) features alongside Jake Ball, Adam Beard, Bradley Davies and Cory Hill. Taulupe Faletau, who also played in the 2011 and 2015 tournaments returns to the squad from injury alongside James Davies.  Ross Moriarty, Josh Navidi, Aaron Shingler and Justin Tipuric complete the back-row contingent.

Wales have named the same 18 backs that made up the 2019 Guinness Six Nations squad with the addition of Lane.

Aled Davies, Gareth Davies and Tomos Williams feature as the scrum-halves with Gareth Anscombe, Dan Biggar, Jarrod Evans and Rhys Patchell the four fly-halves named.

Wales have named four centres in Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Owen Watkin and Scott Williams (who has featured in two World Cups for Wales).

Lane, who played for Wales U20 with Carre, is one of eight back-three players included alongside Josh Adams, Hallam Amos, Steff Evans, Leigh Halfpenny, George North (who played in both the 2011 and 2015 tournaments), Jonah Holmes and Liam Williams.

It is exciting to name our training squad and to get the RWC ball rolling,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland.

We’ve named a 42-man squad, packed with experience, a good number of the Grand Slam winning squad are in there plus some players who have returned from injury.

The last couple of years have been about building depth and exposing players and we have done that well so we have kept the numbers down to make the squad as manageable as possible.

We have created some great competition in the squad and there are a couple of players on the injury list at the moment that we could add into the squad at a later date depending on their recovery.

We have been really impressed with Rhys (Carre) and with Owen (Lane).  They have both been on our succession plan for a while and it will be good to have them in camp with us and to see what they are able to do.

We are looking forward to the squad meeting up and a hard summer of work ahead of us.  We have planned it meticulously and the plans have been in place for a good while now.  Looking back to 2011 and 2015 we were happy with our preparation so we are hoping to take that into this year and hopefully build on it.”

WALES’ 2019 RWC TRAINING SQUAD:
FORWARDS (23):
Leon Brown (Dragons) (5 Caps)
Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues) (*Uncapped)
Rob Evans (Scarlets) (35 Caps)
Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (40 Caps)
Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (12 Caps)
Samson Lee (Scarlets) (40 Caps)
Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues) (12 Caps)
Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (28 Caps)
Elliot Dee (Dragons) (18 Caps)
Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (7 Caps)
Ken Owens (Scarlets) (64 Caps)
Jake Ball (Scarlets) (32 Caps)
Adam Beard (Ospreys) (13 Caps)
Bradley Davies (Ospreys) (64 Caps)
Cory Hill (Dragons) (24 Caps)
Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (125 Caps)
James Davies (Scarlets) (3 Caps)
Taulupe Faletau (Bath) (72 Caps)
Ross Moriarty (Dragons) (31 Caps)
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) (16 Caps)
Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) (17 Caps)
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (64 Caps)
Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) (8 Caps)

BACKS (19):
Aled Davies (Ospreys) (16 Caps)
Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (41 Caps)
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) (7 Caps)
Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) (26 Caps)
Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints) (70 Caps)
Jarrod Evans (Cardiff Blues) (1 Cap)
Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) (11 Caps)
Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) (73 Caps)
Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets) (15 Caps)
Owen Watkin (Ospreys) (13 Caps)
Scott Williams (Ospreys) (57 Caps)
Josh Adams (Worcester Warriors) (10 Caps)
Hallam Amos (Dragons) (18 Caps)
Steff Evans (Scarlets) (12 Caps)
Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets) (81 Caps)
Owen Lane (Cardiff Blues) (*Uncapped)
George North (Ospreys) (83 Caps)
Jonah Holmes (Leicester Tigers) (2 Caps)
Liam Williams (Saracens) (55 Caps)

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Crunch time – Pembrokeshire Division 1 Round Up

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An important round of fixtures last weekend, saw Fishguard’s fate in theory sealed if not mathematically. Neyland join them in the relegation places and look unlikely to be able to escape them now. While the Seasiders moved up to fourth, in what is an excellent return to Pembrokeshire’s top flight.

Noir’s men won 2-1 over Monkton Swifts, in a win that puts Tenby on 28 points in fourth but level on points with the Bridge who sit in third. Goals from two of their star players ensured the three points, with Darryl Mansbridge and Adam Muskett finding the back of the net.

Meanwhile, Hakin saw off ten men Pennar 3-1 who lost Connor Roberts a key player to a red card after just 29 minutes. Frustration got the better of manager Carl Vincent who also saw red near the end.

Carew came out on top of a five goal thriller away at Fishguard Sports who now look to be all but relegated. The visitors played a large portion of the game with ten men after losing keeper Harries to a red card just before the interval. It ended 3-2 with the visitors taking the points thanks to goals from a Hinchcliffe brace and Morgan.

In the six pointer at the foot of the table, it ended up being a single point for both teams. Neyland and Kilgetty couldn’t be separated as they drew 2-2, a result that is far more damaging for Neyland than Kilgetty. Neyland now sit three points behind Kilgetty but having played four games more than them. A win for Kilgetty in their remaining seven games would mean Neyland have to win at least two of their remaining three games which seems unlikely.

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The Treble is on – Goodwick win again.

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Goodwick went into their visit to Merlins Bridge in the Senior Cup as firm favourites, against a Bridge side capable of causing an upset. However there was no magic of the cup on this occasion for the Wizards.

Goodwick put five past the hosts and made sure it was a comfortable afternoon for them as they’ve become very used to lately. A brace a piece for Dalling and Haworth along with a Horgan goal sealed the deal for O’Sullivans men.

Another dominant display for an excellent outfit, who were missing a key player in Rhys Jones although their strength in depth was really demonstrated here. The treble must now be on everyone’s minds even if they don’t want to talk about it too much yet. You definitely wouldn’t bet against this team right now.

The win means Goodwick are into their second semi final of the season, ahead of their huge clash with Penlan in the West Wales Cup semi final on the 2nd of April.

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Rocky delivers knockout blow

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Marble Hall was the stage for an absolute huge cup tie, we billed this as a mouthwatering clash. It certainly did not disappoint.

The visitors got off to an absolute flier playing towards the clubhouse end. Within just twelve minutes the visitors were two nil up.

The first goal was a well worked passing move saw the ball played out wide to Laurie Howarth who beat his man and set the ball back for Ben John to hammer home

Clarby then saw themselves double their lead. This time Laurie turned from provider to scorer as he got onto a Matthew Davies through ball to slot home with a far post finish that beat Charlie Malloy in the Milford goal

It could have been three, minutes later but Haworth couldn’t latch onto a Davies cross which was begging to be converted into the back of the net.

Milford showed great character to fight back and got themselves level before the interval. The first goal came from a long cross field ball to Scott Reid and after his effort was well saved by Mansell, however he was on hand to follow up and slot home

The second was a direct free kick taken by Morgan Picton which found its way under the body of Mansell in the Clarby net, 2-2 at the oranges.

In the second half Clarby playing with wind at their backs we’re seeing plenty of the ball but not many clear chances and those that were created were not converted. Credit to the hosts for limiting clear cut chances and showing tremendous spirit to comeback from a tough start. At the end of the 90 minutes is was all level, extra time needed.

As expected is was tense and nervy it became obvious the next goal was very like to be the winner and with just ten minutes to play, a Laurie Haworth corner was neatly headed home by Ben Rocky John. The goal sent the hosts through to the semi finals of the competition much to the delight of all the players and manager Matthew Fox. However Milford United can hold their heads high, in their return to the first division they’ve secured a safety very swiftly and been a thorn in many teams side in cup competitions.

Photos courtesy of Ethan Ellis

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