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Tonight’s rugby news as deal for Welsh region’s future goes down to wire and Scarlets sign scrum-half
Here are your rugby evening headlines for Friday, June 23.
Region enter final week before WRU deadline
The Dragons have a week left of a deadline to agree a deal with the Welsh Rugby Union over going into private ownership.
One of the conditions of the six-year funding framework agreed upon by the four professional sides and the WRU was that the Dragons would no longer owned by Welsh rugby’s governing body.
Dragons chairman David Buttress was given until July to complete a deal, having put together a consortium.
There had been rumours that more time had been allowed to complete the deal, but that isn’t the case.
“There is no extension, we have eight days left. We are working hard on it,” Buttress confirmed.
The Argus report that the Dragons are hopeful of a deal being done, but there’s plenty of work to be done behind the scenes.
If a deal can’t be done it would raise huge questions about the future, with the Professional Rugby Board and new WRU chief executive deciding on what happens next.
At the very least, a heads of terms agreement needs to be thrashed out by next Friday.
Scarlets announce signing of new scrum-half
The Scarlets have signed scrum-half Efan Jones from RGC.
Dwayne Peel’s side are light on numbers in the position, with Dane Blacker and Harri Williams having departed while Gareth Davies, Kieran Hardy and Archie Hughes are away with Welsh national sides.
As such, the 25-year-old Jones has linked up with the west Walians, joining them for the start of pre-season earlier this week.
The former Wales U18s scrum-half enjoyed an outstanding campaign for RGC, scoring 11 tries and collecting the coaches’ and supporters’ player-of-the-season awards.
Scarlets Head Coach Dwayne Peel said: “Efan is an exciting player who is coming off a superb season with RGC in the Premiership and deserves his opportunity at this level. He will add to a talented pool of nines that we have at the club.”
Speaking during his first week of pre-season, Jones said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me at the Scarlets and the welcome I have had from players, coaches and staff this week has been brilliant.
“Playing professional rugby has always been my ambition and the chance to develop my game, learning from a Wales and Lions scrum-half in Dwayne, as well as the other coaches here, is huge for me.
“Playing at Parc y Scarlets for RGC was always a highlight. For me, it’s about working hard in pre-season and pushing for a chance to play in front of the fans in a Scarlets jersey. I’d also like to thank the coaches, players and supporters of RGC and wish them well for the new season.”
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Toulouse face losing Dupont to Olympics next season
Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola says the Top 14 champions are prepared to go the entire 2023/24 season without the services of talismanic scrum-half Antoine Dupont.
The France star is keen to represent his country at their home Olympic games next year, with any involvement with France 7s likely to limit his availability with his club.
In an interview with Midi Olympique, Mola confirmed that Dupont wants to represent his country at the Olympics and understood his reasonings.
“I understand that Antoine, at 26 and after three titles of champion of France, one of European champion, a grand slam, and I hope for a big World Cup, wants to do the Olympics in France,” Mola said.
“We will have to think, at some point, about when he recovers. We are going to organise ourselves, but we will have to think, at some point, about recovering and regenerating. Physically, sevens is unique, it’s another sport.
“With Antoine, Christophe Reigt and Jérôme Daret, we discussed together. The Federation seems open [to the idea], the League and our president too,” he said.
“All the lights are green, but there are other details to settle which are not neutral since.
“A large part of the players’ salaries are provided by the clubs. On our side, we are about to live a half-season or a full season to do without him.”
O’Gara: I showed disrespect
La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara has backtracked on comments he made following the Top 14 final.
O’Gara’s side had been 26-22 ahead against Toulouse going into the latter stages, but Romain Ntamack’s solo try denied them a domestic and European double.
Afterwards, O’Gara described their opponents as “average” and said that “the better team lost”.. However, he has now apologised.
“One or two of my comments were small or disappointing. I don’t know if the people of France listen. I’m sure they do, but I think I showed disrespect by saying that it was an average Toulouse team,” he said on Off The Ball.
“But this is a team that have won five European Cups and have 22 Boucliers. So for anyone that played for them or an ex-player, those comments are disappointing and small on my behalf and I accept that now.
“And I think it’s important I say that because if you’re a (Yannick) Jauzion, or a (Thierry) Dusatoir, a Yannick Nynaga, or Trevor Brennan, or Fabien Pelous, that’s their club.
“What I’m trying to do with La Rochelle is trying to enforce a will power that we can match these guys, but at the same time you can’t obviously diss them and diss their history because it’s so powerful.”
Dismissing the idea that things said in the heat of the moment could be excused, he added: “I think you are thinking clearly, that’s what you have to be able to do. You have to be able to think clearly, but you also have to maybe differentiate a little bit more accurately.
“I thought the performance of Toulouse on the night was quite average, but that doesn’t make them an average team. If you mix up your words, it can not portray what your inner feelings are.”
