Here are the latest rugby headlines on Friday, August 26.
Clubless Welsh star impresses on trial with English giants
Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam has praised former Worcester Warriors and Ospreys flanker Sam Lewis who is on trial with the club on the eve of their new Premiership season.
Lewis was released by the Warriors at the end of last season, but has put in the work to make a positive impression on Lam so far.
Lam said : “Sam has been in for a trial. He was let go last year and we got a phone call a couple of weeks ago to say he was willing to come in and have a trial with us so we have taken him in. He has been good. We will see how he goes this week. He got come game time last week against Brive and did really well and we will go from there.”
Bristol are set to name their squad to face Dragons on Friday night earlier on match day.
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Ireland star's wife gives birth in the dining room
Ireland and Lions centre Bundee Aki has welcomed a newborn to the world after his partner, Kayla, gave birth in the pair's dining room.
The first time Kayla gave birth, at a hospital in Auckland, she revealed she did not enjoy the experience and was determined to have a home birth when she gave birth again during Covid. The Connacht Tribune reports she had a "real fear" of being separated from husband Bundee due to the restrictions at the time and found she was more comfortable at home.
Now, for their third child, the couple used Private Midwives Ireland, a not-for-profit agency which provide midwives for home births across Ireland, and baby Ailbhe was born at home on August 5 this year.
Ellis Genge hopes Worcester players avoid 'gruesome' outcome amid crisis
England prop Ellis Genge hopes players from crisis club Worcester do not get "shafted" after saying friends were hit hard financially by Premiership Rugby's salary cap.
Worcester's players and staff must wait to discover their fate, with the Gallagher Premiership club reportedly on the brink of administration after a winding-up petition over unpaid tax was issued by HM Revenue & Customs.
Former Worcester chief executive Jim O'Toole is spearheading a newly-formed consortium with investment from a US company to save the club from administration. But the future of the Warriors, who include current England internationals Ollie Lawrence and Ted Hill, remains uncertain.
New Bristol signing Genge said: "I've got a few mates there and I messaged Ollie and said: 'Are you OK?' He said there's been some discrepancies with their pay and stuff like that. It's bleak.
"I'd like to see Worcester stay in the Prem. It's a good club, and hopefully they can sort it out. I just feel everything is always on everyone else's terms (and not the players). I feel we're extremely vulnerable in that situation.
"I've been told Bristol handled that Covid period really well, but as you've seen in recent years contracts have been literally paper-thin. They didn't mean much, and hopefully those boys don't get shafted because that would be absolutely gruesome."
Premiership clubs decided to reduce the £6.4million salary cap in place for the 2020-21 campaign to £5m for last season. The reduction came in the wake of Saracens being relegated from the top flight in 2020 for past breaches of the cap, and the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Genge said: "You've seen the constraints of the cap already and how many squad players have been left with no contracts. Quite a few of my friends are in that situation, which is horrible. You've got mid-level squad players and first-team players now having to take more than a 50 per cent pay cut and going down levels.
"You always hear people say 'you get paid enough', but you put your body through a lot and yourself at a lot of risk. Your neck hurts all the time, you go through a lot in 10 years. Sacrifice everything to be your best in that 10 years. Then imagine having to go and start a whole different career after that.
"It's a lot of sacrifice for quite a high-risk job. So at least you'd like to think everyone would get looked after in that 10 years, but it's not the case. I hope Worcester are going to help everyone out. I just don't want to see anyone kicked out on their a**e. I don't know what's going to happen if they actually go under. But maybe some dispensation for the other clubs, increase the cap by 10 per cent, and scoop up some players."
Premier 15s could unveil overhauled line-up next spring
England's Allianz Premier 15s could unveil an overhauled line-up in spring 2023 following the conclusion of a now-opened tender process. Women's rugby in England is set to transform over the next decade, with the RFU in June announcing a £220million investment and plans to professionalise the top flight.
It could be a tantalising incentive for the clubs who will be invited to meet with the union over the next two months and make their case for inclusion from the 2023-24 season. The league is where the majority of Wales Women's squad ply their club trade due to it being the highest-level competition available to them in the absence of any comparable domestic level in Wales.
Alex Teasdale, head of the women's game at the RFU, said: "We are looking forward to receiving the responses to the request for proposals and progressing the development plans to ensure we deliver a robust platform and ensure the next cycle of the Premier 15s continues to grow the sport at every level."
Most Premier 15s clubs are affiliated with a Gallagher Premiership side, with London Irish, Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons among those with rumoured interest in joining clubs like Harlequins, Saracens and Bristol Bears in the next iteration of the league.
Investment will be used to, according to a June RFU strategy document, "support a transformative uplift in the minimum operating standards (MOS) for clubs, which will mandate substantial investment in the performance environment. This will include an increase in the number of coaching staff, enhanced S&C provision, performance lifestyle support, medical cover and improved facility quality and access." Plans for improved matchday requirements and marketing are also included.
The tender process will see a shortlist created by November 22 and clubs internally notified of the outcome, following presentations to the selection panel, by the end of the year, with the new line-up to be made public in spring 2023.
The new cycle also, said the RFU, "represents a significant departure from the league as it is today" with plans to transform the Premier 15s from 2023-24 into a new company, owned by the RFU and clubs, with its own CEO and board and projected revenues of £174m over the 10-year period.
Heated sessions turn All Blacks around
New Zealand were in a desperate state heading into their second Test against South Africa a fortnight ago. Head coach Ian Foster was on the brink of losing his job and the All Blacks were losing their aura.
Having just lost the Test series to Ireland, they had also lost the opener against the 'Boks fairly comfortably but they managed to turn it all around in the second meeting to claim a much-needed win over the world champions.
The appointment of Jason Ryan as forwards coach ahead of the tour to South Africa is being heralded as a major reason for the turnaround, particularly up front.
“He is coaching differently,” said experienced lock Sam Whitelock, who is familiar with Ryan from their time at the Crusaders. “He’s coaching at an All Blacks level at the moment and that’s what we want, that’s what we need.
“Obviously [I] have a relationship with Jase over the last five or six years and it’s great having that so we can talk about things quickly and adjust on the run when we need. But at the same time, he’s definitely upping his game; he’s demanding more of people that he knows pretty well so it’s a great thing to have him in here demanding that we grow and get better."
On the All Blacks' improved maul defence, he added: “That’s one area that we’ve definitely been looking at and working at. The boys have enjoyed a few extra mauls at training and you can see the growth that’s starting to come through individuals. When you grow as an individual it definitely helps the team.
“I think when we were away the last couple of weeks in Africa, we had a couple of sessions that were pretty heated and we were getting stuck into each other but I think the way the non-23 set us up to go out there and perform was definitely something that helped and that’s something that again this week’s going to be very important."
