Here are the latest rugby headlines on Sunday, September 25.
'Louis Rees-Zammit should change positions for Wales v NZ'
Shane Williams believes Wales should make the radical call of picking Louis Rees-Zammit at full-back in the autumn series opener against New Zealand.
Liam Williams will miss the game on November 5 after damaging a collarbone playing for Cardiff against Munster in round one of the BKT United Rugby Championship, while Leigh Halfpenny has yet to start back after 14 months on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Wales have Johnny McNicholl, Gareth Anscombe and Josh Adams among their other No. 15 options, but Williams feels Wayne Pivac should look elsewhere.
“I’d like to see Louis Rees-Zammit wear the 15 jersey against New Zealand with Josh Adams and Alex Cuthbert on the wings,” he says in his column in The Rugby Paper.
“Rees-Zammit looks every inch the full-back to me.
“We all know about his electric pace, but his positional play is also very good while he is excellent under the high ball and isn’t afraid to tackle.
“I think having him at full-back could work very well for Wales.”
Wales’ all-time record try scorer said picking the youngster as last line of defence would complement Adams and Cuthbert, adding: “The amount of pace he’d inject when he hits the line would trouble the world’s best defence, and I’d be keen to see him there against New Zealand.”
Simmonds to leave Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs head coach Ali Hepher has confirmed England No.8 Sam Simmonds is joining reigning French Top 14 champions Montpellier next season.
Simmonds played a key role in the Chiefs' thrilling win over Harlequins on Sunday and after the match Hepher confirmed the reports that have been circulating.
Speaking to BT Sport, he said: "What you have heard is what is happening. It is a fantastic move for Simmo and his family.
"From our perspective, these are the nice ones in some sense, with players moving on to bigger and greater things.
"We have improved him as a player, he has done a fantastic job for us over the years. He has been a great player and he moves on to a fantastic opportunity. I am kind of jealous. He is going to have a great time out there with weather and everything.
"We are pleased for him.
"It allows us to move on, we have got some great prospects coming through as well which we need to have a look at."
Dragons see off Munster
Dragons pulled off one of the shocks of the season by defeating Munster for the first time since 2015.
The Gwent region put their off-field troubles behind them to record their first win at Rodney Parade for over 18 months.
With director of rugby, Dean Ryan, reported to have departed after three years in the post, it was left to head coach, Dai Flanagan, to pick up a win in his first home game in charge.
Dragons had to rely on a superb individual try from Rio Dyer for the victory with JJ Hanrahan kicking six penalties.
Munster's tries came from Stephen Archer and Ben Healy, with the latter adding two conversions and a penalty.
A simple penalty from Healy gave Munster an early lead but their former player, Hanrahan, nullified this with a more difficult effort from 50 metres.
Munster then suffered a double injury blow when Keith Earls and Jean Kleyn left the field simultaneously before receiving further setbacks when Hanrahan kicked four penalties in quick succession to put the Welsh region firmly in the driving seat.
Munster were rattled as a Dragons pack, led by the ferocious efforts of Bradley Roberts and Ross Moriarty, tore into them, causing them to turn over possession on a regular basis.
However, they recovered to score the first try when Healy made a sharp break to send Simon Zebo away down the left flank. The wing was brought down by a high tackle from Dyer with a penalty awarded.
It was taken quickly for Archer to crash over with the referee also yellow-carding Dyer for the earlier high challenge.
Moments later, Munster capitalised on Dyer's absence when Healy evaded a tackle from Rhodri Williams for an easy run-in which the outside half converted to leave his side with a 17-15 half-time advantage.
Four minutes after the restart, with Dyer still in the sin-bin, Dragons blew a golden opportunity to go back in front when they chose a scrum instead of allowing Hanrahan to kick a simple penalty.
The third quarter finished scoreless as the home side declined to take two further chances to kick penalties.
With 11 minutes remaining, Hanrahan had his chance but surprisingly missed with a 40-metre kick but it mattered little as Dyer powered away on a 55-metre run to evade defenders for a splendid individual try.
Dragons fans roared on their heroes and their cause was helped by Munster's flanker, Jack O'Donoghue, being yellow-carded, with Hanrahan sealing victory with the last kick of the match.
Blair praises Edinburgh effort
Mike Blair praised an "outstanding effort" from his Edinburgh side in their agonising 33-31 defeat to the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
With Darcy Graham scoring a hat-trick, the capital club side recovered from an early 15-0 deficit to lead 31-30 with 10 minutes remaining in Pretoria.
A Morne Steyn penalty in the last minute gave the hosts the advantage once again, but Edinburgh had the chance to win it only for Henry Immelman to send a penalty wide with the final kick of the game.
Edinburgh head coach Blair told the club's official website: "Huge pride. It was an outstanding effort.
"The way we defended our line a couple of times, and the effort and work rate off the ball, was outstanding.
"It is getting that consistency and being switched on mentally at every moment because at this level if you drop off a couple of times that is when you concede points.
"It was definitely a disappointing start, the first quarter of the game. I didn't think we were quite there mentally.
"We gave the Bulls a couple of easy 'ins' into the game by not being switched on enough.
"On the positive side, the way we came back from that and the guts, courage and skill we brought to the game was absolutely outstanding.
"There was too much of a cushion at the start but we got ourselves back into the position to win the game."
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