Here are your rugby evening headlines for Friday 23 September.
URC to pay tribute to Eddie Butler
A minute's applause will be held ahead of this weekend's United Rugby Championship matches in tribute to Eddie Butler.
Ex-Wales captain and long-time BBC commentator Butler died in his sleep on a charity trek in Peru at the age of 65 on Thursday. In recent years, he had also worked for Premier Sport as part of their coverage of the league.
This weekend's matches include three home matches for the Welsh sides, with the Scarlets welcoming Ulster to Llanelli on Saturday afternoon while the Ospreys play host to the Lions tomorrow night. Munster visit Rodney Parade on Sunday to face the Dragons.
The only Welsh side playing away from home is Cardiff, with Dai Young's men taking on Glasgow on Friday night.
READ MORE: Graham Price's beautiful tribute to Butler
Ireland centre steps away from playing amid legal case
Ireland centre Chris Farrell has stepped away from Munster duty amid a legal case in France.
The action dates back to an allegation made in March 2017. Farrell, who has won 15 caps and started for Munster in last week's defeat to Cardiff at the Arms Park, played for French outfit Grenoble before joining Munster.
A statement from Munster said the 29-year-old would not be involved with the club while "legal proceedings concerning his alleged involvement as a witness to an alleged crime in 2017, are ongoing".
"Munster Rugby and Chris Farrell have agreed that, with immediate effect, he will be stepping back from his involvement with the Munster squad," the statement read.
"As this is an active legal matter before the French courts, we have no further comment."
Lancaster 'agrees deal' with French club
Stuart Lancaster has signed a contract to become head coach of Racing 92 from next season, according to reports in France.
L'Equipe and RMC Sport report that the former England coach has penned a four-year contract with the Paris club on Thursday. Former Leinster colleague Felipe Contepome is also reported to form part of his coaching staff.
Lancaster is set to succeed Laurent Travers, who will vacate the head coach role to become club president.
Ryan Dragons shock
The Dragons are remaining silent on reports that director of rugby Dean Ryan has left his position at Rodney Parade.
They say they will not be commenting on speculation at this time and that is unlikely to change throughout the day. It follows a report on RugbyPass claiming the Dragons have parted company with former England international Ryan, who has been at the helm since May 2019.
They say that Ryan has been absent from training during the week and that he was informed of the decision on Friday morning.
He had publicly criticised the Dragons players after their 44-6 loss to Edinburgh in their opening game of the United Rugby Championship season last weekend, questioning their work-rate and desire. That heavy defeat followed on from last term’s struggles when they won just two URC games and lost every match in Europe.
RFU defend decision to fly to World Cup in economy
The RFU has defended its decision to fly England out to the women’s World Cup in New Zealand in economy class.
While Eddie Jones’ men travelled in business class to the men’s World Cup in Japan back in 2019, the women will jet off in economy on Friday night for this upcoming tournament.
In a statement, the RFU said: “Despite these successes and our continued investment, the women’s game will be loss making for some years to come and therefore we have to make challenging decisions around what we can invest in and what will provide the best results and return for the team.
“From a performance perspective, the team management has chosen to invest in these areas as well as having two weeks in the country before the first game rather than flying in business.”
READ MORE:
Five Wales internationals are injured at the Ospreys as destructive back-rower returns
WRU demand strong Wales results this season as time for experimenting over
Cardiff leave out Faletau as young giants team up
Australia claim World Rugby admit Mathieu Raynal got time-wasting call wrong
