Tonight’s rugby news as Wales star eyes completely new career and Gatland makes ‘desperate’ plea to squad

Wales were outmuscled by the Wallabies during the first Test in Sydney, with problems evident at their set-pieces while they found it hard to control Australia’s powerful carriers at times.

But as the team prepared for their second showdown with Joe Schmidt’s side in Melbourne – a game they would also lose – Gatland drew attention to the try they conceded at the start of the second half in Sydney that saw the Wallabies stretch their lead.

As shown in the latest episode of the WRU’s Gwlad, Gwlad series with Vodafone, the coach says to his squad: “I’m going to ask you a question. Five minutes after half-time, we conceded a pretty soft try against Australia, where we’re in the game.

“If we’re two points ahead, five minutes to go on the clock, would we have conceded that try? I don’t think so. I think we would have been desperate. That’s just a mindset in terms of that period there, to switch on, we’re in the game.

“Digging deep for each other, the comms, the accuracy,” he continued. “Desperation. I promise, you once you do it, it will just start becoming a habit. We’ve just got to be desperate to get across that [line] as a whole group.”

Welsh scrum-half eyes new career

Wales international Lloyd Williams has revealed his plans for life after rugby.

The scrum-half earned 32 caps for Wales during his time in the Test arena, with his first coming against Argentina in 2011. He signed for English Championship side Ealing Trailfinders last summer and, now aged 34, says he still has plenty of rugby left in him.

Appearing on the SportIn Wales podcast, Williams opened up about his move across the border, explaining that it is something that he had always wanted to do.

“When things ended with Cardiff, I had an opportunity to come up to Ealing,” he said. “The regional situation, there was a bit of uncertainty around it, whereas I was given the opposite with Ealing. They were showing a lot of ambition with their goals to reach the Premiership at some point. I think I quite liked the sound of it.

“Retiring wasn’t an option for me at the time. I still feel really good in myself. I thought, while I’ve got the chance and I’m physically able to, I’d like to go and experience something else. That was nothing against Cardiff, because I hold the club in such high regard and I miss the place. I was always a bit envious of lads who had played rugby elsewhere. I always thought to myself, I would like to do that before my career ends.

During the podcast appearance, Williams also discussed his future and while he brushed off the idea of coaching, the record Cardiff Rugby appearance-holder did mention one avenue he’d like to explore.

“When I had this opportunity, I jumped at it,” he said. “Truth be told, I did have one eye on what am I going to do after rugby? It hangs over you as a player. It did for me anyway. I thought London was a good place for me to explore those options.

“Coaching? I’m not sure. I like elements of it, I’d like working with individuals and the skill-based stuff. The thought of watching rugby on a laptop for long hours, I don’t really get much out of it now and I don’t see myself doing that. My brother, who coaches Newcastle (Falcons), he loves that. And he loves digging into things and picking things out of games, and he really likes that side of it. That’s probably not for me.

“I’m doing my insurance qualifications with Thomas Carroll, an insurance company who are actually based in south Wales,” he added. “They’ve been really good to me. They’ve put me through my insurance broking exams, which is nice, having a different focus other than rugby. While I’m up here I’ll try and make the most of it and jump into that side of things too.”

Wales name side to face Canada

Wales Women U20s coach Liza Burgess has named her side to take on Canada in the Transatlantic Quad Series at Cardiff Arms Park tomorrow night.

After a disappointing Six Nations, Burgess’ side go into the match off the back of a morale boosting 38-31 victory over the USA, but face a Canada side who claimed an impressive 36-33 win over England in the last round.

“The focus of the Six Nations was on opportunity and performance so to get the win against USA was huge,” said Burgess as she reflected on the previous round. “The girls had come in on the back of three games in 10 days. They showed real grit and determination, especially in the second half where we rectified a few things.

“The perseverance and resilience was encouraging to see and they stuck to the process in the second half to come through to hold out for the win. I felt we were in control – in fairness to USA they kept coming at us but it was mostly our errors keeping them in the game. In the second half we stepped up even though we left a few tries begging but certainly going into the Canada game, it has given us a real boost.

Canada bring a lot of physicality – they are very fit and possess physical athletes and they will bring a strong scrum to the game.– they are well drilled so it is going to be an interesting battle for us and will require a lot of resilience from the players. Five games in 21 days is a huge effort for the girls. To finish off our campaign with another winning performance would be the icing on the cake.”

Wales U20s: 15. Ellie Tromans, 14. Hannah Lane, 13. Kelsie Webster, 12. Savannah Picton Powell, 11. Nel Metcalfe, 10. Freya Bell, 9. Seren Singleton; 1, Maisie Davies, 2. Abi Meyrick, 3. Lowri Williams, 4. Milly Summer, 5. Alaw Pyrs, 6. Lily Terry, 7. Lucy Isaac, 8. Jess Rogers (c)

Replacements: 16. Molly Wakely, 17. Chloe Thomas Bradley, 18. Meg Lewis, 19. Robyn Davies, 20. Catrin Stewart, 21. Katie Bevans, 22. Hanna Marshall, 23. Ffion Davies