Young England international on brink of Wales call-up but big concern emerges

These are your latest rugby headlines on Monday, May 11.

Wales announcement – James likey amid Williams concern

Wales head coach Steve Tandy is to name his squad for this summer later today, with England Under-20s international Kane James likely to be named if fit.

Exeter Chiefs back rower James could be the stand-out new face after pledging his allegiance to Wales following talks with Tandy and England head coach Steve Borthwick. The highly-rated 21-year-old from Haverfordwest represented England at age-grade level but sees his senior future playing for Wales.

He has been out injured with an ankle problem since January but is expected back soon.

Elsewhere, the likes of Morgan Morris and Angus O’Brien are hoping for their maiden call-ups but there is a concern over scrum-half Tomos Williams after he injured his shoulder playing for Gloucester on the weekend. Williams, who was forced off in considerable pain just five minutes into the second-half of the match against Sale would be a huge miss if he were unavailable.

A busy summer campaign will see Tandy’s side play four matches, with an uncapped game against the Barbarians on June 27 followed by the first ever set of Nations Championship fixtures.

After facing Fiji in an ‘away’ game at the Cardiff City Stadium on July 4, Wales will travel to Argentina (July 11) and South Africa (July 18) as part of the new global tournament, which is designed to pitch the best teams in the northern and southern hemisphere against each other.

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With Tandy set to name his choices at the Vale Resort this afternoon, it is expected that the Wales boss will opt to name an extended squad before whittling it down, particularly as he is unlikely to have access to English-based players immediately.

One very familiar face is set to return, with captain Jac Morgan back in the fold after missing the majority of the last two international campaigns through injury.

Quins smash Newcastle

By Press Association

Welsh star Bryn Bradley was on the scoresheet as Harlequins ran in 12 tries to thrash Newcastle 76-17 in the Gallagher Prem.

A basement battle between the two bottom teams at Kingston Park started with Alex Dombrandt, Benson and Bryn Bradley all scoring in the opening 15 minutes for the visitors before Adam Brocklebank replied.

The damage was ultimately done in the first half where a ruthless display saw Cadan Murley, Sam Riley, Marcus Smith and Will Hobson all cross along with a Josh Hodge effort for Newcastle as Harlequins took a mammoth 45-10 lead at the break.

Luke Northmore grounded early in the second half before Benson scored twice in quick succession to complete his hat-trick and tries from Bradley and Jimmy Staples secured Quins’ fourth Prem win this season.

Harlequins went ahead three minutes into the contest when skipper Dombrandt reached over the line to touch down, with Smith adding the extras.

Newcastle were handed a blow when Ben Healy was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and the visitors soon capitalised on their player advantage with their second try of the match. Riley picked the ball up and burst forward before offloading into Benson on the left flank to cross, but Smith’s conversion flew wide.

Just two minutes later Cameron Anderson broke through to play in Bradley for the centre to race over the line and ground, with Smith’s kick successful.

Newcastle pulled one back when prop Brocklebank powered over from close-range, but Brett Connon could not convert. However, Quins soon found further success on the left wing when Murley eased through to ground. Smith missed his conversion attempt.

Riley then struck from a quickly taken penalty, easily stepping through to cross, with Smith adding the extras. The England fly-half soon bagged a try of his own after latching onto Dombrandt’s offload and racing underneath the posts before converting his own attempt.

Harlequins’ rampant first-half display continued when Hobson charged through the home defence and dived between the sticks, with Smith slotting the kick.

A dominant first half performance was soured slightly for Quins when Benson was shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on and the hosts capitalised when Hodge grounded in the left corner, but Connon could not convert.

Early in the second half, Northmore sprinted from just inside the Newcastle half to score and Smith’s conversion attempt smashed the post. A good move on the left saw Northmore turn provider to play Benson in and he coolly crossed before Smith converted.

Benson brought up his hat-trick three minutes later after combining with Will Porter to go over, with Smith’s kick successful, and Quins scored their 11th try of the game shortly afterwards when Bradley easily slipped through the defence.

Hodge earned his second try of the match for Newcastle after going over in the left corner and Healy added the extras. However, Harlequins capped off a dominant afternoon when Staples dived through to score on his Prem debut, with Smith converting.

Exeter fight back to sink Bath

By Press Association

Reigning champions Bath missed the opportunity to go to the top of the Gallagher Prem table as Exeter took a huge step towards an end of season play-off spot with a deserved bonus-point victory at Sandy Park.

Exeter looked likely losers at half-time but a disjointed Bath had no answers to a determined effort from the spirited Chiefs in the second half, who were helped by a red card for Quinn Roux and a yellow one for Tom de Glanville on the way to a 35-12 success.

Josh Iosefa-Scott, Paul Brown-Bampoe, Len Ikitau and Campbell Ridl scored Exeter’s tries with Henry Slade kicking three penalties and two conversions. Harvey Skinner also added a conversion. Dan Frost and Sam Underhill scored Bath’s tries with Finn Russell converting one.

Exeter, playing with the advantage of a stiff breeze, took a third-minute lead with a penalty from Slade. Bath conceded three penalties in the first 12 minutes and Slade made them pay with a second successful kick and on the restart they immediately conceded another when Roux high tackled Slade which resulted in the visitors’ dazed lock being red carded.

Slade departed for an HIA before Ted Hill infringed for the second time in the opening quarter and Bath were made to pay from the resulting line-out.

Australian international centre Ikitau burst away to put the defence on the back foot before Iosefa-Scott was on hand to crash over, with Skinner’s conversion giving Chiefs a 13-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Bath did not strike a blow during that period but five minutes later their pack produced an unstoppable line-out drive which resulted in Frost touching down.

Slade returned, having passed his HIA, with Charlie Ewels introduced at the end of the 20-minute suspension for Roux but the second quarter saw the hosts unable to capitalise on the elements in their favour so a 13-5 half-time lead did not appear at that stage to be sufficient.

However four minutes after the restart, Bath full-back Tom de Glanville was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on and it proved costly as slick passing from Chiefs ended with Brown-Bampoe outflanking the cover to score.

Bath introduced four from the bench including Cam Redpath for his 100th appearance for the club and in time to see Ridl sin-binned for a high tackle on Russell. Almost immediately Bath capitalised when Underhill broke away from a driving maul to score, before Slade missed a 35-metre shot at goal.

Ridl returned and immediately saw Ikitau dart over from close-range for his first top-flight try, before he atoned for his earlier indiscretion by racing away for the bonus-point try. Slade converted and added a last-minute penalty to complete a miserable afternoon for Bath.

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