Former Welsh international Jonathan Spratt re-signs with London Irish

Posted on Feb 24, 2012 in London Irish, Premiership

Welsh international, Jonathan Spratt, has signed a two year contract extension with London Irish the club can reveal today.

The 25-year-old, who has made 10 appearances for the Exiles during this campaign, moved to the club last season from Ospreys and has settled well into life at Sunbury.

Jonathan has represented Wales at all levels and made his international debut in 2009, appearing in Test matches against Canada and USA.

The 6’1” Welshman has been comfortable playing at both inside and outside centre this season performing well in both positions.

Commenting on re-signing for London Irish, Jonathan said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at London Irish so far and I’m delighted to be staying on for two further seasons.”

London Irish head coach Toby Booth said: “Jonathan has been a great addition to our squad for this season playing well in both centre positions. He brings experience to our midfield and it is great that he is to remain part of the squad.”

Jonathan spent a season playing for Taranaki in New Zealand’s domestic rugby tournament, The Air New Zealand Cup, in 2008 receiving rave reviews.

Wales squad to play Scotland

Posted on Feb 8, 2011 in Rugby News

Wales have made three changes, one positional, to the side defeated by England for their RBS 6 Nations Round 2 clash with Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday (kick-off 5.00 pm).

Osprey James Hook wins his 49^th cap and starts at fly half for the first time since the Championship win over Italy in 2009, with Stephen Jones, who has taken a limited part in training after a bump to his neck during his last outing, moving to the bench.

Hook’s regional colleague Lee Byrne reclaims the vacated full back berth.

“James has a real opportunity to show what a quality player he is,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland.

“There  is a certain amount of risk involved as he has not started a game at fly-half this season, but the decision was made easier considering Stephen has been limited in what he can do in the early part of this week after the bump he picked up early on against England.”

Up front Ryan Jones (also Ospreys) returns to the back row in place of injured Wasps No8 Andy Powell (shoulder), with the coaches saying ‘same again’ to the rest of the pack.

“The forwards were in a battle last week, but there were plenty of things that went right and we want them to go up to Murrayfield and give it a shot,”said Wales assistant coach (forwards) Robin McBryde.

“Our front five was an asset in the Autumn and Craig Mitchell has come in and done well and helped give us platform off the scrum and line-out.  We have talked about better execution and accuracy but largely we want the same again from the forwards with Ryan (Jones) coming back into the mix as well.

“Ryan has shown his true character after some set backs in terms of selection and playing in different areas of the pack and he has come out on top.”

On the bench two players, back row Josh Turnbull and fly half / full back Rhys Priestland (both Scarlets), could gain their first caps – with Turnbull replacing the promoted Jones and joining Jonathan Thomas and Richard Hibbard (Ospreys) and John Yapp (Blues) in providing the forward cover.

Elsewhere fellow Scarlet Tavis Knoyle covers the scrum half position in place of Sale Shark’s Dwayne Peel, with Peel unable to train after pulling up with a sore hip training yesterday (Monday).

“Last week in the first half we struggled for field position, which meant we didn’t attack in the way we would have liked and we are hoping to put that right this week,” added McBryde.

“We know we are under pressure, but the pressure we put on ourselves is more than enough and there is no-one working harder than us to put things right.

“We need to maintain our accuracy under pressure, look after the things we can control on the field on Saturday and we will not be far away.”

WALES:Lee Byrne; Morgan Stoddart, Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, Shane Williams; James Hook, Mike Phillips; Paul James, Matthew Rees (Capt), Craig Mitchell, Bradley Davies, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Ryan Jones

Replacements: Richard Hibbard, John Yapp, Jonathan Thomas, Josh Turnbull, Tavis Knoyle, Stephen Jones, Rhys Priestland

WALES

  15 Lee BYRNE (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,041)
  DoB: 01.06.80. 6’3" / 1.91m. 14st 12lb / 94kgs
  International record: 39 caps (W 14, L 23, D 2; 45 pts – 9T)

  14 Morgan STODDART (SCARLETS – Cap No 1,056)
  DoB: 23.09.84.  6’1” / 1.86m. 14st 13lbs / 95kgs
  International record: 4 caps (W 1, L 3; 15 pts – 3T)

  13 Jamie ROBERTS (CARDIFF BLUES – Cap No 1,057)
  DoB: 08.11.86.  6’4” / 1.93m. 17st 5lbs / 110kgs
  International record: 25 caps (W 10, L 15; 10 pts – 2T)

  12 Jonathan DAVIES (SCARLETS – Cap No 1,066)
  DoB: 05.04.88. 6’1” / 1.86m. 16st 3lb / 103kgs
  International record: 8 caps (W 4, L 4; 10 pts – 2T)

  11 Shane WILLIAMS (OSPREYS – Cap No 976)
  DoB: 26.02.77. 5’7” / 1.71m. 12st 1lb / 77kgs
  International record: 76 caps (W 35, L 39, D 2; 255 pts – 51T)
  10 James HOOK (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,047)
  DoB: 27.06.85. 6’0” / 1.83m. 14st 12lbs / 94kgs
  International record: 48 caps (W 18, L 28, D 2; 240 pts – 11T, 34C, 36PG, 3DG)
  9 Michael PHILLIPS (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,022)
  DoB: 29.08.82. 6’3” / 1.91m. 15st 10lb / 101kgs
  International record: 47 caps (W 21, L 24, D 2; 20 pts – 4T)
  1 Paul JAMES (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,021)
  DoB: 13.05.82. 6’1” / 1.86m. 18st 2lbs / 115kgs
  International record: 18 caps (W 5, L 12, D 1)

  2 Matthew REES (SCARLETS, CAPTAIN – Cap No 1,033)
  DoB: 09.12.80. 6’0” / 1.83m. 17st 1lbs / 108kgs
  International record: 43 caps (W 17, L 25, D 1; 10 pts – 2T)

  3 Craig MITCHELL (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,068)
  DoB: 03.05.86. 6’1” / 1.85m. 17st 2lbs / 109kgs
  International record: 5 caps (W 3, L 2)

  4 Bradley DAVIES (CARDIFF BLUES – Cap No 1,065)
  DoB: 09.01.87.  6’6” / 1.98m. 19st 1lbs / 121kgs
  International record: 18 caps (W 6, L 11, D 1)

  5 Alun Wyn JONES (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,046)
  DoB: 19.09.85. 6’5” / 1.96m. 18st 10lbs / 119kgs
  International record: 44 caps (W 16, L 28; 25 pts – 5T)

  6 Dan LYDIATE (NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS – Cap No 1,071)
  DoB: 18.12.87. 1.93m / 6’4”. 17st 10lbs / 112kgs
  International record: 6 caps (W 1, L 4, D 1)

  7 Sam WARBURTON (CARDIFF BLUES – Cap No 1,070)
  DoB: 05.10.88. 1.88m / 6’2”. 16st 4lbs / 103kgs
  International record: 10 caps (W 4, L 6)

  8 Ryan JONES (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,029)
  DoB: 13.03.81. 6’5” / 1.96m. 17st 5lbs / 110kgs
  International record: 47 caps (W 23, L 22, D 2; 5 pts – 1T)

  REPLACEMENTS

  16 Richard HIBBARD (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,048)
  DoB: 13.12.83. 6’0” / 1.83m. 17st 7lbs / 111kgs
  International record: 10 caps (W 3, L 7)

  17 John YAPP (CARDIFF BLUES – Cap No 1,031)
  DoB: 09.04.83. 6’2” / 1.88m. 19st 4lbs / 122.4kgs
  International record: 18 caps (W 12, L 6)

  18 Jonathan THOMAS (OSPREYS – Cap No 1,013)
  DoB: 27.12.82. 6’5” / 1.96m. 17st 7lbs / 111kgs
  International record: 63 caps (W 27, L 33, D 3; 35 pts – 7T)

  19 Josh TURNBULL (SCARLETS)
  DoB: 12.03.88. 1.93m / 6’4”. 15st 8lbs / 99kgs
  International record: Uncapped

  20 Tavis KNOYLE (SCARLETS – Cap No 1,076)
  DoB: 02.06.90. 6’1” / 1.85m. 14st 5lbs / 91kgs
  International record: 1 cap (L 1)

  21 Stephen JONES (SCARLETS – Cap No 966)
  DoB: 08.12.77.  6’1” / 1.86m.  14st 7lbs / 92kgs
  International record: 96 caps (W 39, L 54, D 3; 870 pts – 7T, 137C, 181PG, 6DG)
  22 Rhys PRIESTLAND (SCARLETS)
  DoB: 07.01.87 1.82m / 6’0”. 13st 9lbs / 87kgs
  International record: Uncapped

Wales team to face England

Posted on Feb 2, 2011 in Rugby News

Wales assistant coach Rob Howley has predicted his side’s meeting with England in the RBS 6 Nations opener at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night will be “a battle of inches not yards.”

Howley is in charge of a back line which sees Scarlets wing Morgan Stoddart return to international duty for the first time since the Autumn of 2008 and finds a place for Osprey James Hook at full back with his regional colleague Lee Byrne on the bench.

(more…)

Leinster squad update

Posted on Jan 10, 2011 in Rugby News

The Leinster squad trained in Donnybrook on Monday afternoon ahead of the visit of Saracens to the RDS in Saturday afternoon’s Round 5 Heineken Cup clash (KO: 1.30pm).

Sean O’Brien, who was rested for the 15-10 victory over the Ospreys, rejoined the panel and will be available for selection while the injuries sustained by Cian Healy (hamstring), Jamie Heaslip (ankle) and Jonathan Sexton (calf) from Friday night’s victory will be monitored this week, though it is hoped that all three will be available for selection.

Out-half Jonathan Sexton, who scored 25 points in a man of the match display in the reverse fixture in Wembley Stadium in October, has accrued 42 points to date in this year’s competition.

Brian O’Driscoll, meanwhile, is currently in third place in the overall top try scorers list in the Heineken Cup (28 tries), three behind Toulouse’s Vincent Clerc and just one ahead of his provincial colleague Shane Horgan who now lies in sixth place in the competition’s all time appearance list with 82.

The Leinster team will be announced at midday on Friday.

Leinster currently top Pool 2 having won three of their opening four pool games.

Ireland team v S Africa announced

Posted on Nov 5, 2010 in Rugby News

Following the Ireland training session this afternoon in the Aviva Stadium, the Ireland team management confirmed Keith Earls as the final player among the replacements at number 22.

Ireland Team (to play South Africa, Guinness Series 2010, Aviva Stadium, November 6th, 17:30)

15 – Robert Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 – Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) Captain
12 – Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 – Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrcok College/Leinster)
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary’s College/Leinster)
9 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
3 – Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Mick O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
6 – Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 – David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 – Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:

16 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
17 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 – Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
19 – Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 – Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster)
21 – Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster)