The United Rugby Championship continues on Friday as two games take place, with Glasgow Warriors and the Scarlets hosting Benetton and Leinster in their respective fixtures.

Glasgow Warriors v Benetton

Scotland U20 standouts Alex Samuel and Euan Ferrie are both in line for their Glasgow Warriors debuts this weekend, after both were named in the matchday 23 for Friday’s clash with Benetton at Scotstoun.

It will be Samuel’s first-ever competitive appearance in Glasgow colours, the second-rower having put pen to paper on a first professional contract with the Warriors over the summer.

Scotland age-grade team-mate Ferrie will also make his first appearance for the Warriors if he comes off the bench, with the man from East Kilbride in his second season as part of the Scottish Rugby Academy at Scotstoun.

Head coach Franco Smith names a starting XV showing 11 changes from the club’s most recent outing, as Glasgow look to finish the first block of 2022/23 fixtures on the front foot against their Scottish-Italian Shield rivals.

An all-new front-row combination sees Murphy Walker return from Scotland camp to make his first start of the season at tighthead, joining Oli Kebble and Fraser Brown at the coalface.

Sintu Manjezi is one of four players to retain their places from the meeting with the Sharks in Durban, the South African packing down alongside debutant Samuel in the second-row.

Sione Vailanu will make his first appearance at Scotstoun after making his debut off the bench in Durban last time out, with Ryan Wilson shifting to the blindside to accommodate the Tongan in a back-row completed by Gregor Brown.

Behind the scrum, a new half-back combination sees both Jamie Dobie and Domingo Miotti make their first starts of the season, the former appearing in a Glasgow Warriors matchday squad for the first time since a hamstring injury sustained during his summer loan spell at Bay of Plenty.

A brace of returnees from Scotland camp will combine in the midfield, as Stafford McDowall lines up inside club captain Kyle Steyn in the centres.

Josh McKay is the only back to retain his place from the club’s most recent outing, with the full-back joined by Sebastian Cancelliere and Rufus McLean in the back-three.

Smith and his coaching team once again elect for a six-two split of forwards and backs on the bench, with Ferrie covering the back-row in his first outing in professional rugby.

Johnny Matthews is the most-experienced Warrior available off the bench, the hooker joining Simon Berghan and Nathan McBeth as the front-row cover.

JP du Preez and Lewis Bean provide a physical presence to the replacements, with Bean set for his first outing for Glasgow since the Round One clash away to Benetton last month.

Sean Kennedy comes into the matchday 23 to cover at scrum-half, whilst Tom Jordan completes the squad by rotating to the bench after starting each of Glasgow’s five fixtures to date this campaign.

Meanwhile, Benetton head coach Marco Bortolami has rung the changes to his run-on side which suffered a defeat against the Bulls in Treviso last weekend.

There are 10 alterations in all with Rhyno Smith returning to start at full-back at the expense of Giacomo Da Re, who shifts to fly-half where he takes over from Tomas Albornoz. The only other alteration in the backline sees Joaquin Riera coming in at outside centre for Ignacio Brex.

In the forwards, there’s a new-look back-row with former Moana Pasifika stalwart Henry Stowers lining up at number eight while Sebastian Negri and Giovanni Pettinelli are the starting flankers.

Carl Wegner comes in to join Scott Scrafton as the starting locks with Tiziano Pasquali and Nahuel Tetaz packing down in the front-row as the starting props alongside hooker Federico Zani.

The teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 13 Kyle Steyn (c), 12 Stafford McDowall, 11 Rufus McLean, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Gregor Brown, 6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Alex Samuel, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Murphy Walker, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Lewis Bean, 21 Euan Ferrie, 22 Sean Kennedy, 23 Tom Jordan

Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Joaquin Riera, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (c), 8 Henry Stowers, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Scott Scrafton, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Federico Zani, 1 Nahuel Tetaz
Replacements: 16 Manuel Arroyo, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Alessandro Izekor, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Marcus Watson

Venue: Scotstoun
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Finlay Brown (Scotland), Michael Todd (Scotland)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)

Scarlets v Leinster

Tom Rogers and Aaron Shingler return from injury to take their place in the Scarlets’ starting XV to face Leinster in Round Seven of the United Rugby Championship at Parc y Scarlets.

Rogers has recovered from a hamstring issue and comes in on the right wing, while experienced international back-row Shingler plays his first match of the campaign following a knee problem. They are two of five changes to the side that took the field against Connacht in Galway last weekend.

Rogers is joined in the back three by Johnny McNicholl and Ryan Conbeer, who will run out for his 50th Scarlets appearance.

Steff Evans continues in midfield alongside skipper Jonathan Davies, while Dan Jones gets the nod at fly-half. He partners Wales and Lions scrum-half Gareth Davies, who returns to the side after missing the Connacht match.

The only change in the front five comes at hooker with Daf Hughes coming in for Ken Owens — one of seven players unavailable because of Wales duty. Hughes slots in between Steff Thomas and Harri O’Connor in the front-row, with Jac and Tom Price again named at lock.

The other change comes at blindside flanker with Shingler replacing Macleod. The on-loan Dan Thomas, who impressed on his return to Scarlets colours in Galway, continues at openside, while the competition’s leading carrier, Sione Kalamafoni, starts at eight.

On the bench, 19-year-old Archie Hughes comes in to provide scrum-half cover.

Meanwhile, Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has also named a side which contains several changes after their win over Munster at the Aviva Stadium last weekend.

It’s a new back three for Cullen this week with two Academy players, Chris Cosgrave and Rob Russell, joined by the experienced Dave Kearney. It will be Cosgrave’s first involvement of the campaign and only his second start ever.

In the centre Charlie Ngatai is joined by Liam Turner this week, with Irish internationals Luke McGrath and Ross Byrne the half-backs.

Ed Byrne, John McKee and Thomas Clarkson form the front-row selected by Cullen, with McKee and Clarkson making their first starts of the season.

Ross Molony and Jason Jenkins are selected in the second-row with Rhys Ruddock back as captain. Scott Penny and Max Deegan complete the back-row.

On the bench it will be a special weekend for the families, friends and clubs of Tadgh McElroy, Charlie Tector and Ben Brownlee, with all three in line to make debuts off the bench.

The teams:

Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Steff Evans, 12 Jonathan Davies (c), 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Tom Price, 4 Jac Price, 3 Harri O’Connor, 2 Daf Hughes, 1 Steff Thomas
Replacements: 16 Shaun Evans, 17 Kelmsey Mathias, 18 Willgriff John, 19 Morgan Jones, 20 Iwan Shenton, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Corey Baldwin

Leinster:  15 Chris Cosgrave, 14 Rob Russell, 13 Liam Turner, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Max Deegan, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Rhys Ruddock (c), 5 Jason Jenkins, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 John McKee, 1 Ed Byrne
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Vakh Abdaladze, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 Martin Moloney, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Charlie Tector, 23 Ben Brownlee

Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Simon Mills (Wales)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

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Scotland skipper Jamie Ritchie has hailed former captain Stuart Hogg after the full-back backed the flanker to succeed in the role.

The Edinburgh back-row will lead Gregor Townsend’s men for the first time in their clash against Australia at Murrayfield on Saturday.

After the announcement, Hogg took time to congratulate Ritchie via social media, despite the personal disappointment of being removed from the captaincy position.

Huge respect

“It means a lot,” Ritchie said. “I have a huge amount of respect for Hoggy as a man and a rugby player and it’s been a privilege to support him over the last three years as part of his leadership group.

“He was one of the first guys to congratulate me. Gregor told him I was going to be captain before he told me. When Gregor told me, Hoggy sent me a nice message saying that he backed me and stuff like that, and that meant a lot.”

Ritchie will look to lead in his own way but says that there are elements of Hogg’s captaincy he will take into the Autumn Nations Series.

“The things I’ll take from Hoggy are his passion – he’s a very passionate Scotsman – and the way he used the group around him,” the flanker said.

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“There would be days when you wouldn’t necessarily hear him speak a lot because he’d use the leaders around him, and that’s something I’ll look to take on as well.”

Ritchie was told by Townsend that he was one of the candidates for the captaincy role prior to the announcement, but still described the news as “surreal.”

“We’d had a meeting a couple of weeks prior about some leadership stuff and he let me know I was in the mix, then he dropped the news last week,” he said.

“It’s quite surreal. It’s hard to put into words how it feels. It’s a huge honour for me and my family, they’re really proud of me. I’m really excited about the opportunity to take it forward.

“For me, as a kid, you don’t dream about being captain. You dream about playing for Scotland, you dream about running out at Murrayfield.

“But since my career has progressed and leadership has become a bigger part of it, it’s been something that’s been in the back of my head in that if I was given the opportunity, I’d love to do it.”

Back after hamstring injury

Despite being Scotland’s new skipper, Ritchie has not played for the national team since their Six Nations clash with England in February after injuring his hamstring in that encounter.

“It’s been a while, so I’m excited to get back out there at BT Murrayfield,” he said. “It was tough having to watch the boys from the sidelines (in the Six Nations and summer tour) but I knew with the injury I had I couldn’t offer anything so I was excited to see some of the other guys get opportunities.

“I was watching all the games and I was lucky to go with the guys to Rome and enjoyed the win over there.”

Speaking in today’s France press conference, Atletico Madrid left-back Lucas Hernandez confirmed that Thomas Lemar would be joining him in Spain next season.

“Lemar, he is coming to join us. We will try to integrate him as quickly as possible. Griezmann spoke a lot with him about the club, he is a truly great player.”

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UEFA have confirmed that Ligue 1 side Marseille have been fined €100k for going just €8m over their recommended FFP budget.

The investigatory chamber of the footballing body made the decision not to punish OM heavily, preferring to wait to see if this will be a one-off or not.

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All Blacks head coach Ian Foster said his team are preparing for a “battle of inches” when they take on Wales in Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series clash in Cardiff.

Despite coming into this encounter on a four-match winning streak, which helped them to silverware in this year’s Rugby Championship, New Zealand have delivered a mixed bag of results as they have won just six out of 10 Tests played in 2022.

Unbeaten against Wales for 69 years

However, the All Blacks have been dominant against Wales over the years as they have won 33 out of 36 Tests between these countries, with the last Wales victory registered in 1953.

But, despite New Zealand’s dominance of this fixture over the years, Foster is wary of his opponents.

“They (Wales) are a team that know their game, they play high-tempo,” he said.

“They are very confident in what they do and very physical, a lot of strong ball-carrying and also they quite like the aerial game, so there is a good mix.

“It is always a battle of inches against them if you don’t do well in that close-carry area, otherwise you open up real opportunities for the backs and they will be excited to take it.

“We love playing here, and we are really up for what we know will be a really physical encounter.”

Foster has rung the changes to the All Blacks’ run-on side after claiming a narrow win over Japan last weekend, and stars like Beauden Barrett, his brother Jordie and Aaron Smith are all set to start.

It will be a momentous occasion for scrum-half Smith as he will make his 113th Test appearance, taking him past legendary fly-half Dan Carter as the All Blacks’ most-capped backline player.

Sam Whitelock takes over the captaincy after regular skipper Sam Cane sustained a tour-ending injury against the Brave Blossoms. Meanwhile, Scott Barrett will partner Whitelock in the engine room after Brodie Retallick was suspended for foul play against Japan.

“There is a passionate rivalry, there is a lot of respect between the two countries,” added Foster.

Close encounters

“There have been some massive occasions where the games have gone down to the wire, and I remember some very close games over the years.

“We look forward to playing here, it’s a special place with the stadium and the Welsh fans, and the Welsh players play for the right reasons.”

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Wasps’ joint administrators have accepted an offer from a group which includes former players to buy the struggling Premiership side.

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The Coventry-based outfit were suspended from England’s top-tier and subsequently relegated to the Championship after they went into administration.

But there is hope that Wasps can begin preparing for the 2023/24 campaign after an offer was accepted from a consortium which included members of Wasps Legends.

Significant step forward

Andrew Sheridan, Joint Administrator and Partner at FRP Advisory, said: “This deal is a significant step forward, and one that we all hope will allow Wasps Rugby to live on.

“The consortium knows that it still has to meet all of the RFU requirements, including the fit and proper owners test and the presentation of a 3-5 year business plan with supporting robust financial forecasts, and that this needs to completed as soon as is practical in order to be in a position to play next season.

“We have informed the RFU about this development and the consortium is fully aware of the rugby creditors rules as set out in Regulation 5 by the RFU.

“We understand that the consortium will seek to work with the RFU, the RPA and their members to reach a reasonable conclusion on those matters.”

Huge debts

Wasps followed fellow Premiership outfit Worcester Warriors in entering administration on October 17 with debts of over £100 million.

However, should the deal be completed, they will begin the process of hiring senior coaching staff as they seek to get back to the top of the English game.

The offer is only for the men’s rugby team and the youth academy with discussions ongoing over the future of the netball side and the women’s rugby team.

Montpellier HSC has officially completed its second transfer of this summer window with the signing of Frenchman Damien Le Tallec. Le Tallec, often deployed as a defensive midfielder or centre back, will be returning to France after six years abroad in Ukraine, Russia, and Serbia. The now Montpellier man joins on a free from Red Star Belgrade with his contract in Serbia expiring at the end of this season.

Le Tallec’s most recent spell in eastern Europe was spent in the Serbian SuperLiga, where he was a key part of Red Star’s impressive Europa League run and SuperLiga title win.  Under the management of head coach Vladan Milojević, Le Tallec often played as a right-sided center back where he was one of his team’s top performers. In the 8 matches he played in the Europa League the defender averaged a 7.28 match rating, good enough for best on his team per WhoScored.

After selling starlet defender Nordi Mukiélé to Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, Montpellier will be hoping that Le Tallec can fill its Germany-bound defender’s shoes. Mukiélé was a consistent and adaptable performer, something that Le Tallec is noted for as well. Club president Laurent Nicollin was clearly excited to be signing a new defender, declaring, “I am delighted to have an additional central defender in our squad, which was also a wish for the coach…It’s up to him to show us his value, but we are in any case very happy that he has signed with us.” 

G.M.

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Italy started their Autumn Nations Series with a brilliant 49-17 win over Samoa on Saturday afternoon.

Samoa applied the pressure in the first 10 minutes but failed to score any points before Italy found their feet, kicking a penalty in the 11th minute through Tommaso Allan and scoring two tries in as many minutes through Ignacio Brex Juan and Pierre Bruno. Allan kicked both conversions.

Allan would add another penalty before the visitors had to end the first half with a man down after Nigel Ah Wong was yellow carded for dangerous play.

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Italy wing Monty Ioane made the most of the numerical advantage, scoring either side of half-time to put his team in the driver’s seat. Paolo Garbisi kicked a penalty just before the break, while Allan missed one conversion but added two points for the second try in the 47th minute.

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Samoa then began to find a foothold in the game and, despite the scoreline, kept playing hard until the ball bounced their way. Centre Ulupano Seuteni crossed for the visitors’ first try in the 52nd minute, with D’Angelo Leuila slotting the conversion.

The hosts were dialled in and responded only three minutes later through debutant Lorenzo Cannone, with Garbisi kicking the conversion on this occasion.

Garbisi then crossed the whitewash for a try of his own in the 63rd minute, which Pierre Bruno converted.

From then on, the game opened up, suiting Samoa, who scored two unconverted tries in the last 10 minutes through Duncan Paia’aua and Theo McFarland.

Despite winning all 18 of their previous Tests against Italy, the Wallabies are not underestimating the Azzurri ahead of their Autumn Nations Series clash in Florence.

After starting their end-of-year tour with a nail-biting 16-15 victory over Scotland, Australia suffered a narrow 30-29 defeat to France in Paris last weekend.

The Wallabies have struggled on their end-of-year tours in recent years as they have not won more than one Test while visiting Europe since 2016.

Signs of improvement

They have also not won back-to-back Tests since a five-match winning streak in 2021. They have shown signs of improvement, however, but although they will be favourites to beat Italy, who they last faced in 2018, wing Tom Wright said it’s important that they approach the fixture in the same way to their clash against Les Bleus.

“The main messaging is around that we respect Italy and keep out the outside noise… around what could be perceived as an easy game for us on this tour, or the easiest,” Wright told reporters.

“It’s about making sure that we as a squad front up this week – it’s very easy to get up when you’re playing France or Ireland, the top two teams in the world, so we need to make sure we put the same emphasis on playing well and preparing the same way against Italy.”

Australia head coach Dave Rennie will name his team on Thursday and many Wallabies supporters are keen to see young full-back Jock Campbell, who made his first Test start against France, get another start.

Wright admitted the Wallabies full-back position was a “merry-go-round” with no player able to nail down the spot ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France in 2023.

He believes Campbell, who made his Test debut against Scotland at the age of 27, brought a lot of great qualities to the full-back role.

“It’s been well-publicised around how underrated he’s (Campbell) been and he’s waited for his opportunity for a really long time,” Wright said.

“To see him front up on one of biggest stages in the world, he didn’t shy away from the occasion, executing our game plan.

“There’s been a merry-go-round of guys go through there (fullback), me included, and Jock is cool, calm and collected and extremely well liked by the group.

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“You saw in his performance, not a lot rattles him.”

Campbell and Wright both missed tackles on the Les Bleus flyer Damien Penaud as he crossed for the match-winning try in Paris in that game’s closing stages.

Wright said he took responsibility for the defensive error while there were plenty of positives to take from the Paris match.

Owning up

“It sucked for the group, sucked for me and Jock but I’ve just got to own that moment,” he said.

“The team review, we didn’t just look at the last try and think how shit was that game, we looked at the first 75-odd minutes and what we did really well.

“We know Italy are going to be no slouch this weekend, especially at home and it’s a new environment for a lot of guys.

“It’s certainly been a focus point for us, making sure that we show up, especially coming after a performance that we were proud of.”

Ligue 1 side Lille are in advanced talks with young attacker Jonathan Ikoné, whose PSG contract expires in 12 months, according to Foot Mercato.

The 20-year-old versatile forward player spent this season on loan at Montpellier, but has decided that he does not want to join MHSC permanently.

France Football report that the fee involved will be €5m, with Paris United adding that Aston Villa made an enquiry for Ikoné last week without taking any further action.

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The 20-year-old is expected to complete the move to Lille in the coming hours.