These are your evening rugby headlines on Wednesday, February 12
Sherratt issued Anscombe and Llewellyn reminder
Gloucester forwards coach Trevor Woodman says the Premiership side would have "no complaints" if new Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt opted to call up Max Llewellyn or Gareth Anscombe to his Six Nations squad.
Both of the Cherry & Whites stars were overlooked by Warren Gatland ahead of the tournament, despite Anscombe being the most experienced fly-half option available to Wales and powerful centre Llewellyn being arguably one of the players of the Premiership season so far with seven tries to his name.
READ MORE: Warren Gatland's daughter calls out ex-Wales players in emotional post
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It has been suggested that Sherratt - who took over from Gatland on Tuesday - could opt to call up the Gloucester duo in a bid to strengthen his squad for the final three matches of the Six Nations. And Woodman, who won the 2003 World Cup with England, believes both men could help to greatly improve Wales fortunes for the remainder of the Championship.
“If their plan is short term to get a win, then you're probably picking experienced players," Woodman told GloucestershireLive as he addressed Anscombe's absence from the Wales squad. "If their plan is to create experience for longer-term tournaments, World Cup cycles, then that's a decision that they have to make.
“Gareth, right from the start when he's been in this building [the Gloucester training centre], you draw from his experience. When he talks, the room goes silent, everyone listens and he is accurate 9.5 times out of 10 with his messaging. Sometimes it's timing. Sometimes people talk too much, but his timing just seems to perfect, he just seems to nail it.”
“He knows the game inside out," he added. "He knows what needs to be done, the intensity levels that we need to play at and train at. He's on to other people to make sure they're in the right positions and delivering their job.
"When you've got players like that, that are so experienced, they know where the person next to them should be and what he should be doing, and it's very hard to buy that and have that in the building and I think we're pretty lucky to have had him here this year.”
As for Llewellyn, Woodman said: “Max has been influential in terms of our attack this year, the amount of tries he has scored, but not just the amount of tries he scored, but just his work rate, his connection, what he gives us, how he frees up other people as well.
"If Wales think that he's the man for the job, then we've got no complaints, he's performing well for us.”
Shamed Hogg faces losing MBE
Calls for former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg to be stripped of his MBE are being "formally reviewed", an SNP MP has said.
Last year, the full-back admitted a single charge of domestic abuse against his estranged wife Gillian, with a five-year campaign seeing him shout and swear at her, track her movements and bombard her with messages which were alarming and distressing in nature.
In January, a judge sentenced Hogg to a community payback order with one year of supervision and a second five-year non-harassment order, having already been banned from approaching or contacting his wife for five years after breaching his bail conditions.
Following his sentencing, there were widespread calls for the 32-year-old to lose the MBE he was awarded in the 2024 New Year Honours list for services to rugby.
Now, Stephen Flynn, the SNP's Commons group leader, says the matter is under formal review.
In a post on X, he wrote: "The state honour that follows his name must be rescinded.
"Having raised it in the Commons, and with the relevant committee, it’s been confirmed that the matter is being formally reviewed."
After making a U-turn on his decision to retire from rugby, Hogg now represents Montpellier in the French Top 14 and has featured in 10 matches for them so far this season.
Bealham braced for Wales fightback
Ireland prop Finlay Bealham says his side are braced for Wales "coming out firing" when they meet in Cardiff in 10 days' time.
Wales head into the game at the Principality Stadium as massive underdogs, having lost 14 Test matches in a row and changed their coach midway through the tournament, with Cardiff boss Matt Sherratt taking over from Warren Gatland.
Ireland, on the other hand, are on the hunt for a historic third successive Six Nations title win and are currently unbeaten after overcoming both England and Scotland in the opening two rounds.
But with Wales playing in front of a home ground and with a new coach at the helm, Bealham says Ireland are approaching the game "with the utmost respect" despite the obvious gulf between the two sides currently.
"I think it’s Wales’ first game at home in this Championship as well so they’ll be well up for it, backs against the wall," said Bealham. “I’ve no doubt they’ll be coming out firing, so we’ll go in with the utmost respect and do our thing
"I suppose we just stay pretty consistent in our process. We’ve three more games and it would be silly to look too far in the future. One game at a time and try to put our best foot forward. Now it’s all eyes on Wales.”
Eddie Jordan-led consortium buys London Irish
By PA Sport Staff
A consortium led by ex-Formula 1 team boss Eddie Jordan has bought London Irish Rugby Club out of administration.
The former Gallagher Premiership club filed for administration in June 2023 following its suspension from all competitions.
Irish had reported debts of around £30million, with the Rugby Football Union confirming that neither its owner Mick Crossan nor an American consortium planning to buy the club could prove they had the finances to compete in English rugby’s top flight for the 2023/24 campaign.
Irish became the third casualty of a financial crisis that gripped the Premiership, which dropped to a 10-team competition following the collapses of Wasps and Worcester.
Jordan’s group, The Jordan Associates, says its aim is to return Irish “to the pinnacle of international professional club rugby”. Officially, the new owners are Strangford Ellis Ltd, which is managed by Jordan Associates.
“The primary goal of the new ownership is to return London Irish Rugby Club to the pinnacle of international professional club rugby, aiming for a swift return to top-flight competition,” read a statement issued by Strangford Ellis. “The Jordan Associates team will now turn its attention to negotiating a full and sustainable return for London Irish to competitive rugby, hand-in-hand with London Irish’s supporter base.”
Jordan Associates senior partner Kyle Jordan added: “We are incredibly excited about this opportunity to steer London Irish towards new heights. Our investors bring not just financial backing, but a profound passion for rugby and a commitment to the community and in particular want to reach out to the global Irish diaspora to build the exile brand.”
And Evelyn Partners’ Lee Manning, joint administrator of London Irish, said: “We have worked hard throughout this administration to preserve the value of this historic and much-loved club. Despite a number of false dawns in respect of interested parties expressing a keen interest in acquiring London Irish, we are delighted to have found a buyer with plans to revitalise the club.”
