Tag: Wales (Page 5 of 19)

Ryan Jones, the forward for the Ospreys and the Wales Rugby Team has agreed a two year contract to move north of the border to the Rugby Football Union Championship side Bristol Rugby ahead of the new season.

Jones has been capped 75 times by his country, 33 of which came as the skipper of the team, which is a record in itself. The Welshman has been a part of three Grand Slam winning sides apart from the making the British and Irish Lions squad in 2005 as well.

The 33 year old is one of the most versatile players in the Welsh set up at the moment, being able to play as a number eight, a blindside flanker as well as second row and he has made a whopping 133 appearances for the Ospreys since he made his debut for the club back in 2004.

Jones will link up with head coach Andy Robinson and his side once the Pro 12 season finishes.

Robinson stated that the arrival of the Welshman is a sign of the ambition that Bristol Rugby is showing as well as the quality of players the club is capable of attracting. He went on to add that to skipper one’s side for a record number of times, as done with the Wales Rugby Team by Jones and to represent the British and Irish Lions is not something many are capable of and what the player has achieved in his career is unbelievable.

Jones missed the recently concluded Six Nations Championship with the Wales Rugby Team due to an injury but he has returned to full fitness and is ready to play for the Ospreys as he looks to end his time with the Welsh region on a high before leaving for pastures anew in England.

Brad Barritt has vowed to wallop the Wales Rugby Team in the upcoming Six Nations, and is extremely confident the English team will smash their bitter rivals from south of the border as they look to complete the Grand Slam.

According to the English international centre, the only way for England to exorcise the ghost of Cardiff 2013 is by defeating the Dragons this season and wins the Grand Slam title once again. Stuart Lancaster and his men try to regain their status as the champions of the Northern Hemisphere with a tough trip to France in three weeks time.

The England team will also have two tough away trips to Rome as well as Murrayfield and it is easy to understand why everyone is England is saying the English have a tough road to the title, if at all. But the ghosts of that night in the Millennium Stadium ten months ago against the Wales Rugby Team still haunt them.

And the English have already targeted the visit of their bitter neighbors to the Twickenham Stoop on the 9^th of March as the match which will be the most important as they look to avenge an extremely embarrassing and humiliating 30-3 loss at last season.

Barritt stated that as a team, they are still hurting from that loss in Cardiff but they are also hell bent on avenging that loss and regaining the trophy that matters the most.

He admitted that the England team underwent a lot of soul searching after that loss to the Wales Rugby Team and they are determined to put things right this season. He mentioned how successful last season’s campaign was up until that final hurdle and he can’t wait to get back in action against the Welsh as the date of the match draws closer.

Alex Cuthbert has made his way back into the Wales Rugby Team and has declared that he cannot wait to get onto the pitch once again and give the Australians a run for their money.

And the 23 year old is looking forward to renewing his old acquaintance with the Wallabies when they take on the team from Down Under at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. The youngster was on the sidelines for almost the last couple of months, having suffered a hairline fracture on his ankle which forced him to miss out on his country’s autumn international matches against Argentina, South Africa and Tonga.

Cuthbert was a part of the British and Irish Lions side that toured Australia in the summer under Warren Gatland, the current manager of the Welsh team.

And according to the wing player for the Cardiff Blues, the adrenalin and the rush of playing in the packed Millennium Stadium once again in front of the screaming home fans is the only things on his mind at the moment, adding that he cannot wait to get back onto the pitch to take on one of the best sides in international rugby at the moment and put up a great performance for the Wales Rugby Team.

Although Cuthbert got his name on try list in Australia for the Lions, the Welsh team has a horrific record against the Wallabies, having lost the last eight of their encounters by a significant margin as well.

And Gatland mentioned that this Australian team is completely different from the one the Liones faced Down Under and he mentioned that the Wales Rugby Team will need to wary about the threats they pose, otherwise they will be in for quite a handful when the two teams come face to face on Saturday.