The latest rugby stories making headlines

These are your headlines on the morning of Sunday, November 1.

Wales star sets World Cup goal after heartbreak

Wales centre Joe Hawkins says missing the 2023 World Cup through off-field politics has made him more determined to reach the next tournament in Australia next year.

After swapping the Ospreys for Exeter in 2023, Hawkins was the high-profile casualty of the 25-cap rule - with the law, which was reduced from 60 caps that season, seeing him ineligible for selection. Having established himself as Wales' first-choice inside centre in 2023 under Warren Gatland, his Test career was ultimately put on hold.

However, after moving back to Wales with the Scarlets, Hawkins has established himself once again as Steve Tandy's go-to in the 12 jersey - starting in eight of the last 12 Tests.

"I have no regrets," said Hawkins. "It would have been nice to have a World Cup under my belt already, but that just makes me even more excited for potentially what's ahead over the next year.

"I loved my couple of years in Exeter with the life experience and playing in the Prem, where you can see a lot of the boys are thriving in now."

He added: "It's always in the back of your mind, knowing you're going into a World Cup year.

"You can probably see from performances from other boys in all positions in the squads a World Cup year the intensity probably rises at the clubs.

"Boys are playing for positions and knowing that that's like the carrot at the end of the year but if you're not taking care of the here and now you're you're not going to get that far."

Leinster close in on new coach

Leinster are set to appoint Noel McNamara as successor to Leo Cullen, according to reports in Ireland.

The Irish Times report that McNamara, who is currently part of back-to-back European champions Bordeaux-Begles' coaching team, will return to his former province ahead of next season. Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi, who previously played fly-half for the Dublin side, had been linked with the role.

Former Ireland and Munster fly-half Ronan O'Gara, who is currently in charge of La Rochelle, had also been mentioned as a contender.

McNamara's move could see Leinster's current defence coach, Jaques Nienaber, return to the Springboks ahead of next year's World Cup.

Bordeaux had recently announced a contract extension for McNamara until 2029.

He previously served as Leinster academy manager, before taking charge of Leinster A and Ireland U20s. After stints in New Zealand with North Harbour and South Africa with the Sharks, he joined Bordeaux.

England star suffers injury blow

By Press Association Sport Staff

Phil Dowson confirmed Alex Mitchell suffered a hamstring injury during Northampton’s 28-14 win against Gloucester on Saturday evening.

Mitchell had to come off in the 21st minute, walking down the DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens tunnel, with 20-year-old Jonny Weimann coming on to replace him.

Northampton refused to let the injury blow derail them as they came back from 14-0 down to secure a bonus-point victory against a Gloucester side who had gone into the Gallagher PREM weekend sitting top of the table.

England will now wait to see whether Mitchell can be available for the Nations Championship match at home to Australia next weekend.

The 29-year-old has already been sidelined with hamstring injuries on three separate occasions during 2026.

When asked about Mitchell, Dowson said: “Mitch has hurt his hamstring, but I don’t know how bad.

“We have to be super careful with him and he knows his own body.”

Northampton were also without Fin Smith and Archie McParland against the Cherry and Whites.

When asked for an update on the England duo, Dowson said: “Fin and Archie are both calf. Fin probably not as bad as Arch, but it remains to be seen. I haven’t seen Arch moving around yet, while Fin has been doing some bits.”

Northampton rallied to score 28 unanswered points after going 14-0 down to Gloucester inside the opening half an hour of the match.

Dowson said: “I thought Gloucester started very well. They had a ton of energy and momentum coming into the game and I thought they showed that.

“We were still a bit frustrated from last week (the 28-7 defeat at Leicester), but what we did was battle hard and I thought we were excellent in that second quarter of the match.

“We got back into the game just before half-time, a great time to score, and we started to really get a bit more momentum ourselves.

“We controlled possession and territory pretty well in the second half and managed to convert some of those opportunities.”

Gloucester head coach George Skivington said: “In the second half, it was scrappy and I thought Saints’ defence was outstanding to limit our opportunities.

“We weren’t accurate enough, but give credit to Saints because they did a great job in that second half and we couldn’t quite get a foothold in the game to use our bench the way we wanted to.

“We missed our opportunity with that momentum in the first half to really give ourselves a shot at winning today.”

Welsh coach rues missed chances as youngster praised

Ospreys head coach Mark Jones was left ruing his side's profligacy as they were beaten by Cardiff 26-0 on Saturday night.

In their second game at St Helen's, the Ospreys enjoyed plenty of possession and territory. But, despite several attacking opportunities, they failed to score a point in a match for the first time in over two years.

"Credit's got to go to Cardiff," said Jones. "They set the whole tone of the game, the energy around the contact area.

"We didn't deal with that particularly well in the first 25 minutes and they planted a lot of doubts in our mind, which I don't think we handled particularly well. We had some pretty honest conversations at half-time about the level of our execution.

"We can't control Cardiff's work, but we can definitely control ours. We were definitely a couple of per cent off where we need to be at the start of the game.

"I thought the second half was much better. Our energy, our physicality was better. I think we ended up with 14 22 entries to six, but we didn't convert any of them.

"We were held up over the line four times. So it was better in the second-half. But it's a good message for us that we're a work in progress. There's lots to do in our game. This is a nice little reminder of the level you need to get to for victories in the URC."

However, Cardiff captain Josh McNally cut a far happier figure afterwards, praising the performances of youngster like player of the match Steff Emanuel.

"I'm just hugely proud of the boys," said the second-row. "Steff, Matty Young, Tom Bowen - some of these guys are getting some unbelievable game-time in the URC and they're just backing themselves.

"I'm just really proud of the lads to come away from here. We've probably been fighting for a performance like that all through the first block. But really proud.

"Even that last break at the end, Steff got back there. It shows the fight in the group.

"I think the entire pack changed. Everyone knows their job. Everyone did their job so well today. Even guys like Tom Howe coming on the bench.

"He came on the bench late this week. But he did his job. Everyone's aligned on what we're trying to do. And when it clicks, it clicks."