Today's rugby news as Wales exile wowed by his replacement and 'angry' star gives Gatland message

The latest headlines from Wales and around the world

These are your rugby headlines on Monday, October 7.

Wales star impressed by new talent

Wales prop Tomas Francis has heaped praise on new tighthead Archie Griffin, saying the 23-year-old did "amazingly well" as he made the first starts of his international career this summer.

After moving to French side Provence from Ospreys last summer, Francis made himself unavailable to Warren Gatland as he looked to prioritise his family. With two years left on his contract, he is set to not return to Test rugby until 2026 at the earliest, with his "full focus" on the club, although he says he will "never retire" from the international game.

In his absence, Wales have struggled at the scrum, while Gatland has picked several different tightheads to fill the position. During the Six Nations, Leon Brown, Kieron Assiratti, Dillon Lewis and Harri O'Connor all featured there, as well as Bath forward Griffin, who made his debut against England at Twickenham.

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Sydney-born Griffin was then included in the squad for Wales' tour of Australia this summer and made his first professional start against the Wallabies in the city of his birth. Despite his inexperience at the highest level, he majorly impressed with Gatland describing his performance as "outstanding", and Francis agreed.

“Archie did amazingly well for someone making the first professional starts of his career,” he said in the Rugby Paper. “I sent him a text message of congratulation on a job well done.”

On how Griffin's rise could affect his position when he returns, Francis added: “You need at least three tightheads in a Test squad so it’s up to me to make sure it doesn’t affect my position once I am available again.

“Wales have lots of good tight-heads now. The more game time they all get, the better for Wales which is what matters most of all. I will always back myself. In the end it will be up to the Welsh coaches to make that decision.”

Duo send reminder to Gatland

Dragons back row duo Shane Lewis-Hughes and Taine Basham have issued a timely reminder to Warren Gatland with an impressive display in their side's dramatic 33-30 defeat to the Sharks.

Basham gave a man of the match performance against the South African side and scored a try in what was his first game of the season, with Gatland watching on in the stands at Rodney Parade. Get the latest Welsh rugby breaking news by signing up to our free daily newsletter here.

The 24-year-old flanker, who was overlooked for Wales' summer tour of Australia by Gatland, missed the first two games of the new campaign with a tendonitis issue, with coach Dai Flanagan saying pre-game Basham would be "angry" about being left out by Gatland but would channel his frustration in the right way.

Lewis-Hughes, meanwhile, has made a huge impact at Rodney Parade since moving there from Cardiff this summer and has been one of the league's most dominant players at the breakdown so far this season. The 27-year-old, who hasn't been capped by Wales since 2021, gave another physical display against a big South African pack this weekend, with this run of form coming just weeks away from the autumn internationals

After the narrow defeat, Flanagan said: "Taine was all-action, as we know he can be, and that's just the start from him. Shane's been excellent too. He had a massive impact at the start of that game and has transformed the maul defence with Sam Hobbs as coach.

"It gives confidence to our pack to believe if teams want to go five metres out last minute, we will stop them."

Welsh teams to face heavyweight side

Bulls boss Jake White says all of his Springbok players will be flying to Wales this week to take on the Ospreys and Scarlets later this month.

While several South African players have been given time off by their clubs following their recent Rugby Championship success, White wants to make sure his side maintain momentum after winning their opening two URC games. Therefore, he plans to keep all of his top internationals in the mix before heading to Europe.

The likes of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp all played in most of the matches for the Springboks this summer, but are still set to be involved in the Welsh double header on October 12 and 18 before taking on Benetton in Italy the following week.

White said he is also wanting to keep his players fresh for the autumn internationals, which for the Springboks kick off on November 10 with a clash against Scotland. Rassie Erasmus' side will also face England before taking on Wales in Cardiff next month.

Asked how many Springboks he was looking to take on tour, White said: "All of them. It’s one of the difficult things because I just think it’s important that if they don’t play for three weeks and then they have a two-week camp that means for five weeks they don’t play any rugby. And then they play Scotland, so I’m going to have to manage them.

"There are a couple of games where we can rotate the squad and give them weeks off," he added. "But that’s all dependent on injuries obviously, but I mean we need to build momentum and we need to get players playing.”

Earl helps Sarries sink Exeter

By PA Sport Staff

England back row Ben Earl scored two tries as Saracens made it three wins from three in the Gallagher Premiership this season with a 29-14 victory over Exeter at the StoneX Stadium to move top of the table.

Once they hit the front, there was little doubt the Premiership's only remaining 100 per cent record would be maintained by Sarries, for whom Tobias Elliott once again caught the eye on the right wing. Second-bottom Exeter, meanwhile, are one of two teams in the division yet to record a win and unlike their previous two losses, the margin of victory was pretty clear-cut.

Both teams seemed to be feeling the other out in the opening stages, which took place almost exclusively in the middle portion of the pitch as not many phases were being put together.

The crowd was woken up in the 18th minute when Saracens broke the deadlock through England captain Jamie George, who had the honour of scoring off the back of a driving maul, with Alex Lozowski's conversion striking an upright.

Exeter almost hit back within three minutes as fly-half Will Haydon-Wood broke through the middle only to be tackled about a metre short of the line. Instead, Saracens extended their lead to 12-0 when Elliott made it three tries in three games this season by escaping around halfway before breaking clear of Josh Hodge's attempted tackle, Lozowski this time converting.

Another pushover try for the hosts then followed in the 32nd minute, with Earl this time the man getting the ball down off the back of the maul. The visitors looked to have a route back into the game when Hodge's charged down kick fell kindly for Olly Woodburn, who passed the ball inside for Hodge himself to go clear under the posts.

But Sarries almost immediately hit back with their bonus-point try when Earl found Elliott on the right and the younger winger timed his pass to allow Fergus Burke to score his first try for the club.

This gave the hosts a 24-7 half-time lead and Exeter's afternoon got even tougher when Ben Hammersley was sin-binned for making head-on-head contact with Andy Onyeama-Christie in the first minute of the second half. Saracens quickly made the most of their man advantage as Elliott continued his impressive showing by getting a lovely off-load away for Earl to saunter in for his second try.

No further scores came while Hammersley was off the field and it was the Chiefs who scored next in the 62nd minute when quick hands from Woodburn and Hammersley allowed Hodge to bag his own double. The contest kind of finished as it started, albeit now in drizzly conditions, although nobody at Saracens was complaining, as the six-time champions' perfect start to the campaign continued.