Today's rugby news as Wales star a fresh doubt for autumn and Williams gets new role

The latest rugby news stories from Wales and beyond

Here are the latest rugby headlines on Friday, October 4.

Wales star facing autumn fitness race

Dragons hooker Elliot Dee is a doubt for Wales' autumn internationals after suffering a setback in his recovery from an ankle injury.

The 51-cap international missed Wales' summer tour of Australia and was expected to return for the Dragons at the start of the season but that wasn't to be. Get the latest Welsh rugby breaking news by signing up to our free daily newsletter here.

"Elliot has had a clean out last week so is still a few weeks away yet," said Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan. "We are planning for him to be available in this block but we have to make sure it's right."

Having been Wales' first-choice hooker in the Six Nations, Dee missed the summer tour of Australia through injury. Wales will likely be able to welcome back Ryan Elias - who opted to miss the summer Tests - to the squad, but - even with Dewi Lake and Evan Lloyd currently fit and available - Dee's absence would be a blow given how consistent a performer he has been for Wales.

Warren Gatland is due to name his squad later this month.

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Wales star handed new role

Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams will captain Gloucester tonight when they travel to Sale Sharks this evening.

The former Cardiff nine has been a standout performer for the Cherry and Whites in the opening weeks of the season, with George Skivington trusting him with the captaincy in just his third competitive outing for the Gallagher Premiership club.

He'll partner Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe in the half-backs against Sale, with Max Llewellyn starting on the wing for the club as they look to continue their new attacking style of play.

"I think it was brilliant for the belief in the team to transition it into a Premiership game," attack coach James Lightfoot-Brown told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"We know we can do it, we see it in training week-to-week and I think that will give us a little bit more belief going into our next few runs of games."

He added: "There were some indications towards the end of the season that we weren't having the ball enough and we weren't getting the right amount of possession to threaten defences.

"It was something we discussed heavily throughout the back-end of the season and pre-season so I'm excited as a group as to where this team can take it."

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Dragons star hopes he's impressed Gatland

Dragons lock Matthew Screech is hopeful he impressed enough for Wales in the summer to warrant another chance this autumn.

Screech was a surprise call-up to the squad and won his first cap since 2021 at the age of 31 when he was selected to start against South Africa at Twickenham. Even though Wales ended up on the wrong side of a 41-13 defeat Screech put in a respectable performance after going head-to-head with the world's best lock Eben Etzebeth.

"It's always my ambition to be in the squad," he said. "I felt like I gave a good account of myself in the summer. In training I felt like Gatland, Howley and all the coaches were happy with how I trained.

"I feel like if there was ever an opportunity which came round again they would be happy for me to come in. I know it's tough and there were a few injuries in the summer and there's a lot of good young second-rows coming through."

Screech could have been forgiven for thinking his chance of playing for Wales again had passed him by. But the experienced Dragons lock is confident he can make an impact for Wales moving forward.

"I felt like the first time before I got capped I was putting too much pressure on myself in terms of getting in the squad, playing for Wales and getting a cap," he said.

"This time I went into it not having any regrets. I just worked hard, it is what it is and an opportunity came to play against South Africa, then there was an opportunity to go on tour, and an opportunity to play against the Reds and put that jersey on again."

Cheika 'overly aggressive'

Michael Cheika’s behaviour has been described as “overly aggressive with intense eye contact” in a written judgement after he was found guilty of disrespecting an independent match-day doctor and given a two-week suspension.

Leicester hit out at the Rugby Football Union after their head coach Cheika’s ban, expressing “dissatisfaction” with an independent disciplinary panel’s finding that he was disrespectful, and they could now appeal.

Australian Cheika is banned for Tigers’ Gallagher Premiership match against Newcastle on Saturday, with one week of the ban suspended until the end of the season.

The 57-year-old was charged with disrespecting the match-day doctor following his first competitive game in charge of the club, a 17-14 win over Exeter on September 21.

Former Australia and Argentina coach Cheika, who joined Leicester this summer, appeared before an independent disciplinary panel on Tuesday evening.

The panel’s written judgement revealed that Cheika went to the medical room after the match at Sandy Park and asked why Tigers forward Ollie Chessum had been assessed as an immediate permanent removal during the game.

The IMDD (independent match-day doctor) explained to Cheika that Chessum should not have been returned to play after initially going off for a head injury assessment.

“As time went on, for minutes, Mr Cheika was overly aggressive, with intense eye contact, crossed arms. He was dismissive and harsh speaking,” the judgement read.

“At one stage the IMDD said to Mr Cheika he was being rude and aggressive and was standing too close to him and that his behaviour was not acceptable.

“Mr Cheika’s response was to say he was taller than the IMDD and asked whether he should stand back. In the IMDD’s opinion Mr Cheika was being rather rude and confrontational, and overly aggressive in his body language and voice.”

Chessum, incorrectly, had been allowed to rejoin the action by Leicester’s team doctor, and he was then removed by the independent doctor.

A hectic situation had seen Tigers centre Solomone Kata and Chessum receiving HIAs at the same time.

Cheika, meanwhile, told the hearing in a statement that he felt the IMDD was “being passive-aggressive”.

The episode between Cheika and the IMDD lasted for five minutes, and the panel said: “No independent match-day doctor should be subject to five minutes of disagreement about a decision that he was entitled to take and had taken.

“Had this exchange taken place in the sight of the referee undoubtedly it would have attracted a red card”.

The panel decided that while Cheika disrespected the doctor, they found insufficient evidence that he had intimidated him.