Wales to find out their last World Cup rival
WALES’ World Cup group will be completed following a fourteam play-off in Dubai. Hong Kong, Kenya, the United States and Portugal will meet in a round-robin format to decide who takes the final vacant spot in France next year.
Whoever comes out on top will go into Pool C, alongside Wales, Australia, Fiji and Georgia. The qualification tournament will be held at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai from November 6-18.
Kenya and Hong Kong have never competed at the Rugby World Cup before. The Kenyans were beaten by Namibia in the battle for the automatic qualifying spot from Africa. Honk Kong, who are coached by former Dragons stalwart Lewis Evans, also get another chance having lost out to Tonga at the weekend. The South Sea islanders won 44-22 at Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Stadium to book a spot in Pool B, where they will face South Africa, Ireland, Scotland and Romania.
As for the USA, they head into the four-way contest having lost on aggregate in dramatic fashion to Chile, who will be at the World Cup for the first time.
Meanwhile Welsh Premiership title hopefuls Newport have made a raft of signings as they look to go one better than last season. They were just pipped for top spot in the league last term, with Cardiff finishing a point clear of them after the final round of matches.
Now the Blacks & Ambers have moved to bolster their squad for the coming campaign. Among their new recruits is Wales Sevens star Lloyd Lewis, with the winger - who has also made a name for himself as a rapper switching from Pontypool.
Lewis will be joined at the club by another member of Wales’ Commonwealth Games squad in Pontypridd winger Cole Swannack, while flanker Alex Grey, who has signed from Ebbw Vale, also has Wales Sevens experience.
Loosehead prop Thomas Davies brings bags of experience as he makes the move from Cardiff RFC, having made 50 regional appearances for Cardiff Blues and a further 34 for the Dragons.
Other signings include fellow prop Tom Workman, the son of Newport team manager Mark, who played 287 games for the club, with former Wales U20s scrum-half Dafydd Buckland, Bedwas lock Craig Hudd, Pontypool utility back Kieran Meek and Glamorgan Wanderers wing Tom Richards also among the recruits.