Cardiff's Anglo-Welsh Champions Cup clash with Bath will face a "massive challenge" after the blockbuster heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua was confirmed for the Principality Stadium the night before.
The long-awaited bout between the two British boxers was announced on Thursday, with the Principality Stadium set to host the fight in the early hours of Saturday, December 12. An exact start time has not been announced yet, but a 1am start has been suggested in several reports.
Cardiff then face Bath at the Arms Park on Saturday evening, with the Champions Cup clash kicking off at 8pm. Given the quick turnaround, there is bound to be a monumental effort to turn things around between the two events.
Logistical challenge for Cardiff and Bath
The Arms Park will likely host TV trucks for the Joshua Fury fight, which is being broadcast on Netflix at the late time to attract an American audience. Premier Sports will then need to get their own equipment in to broadcast the rugby - with that likely to make up the biggest part of the challenge.
Despite that, it's understood that there will be no change of kick-off time or date as things stand.
"Logistically, it poses a massive challenge," said Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl on Thursday. "To be fair, I will just focus on what I need to do and not worry about that. It's other people's worries."
When asked if he'd need to introduce a curfew on his squad, given the late start of the fight, he joked: "They sleep late anyway! They go to bed late and they wake up late, so it probably won't be an issue."
Wales centre Ben Thomas admitted that the late start wasn't ideal for any of Cardiff's players hoping to witness the bout on their doorstep.
"We've got a game next day," he said. "It's probably not the best day for us, but it's brilliant to have it next door. I'd love to go, but it's probably not the best prep for a European game!"
Dragons promise surprises for Patchell reunion
Dragons have promised to surprise Rhys Patchell as they prepare for a swift reunion with their former coach. The ex-Wales fly-half left Rodney Parade at the end of last season to take up the role of attack coach at Benetton, working under former Wales boss Wayne Pivac.
Having been part-time kicking coach at the Dragons last season, Patchell will be fairly familiar with the Men of Gwent.
"Patch was with us and understands some of the things that we are trying to grow," said Dragons head coach Filo Tiatia. "We have a couple of things up our sleeve that we are trying to add to our game as well. We want to be different to last season in parts of our game."
The Dragons have handed Tonga wing Anzelo Tuitavuki his debut in Friday's season-opener in Treviso. He starts alongside Wales wing Rio Dyer and young full-back Huw Anderson in an exciting back-three.
The club are without co-captains Ben Carter and Angus O'Brien, with Aneurin Owen and Thomas Young leading the side instead. Prop Rodrigo Martinez, fresh from international duty with Argentina this summer, starts in the front-row, while second-row Barny Langton-Cryer and No. 8 Evan Minto are handed their first URC starts.
"Benetton want to play with speed, are a very good set piece side with a good scrum and are loaded with internationals. They have new coaching staff in Wayne (Pivac) and our friend Patch (Rhys Patchell) so they'll try a few things and play with more tempo to try and take opportunities when teams are fatigued," added Tiatia.
"We want to be different to when we went (to Italy) last season. We are looking forward to going to Treviso and facing a good side at their home. If you allow teams to play, like we did the last time we faced them in Treviso, then they can dominate possession and territory. We've learned from that occasion, and it'll be a good challenge for us.
"We have given opportunity to players who have earned the opportunity to put the jersey on. There are some injuries, and a lot of those players are not too far in terms of return to play, which is encouraging, but we have got to keep growing the group."
Dragons RFC: Huw Anderson; Rio Dyer, Fine Inisi, Aneurin Owen (cc), Anzelo Tuitavuki; Tinus de Beer, Rhodri Williams; Rodrigo Martinez, Oli Burrows, Chris Coleman, Barny Langton-Cryer, Seb Davies, Ryan Woodman, Thomas Young (cc), Evan Minto.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Robert Hunt, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Harry Beddall, Che Hope, Jac Lloyd, Fetuli Paea.
Ospreys hand debuts to Aussie trio
The Ospreys have handed competitive debuts to three of their new Australian contingent. For their opening URC match against the Sharks at Kings Park Stadium, new signings Lalakai Foketi, Lawson Creighton and Liam Wright all start.
Another new addition, Wales international Tom Rogers, is named on the right wing. New club co-captains Sam Parry and Owen Watkin lead the side in the season's curtain-raiser.
Ospreys: Iestyn Hopkins; Tom Rogers, Owen Watkin (cc), Lalakai Foketi, Luke Morgan; Lawson Creighton, Luke Davies; Steffan Thomas, Sam Parry (cc), Tom Botha, James Ratti, Rhys Davies, Liam Wright, Ross Moriarty, Morgan Morris.
Replacements: Efan Daniel, Gareth Thomas, Rhys Henry, Ryan Smith, Harri Deaves, Kieran Hardy, Harri Wilde, Evardi Boshoff.
Wales recall duo after injury blow
Wales have recalled Lleucu George and Carys Cox to their backline for Saturday's Test against USA. Sean Lynn has made two changes from the 50-19 win over South Africa, with one of those injury-enforced.
With scrum-half Seren Lockwood ruled out, Keira Bevan moves back to the nine jersey - with George starting at fly-half. The other change sees Cox replace Seren Singleton on the wing after recovering from a knee injury.
George reclaims the fly-half position with Keira Bevan reverting back to scrum-half in the absence of Seren Lockwood, who has been ruled out with a head injury. There are three new faces on the bench, with Molly Reardon, Sian Jones and Nikita Prothero brought into the squad.
"It's great to see Keira Bevan back at nine, I thought she did extremely well at 10, but Lleucu George has got a new lease of life in training and fingers crossed, everything will just keep going," said Lynn.
"Carys Cox will bring that athleticism, she will always look to beat the first defender, she always wants the ball in hand and her work rate off the ball is outstanding."
Wales are bidding for their first back-to-back victory under Lynn - but it won't be easy against a USA side ranked sixth in the world.
"We know it's going to be a really tough competition, to beat Ireland in Ireland takes a good side," Lynn said. "They've got a very good set piece, you can see that Jonathan Humphreys [former Wales and Ospreys coach] has gone in there and tightened up their pack. They've got individuals like Hope Rogers and their number eight Georgie Perris-Redding will captain with passion. In my eyes there's a very exciting battle there against Alex Callender."
Wales: Lisa Neumann; Carys Cox, Courtney Keight, Freya Bell, Amy Williams; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan; Maisie Davies, Kelsey Jones, Sisilia Tuipulotu, Branwen Metcalfe, Georgia Evans, Kate Williams (co-capt), Alex Callender (co-capt), Bryonie King.
Replacements: Molly Reardon, Gwenllian Pyrs, Elan Jones, Gwen Crabb, Jorja Aiono, Sian Jones, Jenna De Vera, Nikita Prothero.
Darcy Graham hands Edinburgh big injury blow
Edinburgh have suffered a major blow ahead of their United Rugby Championship opener at Ulster on Friday after learning that talismanic Scotland wing Darcy Graham is set to be sidelined until December at the earliest.
The 29-year-old sustained a bicep injury in last Friday's friendly defeat at Harlequins and the prognosis is worse than originally feared. In addition to missing the start of the season at club level, Graham will also be unavailable for Scotland's Nations Championship matches against New Zealand, Australia and Japan in November.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt said: "Darcy Graham got a contusion on his bicep in a collision on the weekend. He was training on Monday and got the MRI report saying that he's ruptured his bicep. That's not good news for us and not good news for him, especially with the autumn series coming up. He'll be out for 12 weeks minimum."
Graham is one of 16 Edinburgh players missing through injury, with Scotland internationals Duhan van der Merwe, Marshall Sykes, Ewan Ashman, Grant Gilchrist and Ben Muncaster among a raft of key players unavailable for their league opener in Belfast.
Summer signings Alec Hepburn, James Grayson, Kienan Higgins and Geordie Gwynn have all been included in the starting XV, while 19-year-old academy full-back Rory McHaffie could make his debut from the bench.
"Unfortunately, we've had a few injuries, but that's the nature of pre-season," said Everitt. "Chatting to some of my fellow colleagues and coaches at other franchises, everyone's in the same boat. It's not great, but at the same time it's an opportunity for us to once again grow depth and use the experience that these youngsters gained in the latter part of the last competition."
Everitt's position has been under scrutiny after a failure to make the top eight last season. Asked if the play-offs were a minimum requirement this term, the South African said: "We always want to be in the play-offs. I wouldn't talk about the bare minimum. There's a lot of other things that we're doing at the club. But yes, we want to be back in the play-offs."
