Today's rugby news as entire Wales coaching staff watch outstanding individual

Here are the latest rugby headlines on Saturday, May 11.

Wales staff watch Wainwright stunner

Warren Gatland and his entire coaching ticket were in attendance at Rodney Parade on Friday night to see Aaron Wainwright produce a blockbuster performance in defeat.

The Dragons eventually went down 44-21 to the Stormers, but were greatly improved from recent times, with try-scorer Wainwright to the fore throughout.

Gatland and assistants Rob Howley, Neil Jenkins, Mike Forshaw and Alex King were all at the match just a few weeks before the squad for summer matches against South Africa and Australia is named.

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Wainwright is sure to be Wales' starting number eight, while fellow Dragons starters Elliot Dee and Rio Dyer are almost certain to be named in the squad.

The South Africans were made to work hard for their bonus-point victory as they trailed until the final quarter before blowing the Dragons away with three late tries.

Angelo Davids and replacement Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu both scored two tries for the fifth-placed visitors, with Evan Roos also touching down and Manie Libbok converting all five and adding three penalties.

Harri Keddie and Wainwright went over for Dragons, Angus O'Brien converting one, while Will Reed kicked three penalties.

Dragons, looking to claim only a fourth win of the season that would have lifted them out of the bottom two, began strongly with powerful bursts from Wainwright and Keddie putting their opponents on the back foot and they were rewarded when a penalty from Reed gave them an early lead.

The Stormers continued to struggle to gain a foothold in the match and backchat from a scrum penalty awarded against them cost a further 10 metres, giving the hosts an attacking line-out from where Keddie forced his way over.

Another scrum penalty then saw Reed launch a superbly-judged kick to secure a five-metre line-out and, with the Stormers conceding two more penalties in quick succession, Reed was able to extend his side's lead to 11-0 with a simple kick.

But the Stormers gradually fought their way back into the match and took control of matters to secure a bonus point win and boost their play-off hopes.

'No mass exodus' - WRU

WRU performance director Huw Bevan says the number of young players leaving Wales for England is 'far fewer' than expected as he claimed it wasn't necessarily a 'mass exodus' heading over the bridge.

The threat of English schools and clubs signing young Welsh talent is one of the biggest facing the Welsh regions, particularly as fact many English clubs have began putting a clause into some contracts which stipulates academy players must represent England at age grade if selected.

The Welsh game is still reeling over the loss of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso to England, while just this week, Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt reflected on the quality of talent produced in Cardiff in recent years - with many of the names mentioned unfortunately not kept in Wales.

However, Bevan believes that while the looming spectre of English clubs and schools will see some leave, the numbers that departed this year were far fewer than expected.

"On the topic of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso going to play in England, I think the exodus of players that people often talk about isn't necessarily a mass exodus," Bevan told WalesOnline's Welsh Rugby Podcast, which will be published next week. "Looking at this year, the numbers are far fewer than we anticipated moving across.

"But what I would say is we need to look at what we're delivering here in terms of the rugby programmes and the quality we're providing, as well as the educational opportunities we're providing in order to retain more players in Wales.

"If a child is offered an opportunity to go to a public school in England, you would consider that. And you'd have to weigh that up with what was being offered locally.

"So we need to make sure what we're offering, in terms of the quality of the rugby programme but also quality of the education being delivered, is as high as it can possibly be. We need to make more of a deal about some of the programmes we're delivering."

Ospreys inspired by Dortmund

Ospreys coach Toby Booth is calling on his team to draw inspiration from Borussia Dortmund as they take on the Leinster “juggernaut” in Dublin.

“We have surprised a few people in how we’ve gone this year, so it shows it still can be done. That’s the beauty of sport,” said Booth.

“You saw this week in the Champions League. Borussia Dortmund didn’t have a chance, according to everybody, but they find themselves in the final.”

Giving his verdict on Leinster, he said: “They are the juggernaut, aren’t they?

“They have got 60 odd players of the same calibre. So it doesn’t matter who wears the shirt.

“They have got the luxury of making selection choices, where others don’t necessarily.

“That’s the benefit of having deep pockets and deep squads. There is no complaining or whinging about it. It is what it is.

“You know Leinster are effectively a super power of the BKT URC and you know how difficult it is to match that. They have got a lot to play for and are a very, very good team.

“It’s very difficult to compete, but we have competed there before and we will compete there again and see where it takes us.”

Russell emerges unscathed

By PA Sport Staff

Johann van Graan was relieved to see fly-half Finn Russell emerge unscathed on his injury return as Bath jumped to second in the Gallagher Premiership with a 28-17 win at Newcastle Falcons.

Russell returned from a month out to nail four conversions as his side secured a bonus point in a rampant first half that saw Thomas du Toit, Ben Spencer, Joe Cokanasiga, and Matt Gallagher all score.

And Van Graan was full of praise for the Scot, who was making his first start since picking up a groin injury, as Bath edge towards the play-offs.

He said: "Very glad [Russell]'s back on the pitch, think he played for 70 minutes.

"Credit to him and the medical staff for getting back on [the pitch] - I thought his passing game was really good and his kicking was excellent."

Gallagher finished off a superb team move for the fourth try, which involved Russell - and van Graan complimented his side picking their moments to strike.

He said: "From a back's perspective, we had some real good strikes, and we kept the ball just before that for quite a few phases [before] picking them off.

"Give Newcastle credit, they fought until the 80th minute and I think for us, we planned really well for this game - we were really positive at the start and got some reward."

"In these games, you need to take your points - I thought we managed what we could, but it wasn't perfect [and] certainly won't go down as a classic."