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Jon Doel

Tonight's rugby news as Rees-Zammit targets England return and former Lions full-back dies

Here are the latest rugby headlines on the evening of Sunday, January 8.

Rees-Zammit targets England return

Louis Rees-Zammit is targeting a return to action for Wales' home Six Nations clash against England on February 25.

The winger is currently out with an ankle injury that looks like it could well rule him out of the start of the Championship, which begins against Ireland on February 4.

The Rugby Paper report Rees-Zammit is likely to miss the second match away to Scotland too, but plans to be back for the England game after being told he does not need to have surgery, which would have ended his chances of playing in the competition at all.

Rees-Zammit's absence is likely to mean a starting spot for either Rio Dyer or Alex Cuthbert alongside Liam Williams and Josh Adams in Wales' first-choice back three.

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Scotland and Lions legend dies

Former Scotland and British and Irish Lions full-back Ken Scotland has died at the age of 86, the Scottish Rugby Union has confirmed.

Scotland, who also represented his country at cricket, made his international rugby union debut in the 1957 Five Nations Championship against France.

He went on to make 27 appearances over the next eight years, and also played for Leicester Tigers, who named him in their 'Team of the Century' in 1999.

Scottish Rugby said it was "immensely saddened" by Scotland's death, describing him as "a player ahead of his time, a true trailblazer."

Scotland great Andy Irvine added: "Ken was undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever to grace the rugby field and was one of the nicest chaps you could ever meet."

Turnbull says Cardiff got complacent in dressing room address

Cardiff captain Josh Turnbull has told his team-mates they have got complacent after a second consecutive home derby defeat on Saturday evening.

Cardiff followed a New Year's defeat to the Ospreys with a disappointing result against the Scarlets in a performance that was defined by a number of missed tackles.

And Turnbull was clear about what went wrong.

“I just said in the changing room that I think in the last couple of weeks we’ve probably got a bit complacent.

“We’ve had some really good wins this year - look at Stormers, look at the Sharks game. We’ve had some good ‘W’s here, we got ourselves out of a bit of a hole when we played the Dragons away.

“But it’s important that we don’t let ourselves down by not doing the fundamentals, the things that don’t require talent. Chasing kicks hard, making the aerial contest go in our favour, which has been a strength of ours, getting the ball back in the air and a bit of indiscipline at times.

“If you are not there emotionally, it probably has a say and a show in your physicality. We’ve always said that physicality wins derbies and in the first half we weren’t physically there.

“I don’t know if we were there emotionally but these are the games you want to play in and play well in because ultimately you are testing yourself against fellow Welsh players who are vying for honours.

“If you want to kick on and put yourself in those positions then you have to turn up physically and mentally every week. We can’t become complacent and think the job is done. We have to work harder every week to get better."

Scrum-half choice clear on form

Former Wales international Derwyn Jones believes Warren Gatland's scrum-half selection should be relatively simple for his Six Nations squad if he picks on form.

Jones, who was speaking as a pundit on BBC Radio Wales, said: "If he's picking the squad on form, he'll be going Tomos Williams, Rhys Webb and Dane Blacker. They'll be the three nines.

"Rhodri Williams played exceptionally well for the Dragons but he had a head knock a couple of weeks ago.

"It's one of those positions where it's been hotly contested, but I do know that Gatland does like Gareth Davies so it'll be interesting to see what he does with that."

Jones also picked out Scarlets flanker Dan Davies, full-back Leigh Halfpenny, outside-half Rhys Patchell and Johnny McNicholl as players who would have impressed Gatland as he attended the Cardiff v Scarlets game on Saturday night.

Glasgow beat champions Stormers

A sensational 78th-minute try from Sebastian Cancelliere secured a dramatic bonus-point 24-17 win for Glasgow Warriors in an exhilarating ding-dong battle with the Stormers at Scotstoun.

The Argentinean winger raced onto Sione Tuipulotu's inch-perfect diagonal kick for the all-important score, which extends Warriors winning streak to six consecutive games in all competitions.

This was their biggest scalp so far against last season's URC champions, who currently sit second in the table.

During an action-packed first half, Warriors drew first blood when Huw Jones hit a brilliant line and then sent Cancelliere over.

But the hosts then found themselves a man down for 10 minutes when Lewis Bean was sent to the sin-bin for obstruction.

Stormers capitalised almost immediately when hooker Joseph Dweba rolled off the back of a line-out maul and powered over the line.

Manie Libbock nailed the tricky conversion to give the visitors a two-point lead.

The home team were clearly in no mood to batten down the hatches whilst reduced to 14 men, and they scored another well-worked try.

Jack Dempsey's powerful burst got the ball rolling before slick hands from Sione Tuipulotu and Ollie Smith sent skipper Kyle Steyn over.

Momentum then swung back Stormers' way and after several minutes of pressure they regained the lead when scrum-half Paul de Wet sent full-back Clayton Blommetjies over.

Jones - playing his first game at Scotstoun in two years after a spell playing down in England - was clearly in the mood to put on a show against the team which gave him his break in professional rugby.

After getting assists for the first two tries, he got himself on the score sheet 10 minutes into the second half, when he skipped inside three Stormers tacklers and zipped over the line.

George Horne nailed the conversion and that proved crucial because when Stormers scored next through Junior Pokomela, and Libbock missed the conversion, it left the scores tied going into the final 10 minutes.

Libbock missed a long-range penalty attempt which would have given his team the scoreboard edge they needed, then Cancelliere had the final say of a pulsating contest.

READ MORE:

Louis Rees-Zammit 'targeted by NFL' as Wales star catches attention of American football scouts

Today's rugby news as Gatland watches forgotten Wales star make last-minute case and rival coaches baffled

Liam Williams injury update issued after Wales star exits Cardiff v Scarlets early as Warren Gatland watches on

Ospreys 19-24 Leinster: Welsh side fall agonisingly short in bid to topple league leaders

Cardiff 22-28 Scarlets: Dwayne Peel's men hold on for Welsh derby win in front of Warren Gatland

'Most attacking fly-half in northern hemisphere' ready for Wales recall

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