Rugby evening headlines as new deal announced for Wales star amid injury updates on Test team-mates

Here are the latest rugby evening headlines for Thursday, April 28.

Wales and Lions centre Jonathan Davies has signed a new contract, committing his future to the Scarlets. The man known as ‘Foxy’ has made 180 appearances for the region in two spells, scoring 51 tries, and took over the captaincy from Ken Owens this season.

“There is a strong environment here at the moment, the competition for places is good, the standard of training is great and there is an ambition to be up there competing for trophies again. It is a good place to be,” said the 34-year-old who recently won his 100th Test cap.

“Wearing the Scarlets jersey means a huge amount to me, I grew up here in the region, supported the club as a youngster, came through the Academy and it has been a privilege to captain the side. It has been a challenging season for a number of reasons, but we have two big games left and are still in the hunt for a play-off spot and to finish top for the Welsh Shield and qualify for the Champions Cup, which is always important to everyone here.

"We have a healthy crop of youngsters here who can put us in a good place moving forward and that competition is pushing everyone to raise standards across the board. I am looking forward to being part of that over the coming years.”

Davies becomes the latest Scarlets player to sign a new deal following Sam Lousi, Scott Williams, Rhys Patchell, Johnny McNicholl, Sam Costelow, Ryan Conbeer, Gareth Davies and Steff Thomas.

Wales’ in-form forward Will Rowlands will miss the Dragons’ trip to Italy this weekend, with a shoulder injury ruling him out of Saturday’s clash with Zebre in Parma. The 18-cap lock, who had such a fine Six Nations, was forced off after taking a bang in last week’s re-match