Rugby evening headlines as Ospreys surprised by Wayne Pivac comments and Welsh fly-half joins English Premiership

Here are the latest rugby headlines on Wednesday, May 18.

Ospreys head coach Toby Booth has expressed surprise at Wayne Pivac’s reasons for dropping ‘standout’ Jac Morgan from Wales’ squad

Omitting the youngster from his 33-strong panel for the trip to South Africa this summer, Wales head coach Pivac said: "I had a good chat to Jac around what we want him to do in the off-season and that's a big work-on in terms of what he can do in the strength and conditioning area.

"The game's a really physical game. Where we're going, South Africa, there are a lot of very big men. We've asked him to improve, if he can, in that area of physicality when he's over the ball, being even stronger than he is.”

Wayne Pivac tells Jac Morgan he needs to get bigger and stronger as he drops him from Wales squad

It’s a take on matters that some might raise eyebrows at, with Morgan having achieved 22 turnovers in the United Rugby Championship this season. No one has snaffled more opposition ball. Morgan is also physical as a tackler.

Booth said: “I’ve had conversations with Wayne around his decisions and I’ve obviously had the conversation around Jac.

“All I can talk about is the performance that Jac has produced for us.

“He’s been one of our standout players, probably along with Rhys Webb, to be fair. They’ve been two of our standout players all year.

“Jac is in the top three for tackles completed (in the URC), he’s in the top three for dominant tackles and he’s in the top three for breakdown steals.

“Wayne knows what he wants to do in South Africa and what sort of game he plays.

“All I can comment on is that I know Jac will use it as fuel to get better. All he can control is what he does next. From a performance point of view in URC he’s been