Rugby evening headlines as uncapped Welshman nominated for prestigious award and world superstar joins Wales exile

Your rugby evening headlines for Wednesday, June 1.

Tommy Reffell, the uncapped flanker named in Wales' squad for this summer, has been shortlisted for the Land Rover Discovery of the Season. The award recognises the best young player in the Gallagher Premiership and the 23-year-old is among the five nominees.

Reffell has had an outstanding year for league high-fliers Leicester and caught the attention of Wayne Pivac. He'll travel with Wales on a three-Test trip to South Africa this summer, where he'll be looking to make his senior national debut.

The Tigers openside is on the shortlist with Henry Arundell (London Irish), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints) and Hugh Tizard (Harlequins).

Bristol's mercurial Welshman Ioan Lloyd has won the award previously. Other past winners include Sam Simmonds, Ellis Genge, Maro Itoje, Henry Slade, Billy Vunipola, Joe Launchbury, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, Jordan Turner-Hall, Danny Cipriani, Tom Rees, Tom Varndell and Ollie Smith.

Gareth Anscombe considers leaving Wales after World Cup for big-money move

South African World Cup-winner Faf de Klerk has joined Yokohama Canon Eagles, the same club what Wales international Cory Hill plays for.

De Klerk was confirmed as leaving Sale Sharks some time ago but his future has been up in the air until now. He will play his last game for Sale this weekend before linking up with the Springboks for summer Tests against Wales. He will then head onwards to Japan.

I’m very excited and grateful for the opportunity to be part of a great team like Yokohama Canon Eagles,” said de Klerk. “Since the Rugby World Cup in 2019, I knew I wanted to play in Japan at some stage in my career.

“Now it is a reality and I