CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Wales will debut New Zealand-born winger Blair Murray against a Fiji restocked with its European backline stars for their autumn rugby test on Sunday.
Murray qualified through his mother. He's played six times for Scarlets and scored tries in their last two matches.
“He came through the New Zealand pathway,” coach Warren Gatland said on Friday. “We were pretty excited when he committed to us. He gives us a left-footed option which we haven't had in a while. He gets touches and defends well.”
Murray was in a backline refurbished after the 2-0 series loss to the Wallabies in Australia in July.
Experienced halves Tomos Williams and Gareth Anscombe return. Anscombe last appeared at the Rugby World Cup more than a year ago. Ben Thomas, the flyhalf in July, moves out one spot.
Gloucester center Max Llewellyn will play his third test after debuting in the World Cup warmups. Mason Grady, the inside center in July, is out on the wing.
Locks Adam Beard and Will Rowlands return after missing the summer tour.
Tighthead prop Archie Griffin, who debuted in the Six Nations, also starts. He suffered from a previously unknown heart condition in September while in action for his Bath club. When he was finally cleared, he came off the bench last weekend to prove his fitness.
Gatland went for a 6-2 split on the bench to ease the load on the forwards because both props, Griffin and Gareth Thomas, Beard, and backup flanker Jac Morgan haven't played a lot lately.
Meanwhile, Fiji welcomed back its European-based players on Friday after they were unavailable to play Scotland last weekend because that match was outside the international window. Fiji lost 57-17 at Murrayfield.
Co-captain Waisea Nayacalevu and Josua Tuisova fill the midfield, and Semi Radradra and Jiuta Wainiqolo are on the wings.
Sireli Maqala, the Bayonne center who made the French Top 14 team of the month in September and October, could make only the reserves.
The forwards have been bolstered by Saracens loosehead Eroni Mawi and Northampton lock Temo Mayanavanua.
Wales, yet to win this year, is hoping to avoid a 10th straight defeat which would match its record from 2002-03. Wales has won its last six matches against Fiji, including a thriller at the World Cup last year, and never lost at home to the Fijians.
Lineups:
Wales: Cameron Winnett, Mason Grady, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Blair Murray, Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Aaron Wainwright, Tommy Reffell, Taine Plumtree, Adam Beard, Will Rowlands, Archie Griffin, Dewi Lake (captain), Gareth Thomas. Reserves: Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Keiron Assiratti, Christ Tshiunza, James Botham, Jac Morgan, Ellis Bevan, Sam Costelow.
Fiji: Vuate Karawalevu, Jiuta Wainiqolo, Waisea Nayacalevu (co-captain), Josua Tuisova, Semi Radradra, Caleb Muntz, Frank Lomani; Elia Canakaivata, Kitione Salawa, Ratu Meli Derenalagi, Temo Mayanavanua, Isoa Nasilasila, Samuela Tawake, Tevita Ikanivere (co-captain), Eroni Mawi. Reserves: Sam Matavesi, Haereiti Hetet, Jone Koroiduadua, Mesake Vocevoce, Albert Tuisue, Simi Kuruvoli, Isaiah Ravula, Sireli Maqala.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
FILE - Wales' Gareth Anscombe kicks a penalty during the Rugby World Cup Pool C match between Wales and Australia at the OL Stadium in Lyon, France, Sept. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people across the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday, a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and establish a new security corridor across the Palestinian territory.
Israel has vowed to escalate the nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel has imposed a month-long halt on all imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle.
Officials in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the strip, said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital – nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women. The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodies were taken to Ahli hospital, including those of seven children.
The Israeli military ordered the residents of several areas -- Shujaiya, Jadida, Turkomen and eastern Zeytoun -- to evacuate on Thursday, adding that the army “will work with extreme force in your area.” It said people should move to shelters west of Gaza City.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel was establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas, suggesting it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu referred to the new axis as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities. He said it would be “a second Philadelphi corridor ” referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt further south, which has been under Israeli control since last May.
Israel has reasserted control over the Netzarim corridor, also named for a former settlement, that cuts off the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the narrow coastal strip. Both of the existing corridors run from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
“We are cutting up the strip, and we are increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas, expressed its “complete rejection” of the planned corridor. Its statement also called for Hamas to give up power in Gaza, where the militant group has faced rare protests recently.
Netanyahu’s announcement came after the defense minister, Israel Katz, said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones, apparently referring to an existing buffer zone along Gaza’s entire perimeter. He called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all the hostages,” saying “this is the only way to end the war.”
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel plans to maintain overall security control of Gaza after the war and implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle much of its population elsewhere through what the Israeli leader referred to as “voluntary emigration.”
Palestinians have rejected the plan, viewing it as expulsion from their homeland after Israel’s offensive left much of it uninhabitable, and human rights experts say implementing the plan would likely violate international law.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israel rescued eight living hostages and has recovered dozens of bodies.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war has left vast areas of Gaza in ruins and at its height displaced around 90% of the population.
Separately, Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in southwestern Syria, Syrian state media reported Thursday.
SANA said the nine were civilians, without giving details. Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were local gunmen from the Daraa province, frustrated with Israeli military encroachment and attacks in recent months.
Israel has seized parts of southwestern Syria and created a buffer-zone there, which it says is to secure Israel’s safety from armed groups. But critics say the military operation has created tensions in Syria and prevents any long-term stability and reconstruction for the war-torn country.
Israel also struck five cities in Syria late Wednesday, including over a dozen strikes near a strategic airbase in the city of Hama.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Palestinians inspect a UN building after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians inspect a UN building after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
