These are your evening rugby headlines on Monday, December 23.

Cardiff sign rising Wales U20s youngster from English giants

Wales U20s centre Louie Hennessey has joined Cardiff Rugby on a short-term loan deal from Bath.

The 20-year-old is currently training with Cardiff ahead of their United Rugby Championship derby against the Dragons on Boxing Day. Hennessey hails from Cardiff but left his home city for Bath a couple of years.

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The powerful centre is very highly rated by Bath boss Johann van Graan and signed a new long-term contract with the west country club last month. But Hennessey is down the pecking order at Bath and it is is beneficial for the west country club for him to get game time at Cardiff.

At 6ft 3in and 16st 4lbs, Hennessey can get over the gainline but he has a few strings to his bow. Hennessey brings others into the game and has the pace and the power to cut holes in opposition defences.

But his point of difference is his decision making under pressure and his long-arm offload, which is reminiscent of All Blacks great Sonny Bill Williams. Cardiff have Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas, Steffan Emanuel, Rory Jennings and Harri Millard as centre options but Hennessey offers a different dimension.

Wales stars go head-to-head

Wales No. 8s Aaron Wainwright and Taulupe Faletau will go head-to-head on Boxing Day, just over month before Wales' Six Nations opener.

Cardiff back-row Faletau will go up against his former club Dragons at Rodney Parade, with Wainwright packing down on the other side of the scrum.

The latter has been in possession of the Wales No. 8 jersey in 2024, with the Welsh Rugby Writers' player of the year one of the rare standouts in a tough 12 months.

As for Faletau, the 34-year-old is only freshly back from eight months out injured - with the Boxing Day clash his second game back since April. He last pulled on the Welsh jersey in October 2023, when he broke his arm in Wales' final World Cup pool match against Georgia.

Both will be expecting to feature in Warren Gatland's squad next month, with Wales taking on France on January 31 in their opening match in Paris.

Gatland is unlikely to be in attendance for the Boxing Day clash, as he's out of the country, but one of his assistants will be keeping a close eye on the Wales players involved.

Dragons: Huw Anderson; Rio Dyer, Joe Westwood, Aneurin Owen, Jared Rosser; Angus O'Brien (capt), Rhodri Williams; Rodrigo Martinez, Brodie Coghlan, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Ryan Woodman, Dan Lydiate, Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Aki Seiuli, Paula Latu, Nick Thomas, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Che Hope, Will Reed, Cai Evans

Cardiff: Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas (capt), Gabriel Hamer-Webb; Callum Sheedy, Aled Davies; Corey Domachowski, Dafydd Hughes, Kieron Assiratti, Josh McNally, Teddy Williams, James Botham, Alex Mann, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Efan Lloyd, Danny Southworth, Rhys Litterick, Seb Davies, Alun Lawrence, Ellis Bevan, Rory Jennings, Tom Bowen.

Coach 'honoured' by Wales star's cameo

Pontypool head coach Tom Hancock said the club was "honoured" to have former Wales centre Scott Williams line up for them against Ebbw Vale.

The 34-year-old is currently training with the Dragons after being released by the Scarlets at the end of last season, and ran out at Pontypool Park on Saturday to help the hosts to a stunning 23-16 derby win over the Super Rygbi Cymru leaders.

After the match, Hancock said he felt fortunate to have had 58-cap international Williams in his squad for the match but added that, while the invitation is always there, he doesn't expect to see him back in Pontypool colours just yet. Instead, the coach has backed him to return to play with the Dragons.

“We were really fortunate and honoured to have a player of his stature and quality represent the club," said Hancock. “There was great feedback from the players who managed to play alongside him that his contribution and his buy-in was total.

“As Pontypool coaches, it was good for us to be able to draw as much knowledge and experience from him as we could in the short week that he was with us.

“He’ll always be welcome if he needs anymore game time, he can come back and play for us at any point. But we fully expect him now to kick on – and seeing him return to play with the Dragons would be a good story for everyone I think.”

Scotland international departs

By Anthony Brown, PA

Allan Dell has left Glasgow with immediate effect after the experienced loosehead was released from his contract "to pursue new career opportunities".

The South Africa-born 32-year-old managed just 12 appearances in two and a half years at Scotstoun after joining from London Irish in 2022.

Dell, who won 34 Scotland caps between 2016 and 2022, told the Warriors website: "I'd like to say thank you to the club for the last couple of seasons, and I've got nothing but best wishes for everyone at Scotstoun.

"Hopefully I'll be back in the stands with the supporters soon, and I look forward to catching up with the Warrior Nation over a beer or two in the future."

Glasgow will be bidding to secure the 1872 Cup for the third year running at Murrayfield this Saturday when they defend a 33-14 advantage over Edinburgh following Sunday's first leg at Hampden.