Tonight's rugby news as Wales star has neck surgery and WRU call in 60 young talents for clinic

These are your evening rugby headlines on Wednesday, December 11.

WRU call in 60 youngsters for skills clinic

More than 60 promising female rugby talents have been put through their paces as part of the Welsh Rugby Union's first National Player Development Centre skills clinics.

Each of the Player Development Centres (PDCs) at Cardiff Met, Swansea University and Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (RGC) has identified between 25 and 35 players between the ages of 18 and 23 as potential future Wales internationals to benefit from "academy-style support".

READ MORE: Trio of English clubs target Wales star as big decision now looms

READ MORE: Welsh club sign Tongan international on short-term deal

The first group of players was specifically chosen to attend the opening sessions at Wales' National Centre of Excellence to train and test each other in front of a select group of coaches, which included Wales legends Siwan Lillicrap, Elinor Snowsill, Caryl Thomas and Liza Burgess.

They were also joined by Wales' two Celtic Challenge head coaches, Catherine Nicholas McLaughlin of Gwalia Lightning and Ashley Beck of Brython Thunder as they ran the rule over the invited players - who took part in gym, skills and rugby sessions over the course of two evenings - and passed on key development and skills advice.

The sessions have been designed to enable the best young talented female players in Wales to work with the best coaches from the WRU pathway, from the PDCS through to the Celtic Challenge and national level.

Former Wales Women skipper Lillicrap, who is now the WRU PDC’s lead and pathway manager, said: “This was a real opportunity to see the first intake of players to benefit from the PDC’s we have introduced in Cardiff, Swansea and Colwyn Bay.

“These players were identified as real talents, and these sessions allows us to track high performing pathway players and for them to train with each other and therefore test each other.

"It also allowed coaches from national set up and the WRU pathway to work with these talented players and highlights the alignment and collaboration we now have at our disposal for players who have ambitions to play Celtic Challenge rugby and to play professional rugby and ultimately play for Wales.”

Wales star has neck surgery

Wales prop Leon Brown has suffered a new injury blow and faces another spell on the sidelines after undergoing neck surgery.

The 28-year-old has had a torrid time with injury over the course of his career and has had his game-time managed so far this season, making three appearances for the Dragons as the region's medical staff worked with their WRU colleagues to help him get back to full fitness.

He was left out of Warren Gatland's squad for the autumn internationals, with the most recent of his 24 Wales caps coming during this year's Six Nations before injury problems ended his season. It was a similar story to the previous campaign, when he won another solitary cap during the Six Nations before his World Cup hopes were extinguished due to another injury.

Brown now faces an unspecified period of time on the sidelines, with Dragons interim boss Filo Tiatia hit by a double blow in the front row after prop Luke Yendle underwent knee surgery.

Those absences mean that the Rodney Parade side now count Chris Coleman and Dmitri Arhip as their only options at tighthead, leading them to sign Tonga international Paula Latu on a short-term deal as injury cover.

Latu, who has signed from New Zealand side Southland Stags, has won five caps for Tonga and featured for them at last year's Rugby World Cups before making three appearances off the bench in this year's autumn internationals. Weighing in at 19st 5lbs and standing at 6ft 2ins, he can also play at loosehead.

On Brown undergoing surgery, Tiatia said: "We are managing him and he is in a phase of recovering."

'Gifted' back forced to retire at 27

Leicester Tigers utility back Harry Simmons has been forced to retire at 27 after suffering a serious eye injury.

The Tigers academy graduate sustained the injury against Leinster in the Champions Cup back in January and has since been "exploring all avenues" to return to playing. However, following medical advice, Simmons has made the "difficult decision" to hang up his boots and move into a coaching role at the club, having made 39 appearances for them as a player.

He played at scrum-half, wing and full-back over the course of his career, representing Loughborough Students and Jersey Reds as well as Leicester.

"It is with a heavy heart that I've been forced to make the difficult decision to hang up my boots and retire from playing professional rugby," Simmons said. "It had always been a dream of mine to play for this club and I am so proud to have been lucky enough to be able to do so over the last nine years.

"While this isn't the ending I envisioned, and there are many more goals I would love to have achieved, I leave playing the game with immense pride and gratitude for every opportunity I've had. I'm excited to begin my coaching journey here and I am looking forward to what the future holds."

Tigers general manager Richard Wilks said the club were "proud" of the way Simmons had dealt with his injury, adding: "As a rugby player, Harry was tremendously gifted. As a person, he is loved by staff and team-mates here at the club, and it's been difficult for all of us to see his career end this way."

Curry undergoes stem-cell procedure

England star Tom Curry has undergone a stem-cell procedure to help his chronic hip condition.

The flanker had career-saving surgery following last year's Rugby World Cup, having suffered damage to his hip that he described as a "car crash" amid fears he would have to retire from the game.

He recovered in time to feature for Sale towards the end of last season and was part of England's summer tour of Japan and New Zealand, as well as being included in Steve Borthwick's squad for the Autumn Series internationals. He started the autumn Tests against New Zealand and Australia but missed the visit of South Africa after being knocked unconscious during the Wallabies clash.

He is now set to be out for another couple of weeks and will miss Sale's Championship Cup clash with Racing 92 on Friday after undergoing the stem-cell procedure to help his long-term recovery from his hip injury.

"He's having a stem cell procedure, which isn't a cure, it's like a medicine really," said Sale coach Alex Sanderson said. "It's to help the bone growth of his previous operation; injecting stem cells into his hip. It's a week completely doing nothing while the bone grows, and then he is back to running.

"We put a little bit of a plan together, of which the stem-cell procedure is a part of it, then looked at the rest of the season," he added. "Steve Borthwick looked [at the plan] and is 100% behind it. We want to get him to the World Cup without having another operation."