Scott Williams is set for a Twickenham return on Saturday with a six-year unbeaten England record in his sights. The Wales and Scarlets centre assured himself a place in Welsh rugby folklore by scoring a 50-metre breakaway try that downed England on home turf during the 2012 Six Nations tournament. His 75th-minute touchdown secured Wales the Triple Crown and also underpinned a second Grand Slam of Warren Gatland’s coaching reign that arrived just three weeks later.

Rhys Patchell has been backed to pull the strings for Wales in this Six Nations championship – and help untangle their injury dilemmas. Patchell is in line to be named at No.10 on Tuesday when Warren Gatland names his team to face Scotland in the opening match of the tournament this weekend. With Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland both on the long injury list, Patchell is fighting for the starting spot at outside-half, along with Gareth Anscombe and Gloucester’s Owen Williams.

Wales included two new faces in the Six Nations squad announced this week by Warren Gatland. But it’s a new approach, bolder and more adventurous, and Scarlets-based, that Robin Davey is looking for this year. The Scarlets way or the highway. That has to be the Wales mantra as they close in on the Six Nations tournament for which they are rank outsiders. They are rated at 15-1 to be title winners by the bookies, which seems fair after a less than inspiring autumn series compounded by a number of injuries which forced coach Warren Gatland to name an enlarged 39-man squad in order to cover all eventualities.

Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac expects his region to dominate the Wales squad for the Six Nations when it is announced on Tuesday morning at 11am. Warren Gatland is expected to name 37 players for the tournament and Pivac believes almost half of them could come from Parc Y Scarlets. That representation in the national squad could be swelled further next season if George North opts to return to Llanelli from Northampton, with Pivac having confirmed he has held talks with the Lions wing over his national dual contract location.

The head count has begun for Wales coach Warren Gatland who must survey the battlefield after four months of the rugby season and decide who is still standing and therefore available for the Six Nations. Not many is the short answer, says Robin Davey, who argues the lawmakers are still ignoring pointlessly dangerous areas of the sport. New year – but same old story as injuries continue to pile up at international and regional/club level, with Wales particularly hard hit. The national team look like heading into the penultimate Six Nations tournament before the World Cup with a team ravaged by injuries.

Wales wing George North is likely to miss the start of the Six Nations after suffering another knee injury that will sideline him for up to a month. It means that North, who only returned to action last Saturday following an 11-week absence because of knee trouble, faces a race to be fit for Wales’ Six Nations opener against Scotland on February 3. “George North sustained an injury to his knee during Saints’ defeat to Harlequins on Saturday at Twickenham which will require up to four weeks’ rehabilitation,” Northampton said in a statement.

The Dragons are bringing back home another talented Welsh exile after signing Wales Sevens international Rhodri Davies for next season. The 25-year-old Pembrokeshire-born Rotherham Titans scrum half becomes the latest signing made by Bernard Jackman as he seeks to turn the Rodney Parade outfit into real contenders in the future. Davies joins Ross Moriarty, Jordan Williams and Rhodri Williams in committing his future to the Dragons from English clubs. Jackman doesn’t want to stop there as he scouts for Welsh qualified players and senior internationals George North and Ryan Bevington are on his radar.

Taulupe Faletau has joined the list of players who will watch the start of the Six Nations from the discomfort of an armchair, painkilllers close at hand. Robin Davey says the game is brutalising itself, denying fans of star names and putting strains on teams’ finances, never mind the strains on the bodies themselves. Rugby is in crisis with injuries mounting on an almost daily basis, player after player going down to stretch resources of club, region and country to the absolute limit. The effect is to seriously weaken teams – whether domestic or international – deprive fans of the ability to watch their favourite players, which they pay heavily to see, and forces regions and clubs to lengthen their squads considerably, incurring debts in the process.

Taulupe Faletau’s club Bath are set to be hit with a fine for allowing the Wales No.8 to play against South Africa. The Lions forward was granted release by the club even though the match fell outside of the World Rugby approved international window. Faletau has a clause in his contract with Bath that provides him with release for all Wales matches, even if the club are playing on the same weekend – as was the case last Saturday.

George North is returning to Wales and all four regions are keen to sign him up. But with Wales the priority, Peter Jackson wonders what value they will get from a player who has so often been kept on the sidelines through injury. George North arrived at Franklin’s Gardens from West Wales one year after Chris Ashton left for North London. The Welsh colossus reported for duty in the summer of 2013 fresh from some famous deeds for the Lions in Australia and eager to help Northampton continue to lord it over the rest as newly-crowned champions of England. They had won the title, what’s more, at the expense of the opponent they love to beat more than any other, Saracens – and Ashton to boot.

George North will conduct “interviews” with all four of the Welsh regions before deciding which one to play for next season. The Wales wing – currently out of action with a knee injury – is to leave Northampton at the end of this campaign and return to Wales on a dual contract. But whilst 60 per cent of his salary will be paid for by the Welsh Rugby Union, the contributor of the remaining 40 per cent has yet to be determined with the Scarlets, the Ospreys, the Cardiff Blues and the Dragons all keen to add North to their squad.

Ross Moriarty is on the move – back to Wales for a team owned by the WRU, but not on a WRU deal. Confused? Seimon Williams outlines why a team seemingly moving from rags to riches need to say who’s paying for their new gear. The confirmation of Gloucester, Wales and Lions back-rower Ross Moriarty’s […]