Mason Grady

Having played just one game in the last year, Mason Grady is straining at the leash to return to action this weekend, reports Simon Thomas.

How best to utilise the undoubted talents of Mason Grady is one of the big debates in Welsh rugby. At 6ft 5ins and 17st 9lbs, with bags of pace and power, the 22-year-old Cardiff star has all the raw ingredients.

As Cardiff kick-off their new season on Friday night, head coach Matt Sherratt insists he will be calling the shots at the Arms Park – not Warren Gatland. With a host of youngsters having been fast-tracked into the Wales squad over the past 12 months, it might be tempting to believe Sherratt is under pressure to accommodate all requests.

Wales have been forced into four changes, two of them positional, for the second Test against Australia in Melbourne on Saturday. Two of the changes come in the back row, where Taine Plumtree moves to number eight with Aaron Wainwright ruled out of the remainder of the tour by a hamstring injury.

The pressure is mounting on Wales and their head coach Warren Gatland after they suffered an eighth successive defeat last weekend. They have a chance to make amends in Sydney on Saturday, but coach and analyst Tomas Marks says they will have to make major improvements.

Warren Gatland has revealed he used to try to rattle new Australian coach Joe Schmidt when he was in charge of Ireland. The two Kiwis will resume their coaching rivalry in Sydney on Saturday with Gatland trying to end a run of seven straight defeats with Wales and Schmidt hoping to open his Wallaby account with a much-needed win.

It’s said time moves faster as you get older and that certainly feels true if you’re a Welsh rugby fan. One minute you’re celebrating a record win over Australia at the World Cup, the next you’re wondering if a victory is possible against the same opponents after seven straight defeats.

Cardiff centre Ben Thomas has been named as Wales’ fly-half, and wing Josh Hathaway will earn his first cap in the first Test against Australia in Sydney on Saturday. Thomas, 25, replaces Sam Costelow, marking his first international start in his third Test appearance after two substitute roles in 2021.

Senior men’s head coach Warren Gatland has named the Wales XV to face South Africa away at Twickenham Stadium in the Qatar Airways Cup on Saturday 22 June (KO 2pm live on Sky Sports and S4C).

Warren Gatland has promised to nurse his latest group of youngsters through their four-match summer series and to give some of his more experienced players a “kick up the arse”. Wales head to Twickenham on 22 June to face the world champion Springboks before travelling to Australia for a two-Test series against the Wallabies and a final fixture with Queensland Reds.

Toby Booth says his Ospreys will be taking on the best team in the URC when they face Munster at Limerick’s Thomond Park in Friday’s opening quarter-final. Booth’s side defied the odds to secure the final spot in the play-offs with a 33-29 bonus point victory over Cardiff on Judgement Day, after a succession of other results had gone their way over the weekend.

Theo Cabango is hoping lightning can strike twice for his family at Cardiff City Stadium, although this time in reverse. The Cardiff Rugby wing will be following in the footsteps of his older brother, Ben, by playing at the football venue at Judgement Day on Saturday 1 June, when he hopes to help his side beat the Ospreys.