When Toby Booth was once asked if he felt pressure as a regional rugby coach in Wales, he responded: “Pressure? Pressure’s for tyres! “What I have is a fantastic opportunity.” These days Booth is fully pumped and primed as the biggest – some might say the only – success story in the Welsh game.

Ellis Jenkins is determined to bow out with one more match at Cardiff Arms Park before he brings down the curtain on an illustrious career. The Wales international has confirmed he will retire at the end of the season after worsening knee problems.

Ioan Cunningham has claimed Wales can avoid a Six Nations wooden spoon by beating Italy – even though his team have done little this season to spread that faith. The Wales coach insists his team can turn things around in their final match of the Women’s Guinness Six Nations, despite another huge defeat in the fourth round of matches, Wales’ seventh in succession.

The French are coming and it is going to take an almighty effort from Ioan Cunningham’s Welsh side to stop them from making it four wins out of four in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations on Sunday. Les Bleues are hoping to stay on course for a Grand Slam showdown with England next week and came into Round 4 one point behind the reigning champions, who beat Ireland 88-10 in front of a crowd of 48,778 at Twickenham on Saturday. Wales have struggled to date in this year’s championship after finishing third last season. Now the goal is to end on a high with back-to-back home games against France and Italy, both in the Welsh capital.

Toby Booth believes the victory his Ospreys team earned on South African soil this weekend will earn them what they have craved this season – their opponents’ respect. For the Swansea region, the big goal has been to improve their reputation and regard and they will certainly have done just that with their stunning 27-21 bonus point victory over the DHL Stormers in Cape Town. It goes down as one of the finest results in the Welsh region’s 20-year history, given the Stormers have been BKT URC finalists for the past two years and considering how hard they are to beat in their own back yard.

You have to go back eight games to 2016 for the last time Wales managed to beat France in Guinness Women’s Six Nations. That famous 10-8 victory came courtesy of tries from Dyddgu Hywel and Megan York at The Gnoll, in Neath, and steered Rachel Taylor’s side to a fourth place finish in that year’s championship.

Neath have reacted badly to being beaten by Cardiff to the remaining place in the planned new 10-team Elite Domestic Competition – appearing to suggest the Welsh Rugby Union came to a biased judgement. The decision by the WRU to add Cardiff to the list has brought an end to a long, and sometimes farcical process that looked like musical chairs.

The player Cardiff Rugby coach Matt Sherratt described as a Rolls Royce will go through the gears for the first time in six months on Friday night. Taulupe Faletau – who broke his arm playing for Wales at the World Cup – will make his comeback in the capital city region’s United Rugby Championship match against Ulster in Belfast.

It took Gwennan Hopkins a mere five minutes to make her mark in international rugby. Not many teenagers score on their Test debut, but that’s exactly what the 19-year-old Hopkins did in Cork last weekend as she provided Wales with their only points in a 36-5 defeat.

Wales’ most capped hooker, Ken Owens, has confirmed his retirement from rugby. The 37-year-old Scarlets forward – who has not played for almost a year because of a back injury – says he was advised to stop playing.

Taulupe Faletau is poised to return from injury for Cardiff this weekend – providing a huge boost to Wales’ hopes of picking themselves up off the floor this summer. The peerless Lions No.8 has not played since breaking his arm at the World Cup six months ago.

Welsh regions hoping to assemble squads to become competitive with the best in the United Rugby Championship have been given a sobering reminder of the size of that task after Leinster announced the capture of All Blacks star, Jordie Barrett.

Josh Turnbull insists he sees exciting times ahead in Welsh rugby as he begins his new career as a coach. The 36-year-old Cardiff back rower has confirmed he has played his last match and will take up a coaching position within the Cardiff academy set-up.

Ioan Cunningham expects scrutiny over his position as head coach after Wales glued themselves to the bottom of the Women’s Six Nations table. Like his counterpart in charge of the men’s team – Warren Gatland – Cunningham is a man under pressure who cannot ease things until he stops losing. The former Scarlets coach, who brought a sharp upturn in the fortunes of the national side in the women’s game two years ago, admits results have put him in the firing line.

Mark Jones admitted the Ospreys undermined their own cause as they crashed out of the European Challenge Cup after giving up too many penalties to Gloucester. The region’s defence coach praised his team’s commitment during their 23-12 quarter-final defeat to Gloucester at Kingsholm.

Wales forward Adam Beard reckons the Ospreys have got the muscle memory to overpower Gloucester in their European Challenge Cup clash on Friday night. Last season, Beard was part of an Ospreys squad that did the double over French club Montpellier – an achievement that included an eye-catching away victory, when they went over the channel and won 21-10.

They may be heading to Ireland seeking their first win in the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, but Ioan Cunningham’s Welsh team will be travelling to Cork with confidence still high. If the home defeat to Scotland was a shock to the system, the loss to reigning champions England at Ashton Gate was at least encouraging. To stand any chance of repeating the heroics of last year, that saw Wales finish third, a victory in Ireland is a must.

Croesyceiliog School near Cwmbran, will be the venue of the opening games of the second season of the WRL Wheelchair Invitational League, when it all kicks off on Saturday 20 April.

Louis Rees-Zammit accepts his ambition to forge an American football career with NFL champions Kansas City Chiefs could see him “cut at any point”. The 23-year-old former Wales and British Lions wing is about to begin pre-season training with the back-to-back Super Bowl champions after signing a three-year contract.

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan has claimed recent new deals reached by the club with some of their leading players proves they can hang on to their talent – even after they become established Wales internationals. Flanagan believes the new contract agreed with flanker Taine Basham is indicative of the region’s determination and ability to retain their best players, coming after new agreements in recent weeks for Aaron Wainwright and Rio Dyer.