Will Rowlands insists he is already a better rugby player for having spread his wings and moved to play in Paris after last year’s World Cup. The second row forward – who left the Dragons to join Racing 92 – believes his all-round game has improved and intends to show it against some of his clubmates and regular opponents when Wales host France on Sunday.

Wales slipped to a third successive defeat in the U20 Six Nations as they succumbed to the power of the France pack in a 45-12 defeat at Cardiff Arms Park. There were two home tries for the crowd to savour, but it wasn’t enough to derail the reigning World Rugby U20 global champions.

Sam Underhill is savouring his England revival having feared his international career might already be over. The former Ospreys star is poised to win his 34th cap in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Ireland at Twickenham after returning to favour under Steve Borthwick – a comeback he views as a personal triumph.

Hannah Jones has retained the Wales captaincy within a squad that contains seven uncapped players for the upcoming Women’s Six Nations. The bulk of the squad includes players who played in last season’s campaign and achieved Wales’ highest world ranking of sixth to qualify for the new WXV1 global tournament for the six best sides in the world.

Wales insist they have not dropped George North even though the 120-cap centre has been left out of the team to play France despite being fit. Both North and Nick Tompkins have been replaced for Sunday’s Six Nations clash in Cardiff, with head coach Warren Gatland opting to pick Joe Roberts and Owen Watkin instead. North and Tompkins have 155 caps between them but assistant coach Mike Forshaw claimed the decision was made in order to assess Roberts and Watkin. “I don’t think they have been dropped,” said Forshaw.

Tributes have been paid to Lewis Jones, Welsh rugby’s first post-war ‘Golden Boy’ and one of the greatest dual-code internationals produced in Wales, who has died a month short of his 93rd birthday. A double Grand Slammer and British & Irish Lions Test player before his 21st birthday, Jones is regarded as one of the biggest losses from Wales to the 13-man code.

With three rounds of the Six Nations gone and two games remaining, Wales are where they finished last season’s tournament – in fifth place. Yet, despite losing their opening three matches, they could have beaten Scotland and England, they had an excellent spell of pressure against the Irish for 20 minutes.

Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt has described the Irish teams as “slow poison” after another weekend when the Welsh regions were all left feeling sick. All four of them lost in the United Rugby Championship – with the Scarlets, the Dragons and Cardiff all being beaten by opponents from Ireland. The Scarlets lost 26-10 to Connacht, the Dragons went down 49-26 against Ulster, and Cardiff were beaten 33-20 at home to Leinster.

Josh Turnbull intends to turn to coaching as his main rugby activity at the end of this season. The Cardiff forward has confirmed he will retire at the end of the campaign, but not before he passes a few more remaining milestones.

JPR Williams’ life as a rugby “revolutionary” and family man was remembered at a memorial service for the former Wales and British Lions full-back. Williams died in January at the age of 74 and former team-mates from Welsh rugby’s golden 1970s era were among those who gathered at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff to celebrate his life on St David’s Day.

Wales rugby legend Sioned Harries has announced her decision to retire from professional and international rugby after more than a decade in the Test arena. Harries’ 14-year Test career saw her become one of the most respected and recognisable figures in Welsh and world rugby.

Warren Gatland has stood firm on his critique of Welsh regional rugby – but insisted he has no issue with the coaches. The Wales coach has attempted to steer a fine line between repeating his call for changes, whilst at the same time trying to stay onside with those on the sharp receiving end of huge cuts in finances.

So, is Welsh regional rugby a sinking ship or still afloat despite all the storms that have been raging against it? Warren Gatland claimed the holes had not been plugged, but Ospreys coach Toby Booth reckons there’s no need to abandon the vessel just yet.

France centre Jonathan Danty will miss the clash against Wales and the remainder of this season’s Six Nations Championship after receiving a five-week suspension on Tuesday, following his red card in their draw with Italy.

Toby Booth believes the Ospreys can do what no Welsh region has done for six years – make the United Rugby Championship play-offs. Booth’s young team are currently on target to achieve that goal of a top-eight finish.

France will come to Wales next week, having been rescued by a referee’s call for two successive Six Nations matches. They are a team relying on officialdom after Italy were left heartbroken last Sunday – denied a famous win, just like Scotland before them.

Wales forward Adam Beard has claimed Ireland were “flattered” by the 31-7 scoreline after their four-tries-to-one victoryat the weekend. Beard was reflecting on Wales’ third successive Six Nations defeat, which followed their narrow losses to Scotland and England.

Warren Gatland left Dublin banging the same drum he had struck after defeat to England – that this Wales team will have its day. The question for Wales supporters is how long in coming will that be? Gatland is convinced Wales are on course to become “an excellent team” despite a third successive defeat in another gloomy Guinness Six Nations campaign.

It has already been dubbed “Mission Impossible” but Wales captain Dafydd Jenkins insists he would not bother getting on the plane if he thought he could not be a winner in Ireland this weekend. The statistics alone make intimidating reading for Wales as they journey to Dublin for the third round of the Six Nations on Saturday.

Nick Tompkins insists Wales are not afraid of double Grand Slam-seeking Ireland. In fact, the Saracens centre is convinced Wales can go to the Aviva Stadium and “take a scalp” to get their Six Nations campaign back on track. After two agonising defeats to Scotland, by a point, and England, by two points at Twickenham, Tompkins believes the youngsters around him can step up to the plate and cause an upset.