Throughout his career, Dan Lydiate has demonstrated a driven determination to fight his way back from injury. After all, this is someone who broke his neck while playing rugby as a teenager and is still going strong some 16 years later. Yet his motivation for returning from his latest lay-off – due to a broken arm suffered on Wales duty – was greater than ever. He was intent on doing it for his father.

Wales star George North has spoken of his pride after moving into the all-time top 10 of international rugby union try scorers. North’s early touchdown against Guinness Six Nations opponents France was his 46th for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. It put him level with New Zealand trio Christian Cullen, Joe Rokocoko and Julian Savea, and just one behind Irish great Brian O’Driscoll.

By Graham Thomas Dan Edwards hopes the James Hook flair factor can finally deliver a victory for the Wales U20s on Sunday night. Edwards will again be the man with his hand on the tiller at No.10 when the Welsh youngsters try to end their Six Nations campaign with a first victory against their French […]

Warren Gatland insists the straws he was left clutching after defeat in Paris can be used to build a World Cup revival. Most Welsh fans were fearing the worst at the Stade de France, but the glint in the eye of Gatland post-match proved he finally felt he had got something positive out of his team at the fifth time of asking in this tournament, despite a 41-28 defeat.  “I’m really proud of the effort the players put in. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I thought we showed some real character out there today,” said Wales coach Galtand, who made 27 changes over the course of the Six Nations and used 35 players. 

In Warren Gatland’s first tenure with Wales, he was innovative and progressive. He utilised the rule of 60 caps, employed Shaun Edwards as defence coach, located training camps in Poland and Switzerland, oversaw 45-minute training sessions, built a cryotherapy programme, captured Paul Stridgeon as head of physical performance, and made Sam Warburton a young captain – all in a quest to be world class.

Taulupe Faletau has been acclaimed as one of the true greats of Welsh rugby by his cousin, England star Billy Vunipola. Faletau, 32, will win his 100th cap against France in Paris on Saturday and can celebrate in style afterwards with a glass of the expensive Japanese whiskey Vunipola is sending him to mark the occasion.

After demolishing England with a performance that made him cry with joy, France coach Fabien Galthié wants his entertainers to finish the Six Nations in style with a home win against Wales on Saturday. Defending champions France even have an outside chance of keeping their title. But they must beat Wales at Stade de France and hope No. 1-ranked Ireland then slip up at home to an England side reeling from last weekend’s 53-10 hammering by Les Tricolores.

Taulupe Faletau has been described as a ”fantastic servant” for Welsh rugby as he prepares to win his 100th cap for Wales against France on Saturday. Wales coach Warren Gatland has lavished praised on Faletau who has kept his place for the final round of the Six Nations, in a team for Paris that shows six changes. No.8 Faletau will reach his century mark having made his debut against the Barbarians in June 2011 and won his 50th cap against Fiji at the World Cup in 2015.

Former Wales full-back Lee Byrne says his former side face a “huge task” on Saturday as they head to defending champions France in the Six Nations. Les Bleus claimed a record 53-10 victory at Twickenham last weekend and can retain their trophy with a bonus-point win at the Stade de France if Ireland fail to claim a point against England in Dublin later in the day. Wales’ only victory of the tournament in coach Warren Gatland’s second spell came last weekend in Italy.

England World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi has been appointed to the independent review panel that will report on organisational culture and behaviour within the Welsh Rugby Union. Sport Resolutions, administrators of the review, had previously confirmed former Court of Appeal judge Dame Anne Rafferty as panel chair, and she will be joined by Alphonsi and Quentin Smith. A commissioning advisory group has also been established to support the review, which comprises WRU representative Henry Engelhardt and Sport Wales’ Emma Wilkins, the WRU said.

Wales assistant coach Alex King has compared France captain Antoine Dupont with New Zealand superstar Dan Carter in terms of the way he influences Test matches. Wales face France in Paris on Saturday, when a bonus-point victory for Les Bleus would maintain pressure on Guinness Six Nations leaders and title favourites Ireland. And Wales’ acute degree of difficulty has not been helped by full-back Liam Williams missing out due to a shoulder injury.

The latest World Rugby rankings have seen Wales move into ninth place following the weekend’s Six Nations action. Wales fell to 10th following the 20-10 loss to England in Round Three but have regained ninth after defeating Italy. Wales avoid dropping out of the top 10

The delight at winning for the first time in this year’s Six Nations was writ large all over the faces of the Wales players, but the man wearing the biggest smile of them all was without doubt the captain, Ken Owens. What has appeared to be a poisoned chalice at times over the past five weeks had finally turned into something resembling hope for the recently installed leader.

Wales boss Warren Gatland hailed the excellence of scrum-half Rhys Webb after their 29-17 Guinness Six Nations victory over Italy at Stadio Olimpico. Webb’s first Test start since October 2020, and first in the Six Nations since 2017, saw him create two tries and deservedly take player-of-the-match honours as Gatland’s team ended a run of three successive defeats in this season’s tournament. “I thought he was excellent in the way his decision-making controlled the game,” said Gatland.

Rhys Webb ends a six-year Guinness Six Nations absence in the Wales number nine shirt on Saturday admitting he did not even want to watch the team play during his international exile. The 34-year-old Ospreys scrum-half last begun a Test three years ago and has not made a Six Nations start since 2017. But the 38-cap Webb returns to Warren Gatland’s starting line-up as Wales head to Italy in the hope of avoiding a Championship wooden spoon.

Wales youngsters Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady have been backed to come through the jeers and taunts of a Roman amphitheatre on Saturday – even if they don’t win. The centres – both 20-years-old and with a combined tally of just five caps – will form the raw midfield defensive shield as Warren Gatland’s side bid to keep out Italy in round four of the Six Nations, a match that is live on S4C. Former Wales centre Tom Shanklin went down that Roman road four times and lost twice – in 2003 and 2007 – but believes whatever the outcome at the Stadio Olimpico, Hawkins and Grady will eventually prosper.

“We don’t talk about Bruno!” is a famous song from Disney’s film Encanto, but very little has been mentioned about the Italian winger Pierre Bruno. Strange, really, as he has emerged from the shadows of former powerhouse Monty Ioane to become a tour de force on the Italian wing. Bruno has 10 Italian caps, five international tries and in round three of the Six Nations he made a staggering 155 metres in attack from his 15 carries against the Irish.

Byron Hayward insists the gloom and doom around Welsh rugby at present is overstated and the game will recover quickly from its current malaise. No-one has a closer focus of the depth of young talent in the country – or otherwise – than Hayward, the current Wales U20s coach. Like the seniors, the youngsters have found it tough going in their version of the Six Nations this season with three defeats in as many games.

Warren Gatland has revealed that a threat of possible player strike action before Wales’s Six Nations game against England caused “quite a significant split” and “tension” within his squad. Wales head to Rome for a Six Nations appointment with Italy on Saturday after losing their opening three games. Another defeat could mean a first Six Nations wooden spoon for 20 years, given that Wales’ final fixture is against France in Paris.

Former Ospreys coach Steve Tandy lauded “special” Stuart Hogg ahead of the fullback’s 100th game for Scotland. Hogg made his debut against Wales in the 2012 Six Nations and has gone on to represent his country with aplomb, finishing player of the tournament in Rugby’s Greatest Championship in 2016 and 2017. The star captained his country from 2020 until 2022 before being replaced by Jamie Ritchie this year. In 2021 Hogg scored his 25th try for Scotland becoming the all-time try scorer.