“Pick your own” is normally about fruit and veg, but when it’s Lions year it means something more taxing on the brain than the back. Lions squads have been picked across Britain and Ireland for months, but the one that matters – Warren Gatland’s – will be named at 12.30pm today. Harri Morgan has picked his, but like rugby itself, it’s the taking part that counts.  The middle pages were always easiest to access.   The slightly overgrown nails that you were otherwise ridiculed for, making it easier to temporarily lift the staples that bound the lined A5 pages together.  Lift out a couple of sheets, grab the ruler and commence marking out a football pitch. Corner markings an unexplainable must. 

Wales centre Willis Halaholo has found himself at the centre of yet another racism storm. Halaholo, who helped Wayne Pivac’s side win the 2021 Six Nations, qualified for Wales on residency after three years with Cardiff Blues. When he was first selected by his adopted country in November 2019, the Auckland-born centre was targeted for criticism on social media from bigots who believed a Welsh-born player should have been picked instead – even though he had fulfilled all the requirements.

It was a difficult Six Nations campaign for Wales Women.  Three straight defeats, 125 points conceded, and vociferous discontent from outside the camp about the apparent apathy towards them from the WRU.  And yet, positives emerged. Some collectively, and the others in the form of individuals. 

Pieter Scholtz is being lined up for a move from the Scarlets to Wasps next season. The giant South African prop is considering a move across the border following an impressive first season in Welsh rugby. With the Scarlets having signed Wales squad member WillGriff John from Sale Sharks for next season, Scholtz, 27, was considering a number of English and French clubs, but has opted for Coventry-based Wasps.

The British and Irish Lions squad will be announced on Thursday when the chosen few will be named to tour South Africa this summer. But their best asset is already known according to Scotland coach Gregor Townsend as Graham Thomas reports. The wisdom and wide experience of Warren Gatland will be the Lions’ key weapon when they take on world champions South Africa this summer, according to Gregor Townsend. Gatland and his attack coach Townsend will be deep in final selection talks next week, ahead of the announcement of the 36-man British and Irish Lions tour squad on Thursday.

A new Women’s Super League club is to be launched in Cardiff and will play in the newly formed Betfred Women’s Super League South. The club will be overseen by Wales Rugby League and will train at the University of South Wales. The side will be coached by Ian Newbury, the Wales’s Women’s Assistant Coach, and will feature many of the players expected to feature in the England v Wales international later this year.

Owen Williams should have won far more caps for Wales, insists All Blacks scrum-half TJ Perenara who rates the Welshman as one of the best players he’s played with. The 29-year-old playmaker is Perenara’s half-back partner at NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes in Japan’s Top League. Many believe Williams would be a huge asset to Wayne Pivac’s Wales, but his international career looks to be over for good having signed a long-term contract with Worcester which means he remains ineligible under the WRU’s controversial 60 cap law.

With the fall-out from the women’s Six Nations continuing, Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Steve Phillips has repeated his claim that the women’s game will get the support it requires. It was a pledge high on corporate jargon, but low on detail. Tomos Marks has a few simple suggestions – including creating a worthwhile club side in Wales to prevent 18 hours of travel. Wales finished with the wooden spoon in this year’s Six Nations, their sixth wooden spoon since the start of the home nations tournaments in the 1990’s. In contrast, England won their 17th title from 26 competitions to date. This is a sad situation for the Welsh women’s team as they just aren’t competing with their European rivals.

Heartbroken George North will miss this summer’s Lions tour to undergo knee surgery that will sideline him for at least six months. North was in stunning form as he helped Wales to win the Six Nations last month and his career has been revitalised by a move from wing to centre. The 29-year-old was a virtual certainty to make Warren Gatland’s Lions squad for the Test series with South Africa when it is confirmed on May 6.

Dai Young hopes Cardiff Blues pair Ellis Jenkins and Jarrod Evans will get the chance to make an impression with Wales this summer. Wayne Pivac’s Test side were due to tour Argentina and Uruguay in the months to come, but whether or not the trip can take place remains undecided at this stage. Wales have confirmed autumn fixtures in Cardiff against New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Australia but the tour that was meant to precede those games is still in the balance due to the pandemic.

Georgia Evans insists Wales Women have given themselves something to build on as they prepare for next year’s World Cup. Wales’ vice-captain believes last weekend’s 27-20 defeat to Scotland in their final Six Nations match has provided a platform for the global tournament in New Zealand next year. It may have been another defeat suffered at the weekend, but the fact that Wales ran the Scots so close should be viewed in the context of two previous morale-sapping defeats to France and Ireland in which Wales conceded 15 truis and failed to register a point.

Dean Ryan was delighted with the attacking threat posed by his Dragons side after they put 50 points on the Scarlets to start their Rainbow Cup campaign with a bang. The men from Rodney Parade ran in seven tries against their Llanelli-based opponents with Wales squad members Jonah Holmes and Aaron Wainwright both scoring twice. Jordan Williams, Rio Dyer and Aneurin Owen were all on the scoreboard too as the Dragons racked up a 52-32 success. “I thought our attack was outstanding and we looked threatening,” said Ryan.

The Rainbow Cup is spreading over Welsh rugby this weekend for the first time. It’s not a perfect tournament and the rivalries lack context says Harri Morgan, but it’s the best we have at present and at least it’s not been constructed with the idea of fleecing a global fan base. Remember The Racoons? The who?

The Welsh regions return to action this weekend when the new Rainbow Cup tournament kicks off with two Welsh derbies. The Dragons were surging when the Guinness Pro 14 came to an end and captain Rhodri Williams is optimistic their charge can continue as he tells Graham Thomas. Rhodri Williams may have lost his position as leader of the Dragons’ West Wales car club – but he’s not ready to lose anything else this season. The scrum-half used to be the senior member of the car share group that ferried west-based players up the M4 to Newport.

Warren Abrahams insists he has kept faith in his squad – if not individual players – to deliver tomorrow in order for Wales Women to avoid an unwanted wooden spoon. The head coach is still searching for his first point on the board in the truncated Six Nations after heavy defeats to France (53-0) and Ireland (45-0). Abrahams has made nine changes for the match against the Scots at Scotstoun, but believes his team can prove they are not as poor as those two results suggest.

Wales Rugby League have named an extended 36-strong Women’s train-on squad as they prepare for the test match against England in Warrington on June 25. Nineteen players remain from the first ever squad in 2019, and 15 new players were selected following elite athlete ID days in both the north and south of Wales this month.

Alun Wyn Jones has signed a new one-year contract to stay in Welsh rugby and could yet reach a fifth World Cup. Jones, 35, is world rugby’s most capped player and a firm favourite to captain the British and Irish Lions on their tour of South Africa this summer. But he shows no signs of slowing down and was in sensational form as Wales claimed the 2021 Six Nations title.

Dwayne Peel has spoken of the “special bond” between Scarlets fans and the region after turning his back on Cardiff Blues to return to Llanelli. The former Wales and British & Irish Lions scrum-half Dwayne Peel will go back to his old side as head coach this summer from Irish province Ulster. Peel had agreed a deal to join Cardiff Blues for the 2021-22 season as the man in charge of their attack and signed a contract to that effect.

Dragons coach Dean Ryan has paid tribute to Lewis Evans’ “outstanding achievement” after the decision of the back row forward to retire. Evans has chosen to hang up his boots after a record-breaking 236 appearances for the region over a mammoth 15-year spell. The 33-year-old make his debut back in 2006 – in a back row that included former Wales captain Colin Charvis – and director of rugby Ryan said: “To play for one region as successfully and for as long as Lewis has is an outstanding achievement.

Dai Young has expressed his aim of ensuring Cardiff Blues compete at the “business end” of the season after agreeing to stay on as permanent director of rugby. The former Wasps coach has signed on for the long-term after notching four wins in seven games in his period as the interim director of rugby. Having played for the club earlier in his career, and then spent nine years as head coach, he returned earlier in the year when John Mulvihill moved on. He has put pen to paper on what the Blues are calling “a long-term contract”.