Wales women’s coach Warren Abrahams believes mixing up his selection is a key strategy to make his team more competitive. Abrahams, who was appointed to his role in November, has made four changes from the side who were dealt a 53-0 hammering in France last weekend. Cara Hope and Cerys Hale replace Caryl Thomas and Donna Rose in the front row respectively. Elsewhere, Natalia John comes in at lock and Courtney Keight starts at 11 as Jasmine Joyce is away on GB sevens duty.

Wales face Ireland in the women’s Six Nations this weekend with much to prove after their opening round heavy defeat against France. It was a result that didn’t really need much explaining, unlike so much else around the squad, according to Fraser Watson. Less than three weeks ago, one of Wales Women’s most high profile performers was crashing over for a hat-trick of tries in a thrilling Allianz Premier 15s encounter. The exploits of the 58-cap international in question, Sioned Harries, weren’t enough to help Worcester Warriors edge a thrilling contest with Gloucester-Hartbury – but they did reiterate her long proven credentials at the top level of the women’s game.

Welsh regional rugby reached a desperate low point at the weekend, gaining the one thing that’s always hard to stomach – English sympathy. As all four regions exited in Europe in varying degrees of disarray, it was left to Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson to try and raise some Welsh morale. After the Scarlets had followed the Ospreys, Dragons and Cardiff Blues in losing at the re-jigged last 16 stages of both European tournaments, Sanderson tried to put a positive spin on a bleak picture.

They say the stats don’t lie, so new Wales Women’s head coach Warren Abrahams isn’t going to enjoy reading them after his side’s opening Six Nations defeat to France in Vannes. How about these for starters: 53 points and eight tries conceded, 36 missed tackles, four scrums lost and 14 penalties conceded. Ouch! Then, you have to consider seven bad passes and eight handling errors in the 53-0 thrashing.

The Scarlets are hoping a new partnership with the New Zealand Rugby Union can help push them into Europe’s rugby elite. The deal is set to involve player exchanges that enable young Welsh talent to sample the most demanding domestic rugby in the world.   When then head coach Brad Mooar left the Scarlets to take up a dream coaching role with the All Blacks last year, just a few months into a three-year deal, it was seen as a significant blow by many.

Dai Young has admitted Cardiff Blues have only themselves to blame for the defeat that ended hopes of a quarter-final place in Europe. The Blues’ director of rugby has told his players they need to learn from crucial errors – including missed tackles – after they collapsed late on to lose their European Challenge Cup tie at London Irish. Despite being down to 14 men, Irish came from 32-20 down to win 41-35 and leave the Blues with nothing left to play in this season apart from the new Rainbow Cup.

The Dragons host Northampton in the European Challenge Cup on Saturday evening, looking for a fourth victory in five games as well as a place in the tournament quarter-finals. That surge has produced confident vibes at Rodney Parade, as skipper Harrison Keddie tells Graham Thomas. Harrison Keddie is planning to bring Dan Biggar back down to earth with a bump when the Wales outside-half makes a return to Wales on Saturday night Just a week after feeling the high of securing the Six Nations title, Biggar is set to make his return to Northampton colours when they face the Dragons in an intriguing European Challenge Cup last 16 tie.

By David Williams Olympian Jasmine Joyce is helping raise standards in the Wales Women’s team that open their Six Nations campaign this weekend, according to coach Warren Abrahams. Joyce – who was a star of the Great Britain Sevens side at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – has been training with the current […]

Welsh Rugby Union chairman Rob Butcher admits he cannot be sure if the country’s bedrock playing population will come back to the game once lockdown is lifted. With coronavirus cases falling throughout Wales, the WRU last week published a series of steps for community rugby to gradually return to action. The pathway back to participation showed plans for all teams to return to modified contact training by May 1, although there are real fears large numbers may have already been lost from the game.

Dean Ryan believes the Dragons are making timely progress ahead of their European Challenge Cup last-16 tie at home to Northampton Saints. The Dragons completed their Guinness Pro14 campaign with a 24-17 victory over Edinburgh at the Principality Stadium at the weekend. It was not enough to give them qualification for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup – a 45-point winning margin always looked a stretch – but it means they have finished the league with six victories in 16 games.

The Ospreys are weighing up a move to sign top Crusaders loose forward Sione Havili ahead of next season. The potential signing of Havili from Super Rugby would be a significant coup for the Ospreys, with the 23-year-old Tongan-born player able to play both blindside flanker and No 8. Havili has a reputation as an explosive ball carrier, with an abrasive edge in defence which is what the Ospreys have lacked at times this season.

It’s curtains for anyone who accused new Six Nations champion coach Wayne Pivac of lacking style in his domestic arrangements. Wales lifted the trophy on Saturday afternnoon – but not before Pivac managed to pull himself together and defend the choice of curtains in his house. Pivac’s backdrop during a live Friday night television interview after Wales were confirmed as champions attracted plenty of interest.

Wayne Pivac passed on his thanks and gratitude to Scotland coach Gregor Townsend after Wales clinched the Six Nations title. Pivac watched from home as the Scots came from behind to win another thrilling match in Paris, 27-23, with a last-ditch try in the fifth minute of added time through Duhan van der Merwe. France needed to score four tries and win by 21 points to deny Wales the championship crown, but although they crossed three times, they never threatened to shake that far clear of the Scots who enjoyed long spells of dominance.

The Six Nations title will be decided in Paris tonight, even though most of the judgements on Wales in this tournament have already been made. Harri Morgan says measurements of progress were easy to find, but the important factor now is to keep the forward momentum. I don’t profess to be down with the lingo. But I’m fairly certain French rugby has been living ‘rent free in my head’ for much of the last decade.  It certainly has a low cost timeshare.

Forget Wayne Pivac, Steve Tandy is the Welshman with most at stake this evening when the destiny of the 2021 Six Nations title will be decided in Paris. Wales head coach Pivac will be chewing his fingernails – much like many supporters – as he watches France try and beat Scotland with enough tries and points to claim the championship trophy and push Wales into second place. But imagine being Tandy, whose countrymen are depending on his organisation of Scotland’s defence so that it’s good enough not to succumb to a 21-point losing margin.

The Six Nations will come to a strange conclusion on Friday night when France host Scotland in Paris in an empty stadium, with Wales absent, even though they could be crowned champions. It might be a fitting conclusion to the oddest of tournaments, but some things are still clear to Fraser Watson – like the need to promote Willis Halaholo to a Wales starter. Progress to laud, but lessons to heed. So, a Six Nations campaign for Wales which yielded a record number of tries, unearthed rising stars, and ultimately vindicated Wayne Pivac, was tainted only by a frenzied few minutes in Paris.

Glenn Delaney admitted the Scarlets had to “circle the wagons” before they could arrive at their European destination. The head coach praised his side’s resourcefulness and powers of recovery after they overcame a huge 21-point deficit against Connacht to secure their place in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup. The Scarlets recovered from an awful first half to beat Connacht 41-36 and cement their place in next season’s main European tournament.

Alun Wyn Jones has proven he should captain the British and Irish Lions captain this summer, according to former Wales star James Hook. Jones captained Wales to impressive wins over Ireland, Scotland, England and Italy during this year’s Six Nations, but they were denied a first Grand Slam under Wayne Pivac when France beat them with a last-gasp try in Paris on Saturday. Wales still have strong hopes of winning the tournament, with France needing a bonus-point victory by a margin of at least 21 points over Scotland on Friday to snatch the title, but the thoughts of their players will now begin to turn to this summer’s Lions tour against South Africa.

The Scarlets can come close to clinching a Heineken Champions Cup place for next season if they beat Connacht tonight at Parc y Scarlets. It was to have been a comeback game for Rhys Patchell, but the Wales international has a fresh injury, to the disappointment of Dan Jones as he told Graham Thomas. Dan Jones admits Rhys Patchell has “been through hell” and has plenty of sympathy for his Scarlets No.10 rival now Jones has suffered the misery of a concussion injury himself. Jones has the starting spot when the Scarlets hosts Connacht on Monday night in the Scarlets’ final match of the regular Guinness Pro 14 season.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac says he was left “numb” after his side were denied a Grand Slam as France snatched victory in one of the most exciting Six Nations climaxes in history. With 10 minutes remaining in Paris, Wales were leading by 10 points with France reduced to 14 men, but then they had two players sin-binned and were pegged back by a Charles Ollivon try. Brice Dulin then scored another try in stoppage time to secure an astonishing 32-30 win that leaves both teams still in the hunt for the title but with Welsh Grand Slam hopes gone.