Wales have named the side to face Australia in their opening World Rugby U20 Championship game in Béziers on Wednesday. (8pm). Cai Evans (Ospreys) starts at fullback, with Rio Dyer (Dragons) and Ryan Conbeer (Scarlets) on the wings. An all-Scarlet midfield features Ioan Nicholas at 12 and Corey Baldwin at 13, alongside a Cardiff Blues combination of fly-half Ben Jones and scrum-half Dane Blacker.

Phil Bennett is backing Rhys Patchell to make the Wales No.10 shirt his own this summer – despite the Scarlets’ loss of their Guinness Pro 14 crown. Patchell was part of the Scarlets team overwhelmed 40-32 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Saturday, where the Irish province completed an historic Pro 14 and European Champions Cup double. Leo Cullen’s men ran in five tries and Jonathan Sexton kicked 13 points as they became the first Celtic side to win the domestic and European Cup titles in the same season, a feat their 2011 and 2012 predecessors failed to achieve.

Wayne Pivac believes his Scarlets side are already proving that winning the Guinness Pro title 12 last season was not a one-off. The defending champions were ruthless in disposing of Glasgow last week and they will pose a real threat to Leinster’s hopes of clinching an historic double at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening after the Irish province triumphed again in Europe a fortnight ago. The Scarlets’ last visit to Dublin didn’t quite go according to plan, however, as they were hammered by Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final last month.

James Davies believes playing against the Leinster back row in the Guinness Pro 14 final will be even tougher than facing the Springboks or Pumas on Wales’ summer tour. The Scarlets’ fetcher was himself turned over by Leinster when the two teams met in the semi-final of the Champions Cup at the same Aviva Stadium at which they will clash in Saturday’s final.  Dan Leavy took the plaudits and Davies and co. were left licking their wounds. “It is basically going to be like playing against the Irish back row this weekend – and they won the Grand Slam this year and are ranked at number two in the world,” said Davies.

Ken Owens concedes Leinster are as close as a team gets to perfection, but insists the Scarlets will travel to Dublin without fear for Saturday’s Guinness Pro14 final. It is a quick return to the scene of last month’s drubbing at the Aviva Stadium, where the Scarlets came a cropper to the Irish province.

Phil Bennett believes the Scarlets will prove themselves as good as any team ever to come out of Llanelli if they successfully defend their Guinness Pro14 title in Dublin on Saturday. The former Wales and Lions captain, these days the region’s president, considers a victory over Leinster at the Aviva Stadium – where the Scarlets were crushed by the same opposition last month – would mean the current side rank on a par with anything that has gone before, pre-regional rugby or after.

The Scarlets ripped Glasgow apart last week, but they also ripped the skin off their limbs in winning. Robin Davey says this latest incident involving injuries on artificial surfaces needs urgent attention. Scarlets players with gruesome friction burns deserve a better response than the disinterested shrug of the shoulders from Glasgow. No-one who plays rugby should expect to come off the field looking like they have had a nasty accident with a dodgy gas stove.

Johnny McNicholl has called for rugby to ban artificial pitches as the Scarlets soothe their wounds ahead of the weekend’s Guinness Pro 14 final in Dublin. The New Zealander was one of several players left with cuts, burns and blisters following their semi-final win over Glasgow on the plastic surface at Scotstoun. The injuries follow three recent significant career-threatening injuries suffered on artificial pitches at Glasgow, Saracens and Cardiff Blues:

Rob Evans says the Scarlets are driven by a thirst for revenge as they prepare to head back to Dublin next weekend. The Wales prop was a tryscorer as his team outclassed Glasgow, 28-13, at Scotstoun in a devastating display of counter-punching rugby to win their Guinness Pro14 play-off semi-final. It means another visit to the Aviva Stadium for the final, scene of their Pro12 title triumph last year, but where they also came to grief against Leinster, 38-16, in last month’s European Champions Cup semi-final.

It won’t be long before we find out if the Scarlets’ success last year in bringing home some silverware was a flash in the pan or if the Wayne Pivac plan is going to have some real legs. Only one team in the previous 16 years has been able to make it back-to-back titles, Leinster in 2013 and 2014, and the Scarlets have to get past the 2015 champions, Glasgow Warriors, to stand a chance of holding onto their title. They couldn’t have picked a tougher semi-final task than heading to Scotstoun on Friday night to see if they can head back to the Aviva Stadium to meet either the Champions Cup winners Leinster, or the team they conquered in such style in the Irish capital last year, Munster.

The Scarlets and the Ospreys have much to live up to after the Cardiff Blues’ display last weekend, says Robin Davey. But there are plenty of reasons for genuine optimism. It’s a big weekend for rugby in the west, with both the Scarlets and the Ospreys facing key qualification games. For the Scarlets, already buoyed by a hugely successful season which saw them reach the European Champions Cup semi-finals, it means a trip to Scotland to face Glasgow in a Guinness Pro 14 play-off on Friday night.

Former Wales prop Rhys Thomas is back in rugby, the battery-charged coach at Newport High School Old Boys. Peter Jackson speaks to a man who has, literally, given his heart to the game and overcome all the odds. Rhys Thomas began the season waiting for a heart transplant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He finished it, against all the odds, by making probably the bravest and certainly the most improbable of come-backs. At a time when the column inches and social media equivalent keep racking up over Billy Vunipola’s hamstring, Dylan Hartley’s concussion and Manu Tuilagi’s knee, their predicaments seem almost mundane compared to the on-going life-or-death issues endured by the former Wales prop.