Aaron Wainwright has handed Welsh rugby a major pre-Six Nations boost by agreeing a new contract with the Dragons. The Wales back-row forward, who looks set to line up at number eight in next week’s Six Nations clash against Scotland, has agreed what the Dragons described as “a multi-year” deal.

Warren Gatland believes Wales can make a virtue out of a Six Nations squad that is young, raw and still wet behind the ears. The Wales coach reckons the boldness of youth and Welsh players’ earlier exposure to Test rugby than their rivals can all reap rewards in the tournament that begins next week.

As we wait for the Welsh Six Nations squad to be announced for the 2024 campaign there are a few interesting selections for Warren Gatland’s coaching team to consider. The general considerations that the coaches will take into account are player form and performance, injuries, balancing experience and youth, versatility, set piece strength, leadership qualities, previous international experience and cultural fit to a Gatland squad.

Warren Gatland will receive reports on his long list of injured players on Monday before he finalises selection decisions for the Wales Six Nations squad. The head coach is due to announce his group for the tournament on Tuesday lunchtime, but has a raft of players he would like to pick currently unfit.

The first Six Nations after a World Cup often sees a changing of the guard, with new faces emerging as a fresh four-year cycle begins. This season’s tournament is likely to be another example of that, following the retirement of a number of seasoned campaigners and the rise of a host of talented youngsters who have shone in the BKT URC over the past few months.

FORMER Ireland captain Rhys Ruddock is ready to re-ignite his international career – by dramatically switching to Wales. Ruddock has won 27 caps for Ireland, but the last of those was earned almost three years ago against France.

Jac Morgan is set to miss the Six Nations because of knee injury that requires surgery. The Wales World Cup captain is poised to undergo an operation within days and may struggle to be fit before the end of the season.

Ask Aaron Wainwright what he does when he isn’t playing rugby and his answer points to a man with an unstinting passion for the game. “I coach down at my local club,” replies the Dragons RFC and Wales back row star.

Football’s loss is proving to be rugby’s gain in the case of Alex Mann. The Cardiff flanker has been the United Rugby Championship’s top tackler this season but he spent three years on the books of Cardiff City as a teenage centre-half before opting to focus on the oval ball rather than the round one.

Wales fly-half Sam Costelow is expected to be sidelined until January after suffering shoulder and hamstring injuries. Scarlets playmaker Costelow was hurt during Wales’ 49-26 victory over the Barbarians on Saturday and went off at half-time.

Warren Gatland is to remain as Wales head coach and lead them to the 2027 World Cup – his fifth in charge. Gatland placed his future in the hands of the Welsh Rugby Union following his side’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina on Saturday.

March 27th, 2010. It was a clear, bright South Wales afternoon and the most galactic of ‘Galacticos’ Ospreys sides had arrived in Newport to take on the Dragons. The starting XV reads like a fantasy draft: a Jerry Collins-Marty Holah-Ryan Jones back-row; Jonathan Thomas and Ian Evans in the second-row boiler room; a Welsh international front-row of Paul James, Huw Bennett and Adam Jones; and behind the scrum, the likes of Mike Phillips, Tommy Bowe, James Hook and Lee Byrne.