Here are the latest rugby evening headlines on Sunday, March 27, after round one of the Women's Six Nations came to an end.
Wales coach 'does a good number' on friend
Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham did "a good number on" Ireland coach Greg McWilliams in the opening round of the Women's Six Nations, according to the Irish boss.
The pair are actually part of a coaches' WhatsApp group set up by Bernard Jackman, with Cunningham joking pre-match that he could not disclose any of the pre-match build-up in the group in case he was ejected.
Wales came from behind to record a 27-19 opening-round win in Dublin to mark a major step forward since their last match against the Irish, a 45-0 defeat last season which marked the real low point for the team and prompted investment from the Welsh Rugby Union which now sees 12 full-time and 12 part-time players among the team's ranks.
"I think you saw Wales come in and in fairness to Ioan, I caught up with him before the game, I caught up with him there afterwards," McWilliams said. "He should be a really proud coach, I thought he did a good number on me, particularly in how he used his bench. Fair play to Wales.
"They got on top of us physically in the second half. We struggled to exit. The yellow card [for Eimear Considine] in the last 10 minutes was tough. I felt their bench came on and added real strength and an impact, and we couldn’t cope with it. Again, like everything else now, as a coaching group and as a player group, we’ve got to own that performance as well."
McWilliams also suggested that relatively small investment can reap rewards in international women's rugby very quickly, given the bar for investment is low compared to the men's game. Wales Women's budget has been upped to £2million this season, which ends with a Rugby World Cup. McWilliams added: "That is the one thing in the women’s game, I think you can close the gap quite quickly. In the men’s game, it’s very hard to close that gap."
Nigel Owens worried about future of rugby
Welsh refereeing legend Nigel Owens is worried about the long-term future of rugby and it being a sport for everyone if the scrum is devalued. He fears moving towards a rugby league-type of game where everyone is of a similar physique.
"At the moment it has not been the important part of the game it should be and that takes away from the game for all shapes and sizes," Owens told RugbyPass. "Some players if they haven’t got the prowess to scrummage then what other part are they going to play in the game?
"We are just going to be looking at a rugby league type of game where everybody is pretty much the same physique. We need to better scrummaging, need to see scrums comes back as a potent attack and referees need to be strong on refereeing the scrum… overall the Six Nations scrums have been very disappointing."
Wales captain: 'This means more than you can imagine'
Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap admits the win over Ireland means more than anyone outside the camp can imagine but she did not panic even when Wales were behind for much of the fixture.
"I knew what we had in our locker and what we could pull out, and it was just sticking to process and our belief," she said. "I never felt worried or panicked which is testament to the full squad and all the girls that I felt like that, and I’m sure all the girls did. We knew what we could achieve and how we could execute what we’ve been working on. To close it out the way we did as well was outstanding. That’s a huge five points for us.
"It’s been a huge 12 months for us and I think publicly everyone can see the growth that we’ve had in those 12 months and that result means more than all of you can imagine to us as players because potentially we were in our darkest spot 12 months ago. To turn that result around from a heavy defeat 12 months ago was massive. I think the growth that we’ve had is phenomenal in a short space of time."
Lillicrap believes Wales are already starting to see benefits from their new professional set-up which began in January. "Performance doesn’t happen overnight and we’ve only been professional for a short space of time," the No. 8 added. "We’re seeing the benefits of that short space of time but also the determination, the cohesion, the want and desire and the hard work that’s gone on pre-contracts as well in the autumns, this has been step two, essentially."
Six Nations star misses France v Italy with cookery accident
French scrum-half Pauline Bourdon was missing from France's strong outing to stifle a spirited Italy after a cookery accident in which she cut her finger.
France claimed a hard-fought 39-6 bonus-point win to round off the Women's Six Nations' opening weekend in Grenoble. Tries from Madoussou Fall and Emeline Gros put Les Bleues 17-6 ahead at the break, with tries from Lea Murie, Emilie Boulard and Chloe Jacquet sealing a convincing French win.
Second in the table after round one, France are seeking a first title since 2018. A dfinal-weekend showdown with champions England is expected to decide the title.
Wales are third in the table after their bonus-point win away to Ireland.
Wales stars' autobiographies shortlisted
Mike Phillips is among the Wales rugby legends to have his autobiography shortlisted in the The Sunday Times Sports Book Awards.
Phillips' Half Truths, published by Reach PLC, has been nominated in the autobiography longlist category. Other Welsh stars' books to be nominated are Alun Wyn Jones for Belonging and Jamie Roberts' Centre Stage.
