The latest rugby headlines on the evening of Sunday, February 6.
Adam Beard spells out 'brutal and honest truth'
Adam Beard says that honesty will be a key part of Wales' recovery plan after their Six Nations title defence began in miserable fashion.
A 29-7 defeat against Ireland - Wales' biggest Six Nations loss since they were beaten by a 23-point margin in Dublin eight years ago - has immediately put them on the back foot.
Resurgent Scotland arrive at the Principality Stadium next Saturday, and although they have not won in Cardiff for 20 years, Gregor Townsend's team will start as favourites following their stirring Calcutta Cup victory over England.
Wales were dismantled by a ruthless Ireland side unbeaten since February last year, conceding four tries and staring at a blank points account until flanker Taine Basham claimed a late consolation score that Callum Sheedy converted.
"It felt like we didn't fire enough shots out there," Wales vice-captain Beard said amid the admission that their loss was down to players on the field and not those who were missing.
"Discipline let us down big-time, whether that was our own errors or whatever came from that. It is hugely disappointing.
"If we look back at the game, we let them score seven points in the first couple of minutes, and then seven points again in the first couple minutes of the second-half.
"There were patches when we showed good physicality, but at international level you have got to be showing that physicality and the consistency of that for the 80 minutes.
"Look, we will recover now, assess everything on Monday and be honest with each other. I think it is important that we are honest with each other and we work on those things we need to work on, and we will definitely have a good training week ahead of Scotland."
Wales went into the game without a number of injured British and Irish Lions, including Alun Wyn Jones, George North, Ken Owens, Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi.
But Beard added: "You could look at it and say we are losing a lot of caps, but then it is for boys to step in, put their hands up and give a good account of themselves.
"We didn't lose because we were missing how many caps, it was because we didn't perform on the day. That's the brutal, honest truth about it. We have got to pick ourselves up, we can't be down. There are four games left - we are only game one into the campaign."
Scotland's Hamilton defends England 'beast'
Former Scotland international Jim Hamilton has defended England star Luke Cowan-Dickie after he issued a public apology for conceding a penalty try which helped the Scots win.
The Exeter Chiefs forward apologised to fans for slapping a Finn Russell cross-field kick forward into touch, denying Darcy Graham the chance to score, and referee Ben O'Keeffe duly punished England.
On top of the seven points awarded to Scotland, the Lions hooker was sent to the sin-bin as a 17-10 lead became 17-17 before Russell eventually landed the decisive penalty.
"Players don’t need to be apologising for mistakes," Hamilton said on Twitter. "This bloke is an absolute beast. Players put their bodies on the line for entertainment."
Elsewhere, Jamie George insists England will rally around their team0mate.
"Luke's disappointed. It was a difficult situation," said George, who replaced Cowan-Dickie at hooker.
"If you actually look at the amount of work Luke did to get to where the ball was, not many hookers in world rugby can do that and none of us are overly comfortable under the high ball.
"He's a tough player and a great person. He'll come back and be better than ever, I'm sure. The responsibility within the group is to make sure he's okay.
"He's going to be beating himself up, of course he is. But it isn't his fault, it isn't his fault whatsoever.
"There were lots of other opportunities for us to win that game and to stretch the game out, take it beyond a seven-point game. The front row came on and conceded a scrum penalty also, which we don't like.
"It's certainly not because of him that we lost, by any stretch of the imagination. He'll be disappointed but we'll come around him because we're a tight-knit group and that's what we do."
Mike Brown makes bold Twickenham claim
England international Mike Brown reckons Eddie Jones' men would have been awarded a potentially match-saving penalty in the dying moments of Saturday's game had the clash taken place at Twickenham.
The Calcutta Cup contest was played out at a packed Murrayfield, and the Newcastle Falcons full-back/wing believes referee Ben O'Keeffe would have relented had he not had the Scottish home crowd in house.
"England's scrum was well on top at the death and they drove straight through Scotland," Brown said in his Daily Mail column.
"But in front of the loud Murrayfield crowd, referee Ben O’Keeffe didn’t seem to want to make the big decision against the home team.
"If that game was at Twickenham, I think it would have been a different outcome.
"The referee should have awarded England a penalty, which would at least have given them the chance to draw. I don’t think anyone could have argued if the game had ended level. But the reason England didn’t win was because they weren’t clinical enough when it mattered."
Scotland star wants to inspire belief in Cardiff
Darcy Graham has called on Scotland to prove they are real Six Nations contenders by following up their Calcutta Cup victory with a win in Wales next weekend.
The highly-rated Scots began their campaign in exhilarating fashion as they ground out a dramatic 20-17 victory over England at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.
Gregor Townsend's side have pulled off several big results in recent years, but they have struggled to do it consistently enough to challenge for the title.
However, Graham believes victory in Cardiff on Saturday would be a major indicator that Scotland have the winning mentality required to push for glory this year.
"The boys were unreal," said the Edinburgh winger. "It's hard to find the words to describe how you feel after a game like that. But winning that game is just one part of the puzzle. We need to back it up now when we go down to Wales. It's a tough away fixture.
"We've won Calcutta Cup games in the past and then not backed it up. This is a huge opportunity for us. We've started well so hopefully we can go on and do something very special."
Graham was one of Scotland's best players against England on Saturday.
He laid on the opening try for debutant Ben White and was then lurking dangerously on the right waiting to receive Finn Russell's crossfield kick from which Luke Cowan-Dickie patted the ball forward and out of play, conceding a game-changing penalty try.
While Graham was delighted his side got the seven points, he was disappointed in the heat of the moment not to get the chance to touch down himself.
"I was gutted," he said. "I was absolutely raging that he slammed it forward. But it was the right decision to give the penalty try. He made no attempt to get up and catch it so it was a penalty try all day long."
Farrell admits Ireland players 'sore' after Wales
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell admitted his team were sore after beating Wales and praised the visitors despite their error-strewn outing.
The Irish eased to victory over the depleted Welsh at a sold-out Aviva Stadium following Bundee Aki's early try, a second-half brace from Andrew Conway and Garry Ringrose's solo score.
Farrell dismissed suggestions that a tougher opening test would have been more beneficial for preparing to face Les Bleus in round two.
"It was a tough task - you can ask the guys, they are pretty sore," he said. "I actually thought Wales made it very hard, they tried to put us under pressure.
"Fair play to the players for having the courage of their own convictions to play the game that we wanted to play.
"As far as the hit out (for France) is concerned, it was perfect for us as some of our lads have not played a big game in a long while, to get people back up and running is great.
"We must make sure we recover properly and on to the next one."
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