The rugby headlines from Wales and across the world for Monday March 7, with the Six Nations dominating the agenda again.
Holley shock at Jenkins axe
Former Ospreys coach Sean Holley is stunned by Wayne Pivac's decision to release Ellis Jenkins from the Wales squad and send him back to Cardiff.
The dynamic flanker skippered Wales during the autumn and earned rave reviews for the way he bounced back from a horrific knee injury that meant two years out of the game.
But Pivac made the surprising call on Sunday to omit Jenkins from his plans entirely, whilst calling a fit again Josh Navidi back into the party.
Holley, a Scrum V pundit, fully expects Navidi to be involved against France, although it will be from the bench as he anticipates a starting back row of Ross Moriarty, Taine Basham and Taulupe Faletau.
Of Jenkins' omission, he said: "It's a big blow for Ellis, he's essentially been dropped from the squad.
"He hasn't done much wrong really, but there you go, they want to bring Josh back."
Webb unimpressed by Ospreys
Ospreys captain Rhys Webb didn't mince his words despite his side's United Rugby championship victory over Zebre.
The Welsh team may have won 27-22 in the end, but Webb left his team-mates in no doubt about the quality of what they produced.
A number of basic errors and silly penalties stifled hopes of attacking fluency against the worst side in the competition.
Webb said: "It's mixed emotions at the moment. Yes, we're pleased to get the win but we're very disappointed with our performance.
"Our discipline let us down throughout the game. It's something we talked about at half time but we still gave away soft penalties. We just didn't respect the ball.
"Going to South Africa next we need to sort it out as there are some quick boys out there and they will punish us."
Ospreys boss Toby Booth warned his players 'considerable improvement' is needed after they laboured to victory.
"There were lots of challenges out there and the biggest challenge was ourselves," he stated.
"The mindset is different to being favourites than underdogs.
"We had enough to win, but if we are going to challenge with the best, you need considerably more than just purple patches and that's something we are working towards.
"Some of our performance has considerable scope for improvement, let's leave it at that."
Betsen warns France of 'scary' Cardiff
France legend Serge Betsen has warned that Les Bleus' Grand Slam-chasing class of 2022 are in for a 'scary' Principality Stadium experience in Cardiff on Friday night.
The French are huge favourites to take the next step towards a clean sweep, having already brushed aside Scotland, Ireland and Italy.
Victory over Wayne Pivac's Wales would give them one hand on the Six Nations title and needing to beat England in Paris the following weekend to nail the Slam.
However, even though France are 1/4 ON to win, perhaps their shortest odds in history for a clash with Wales in Cardiff, Betsen feels they need to be right on top of their game to emerge victorious.
The former France captain, capped 63 times by his country, cited a previous match he played in near the turn of the century when Les Bleus were again hot favourites, but only just edged out Wales.
Betsen told Scrum V the occasion in 2002 is still fresh in his memory for the bullish charges made by giant lock Craig Quinnell, which had the home fans roaring him on.
Quinnell scored a try that day, but France won in the end 37-33.
Insisting favourites France will actually be underdogs on Friday, Betsen told the programme: "We know how difficult Wales can be and Cardiff is always a difficult place to go to.
"I remember playing in 2002 and every time Quinnell was carrying the ball we'd hear supporters shouting. That can be scary.
"We need to be low profile and make sure we do the job.
"I like the look of this French team. We are in good shape but the game has to be played for 80 minutes.
"Wales started the tournament badly but played really well in the second half against England.
"They can score tries. It's going to be a very interesting game to watch."
Brown backed ahead of Francis
On the same programme, Holley's fellow pundit James Hook sprung a surprise by calling for Leon Brown to start ahead of Tomas Francis in the front row.
Francis has become something of a stalwart of the Wales team, but former fly-half star Hook feels the time has come to give 25-year-old Dragons prop Brown a go.
"Brown is dynamic, explosive and a good ball carrier," argued Hook.
"You look at the best teams in the world, France and New Zealand, and their front five can each carry the ball.
"That's what this team need to progress the game plan on."
Hook conceded there have been question marks about Brown's scrummaging prowess but argued: "Can he deal with the set piece? Until we fit him in we won't know."
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Underhill back for England
Former Ospreys back-rower Sam Underhill has been called back into the England squad for Saturday's clash with Ireland.
Underhill comes in after Alex Dombrandt, who also first made his name in Welsh rugby before moving across the Severn, tested positive for Covid and will miss the start of the week's training.
Dombrandt scored that controversial England try against Wales when Wayne Pivac and his players felt Adam Beard was pushed out of the lineout.
The No.8 is said to have gone into isolation after a positive lateral flow test and a PCR test confirmed the result that evening.
According to the RFU, however, the Harlequins man is expected to re-join training during the week, possibly by Wednesday, and he still hopes to build upon his performance against Wales by starring in the must-win showdown with the Irish.
Eddie's men urged to be bold
Jack Nowell has urged England to be bold by attacking the final two rounds of their Six Nations title quest.
Ireland visit Twickenham on Saturday before the Championship closes against France in Paris a week on and the rivals for Wales' crown must be dispatched if Eddie Jones' men are to prevail.
England's attack has functioned sporadically so far, with the team taking a significant step backwards following a successful autumn amid Jones' declared intent of getting it to fire in time for next year's World Cup.
Nowell admits it is a work in progress but believes that adopting the right mindset is crucial.
“A lot of it is about being bold. There have been times in the past with England when we had chances to go but maybe we have dropped into a kick,” the Exeter wing said.
“The game changes with different teams you play against, but we are being backed by the coaches.
“With the players we have in the squad now, if we see that chance to go, wherever we are on the field, we want to give it a go and give it a good chance to attack and get ourselves down there.
“It is the awareness of knowing when to go. The communication and the chat is important.
“When we have guys like Harry Randall and Marcus Smith, you need to give them time to do their stuff.
“It's about playing what we have got in front of us. We are not silly with it, we are not chucking the ball around and not trying to look for something that isn't on.
“We can always drop into something else after if we are stopped with their defence. I get excited in meetings when we talk about us throwing the ball around and having a go."
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