These are your rugby morning headlines on Tuesday, March 29.
Ex-Welsh rugby player's family join legal fight on concussion
The family of former Neath and Llanelli back-row forward Peter Jones have joined the legal fight on concussion.
Jones has been revealed as the first British ex-rugby player known to have died with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) - a progressive brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head. He died in March 2021 after battling dementia and the Daily Mail reports that a post-mortem revealed he died with CTE.
The former flanker of the Welsh amateur era first showed signs of dementia aged 58 before a diagnosis two years later in 2010.
Read more: Wayne Pivac should go and Alun Wyn Jones no longer gets in the Wales team - the fans' view
His son Lloyd told the newspaper: "It was obviously upsetting when he died but finding out he had CTE was more upsetting. Most of his mind and soul had already gone before he died. CTE stole his brain and his personality and stole him from us. To try and cope, I’ve thought to myself that maybe now my dad is dead, his mind and soul are back together again. Hopefully, that’s the case. I’m obviously not glad he’s dead, but maybe it was for the best."
"Rugby did give him a lot, but it probably took more away," he added.
The family have now joined a landmark legal case against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union for alleged failure to protect them from the risks caused by concussion.
Wales back in top 10
Wales' win over Ireland on the opening weekend of the TikTok Women's Six Nations has seen them move back into the top 10 in the world rankings.
Ioan Cunningham's side pulled out all the stops to record a 27-19 victory in Dublin, completing a stunning turnaround from last year's fixture where the Irish stuffed their Welsh counterparts 45-0. Since then there has been something of a turnaround for the women in red, with full-time contracts handed out to 12 players and a more professional set-up installed in order to help individuals thrive.
The hard work has already paid off, with Wales leapfrogging Spain into the top 10. England stay at number one after kicking off their title defence with a comprehensive 57-5 win against Scotland in Edinburgh. New Zealand remain second, with France in third.
Italy beating Wales 'closed arguments'
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus believes Italy's win over Wales in this year's Six Nations has "closed a lot of arguments" about their exclusion from the tournament, but stressed he would still like to see South Africa involved.
Italy's abysmal record in the competition has been well documented, with 36 defeats on the spin moving some to question whether they deserved a place among the European elite. National reports stated that South Africa were set to be welcomed into the fold possibly at the expense of the Italians, but Six Nations organisers were quick to shut that talk down.
Erasmus, writing in his Daily Mail column, said he would still love for the Springboks to be involved in the tournament but only if it expanded to seven teams. He said: "Italy beating Wales obviously closed a lot of arguments about them being kicked out of the Six Nations. Let's hope they go from strength to strength now, then it's great for rugby. I would still love to see South Africa in the Six Nations, but I think that would only be a scenario if the competition expanded to seven teams."
RFU to consider relaxing promotion criteria
The RFU have confirmed they will consider relaxing the minimum standards applied to Championship clubs seeking promotion to the Premiership.
At present no club in the second tier is eligible, with first and second-placed sides Ealing Trailfinder and Doncaster Knights having failed their initial inspections because their grounds did not meet the minimum 10,000 capacity. An appeal has been lodged but the outcome won't be known until the season is over.
“One of the things that we said about this process now is that we are happy to look at the minimum criteria, and that PRL (Premiership Rugby) will be supportive, so if the general view is that we take it down to 5,000 we can make representations to the DCMS in December 2022 and it can be changed by February 2023,” RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said. "I am not saying that is agreed yet, I'm saying they have agreed to re-look at it and see if they can reduce it down. We would love to have a Doncaster, Yorkshire-based Premiership club, we would love to have a Cornish Pirates. Ealing have done a fantastic job.”
