Here are the latest rugby headlines on Monday, February 7, after an action-packed opening Six Nations weekend.
Wales 'not thinking straight'
Former Ireland winger Tommy Bowe believes Wales weren't thinking straight during their defeat in Dublin.
He points to the "frustrated" body language of the backs to illustrate his point, and joked that Wales' match with Italy at the end of the tournament would be one to watch out for.
"A lot of the Welsh backs, in particular, their heads were down, you could see the frustration," he told Rugby Union Daily. "They just weren't thinking straight, and that's what the big problem is - if you're not thinking straight in the Six Nations, you're going to make mistakes.
"They were probably lucky that Dan Biggar was captain because it probably kept a lid on him. The way the Welsh team played, I would have seen him having a complete strop."
Bowe added: "We have to ask, when do Wales play Italy? We're all going to keep an eye out for that one! Georgia will be licking their lips at that if there's a play-off for the Six Nations!"
Woodward backs Wales to recover
Former England boss Clive Woodward has sympathised with Wales' current plight and backed them to recover in their home matches at the Principality Stadium in the coming weeks.
Wales are significantly hampered by injury in this tournament, with over 700 caps out of action.
Woodward feels it was inevitable that they would come a cropper eventually but thinks they will turn things around.
He wrote in his column for the Daily Mail: "I felt a little for Wales. They have gone to the well for too long, trying to overcome big injuries to key players, and there comes a moment when you hit a brick wall.
"Although Wales’s hopes of retaining their title are surely gone and a tricky tournament awaits, I wouldn’t be as despairing as some Welsh fans.
"Three of their remaining four games are at home and Wales will be a very different proposition at the Principality Stadium.
"Scotland need to be on their A-game this week. There will be a bounce-back by the Welsh."
Tom Shanklin lays it out
Former Wales centre Tom Shanklin insists it would have been hard for anyone to shine in the Welsh team given their form at the weekend, let alone Josh Adams as he made his first Test start at centre.
"With Josh Adams, it was a mixed bag," Shanklin said. "Obviously that yellow card had a massive effect on the game, I think two tries were scored during that, but then he just gives Andrew Conway a little bit too much space for the try because he has to come in-field to take the ball, lands on his knee, then gets back up and is still able to get to the corner.
"There's no doubt about it, he's a quality player. He's physical, we saw a couple of nice passes from him as well into the wide channels, but it's difficult to shine in a team like that when you're not going forward and you're not making a dent in the defence whatsoever."
In terms of the overall gameplan and performance, Shanklin highlighted only Taine Basham as a Wales player who made a dent in the Irish defence and believes there were not enough carriers or physical hits.
"Not enough players offering themselves, looked out of structure, didn't look like they knew where they were going and then when the ball came to the backs, it had a knock-on effect there, they were quite lateral.
"All teams play the same, all teams try and play off 12 now and put it behind back to a ball player like Johnny Sexton. When Ireland did it, Sexton had loads of time and could make the right decision. When Wales did it, it didn't quite function, passes weren't quite crisp, they weren't out in front and they were going sideways.
"It can't get much worse," he added. "That's a positive."
Phil Steele wants Wales changes amid scrum positive
Welsh rugby broadcaster Phil Steele believes Wales can truly challenge Scotland if Wayne Pivac overhauls his centre selection and picks Ross Moriarty in the back-row.
Many feel the experiment of starting winger Josh Adams at centre backfired while plenty others share the sentiment that Moriarty's physicality against Ireland from the off would have been invaluable.
"Suit of armour duly donned I’ll attempt to be the voice of reason," Steele wrote on Twitter.
"That Irish team is among their best ever. Scrum was a positive. I still think Wales can run Scotland very close next week if they pick specialist centres and and Moriarty as a physical presence."
Adams was selected at centre alongside Nick Tompkins and Owen Watkin, who settled for a place on the bench. Jonathan Davies was absent from the matchday 23 altogether, while Willis Halaholo ran out of time to recover from an injury setback.
'Scotland win over Wales would justify England defeat'
Andy Nicol believes Scotland simply have to win against Wales if their Six Nations defeat of England is to truly mean something.
"The next step has to be to win down in Cardiff," he told Rugby Union Daily. "They got the monkey off their back when they won in Llanelli when there was an empty crowd.
"They've not gone to Cardiff and won there since 2002, and we know how difficult it is. The atmosphere is incredible. Maybe because of what happened in Dublin, that Welsh atmosphere will be incredible.
"This is the next step in the evolution or the development of this Scotland team.
"Scotland didn't do it last year, they didn't back up that win in Twickenham when Wales came [to Edinburgh]. I think this is a massive game for obvious reasons but in how this team is developing. That win [against England] is only justified, if you like, if they go down [to Cardiff[ and win."
Antoine Dupont knows France must improve before facing Ireland
Antoine Dupont warned France they must improve quickly before next weekend's Guinness Six Nations clash against Ireland after needing to overcome a sloppy start to beat Italy 37-10 in Paris on Sunday.
Gabin Villiere's hat-trick ultimately powered Les Bleus to a bonus-point victory in wet conditions at the Stade de France, but Italy struck first through debutant Tommaso Menoncello as they benefited from the hosts' early ill-discipline.
The final score perhaps flattered the French, and Dupont admitted a repeat performance would not be good enough when Ireland, who opened with a 29-7 rout of Wales on Saturday, head to Paris next weekend.
"The supporters will have seen that we made a lot of errors this evening and a lot of poor decisions in difficult conditions," Dupont said. "At least we can be satisfied with the result.
"We were imprecise in all parts of the pitch, we gave them things, penalties, forward passes. We have to correct those and be more serious and rigorous. The chances will then follow.
"We know Ireland is surely the favourites for the championship. They showed how good they are yesterday, we know what awaits us."
Wales star lays out 'easy' fix for Scotland match
Wales prop Wyn Jones believes discipline is among the easiest problems for his team to fix ahead of facing Scotland in round two of the Six Nations.
Discipline, along with not dealing with Ireland's physicality, lead to Wales being on the back foot in their 29-7 defeat in Dublin.
"We handed them territory and possession, and if you haven't got territory and possession it's very hard to score," Jones said.
"I'd probably say discipline is probably one of the easiest ones [to fix], it's just taking that extra half a yard on the rucks. Some may referee it a bit harder than they have in the past as well, that's learning for us. That's definitely one of the easier ones to fix.
"Give them less penalties, make them play further out and you'll get your chances."
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