Here's your round-up of all the latest rugby headlines for Tuesday, March 15.
Alun Wyn won't come straight in against Italy
Wayne Pivac will not throw Alun Wyn Jones straight back into the starting XV against Italy this weekend, report MailOnline.
The Wales stalwart has not played a minute of rugby since October, however fans were taken aback last weekend when it was confirmed the second-row would come back into contention for the visit of the Azzuri.
Jones has been missing owing to a shoulder injury and, rather than being thrown straight back into the side, it is claimed that a place among the replacements is the best he can hope for.
It is reported that burgeoning lock pairing Will Rowlands and Adam Beard are set to start a fifth straight Six Nations game.
That would leave Pivac with a decision to make over who his second-row option is on the bench, with Seb Davies, Ben Carter and Jones all vying for one spot.
Should Jones get on the pitch on Saturday, he would win his 150th Welsh cap.
Dan Biggar is set to continue as captain and will win his 100th Wales cap in the process.
Wales are due to announce their team today at 2.30pm . We will have all the live updates on our WalesOnline rugby page here .
Read next: Win free tickets for Wales v Italy
WRU hits back at Friday night criticism
The Welsh Rugby Union has hit back at criticism around the decision to host the Six Nations clash with France on a Friday night.
The contest at the Principality Stadium failed to attract a capacity crowd, with around 11,000 seats left empty on the night.
It has sparked a debate around both the decision to hold games on Friday nights and indeed the prices charged to supporters, with tickets costing around £100 each.
However, the WRU has insisted it was happy with the attendance of this latest fixture, and added that they are expecting a "near capacity crowd" for the upcoming clash with Italy.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the WRU told the BBC: "We're delighted to confirm over 63,000 supporters were able to attend the game on Friday and enjoy a match day experience at the Principality Stadium which is the envy of rugby supporters the world over.
"In total, with Wales' second-round match against Scotland a 74,000 sell-out, nearly 200,000 fans will have passed through Principality Stadium turnstiles during the 2022 competition and this is hugely positive for Welsh rugby, especially in light of the Covid-19 restrictions in place just a few short months ago.
"We were immensely proud of the successful and safe delivery of the Autumn Nations Series at Principality Stadium earlier this season, especially during such a challenging time.
"We saw a record number of sales for the games as Principality Stadium hosted 270,000 supporters across four matches.
"Following the autumn matches uncertainty around Covid-19 pre-Christmas temporarily dented consumer confidence and ticket sales stalled during what would ordinarily be an extremely buoyant sales window over the festive season.
"This, coupled with significantly fewer supporters travelling from overseas (which usually equates to around 10,000 visitors for a match against France) for a Friday night match, may have negatively affected the gate.
"We always hope to sell-out every game but, to put the 2022 Championship attendances into perspective: a 200,000 attendance over these three home matches would have been a hugely welcome outcome for Welsh rugby during the recent Christmas period - when crowds at events were at one time limited to their hundreds."
France a 'golden opportunity' says Jones
England boss Eddie Jones says the upcoming trip to Grand Slam-chasing France this weekend gives them the ideal chance to prepare for next year's World Cup.
France are set to host the 2023 tournament, and the England squad will spend the bulk of the week in Paris in a bid to accustom themselves to their surroundings, with next year's competition firmly in their mind.
There's also the small matter of bouncing back from Saturday's defeat at home to Ireland, which has left England facing up to the possibility of another fifth-place finish.
“My experience of the tournament, particularly when you’re playing in different countries, is that the more you go there and learn how to cope with the different tempo and rhythm of the week and the nuances of the culture, the better prepared you are,” Jones said.
“This is a golden opportunity for us. We’re playing a big game at Stade de France to have some experience of playing in Paris. Preparing in Paris is different to say Lille or Bordeaux or Nice.
“It’s a big city and you’ve got to learn to find the right rhythm to your preparations in the week. That’s the golden opportunity for us.
“We’re still waiting for confirmation of our training base in France for next year, but we’ve done some good preliminary work.”
Williams: South Africa inclusion would kill off Welsh Six Nations hopes
Former Scotland coach Matt Williams has warned that the chances of Wales, Scotland or Ireland ever winning a Six Nations that included South Africa would be "almost nil".
Italy's involvement in the tournament has been placed under fresh scrutiny in recent weeks, with their recent 32-22 defeat to Scotland stretching their winless run in the Six Nations to an astonishing 36 games.
One solution which has recently been mooted has been to include South Africa in the tournament, a move which has been met with fierce debate on both hemispheres.
And Williams, who was speaking during a discussion on Virgin Media Sports, believes bringing the Springboks on board would effectively end Celtic hopes of ever winning the tournament again.
He said: “The problem with international rugby is that it is the result of long-term athletic development. You can’t develop the group required at the national team – it has to be done before they get to the national team.
"If South Africa come into this competition, the Celtic countries will face not winning, possibly ever, the competition again.
“That cannot happen. The Welsh, the Irish, and the Scots cannot enter into a competition that is traditionally theirs, where they say, 'the chances of you winning this in the future are almost nil'.
“How are Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, going to go down to Pretoria at altitude in the summer and win?”
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