Here are the latest rugby headlines on Thursday, March 16.
Gatland to announce team
Warren Gatland will name his Wales team for the Six Nations finale against France later today.
Liam Williams will be replaced at full-back after suffering an injury, with Leigh Halfpenny and Louis Rees-Zammit the two most likely options.
Elsewhere, Gatland has to decide whether to throw inexperienced centre partnership Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady in the line of fire against daunting opposition once again, or recall the likes of George North and Nick Tompkins.
The forward pack, which went relatively well against Italy, could remain unchanged.
The Wales squad are currently in Nice preparing for the game, with many players enjoying a trip to Monaco on their day off on Wednesday. Gatland will name his side later this morning, and you'll be able to follow live Wales team updates here throughout the day.
Wales written off
Wales are being written off by pundits and bookmakers ahead of the trip to Paris despite the series of close encounters between the teams in recent years.
Last weekend's extraordinary 53-10 French win at Twickenham means it's hard to find anyone giving Wales a sniff, with bookies making Gatland's side 14/1 outsiders. A French victory is priced at 1/25.
Elsewhere, former England international Mike Tindall has predicted Wales will be annihilated by more than 30 points, while all the presenters on the BBC's Rugby Union Daily podcast predicted a French win by a margin of around 20 points.
France have won the past four meetings between the two teams, but two of those were only by four points and another by just two points in Paris in 2021.
Farrell to oust Smith
Owen Farrell is expected to return to the England team to face Ireland on Saturday after being dropped to the bench for last weekend's disastrous 53-10 home defeat to France.
Numerous English newspaper titles are reporting Farrell will start ahead of Marcus Smith in a new-look midfield alongside Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade. Farrell has been suffering from an ankle injury this week but is expected to recover.
Ellis Genge wants England to show fight vs Ireland
Ellis Genge insists England are determined to rediscover the missing fight that resulted in their collapse against France when they aim to ruin Ireland's Grand Slam celebrations on Saturday. The stage is set for one of the great days in Irish rugby as Andy Farrell's men stand on the brink of winning their first Championship clean sweep in Dublin to ignite the St Patrick's weekend party.
While Ireland sit atop the global rankings and are primed to take this autumn's World Cup by storm, England have been picking up the pieces after France rampaged through Twickenham in a record 53-10 home defeat. How much scarring has been left by the experience will be revealed in the climax to the Six Nations, but Genge insists his Aviva Stadium underdogs are desperate to step up in their moment of truth.
"We got hammered at home, we're going away to number one in the world on St Patrick's Day - literally a day that's made for them - and they can win a Grand Slam," Genge said. "All odds are against us but I'm really confident in the group that we'll come out swinging.
"Irrespective of the scoreboard, it's not necessarily about going out there and thinking about points. It's more so now about proving a point that we have got some fight in us because that was questioned at the weekend and it's not where we want to be as a team.
"It's just about putting it right for each other. It's underpinned by the fight and that's something we didn't do at the weekend. There's definitely some dog in this team and it wasn't shown very well against France. I don't think what we showed against France is the team we are. It was abysmal on our part and there's a lot that we can rectify reasonably easily. Ultimately it comes down to fighting and that's what we're going to do."
Ireland harness All Blacks mentality
Peter O'Mahony says Ireland are intent on emulating the self-assured mentality of the All Blacks as they seek to substantiate their world number one status by delivering on Grand Slam expectations.
Andy Farrell's side, who have topped the global rankings since last summer's historic tour success over three-time world champions New Zealand, are heavy favourites to clinch a Guinness Six Nations clean sweep going into Saturday's Dublin showdown with rivals England.
Flanker O'Mahony concedes Ireland sides of the past would have shied away from the hype, plaudits and pressure of being regarded as the team to be beat. But the 33-year-old admits there is a concerted effort to enhance that mindset ahead of what is "probably" his biggest game in the green jersey.
Asked if in-camp Grand Slam talk was forbidden, he replied: "No, it's not banned [but] I know where you are coming from.
"In other teams we would have tried to keep it under the rope but the favourites tag, the number one in the world tag... these are things that the best teams we've looked at - you look at the All Blacks - they walk into these things and face them and that's what we're trying to do.
"At the same time, you've got to back that up with performances. There's no point in walking into things and not performing well. At the end of the day, that's the goal, to put our best foot forward every Saturday or Sunday that we go out. And it's no different this weekend."
READ NEXT:
Wales duo set to reunite in England as they leave Welsh rugby
Welsh rugby hardman's 6ft 4in 17st 7lb son makes debut for dad's famous club
Wales warned of 70-point thrashing but coach backs young duo after issues
Justin Tipuric's speech to Wales' players and the celebration routine that brought back smiles
