These are the rugby stories making headlines on Monday, April 17.
Shane: What is happening to our game?
Wales legend Shane Williams has asked the question "what is happening to our game?" after seeing Ulster hooker Tom Stewart grab a hat-trick against the Dragons at the weekend.
It was Stewart's second three-score effort in consecutive games. He is now the leading try-scorer in the competition's history.
"Tom's been brilliant," said Ulster head coach Dan McFarland post-match in Belfast. "There is a skill to scoring tries off the back of a maul. Some of them are pretty easy but some of them are pretty difficult and he's worked hard for that. People think it's just about dotting them down but you need to read the timing when to break out of the back - he's got a lot of decision-making to do and there's a lot of skill in the execution."
READ MORE: Shane Williams names three bolters Gatland should pick for World Cup training squad
But Williams says he isn't a fan of games being dominated by driving lineout mauls and this "highly technical phase of play", saying he's "sick of it".
"What is happening to our game?" he wrote in his Rugby Paper column. "There were plenty of cheers for Ulster hooker Tom Stewart as he made it back-to-back hat-tricks with his three-try salvo against the Dragons on Friday night. It was a performance that took his league try tally in the URC this season to a record 16, overtaking the previous highest of 14 by wings Tim Visser and Rabz Maxwane.
"Now, this isn’t just a rant from a disgruntled ex-winger, but it seems to me that the professional game is being dominated by driving lineout mauls and that far too many tries are coming from this highly technical phase of play.
"But when you strip it back, do you really want to be watching matches in which the kick to the corner, and the inevitable drive for the line, is the most dominant technical and tactical objective. Quite frankly, I’m sick of it!"
Williams added supporters are "crying out for more entertainment", with players throwing the ball about, not stuffing it up the jumper. So, the solution? Williams has one.
"Instead of allowing a team to kick to touch from a penalty and get the lineout all over the field, you simply change the law to read ‘no penalty kicked to touch from inside the opposition half will earn a throw-in to the team kicking to touch’," he added.
"If you wanted to be even more radical, you could take the rule back to any kick outside your own 22 will not end in a throw-in to the kicking side. Instantly, teams would have to find another way of scoring. Tap and go penalties would become the norm, ball in play time would dramatically increase and brain would overtake brawn in tactical thinking."
Hook blasts 'negative approach'
James Hook has criticised what he believes is a "negative approach" to qualifying for next year's European rugby competitions.
Ospreys coach Toby Booth said last week you should be careful which competition you qualify for, with the top tier of European rugby perhaps a step too far for the Welsh regions at present given their struggles on and off the pitch and with budgets and salaries being driven down.
The Ospreys and Cardiff face off at Judgement Day this weekend with a place in the Champions Cup up for grabs for the victors in the Welsh Shield, with Cardiff the favourites to progress.
When asked his views, Hook had little time for negativity, believing the objective should always be the "top table" of rugby.
Hook said on Scrum V: "I think that's quite a negative approach if you are hoping to be in the Challenge Cup. I think when the Ospreys were selected in the Champions Cup this season, no-one gave them a hope against French champions Montpellier, English champions Leicester. They beat both those teams, Montpellier home and away, so I think it's a negative approach.
"Having said that, Scarlets have had a good season in the Challenge Cup and it's sort of turned their season around, but you want to be on that top table, don't you."
Young: Judgement Day a cup final
Dai Young was left frustrated following Cardiff's defeat to Connacht on Saturday, with the result ending their play-off hopes. The Galway outfit dotted down six times in total, dominating the opening 30 minutes of the contest and although Young's side improved, they fell short of gaining a losing bonus point.
With the season coming to a close against the Ospreys at Judgement Day this weekend, Young says it has all the hallmarks of a showpiece.
"It’s a cup final, isn’t it?" he said. "Both teams want to play at the top table next season and both teams want to obviously finish the season as the best placed Welsh team, so it’s all to play for.”
Of the game across the Irish Sea, Young added: “You're obviously always disappointed when you lose. We knew we were up against a good Connacht team and they haven’t lost too many here [in Galway]. They’re on something like six winning games on the bounce so we knew that we had to be at our best, but we weren’t.
“We were a little bit unlucky not to come away with four tries. We got ourselves in the positions but squandered them so we'll kick ourselves with that.
“But the tale of the game was the first 30 minutes. The penalty count was something like seven to one in that time and with the wind behind them, they were camped inside our 22 for the first 30 minutes. They got themselves three tries and it was uphill from there."
Steward hails 'brilliant' orange card idea
England full-back Freddie Steward has hailed the idea of introducing an orange card into rugby as "brilliant".
Steward speaks from a position of experience, having been sent off in the Six Nations against Ireland for a controversial incident involving Hugo Keenan.
His red was subsequently overturned by an independent disciplinary panel but the damage had already been done. Laws are currently being trialled in Super Rugby Pacific which see a player handed a yellow card that will be reviewed while the offending player is off the field. A second TMO will then assess the incident during that 10 minutes to adjudge whether it gets upgraded to a red.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Steward told MailOnline. “When something like that happens it can take the sting out of the game with the TMO and the referee involved. I think it’s a good idea to leave that to other officials to review while the game can continue. I think it’s brilliant.
“There have been a couple of incidents. There was one with Zach [Mercer] the other week. He got that rescinded. It’s bittersweet when it gets overturned because you don’t get a ban but you also don’t get the minutes back you lose after being sent off. That’s frustrating. I think it [orange cards] is a good step in the right direction.”
France smash Scotland
France scored nine tries during a crushing 55-0 victory over Scotland to make it three successive wins in the Women's Six Nations.
After a well-contested first period, which saw France go into the break 17-0 up courtesy of Pauline Bourdon, Melissande Llorens and Emilie Boulard, the hosts ran riot in the second half thanks to two more tries from Boulard alongside efforts from Gaelle Hermet, Gabrielle Vernier, Romane Menager and Maelle Filopon.
The hosts thought they had scored the opening try just five minutes in when Charlotte Escudero crashed over but it was ruled out after Bourdon was adjudged to have supplied a forward pass in the build-up.
It did not take long for France to finally have their opener after a series of passes allowed Bourdon to race over the line but Jessy Tremouliere missed the kick. Llorens helped to double the French lead before they scored a third try just before half-time in similar fashion to the first as France released Boulard to score.
The second half French procession got under way six minutes after the interval when Boulard touched down for her second before Hermet collected a pass from Llorens to put them 29-0 up. Two tries in two minutes from Vernier and Boulard, for her hat-trick, put France out of sight before tries from Menager and Filopon rounded off the scoring to condemn Scotland to their third straight Six Nations loss while France leapfrog Wales and move to within a point of top-of-the-table England.
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