All posts tagged: Wales Rugby Union Team

Meg Jones at heart of England juggernaut – but Wales rewarded with bonus point

Meg Jones at heart of England juggernaut – but Wales rewarded with bonus point

Published by Sam Flores

England starting XV: 15 Ellie Kildunne; 14 Millie David, 13 Meg Jones (captain), 12 Helena Rowland, 11 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald; 10 Holly Aitchison, 9 Lucy Packer; 1 Mackenzie Carson, 2 Amy Cokayne, 3 Sarah Bern, 4 Abi Burton, 5 Delaney Burns, 6 Sadia Kabeya, 7 Marlie Packer, 8 Maddie Feaunati. Replacements: 16 Connie Powell, 17 Kelsey Clifford, 18 Maud Muir, 19 Haineala Lutui, 20 Demelza Short, 21 Flo Robinson, 22 Zoe Harrison, 23 Jess Breach. Wales starting XV: 15 Kayleigh Powell, 14 Seren Singleton, 13 Courtney Keight, 12 Jenna de Vera, 11 Jasmine Joyce, 10 Lleucu George, 9 Keira Bevan, 1 Gwenllian Pyrs, 2 Kelsey Jones, 3 Sisilia Tuipulotu, 4 Jorja Aiono, 5 Gwen Crabb, 6 Branwen Metcalfe, 7 Bethan Lewis, 8 Bryonie King. Replacements: 16 Molly Reardon, 17 Maisie Davies, 18 Donna Rose, 19 Georgia Evans, 20 Alisha Joyce, 21 Seren Lockwood, 22 Catherine Richards, 23 Freya Bell. Source link

Wales claim first Six Nations win in three years by outclassing Italy in Cardiff

Wales claim first Six Nations win in three years by outclassing Italy in Cardiff

Published by Sam Flores

Wales take on Italy at the Principality Stadium in the penultimate match of this year’s Six Nations. Italy have won the last two meetings and three of the last four. Wales are bottom of the table and on course for a third straight wooden spoon. After back-to-back heavy defeats against England and France to start the tournament, they came agonisingly close to beating Scotland before pushing Ireland close last time out. “Having an unchanged team reflects the cohesion and the consistency in the group and the consistency of performance out in Ireland,” Wales head coach Steve Tandy said. “This week we need to go up another level. We have had some good performances. There were parts against France, then we built up into the Scotland game where I thought we were very good. Against Ireland we stepped up to the plate physically. Now it is putting it all together and creating our best performance this weekend.” They go in search of their first Six Nations win in over 1,000 days, with their last victory in …

Reborn Wales push Ireland to limit to hint at brighter future

Reborn Wales push Ireland to limit to hint at brighter future

Published by Sam Flores

Ireland starting XV: 15 Jamie Osborne; 14 Rob Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale; 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park; 1 Tom O’Toole, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 James Ryan, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 6 Jack Conan, 7 Nick Timoney, 8 Caelan Doris (captain). Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Joe McCarthy, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Nathan Doak, 22 Tom Farrell, 23 Ciaran Frawley. Wales starting XV: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 3 Tomas Francis, 14 Dafydd Jenkins, 5 Ben Carter, 6 Alex Mann, 7 James Botham, 8 Aaron Wainwright. Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Louie Hennessey. Source link

Finn Russell’s moment of genius sparks Scotland comeback win against Wales

Finn Russell’s moment of genius sparks Scotland comeback win against Wales

Published by Sam Flores

Scotland exhibited so much in their revival and, as well as Russell and Turner, prevailed thanks to tries from wings Kyle Steyn and Graham. “We dug deep and did what we needed to do to win,” said Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu. “Full credit to Wales. They came out with fight and we had to find a way to win ugly. “I said to the boys at half-time we would need to find a little bit in ourselves to come away with the victory. Several of the boys really held their hands up. It was not as sharp a performance as last week [against England], but that was down to Wales’s performance.” This was an enthralling game from which both teams would have taken huge positives. For Scotland, their second-half fightback means that they are within one Six Nations match of winning their first Triple Crown in more than three decades. And for Wales, despite the agony of not being able to hang on to a commanding 15-point lead with 30 minutes to go, this was …

It says everything about Welsh rugby that humiliating France defeat was an improvement

It says everything about Welsh rugby that humiliating France defeat was an improvement

Published by Sam Flores

To their credit, Wales staged a mini revival, with Elllis Mee beginning the scoreboard resistance, as the Scarlet wing’s initial line-break led to Rhys Carre’s try. The three-quarter strong crowd were suddenly awakened and valiantly tried to gather their boys to capitalise on the momentum. Wales might have gone into the break only seven points down. But they messed up a fine position in the French 22 and then Adam Beard, as a second-rower, decided it would be a good idea to try to kick as he exited a ruck. The British and Irish Lion whiffed it completely and Jalibert stretched himself between the sticks. It was galling but, in the coaches’ box, there was perhaps a ray of hope. For the first time since his appointment, Tandy showed some anger as he slammed his desk and swore at the Beard-inspired shambles. Tandy needs uncompromising coach in ‘nicey, nicey’ regime “You probably saw my reaction,” he later said. “To concede off that… well, those are the moments where great teams punish you. That was a …

Fixtures, results, squads and how to watch on TV

Fixtures, results, squads and how to watch on TV

Published by Sam Flores

Ticket prices and how to get them The cost of tickets ranges considerably, from around £26 for the cheapest tickets for France’s three home games to £203 for the most expensive England home tickets against Wales and Ireland. Tickets for each of the home games can be bought from the respective federations: England, France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy. Who is in the squads? England Forwards: Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), Arthur Clark (Gloucester), Alex Coles (Northampton), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale), Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins), Tom Curry (Sale), Theo Dan (Saracens), Trevor Davison (Northampton), Ben Earl (Saracens), Greg Fisilau (Exeter), Ellis Genge (Bristol), Jamie George (Saracens), Joe Heyes (Leicester), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton), Guy Pepper (Bath), Henry Pollock (Northampton), Bevan Rodd (Sale) Vilikesa Sela (Bath), Sam Underhill (Bath). Backs: Henry Arundell (Bath), Seb Atkinson (Gloucester), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Fraser Dingwall (Northampton), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter), George Ford (Sale Sharks), Tommy Freeman (Northampton), George Furbank (Northampton), Alex Mitchell (Northampton), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Max Ojomoh (Bath), Henry Slade (Exeter), Marcus Smith (Harlequins), Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), Freddie Steward (Leicester), Jack …

England tear Wales apart to get Six Nations title bid under way

England tear Wales apart to get Six Nations title bid under way

Published by Sam Flores

Scoring sequence: 3-0 Ford pen, 8-0 Arundell try, 10-0, Ford con, 15-0 Arundell try, 20-0 Earl try, 22-0 Ford con, 27-0 Arundell try, 29-0 Ford con, 34-0 Roebuck try, 36-0 Ford try, 36-5 Adams try, 36-7 Edwards con, 43-7 pen try, 48-7 Freeman try. England: F Steward (M Smith 64); T Roebuck (H Pollock 64), T Freeman, F Dingwall, H Arundell; G Ford, A Mitchell (B Spencer 66); E Genge (B Rodd 40), J George (L Cowan-Dickie 51), J Heyes (T Davison 51), A Coles, O Chessum, G Pepper, S Underhill (T Curry 51), B Earl. Sin-bin: M Itoje, T Curry. Wales: L Rees-Zammit; E Mee (M Grady 52), E James (17-27 L Belcher), B Thomas, J Adams; D Edwards, T Williams (K Hardy 78); N Smith (R Carre 51), D Lake (L Belcher 66), A Griffin (T Francis 50), D Jenkins, A Beard (B Carter 69), A Mann (T Plumtree 50), J Macleod (H Deaves 52), A Wainwright. Sin-bin: N Smith, D Lake, B Thomas, T Plumtree. Referee: P Brousset (FFR). Source link

Grieving Maro Itoje backed to give England a lift from the bench against Wales

Grieving Maro Itoje backed to give England a lift from the bench against Wales

Published by Sam Flores

Given what Maro Itoje has been through since the death of his mother in December, it is the right decision by Steve Borthwick not to include him in the starting XV against Wales. Itoje, 31, had missed the start of England’s training camp in Girona in Spain to attend the funeral of mother Florence in Nigeria last Monday – last Wednesday’s training session was particularly intense – and one can only imagine what an emotional day it will be for the Saracens lock at Twickenham on Saturday. You have to go back to 2019 for the last time Itoje did not start a Six Nations match for England and even then, it was only because of a knee injury he sustained in the opening-round win against Ireland in Dublin that would rule him out of the remainder of the championship. Since 2020, when England last won the Six Nations, the Saracens lock has remarkably not only started every game but also played every minute of every game. You expect the minutes he is on the …