Here’s the latest rugby news for Wednesday 15th March.

Wales warned of beating

Wales can score 70 points against France in Saturday’s Six Nations final if they defend as well as they did against Italy.

That’s the opinion of renowned commentator and former England international Andy Hood, who believes Warren Gatland’s side were lucky to win 29-17 last weekend. Meanwhile, France thrashed England 53-10 at Twickenham in a devastating rugby union display.

Speaking on the Capsule Rugby podcast, he said: “Wales this weekend? God, they can get to 70 if they defend like they did in Italy against France.

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“Wales found enough to win a game when most people saw Italy as favourites. They had some luck and Rhys Webb was excellent. The first Six Nations starts in six years at the age of 34, he is becoming the man of the match and the emotion in his post-interview was incredible.

“The big players stood out, they did enough to win, but they got lucky. The other day, you lost 30 points for the number of line breaks. Italy had so many clear chances that they crushed it and it could have been very different.”

Second commentator Jim Hamilton raised concerns about the fragility of youngsters Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady in the Wales midfield, adding: “I think they had a problem at 12 and 13 with Hawkins and Grady. There were line breaks on those channels and it felt like they were all over the place with the communication all around them.”

The coach supports the young central defender

However, Welsh duo Hawkins and Grady have the backing of manager Alex King despite their defensive problems at Roma.

Both have shown signs of real promise in the last two games they’ve started together, and with both men just 20 years old, King was impressed.

Warren Gatland names his line-up to face Les Bleus on Thursday, with both players on the board to start a third consecutive game together, although Gatland will no doubt also consider the midfield options of Nick Tompkins and George North.

The Welsh defenders are set to play revered French midfield duo Gael Fika and Jonathan Danti after they caused England immense pain in Les Bleus’ 53-10 win at Twickenham last weekend.

“I think they (Grady and Hawkins) were brilliant,” King said.

“It’s not easy, international rugby and two 20-year-olds playing against England and then Italy have already learned a lot.

“Joe played four 80 minutes and Mason played two 80 minutes. It’s great for the future. We are playing with these players and giving them opportunities. They’ve been great. They will return to their clubs after this tournament and so will we.” “I’ll give them something to do to watch. But they’re really easy to train and eager to learn. It just shows the quality of the person, as well as the quality of the player that we have through the system.”

“They will form the core of the Wales midfield going forward.

“Fiku and Danti are probably the best combination in the world right now. They are physical, agile, quick and strong on both sides of the ball.

“When you’re a young player and you’re playing against them, it’s great to be able to score to see where you are against world-class opposition.”

In England, “moment of truth”

Freddie Steward insists England will face a moment of truth when they try to start the rebuilding process against Grand Slam chasing Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

Steve Borthwick’s side are suffering their biggest defeat in Twickenham history after France racked up seven tries en route to a 53-10 victory that rocked England’s rugby union.

While facing world-ranked Ireland at St Patrick’s weekend is the toughest scenario to rebuild a damaged reputation, Steward says England are relishing the chance to show their character.

“Saturday was pretty bad and I’d like to think it all hangs from here and we’re going to keep improving,” said Steward, the only player to come off a fourth-round defeat.

“Grievous is a very good way to describe him. It’s never good to lose, but then losing with that advantage hurts a lot.”

“The most annoying thing is that we have to blame ourselves, and we shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

“At those times you don’t want it to break because the wheels are going to fall off. We’re in a good place right now because we’re at a standstill.

“As (defensive line coach) Kevin Sinfield told us, these weeks define teams. When you dive in deep like we did, that’s when you really challenge yourself to come together and find something.

“I hope we can look back on when we get back together in a few months as a real point where we moved on and got better.”

Scotland want to finish strong

Pierre Schoeman is convinced that Scotland are in a strong position and only need to ‘tune up’ after the Six Nations to be ready for the World Cup later this year.

After winning the first two games, the Scots’ silver medal hopes were dashed by back-to-back defeats against the world’s top two teams, France and Ireland.

But centre-back Schoeman believes the Scots have shown this campaign that all the fundamental bases are in place for success and is confident they will be ready to progress from a huge World Cup group that includes South Africa and Ireland in the autumn.

“We have to believe that we have cohesion, we have players, squad, management and experience to face these teams”, said the 28-year-old.

“This is exactly what you need to build in the run-up to the World Cup and we need to use these Six Nations.

“We have to fight for the first two places, first or second (in the Cup group).

“We know what happened in France and against Ireland, who are the best team in the world at the moment, so there are things we need to sort out on the pitch.

“After this campaign, let’s think about what we need to prepare for the World Cup.”

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