Today's rugby news as Wales starter thought career was over and Jamie Roberts makes selection plea
Here are your rugby morning headlines for Friday, January 31.
Wales starter thought career was over
Wales hooker Evan Lloyd has revealed how he thought he was career was over three years ago as he prepares for his first Test start.
Lloyd's five caps to date have come off the bench, but he has been named to start in tonight's Six Nations opener against France in Paris.
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However, the 23-year-old has revealed that he thought he might not make it in the professional game prior to switching from the back-row to the front-row.
Having been capped by Wales U20s as a back-row, his progress was halted by a dislocated shoulder in his final year with the Cardiff Academy.
“I was going to be released. I wasn’t going to get a transitional contract, which was fair enough because I hadn’t played much,” he said.
“But then, a couple of months later, I was doing my rehab and Gruff Rees (academy manager) pulled me in for a chat.
“It was just a normal conversation and then he sort of dropped in ‘How would you feel about playing hooker?’.
“I laughed, I thought he was joking. As a back-rower, nobody wants to hear that!
“I had never once thought about it, but he said if I was to make the change I would be in a good bracket, looking at my height, weight and stats.
“So I spoke to everyone – my parents, friends, my agent, the boys in the academy, coaches I have had.
“It was a case of you either don’t do it and maybe end up playing for Penarth or someone like that or I give it a crack and the worse situation is I end up back where I am.
“So I thought I would give it a go and it’s turned out ok.”
Roberts calls on Gatland to find continuity
Jamie Roberts has called on Warren Gatland to stick with this backline for "two or three games" as he added he was excited to see Ben Thomas at fly-half again.
The former Wales centre was speaking about the team to face France on BBC's Scrum V: The Warm-up.
"This is the 14th different half-back combination Warren has picked in his second stint in charge, so he's still finding out what his best backline is, I think," said Roberts. "He's given opportunity to a lot of players behind the scrum and I'm excited to see Ben at 10.
"I think he has all the tools to thrive at 10."
Speaking about the midfield partnership of Owen Watkin and Nick Tompkins, Tom Shanklin suggested they were "more of a damage limitation", but Roberts is hopeful Gatland will have some faith in his selection over the coming weeks.
When asked if he should have found his backline by now, Roberts added: "I think he's had to blood young players, a lot of chat in the last couple of weeks has been about the players he's left out, in Cam Winnett and Max (Llewellyn) who he's picked and he's backed for the last season, but it feels like he's gone back to experience for this game.
"I think it's the chopping and changing, you want continuity as a Test player. I think this backline now he has to back, for at least two or three games.
"As much as Paris might be difficult, and I think the lads will go and perform in France. I just hope he sticks with Ben at 10 now for the next two or three games. He's made that decision, Tomos and Ben, stick with it and give them opportunity to grow."
Wales can match France's power
Will Rowlands is confident Wales can match the physicality of the France pack and silence the home crowd in Paris.
Wales are rank outsiders ahead of tomorrow's Six Nations opener at the Stade de France and have not won a single Test match since October 2023. Many experts are predicting Wales will get bullied by a giant France pack which includes some of the biggest forwards in world rugby such as La Rochelle prop Uini Atonio and Toulouse lock Emmanuel Meafou.
But Rowlands is quietly confident Wales can match the French physically. "100%, I don’t look at our pack of forwards and think we’re underpowered by any means," he said when asked whether Wales can match the France pack.
"The crowd get noisy when they’re kind of loose, all-attacking rugby. You silence the crowd by trying to limit that and attack them both when you have the ball and when you don’t have the ball.
"That’s more of the focus for us as players. The crowd will deal with itself but how do we go about attacking France from the off really?"
Historically Wales have thrived when being underdogs and Warren Gatland has tried to create a siege mentality within the group. Despite Wales' wretched losing run Rowlands is confident Wales can turn the corner over the next couple of months.
"I think that's the perfect place for us," said the 33-year-old. "Just go there with little expectation.
"I think we are confident that we can put together a good performance and try to enjoy ourselves playing the rugby the way we want to play and see what happens. It’s definitely been like that since we have come into camp, given after what’s happened over the last 12 months or so and the narrative of what’s been around Welsh rugby.
"As we spoke about earlier about people having zero expectations of us, I think that’s a positive place for us, there is only one way out, one way up." Despite his confidence the Wales second-row is fully aware of the size of the challenge facing Wales on Friday night.
Scotland hooker set for first cap since falling down stairs
By Anthony Brown, PA
Experienced forwards Dave Cherry and Jonny Gray will make their first Scotland appearances since 2023 after being selected to start Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations opener at home to Italy.
Bordeaux lock Gray, 30, has not featured for the national team since the last time the Azzurri visited Murrayfield on Six Nations duty in 2023 after being derailed by a serious knee injury.
However, he will now add to his 77 caps after his brother Richie vacated the scene when he moved to Japan last year while Scott Cummings was ruled out of the tournament by injury.
Edinburgh hooker Cherry is the most notable inclusion in the XV after being selected ahead of club-mate Ewan Ashman, who appeared to have made the position his own following George Turner’s move to Japan last year.
Cherry, 34, has not played for Scotland since he left the 2023 World Cup squad following a concussion sustained while falling on stairs at the team hotel in Nice on a day off in the wake of the opening pool-stage fixture against South Africa, a match in which he came on as a sub.
Glasgow’s Stafford McDowall replaces injured captain Sione Tuipulotu at inside centre, while former Scotland skipper Jamie Ritchie has been selected to start in the back-row ahead of Jack Dempsey, who is named on the bench after recently recovering from injury.
Ben White has held on to his place at scrum-half despite starting only one of Toulon’s matches since the autumn series, while record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe has shaken off an ankle problem and will start in the back three alongside Darcy Graham and Blair Kinghorn.
Finn Russell and Rory Darge will co-captain the side in the absence of Tuipulotu.
Ashman is named on the bench, with Glasgow trio George Horne, Tom Jordan and Kyle Rowe the three backs listed among the subs.
