Tonight's rugby news as Welsh side 'very keen' to bring player home and Ireland star accused

These are your evening rugby headlines on Saturday, November 9.

Region 'very keen' to bring star home

Scarlets are "very keen" on signing Italy international Stephen Varney, according to reports.

The 23-year-old scrum-half left Gloucester earlier this month to sign with Top 14 strugglers Vannes on a short- term deal, which will keep him in France until the end of the season.

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Varney, who has 24 caps for Italy, qualifies for the Azzurri through his mother, but was born in Rhoshill in Pembrokeshire and started his rugby career at Crymych RFC. However, he has never played professional rugby in his homeland.

But that could change next summer, with the Scarlets eyeing a move to bring Varney back to west Wales, according to RugbyPass.

"His stay in France could be a short one, with the Scarlets very keen on signing the 23-year-old West Walian," the publication claims.

Speaking previously about playing for Italy over Wales, Varney said: "When I was growing up, we used to go to my grandparents and have Italian food and be part of the culture. So it’s always been part of my life.

“We would go over quite often to see family in the north of Italy, just south of Venice. We have got cousins and aunties there. My middle name is Lorenzo, so everyone has known I have been half Italian since I have been growing up.

“Every kid growing up wants to play for Wales," he added. "But I made the decision myself and have no regrets.”

Ireland star accused

All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett has accused Ireland lock Joe McCarthy of taking a cheap shot at team-mate Damian McKenzie during Friday night's showdown in Dublin.

New Zealand came out on top against Andy Farrell's side as they triumphed 23-13 at the Aviva Stadium, with a clash between Barrett and McCarthy early on setting the tone for a feisty, scrappy encounter.

Viewers at home saw Barrett grapple with the Irishman seemingly out of nowhere, before replays showed McCarthy putting in a hit on McKenzie as the referee's whistle went.

It seemingly came out of nowhere after a McKenzie knock-on led to an Ireland scrum, but replays showed McCarthy making contact with the fly-half just as the referee’s whistle went. That angered the All Blacks lock, who confronted his 23-year-old opponent for the "below-the-line" act.

“I don’t usually take exception but I saw something that was, I guess, below the line for me,” Barrett told reporters after the match. “I guess you had to make a point of ‘you’re not targeting our 10 tonight’.

“I think I was getting up from a ruck and from where I saw it, it looked like Damian was on the ground and Joe cleaned him up. From where I saw it it looked like it was around his head.

"Whether it was or not, I’m not too sure, but I guess I took exception in that moment," he added. "It may not have been, I’m not too sure. It looked like a bit of a shoulder to a man on the ground.”

Tuipulotu eyes landmark win

By Anthony Brown, PA

Sione Tuipulotu has challenged Scotland to signal their intent to move to the next level with a landmark victory over world champions South Africa.

Gregor Townsend's side have had some big wins over the likes of France, England, Wales and Australia in recent seasons, but have been unable to topple any of the world's current top three nations - the Springboks, New Zealand and Ireland - under the current head coach.

Recently-appointed captain Tuipulotu senses an opportunity to change that as he prepares to lead out the Scots - ranked seventh in the world - against the formidable Boks on Sunday.

"It only really clicked this morning when we were coming in on the bus that I'm captaining a side that's playing against South Africa," said the 27-year-old at his captain's run press conference on Saturday. "When I was growing up in Australia watching the Tri-Nations, which now is the Rugby Championship, and obviously the Springboks have such an aura around them, it's kind of weird now that I'm in a position where I'm going to captain a side against them so it's a massive opportunity for me.

"This is a game that we've been searching for for a long time, not just South Africa but we've been searching for a big win here at Murrayfield for a long time, and tomorrow is an opportunity for that. We've been searching for a win against a top opponent like the All Blacks or the Springboks or Ireland or one of those top three teams for a long time now.

"Getting that win I believe instils a little bit of belief in your team and it kick-starts the team that we want to be. We see tomorrow as an opportunity to really kick-start what we want this team to achieve.

"We have a free swing at the world champions and the most important thing is that we hop off that bus tomorrow here to win."

Farrell tells 'desperate' Ireland to 'fix mentality'

By Ed Elliot, PA, Dublin

Andy Farrell says Ireland must remedy the psychological shortcomings which caused them to become "desperate" during a disheartening Dublin defeat to the All Blacks.

The Six Nations champions slipped to a disappointing 23-13 loss in their Autumn Nations Series opener after being punished for a raft of errors and repeated infringements. An inquest into Friday evening's underwhelming display at an expectant Aviva Stadium is set to begin when players return to camp on Sunday.

Head coach Farrell admits there is significant room for improvement ahead of upcoming appointments with Argentina, Fiji and Australia.

"It's not right to try and be desperate, chasing your tail, when you've made an error, whether it be a penalty or a dropped ball, and compound that error with another error and all of a sudden field position is gone and points come off the back of that," said the Englishman.

"We did that a number of times. So, we need to fix up our mentality as far as that's concerned, getting back to neutral and getting the ball back in the way that we want it We became a little bit too desperate and, on the back of that, the energy wasn't what was needed, or the accuracy."

New Zealand's deserved victory, secured by six Damian McKenzie penalties and a Will Jordan try, halted Ireland's winning run on home soil at 19 matches. It also inflicted further misery on the hosts following the All Blacks' 28-24 triumph in the quarter-finals of last year's World Cup in France.

"We move on," said Farrell. "We have to do. We have to find the solutions as soon as we possibly can because we've got a hungry side in Argentina (on Friday) who are playing some really good rugby at this moment in time. So, we need to get back on the horse and start it all over again, don't we?"

With New Zealand centre Jordie Barrett in the sin bin following a high tackle on Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier's try briefly threatened to turn a scrappy contest in Ireland's favour. But Farrell's men paid a heavy price for committing 21 handling errors, conceding 13 penalties and missing 30 tackles, in addition to repeatedly being second best at turnovers, rucks and lineouts.

"We'll get a few answers in regard to clarification over a few of them but it doesn't really matter whether it was wrong or right," Farrell said of the high penalty count. "We still should have suppressed ourselves a little bit."