The latest rugby news from Wales and around the world
These are your evening rugby headlines on Sunday, March 15.
England to launch Six Nations investigation
England will launch a review into their dismal Six Nations campaign in the coming days after finishing the tournament with one win to their name.
The wooden spoon went to Wales for the third successive year despite their superb win over Italy on Super Saturday, but Steve Tandy’s side have come away from the championship with plenty to be positive about.
Having been billed as tournament whipping boys and fallen to heavy defeats to England and France, Wales got better week-on-week with impressive performances against Scotland and Ireland preceding their victory in the final round.
JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE Latest news, analysis and much more
For Steve Borthwick’s side, however, the picture looks quite different. Having been billed as potential Grand Slam winners before the tournament started following a run of 11 successive victories, their opening win over Wales was followed by a series of brutal defeats.
After losing the Calcutta Cup to Scotland, Borthwick’s men were on the receiving end of a record Irish away win at Twickenham and a first-ever defeat to Italy, before being edged 48-46 by France in a thrilling encounter in Paris on Saturday evening.
Their solitary victory meant England recorded their worst-ever return from a Six Nations campaign, finishing fifth in the table.
There was much improvement in the English performance against France, but the hugely disappointing campaign has seen pundits and fans call for Borthwick to be sacked, with many questions to be asked as bosses unpick what happened.
A group of senior rugby figures from inside and outside the RFU will now collect feedback from coaches and players about what went wrong over the coming days and weeks. While such a review is standard practice, the results will be eagerly awaited with next year’s Rugby World Cup on the horizon.
Wales duo star in cup mauling
Wales internationals Tommy Reffell and Gabriel Hamer-Webb helped Leicester Tigers to the PREM Rugby Cup title as they mauled a second-string Exeter Chiefs side 66-14 in the final.
A rain-soaked encounter at Welford Road saw Leicester dominate from start to finish, with a blistering first-half performance seeing them score four tries inside the first 30 minutes, with Will Wand scoring a brace and Archie van der Flier and Billy Searle also both crossing.
A further score from Searle gave the Tigers a commanding 35-0 lead, before Ross Vintcent pulled one back for the Chiefs on the stroke of half-time.
But Leicester picked up where they left off after the break, with prop Van der Flier scoring his second three minutes after the restart, before the referee awarded a penalty try to the Tigers after Exeter brought a maul down illegally on the line.
Will Haydon-Wood dotted down for Exeter shortly before the hour mark, but Leicester hit back immediately through newly-capped Wales star Hamer-Webb, with the wing squeezing over in the corner.
While they were already cruising to the title, Leicester refused to relent and Tarek Haffar scored before James O’Connor strolled over for a 10th try of the afternoon for the Tigers.
By the end, Exeter, who also lost in last year’s final, were waiting for the final whistle to sound, with Leicester winning the trophy for the first time.
Wainwright: Brighter times ahead for Wales
By Phil Blanche, Press Association
Aaron Wainwright believes brighter times lie ahead for Wales after their Six Nations drought was ended by a closing victory over Italy.
Wales won 31-17 in Cardiff on Saturday to end a 15-game losing streak in the tournament that stretched back to March 2023.
It was only Wales’ third win in 28 Tests – the other two were against Japan – and acts as a huge boost ahead of the inaugural Nations Championship this summer.
Wales kick off that campaign against Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium on July 4 before travelling to Argentina and South Africa on successive weekends.
“We started the campaign against England, and the first 20 minutes we were incredibly poor with our discipline and the accuracy wasn’t there,” said Leicester-bound back-rower Wainwright, who shrugged off a pre-game injury scare to score two tries and be named player of the match.
“How we’ve grown throughout the tournament could really set us up for when we come into the next campaign.
“Steve is really big on his care and connection and making sure we’re all aligned with what we want to achieve when we’re not in camp. So if we get that right over the next couple of months coming into summer tours we can really hit the ground running.”
Wales were cast as Six Nations whipping boys after conceding 102 points in disastrous opening defeats to England and France. But huge strides were made in narrow losses to Scotland and Ireland before a stunning opening 47 minutes against Italy, in which Wales stormed into a 31-0 lead, set up that elusive victory.
Wainwright said: “Given the circumstances of where we are as a country, in terms of our past results and performances, it’s great to get the win and end the campaign on a high.
“But if we are being realistic about it we probably should have had more wins from the campaign. Going forward hopefully this is a bit of momentum that we need to kick on and haul ourselves to those standards that we set here.”
Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here for all the breaking news.