These are your evening rugby headlines on Wednesday, March 9.
Biggar: Let's move on from Francis 'circus'
Dan Biggar says he wants everyone to move on from what he dubs the "circus" surrounding Tomas Francis' inclusion to face France on Friday night.
Francis' clash of heads during the England match at Twickenham and the subsequent fallout prompted a huge debate and a review into how the head injury was handled.
Francis was named in Wayne Pivac's team to face favourites France on Friday night, with the Wales boss reading out a statement before today's press conference to address the situation.
Biggar says Wales have full belief in their medical team and the independent specialists and wants the narrative to move on now Francis has been deemed fit to play.
"The circus around it is probably bigger than what it is ourselves," he said.
Read more: Wales make four changes to team
Read more: France name formidable line-up
"We've got a team who are brilliant. They're not going to take unnecessary risks. Their first port of call is health and safety. Always is, because it's a big issue, it's always going to get a bit hyped.
"If Franny wasn't right to play, then he wouldn't be involved. He's passed everything and been looked at by independent people. We trust the process completely and try and get on with it. We're focused on the experts and professional people we've got in our camp."
Asked if he saw the incident himself, he said: "There's lots of incidents like that, it's not a first in terms of boys taking bumps.
"I've been on the end of a couple. There's going to be people who have opinions on it. As long as he goes through the protocols, I don't think we should be making too much more of it.
"We're not the experts in those fields. If the people have passed him fit, that's not our profession. It's down to the independent and medical team who are brilliant. It's very much 'let's move on from it'. He's been deemed fit."
Wales await roof decision
Wales are awaiting a response from the Welsh Government over whether the roof at the Principality Stadium will be open or closed on Friday night.
Due to the pandemic, it was decided ahead of the tournament that the roof would be open for Wales’ three home games as a mitigating measure against Covid.
In the past, the default position has been that the roof is open for Six Nations games unless both sides agree to a closure.
But Pivac has revealed that the wheels are in motion and that the question has been asked.
Pivac said on Wednesday: "Until I am told otherwise, I guess it will be open, but we have certainly asked a question.
"We are just waiting on a response. I think that will be something we talk to Welsh Government about."
Opponents France will also have a say in the matter.
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Cardiff name squad for South Africa
Cardiff Rugby have arrived in South Africa with a 33-man squad ahead of their rescheduled United Rugby Championship fixtures against Emirates Lions and DHL Stormers.
The Blue and Blacks were due to face the South African sides last year but the fixtures were postponed due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
They now face the Lions at Emirates Airlines Park on March 13 and the Stormers at DHL Stadium on March 20 in the rearranged fixtures.
Dai Young has named a 33-man squad, led by Josh Turnbull and boosted by Ellis Jenkins, who has been released from Wales' Six Nations squad.
In the backs, Jacob Beetham and Theo Cabango are included for the first time since impressing while the bulk of the squad were in isolation in November, while Luke Scully is named after recovering from ACL surgery.
Cardiff Rugby travelling squad :
Frowards: Brad Thyer, Corey Domachowski, Rhys Barrett, Kirby Myhill, Kristian Dacey, Keiron Assiratti, Dmitri Arhip, Will Davies-King, Matthew Screech, Rory Thornton, Teddy Williams, Josh Turnbull, Rhys Anstey, Will Boyde, James Botham, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Ellis Jenkins.
Backs: Lloyd Williams, Jamie Hill, Ellis Bevan, Jarrod Evans, Luke Scully, Ben Thomas, Max Llewellyn, Garyn Smith, Rey Lee-Lo, Jason Harries, Aled Summerhill, Owen Lane, Theo Cabango, Hallam Amos, Matthew Morgan, Jacob Beetham.
All Blacks apology
New Zealand Rugby have apologised for their tone-deaf International Women's Day post.
The All Blacks had tweeted "Forever grateful to all the women in our lives that allow us to play the game we love.
It was accompanied by pictures of male players with their partners, daughters and female family members.
The fact that no female players were pictured or mentioned was criticised, as well as the choice of the male players used.
In particular, the past actions of two of the players, Sevu Reece and Aaron Smith, left many bewildered at how this tweet was ever sent. You can read more about that here.
"We didn't get it right and we apologise," said New Zealand Rugby.
"NZR and our Teams in Black celebrated International Women's Day across all of our digital channels and our intent was to portray the many roles women have in our game."
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