Your rugby evening headlines for Monday, January 31.
Dallaglio: Wales were lucky
England World Cup-winner Lawrence Dallaglio says Wales were lucky to win last year's Six Nations championship.
Wayne Pivac's side were unfancied heading into last year's European showpiece but were only denied a Grand Slam in the final seconds of the final match against France, and instead had to settle for simply winning the title.
There were some cards, however, with Ireland, Scotland and France having players sent off against Wales.
"For Wales, the squad is in evolution at the moment," he told BT Sport.
"It would be disingenuous to say they were lucky to win the title last year but they were lucky. I don't quite know how they won it, really, but they did and credit to them.
"Having fans back in the stadium is massive for them. With all those senior players missing, they're going to need that 16th man but I can't see anything but Ireland winning the opener."
"But, as the old saying goes, you can only beat what's in front of you."
BOD warns Ireland to stop Welsh trio
Brian O'Driscoll has warned Ireland to keep the ball away from Wales' potent back three ahead of the Six Nations opener in Dublin this weekend.
Wayne Pivac is having to deal with a raft of injury problems throughout his squad but back three remains a relatively healthy department.
Josh Adams, Louis Rees-Zammit and Liam Williams are all poised to take the field at the Aviva Stadium and all three are proven world class finishers.
As such, O'Driscoll thinks Ireland need to do a job on the Welsh pack.
The former centre told BT Sport: "There were some really big performances in the Gallagher Premiership this weekend from Dan Biggar, that wonder try from Louis Rees-Zammit.
"I guess the big area is can Ireland stop Wales from providing that quality possession to their firepower.
"If you look at the back three, and I'm not sure about Liam Williams' fitness situation at the moment, but you look at [Josh] Adams, Rees-Zammit, and Williams as a back three.
"If you kick badly to them or give them quality possession, they will rip you apart.
"I think Ireland have to be miserly up front and really put on a forward dominant performance first of all to then put on a platform, put it on a platter for the halfbacks and some of our own quality finishers as well.
"Ireland have been about a 15-man performance, jerseys on numbers have gone out the window after the first phase. I think that's the real strength of it, they're a playmaking team where everyone is comfortable on it and are all good passers.
"They just need to implement their game plan and not concern themselves with what Wales will come with them."
Thomas backed to return to coaching
Former Wales back-rower Jonathan Thomas is out of a job after being shown the door by Worcester earlier this month.
Thomas' departure came as a shock as former Sale boss Steve Diamond was installed as the new Director of Rugby at Sixways with immediate effect.
The popular 39-year-old cut his teeth as a coach at Bristol, operating as their defence/forwards coach before moving to Worcester.
But now he is on the look out for new opportunities and he's been backed by fellow Welshman and ex-Osprey Ashley Beck, who currently plays for Worcester.
"JT has been great. He came in and had a great mentality about how he wanted to play the game, his knowledge, even playing with him, he knew how to play the game," Beck told Worcester News.
"It's professional sport at the end of the day but it's never nice to see someone leave especially a great friend like him so I just wish him the best of luck.
"Hopefully he gets back into coaching sooner rather than later.
"And especially with Welsh rugby now, they need someone like him who has his expertise and worked with some of the best people in Britain."
Ireland fully-loaded
Andy Farrell, head coach of Ireland, will have a fully-loaded squad to choose from after some positive news on the injury front.
Ireland are currently at a training camp in Portugal and they've been bolstered by the return of Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson and James Ryan to full fitness.
Flanker Josh van der Flier, winger Keith Earls and fly-half Joey Carbery are also ready for action.
It is a huge boost for Farrell with Furlong deemed one of the best props in the world and Henderson and Ryan forming his first choice lock partnership.
It strengthens Ireland in an area of the field that they will look to attack Wales, in the tight.
They return from their training camp on Wednesday this week, with Farrell due to name his side on Thursday, the same as Wales boss Wayne Pivac.
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