Keeping the lid on it

The Principality Stadium will have the roof closed when Wales kick off against France at five past eight tonight. For us, it’s a chance to keep the Six Nations dream alive after a draw in Ireland and victory over Scotland in Cardiff. Win and we should go to Twickenham in a fortnight to face Eddie Jones’ England with a lot of confidence; lose and we are all but out of the title race.

There is also some previous with a few of the players. In a 2008 Under 20 Junior World Championship match which Warburton described as “the best moment of my life” at the time, Wales came from 19-9 down with three minutes remaining at their home tournament to beat France thanks to a Leigh Halfpenny try. Jubilant scenes at the final whistle were interrupted as a mass punch-up between the two sides broke out.

Wales' squad that day also included Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb, Jonathan Davies and Justin Tipuric. Among the French, Yoann Maestri, Rabah Slimani and Benjamin Fall have all progressed to Les Bleus' senior outfit.

Slimani, who starts at tighthead prop tonight, was banned alongside Jeremy Braille and Djibril Camara, who is also set to win his first senior French cap at the Principality Stadium.

Seconds out, round two?



In other rugby news Rutlish came second in yesterday's 16 team 7s tournament, with Ben scoring seven tries from scrum half in the four games they played. I've never known him to play that position before. This morning he was bemoaning a failure to execute, from some good positions in the final and thinks they should have nicked it.