Wales coach Gareth Jenkins believes playing tournament favorites Ireland in the first match of this season's Six Nations is the ideal way for his side to start the Championship.
Ireland were the form European team during last November's international program, with wins against South Africa and Australia to their credit.
Some pundits have even gone as far as to tip them to complete what would be only their second Grand Slam in Championship history to go alongside their clean sweep of the then-Five Nations in 1948.
But the Feb. 4 match at Wales's Millennium Stadium home in Cardiff represents a tricky opening fixture and Jenkins is relishing the prospect of his side causing an upset in what will be both countries' first international of the year.
"If you'd asked me to pick the game to open our Six Nations campaign this season it would have been this one," Jenkins said.
"Ireland are very much the team to beat this year, they will come to us as firm favorites and it's probably the toughest start to the year we could've been given," the former Llanelli boss added.
"But that's how you measure yourselves and we have to be realistic about what is achievable this year. We want to beat every team put in front of us and, if we can get off to a good start against Ireland in front of our home fans, then we have a chance to lay down a marker for ourselves for the gruelling season ahead," he said.
"Our regions have been performing well against the very top sides in Europe, they've all been competitive and played some great rugby," Jenkins said. "We have some injuries, which is not ideal, but the players we have been able to bring in show we have more strength in depth than we've had as a nation in the past."
"Our challenge now is to bring all of that together at national level," he said.
Jenkins recalled two experienced forwards in former captain Colin Charvis and hooker Mefin Davies when he announced his Six Nations squad on Monday.
Back-row forward Charvis has impressed during his debut season with the Newport-Gwent Dragons and Jenkins said: "We have brought Colin back into the fold at the age of 35 and his performances at regional level justify his selection in the light of the injury problems we have in his position."
"There are a number of players who have not been considered in our initial thinking due to injuries and lack of game time. Ian Evans and Jonathan Thomas have both been out of contention for the Ospreys with shoulder problems and Dafydd Jones is just returning for the Scarlets," he said.
"Their absence has paved the way for Colin's return. His high level of experience is an added bonus and the same applies to Mefin," Jenkins said.
The only uncapped player in the squad is Cardiff forward Scott Morgan, whom Jenkins intends to use as a second row.
"Scott has played himself into contention with some sterling performances for the Blues as a middle line-out jumper mostly from the No. 6 position, but our squad make-up means we will be looking for him to give us options at lock," Jenkins explained.
Gavin Henson was named as one of the fullbacks in the squad, with teammate James Hook tipped to play at center outside captain Stephen Jones.
Wales won just one game in last season's Six Nations, a 28-18 victory at home to Scotland, and finished a lowly fifth in the table.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite