Today's rugby news as Shaun Edwards wants to return for Lions and Borthwick backs Gatland

Shaun Edwards and Warren Gatland

Here are the latest rugby headlines on Sunday, January 21.

Shaun Edwards keen on Lions role

Shaun Edwards wants to be part of Andy Farrell’s Lions coaching team next year.

The Sunday Times report the former Wales defence coach would “jump at the chance” to be part of the tour to Australia, despite not knowing if France would allow him to go at this stage.

Edwards was part of the 2009 tour to South Africa, but was unexpectedly left at home by Warren Gatland in 2013 and 2017, with the Kiwi preferring new Lions head coach Farrell as his defensive guru. Next year’s tour is the first Gatland hasn’t been involved in since 2009, and Edwards would like to work with Farrell again after the two were formerly team-mates in rugby league. It is said the brutal second Test and series loss to South Africa in 2009 has left Edwards with a sense of unfinished business.

“I played some of my best rugby at Wigan when Faz was captain. Us working together one day, that may happen. Who knows what’s in the future. But I would definitely be open to the idea,” he said. Get the latest rugby news sent straight to your inbox for free with our daily newsletter.

Borthwick backs Gatland call

England coach Steve Borthwick has backed Warren Gatland’s call for rugby bosses to cut the number of replacements allowed in matches.

Gatland recently said a trial should be introduced with reduced numbers of replacements, even suggesting the game should consider returning to the days when substitutes were only allowed for injuries. He cited South Africa’s use of seven replacement forwards at the Rugby World Cup as “not what they were intended for”.

Borthwick agrees it would be a way of creating more space, saying: “What we’re seeing now, the nature of the game is there’s less space and if we’re going to create space, we need to have some level of fatigue in what we’re doing and there are different areas you can tweak.

“One area you can tweak is the number of replacements because that will impact the fatigue that’s in the game. The fatigue that’s in the game then impacts the amount of space. That’s one way of looking at it, if you want to generate some space.

“As the players are getting fitter, you put eight replacements onto the pitch, it means there is [less] space. The players are fitter at Test level so the second-half hasn’t got the space that it has in the Premiership, because players are fitter.”

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Wales prop “built for international rugby” says Dragons boss

Dragons boss Dai Flanagan believes Wales tighthead Leon Brown is “built for international rugby.”

Brown has struggled to nail down a place in the Dragons’ starting XV this season, and has been plagued by injuries for a number of years. But Warren Gatland is a fan of the 27-year-old, and Flanagan believes he can be a real asset for Wales if he remains fit.

“How far he wants to go is down to him – how far is he willing to go?” said Flanagan. “I have high expectations on him but since I’ve arrived he has had little niggles and bumps along the way.

“He has been fit now for the last eight weeks. Even though he hasn’t had the game reps, which was my decision, he has had the training reps. He’s going to be tested over the next 12 weeks and he can go and change everyone’s perception of him for good in that time.

“It’s over to Leon. Physically he has been fit for the past two months and he is flying around the place. He has been consistently getting live scrums on a Tuesday and Thursday and then in a live match.

“Front row is an older man’s game and he is at the right age to fulfil his obvious potential.”

Brown has been heavily linked with a move to Bristol Bears but Flanagan hopes the dynamic prop remains at Rodney Parade. “We don’t want to lose our best Welsh players,” said Flanagan.

“Leon was set certain tasks in set-piece and game wise and he went way and did above what he was asked by the coaches. He has deserved his chance to have a go this weekend and prove he can do what he needs to do.

“The international game really suits him because he is such a good athlete. The game is faster and quicker and it is built for someone like Leon who is very mobile and such a good rugby player.”

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Cardiff boss proud of teams effort

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt was proud of his team efforts as they went down fighting in a 48-26 defeat against a star-studded Racing 92 outfit in Paris.

It has been a tough first block of the season for Cardiff who have lost all four of their Investec Champions Cup fixtures, and lie in 12th place on the United Rugby Championship table. But there have been some real green shoots with the emergence of the likes of Mackenzie Martin, Efan Daniel, and Cameron Winnett.

“On the whole I’m immensly proud of this playing group not just this evening but for the past 13 weeks,” said Sherratt. “It’s been a long block, and we played some really good rugby against some really good teams.

“We based the first block of this season on making sure that we show fight, and making sure people enjoy watching us play. The boys kept going until the end, and scored two tries to get ourselves a try bonus point away at Racing.

“On the whole I’m immensely proud of the players but I think now there’s a four week break. That’s where we can take a breath, and take stock of some of the learnings that we talk around in terms of our young players. We can focus on that.

“There’s still some little bits where we are giving teams easy scores, and against the top teams if you switch off for a second they hurt you. It’s only good learning if we reference it when we come back, and when we play Connacht we are a better team.” Sherratt also gave credit to his Wales contingent who link up with Warren Gatland’s squad for the Six Nations next week.

“If I’m honest I wanted to get the Welsh players off with 20 minutes to go at least so they go into camp fresh,” he said. “They deserve that especially the boys who it’s going to be their first camp

“Overall with the 13 games are we pleased with some of the results? No, but have we done what we said we were going to do? Yes.”