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Itoje could be left out for England’s fixtures this summer(Image: Getty Images)

These are your evening rugby headlines on Sunday, May 17.

Wales coach vows to investigate

Wales Women head coach Sean Lynn says his team have “just got to be better” after they were condemned to a third successive Six Nations wooden spoon with a 24-43 defeat to Italy.

Lynn’s side led 19-17 at half-time but ended up conceding a total of seven tries as the visitors to Cardiff Arms Park sealed victory, with Wales suffering consecutive tournament whitewashes and three successive Wooden Spoons.

While there had been flashes of progression from Wales earlier in the tournament, they simply weren’t good enough against the Italians as they were overpowered by the visitors and totally outplayed in the second half.

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With the defeat piling pressure on Lynn – who has won just one of 15 Tests since taking charge last year – the Wales boss couldn’t hide his disappointment at the full-time whistle, as he vowed to investigate just why his team were so poor in the third quarter.

“What I’ve just said to the players is that we’ve just got to be better,” Lynn told the BBC. “When you have the wind behind your back, you can’t go into half-time 19-17 up, we leaked too many tries in that first half. In the second half, the breakdown just killed us.

“The big aim that we were going after today was that third quarter, that’s been a really big area for us to be focusing on. We’ll have to have a real deep dive into that.”

Wales captain Bethan Lewis admitted it was an “extremely difficult result”, adding: “But we can’t put any fault on anyone but ourselves today.

“We went into half-time on top and came out leaking penalties at the breakdown, giving soft turnovers, we can’t win games like that. We’ve got some hard reflection to do now.

“We managed the end of the first half much better than last week and that’s something we really wanted to work on. Discipline was also a massive thing to work on after last week and we haven’t fixed that. If we give the ball away and give penalties away, we’re going to pay for it.”

Borthwick to make shock Itoje decision

England captain Maro Itoje could be left out of Steve Borthwick’s Nations Championship squad this summer, with the head coach reportedly considering resting the Saracens lock ahead of announcing his selection tomorrow.

Borthwick will name his extended training squad on Monday ahead of his side’s summer matches away to South Africa, Fiji and Argentina, with a handful of players expected to be rested for one if not all three of those fixtures.

The Telegraph reports that Itoje is set to be one of those rested, even if he is ultimately named in the extended squad for the training mini-camp this summer.

Having exceeded the RFU’s own player welfare guidelines by playing in more than 30 matches in each of the last two campaigns, Itoje has played 20 games for club and country so far this season and has been dealing with a knee injury.

Borthwick admitted during England’s disastrous Six Nations campaign that Itoje had lacked match sharpness in the opening rounds of the tournament, having been replaced against Scotland and Ireland and shown a crucial yellow card against Italy.

He had started the championship on the bench against Wales, having come into camp late following the death of his mother, Florence.

The British & Irish Lions skipper has returned to form with Saracens in recent weeks but is now set to be rested for at least part of the summer, with Borthwick making the bold call after being backed to continue as head coach by the RFU following the Six Nations.

According to the report, whatever happens this summer, Itoje’s position as captain will not be affected heading into next year’s Rugby World Cup.

However, vice-captains Ellis Genge and Jamie George are candidates to take on the captaincy temporarily, with Ollie Chessum another consideration for Borthwick.

Cardiff to ‘give it a good shot’ as URC play-offs confirmed

Cardiff head coach Corniel van Zyl says his side will “give it a good shot” in their United Rugby Championship play-off quarter-final against the Stormers after beating the South African side to make the top eight on Friday night.

The Welsh side booked their place in the knockout stages with a superb 22-16 bonus point win over their high-flying visitors at Cardiff Arms Park, and they have been rewarded with a rematch in Cape Town at the end of the month with a place in the final four now at stake.

Having watched his team get the better of a strong Stormers side with a clinical display in both attack and defence, van Zyl has identified the set-piece as an area to work on ahead of meeting them again in South Africa. However, he is excited to see how far his men can go after an “unbelievable” home performance.

“It’s all about just going out there and giving it a good shot,” he said. “Afterwards, don’t look back and say you have regrets. Give it a good shot and ultimately see what happens.

“We will push on and see how long this season can go on.”

As for the main threats posed by the Stormers, van Zyl added: “Obviously, the set-piece is the big one. That was a bit of a concern for us. They are really good at set piece, scrums and mauls, so that’s definitely something we will have to polish off going into the play-offs. We will have to manage that well.

“There are also a few individuals in their team that are great players. It’s getting over those barriers and also playing away from home. Those are the biggest challenges.”

URC play-off quarter-finals in full:

  • Glasgow (1) v Connacht (8) – Scotstoun, Glasgow – Friday, May 29, 7.45pm
  • Bulls (4) v Munster (5) – Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria – Saturday, May 30, 12pm
  • Stormers (3) v Cardiff (6) – DHL Stadium, Cape Town – Saturday, May 30, 2.30pm
  • Leinster (2) v Lions (7) – Aviva Stadium, Dublin – Saturday, May 30, 8pm

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