France defend their ‘young’ Baby

FRANCE manager Jo Maso has given his full backing to Benoit Baby after the centre was cited by the independent match commissioner after the victory over Ireland.

Baby, allegedly headbutted Brian O'Driscoll in the win at Lansdowne Road.

Baby, Maso, national coach Bernard Laporte and the French Rugby Federation's lawyer will travel to London for the hearing, and Maso is prepared to defend the player over the incident which he puts down to inexperience.

"This is a real shame because it was Benoit's first international match and it was a success," said Maso. "We saw him do that gesture and this is something that we should never see in rugby, but I will defend him, this is a young person's mistake.

"We will plead for leniency, he is only 21. He was himself surprised at his own action."

O'Driscoll was not injured and even offered to exchange shirts with Baby after the match a gesture which Maso applauded.

"O'Driscoll made sure his shirt would go to Baby after the match, this was a class reaction," added Maso. "Benoit was very surprised too."

Meanwhile, Rhys Williams last night rallied Wales for the final assault in their fearless Grand Slam mission, by declaring: "We want to create our own history."

The Cardiff Blues wing though, could yet suffer injury heartache by missing out on Welsh rugby's biggest day since 1978. Wales will secure a championship clean sweep, the Triple Crown and 2005 RBS 6 Nations title if they beat Ireland on Saturday.

But Williams, who was not born when Wales last enjoyed Grand Slam glory 27 years ago, is battling to overcome a calf muscle problem.

"Rhys aggravated an old calf muscle injury against Scotland last Sunday, really as a consequence of fatigue with the high ball-in-play time during that game," said Wales team physiotherapist Mark Davies.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed, but there is a good deal of uncertainty regarding his fitness."

Hooker Mefin Davies (leg) and replacement wing Hal Luscombe (hamstring) are also receiving treatment, with coach Mike Ruddock putting back his scheduled team announcement 24 hours until this lunchtime.

If both Williams and Luscombe are ruled out, then Ruddock could recall fit-again centre Sonny Parker and switch Tom Shanklin to the wing, but it would be a considerable gamble, given that Parker has not played for weeks.

Former Scotland captain David Sole has heavily criticised coach Matt Williams following his side's record 46-22 defeat to Wales on Sunday.

Sole described parts of Scotland's performance at Murrayfield as "woeful", and insists that Williams must shoulder at least part of the blame for the lacklustre displays in this season's RBS 6 Nations campaign.

"Gordon Ross came on in the second half and showed just what he is capable of on the international stage," said Sole. "Why he hasn't been playing all season is beyond me."

"Dan Parks has come in for a lot of criticism from the media and that has to have affected his confidence, but the reality is that he is not an international fly-half and the responsibility for his selection has to be laid fairly and squarely at the door of Matt Williams.

"The Rhys Williams interception try was obvious for everyone to see coming, but Parks still threw the pass anyway. Some of the Scottish decision-making was mind boggling, and the first half performance was very, very poor."

London Irish have announced the appointment of Australian Brian Smith as their new rugby director while Leicester have confirmed head coach John Wells' departure from Welford Road at the end of this season.