Scotland game chance for Wales to 'deliver better' — and more

Wales forward Aaron Wainwright says next weekend's Six Nations game against Scotland is a chance for Steve Tandy's side to "deliver something better".

The Scots will arrive in Cardiff on the back of a sparkling 31-20 victory over England while Wales have lost 13 successive matches in the tournament since 2023.

After losing 48-7 to England on the opening weekend, the beleaguered Welsh side were swept away 54-12 by France on Sunday - though the Wales camp felt they delivered an improved performance.

"It's obviously tough, first two games of the championship, tough scorelines," said number eight Wainwright.

"We spoke after the game just about the bigger picture and the journey that we're going on as a team and just to try and concentrate on that, take the learnings from each game.

"Hopefully over the next couple of weeks, later down the line, we can look back on these results and performances and think how far we've come."

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Wainwright won the first of his 64 Wales caps in 2018 and was part of the 2019 Grand Slam-winning squad.

However, the 29-year-old Dragons back-rower has also endured a miserable three years with Wales since his second World Cup campaign in 2023, with just two victories over Japan to show for the past 25 Tests.

Wales have conceded 50 points on more than five occasions in less than a year at the Principality Stadium - with Argentina, South Africa, England and now France all racking up record wins in Cardiff.

Their opening two games of the current campaign have also seen them ship 102 points, the worst defensive display of any Six Nations side in a quarter of a century.

"You don't get better by not playing the best teams in the world," added Wainwright.

"England were on a massive win streak, France one of the best teams in the world."

Despite conceding eight tries against the defending champions, Wainwright insisted there were improvements against the French.

"I think we were quite tight in defence at times, a couple of times they were going passes off 10 or off nine quite wide and they were getting around us, so I think we just weren't fanning out enough in [defence]," he said.

"I think they caught us there and once they get that, being able to go into their offloading there, it's quite hard to get it back under control... that's when they come into their own, so it was tough to deal with.

"So obviously looking forward to taking those learnings into next week."

Scotland themselves came in for considerable criticism for a lacklustre performance in their opening defeat by Italy in Rome.

However, they responded in style to sweep aside England with what head coach Gregor Townsend described as "some of the best rugby we've ever played".

Wales will also tackle the Scots with the disadvantage of a one-day shorter turnaround.

"Yeah, I suppose you could look at it like that," accepted Wainwright speaking after Sunday's defeat.

"We spoke in the changing room afterwards, just what a great chance it's going to be for us to come out here next week and deliver something better, like I just said, by going on a journey,

"If we can look to the future, look to next week and start to put those building blocks in place, the bigger picture will take care of itself."

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The mistake may be to see it through the lens of the continental superpowers. The Champions League’s knockout phase play-offs could perhaps do with a punchier name than Uefa’s unwieldy tag. For those who assume their destination is much deeper into the tournament, it can seem a punishment, an unwanted extra couple of fixtures jammed into February.

Yet for many of its participants, it is an opportunity. Under the previous format, some were unaccustomed to Champions League football after Christmas. Those seeded third or fourth faced an uphill task to qualify from their pool. The fact that there were only 16 slots available in the knockout round, and the reality that most went to clubs from the same four domestic leagues, restricted the chances for everyone else.

While five English clubs secured the top-eight finishes to skip the recent addition to the Champions League schedule, now it is not about them anyway. It is about Qarabag and Bodo/Glimt, who have overachieved to get this far, and Benfica who progressed in remarkable fashion. Uefa can note that the 16 teams in action come from 11 different countries, that they have expanded the map; their critics might argue that those at home next week, and likelier to progress, are all from Spain, Italy, France, England or Germany.

The competition may have more predictability than last year, when the first 36-team table produced some incongruous sights – Lille above Real Madrid, Atalanta above Bayern Munich, PSV above PSG, Brest above Manchester City – but not as much as feared. The knockout phase play-offs in their sophomore season features both of last season’s finalists, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, plus the competition’s most successful club ever, in Real Madrid.

Of the 16 clubs playing now, a dozen should see it as a reward. A quartet could have regrets they are not skipping this round: Real, who only needed a draw against Benfica to get a top-eight finish; Atletico Madrid, who lost at home to Bodo/Glimt last month; PSG, who only took two points from their last three matches, against Athletic Bilbao, Sporting CP and Newcastle; and Inter, who won their first four games but lost the next three. For each, it could, and probably should, have been different.

For most of those placed between ninth and 24th, the table either had a realism about their place in the pecking order or showed a capacity to surprise supposed superiors. Benfica did it most dramatically three weeks ago: the goalscoring goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s 98th-minute header took them through at Marseille’s expense and earns them an immediate reunion with Real. For Jose Mourinho, it is a rematch with Alvaro Arbeloa, once his right-back, now a rookie manager; the master outwitting the apprentice or the Portuguese’s farewell to the Champions League?

It is arguably the most eye-catching tie of the round; there may be nothing as obviously seismic as Real and City, the previous two winners, clashing at this stage last year, but that is in part because none of the biggest of guns finished between 17th and 24th.

But Inter are off to the Arctic Circle to face Bodo, fresh from their double of beating City and Atletico. A first leg in Istanbul comes laced with peril for Juventus as they meet Galatasaray. Eddie Howe admitted Newcastle did not want the lengthy trek to Azerbaijan after they drew Qarabag. On geographical grounds, he would have preferred Monaco. They instead are paired with PSG, who got a 10-0 aggregate thrashing of Ligue 1 rivals last year when they demolished Brest.

The tie that looks most even, and where there is the greatest reason to pronounce the side who finished lower in the standings and who are away in the second leg the favourites, is between the 2024 finalists Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta. They were 17th and 15th in the standings, separated by only two points. Dortmund scored nine more goals and had arguably the harder fixture list.

Atalanta can also testify to the drama of the new phase. A reason why Uefa are entitled to view the inaugural knockout play-off phase as a considerable success came in the games last year. Bayern required a 94th-minute goal by Alphonso Davies to deny Celtic extra time at the Allianz Arena and perhaps avert a major shock.

There were arguably still three upsets – even if one resulted in the team that came lower in the league stage losing – and all at the expense of Italian clubs. Juventus were knocked out 4-3 by PSV Eindhoven. AC Milan went out 2-1 to Feyenoord. Atalanta’s elimination was most emphatic, 5-2 on aggregate to Club Brugge, and, in terms of the table, the greatest surprise: ninth lost to 24th.

Brugge had only just made it into the play-offs; the celebrations of their supporters in a corner of the Etihad Stadium after their last league match against City showed what a feat that felt to the Belgian club. Perhaps this round was devised with their ilk in mind. Last year, the knockout play-offs still produced the eventual Champions League winners, in PSG. Like Real and Inter, they may imagine a repeat. These two weeks are a final of sorts for Brugge, Benfica, Bodo and Qarabag, yet maybe not the end of their journey around Europe.

Feb. 16—Wisconsin-Superior men's hockey earned a road sweep of Wisconsin-Stevens Point last weekend to conclude the regular season and with it a chance to play at home one more time in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

The Yellowjackets won 4-2 on Friday, Feb. 13 and 3-2 on Saturday, Feb. 14 to get into a tie for third-place in the six-team WIAC standings. Though UWS loses the tiebreaker with Wisconsin-River Falls, the two wins ensure the Yellowjackets will host the Pointers this weekend in the 4th-vs.-5th playoff game.

UWS gained the upper hand on Friday with a pair of goals late in the first period from Roope Tuomioksa and Ikki Kogawa, the latter coming on the power play.

The Pointers made it a one-goal game again just 16 seconds later, but never led, as Collin Pederson scored near the game's midpoint and Tyler Rider had a late empty-netter.

Jan Skorpik made 19 saves in the UWS net.

On Saturday, UWS scored the game's first three goals, then held on as the Pointers made it a one-goal game again.

Tuomioksa scored early, Chris Ishmael made it 2-0 in the second period and AJ Reed scored the 3-0 goal early in period three.

Skorpik finished with 29 saves.

UWS finishes the regular season 13-10-2 overall, 6-8-1 in the WIAC and will host the Pointers in a single-game playoff on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Wessman Arena in Superior.

Wisconsin-Superior women's basketball could not get the better of a Bethany Lutheran team that is still unbeaten in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, as the Vikings took a 55-48 victory on their home floor on Saturday, Feb. 14 in North Mankato.

The UWS offense struggled with 20 turnovers and made only 2-for-14 3-point attempts but managed to stay within 25-22 at halftime and were still tied until the Vikings finished the third quarter on a 7-0 run for a 41-34 edge, then pushed their lead into double digits.

Hope Carlson scored 12 to lead UWS (10-13, 7-3 UMAC), while Maddie Reott added 10.

UWS will play at Crown on Wednesday night in its last road game of the regular season.

Wisconsin-Superior never fully recovered from a 25-point first half at Bethany Lutheran and stayed behind, falling 82-65 in North Mankato on Saturday.

A 19-4 run by the home team over a six-minute stretch of the first half made it 23-8 Bethany with 8:58 left until halftime. UWS trailed by 10 at halftime and closed to within four, 48-44, with 12:18 to play, but Bethany followed with a 15-2 run over the next four minutes to put it away.

Nick Nordaune's 11 points in 17 minutes led UWS offensively.

The Yellowjackets (6-17, 2-8 UMAC) travel to Crown on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Wisconsin-Superior softball opened its 2026 season with two games indoors in Dundas, Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 14: a 9-2 loss to Carleton and a 7-4 win over Macalester.

UWS scored its two runs against Carleton on one hit in the top of the third on an RBI fielder's choice by Karen Balabon and an error. Six Yellowjackets had one hit apiece.

Against Macalester, Balabon, Peyton Bennett and Larissa Snyder had three hits apiece, while Samantha Swartz and Sophia Otto had two.

Abby Mitchell (Carlton/Wrenshall) allowed four runs on 11 hits for the victory.

UWS (1-1) has another indoor weekend Feb. 28-March 1 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Wisconsin-Superior took advantage of some warm weather to get on the baseball field at Gustavus Adolphus on Sunday, Feb. 16, though the host Gusties took both games, 2-0 and 3-2.

In game one, the home team made two first-inning runs hold up and held UWS to four singles. Zach Romans took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits in four innings.

Brian O'Dwyer had an RBI single for UWS in the fifth inning of game two and was part of a double steal that gave the Yellowjackets a 2-1 lead in the seventh, but Gustavus' Isaiah Hasz hit a two-out, two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to win the game.

UWS (0-2) is next scheduled to be on the field Feb. 28 vs. Carleton at Marion, Iowa.

On Monday morning, Borussia Dortmund confirmed that Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle will miss Tuesday’s Champions League knockout phase play-off clash with Atalanta due to injury.

With Emre Can and Filippo Mané already sidelined, the Black and Yellows have four centre-backs unavailable heading into the game, leaving them short of options at the back.

However, BVB head coach Niko Kovac is confident he can find a solution.

“It’s the coach’s job to find solutions and be creative. Our past experience shows that we always have options ready,” Kovac said at Monday’s pre-match press conference when asked about his defensive options.

“Julian [Ryerson] has played in central defence against Juventus, and Salih [Özcan] could also be deployed there. If necessary, we can even adjust the system.”

Eighteen-year-old Luca Reggiani, who came on to replace Süle at half-time in Friday’s 4-0 win over Mainz, is another alternative. However, it's doubtful if Kovac will hand the inexperienced youngster a start in what he expects to be a demanding encounter.

“Atalanta have a great team and have developed over the years. They won the Europa League two years ago,” Kovac said.

"It will be man-to-man all over the pitch and very intense. There will be moments where we can exploit space to create opportunities, but they are a very strong opponent. I see the chances as 50:50."