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Wing Ellis Mee returns to the Wales starting line-up for Friday night’s Six Nations game against Ireland in Dublin.

The Scarlets back will replace Gabriel Hamer-Webb at Aviva Stadium, while 21-year-old uncapped Bath centre Louie Hennessey could make his debut from the replacements bench.

Mee, 22, is one of three starting changes from the 26-23 defeat by Scotland with fly-half Dan Edwards and flanker James Botham coming in for the injured Sam Costelow and Taine Plumtree.

There is one positional switch with Alex Mann moving from open-side flanker to blind-side to accommodate Botham.

The Cardiff pair will pack down in the back row alongside in-form number eight Aaron Wainwright, who has been named in the side despite reports of a fitness concern.

Mee started against England and France in the first two rounds, but missed out against the Scots, when Hamer-Webb made his Test debut.

The Leicester wing showed flashes, but was also centre stage for the try by Darcy Graham that was created by Finn Russell’s sharp thinking from a quick restart.

The Scotland and Lions fly-half exploited the space left by former Cardiff back Hamer-Webb after he had chased Jarrod Evans’ successful penalty kick.

Murray came on for Hamer-Webb when he suffered an early nose injury and then was a permanent replacement for the final quarter.

Mee, who is strong in the aerial game, gets the nod for Dublin.

Botham came on in the first half of the game against Scotland and was an impressive performer, although he was also caught out by Russell’s restart.

Ospreys fly-half Edwards, who had started seven matches before being dropped against Scotland, will pull the strings after Costelow’s bright display was ended by an ankle injury.

Harlequins’ Jarrod Evans is again a replacement having been used off the bench five times by Tandy while not starting a Test match since 2021.

“There are a couple of enforced changes this week due to injury and then Ellis had played well in the opening couple of rounds, so we feel he deserves the opportunity again,” said Tandy.

Hennessey, who has played centre and wing for Bath, is in his second campaign with Wales after being an unused member of the squad in November 2025.

“Louie was unfortunate not to get his opportunity in the autumn, but he’s trained well,” said Tandy.

“He had a bit of a bump on his hand at the start of this campaign, but the way he’s recovered and put performances in the training environment has been very impressive. We’re all excited to see Louie go out in Dublin.”

Tandy will ask his players to back up their encouraging performance against the Scots as they bid to cause an upset and end a 14-game losing run in the Six Nations that stretches back three years.

Wales have suffered 24 defeats in 26 internationals and have not beaten Ireland away in the Six Nations since 2012 or achieved a victory in Dublin since 2015 which was in a World Cup warm-up game.

The Irish suffered an opening round defeat by France in Paris, but have since beaten Italy and England to keep alive their title hopes, while they can also win the Triple Crown.

“This week it’s about backing up the performance against Scotland,” said Tandy.

“Going away from home is a different type of environment for our group, but the focus for us is improving on what we did last game.

“I thought the defence against Scotland was much improved, so we definitely want to double down on that going to Ireland.

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Mee, James, Hawkins, Adams; Edwards, T Williams; Carre, Lake (capt), Francis, D Jenkins, Carter, Mann, Botham, Wainwright.

This season’s Premier League title race is finely poised and set for a thrilling conclusion.

Arsenal, without a championship in 22 years, have nine games to go and hold a five-point lead over Manchester City, who have won the league in six of the past eight campaigns.

City have a game in hand and host the Gunners in April, meaning either team will win the league if they win all their remaining matches.

In 11 of the past 30 seasons, the teams that have been top after 28 matches have not won the Premier League title, with Arsenal failing to do so when leading in both 2023 and 2024.

So who will be feeling under the most pressure? Is it better to be the hunted or the hunter?

“It’s better to be chased,” said Premier League record goalscorer Alan Shearer, who won the league with Blackburn in 1994-95, a year after Rovers missed out to Manchester United.

“When you are at the top of the league it’s in your hands and if you keep winning your games, as difficult as it is, the teams that are chasing you don’t have any answers.

“It does depend on if you have been in that position before. In my second year at Blackburn we were top or second, it was slipping and sliding backwards and forwards. But because we had not been in that situation before and Manchester United were a team that had been successful then it was more difficult for us.

“The season after we were mostly top of the league but United were closing us down. They were saying and doing everything they could, including getting the correct results when we slipped up, and we found it difficult but we managed to find a way.”

Steph Houghton won three Women’s Super League (WSL) titles, two with Arsenal and one with Manchester City, and has experienced both sides of the championship race.

“The pressure is massive in both situations, but it is nice pressure when you are trying to chase trophies and league titles,” said Houghton.

For Manchester City and boss Pep Guardiola, ending strongly to win a title is nothing new. Two seasons ago they went unbeaten through their last 23 league matches, winning 19 of them, to finish two points clear of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

City are also used to piling on the pressure before their title rivals play.

On the past 15 times when City have played a day before Arsenal, Guardiola’s side have won 11 of them, with three draws and just one loss – a 2-1 defeat by Newcastle in November.

Former Gunners defender Martin Keown, a three-time Premier League winner, thinks how Arsenal, runners-up in each of the past three seasons, cope with the pressure will define their campaign.

“It’s normal when you want something so much, sometimes it can get the better of you,” said Keown. “But there’s plenty of time to learn from it.

“They’ve not been in this situation where they’ve been in front too often. It’s almost about doing a reset here, which they’ve talked about in the past. If we were starting the season afresh, you’d just go after your opponent and just finish the job off.

“You also have to trust your team-mates in the moment. You need to try to create a steely, calm determination.”

Steve Bruce, who won three Premier League titles with Manchester United in the 1990s, said: “Arsenal have shown remarkable consistency so far.

“Every game, no matter where you play and who you play, it becomes difficult, especially if you’re in a title race and especially if you’re Arsenal, because they haven’t won it in so long.

“What you want at this time is the big players to perform. I was fortunate enough to play in a team where a certain Frenchman came to the fore – we always thought ‘Eric [Cantona] will get us out of trouble’.”

Joe Hart, a two-time Premier League winner with Manchester City, added: “There will be a lot of questions, a lot of noise on Arsenal – that is life at the top. There is no point in worrying, you have to live in your own world.

For the next few months, it will be tough for the players of both sides to not be thinking about winning the Premier League – even if they do not admit it publicly.

“We always talked about the title race in the dressing room,” added Bruce.

“You sometimes have to wait, because you don’t play at the same time. It drives you mad and you watch [your rivals]. There’s this nonsense that you don’t take any notice of it.

“Now is the real critical point, the big question mark is how you handle the pressure.”

Hart said the title race “takes over your life” and added: “It is difficult. Manchester City and Arsenal players will be living in a bubble now – no time to breathe, no time for anything else. It’s a great time of the season to be involved in.

“You will never appreciate these days, but you can’t enjoy them more at the time because you are involved in them.

There may be an indication of what will happen in the final two months on 22 March when Arsenal face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, with the winners gaining a potential psychological advantage in the title race.

Keown drew parallels with the 1998-99 season when Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea were involved in a thrilling title battle. United beat Arsenal 2-1 after extra-time in an FA Cup semi-final replay before going on to win the Treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

“We’ve seen it in the past,” said Keown. “I remember being involved in 1999 when Manchester United beat us in that epic FA Cup semi-final, and they went on and won all before them.

“We didn’t fall off a cliff by any means, we only lost the league by a point and there was a lot of resolve there. But it could give you that extra energy that finally you’ve been rewarded as winners.

Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick says he and star player Luka Doncic have a “great relationship” despite a heated exchange between the pair that went viral.

The Lakers were on a three-game losing streak going into Saturday’s game at the Golden State Warriors but were leading comfortably when Doncic was replaced late in the first quarter.

The Slovenian, 27, tried to avoid a fist bump from Redick as he walked to his seat on the bench, and the Lakers coach then followed Doncic down the sideline.

The pair exchanged words as Doncic took his seat before Redick turned to walk back towards half court.

As he did, Doncic got back to his feet and said more towards Redick while his team-mate Jarred Vanderbilt stood up, ostensibly to clap encouragement for the Lakers but also putting a barrier in front of Doncic, who sat back down moments later.

Speaking before Tuesday’s 110-101 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Redick said: “I don’t know why it went viral. It felt very normal to me.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time, to be honest with you. I don’t think Luka did either.”

Doncic had claimed four points and three assists by that point, and returned on Saturday to finish with a game-high 26 points.

The six-time All-Star scored another game-high 27 points as the Lakers won a third straight game on Tuesday to stay sixth in the Western Conference standings.

“He and I have a great relationship,” Redick added. “I really value our relationship. And I think those things happen. Not every game, but they happen very frequently.

“It’s a competition. And there’s two guys here who, in this case, are trying to win a basketball game and be on the same page about stuff.”

The Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Chicago Bulls 116-108 on Tuesday while second-placed San Antonio Spurs thumped the Philadelphia 76ers 131-91.