Rugby evening headlines as England star publicly thanked after horror incident and Dylan Hartley questions Wales

Here are the latest rugby headlines on Monday, February 14.

Former England captain Dylan Hartley has questioned why it took a drubbing in Ireland to spark Saturday's much-improved Wales performance.

Hartley described it as "the Wales of old" as they dug in and ground out a gritty 20-17 victory over Scotland.

And, while he was pleased to see the Welsh team regain their pride, he insisted there is no real excuse for what came before.

He told the BBC's Rugby Union Daily podcast : "For them this week, it was about the result. It wasn't about the performance because the performance wasn't pretty but it was effective.

"For me, having played against Wales for years, that looked like the Wales of old, built on physical dominance, the foundations.

"Set-piece back to 100%, near enough. Ball carries were strong and the front five upped their rate from last week. Defensively they were in the game and they were turning ball over. The two, three-man tackles, they were just so dominant. It's good to see Welsh rugby back playing like that.

"But my only question is they obviously grow a few inches when they are playing at home. They shouldn't need a home crowd to do that, and they shouldn't need to take a hiding. It shouldn't be a reaction, you know.

"Why couldn't they go out to Dublin and do that because they obviously have got the players to do that? They should just do that week one.

Italy flanker Sebastian Negri has thanked Ellis Genge for coming to his aid in Sunday's Guinness Six Nations defeat by England at the Stadio Olimpico.

Negri had only been on the pitch for 16 minutes of the second half when he was knocked unconscious during a collision and, after lengthy medical attention, he was driven from the pitch on a motorised