Sunday rugby headlines as Wales 'vindicated' after stunning comeback and Welsh Test duo suffer knocks

Here are the latest rugby headlines for Sunday, March 27.

Wales flanker and player of the match Alisha Butchers believes her team's stunning 27-19 comeback to beat Ireland is vindication for professional and semi-pro contracts being introduced. Twelve have been full-time since January and a dozen more Wales players are on part-time retainer contracts with the WRU.

Butchers received the Women's Six Nations player of the match award on Saturday in recognition of her influence on the game, particularly in the second half.

Asked post-match if the performance was vindication for getting contracts, the Bristol Bear replied: "Absolutely. We felt a little bit more pressure today and rightly so. I'm lucky enough to have a full-time contract so I can put all my energy into this game. I feel super lucky to be part of this squad and we showed a performance. I'm ecstatic.

"The growth in the last 12 months has been incredible. I think we've done ourselves proud today and we can go back and reflect and grow from this performance."

It was in the second half where Wales really outshone the hosts in Dublin, with a well-worked try from Wales centre Hannah Jones at the death comfortably sealing the win. "Something we've been working on a lot is our second-half performances," Butchers added. "Throughout the autumns, we felt like we dropped off a little bit so today we wanted to come out and prove that everything we've been working on over the last four months has come into Dublin."

Dean Ryan has insisted there is no magic wand he can wave that will reverse the Dragons’ fortunes after their 55-20 defeat to the Bulls on Saturday night.

The Welsh side were understrength and actually fared better than most expected in Pretoria, despite