These are your rugby headlines on Sunday, March 24.

Welsh coach demands answers

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan said his team were "hurt" by officiating decisions in their defeat to the Bulls on Saturday night, as he called for answers in a post-match interview.

Flanagan's side put in a gutsy performance at Rodney Parade but ultimately found themselves on the wrong side of a 31-10 scoreline, with World Cup winner Willie Le Roux inspiring the visitors to victory. The full-back set up tries for Kurt-Lee Arendse and Mpilo Gumede, before Embrose Papier and Johan Grobbelar made sure of the bonus point win late on, with Corey Baldwin scoring the Dragons' only try of the game.

But the Dragons coach, together with captain Steff Hughes, was left unimpressed by the standard of officiating in the game as he questioned decisions made against his side. Speaking to S4C after the final whistle, he called on officials to "ref what you see" as he struggled to understand how certain calls had been made.

"I can see why my players dropped off potentially in that last 10 minutes," he said. "A lot of decisions in that game that probably need answering. There's a position where the 15 has got his back to his posts, one arm tapping the ball down, there's no chance he can catch a ball. If he can, I'd love people to show me a repetition of how you catch the ball that way.

"I'm not blaming the ref, it's a four man officiating team. He's on his own in the middle and Rodney Parade is quite intimidating. He needs help, doesn't he? It's not his fault.

"The first try, pass before the line, catch five metres after the line, never gets looked at," he continued. "Again, please justify how that's not forward. Things like that hurt momentum, hurt teams' enthusiasm. I thought for long periods, I really liked what we'd done tonight. We showed great ambition playing from deep, moved the ball a lot, changed the point of contact a lot.

They're an outstanding team, good athletes around the park. We knew it was going to take a giant effort to get anything, but all we hope for is ref what you see."

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Sherratt: I'm confident Grady will stay

Matt Sherratt is "confident" Mason Grady will stay at Cardiff Rugby despite interest from England.

Grady, 21, was the subject of transfer interest from Gallagher Premiership clubs including Bath in recent months. A move across the Bridge would effectively end his Wales prospects due to him having fewer than the 25 caps required.

But there has been increasing confidence among Welsh rugby bosses that Grady, who is one of the rising stars of this Wales side, will snub a move to England in favour of a new deal with the Arms Park outfit.

And boss Sherratt believes there will be concrete news on that front soon. “I don't think there's ink on a contract yet, but I'm confident he's staying,” he said. “Hopefully we'll get a bit of clarity around that in the next couple of weeks.”

Wales' leadership questioned

Wales legend Elinor Snowsill has questioned the leaders in Ioan Cunningham's squad after their narrow 20-18 defeat to Scotland in their Women's Six Nations opener.

Cunningham's side battled hard but suffered late heartbreak as back-up kicker Lleucu George missed a conversion n the 79th minute that would have tied the game. But it was another incident that left fans frustrated after the match, as Welsh debutant Sian Jones kicked the ball into touch with the clock in the red, as one final chance to win the game went begging.

Scrum-half Jones had come off the bench to make her first appearance for Wales, but no player in a red jersey tried to prevent her from kicking it, instead watching on as the ball went out of play and the final whistle blew. Defending the 19-year-old, Snowsill - who announced her retirement last year after winning 76 Welsh caps - said her teammates should have stepped in as she asked: "Where are the leaders?".

"That is the risk of bringing on someone on their first cap today," she said on BBC Radio Wales. "I'm not blaming Sian Jones, it was her decision to kick but there's 14 players around her. Where are the leaders around her stepping up to support her?"

Cunningham also defended his decision to send Jones on for her debut five minutes from time, saying: "We back everyone that is in our squad. We managed to get that try and we made the decision to get Sian on.

"We want to give Sian the opportunity to experience Test rugby, she has earned the right to be in this group. I thought when she came on she moved the ball really well.

On the missed conversion, he added: "We have got quality kickers, both Lleucu and Keira are good kickers, it just didn't work at that time for Lleucu unfortunately. But she is a quality player and normally slots them."

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England star apologises for 'sh** show'

England international Joe Marler has apologised to Harlequins fans after they were thumped 52-7 by Saracens in what he described as a "s*** show".

Quins went into the match in second place in the Premiership table but were torn apart by Mark McCall's side, who scored eight tries as they dished out another hiding in front of 60,000 fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Owen Farrell marked his 250th appearance for the club with an exceptional performance, as he slotted six conversions with Theo Dan and Sean Maitland both bagging braces.

But as good as Farrell's side were, their opponents were rudderless and hardly laid a glove on Sarries all afternoon, with Alex Dombrandt scoring their only try and Marcus Smith adding the extras.

And after the game, a frustrated Marler took to social media to apologise to fans for their "disgrace" of a performance. "What a day to serve up that s*** show," he wrote on X.

"Sorry to the travelling Quins faithful - we were a disgrace. Well done Saracens and [Farrell] on 250, you geriatric b******!"