These are your evening rugby headlines on Monday, May 13.

Welsh coach plots upset

Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan is aiming to derail the Ospreys' play-off hopes when the two sides meet in Swansea this weekend.

Toby Booth's side now find themselves eight points adrift of the top eight in the URC, having suffered heavy losses against the Bulls and Leinster. To stay in the fight, they must now win their final two matches against the Dragons and Cardiff, while they will likely need two bonus points and hope other results go in their favour.

They will go into Saturday's clash as the favourites but Flanagan is eager to upset their plans, with a win potentially enough to lift them above the Scarlets.

"I love Toby Booth to bits, and Richard Kelly, Mark Jones and Richard Fussell [Ospreys coaching staff] but it would be nice to upset their plans," said Flanagan. "It would be nice to upset their play-off plans and that's our target this week. I am sure that will go up on their dressing room wall but it is something we can look forward to.

"We have nothing to lose going down there after last year and it is an opportunity to play on a fantastic pitch and go and express ourselves."

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World great dies

Former France captain Lucien Mias has died at the age of 93.

The towering lock led Les Bleus to their first ever Five Nations championship title in 1959 and played an integral part in some of his nation's most famous wins.

After making his international debut against Scotland in 1951, he won 29 caps for France including six as captain, helping them to their first wins at Twickenham in 1951 and in Cardiff seven years later. There was also a monumental first-ever victory over the All Blacks in 1954, the same year France shared the Five Nations title with England and Wales.

He also captained his country on their historic winning tour of South Africa in 1958 but brought his international career to an end upon victory in the Five Nations the following year, hanging up his boots aged just 29.

Mias, who also worked as a GP, passed away on Sunday night with his death announced by the mayor of Mazamet, the town where he played for many years.

Paying tribute to the former lock on X, French Rugby Federation president Florian Grill wrote: "Rugby mourns a great man who left his mark on our history. Beyond his exploits on the field, Lucien Mias will be remembered as a generous, humble man respected by all."

Ulster decide coach after Welsh region links

Richie Murphy has signed a two-year deal to become Ulster head coach on a permanent basis.

The former Ireland U20 boss was appointed on an interim basis two months ago but has now signed a contract extension. The decision follows reports linking Scarlets attack coach Jared Payne with the job, with the former Ireland and Lions centre reportedly a front-runner at one stage.

"I'm looking forward to continuing with Ulster after a very enjoyable start to my time with the club," Murphy told their official website.

"It's no secret that I was keen to stay on in the role of head coach with the province, as I can see what is building here at Ulster and how I can contribute to growing that in the coming years. We have a very talented group at Ulster and, together with a loyal and dedicated supporter base, I'm relishing the opportunity to see what we can all achieve together."

Interim chief executive Hugh McCaughey said: "We are delighted at Ulster Rugby to have Richie committed to the province for the next two seasons.

"Richie has vast experience in developing young players and is ambitious to achieve success, so he is a perfect fit for what we need."
Ulster are sixth in the United Rugby Championship table after Saturday's 31-20 win at Scarlets, with the top eight advancing to the end-of-season play-offs.

Coach slams 'absolute madness'

Exeter boss Rob Baxter has slammed the Premiership calendar, saying it was "absolute madness" to give Harlequins six days between European Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse and their match away to his team at the weekend.

Baxter's side ran away with the game in the second-half at Sandy Park on Saturday, emerging as 58-26 winners over Quins having gone into half-time level. It comes after Exeter suffered a similar situation last month, when they had six days to recover from their quarter-final loss to Toulouse before being beaten at home by Bath.

While he ended up on the winning side this time around, Baxter has taken aim at the scheduling in the Premiership, saying it doesn't help English teams to progress in European competitions.

"I spoke to a couple of their coaches afterwards and said 'no-one appreciates more than I do how hard it is to come back from a Sunday in Toulouse to play on Saturday' and the Premiership calendar doesn't help English teams in Europe," he told BBC Radio Devon.

"If we'd have got to the semi-final we'd have still had to play Gloucester on the Sunday pre going to play Toulouse. It's just madness, it's just absolute madness what we do. We suffered against Bath and we've taken advantage of it today."