Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Seven players added to Wales squad ahead of Springboks arrival

By Sam Smith
Cheslin Kolbe pulled to the ground by Louis Rees-Zammit (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Wales have welcomed back seven players into the camp as they look ahead to the mountainous task of hosting the world champion Springboks in Cardiff this coming weekend.

ADVERTISEMENT

Wales are smarting from a 54 – 16 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand. Head coach Wayne Pivac was without 20 players heading into the game – including a number of British and Irish Lions – due to injuries, illness and Gallagher Premiership-based personnel not being released by their clubs as the game fell outside World Rugby’s international window.

Pivac has now added Dan Biggar, Taulupe Faletau, Nick Tompkins, Louis Rees-Zammit, Callum Sheedy, Thomas Young and Christ Tshiunza – who all ply their trade in the Gallagher Premiership – to the squad.

Video Spacer

Dan Biggar | All Access | Why the Autumn Series is the most brutal in rugby

Video Spacer

Dan Biggar | All Access | Why the Autumn Series is the most brutal in rugby

There was mixed news on the injury front over the weekend regarding skipper Alun Wyn Jones and blindside Ross Moriarty’s injuries.

Jones was forced off with a shoulder injury as he attempted to tackle Jordie Barrett. It was the same one dislocated playing for the British & Irish Lions against Japan in June.

Asked if there were worries if 149 times-capped Jones had suffered a repeat of his Lions injury woes, Pivac added: “That wasn’t the discussion, and our medical team was in South Africa.

“I don’t think they will write Alun Wyn Jones off after what happened in South Africa. We will get it scanned, and then we will know a lot more, come Monday.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The news does not look so promising for flanker Ross Moriarty, who went off just before half-time nursing a shoulder problem.

“Ross’ is an AC joint,” Pivac said. “He was in quite a bit of pain, so that doesn’t look too good.”

New Zealand ran riot in the final 20 minutes with a display of running rugby that even the most ardent Welsh supporters could not help but admire.

Pivac will be hoping the run out against NZ and the added Gallagher Premiership fire power will result in a more competitive Test against the Springboks.

ADVERTISEMENT

additional reporting, AAP and PA

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 4 hours ago
Why the All Blacks overlooking Joe Schmidt could yet hurt them in the Bledisloe battle

I've never understood why Razor stayed on in NZ after winning 3 SR titles in a row. Surely at that point it's time to look for the next thing, which at that stage of his career should not have been the ABs, and arguably still shouldn't be given his lack of experience in International rugby. What was gained by staying on at the Crusaders to win 4 more titles?


2 years in the premiership, 2 years as an assistant international coach, then 4 years taking a team through a WC cycle would have given him what he needed to be the best ABs coach. As it is he is learning on the job, and his inexperience shows even more when he surrounds himself with assistant coaches who have no top international experience either.


He is being faced with extreme adversity and pressure now, possibly for the first time in his coaching career. Maybe he will come through well and maybe he won't, but the point is the coaching selection process is so flawed that he is doing it for the first time while in arguably the top coaching job in world rugby. It's like your first job out of university being the CEO of Microsoft or Google.


There was talk of him going to England if the ABs didn't get him, that would have been perfect in my opinion. That is a super high pressure environment and NZR would have been way better off letting him learn the trade with someone else's team. I predicted when Razor was appointed that he would be axed or resign after 2 years then go on to have a lot of success in his next appointment. I hope that doesn't happen because it will mean a lot of turmoil for the ABs, but it's not unthinkable. Many of his moves so far look exactly like the early days of Foster's era when he too was flanked by coaches who were not up to the job. I would like to see some combination of Cotter, Joseph, Brown, and Felix Jones come into the set up.

35 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Martin Johnson's advice to Andy Farrell over Lions captaincy choice Martin Johnson's advice to Andy Farrell over Lions captaincy choice
Search