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Wales blow as flanker Jac Morgan ruled out of summer Tests through injury

By PA
Jac Morgan of Wales looks on during the Summer International match between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium on August 05, 2023 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Wales have been dealt a major injury blow with flanker Jac Morgan ruled out of Saturday’s Test match against South Africa and the summer tour to Australia.

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Morgan, who was Wales’ Rugby World Cup co-captain with Dewi Lake last year, missed this season’s Six Nations because of a knee injury.

But he now has a hamstring problem that he suffered during Ospreys’ United Rugby Championship quarter-final defeat against Munster.

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And the Welsh Rugby Union announced that Morgan has been released from the squad, meaning he misses the Springboks encounter and Tests in Australia on July 6 and 13.

James Botham, who was called up to the squad on Monday, starts at openside flanker in his place.

Lake, meanwhile, captains a side containing uncapped Cardiff Rugby scrum-half Ellis Bevan, who was born in the Midlands in Solihull.

Former Cardiff Met student Bevan played for Wales U20s in the U20 Six Nations in 2020 and has recently penned a new long-term deal with the capital club.

Another eye-catching selection is the return of British & Irish Lions international, Liam Williams. Williams, 33, who is named on the wing, makes his first appearance for Wales since Rugby World Cup 2023.

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There are three possible debutants among the Wales replacements. Joining Eddie James and Jacob Beetham on the bench is the uncapped James Ratti who was called up to the squad this Tuesday morning.

Wales matchday 23 v South Africa: 15. Cameron Winnett (Cardiff, 5 caps); 14. Liam Williams (Kubota Spears, 89 caps), 13. Owen Watkin (Ospreys, 38 caps), 12. Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby, 11 caps), 11. Rio Dyer (Dragons, 19 caps); 10. Sam Costelow (Scarlets, 12 caps), 9. Ellis Bevan (Cardiff Rugby, uncapped); 1. Gareth Thomas (Ospreys, 30 caps), 2. Dewi Lake (Ospreys, 12 caps), 3. Henry Thomas (Scarlets, 4 caps), 4. Matthew Screech (Dragons, 1 cap), 5. Ben Carter (Dragons, 11 caps), 6. Taine Plumtree (Scarlets, 2 caps), 7. James Botham (Cardiff Rugby, 10 caps), 8. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons, 48 caps).

Replacements:?16. Evan Lloyd (Cardiff Rugby, 2 caps)?17. Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets, 2 caps)?18. Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby, 6 caps), 19. James Ratti (Ospreys, uncapped)?20. Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby, 3 caps),?21. Gareth Davies (Scarlets, 76 caps)?22. Eddie James (Scarlets, uncapped)?23. Jacob Beetham (Cardiff Rugby, uncapped).

 

 

 

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2 Comments
T
Tom 154 days ago

Huge loss. One of the few players Wales have who will stand up to the Boks. They do have some decent backrow options but Morgan has something special. This could be a rout.

C
Chris 155 days ago

Wales clearly rebuilding, almost everyone 5-10 caps. Can’t see them stopping the likes of Marx and Esterhuizen, but we have some serious question marks around Jordan Hendrikse at 10, so anything is possible really.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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