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Wales draft in uncapped Willis Halaholo

By PA
(Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images)

Uncapped centre Willis Halaholo has been drafted into Wales’ Guinness Six Nations squad alongside Cardiff Blues team-mates Lloyd Williams and James Botham for this Saturday’s clash against Scotland. New Zealand-born Halaholo, who qualifies for Wales on residency, was called up to face the Barbarians in November 2019 but suffered a serious knee injury just after being selected and was sidelined for eleven months.

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He could make the bench for the trip to Murrayfield, with wing Hallam Amos, centre Johnny Williams, scrum-half Tomos Williams and flanker Dan Lydiate all ruled out following injuries in the 23-16 win over Ireland last weekend.

Lydiate has been released from the squad after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in Cardiff and Wales have said the 65-cap veteran will undergo “a number of assessments and consultations” in the next few days.

Video Spacer

Wayne Pivac outlines Wales’ considerable injury list

Video Spacer

Wayne Pivac outlines Wales’ considerable injury list

Amos and Johnny Williams are both sidelined because of head injuries, while Tomos Williams has a hamstring problem.

Scrum-half Lloyd Williams returns to contention after last featuring for Wales three times last autumn, when Botham – grandson of England cricket great Ian – made his international debut, winning three caps against Georgia, England and Italy.

 

Elsewhere, centre Jonathan Davies is set to miss a second successive Six Nations game as he continues his recovery from ankle trouble, and wing Josh Adams remains suspended following a breach of Covid-19 protocols. To compound Wayne Pivac’s midfield concerns, George North scratched an eye against Ireland, while Nick Tompkins is thought to have a shoulder injury.

On the plus side for Pivac, though, British and Irish Lions back Liam Williams is available again after completing a three-match ban. He was sent off during the Scarlets’ Guinness PRO14 defeat against Cardiff Blues last month. Josh Navidi is Lydiate’s likely replacement, with Liam Williams looking set to replace Amos, Tompkins or Owen Watkin lining up in midfield and Gareth Davies taking the number nine shirt.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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