Warren Gatland suffered a late withdrawal ahead of Wales' match against South Africa on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images/Warren Little
Late withdrawal Three senior players left Wales ahead of Saturday's game against South Africa, setting up a defensive line of just 39 caps.
Dan Biggar and Liam Williams were ruled out out of Thursday's lineup with a sore back and stiff hamstring respectively, before Wales announced on Friday that Alex Cuthbert had also been ruled out with a tight calf.
As a result, Wales will debut with Dragons defender off-ball Kai Evans, with winger Tom Rodgers and winger Sam Costelow both previously featured in warm-up matches against England, getting another chance to impress before Warren Gatland calls him. the final roster of 33 players for the Rugby World Cup on Monday. Of 39 Welsh defensive appearances, 17 have come from scrum-half Kieran Hardy, leaving Wales with a significant experience deficit.
Gatland, touching on the decision to take a precautionary approach with Biggar and Williams, weighed in on bringing injured players into the tournament.
“This is a discussion that we will discuss in terms of risk and how many (players) we can take with us,” Gatland said. “We used to go to the World Cup with players with nitpicks who had to bounce back in two or three weeks. It could be, but it just depends on how much risk you're potentially taking.” Sam Costelow has another chance to impress Warren Gatland ahead of next month's World Cup. Photo: Getty Images/Ian Cook
Wales are hoping for a better return from their lineout against the world champions after numerous problems at Twickenham, losing six of their 17 shots. Jonathan Humphreys, Wales striker manager, explained that the team had experimented with a different lineout process that didn't work.
“We know there won’t be a crowd at the World Cup and you have to come, so we tried something different and it didn’t work. It's a warm-up for real challenges and we certainly won't do it again.»
Inexperience is far from a problem for South Africa, with a back line of 269 caps, even with relative newcomers Kanan Moody and Money Libbock.
The timely return of Captain Sia Kolisi, who underwent knee surgery in April, was a welcome boost for the defending champions. Colisi now faces a game against Wales and next week's match against New Zealand at Twickenham to prepare for South Africa's World Cup kick-off game against Scotland in Marseille. Colisi's wife, Rachel, wrote on social media that his return was «a miracle.»
Prop Ox Nche also returned from injury just in time for the tournament, with South African head coach Jacques Ninaber praising the duo. hard work in recent months.
«Sia and Ochs have been working really hard on their rehab for a few weeks and it's fantastic that everything went according to plan, allowing us to select them for this match,» Nienabeer said.
there are two matches to improve their form ahead of the World Cup and while it will be important to deal with their workload in the match, it is vital that they get back on the pitch as they are key players in our squad.”
Wales are certainly poised for a physically exhausting end to their warm-up campaign against a first line of three of the world's best tackles: Stephen Kitschoff, Malcolm Marx and Frans Malherbe.
“They want a fight. and that's what we were after. They enter through the front door — no guessing games,» added Humphreys.
«We've played them a few times over the last four years and we've always enjoyed the physical confrontation we know will come. This is a great test for a rather inexperienced team.”
Wales XV to face South Africa: C Evans; Rogers, Grady, J. Williams, Dyer; Costelow, Hardy; Domakhovsky, Dee, Assiratti, Carter, Rowlands, Lydiat, Morgan (Captain), Wainwright. Subs: Parry, N. Smith, H. Thomas, Teddy Williams, Basham, Tomos Williams, Llewellyn, Rees-Zummit.
South Africa XV to play Wales: W. Le Roux ; S. Moody, J. Kriel, D. de Allende, S. Kolbe; M. Libbock, J. Hendrix; S. Kitshoff, M. Marx, F. Malherbe, J. Klein, R. G. Snyman, S. Colisi (captain), P. S. du Toit, J. Wiese. Substitutions: B. Mbonambi, O. Nche, W. Koch, F. Mostert, M. van Staden, D. Vermeulen, G. Williams, D. Willemse.
Свежие комментарии