Wales head into battle without key men
INFLUENTIAL number eight Toby Fauletau and prop Scott Andrews are available for Wales but the hosts will be without much of their star power for Saturday’s Test against the Springboks. Fauletau and Andrews are the only Englishbased players to get the green light for the clash. Rhys Priestland‚ Jamie Roberts‚ Owen Wiliams and Tomas Francis all had to cross the Severn Bridge back to their paymasters. Saturday’s Test falls outside the November Test window and clubs are generally reluctant to have their investments placed in potential physical peril. The Boks last week had to say goodbye to Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw to their clubs Toulon and Bath respectively. Fauletau‚ interestingly‚ also plays for Bath but he got permission to play for his country‚ while Louw did not. Francis is with league leaders Exeter Chiefs‚ Williams is with Johan Ackermann’s Gloucester‚ while Roberts runs straight and hard at the Stoop for Harlequins. Apart from their unavailability Wales have other selection issues. Lock Jake Ball suffered a dislocated shoulder against the All Blacks and has been released from the Wales squad‚ as has backrower Justin Tipuric who sustained quad injury in the same game.
Scrumhalf Rhys Webb’s availability is also in doubt as he has to complete concussion protocols.
The same goes for Scott Williams who injured an ankle against the All Blacks. Should Webb be ruled out it will be a massive blow to Wales.
All this follows on top of the list of long-term absentees Sam Warburton‚ Jonathan Davies‚ Liam Williams‚ George North‚ Samson Lee and Ross Moriarty.
Coach Warren Gatland’s resources are stretched this week and he has to be creative to field a competitive squad.
He is likely to include former Auckland and Southern Kings utility back Hadleigh Parkes‚ who actually completes his three-year qualification on Saturday in midfield.
Like Bok coach Allister Coetzee‚ Gatland is also in desperate need of a win on Saturday.
Wales have won just five of their 10 Tests this year and have lost ground to England‚ Ireland and even Scotland in Six Nations combat. Four of those wins were against opposition they were expected to beat at home in Georgia‚ Tonga‚ Samoa and Italy. They do however boast a win over Ireland. They will however fancy their chances against a Springbok team that has lost two of their last three Tests against the Dragons.
Apart from that they only boast one other win over the Springboks. That happened in a rare mid-year Test in Wales at the opening of the Millennium Stadium in 1999. — DDC