Hadleigh’s baby blues

HADLEIGH PARKES admits Wales’ bid for World Cup glory means he is missing pregnant wife Suzy who is 6,000 miles away in Cardiff.

But the centre is ready to put business first in Sunday’s crunch quarter-final with France in Oita.

Most of Warren Gatland’s squad are being supported by their wives and girlfriends in Japan, but Suzy (with Hadleigh, below) is too heavily pregnant to fly.

It has left the 32-year-old to spend most evenings on the phone, but he is determined to make his absence from his wife and soon-to-be first born worthwhile.

“My wife and I are expecting our first child around the November 18-20 mark so unfortunately because of travel she couldn’t come,” he said.

“We’re spending a lot of time FaceTiming.

“She’s doing really well and we’re fortunate with the support base we’ve got in

Cardiff with a lot of good friends and a lot of people helping her out. They have been outstanding.”

Wales left for Japan on September 11 and before that had spent long periods away at training camps in Switzerland and Turkey.

They plan to make all the sacrifice worthwhile by making it to the final on November 2 to end Gatland’s last campaign in charge with a first Welsh World Cup win.

Parkes has started all four of Wales’ World Cup games and has the bumps to prove it.

He broke a small bone in his hand in the opener against Georgia, scored a try against Australia and went toe-to-toe with a brutal Fiji outfit.

Parkes then suffered a nasty shoulder blow against Uruguay, but carried on regardless and is set to be named in the team this morning.