SCARLETS HEROES FACING A MAJOR BATTLE
KEN Owens and Leigh Halfpenny are battling to save their international careers after injuries wrecked their entire seasons.
The Rugby Paper claims Owens, Halfpenny and Justin Tipuric have been forced to abandon any hope of a Test comeback until at least November, with the summer tour of South Africa coming too soon for them.
Scarlets hooker Owens hasn’t played since injuring his back on Lions duty last summer.
Halfpenny is still recovering from the knee injury that wrecked his 100th appearance for Wales 10 months ago.
And Tipuric’s comeback from a shoulder injury sustained during the Lions’ warm-up match with Japan is still ongoing.
However, in Halfpenny’s absence
Liam Williams has cemented his position as Wayne Pivac’s first-choice full-back.
Ryan Elias and young Dewi Lake have emerged as hookers while Owens has been out.
Tipuric has no peers at seven for Wales, but Taine Basham has made huge strides this season and is tipped by Brian O’Driscoll to be the main man for Wales over the next decade.
Halfpenny, Owens and Tipuric will each continue to battle behind the scenes to try to prove to Pivac they should still be a key part of his World Cup plans.
Meanwhile, Wyn Jones has undergone knee surgery and Johnny McNicholl may not play rugby again for months.
The Scarlets have been cursed in recent weeks, with a number of internationals suffering knocks. And the updates on prop Jones and backthree ace McNicholl are bound to concern Wales head coach Pivac.
“Wyn had an operation on his knee,” said Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel.
“I’m not saying it’s not a big operation, but he’s had a clearout of his knee following the Cardiff game.
“He’s back with us now so it’s not a long-term injury. He’s back in and on the road to recovery.
“Johnny potentially won’t play again for us until the end of the season. He’ll be out for a while. He hurt his knee in the Cardiff game. These injuries have been a tough one. Couple of big ones for us so we’ll see how it pans out.”
The Scarlets are ready for a decisive showdown with the Ospreys on Saturday after beating the Dragons 38-19 at Rodney Parade.
The West Wales rivals are battling it out for a Champions Cup spot as the top Welsh team in the United Rugby Championship.
Scarlets skipper Jonathan Davies said: “The focus shifts to the Ospreys next, another local derby, and we want to finish this run of derbies on a good note.”
Peel said of the win over the Dragons: “It was nervy. I thought we started really well, but to be fair to the Dragons they came back hard and put us under pressure.
“With 20 minutes to go we were right in a battle.
“It would have been easy for us to fold. We showed some good character and good steel at the end to get back into it.
“We have a big derby next week and we look forward to that one.”