Jenkins misses final home game of season
SKIPPER Gethin Jenkins has been ruled out of Cardiff Blues’ final home game of the Guinness PRO12 season against Zebre tonight (7.05pm).
Wales’ most-capped player of all time, who could be a stand-by prop for the Lions tour of New Zealand, misses the fixture due to a stiff knee.
He is replaced by Rhys Gill on the loosehead in one of three changes in personnel from the emphatic 35-17 Judgement Day victory over the Ospreys.
Aled Summerhill comes in on the wing, with Rhun Williams moving to full-back in place of Matthew Morgan, while Tomos Williams gets the nod at scrum-half ahead of namesake Lloyd.
The Blues are already guaranteed a Champions Cup play-off spot and if they remain in their current position, ahead of Connacht, they will be away to a French club in the semi-finals.
Coach Danny Wilson said: “We’re in that play-off situation, we currently sit seventh and our goal has to be finishing seventh.
“We have two fixtures remaining and are currently one point above Connacht. Whoever we then play, we play.
“It leans towards going to France, which will be another huge challenge but one we will relish and look forward to.“But for me it is about winning every game you are confronted with. We have Zebre in our last game at home, which we need and want to win, and then Dragons away in a derby, which we certainly want to win.
“We finished seventh last year but couldn’t get out of our European group, if we finish seventh this year having reached a European quarterfinal, we have picked up more wins and are slowly moving in the direction we need to be.”
Wilson points to a fit and healthy squad, with competition for places, as the reason for the recent upturn in the team’s fortunes and he insists that is the key to consistency.
He added: “We started the season with a very fit and healthy squad and won seven out of 10 games, including some big wins like Munster away, and we’re finishing the season in a similar vein.
“We drew out in Ulster, we possibly could have beaten Leinster, a poor patch against Gloucester and then a very good performance and win against the Ospreys.
“We have a lot more of the squad available to us than perhaps the middle part of the season where we had some pretty bad injury problems in certain positions.
“You have to have a squad that can deal with an extremely long season with a lot of fixtures – we have talked about quality over quantity but you need quality in quantity.
“Anyone that plays us in a one off game will know if we have the right boys on the park we can take anyone on. Our problem is consistency.
“We have to maintain this consistency, then there are two games in the play-offs, which you have to win and then your squad is tested in a very different way.
“We need to be on top of our game for the next four games to give ourselves the chance.”
Zebre, led for the first time by centre Tommaso Castello, field a host if Italian internationals and include the returning Andries van Schalkwyk on the bench.