Mulvihill desperate to get Blues stars back

CARDIFF Blues coach John Mulvihill says he is desperate for the region’s Wales contingent to return.

The Blues suffered a disappointing 19-10 home defeat to Glasgow on the weekend with a side hit hard by international call-ups and injuries. They are missing five back rowers, alone.

Locks Cory Hill and Seb Davies, props Rhys Carre and Dillon Lewis, scrum-half Lloyd Williams, wing Josh Adams and back row players James Botham and Shane Lewis-Hughes are all part of the Wales squad, with Covid-19 precautions meaning that players are unable to return to regional duty even when not required by their country.

Those absentees will be back from international duty when they play Newcastle in the European Challenge Cup on December 11.

“Some of them haven’t had a lot of game-time so I hope they’ll be bursting to put a blue jersey on,” said Mulvihill.

“We need them, we need to change our squad up a bit because we let ourselves down against Glasgow.

“Dillon comes back in, Seb Davies and Cory Hill will be looking to stake a claim for selection as well.

“Hopefully we’ll get ourselves right to bounce into Europe, away against a big pack.”

Meanwhile, Ross Moriarty is recovering from ankle surgery and appears to face a lengthy time out of the game.

The Dragons back rower has been forced to have an operation after injuring himself during Wales training earlier in the autumn.

He has shared a picture of himself in hospital wearing a cast on his right leg, saying on Instagram: “All has gone well with operation and road to recovery begins.”

The Dragons are expected to give a timeframe on his recovery at a later date.