Halaholo stakes his claim for Wales bow
WILLIS Halaholo is back on track for Wales almost 12 months after his first selection coincided with a shattering injury.
A winning come-back in Italy on Friday night has reinforced the New Zealander’s claim to a place on the starting grid as the Six Nations rev up for the last lap postponed from March.
The 30-year-old Blues’ centre will find out within the next 48 hours whether he has made the cut in the nick of time for a six-Test schedule kicking off against France in Paris on October 24, a warm-up for the delayed championship match against Scotland at Parc y Scarlets seven days later.
Wayne Pivac began his reign as head coach by identifying Halaholo as a midfield successor to Hadleigh Parkes whose 24Test career ended with his move to Japan. Halaholo, who like Parkes had qualified through residence, had no sooner been picked than fate dealt him a cruel blow.
Four days after being chosen for the non-cap friendly against the Barbarians, Halaholo smashed a knee during the Blues’ Challenge Cup defeat by Leicester at the Arms Park. The damage kept him out of action until the capital region’s PRO12 win over Zebre in Parma where he appeared for 55 minutes without mishap.
Pivac spent the weekend finalising a squad which has already been hit by a number of casualties, among them Wales’ newest Kiwi convert, Johnny McNicholl. The Scarlets’ full back-cum-wing will be out until the end of next month after damaging an ankle against Toulon a fortnight ago.
Gareth Anscombe, already out for 14 months and not expected to return before the New Year, Blues scrum half Tomos Williams, Scarlets’ flanker Aaron Shingler, the Blues’ dynamic openside Ellis Jenkins and wing Owen Lane are all non-starters.
Pivac will also be concerned about another non-starter over the weekend whose knack of making something out of nothing makes him central to the new coach’s philosophy of Total Rugby – Liam Williams.
He has played just once since the World Cup semifinal against South Africa almost a year ago – on the left wing against England at Twickenham. Williams was again conspicuous by his absence from Scarlets’ season-opener against Munster yesterday when Jonathan Davies and Rhys Patchell reappeared for the first time since the World Cup.
Scarlets say their Lion is ‘getting there’ but the TRP understands that he is still to resume full training which suggests he will be
hard pushed to be ready for Scotland at the end of the month.
By then Wales’ opponents will have added two more to their long list of converts from overseas. Edinburgh’s impressive wing, Duhan van der Merwe, right, and Glasgow prop Oli Kebbie – both South African – will be eligible for Scotland’s next match, a friendly against Georgia in three weeks’ time.
Last season’s Scottish cast included no fewer than ten from the southern hemisphere: four South Africans (WP Nel, Allan Dell, Cornell du Preez, Kyle Steyn), three New Zealanders (Sean Maitland, Simon Berghan, Blade Thomson) and three Australians (Sam Johnson, Ben Toolis, Nick Haining). FORMER England