EVANS TIPPED FOR WALES CALL-UP
CARDIFF Blues fly-half Jarrod Evans could be in line for his Wales debut against Scotland – despite the fact he’s not actually been named in the autumn squad.
Evans has been training as cover for Rhys Patchell, with a decision expected to be made today on Patchell’s recovery from concussion issues.
The Blues star (pictured) was not officially named as one of the 37 men in the Wales squad, which was unveiled last week.
If Scarlets man Patchell is still experiencing symptoms, Evans will remain with Wales at the Vale Resort and, with Northampton’s Dan Biggar unavailable to face Scotland as one of Gatland’s English-based players and Gareth Anscombe the only other recognised No.10, the 22-year-old could be in line to make the matchday squad for the series opener at the Principality Stadium.
“Jarrod is due to be on the plane (for South Africa) on Wednesday unless Patchell is ruled out,” said Cardiff Blues coach John Mulvihill.
“If he (Patchell) is, Jarrod will be in the match-day 23 (against Scotland), I would think. I am not the selector, but there are not many standing and he is a good player and deserves to be there.”
A medical update is expected from the Wales camp this afternoon.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland will also be hoping for positive news on back-rower Ellis Jenkins after seeing the Cardiff Blues skipper link up with the national squad carrying a shoulder injury.
Jenkins suffered the blow during the Blues’ 29-12 Heineken Champions Cup defeat to Glasgow at the Arms Park on Sunday.
He picked up the knock early in the game, carried on playing, but was clearly in discomfort and was replaced midway through the second half.
After the match, Blues head coach Mulvilhill revealed it was an AC issue, but has eased fears it may keep Jenkins sidelined for any significant length of time.
“It is his AC joint. He was strapped up at half-time, he was a bit sore but should be OK,” said the Australian.
“If he has a little AC injury, it is specific, he will get his treatment. I don’t think there is any need for scans, it is not that big an injury.
“It can be looked after during the week and injected if need be for game-time.” Nevertheless, Gatland can ill-afford more injury concerns, particularly as his back-row resources are already depleted for the forthcoming autumn Tests against Scotland, Australia, Tonga and South Africa.
Aaron Shingler, James Davies, Josh Navidi and Taulupe Faletau have all been ruled out of the series, although Gatland has still been able to omit players of the calibre of Ollie Griffiths and Thomas Young, who turned in a man-of-the-match performance for Wasps in their thrilling European draw with Bath on the weekend.
Jenkins would be favourite to start against the Scots on November 3.
He was outstanding during the summer tour and has started the season in impressive fashion for the Blues.
Meanwhile, Jenkins’s regional team-mate Seb Davies will be training with Gatland’s 37-man squad in the early part of the week after recovering from a knee injury.
Davies, who hasn’t played since the opening weekend of the season, is due to fly out to South Africa tomorrow to link up with the Blues ahead of their Guinness PRO14 assignment against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
CARDIFF Blues’ game against Glasgow Warriors at the weekend has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
From a Welsh perspective, not only is it because the Blues fell to defeat on home soil to the Scots but because there was an almighty kit clash at the Arms Park on Sunday - and nobody is happy about it.
Gareth Anscombe branded it a ‘disgrace’ and said that whoever is responsible should face consequences.
Blues boss John Mulvihill called it ‘ridiculous’ and even Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie enquired about changing kits at half time.
“We had Tommy Seymour bringing the ball back and he wasn’t sure where the holes were,” said Rennie.
So how was this allowed to happen and why didn’t one of the teams change kits?
Who decides on the kits and when?
All teams send their kits to tournament organisers EPCR before the competition begins.
They have to designate at least two kits – for the Blues this is their European strip and their normal home strip – and a third one if necessary. The Blues actually submitted their jerseys at the event launch on September 26.
At that launch, in Dublin, Glasgow were wearing their black home kit, with the light blue jersey they wore on Sunday designated as their other kit for European matches.
Joel Jutge, EPCR’s head of officials, and their operations team will then sit down and designate which kits are to be worn by teams in every pool match.
The information is then relayed to the teams. But the teams are only sent the digital designs of each kit, In this case a clash is less apparent when you look at the digital images.
It wasn’t until Glasgow began changing into their kit after the warm-ups, a matter of minutes before kick off, that the issue became obvious.
Why didn’t Cardiff Blues change their kit?
Quite simply, it wasn’t feasible.
Mulvihill suggested they would have had to send someone to their Vale Resort training base to gather some alternative kit. On a good day, that’s a 40-minute round trip.
Then there are commercial obligations to consider.
The kits would have had to have been collected and then had the appropriate logos - like the European Heineken Champions Cup emblem - printed on them.
There wasn’t enough time.
Why didn’t Glasgow bring two kits?
It’s difficult to point the finger at the teams here.
The Scottish side were simply doing as they were told by tournament officials in bringing their light blue strip.
Head coach Dave Rennie said they would have been more than happy to bring one of their other kits with them.
Besides, it’s customary for the home team to change in the event of a kit clash.
What EPCR say...
“EPCR has procedures in place for ensuring that playing kits for matches in its tournaments are distinctive, however, these procedures were not sufficiently followed through last weekend’s Heineken Champions Cup, Round 2 match at Cardiff Arms Park.
“EPCR will be formally contacting both Cardiff Blues and Glasgow Warriors in due course to apologise.”
It wasn’t the only clash this weekend
An all-French affair in the European Challenge Cup was delayed this weekend due to a kit clash.
Bordeaux against Perpignan was pushed back 15 minutes after the officials deemed the two kits too similar to play.
They ordered the home team, Bordeaux, to change their strip before the game got underway.
What will happen when Blues and Glasgow play again?
The two teams will play each other in Europe again on January 13 at Scotsoun. Clearly, the same kit situation will not be allowed to happen again.
Now, of the four kits submitted by the two sides for Europe, the best scenario would probably be for Glasgow to wear their Black home kit and the Blues to wear the European jersey they wore on Sunday.
You could argue this is still not ideal, and there is potential for the Blues’ white kit to come into play, given sides are told to have a third kit that can be used as a back-up.
They actually face each other in the Guinness PRO14 next month, on November 23, when you’d expect Glasgow to play in black and the Blues to play in the white away strip they use for some away games in the PRO14.