Unlucky Williams suffers another setback

OSPREYS centre Scott Williams has been released from the Wales squad with a back injury ending his Six Nations campaign.

Wales returned to camp yesterday morning after their uninspiring win over Italy at the weekend.

A WRU statement said: “Scott Williams has been released from the 2019 Guinness Six Nations squad to continue rehabilitation of his back injury at his region.

“It is felt that his injury will preclude him from taking a competitive part in the competition.”

Williams, capped 57 times for his country, is yet to pull on the Wales jersey this season. He sat out the November series because of a hamstring tear and was not available for the opening two rounds of the Six Nations because of an ankle issue.

The news came just a day after No.8 Taulupe Faletau was also ruled out of contention for the entire tournament after it was revealed he needs further surgery on a broken arm.

Meanwhile, having now been cleared to play after three months out with issues relating to the head injury he sustained against Australia in November, Leigh Halfpenny has, as expected, been released from the squad back to the Scarlets for their PRO14 game in Benetton. Halfpenny will be looking to prove his fitness ahead of the potential title-decider against England in Cardiff later this month. He has been back in full contact training with Wales, but now needs some game time to complete his rehabilitation.

Rhys Patchell and Steff Evans have also been sent back to the Scarlets and could feature in Treviso.

With Gareth Anscombe and Dan Biggar having shared the fly-half duties in the first two Six Nations games with mixed results, Patchell is another who could stake a strong claim for inclusion against England if he can show he is match-fit.

Blues trio Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull and Jarrod Evans will train with Wales this morning before being released back to the region for Saturday’s clash with Glasgow.

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