Shoulder injury: Ryan Jones
Wales captain Ryan Jones has been ruled out of Saturday's Six Nations decider against England with a shoulder injury.
Jones broke a bone in his shoulder during Wales victory over Scotland last weekend and was forced to leave the field, with an initial estimation on his recovery placed at six to eight weeks.
The Ospreys back-row has been in fine form throughout the championship since taking over the captaincy from Sam Warburton, as Wales have gone on to win three matches on the road against France, Italy and Scotland.
"Ryan has broken a bone in his shoulder," said assistant coach Robin McBryde.
"At the moment, it is between six to eight weeks out, so it is not the best of news for Ryan, considering how vital a role he has played for us.
"We are fortunate we have got a bit of strength in depth in the back-row. There is the back-row that finished on the weekend against Scotland, and we've got Aaron Shingler, James King and Andrew Coombs to fall back upon.
"We will sit down as a coaching group and go through all the different permutations."
Comments
sneggy1983 says...
English back row is not exactly massive and Warburton plays like a 6 at times hence why hes always getting injuried.. So to say its a little underweight is nonsense.I would keep Coombs on the bench because he will bring power and strength to match the English replacements also put Shingler on the bench so we will have plenty of choices as both can cover second row and back row and both will bring power or speed when approaching end of the game. Plus James and Mitchell on the bench our forwards should pretty much dominate the English pack just like they did last year. Lets hope Philips wises up and Biggar improves his passing and running game. If the backs click along with the forwards this could be a comfortable win for the Welsh,. However it seems these days that both can perform well together and its either the forwards play well and backs dont and back last year our backs were winning games and forwards not doing so good.
Posted 18:51 13th March 2013
spike19 says...
Has anyone else noticed the lack of line breaks and tries in this 6 nations? The opening weekend was pretty impressive with 16 tries altogether. But since then its the score rate has just nose dived with a total of 6 tries in week two and 4 tries a piece in weeks 3 and 4!
That is a pretty pathetic score rate and not a very good advert for the sport of rugby union. Unless there is 14 or more tries scored in the final weekend of the championship this will be the lowest try scoring 6 nations since before the game went pro in 1995 baring in mind that Italy only joined in 2000 that is a fairly terrible statistic and show's how defence orientated the game has become, particularly in the northern hemisphere.
Posted 17:11 12th March 2013
melkdave says...
Never enjoy reading a player will miss a match though injury.Hope he recovers quickly.His leadership is going to be missed by Wales.
Posted 16:25 12th March 2013
Adam_Thomas says...
So Wales will be likely playing with two traditional opensides, and England with none. Should be interesting.
Posted 14:54 12th March 2013
pierredelot1 says...
Pity for Wales. A very underrated player who has really returned to top form of late. Not one for the headlines and the flashy stuff, but a real grafter and one that England will be glad is not going to be in the mix.
Posted 14:04 12th March 2013
jontheref says...
I am so sad for such a fine player and great guy.
He will be missed, as I don't believe we have another 6 to replace him, at the moment.
Tipuric and warburton v Englnad?
Best choice, but not ideal, leaves us a little underweight!
Posted 13:51 12th March 2013
CymruAmByth says...
So tipuric and Warburton it is... Fascinating
Posted 13:39 12th March 2013