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No Welsh fears despite last Saturday being Dan Biggar's third head injury this season
Wales expect Dan Biggar to face France in the Guinness Six Nations despite the outside-half having suffered a third head injury this season.
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Biggar is currently going through concussion protocols after clashing heads with Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw during Wales’ 24-14 Six Nations defeat in Dublin on Saturday.
The Northampton Saints playmaker failed a dressing room head injury assessment (HIA) shortly afterwards and has just over a week to prove his fitness ahead of France’s visit to Cardiff on February 22.
Biggar suffered head injuries in successive World Cup games against Australia and Fiji in Japan last autumn but recovered to play in the quarter-final victory over France.
“Dan is alright, he’s just doing the normal return to play protocols,” said Wales assistant coach Neil Jenkins. “That takes a bit of time but he is pretty good and is recovering pretty well, so hopefully he will be OK for next week.
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“The World Cup was a concern in terms of the heavy ones that he had, but I don’t think Saturday was as bad as those. But (an HIA) is still something that you’ve got to do and the right decision was made.
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“He is a tough old player, as you could see on Saturday because trying to get him off was an issue. But hopefully he will do everything he needs to do and will be back ready for France.”
Biggar’s head injury is the latest problem that Wales have encountered at fly-half. Gareth Anscombe and Rhys Patchell are currently sidelined and Owen Williams was this week ruled out for the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury.
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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 8, 2020
Cardiff Blues’ Jarrod Evans, who has won five caps, is the only other fit fly-half in the squad. “We’ve got Jarrod going pretty well,” said Jenkins. “But he is still a young kid who is learning and trying to get better.
“He had 30-odd minutes in Ireland and probably hasn’t played a game at that level, certainly away from home. That will put him in good stead and hopefully he will learn and develop from that.
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“There are other 10s in Wales that we could easily call in if we wanted to, but I will leave that to Wayne (Pivac, head coach) and he will make that decision when the time is right.”
Wales were 2nd best for much of yesterday's duel in Dublin but a natural correction may temper expectations & allow Pivac to quietly continue evolving Wales' style of play. A disappointment, yes, but not a disaster. @OwainJTJones with some thoughts… 🏴https://t.co/albslBY4bq
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 9, 2020
Wing Josh Adams was forced off against Ireland with a hip injury in the first half. But Wales’ medical team are confident Adams will be fit to train with the squad later this week.
“Josh is recovering and going through his treatment,” Jenkins said. “He is one of our leading lights, he has been outstanding in the World Cup and in the two games so far up until his injury.
“Josh spends most of the time with the medics at the moment and he comes and watches us train. He will take part with us when he is ready to go.”
– Press Association
WATCH: Wayne Pivac and Alun Wyn Jones after Wales’ defeat to Ireland
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments