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Wales' decision to play Davies against the All Blacks is now under scrutiny
Wales and Scarlets have been dealt the damaging injury revelation that Jonathan Davies and Rhys Patchell will miss a large part of the season.
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Both players require surgery for injuries sustained during the recent World Cup, with Davies set to miss at least six months with a knee injury and Patchell up to four months with his shoulder.
This is not a great start to Wayne Pivac’s tenure as Wales head coach, as he is set to face the Barbarians – coached by Warren Gatland – on November 30.
Davies initially suffered the injury against Fiji in the pool stages of the RWC and his participation in the tournament looked in jeopardy.
He missed the following game against Uruguay and pulled out just before the quarter-final against France, but returned for the semi-final against the Springboks and the bronze play-off against the All Blacks with his knee heavily strapped.
(Continue reading below…)
This injury always looked severe and it is a testament to the 31-year-old’s durability and commitment to the national team that he played on through what must have been a lot of pain.
Horrible news for Wales AND the Scarlets. Poor Jon Fox must have been playing through ridiculous pain during the latter stages of the World Cup. https://t.co/sZ4LPgmZ6r
— Jamie Phillips (@JNPhillips4) November 12, 2019
While Patchell’s injury is just a part of rugby, questions are being raised as to whether the length of Davies’ injury lay-off could have been reduced.
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The outside centre is one of the most crucial players to the Welsh team, and it was understandable that both he and Gatland wanted him on the field in the semi-final.
However, while it would be wrong to say nothing was riding on the bronze final against the All Blacks, it lacked the gravitas that the previous game had for obvious reasons.
Or par for the course for players selected for Wales at the detriment of their club/region.
— Cardiff Stu (@cardiffstu) November 12, 2019
The question has to be asked would Jonathan have been out so long if he hadn’t of played after the initial injury against Fiji?
— Philip Mark Mullen (@PhilipMarkMull1) November 12, 2019
If Davies’ knee was that badly wrecked what on earth was he doing playing in the 3rd place match. Can understand he might have risked for a SF (and that’s pushing it) but for that game……? 🙄🏉 https://t.co/lRMh7RbEXJ
— Steve Grant (@SteveG1809) November 12, 2019
The Wales team was ravaged by injury for the match against Steve Hansen’s side, and it was a momentous occasion as it brought an end to Gatland’s twelve-year stint at the helm of Welsh rugby.
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Hoping to end a 66-year losing streak against New Zealand, there was a strong drive to win that match, but they fell short and the outing could have exacerbated Davies’ injury.
If Davies needs surgery and 6 months of rehab, why the hell was he playing the semi and 3rd place playoff, when he obviously wasn't fully fit?
— Emyr Pedro (@EmsPedro42) November 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/loughorboy/status/1194216102353678337?s=20
Moreover, this decision to play Davies was not only potentially detrimental to the player himself but to the Scarlets.
And what about the devastating double blow for @scarlets_rugby?? There is something called regional rugby you know…
— Helen Davies (@helzbach) November 12, 2019
It is a long-held view of fans of the regional sides in Wales that the national team does not think of the regions, and the treatment of Davies is not going to help the Welsh Rugby Union’s cause.
The Scarlets will now be without the pair for the majority of the season, while Wales have been handed a heavy blow in their hopes of retaining the Six Nations title.
WATCH: Siya Kolisi speaks with South African’s supporters in Cape Town
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