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Warren Gatland releases one player from Wales squad back to region
By Josh Raisey
Wales have opted to send just one player back to their region ahead of the fallow weekend in the Guinness Six Nations, Dragons flanker Taine Basham.
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The 24-year-old has made just one appearance so far this Championship, with Warren Gatland using him from the bench against England in round two at Twickenham.
Basham will now be available to face Ulster in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday at the Kingspan Stadium, with his head coach Dai Flanagan saying he needs “regular rugby”.
“It’s great to have Taine back. He needs to play some regular rugby now,” said Flanagan to the Dragons website.
“It’s been a stop start season for Taine since he’s come back from the World Cup.
“Taine is a young man, and we need to support him, back him and give him the opportunity to show the world what he can do, because you don’t get man-of-the-match against New Zealand if you’re not very good.
“Taine can do stuff that no one in Wales, as a back row player, can. He can break a line, can offload, he carries, he’s powerful. He gets a lot of turnovers with rips,” he added.
“His biggest asset to us needs to be his consistency. That’s what we’re looking to see this week.
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“He’s had a good block with Wales, worked extremely hard with Wales. We’re looking forward to seeing him come back, put our jersey on and work extremely hard for our group.”
Elsewhere in the Wales squad, the Gallagher Premiership contingent of Dillon Lewis, Nick Tompkins, Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands and captain Dafydd Jenkins will return to their clubs despite having no game this weekend.
Top 14-based lock Will Rowlands will also return to Racing 92, who face Bordeaux-Begles on Saturday.