Wales have suffered a major Rugby World Cup injury blow after Taulupe Faletau was ruled out of the tournament with a broken arm.
Number eight Faletau came off during Wales’ 43-19 win over Georgia in Nantes which cemented their place at the top of Pool C.
The veteran back rower was subsequently seen in a sling and Warren Gatland confirmed after the game that he would miss the remainder of the World Cup.
The loss of Faletau is significant, with the No 8 a vital part of Gatland’s first-choice forward pack.
Wales will be able to call up a replacement ahead of next weekend’s quarter-final against either Argentina or Japan in Marseille, while Aaron Wainwright is the likeliest candidate to start at No 8 in the current squad.
“We’ve got to look at a replacement for Faletau, whether that is directly as a loose-forward replacement or whether we look at another position,” Gatland said afterwards. “We’ve got a few sore players, particularly in the backs, after today’s game.
“We felt that he was starting to come back to his best. He was excellent last week in terms of his footwork and carrying and stuff, taking kick-offs and giving us some go-forward as well.
“It’s a big loss for us. We’ll just have to make a decision in terms of how we look at the balance of the back row going forward and in particular for next week.”
There may yet be more injury woe for Gatland, who was forced to make the latest of changes to his side after fly half Gareth Anscombe suffered a groin injury in the warm-up.
Sam Costelow stepped in at late notice with Dan Biggar recovering from the injury he suffered against Australia.
Gatland clarified that Anscombe, who was left in tears, would be assessed over the coming days to determine the severity of his injury and decide whether he requires replacing in the 33-man squad.
“Talking to the medics, he’s got a bit of power still in his leg which is a positive, it means it hasn’t fully come off the bone,” the Wales head coach explained. “We’ll probably know in the next 48-72 hours in terms of what we need to do with him, whether we have got time for him to recover or whether we need to make a replacement.”
Full back Liam Williams also reportedly left the stadium on crutches with an apparent knee injury, but Gatland suggested afterwards that he thought the issue was not “significantly bad”.
Wales will play the first of two last-eight ties in Marseille next Saturday after topping their group, with wing Louis Rees-Zammit recording a hat-trick in a bonus point win over a gutsy Georgia.
