Wayne Pivac hasn’t yet reached the point where he echoes the old American football coach whose side sustained so many injuries he lamented: “If this keeps up, our team picture this year will be an X-ray.”
But, still, give it time and all that. Every week seems to see yet another Wales player invalided out of some game or other.
On Saturday, Scarlets pair Johnny McNicholl and Wyn Jones left the fray prematurely against Cardiff amid knee injuries. Eight days earlier, screams from Ross Moriarty could be heard echoing around the Kings Park Stadium in Durban, while Josh Adams is another one on the casualty list.
READ MORE : English boss warns Wales over 'fantastic' teen
Rarely does a match go by without a head bump in a sport that’s become relentlessly physical, with Johnny Williams among those who needed time out after such a knock at the Arms Park. Williams was able to finish the game; another Wales international, Kirby Myhill, wasn’t so lucky. He took a heavy duty knock to the head while trying to tackle Sione Kalamafoni and wasn’t seen again. The same applied to Ryan Elias after a collision with team-mate Jac Price.
All Pivac and club and regional coaches can hope is that the players concerned make full and swift recoveries.
But the orthopaedic issues are stacking up for Wales’ head coach. Wales tour South Africa this summer and already there are some whom we can confidently predict won’t be available.
Here’s the list of those who are off limits to their coaches at this point.
Johnny McNicholl
He’d been in form, winning the man-of-the-match award the weekend before this one, but he hurt a knee while setting up a try for Liam Williams. He tried to play on, but he was in pain and left the pitch early in the second half. He’s set to be checked out in the first part of this week.
With 10 weeks or so before Wales are due to fly out to South Africa, Pivac will hope McNicholl will be able to travel. But he’ll still feel anxious until the medics deliver their verdict.
Liam Williams performed superbly for the Scarlets against Cardiff, but Wales need to take at least two players to South Africa who can cover full-back and wing and McNicholl delivers for those positions.
Leigh Halfpenny
The Scarlets confirmed last week that he wouldn’t feature this season after the knee injury he picked up playing for Wales against Canada last July.
Pivac would have been expecting as much. The coach will hope the veteran full-back, a master goalkicker and game-reader with limitless reserves of courage, makes a full recovery in readiness for next season.
Ken Owens
The hooker also featured in Dwayne Peel’s grim medical update. Again, Pivac wouldn’t have been shocked to learn that the Scarlets don’t see him playing again this season. “Nowhere near returning to training,” was Peel’s verdict on Owens, who pulled out of Wales’ autumn series without playing amid a back complaint. You can read more about Owens' injury here.
Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias have come to the part during Owens’ prolonged absence; even so, it is hard to put a price on having a proven Test warrior such as The Sheriff in the squad when the destination is South Africa.
Right now, it seems highly unlikely he’ll travel.
Scott Williams
You felt for this guy after he injured his shoulder playing for the Scarlets against Cardiff in Llanelli. He’d had so many bumps in the two years before this season that the hope was that he’d used up his quota of bad luck.
Not so. He’s out for the rest of the season with his latest knock. It seems a stretch to think he’ll be ready to play in South Africa in July. Despite his form for the Scarlets this term, Williams hadn’t been picked by Wales for the Six Nations. Now it looks highly probable he’ll be out of reach even if they did want him for the visit to the republic.
The consolation for Wales and the Scarlets is that Jonathan Davies had his best game in a long time over the weekend, with the 34-year-old back to his powerful, hard-running best, scoring a try and beating five defenders. That won’t be much consolation to Williams, though.
Wyn Jones
If anything, his knee injury looked worse than McNicholl’s on Saturday. The Scarlets prop is a hardy soul but left the Arms Park pitch in obvious discomfort. “Wyn was in pain; we’ll get him scanned early in the week and hope it is not too bad,” said Dwayne Peel.
It will be a big concern until then for Pivac, though. Wales have options at loosehead in the shape of Gareth Thomas, Nicky Smith and Rhys Carre, but they would want Jones, who featured in the final Test for the Lions against South Africa last year, to be available to tour.
Justin Tipuric
The Ospreys flanker seems roughly in the same position as Halfpenny — battling a long-term injury with no end in sight for his return.
His region ruled him out for the season as early as February because of a bump ‘ never seen in rugby before ’. It’s a scapula problem picked up on Lions duty last summer.
There had been hopes he might come back for the festive derbies, but he had a setback and so has had to dig in for the long haul. The probability is he’ll have to wait until next season before testing himself on a rugby pitch again.
George North
Again, the Ospreys are handling North with caution, and understandably so. A number of potential return dates have passed but they want to make sure the 105-cap three-quarter is a hundred percent fit before he starts his on-pitch comeback from the knee injury he sustained 12 months ago.
The latest goal is for North to be ready to feature in his side’s derbies, which start with a trip to the Arms Park to face Cardiff on April 23. There is no guarantee he will be ready for the first one, but the assumption is that at some point over the next month there will be sightings of the big man in a public place with a rugby ball in his hands.
Will he tour with Wales this summer? You’d imagine so. It depends on whether country and region deem him ready to undertake such a trip so early in his comeback.
Josh Adams
Dai Young has reported that Adams may need a four-to-six-week spell on the sidelines to recover from the knee injury he suffered while playing for Cardiff against the Scarlets in Llanelli.
Will he be ready for Wales’ tour? You’d have thought so if it is only a six-week layoff.
But knee injuries can be unpredictable and last week Young wasn’t prepared to commit to his star wing definitely being available for Wales’ trip.
Ross Moriarty
It looked a frightening injury when Moriarty, not a man obviously given to melodrama, screamed out in agony after catching his studs in the turf and sustaining a knee injury during the Dragons’ clash with the Sharks in Durban.
There were some who feared a season-ender or even worse.
But the news from the Dragons was encouragingly positive days later, with director or rugby Dean Ryan reporting that everything was OK structurally and feeling that despite suspected nerve damage Moriarty could “absolutely” figure again this season. We can only go with what the man says.
Hopefully, then, there’ll be good news for Pivac on this one.
Christ Tshiunza
He’s been out long term with a hamstring injury which sidelined him for the Six Nations and has rendered him inactive Exeter Chiefs and Exeter University.
If he’s fit, the hybrid forward might benefit from the experience of touring South Africa. On the other hand, there’s also the option of the young giant resting up in readiness for a potentially arduous campaign which leads into a World Cup.
It’s a call that will have to be made.
Willis Halaholo
The centre sustained a hamstring injury during a man-of-the-match performance in Cardiff’s 31-28 win over Glasgow Warriors on March 26. “Just can’t catch a break this season,” he subsequently wrote on social media.
Indeed. He had been at his sparkling best against the Scots, shining in attack and defence. But Cardiff reckon he’ll be out for 12 weeks from the time of the injury, leaving him potentially short of time and match-fitness for Wales’ tour.
It’s cruel luck for a player who has much to offer.
Josh Navidi
He’s been absent with a groin problem picked up in the win over Glasgow Warriors. But Cardiff head coach Young said shortly afterwards he didn’t think the problem was a long-term affair.
So should be okay for South Africa.
Samson Lee
The Scarlets prop was flown home early from his region's tour of South Africa in March after rupturing an Achilles tendon.
For the luckless Lee, the expectation is that a long layoff lies ahead. He's likely to watch Wales from afar this summer.
