Tuesday Round-Up
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Tuesday Round-Up
Williams unhappy stars risked: Ex-Wales star Shane Williams has questioned why Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny were risked before they picked up serious injuries against Italy. Both are now expected to miss the Rugby World Cup in a huge blow to Welsh hopes of success. "It's just horrendous for Wales," said Williams. "Rhys Webb has been the form player for Wales over the last two seasons. To lose Halfpenny as well, it's just a massive blow for Wales and it couldn't have come at a worse time. You kind of thought 'do we need this guy on the field? Let's wrap him up in cotton wool and roll him out when we really need him. It is a massive blow and Wales is in mourning already. Especially with Halfpenny, he was strapped up on his leg anyway."
Du Preez should be fit for RWC: South Africa are confident that scrum-half Fourie du Preez will be ready to go once the Rugby World Cup kicks off. The experienced back hasn’t featured for his country since June 2014 and last played at all back in February. "Fourie has done really well, obviously he hasn’t played a lot of rugby but for him we are trying to get him playing more and more simulated game time in training," Dr Craig Roberts told Supersport. "He did the full training today including the contact session and took some nice hits. We’re building his confidence and he came through the training nicely. I’m happy with his progress, we’re still two weeks away and he is doing really well.”
Elsewhere the Springboks have little to no fitness concerns, with Roberts adding that he’s happy with the squad’s conditioning.
"It’s always a catch 22 because there is a difference between training fit and match fit. But when guys have 50 caps and are experienced they generally get that match fitness and running lines a lot quicker. I’m generally comfortable with where we are. If we were playing in games this last weekend and we were picking up injuries, then I’d be worried to lose players in warm-up games which are not necessary.”
Elsewhere the Springboks have little to no fitness concerns, with Roberts adding that he’s happy with the squad’s conditioning.
"It’s always a catch 22 because there is a difference between training fit and match fit. But when guys have 50 caps and are experienced they generally get that match fitness and running lines a lot quicker. I’m generally comfortable with where we are. If we were playing in games this last weekend and we were picking up injuries, then I’d be worried to lose players in warm-up games which are not necessary.”
