Rhys Priestland is expected to miss the majority of Wales’s Six Nations campaign owing to a hamstring injury. The fly-half, who was injured four minutes into Bath’s 35–17 defeat by Scarlets in the Champions Cup, will remain at his club rather than joining up with the Wales squad next week.
Warren Gatland has not called up a replacement having also named Dan Biggar, Owen Williams, Rhys Patchell and Gareth Anscombe, who can all play fly-half, in his 39-man squad for the Six Nations.
Wales will play Scotland in a friendly in Cardiff in November to kick off their autumn series. They usually face Australia or South Africa in a fourth international played outside the Test window but the former have arranged an extra match at Twickenham, while the Welsh Rugby Union is negotiating a June fixture with the Springboks in the United States.
The WRU needs an extra Test every autumn to help fund its deal with the country’s four regions, not least the national dual contract system which this year is bringing back the wing George North from England.
Scotland will receive a share of the gate receipts and the teams will play for the Doddie Weir Cup in honour of the former Scotland and Lions lock who has motor neurone disease. The foundation he has set up to fund research into the condition will benefit financially.
Scotland’s captain is John Barclay, who is in the final year of his contract with the Scarlets having opted to return home next season and join Edinburgh. The region won what was the Pro 12 last season and has recovered from a poor start in Europe to be in a position where victory over Toulon in Llanelli on Saturday will earn a first knock-out berth since 2007.
Barclay is relishing the clash of styles with the prize of the group title at stake and a likely home quarter-final draw. If the Scarlets win, and they start one point behind the leaders Toulon, they would become the only team to top their group after losing the first two games - and they were trailing Treviso by seven points with four minutes to go in the third.
“The pressure was on against Treviso,” said Barclay. “Everyone knew what was on the line and you could feel the desperation on the pitch and in the stand. People were thinking ‘that’s it’, but we pulled through.
“Last week at Bath was probably the first time this season that we have played as we know we can, with a high tempo and off-loading. It is a style similar to Scotland’s: neither side is blessed with an abundance of monsters and it is about keeping the ball alive and moving big men around so they will start to struggle at the set-pieces.
“The French league is full of enormous men and Toulon have some big units. We were disappointed to lose there in October having given them two soft, early tries but we recovered to take the lead by looking after the ball. Their power game can be effective, but let’s see how good they are when they have to work hard for long phases of play.”
The Scarlets have 13 players in the Wales squad for the Six Nations, which starts with a meeting with Barclay’s Scotland in Cardiff. “It shows we are doing well,” said the flanker. “I am delighted for James Davies [the uncapped wing forward who was called up by Wales this week]. I hope he gets the chance to show everyone what he can do at that level.”
