In the wake of Wales’ 33-11 defeat to Argentina at the Principality Stadium last Saturday, head coach Wayne Pivac came out with a pretty startling figure.
He revealed there had been about 27 players unavailable to him in all, for various reasons.
So that got us thinking. Who exactly is on that list?
Well, for starters, there are 11 players away with the Lions in South Africa.
On top of that, you’ve got some 15 or so who were ruled out through injury, either before or during the summer campaign, while Cory Hill was released from the squad after revealing he was going to pursue an option overseas.
In fact, the list would be even longer if you included other ineligible players, such as Jake Ball, Hadleigh Parkes, Thomas Young, Owen Williams and Aled Davies.
Then there were those who could have been selected, but were omitted, like Ollie Griffiths, Rhys Webb, Rob Evans, Owen Watkin, Johnny McNicholl, Rhys Carré, Tommy Reffell and Jac Morgan.
So lots of names to consider.
But here’s our best guess at Pivac’s unavailable 27.
The Lions
Alun Wyn Jones
Taulupe Faletau
Ken Owens
Dan Biggar
Josh Adams
Liam Williams
Gareth Davies
Wyn Jones
Louis Rees-Zammit
Josh Navidi
Adam Beard
Injured
Justin Tipuric (shoulder)
Leigh Halfpenny (knee)
Aaron Wainwright (head knock)
George North (knee)
Johnny Williams (shoulder)
Dan Lydiate (knee)
Tomas Francis (back)
Ellis Jenkins (knee)
Shane Lewis-Hughes (shoulder)
Josh MacLeod (Achilles)
Gareth Anscombe (knee)
James Davies (concussion)
Rhodri Williams (shoulder)
WillGriff John
Rhys Patchell (no rugby since November due to various injuries)
Released
Cory Hill
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