Wales are facing an injury crisis going into Saturday’s World Cup group meeting with England at Twickenham after a costly 54-9 victory over the pool minnows Uruguay.
The centre Cory Allen, who scored three first-half tries, is expected to miss the rest of the World Cup after suffering a suspected hamstring tear, leaving Wales with only two specialists in the position, Jamie Roberts and Scott Williams, and the squad travel to London on Monday with only two fit props.
The tighthead Samson Lee, who was making his first appearance since achilles tendon surgery last March, was taken off at half-time after feeling a tightening in one of his calves. His colleague on the other side of the scrum, Paul James, was taken off on 31 minutes having sustained a calf strain.
His replacement, Aaron Jarvis, finished the match but only with heavy strapping after popping a rib cartilage. The Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, said that he would consider sending a prop home from the tournament to bring in a fit replacement and ensure he has a full complement at Twickenham. Jarvis, the third-choice tighthead, would ordinarily be the most likely to be the first out of the door but he provides emergency cover at hooker after Gatland named only two in his squad.
In addition, the full-back Liam Williams, like Lee making his first appearance since last season following surgery, was taken off before half-time with a dead leg after an attempt to run off the original injury failed when he was hit in the same place a second time. As he tried to stay on the field, the Wales physiotherapist, Mark Davies, made sure he left.
Williams played on the wing during the Six Nations but has been earmarked to replace the injured Leigh Halfpenny at full-back, his preferred position. If he is ruled out against England, the choice would be between the inexperienced Hallam Amos, who played on the wing against Uruguay, and Rhys Priestland, a fly-half who has played full-back at club level.
“It looks like Cory has suffered a significant hamstring injury but we will not know about the others for 24 hours,” said Gatland, whose only consolation was that the head injury assessment on Dan Lydiate, who came on as a second-half replacement, gave the flanker the all-clear to resume training immediately.
“Liam suffered a knock on his thigh, Samson and Lee have calf issues. Aaron popped a rib cartilage and all credit to him for staying on. I have spoken to our medical staff and they say that it will be 24 hours before they can make an assessment on any of the injuries.
“We may have to make a tough call on one of the props because we have to have four in the match-day squad at Twickenham. Overall, I think we are in good shape. There are times when you get a bit of bad luck and I do not think the injuries we have had [Halfpenny and Rhys Webb were ruled out after the warm-up victory over Italy at the start of the month] have had anything to do with the way we prepare. It’s professional rugby and no doubt we will pick up a few more.
“This week is all about getting it right mentally for Twickenham. There were some good things against Uruguay: we looked a bit rusty but so did England against Fiji last Friday. It will be a big battle against England and we will be ready for it.”
In contrast, England came through their opening-day match against Fiji unscathed and they will have a full squad to pick from for a game that will leave the losers at risk of missing out on a place in the quarter-finals.
