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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Matthew Southcombe

Wales injury bulletin: Taulupe Faletau, Josh Adams and Willis Halaholo latest as Pivac picks his team

Wales' Six Nations squad is fully fit ahead of the trip to Twickenham this weekend.

They may be without almost 700 caps for the game against England but, of the players named in the initial squad at the start of the championship, none are injured.

Josh Adams has shaken off a calf injury that kept him out of the Scotland match and Willis Halaholo is available for selection after suffering a nasty cut to his eyelid in training last week.

Wayne Pivac's side are also bolstered by the return of No.8 Taulupe Faletau, who was called back up to the squad on Monday.

Read next: The latest England v Wales headlines ahead of the weekend

He has come through two matches for Bath after overcoming an ankle injury problem that has kept him out of action since last summer's Lions tour.

“Obviously he’s a class act – we know that from previous experiences," said Wales assistant Neil Jenkins. "He’s a fantastic player and brilliant to have in the group, in terms of his personality as well.

"You want your best players available and Taulupe certainly falls into that category."

Jenkins remained coy on Faletau's chances of featuring at Twickenham, though, with Wayne Pivac expected to name his side to his squad today ahead of Thursday's public announcement.

“We’ll see how he goes. It’s not an easy task, is it? He’s been out of the game for quite some time.

"He's played two games for Bath and sometimes in the past we'd have players coming in who haven't had any rugby. We back ourselves to get them up to speed and get them right.

"Taulupe's only just come in yesterday. He's done a fair bit of work in the last six weeks with Bath to get himself right to play. We know him pretty well from a coaching perspective.

Alluding to what is usually a particularly physical training session on a Tuesday, Jenkins added: "We'll have a look to see how he is yesterday and certainly today. We'll have a bit more about us today in the training session and we'll see where he's at.

"He's a class player. He's been there and done it so I don't think the occasion will be an issue, it's just whether we feel he's conditioned and right to go."

The return of Adams and Halaholo will also be welcome news.

Whilst Owen Watkin and Nick Tompkins were solid in the midfield against Scotland, there are question marks over the lack of creativity that has been displayed by the Welsh backs.

Halaholo would certainly bring that but he is desperately short of game time, having not played in six weeks.

He was due to be released to Cardiff last weekend but stayed in camp after suffering a laceration on his face. The game against Zebre was postponed, so it mattered little, but it is welcome news he is at least available this weekend.

"It's the same as anything. You pick up a few stitches, it's just one of those things," Jenkins said when asked about the cut.

"It was a collision in training, it happens. You've just got to get on with it.

"Yeah he's available, they're all available. There have been a couple of knocks and bumps as you'd expect.

"But all the guys have been training and they're all available for selection."

Pivac is due to name his squad on Thursday lunchtime.

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