JPR Williams has questioned the ‘ridiculous’ decision of Wales to play four World Cup warm-matches, arguing they pose a serious injury threat to Warren Gatland’s squad.
Gatland’s players face home and away games against both England and Ireland ahead of the global tournament in Japan, starting with next Sunday’s date against the English at Twickenham.
Wales, hit by Taulupe Faletau’s training injury last week, have endured ill-fortune in warm-up matches over the years. In 2011, there were two setbacks when Morgan Stoddart broke a leg against England at Twickenham, followed by Gavin Henson fracturing an arm in the return in Cardiff a week later.
And there was another double dose of trouble in 2015 when Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb suffered injuries against Italy that were to rule them out of that year’s World Cup.
Wales will benefit financially from the games in the coming week, with the England tussle in Cardiff sold-out and the Ireland match well on the way to achieving the same status, and Gatland will see the encounters as being key to helping his players become game-hardened before the global tournament in Japan.
But Williams is concerned about the risks to players.
The legendary full-back, a key member of the victorious Lions tours of 1971 and 1974, told The Rugby Paper: “Why are we playing these ridiculous warm-up games?
“We’re playing two against England and two against Ireland. Those sides are going to be desperate to get revenge after we beat them in the Six Nations.
“We’re bound to pick up some injuries in those games as we have done in the past.
“Both England and Ireland can put two sides out on the park while we’ll have to risk some of our more senior players. It would be awful if we lost some of our best players on the eve of the World Cup."
Wales are also set to be without Ellis Jenkins for their tilt at the Webb Ellis Cup, with the Cardiff Blues flanker unlikely to recover in time from the knee injury he sustained while playing for Wales against South Africa last autumn.
But there are still grounds for positivity. They are second in the world rankings and on a 14-game winning run after completing a Six Nations Grand Slam just three months ago — all of which adds up to momentum enough for Williams to view their chances in the Far East with optimism.
“I think we should get to the final, but we’ll have to score more tries to win it because you don’t beat New Zealand by scoring one try a game,” he said.
“As outstanding as we were in the Six Nations we didn’t score that many tries and I think to go to the next level and beat New Zealand we need to show more in attack.
“I’d play Liam Williams at 15 because he’s our best full-back.
“He’s fantastic in attack and creates try-scoring opportunities out of nothing and, as I said, if we want to beat New Zealand, we need players like Liam in our team.”
