Wales centre Jonathan Davies has been ruled out of the Rugby World Cup quarter-final against France just an hour before kick-off.
The 31-year-old had been selected by Warren Gatland at outside centre for their last-eight clash at Oita Stadium, despite fears over a knee injury that forced him off late in the 29-17 victory over Fiji on 9 October.
Speaking after announcing his side on Friday, Gatland said: "Jonathan took a full part in Wednesday’s session, he fully trained today. Hadleigh [Parkes] ran on Wednesday but we kept him out of the rugby and then he took a full part in today’s training session. They’re both fit. They’re obviously a little bit sore but they’ll be ready to go on Sunday."
However, the Kiwi coach has been forced into a late change, with confirmation coming just an hour before the quarter-final clash was due to start that Davies had "aggravated" the knee injury ahead of the match.
As a result, Owen Watkin has been promoted to the starting line-up to partner Parkes in the centre, with Leigh Halfpenny added to the replacements' bench and George North designated as centre cover should he be needed to move from the wing.
"We thought he [Davies] might struggle a little bit and unfortunately he hasn’t been able to get through," Gatland told ITV before the match.
“Owen Watkin is going to be a player for the future and we’ve got a lot of faith in him. Owen took a lot of time in training this week.
