England may be on a different course under Eddie Jones but Wales will carry on regardless when Warren Gatland names his squad for his ninth Six Nations campaign. The injury problems that dogged Wales at the World Cup have eased but the head coach will still be without Leigh Halfpenny and Scott Williams for the entire tournament, while Rhys Webb and Jake Ball are unlikely to be involved.
Liam Williams expects to return for the Scarlets against Northampton in the European Champions Cup on Saturday for his first appearance in three months, and the Wales captain, Sam Warburton, hopes to play for Cardiff Blues against Calvisano in the Challenge Cup on Friday having been out with an ankle injury since November.
Dan Lydiate is set to miss Ospreys’ final Champions Cup Pool 2 match at Exeter on Sunday because of a neck and shoulder injury but Hallam Amos and Gareth Anscombe, who were both injured during the World Cup, have returned to action for their regions and Tyler Morgan is close to making his comeback for Newport Gwent Dragons.
Gatland is expected to name a 34-strong squad and bring in some emerging players while sticking with the old guard, the most senior of whom is the 35-year-old prop Gethin Jenkins. He is unlikely to be around for the next World Cup and he is backed up by a 33-year old in Paul James but such is his importance to the side, especially in the loose, that he is unlikely to be jettisoned.
Gatland has never been afraid to call time on the career of a player who has served him well as Martyn Williams, Adam Jones and Mike Phillips can testify but Jenkins showed during the World Cup, despite the occasional hiccup up front, that he is still a key component in the side.
The wing Alex Cuthbert will be more worried after some low moments during the World Cup. His form for Cardiff Blues has picked up in recent weeks, but his wing partner at the region, Tom James, has been impressive since coming back from Exeter and he may return, despite being once dropped by Gatland amid concerns about his attitude.
Anscombe’s recovery from a foot injury gives Gatland an extra option at outside-half and full-back where Liam Williams, even if he does return this weekend, will be well short of match fitness when Wales face Ireland in Dublin on 7 February. Bristol’s Matthew Morgan is an option there, along with Amos, and so is Rhys Priestland, who has told Bath he has made himself available for Wales.
Whether Priestland makes it will depend on Gatland’s choice of his two wild-card players, those based outside the country who turned down the offer of a regional or national dual contract. He comes into that bracket with Jamie Roberts, but the Welsh Rugby Union has not declared the status of others, such as the Racing 92 second-row Luke Charteris.
The position promises to be no clearer next season, although Charteris’s move to Bath will count him in. Toulon say Halfpenny is close to agreeing to take up the option of an extra season with the European champions despite offers from Cardiff Blues and the Scarlets and pressure from Gatland, but would that make him a wild card or would he continue a contract that, because it was signed before the change in the rules, makes him available to Wales whatever?
Gatland usually includes a smattering of emerging talent in his squads, although more usually in the autumn, and his options include the Dragons’ forward pair Elliot Dee and Ollie Griffiths, Ospreys’ outside-half Sam Davies and the Scarlets’ scrum-half Aled Davies.
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