GROWING LIST OF WELSH CASUALTIES Choice Of Scrum-Half Is Causing Concern

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32011, 11 June 1969, Page 17

GROWING LIST OF WELSH CASUALTIES Choice Of Scrum-Half Is Causing Concern

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND.

The choice of scrum-half in the Welsh Rugby team to play New Zealand in the second test at Eden Park on Saturday is becoming a focal point of the team selection amid some concern over the growing list of injured players.

All things being normal, the position would go to G. O. Edwards, the genius of the Welsh line in the five-nations’ championship.

A leg injury has restricted Edwards to only one match in more than a month, and that was an unconvincing performance in the first test at Christchurch on May 31.

The injury has also severely restricted Edwards’s training, while his deputy, the Maesteg scrum-half, R. Hopkins, has developed into one of the outstanding successes of the tour. On their form in Britain, Edwards is clearly considered the first choice, and the tour selectors will probably name him in the team to be announced today, hoping that he will recapture past form on Eden Park. Coach Not Satisfied However, there is the strongest suggestion that the issue is not cut-and-dried, and the decision will not be made until after today’s training. It was thought that yesterday’s run might shed some light on the issue, but it did not. Edwards looked a little sharper than usual, but -he Welsh coach, Mr C. Rowlands, said afterward that there was still not the edge to his work that there should be. The frustrations that have beset Edwards have been one of the upsets of the tour for Wales. Teaching examinations have occupied some of his time, and it is understood

he has still another paper to do in Auckland tomorrow. The chances of New Zealand seeing him at his best in the Auckland test, if he is named, seem slim. And such are the inducements likely to be offered to Edwards by English Rugby league clubs that the chances of seeing him again on a Rugby field in this country might be even slimmer. There were several other anxieties among the Welshman yesterday. Four test players—the wing, M. R. Richards, the fly-half, B. John, the full-back, J. R. P. Williams, and the centre, K. S. Jarrett—all needed medical treatment.

The tour management showed little concern as the team physiotherapist worked overtime, and the manager, Mr H. Rogers, as optimistic as ever, said later that all would train today. Richards and John appeared the worst hit. Richards, the top try-scorer in the tour, is suffering from hamstring trouble and was rarely above a walk for most of the training session. Cut Short Training John, with injured calf muscles as a result of the Wellington match, withdrew early in the session. Williams (wrist) and Jarrett (finger) have injuries of a more minor nature. The test No. 8, T. M. Davies, watched again from the sideline, but said he hoped to train today. How-

ever, he added that he had decided against the removal of the five stitches inserted in his calf until after the test.

The young prop, D. B. Llewelyn, recovering from a wrenched ankle, loosened up in his track suit and appeared to be moving more comfortably later in the day. S. J. Watkins, the rightwing in the first test, did not complete the session.