Welshmen 'in with chance’

Press, 8 November 1978, Page 48

Welshmen ' in with chance’

|NZPA Staff Correspondent i London ( Even though it has as .many problems as the All ] ' Blacks concerning injuries to ' ]players, the Welsh rugby ‘ '(team is now quietly confident it can win the test i : match at the Cardiff Arms i I Park on Sunday morning : |(N.Z. tijne). i The Welsh squad spent I time during an all-day train- ' ] ing session on Sunday I j studying a video-tape of ■ ••New Zealand’s test perform- ] i ance in Dublin and the full:back, J. P. R. Williams, the : new Welsh captain, said (later: “We are in with a ; I I good chance. 1 “We have some very good]l I young players who are all keen. The players knbw . i what they are up against : land I believe they are ready : |to go flat out for victory,” ]he concluded. i ] Meanwhile Wales could (face disruptions to its side, j The Welsh selectors (passed the wing, J. J. Wil- ; (liams and the lock, Geoff (Wheel, fit to play, but there 'lis now serious doubt over i whether the Pontypool for- i I

wards, Bobby Windsor; (hooker) and Geoff Squire: (flanker), will be recovered' from injuries sustained at the week-end in time for the Armistice Day test. Neither player took part in the session for the Welsh squad and now have until the final training session on Friday morning to regain full fitness. Both players' were hurt in Saturday’s bruising Welsh club match between Pontypool and Neath, with Squire twisting his ankle and Windsor suffering from what has been variously described as a strained hamstring and a torn muscle sheath behind | his knee. As the Welsh coach, Mr John Dawes, helped by the recently retired Terry Co'bner, put his squad through intensive training, another member of the famous Pontypool and Wales front-row, the prop, Charlie Faulkner, trained alone, nursing an injured hand. But Faulkner was rested on Saturday and is considered a definite starter for the test.