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Wales provide latest Biggar injury update with quarter-finals looming
By Josh Raisey
Wales attack coach Alex King has labelled the injury that forced Dan Biggar from the field in the opening minutes of the match against Australia as only a "slight injury" and remains upbeat about the fly-half's chances of making the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
The Toulon No10 will miss out on Wales' final match of Pool C this weekend against Georgia as he recovers from a pulled chest muscle, with Gareth Anscombe starting in his stead. With Wales already qualified for the quarter-finals after their record 40-6 win over Australia, this was always a change that might have been made regardless of whether the 33-year-old was fit or not.
After naming the squad to face Wales, King was fairly relaxed about Biggar's injury and remains confident that he will bounce back for the knockout stages.
"He is just getting his recovery in after his slight injury," he said. "He is in the recovery stage and it's important he gets back ready for the quarter-final."
After replacing Biggar in the first-half against the Wallabies, Anscombe went on to level Biggar's World Cup record points haul for Wales, 23, so former fly-half King has plenty of faith in the back-up No10.
He said: "He was great after coming on after nine minutes. If something happens in the game it shows the guys on the bench have an important role to be ready to go straight away and even the guys who aren't in the 23. If something happens between Monday and the weekend you have to know your role and be able to step in at a moment's notice. The strength of this squad is the 33, it's not just the 15 who start."
Wales only need a losing bonus point against Georgia to top Pool C, but King made it quite clear they want to win the match, particularly after losing to them in Cardiff last year.
"We want to win the game," King said. "We want to carry on [what we have been doing] over the last four weeks. We understand the threat Georgia pose after meeting in Cardiff 11 months ago, the performance they put in against Fiji on the weekend.
"I know one of the coaches, he is a good friend of mine. They will be absolutely firing at the weekend that is for sure."
It is likely Wales will then face one of Argentina or Japan in the quarter-finals, who are both level on points in Pool D and face each other on Sunday.
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Latest Comments
So was I right to infer that you assumed a 1:1 correspondence between points and places?
If so why were you so evasive about admitting that?
I don't have much of an opinion about how it should be done. It isn't my preferred system as I think there should be a significant number of teams who qualify directly as a result of their performance in the previous year's CC. But I think 6/5/5 or 6/6/4 would probably make the most sense as splits if they ever did go over to the UEFA model.
Go to commentsStopping the drop off out of high school has to be of highest priority - there is a lot of rugby played at high school level, but the pathways once they leave are not there. Provincial unions need support here from Rugby Canada to prop up that space.
Concussion is also an issue that has seen sports like ultimate frisbee gain ground. All competitions and clubs should integrate touch rugby teams into their pathways. Whenever clubs play XVs games, they should also be taking 20mins to play a competitive touch rugby game too.
Then take rugby branding and move it away from the fringe game that only crazy people play and make it an exercise-first sport that caters to everyone including people who don't want contact.
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