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Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones set to miss start of 2021 Six Nations
By PA
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones faces a race against time to be fit for the start of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations Championship. The 35-year-old Ospreys lock – Test rugby’s most capped player – suffered a knee injury during Wales’ Autumn Nations Cup victory over Italy earlier this month.
Ospreys head coach Toby Booth says that Jones’ absence could be “double figures” in terms of weeks from when he was injured. Wales kick off their Six Nations campaign at home to Ireland on February 7, which is followed by a Murrayfield appointment with Scotland six days later.
Speaking ahead of Ospreys’ European Challenge Cup game against Worcester on Saturday, Booth said: “We’ve spoken to the powers that be in relation to his knee. “We think he will be double-figures weeks. If I said it to Alun, he would say: ‘I will be back in eight’. That’s the nature of the beast.
“He is probably going to be somewhere around that sort of time-frame, which is disappointing for him and obviously for us. If anyone is going to get back early, it will be him.”
The news is a major concern for Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, who has overseen just three victories in 10 Tests since succeeding Warren Gatland last year.
Jones joins a list of injured Wales players, with the likes of Scarlets trio Liam Williams, Johnny Williams and Ken Owens, plus Dragons back row forward Ross Moriarty, all currently sidelined. If Jones is ruled out of the Ireland game, Pivac has a number of options to captain the team, probably led by flanker Justin Tipuric.
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Even with absences we still had the cattle to make the playoffs. As it was, we nearly stumbled our way into the top 8. Which shows just how easy it was to get there. And still we failed. As for Razor, there are many instances of him patching up the Crusaders roster. Numerous. Several players I'd never heard of. Also, using AB legend John Afoa was a classic.
But, some of the games we were losing were from schoolboy errors, or downright confusion. Either the players were really dumb (they weren’t) or they were poorly coached. Given the repetitive nature of errors, brain fades, poor decision making, & loose structures, this all lands with the coaching group.
With only six playoff spots now in SR, & Aussie franchises now consolidated to four, 2025 looks like a tight one. I'm picking we'll have to tough it out under Penney & hope for the best.
Go to commentsAgree we need a 10, 12, 13 refresh. ASAP. Well, next season now lol. Reiko should be put back on the wing. He'll be an absolute menace there. Imagine 11 Reiko 14 Clarke 15 Jordan as the backfield unit.
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