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Warren Gatland releases one player from Wales squad back to region
By Josh Raisey
Wales have opted to send just one player back to their region ahead of the fallow weekend in the Guinness Six Nations, Dragons flanker Taine Basham.
The 24-year-old has made just one appearance so far this Championship, with Warren Gatland using him from the bench against England in round two at Twickenham.
Basham will now be available to face Ulster in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday at the Kingspan Stadium, with his head coach Dai Flanagan saying he needs "regular rugby".
“It’s great to have Taine back. He needs to play some regular rugby now,” said Flanagan to the Dragons website.
“It's been a stop start season for Taine since he's come back from the World Cup.
“Taine is a young man, and we need to support him, back him and give him the opportunity to show the world what he can do, because you don't get man-of-the-match against New Zealand if you're not very good.
“Taine can do stuff that no one in Wales, as a back row player, can. He can break a line, can offload, he carries, he's powerful. He gets a lot of turnovers with rips,” he added.
“His biggest asset to us needs to be his consistency. That's what we're looking to see this week.
“He’s had a good block with Wales, worked extremely hard with Wales. We're looking forward to seeing him come back, put our jersey on and work extremely hard for our group.”
Elsewhere in the Wales squad, the Gallagher Premiership contingent of Dillon Lewis, Nick Tompkins, Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands and captain Dafydd Jenkins will return to their clubs despite having no game this weekend.
Top 14-based lock Will Rowlands will also return to Racing 92, who face Bordeaux-Begles on Saturday.
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Latest Comments
So spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
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