Wales’ injury crisis deepened last night when flanker Ryan Jones was ruled out for three to four weeks with a dislocated thumb suffered in the Ospreys’ Heineken Cup draw with Leicester.
Interim head coach Rob Howley is due to name his RBS Six Nations squad today but his options have been decimated by injury, particularly in the lock department.
Alun-Wyn Jones, Luke Charteris, Bradley Davies and Ian Evans are all currently injured while Jones, who could have moved from the back row to act as an emergency lock, has now joined them.
Initial prognosis
Although Jones will have his injury assessed next week, the initial prognosis will rule the former Wales captain out of their opening two fixtures against Ireland at the Millennium Stadium on February 2nd and France a week later.
Alun-Wyn Jones is not expected back in action until late February or early March after undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury. Perpignan forward Charteris is out for the season with knee ligament damage, while Cardiff Blues lock Davies faces an operation this week on an ankle problem.
Ospreys second-row Evans has not played since the autumn internationals because of a knee injury while blindside flanker Dan Lydiate is still on the comeback trail from an ankle ligament injury.
Ospreys hooker Richard Hibbard was forced off with what appeared to be a recurrence of shoulder trouble while fly-half Rhys Priestland and Ashley Beck are also on the injured list.
* Scotland: Interim head coach Scott Johnson has named 10 uncapped players in a 35-man squad for a training camp in Glasgow next week.
The former Ospreys coach has included back-row forwards Ryan Wilson and Chris Fusaro, scrum-half Sean Kennedy, hooker Pat MacArthur and wing Sean Maitland in a Scotland squad for the first time.
Full-back Peter Murchie, wing Tommy Seymour, centres Alex Dunbar and Peter Horne and lock Grant Gilchrist are the other uncapped players in the squad.
