Jenkins waits on the wingers

Welsh wingers Mark Jones and Shane Williams will have to prove their fitness to coach Gareth Jenkins by this afternoon if they are to have any hope of facing Ireland in their first Six Nations game in Cardiff on Sunday.

The pair were initially ruled out after Jones injured his ankle and Williams his hip, but as is so often the case in modern sport, their recovery times appear to have been overestimated.

Jenkins, who is due to name his team tomorrow, has already lost centre Tom Shanklin to injury and has a headache over the experienced Gareth Thomas, who has a European Rugby Cup disciplinary hearing tomorrow.

Jones reckons his chances of lining out in the Millennium Stadium are at about 50-50.  Williams is not so optimistic, but if he doesn't make it, it won't be for the want of trying.

"I want to be playing on Sunday and I have been training my nuts off - I literally mean that! - to get back in time," he said today. "Now it is make-or-break time. It is only fair on Wales if I make my mind up this afternoon.

"It has been a hard couple of weeks. The injury is in an area where I only need to cough to be reminded of it. It is an injury that no-one has - and I have had it twice. It is unbelievable.

"I struggled doing a few things in training yesterday that I would do easily on another day and you need to be 100 per cent to play Ireland.

Jones's ankle is causing particular problems for the winger when sprinting and while he too is desperate to play, he has no intention of hampering his side's chances of turning over the tournament favourites.

"I am still positive. Everything I have been asked to do has gone well," he said today. "I want to play more than anything in the world but when you cross that whitewash you are fit in everybody's eyes and you are judged on that.

"I won't know until we see how it reacts to training and I won't put the team in jeopardy if it is not right."

Thomas is to face an ERC charge of engaging in "offensive" and "aggressive" behaviour towards Ulster supporters in Toulouse, during their Heineken Cup clash in which Trevor Brennan is alleged to have struck an Irish supporter.

If Thomas is found guilty, a suspension would apply to the Six Nations and, coupled with the loss of the two wingers, would leave Jenkins in a bit of a quandary.

In that case Ospreys centre Gavin Henson would most likely start at fullback, with his clubmate James Hook at centre.

Hal Luscombe could fill in on the wing or beside the 21-year-old Hook, while Cardiff centre Jamie Robinson and rookie winger Chris Czekaj could also push their way into the first XV.