Wales beat Italy 23-19 in their World Cup warm-up match on Saturday but the win came at a cost for the home side, as they lost two key players to injury ahead of the tournament.
It wasn't the most convincing performance, and the injuries to Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb may come back to haunt them. Mike Phillips and Eli Walker have since been called up.
George North scored for Wales, while Leonardo Sarto and Lorenzo Palazzani scored Italy's tries.
credit: rugby channel
Well said.
We all want to see the world's best players on the field at the World Cup, and Halfpenny especially is going to be missed.
It is impossible for us to say from the outside if whatever niggle Halfpenny was carrying could have contributed to the ACL injury, but he clearly was not 100% fit - whatever the exact reason, I find it hard to understand why he was playing.
Well said.
We all want to see the world's best players on the field at the World Cup, and Halfpenny especially is going to be missed.
It is impossible for us to say from the outside if whatever niggle Halfpenny was carrying could have contributed to the ACL injury, but he clearly was not 100% fit - whatever the exact reason, I find it hard to understand why he was playing.
Halfpenny a loss for the tournament, not just Wales. I take no satisfaction at all in any perceived advantage this may bring for England and on a personal level I just feel gutted for the bloke.
I think Gatland and his team have some questions to answer here.
Halfpenny was clearly not in proper physical condition for this. Did you see how much strapping he had on that knee already!? For it to give way on its own like that is a clear indication that there was significant damage there, which the medical team *must* have been aware of, hence all that strapping.
Why on earth would you risk your greatest asset in a meaningless warm-up game, when he could be getting some physio treatment or simply a proper amount of rest and recuperation?