Well here’s a big blow. Just as we were coming to terms with the Andy Powell golf buggy incident (by coming to terms I of course mean stopping laughing), and his subsequent dropping from the 6 Nations squad we now find ourselves another forward down – this time in the shape of lock Alun Wyn Jones.
The elbow injury he sustained vs Scotland has ruled him out of the 6 Nations, with a likely lay off time of 12 weeks (disappointingly also missing the Osreys’ Heineken Cup quarter final in France). This is a big blow to Wales who have, in my opinion, been suffering at ruck time.
Whilst Alun is not the dog of someone like Gough (beng more of a ‘flyer’) he still puts in some vital work at the breakdown, and was one of the few to show up with some decent carrying and workrate vs Scotland. Given that Jonathon Thomas is likely to move across from 2nd row to 6 (and rightly so, he is too lightweight to be an international 2nd row) in the absence of Andy Powell this is going to mean all change at 2nd row.
Ian Gough, Bradley Davies, Deniol Jones and Luke Charteris are the current locks in the squad and smart money is on Bradley taking one of the roles after an impressive showing from the bench. Luke Charteris has long been a favourite of Gatland’s and has been played a fair amount of international rugby recently, whilst Gough has found himself more in international wilderness and Jones has barely been mentioned.
My preference would be for Gough and Davies. We saw vs Scotland how having lightweight 2nd rows was an issue when it come to clearing rucks, and JT is best served on the flank anyway (the other option is him continuing at 2nd row with Dan Lydiate playing blindside). Both Gough and Bradley Davies have a huge amount of ‘dog’ about them, are quality clearers of rucks and will give our tight 5 more ‘oomph’, something it was severely lacking vs Scotland.
But however we look at it the loss of Alun Wyn Jones is a big blow. We need the incoming players to step up to the plate – not something that has happened all that often in the last couple of years.
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