Wales are dealt huge injury blow ahead of Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Argentina with Taulupe Faletau ruled out of the tournament with a broken arm… but Los Pumas could be without talismanic Pablo Matera for do-or-die clash

• Wales will be without Taulupe Faletau for the rest of World Cup after broken arm
• Argentina also without key player Pablo Matera for quarter-final meeting 
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here 

On Saturday night, joy turned to despair for Wales fans when Warren Gatland delivered the grim medical bulletin that No 8 Taulupe Faletau will miss the rest of this World Cup with a broken arm.

A little less than 24 hours later, it was Argentina’s turn to lose a key back-row for the quarter-finals, Pablo Matera suffering a significant hamstring injury in a 39-27 win over Japan.

There has been good news and bad to digest for those of a Welsh and Pumas persuasion this weekend. It means that when the two countries meet in Marseille on Saturday to kick-off the knock-out rounds, the winner is likely to come from the team which copes best with enforced absences.

Matera is not definitely out of the Wales game but it looks close to certain that like Faletau, he also won’t feature again in France.

Even without Faletau, Wales should still be confident of reaching the semi-finals. On Sunday, their head coach Gatland opted to replace the experienced forward with scrum-half Kieran Hardy.

Taulupe Faletau will play no further part for Wales in this year’s tournament after arm break 

Wales number 8 suffered the injury during their win over Georgia on Saturday night 

Pablo Matera will be missing for Argentina for their quarter-final showdown with Wales 

‘We feel we have a number of options in the back-row, so we’ve decided to call up Kieran to give us extra cover at scrum-half and to take some pressure off from a training perspective,’ said Gatland, who currently has only two specialist No 9’s in his squad in Tomos Williams and Gareth Davies.

Hardy joined up with the Wales squad in Versailles last night (SUN) and Faletau headed home.

Aaron Wainwright is likely to move from flanker to No 8 for Wales against Michael Cheika’s Pumas with two of co-captain Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Taine Basham, Dan Lydiate and Christ Tshiunza ready to complete the Welsh back-row at Stade de Marseille.

Gatland could play Morgan and Reffell – who are both best at No 7 – as dual opensides but hinted that would lessen his team’s line-out threat against Argentina.

Even without the likely absence of Matera, the Pumas have a giant pack which boasts a number of options when it comes to set-piece jumpers. Gatland is wary of that.

He will also surely have noted Argentina’s high error count and suspect defence against Japan

MATCH STATS  

Louis Rees-Zammit is the seventh Wales player to score a hat-trick of tries in a World Cup game after Glenn Webbe, Ieuan Evans, Gareth Thomas, Scott Williams, Cory Allen and Josh Adams.

Scorers

Wales

Tries: Francis 16, L Williams 23, Rees-Zammit 43, 67, 74, North 80

Cons: Costelow 17,24, 44, 69, 81

Pen: Costelow 27

Georgia

Tries: Sharikadze 35, Karkadze 59, Niniashvili 62

Cons: Matkava 36, 60

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)

Attendance: 33,580

Star man: Louis Rees-Zammit (Wales)

Wales: L Williams (Grady 69); Rees-Zammit, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Costelow, T Williams (Davies 61); G Thomas (Smith 52), Lake (capt) (Dee 52), Francis (H Thomas 52), Rowlands, Jenkins, Wainwright (Basham 62), Reffell, Faletau (Tshiunza 69)

Replacement not used: Biggar

Georgia: Khmaladze (Tapladze 40); Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze (capt), Niniashvili; Matkava (Abzhandadze 69); Lobzhanidze (Aprasidze 58); Gogichashvili (Abuladze 40), Mamukashvili (Karkadze 40), Gigashvili (Aptsiauri 50), Cheishvili (Chachanidze 49), Mikautadze, Gachechiladze (Tsutskiridze 69), Saginadze, Jalagonia

Mateo Carreras scored a hat-trick for the Pumas and Cheika’s side were closer to their attacking best in Nantes. But Argentina were poor without the ball against the Brave Blossoms, 29 missed tackles allowing Japan to score three times. Wales have players who can take advantage.

One of them is flying wing Louis Rees-Zammit who is having a fine tournament.

The 22-year-old declared it his ambition to one day become the best player in the world before heading to France and ending the World Cup as its leading scorer is on Rees-Zammit’s radar.

His treble in the 43-19 win over Georgia means he now has five tries at his first global showpiece, one behind Les Bleus wing Damian Penaud who currently leads the charts on six.

‘It’s something that’s in the back of my head but getting the wins is all that matters. I’d love to be top try scorer,’ said Rees-Zammit.

‘Hat-tricks help the team. That’s all I ask for.’

Rees-Zammit continued: ‘I’m definitely a quicker player. I’m a lot fitter as well. I haven’t missed training for a couple of months now which is great.

‘I’m buzzing with the way I’m playing at the minute. It’s a massive week now. Argentina have a good kicking game and with ball in hand they’re very dangerous as well.’

Wales’ fourth successive World Cup win saw them finish top of Pool C with 19 points from a possible 20.

But the Georgia success – which followed wins over Fiji, Portugal and Australia – came at a cost.

Aside from Faletau, fly-half Gareth Anscombe is also a big doubt for Argentina. The fly-half withdrew from the Georgia game after pulling his groin in the warm-up.

Gatland hopes full-back Liam Williams will be fit for this weekend although he isn’t expected to train in the next few days after suffering a bang to his knee against Georgia.

‘It’s not great. We’re all devastated for him,’ Rees-Zammit said of Faletau.

‘We wish him a speedy recovery. We’re all gutted.’

Wales should have first-choice No 10 Dan Biggar back for Argentina. Biggar suffered a pectoral injury against Australia and sat on the bench for the Georgia game after Sam Costelow was promoted to start following Anscombe’s withdrawal.

‘They’re extremely tough up front so we’re going to have to be our very, very best,’ Wales forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys said of Argentina.

‘They’ve got a great line-out defence and their scrum is strong. Nothing really changes in how we want to approach the game. This tournament is all about building momentum.

‘You can’t replace what Taulupe does. He’s truly a world-class player. There’s a huge onus on everybody else to bring more. There’s been a huge amount of growth across this tournament in people like Aaron. He has been exceptional. I know, and he knows, there’s more in him.

‘We have loads of players who can give more and want to give more. They’ll have to if we want to progress beyond the quarter-finals.’

After his Wales side was beaten by South Africa in the last four of the 2019 World Cup, Gatland was asked for his views on the upcoming final between the Springboks and England.

Warren Gatland has some big calls to make following the injuries to his Wales squad 

He pointed out he had his doubts over whether England could replicate the impressive nature of their semi-final win over New Zealand a week later. His comments were seen in some quarters as jealous and needlessly provocative. They certainly irked then England head coach Eddie Jones.

Gatland wasn’t looking to stir the pot. His comments came from his experience which told him teams often find it hard to back-up strong displays in their next game the following week.

England, of course, went on to lose the 2019 final and you have to wonder if Argentina can follow their Japan win with another against Wales.

Even though Faletau is now back at home and Anscombe may well follow him, Wales are in a good place and Gatland will be able to recall Biggar, Morgan, Adam Beard, Josh Adams and Ryan Elias for Argentina. They were all given the weekend off to rest with the business end of the tournament approaching.

Wales have no need to fear the Pumas and Matera’s loss, like Faletau’s for Gatland’s men, weakens them no end.

A big week awaits.

Source: Read Full Article