Injured Jones could miss Scarlets’ Cup clash against Munster

GARETH THOMAS will captain Wales in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash with England after Stephen Jones was forced to pull out with a fractured bone in his wrist.

Jones aggravated the injury in training and will be out of action for around three weeks, which leaves him a major doubt for the Llanelli Scarlets’ Heineken Cup quarter-final against Munster on March 30.

Wales head coach Gareth Jenkins reacted to the unexpected news by promoting Thomas from the bench to lead the team from inside centre with James Hook shifting to fly-half.

It will only be Thomas’ third start for Wales in 13 months due to a combination of injury – he suffered a “mini-stroke” during last year’s Six Nations – and suspension.

And he has been plunged in at the deep end. Wales head into the England game on a run of five straight defeats, facing the prospect of the wooden spoon and a Six Nations whitewash.

Thomas lost the full-time captaincy to Jones before the 2006 autumn international series and his only rugby in the last eight weeks was off the bench in Wales’ defeat to Italy.

Thomas vowed to dedicate any triumph over England to Jones, who has been under immense pressure as Wales struggled through the Championship.

Thomas said: “Not only is Stephen my team mate but he is one of my best mates so I really do feel sorry for him.

“Stephen has taken a lot of stick and it would be good to dedicate a win towards him.”

There has also been a growing clamour for Hook to be given the coveted fly-half jersey and Wales have missed Thomas’ influence.

Of the last 11 Tests Wales have played without him in the starting XV, they have lost nine and managed only a draw with Italy and win over the Pacific Islands.

France have kept faith with the bulk of the team which was overwhelmed by England last weekend for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship showdown against Scotland in Paris.

Only three changes have been made to the Les Bleus side that blew its opportunity of a Grand Slam by losing 26-18 to the world champions.

Scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, number eight Imanol Harinordoquy and winger Cedric Heymans all come into the starting line-up, with Dimitri Yachvili, Sebastien Chabal and Christophe Dominici dropping out.

The likes of Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Elvis Vermeulen, who were recalled to the squad for this weekend’s game, have been named on the bench.

Head coach Bernard Laporte, who is “expecting a lot more” from the 12 players retained, claims a major reshuffle would have simply meant bringing in untested players who “lacked rhythm” at this vital stage of the tournament.

Meanwhile Veteran Italy scrum-half Alessandro Troncon believes a disciplinary committee decision to ban Mauro Bergamasco following a charge of unsporting conduct was little more than a measure to appease Wales.

Bergamasco received a four-week ban on Tuesday for punching Stephen Jones during last weekend’s 23-20 triumph against Wales, a game marred by controversy at the death.

Referee Chris White angered the Welsh camp by blowing the full-time whistle despite indicating to the players they had enough time to take one final line-out.

Wales had just spurned the opportunity to kick a penalty to level the scores in order to go for a match-winning try.

Troncon said: “I haven’t seen the replay of the punch but considering what happened in the last minutes of the game and the subsequent controversies, I believe that in order to keep the Welsh happy the judges have decided on this punishment. In the end, it doesn’t matter because we won the game.”