Wales wait on injury worry Evans

WALES face an anxious wait to discover the extent of star second-row forward Ian Evans’ latest injury worry as the World Cup approaches.

Evans has been ruled out of Saturday’s vital tournament build-up clash with Argentina at Millennium Stadium with a damaged collarbone having not played since hurting his left shoulder on December 27 against Cardiff.

His place has been taken by Ospreys team-mate Alun-Wyn Jones, whose last outing was at number six as England blew Wales away in the nine-try 62-5 rampage at Twickenham on August 4.

Jones’ place on the replacements’ bench has yet to be announced, but it should be a straight choice between the versatile back-five player Michael Owen or Gloucester’s Will James.

An operation and lengthy rehabilitation brought Evans back into contention for the World Cup, but he suffered an injury to his left collarbone in training on Monday.

The best-case scenario would leave Evans free to face France on Sunday, August 26, but would leave him desperately short of match practice going into the tournament that Wales kick off against Canada in Nantes on September 9.

Coach Gareth Jenkins has made no secret of pinning huge hopes on the 22-year-old’s ability to help provide a dramatic and much-needed improvement to a lineout phase that has struggled to meet the demands of Test rugby under his reign.

Jenkins and set-piece coach Robin McBryde have come in for heavy criticism over repeated failures by Wales’ throwers and jumpers to get their act together and despite not having played for almost eight months — one more than Gavin Henson — Evans was given the nod for the World Cup.

But there was no comfort for Wales to find in the words of physiotherapist Mark Davies as he revealed news of Evans’ injury and declined to rule out the possibility the player suffered a fracture.

Davies said: “Quite simply, Ian sustained a blow to his collarbone in contact on Monday morning and he didn’t train later in the day. We’ll know further as to the extent of the injury [today] after a consultation. I would rather not speculate on the nature of the injury.