Wales head coach Warren Gatland has promised seven-times capped England prop Henry Thomas will “bring something different” to their preliminary World Cup training squad.
Montpellier tighthead Thomas, who has played for Sale and Bath in the Gallagher Premiership, was capped by England between 2013 and 2014 and has served World Rugby’s stand down period of three years to represent another country.
Thomas, 31, was the major selection surprise in Gatland’s 54-man training squad, which will be cut to 33 for the World Cup in France this September.
Scarlets loose head prop Wyn Jones – a British and Irish Lion in 2021 – and Exeter-bound Ospreys centre Joe Hawkins were notable absentees.
“He was involved last year with Montpellier winning the league and we think his experience will bring something different,” Gatland said of the Kingston upon Thames-born Thomas, who qualifies through his Welsh father.
“Jonathan Humphries (forwards coach) reached out and had a conversation with him about being potentially available.
“He was at Sale a number of years ago, they saw him as the big thing and had a lot of time at Bath before moving onto Montpellier.
“You’ve got to be pretty tough to play up front in France given how big some of the forwards are there.
“You’ve got to bring a physical element and be strong at the set-piece. He has also got some good ball-carrying ability and is pretty mobile getting around the park.
“We think he will give us some competition in the front row. He’s been around, so he will hopefully come in and make an impression.”
Jones was omitted from the World Cup less than two years after playing for the Lions in South Africa, while the five-times capped Hawkins has fallen foul of the Welsh Rugby Union’s 25-cap policy following his move to Devon.
Players who play outside Wales must have 25 caps to represent their country, the number having been reduced from 60 in February.
Thomas is not caught under the rule as he has yet to play for Wales, but he would have to return to play in the country after his current Montpellier deal expires should he be capped in the meantime.
On Hawkins’ exclusion, Gatland said: “He’s made his decision to go to Exeter and I’ve spoken to him two or three times.
“We told him he was a big part of our future and definitely in the 23, either in the midfield or at 10.
“We are disappointed that he’s made that decision. He feels at the moment that going to play club rugby in England will be good for his development.
“He felt that he was potentially undervalued a little bit. He’s been offered a pretty significant deal and he’s made that decision to move on.
“I’ve got to respect that decision but, from a coaching perspective, we’re disappointed to lose someone of his potential and his talent at least for the next few years.”
Dragons forward Will Rowlands, who has agreed to join French club Racing 92 next season, has been included despite having only 23 caps to his name.
Rowlands’ registration will remain in Wales during the summer and Gatland’s side have three World Cup warm-up games in August that could take him to the threshold required.
“The PRB (Professional Rugby Board) have said that Will Rowlands is eligible,” Gatland said.
“He’s still with the Dragons until the end of the year. He might get a couple more games which would make him eligible from the point of the 25-cap rule.”
Ten uncapped players have been named in the squad, among them Cardiff prop Corey Domachowski, who is preferred to Jones.
Veterans include Alun Wyn Jones – who is set to play at his fifth World Cup – Taulupe Faletau, George North and Leigh Halfpenny, who has 99 caps and was released by the Scarlets at the end of the season.
Hooker Ken Owens led Wales in this season’s Guinness Six Nations Championship, but Gatland has not named a World Cup captain at this stage.
Dave Kilcoyne: Ireland are frothing at the mouth to tackle Scotland at World Cup
Prop Dave Kilcoyne believes Ireland’s players are “frothing at the mouth” to face Scotland and insists there is no sense of self-satisfaction following a euphoric win over South Africa.
Andy Farrell’s men underlined their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation by defeating the reigning champions 13-8 last weekend in Paris.
But progression to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals is not yet assured moving towards next Saturday’s return to Stade de France for a pivotal showdown with the Scots.
Munster loosehead Kilcoyne believes a memorable evening against the Springboks was “parked” during some well-earned time off as attention quickly shifted to the team’s final Pool B fixture.
“Lads went away and spent a bit of downtime and were itching to get back in, bouncing, and it’s all eyes on Scotland now,” he said.
“That game is parked, we’ve a couple of massive learnings from it and we definitely won’t be falling in love with ourselves.
“Paulie (forwards coach Paul O’Connell) had a few tips for us in areas we were deficient in and we were out there (in training) making sure we had them right for Scotland.
View this post on Instagram“In a competition like this you’ve got to keep learning with every game and you’ve got to keep getting better.
“Next week poses a massive challenge to us again so we’ve got to prepare as best we can for that.
“Everyone’s frothing at the mouth to be involved.”
Kilcoyne is enjoying his second World Cup, having overcome the scare of suffering a hamstring tear during last month’s training camp in Portugal.
The 34-year-old remained in the French capital with other members of the squad to enjoy a couple of days off after the South Africa match before travelling back to camp in Tours ahead of schedule.
Kilcoyne feels the current Ireland setup is the best he has been involved in and praised the impact of head coach Andy Farrell.
“I’m loving it over here, you read people writing about the incredible environment Faz (Farrell) has created for the players,” said Kilcoyne.
“And I don’t say it for the sake of saying it, but I think his emotional intelligence is through the roof.
View this post on Instagram“You look at that South Africa game, such a big occasion physically and mentally fatiguing and to have the foresight to give the lads two days’ break, he probably knew how mentally and physically fatiguing that game was going to be for the whole country.
“I’m not going to be saying about other coaching environments but this is definitely the best Ireland environment I’ve ever been involved in since I’ve been playing, 100 per cent.
“When there’s great camaraderie in the squad, you love being around it.”
Captain Ardie Savea proud of New Zealand’s 14-try drubbing of Italy
New Zealand captain Ardie Savea expressed his pride after the All Blacks demolished Italy at the Rugby World Cup.
An opening defeat by France that put their quarter-final hopes in jeopardy was forgotten as they ran in 14 tries in Lyon, eventually winning 96-17.
Savea told ITV1: “Not just myself but all the boys that played tonight, to put that effort in, I’m very proud.
“We’ve got talent across the board. We hadn’t really clicked but tonight we played some free rugby and that’s how I want my boys to play. We put a lot into this week and we got the rewards tonight.”
Centre Jordie Barrett added: “It’s massively satisfying. We didn’t start the tournament the way we wanted to but we put a few things in place and a step in the right direction tonight.”
He is not getting carried away about the All Blacks’ chances in the tournament as a whole, though, saying: “We’re one day at a time. I know it sounds cliche but we nailed our preparation for this game.
“We’ve got Uruguay in front of us in six days’ time so we’re not going to treat our preparation any differently and anything further than that is a bonus.”
Italy now face the prospect of having to beat France to have any chance of reaching the last eight, and fly-half Tommaso Allan felt his side contributed heavily to their downfall.
“When you give so many penalties away against New Zealand and they keep playing in your half, they’re going to keep scoring,” he said. “We lost all our scrums, lost all our line-outs really, so it’s just tough to start from that.
“We talked at half-time about trying to get some confidence for next week. We know it’s going to be as tough as this if not tougher. We’ve just got to stick together now. Start from scratch, don’t even think about this game, throw it in the bin.”
New Zealand close on World Cup quarter-final spot with 14-try mauling of Italy
New Zealand lit the touchpaper on their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 14-try hammering of Italy.
Defeat by France had left the All Blacks at risk of missing out on the quarter-finals but there appears no chance of that after a 96-17 romp in Lyon.
Aaron Smith scored a hat-trick of tries in the first half while lock Sam Whitelock came off the bench in the second half to overtake Richie McCaw as the most-capped All Black in Test history with his 149th appearance.
Italy would have dumped New Zealand out of the competition with a win but that never looked remotely on the cards from the moment in the sixth minute when Beauden Barrett launched a perfect cross-field kick for Will Jordan, who performed a leaping touchdown in the corner.
Tommaso Allan got Italy on the board early with a penalty but the rest of the first half was a horror show as Smith crossed three times, Ardie Savea twice and Mark Telea once, with the line-out proving particularly profitable.
Richie Mo’unga converted all seven first-half tries and nine in total, missing only his 10th attempt before being substituted.
Trailing 49-3 at half-time, Italy came out strongly for the second half and scored their first try in the 48th minute, Ange Capuozzo showing his speed in the corner.
But the All Blacks went straight down the other end and crossed again, Brodie Retallick applying the finish touch after Scott Barrett had charged down an attempted clearance.
Cam Roigard was denied a try after he was deemed to have made a double movement but moments later Dalton Papali’i notched the All Blacks’ ninth score.
They were approaching a century as Dane Coles twice, Damian McKenzie, Jordan and Anton Lienert-Brown all scythed through the Italian defence.
The final word went to Italy through Montanna Ioane’s try but this was emphatically the All Blacks’ night.
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