John makes three changes for Wales Sevens

Nov 25 • Sevens Rugby, Sevens World Series, World Rugby • 2049 Views • Comments Off on John makes three changes for Wales Sevens

Wales head coach Paul John has made three changes to the Welsh Sevens side for the second round of the 2013/14 HSBC Sevens World Series in Dubai.
Will Thomas broke his jaw during the season opener on Australia’s Gold Coast and is replaced by Ashley Evans, a try scorer in Wales Under 20s’ semi final and final at the IRB Junior World Championship in France earlier this year.
Luke Morgan and Jason Harries are also named in the squad, replacing Alex Webber and Iolo Evans, who has a broken hand.
“Ashley played Under 20s earlier this year and did well and has been training well for the last couple of weeks so he deserves a go,” said John.
“Luke, who has been part of our core group all year and been training really well and had a good week last week so has been selected. He was with us in Wellington last year and is an exciting prospect. He is quick, good on his feet, works hard and iis on an upward spiral.
“Jason was unlucky to miss out on the Gold Coast trip, and was part of the Hong Kong squad that reached the final earlier this year. It just shows the competitiveness in the squad, especially up front, but Jason thoroughly deserves to be there.
Wales had mixed fortunes in Australia, going unbeaten on day one including a 22-19 win over Fiji, before losing both matches on day two.
With John acknowledging that all four sides in Wales’ pool will believe they can make the Cup competition, the head coach is hoping his side can play all three matches “like we do when we play against side like Fiji.
“There is no such thing anymore as an easy pool, the other three sides make it a tricky group as everyone thinks they’ll have a chance of making the quarter finals.
“We haven’t beaten Scotland or Spain for a while and Australia speak for themselves. The first two games are massive, and points difference will be important too in a pool where anyone can beat anyone.
“We have an opportunity as equally as the others do but we need to be on top of our game and need to play like we do when we play against sides like Fiji.”
Wales squad for Dubai and South Africa: Ashley Evans, Rhys Jones, Lee Wiliams, Chris Knight, Luke Morgan, James Davies, Alex Walker, Rhys Shellard, Jason Harries, Adam Field, Samuel Cross, Adam Thomas.

Courtesy of IRB