Steve Hansen, the Wales coach, has opened the door of opportunity to fringe players ahead of Saturday's final World Cup warm-up game against Scotland. His first-choice side was well beaten by England in Cardiff last weekend, with the visitors scoring five tries in a 43-9 success.
Until then, Hansen had pencilled in 20 names for his final 30-man World Cup squad. However, he saw enough in the recent defeat to revise his thinking for the game against Scotland. ''One or two players did not do themselves justice so I suppose that opens the door for the other guys,'' said Hansen, who saw his side defeat Romania last night 54-8.
''I said that 20 players were virtually there, but on Saturday I was not that impressed with the way we failed to guts it out. Maybe now there are one or two more places up for grabs.''
The Scots were 17 points up inside 20 minutes against Wales last season and, despite a late rally, Scotland held on to secure victory. ''That defeat was just as disappointing as the one we suffered at the hands of the Italians in Rome,'' said Hansen.
''We gave them a huge start and found ourselves chasing the game. When we played the kind of rugby that we had talked about before the game, we scored tries.''
Hansen will use this final practice match to run the rule over young backs Matthew Watkins, Jamie Robinson, and Ceri Sweeney as well as forwards Alix Popham, Gavin Thomas, Vernon Cooper, Duncan Jones, and Michael Owen.
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