Key players to miss Wales tour to South Africa

A severely depleted Wales team are set to tour South Africa for three Tests against the Springboks in July.

The world champions are scheduled to face Wales on the three consecutive Saturdays in July and already it looks like the Boks will be the big favourites going into the matches.

Wales, already under pressure after a less than encouraging Six Nations where they finished fifth with just one win, are set to be without several first choice players.

Walesonline reports that coach Wayne Pivac will be unable to name many senior players when the tour squad is announced next week.

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Among the players who look set to be ruled out are loose forwards Aaron Wainwright and Justin Tipuric, as well as prop Ken Owens.

Also in doubt are front-rankers Elliot Dee and Wyn Jones, both of whom are recovering from injury setbacks.

Samson Lee and Leon Brown are also front-row forwards who are unlikely to get the nod, either because of injury or lack of game-time.

Other players named by the Welsh publication who are in danger of not touring South Africa are Ross Moriarty, Will Rowlands and Christ Tshiunza — and that’s just the forwards.

In the backs, scrumhalf Tomos Williams is on the injured list, and his back-up, Willis Halaholo, is troubled by a hamstring injury and it seems it will be a big surprise if he is picked.

Other players giving Pivac sleepless nights are Josh Adams, Johnny McNicholl, Leigh Halfpenny, Jonah Holmes and Hallam Amos.

The Springboks squad for the series is expected to be named later this month, with the picked players going into camp on 6 June.

Test dates

2 July – Pretoria

9 July – Bloemfontein

16 July – Cape Town