charteris returns

luke charteris is back in the wales squad. he played his first game since picking up an injury in rwc11 in the dragons defeat to munster on the weekend.

could charteris shore up the welsh 2nd row and help with the stuttering welsh line out or is it too soon for him? should he play for the dragons or wales next weekend? will he be fully match fit for the game against france in a fortnight?

Bench is not out of the question:

1-8 Jenkins, Owens, Jones, AWJ, Evans, Lydiate, Warburton, Faletau
16-19 James, Hibbard/Rees, Charteris, Ryan

If he had another game under his belt, Italy would be a good game to play him with cover on the bench. AWJ had game time but he did very little in the game and was replaced but in fairness it was against England. A bench pplace against Italy may be possible leaving Ryan as cover.

Yeah he's back in the squad, but I don't see him featuring in either matchday squad probably. The only thing he has in his favour is his lineout ability over RJ. I wouldn't be too surprised to see him train with Wales this week, but be released for Dragons v Blues next Thursday.

I think that a fit and in form AWJ would mean you would be right. I think they want Charteris in the 22.

I hope your right Risca, I want to see Evans and AWJ have another game, a bit harsh on Ryan as he's made a difference at every entry to games, but he'll do the same against Italy.

Charteris didn't look too good against Munster

AWJ was anonomous against England

On form, our best 2nd row pairing would be Evans and R.Jones

Rushing back Charteris and AWJ could be a mistake against France.

Charteris should train with Wales and go back to Dragons to get another game.We may well need him against France!

He's a big game player. If its between him and Powell for a bench spot, it's got to be him.

Against Italy Shingler and/or Ryan would be plenty good enough.Luke needs game time.

Taffineastbourne wrote:Charteris should train with Wales and go back to Dragons to get another game.We may well need him against France!

Sadly, because of the way the fixtures go, he doesn't have that luxury as I doubt he would play Dragons v Blues a week Thursday (our next game) and then play France a day and a half later.

Risca Rev wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:Charteris should train with Wales and go back to Dragons to get another game.We may well need him against France!

Sadly, because of the way the fixtures go, he doesn't have that luxury as I doubt he would play Dragons v Blues a week Thursday (our next game) and then play France a day and a half later.

B*gger!Cant see him being a serious contender then.He was off the pace against Munster and to gain match fitness against Italy is far from ideal.
Could he get a game for Newport or Ebbw Vale???

As long as we can still put R.Jones/AWJ and Tipuric on the bench then we don't need Charteris for this campaign.

I hope you're right and nobody gets crocked against Italy.

Charteris didn't look highly match-fit against Munster, in fact I think he made an unforced error or two. I wouldn't have him against Italy, although if he trains up well enough in the next 12 days there's no reason why he won't be in contention for the France finale.

Cliche but true,there is no substitute for match fitness.I am sure that Luke has been running and doing all exercisese that his wrist injury permitted but there is no substitute for game time.He is not ready for France and needs some sort of game to be in with a chance.Sitting on the bench against Italy will only help his glutes!

wales606 wrote:
On form, our best 2nd row pairing would be Evans and R.Jones

Rushing back Charteris and AWJ could be a mistake against France.

i think you're right