Francis bows out of World Cup

Tomas Francis has returned to Exeter Chiefs after Wales were knocked out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage over the weekend.

The tight-head prop went on as a replacement midway through the second half as Warren Gatland's men lost 23-19 against South Africa at Twickenham.

Scrum-half Fourie du Preez went over for the decisive try in the 75th minute after a well worked move from the back of a scrum.

There was no way back for Wales, who had led 13-12 at the break.

Francis was the only one of the seven Chiefs players to go to the tournament to make it past the group stages.

Wales boss Gatland said: "We are absolutely gutted. I am proud of the performance of the guys but I don't really want to talk about my emotions at the moment. The boys gave everything, emptied their tanks but we just weren't good enough to hold on for 80 minutes."

Francis, 23, was one of a number of younger players in the Wales squad for the World Cup and Gatland thinks it bodes well for the future that they have all got experience in this tournament.

"A lot of the younger players are just learning to play at this intensity," he said. "They are still pretty quiet on the field and in training but it's a great position for us to have developed some strength in depth to be going forward."