Francis suffers injury in semi-final defeat
By Mark Stevens
27/10/19
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has admitted an injury to Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis ‘doesn’t look brilliant’ after he was forced from the field during today’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against South Africa in Yokohama.
The 27-year-old forward had to be replaced during before the break after he attempted to stop rampaging Springboks No.8, Duane Vermuelen.
Medics immediately withdrew Francis - and had to do similar shortly after with team-mate George North - after he picked up a hamstring injury.
The loss of both men merely added to the woes of Gatland, who watched his side miss out on a place in Saturday’s World Cup Final against England.
With little to choose between either side for much of the contest, it was a late Handre Pollard penalty which sealed victory for the Springboks after Josh Adams' try had brought Wales level at 16-16 going into the final minutes.
"It was not to be," said Gatland. "The dream was that as my first game in charge of Wales was against England for the last to be against them as well.
"It was a very tough encounter, and well done to South Africa," said Gatland. "We punched massively above our weight in terms of playing numbers in Wales, we gave 100% in a close contest. But South Africa deserved to win."
Gatland believes his Welsh players have done the nation proud following their semi-final exit.
"We are disappointed, but I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved in this World Cup," he said. "We can hold our heads held high and leave Japan with a lot of respect.
"This is a great group of players that I have been involved with and we have to enjoy this week. We are very disappointed about tonight and not being in the final.
"But [forwards coach] Robin McBryde said in the changing room afterwards we have to enjoy the five months we have had together and the hard work we have done and what this group of players and coaches have achieved.
"Next Friday [against New Zealand] will be the last time we are together and we have to make sure we enjoy this week."
The loss of both Francis and North merely compounded things for the Welsh, who had lost back-rower Josh Navidi (hamstring) and full-back Liam Williams (ankle) ahead of the semi-final.
Gatland refused to use that as an excuse.
"There's no doubt we've had a couple of injuries along the way and we've picked up a couple tonight, but there's no excuse about that," said Gatland
"It's part of the game and sport. It's a squad of 31 and you don't like to see any player get injured, but you've got to have trust in the 31 that you've selected that they can do a job for you.
"We'll look closely over the next couple of days in how the players pull up and see whether we need to make a few changes and give some players a rest because it's only a five-day turnaround.
"Tomas Francis' shoulder doesn't look brilliant. We'll look at the squad and the depth we've got in the squad and who we might need out here. It's a long way to come to hold bags in a training session for a couple of days so we will have those discussions."