by Adam Cleary
WALES got their 2021 Guinness Six Nations campaign underway on Sunday with a victory over Ireland at the Principality Stadium.
Wales would have been delighted to start with a win albeit against 14 men however Wales suffered four injuries with Dan Lydiate, Tomos Williams, Johnny Williams and Hallam Amos all leaving the field injured.
Head coach Wayne Pivac has already ruled the quartet out of Saturday’s game against Scotland. Johnny Williams and Hallam Amos suffered head injuries and failed their head injury assessments so will miss out while Tomos Williams pulled his hamstring and Dan Lydiate suffered an ACL injury and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
The injury to Dan Lydiate particularly is a massive blow for both Wales and the Ospreys with the 33 year old regaining his form at regional level and getting back to the form which saw him named 2012 Six Nations Player of the Tournament.
Former Wales teammate Tom Shanklin joked on social media “ Feel for you @dan_lydiate hope you recover soon”. Maybe just do some upper body TikTok’s for a bit.”
Sympathy for Lydiate also came from his Ospreys teammate Lloyd Ashley via instagram, “Absolutely gutted for @dannylyds! You won’t find a harder worker or better bloke than him! Look forward to some big upper body sessions and hopefully a nice cheat meal”
This injury was huge blow for Lydiate who was making his first Wales appearance since 2018. The flanker has struggled with injuries throughout his career and impressed in his 13 minute cameo on Sunday before suffering the nasty injury. Lydiate has overcome serious injuries before, breaking his neck while playing for the Dragons in 2007. He showed incredible coverage to recover from an injury of that magnitude before making his Wales debut just two years later.
Due to the four injured players being unavailable for Saturday’s game against Scotland, head coach Wayne Pivac has called up a trio of Cardiff Blues players. Scrum half Lloyd Williams, flanker James Botham and uncapped centre Willis Halaholo will link up with the squad for the remainder of the tournament.