Although Thomas, Gethin Jenkins, Stephen Jones, Dwayne Peel and Ryan Jones have all gained selection in Sir Clive Woodward’s XXII, Shane Williams, Martyn Williams, Gavin Henson, Gareth Cooper, Michael Owen and Tom Shanklin have all missed out, but Thomas, who has been an inspirational leader for Wales since taking over in charge eighteen months ago, said the players have taken the blow square on the chin.
“There was plenty of disappointment around the team hotel on Sunday as you can imagine. However, I haven’t felt it necessary to sit down with any one of the guys to have a quiet word,” he said. “They have taken it on the chin and are all determined to bounce back and hopefully gain selection in the second Test team.
“That has been the great thing about this tour so far. We are a group of forty-five players and although we all want to play, we realize that when we miss out we have to support the others. That has certainly been the case and I’m proud to say that the Welsh lads have been outstanding in that area.”
Henson was probably the most unfortunate to miss out, although Martyn Williams and Shane Williams came close too after the respective performances against Otago last weekend. Shanklin would certainly have been on the bench had he not have had a knee problem, whilst Owen almost certainly lost out to Ryan Jones’s performance last weekend.
Shanklin said: “I am okay to play, there is no problem with that because the knee is structurally sound. Unfortunately, it has been flaring up in between matches and that has meant missing out on some training and spending a great deal of time on the physio’s bench.”
Henson said: “Of course it’s tough to miss out because I felt I was in with a chance, but I love playing rugby and if I get a chance against Manawatu next week, I will give it my best shot.”
Meanwhile, the Welsh journalists on tour kept the momentum going for the nation when they featured in a Celtic League XI which defeated an English Journalists XI in a less than friendly soccer game at Christ College in Christchurch.
