Wales Medical Report: Issue 3

New Wales Head Coach, Scott Johnson, has been boosted by the return to full fitness of Scarlets centre Matthew Watkins this week. Watkins suffered from a dead leg during the victory over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium, but has returned to full fitness as Johnson prepares his side to travel to Ireland in the RBS Six Nations clash on Sunday.

However, Ospreys wing Shane Williams, who suffered a similar dead leg injury, has yet to return to full training and Dragons fly-half Ceri Sweeney (groin) has been ruled out by the Wales medical team for selection against Ireland.

“Matthew is taking a full part in training, but Shane will not get fully involved for a further couple of days,” said Wales Team Physio Mark Davies. “Ceri (Sweeney) is almost three weeks down the road to recovery from his groin injury, but is also unable to participate in full team training at the moment and he has been ruled out for the weekend’s match.”

While Johnson waits on Williams and will consult team doctors tomorrow morning over captain Gareth Thomas’s migraine he has also been boosted by Ospreys centre Gavin Henson’s return to the national squad after a ban.