The Times - UK (2020-10-15)

the times | Thursday October 15 2020 2GM 61

Sport

Davies returned to

the Wales side in the

World Cup semi-final

Ambrose seized the opportunity again

and enjoyed ten more wonderful

years at Warwickshire — the best, he

says, of his career.

“I really got to appreciate the game;

the last ten years have been the best.

In a way, if I hadn’t gone through

those difficult experiences I might

just have drifted along, being bitter

about England or whatever. Instead I

feel very privileged to have learnt that

lesson and to have enjoyed the fruits

of it. I can walk away now able to

look back and think I made the most

of it, and I’ve got great memories and

now it’s on to the next thing.”

The next thing, Covid-19

permitting, means a move back to his

boyhood city of Newcastle, in New

South Wales, with his wife, Lisa, little

boy, Teddy, a cat and two dogs, and

who knows what then? “I’m excited

to try some different things, to see a

bit of the world and a life outside of

this weird existence that we have as

professional sportsmen.”

He announced his intention to

make 2020 his last season in July, but

the unusual circumstances of the

summer encouraged Warwickshire to

move on this year, and so he did not

get the farewell he envisaged. “I had

this picture-perfect image of playing

my last games in front of crowds at

grounds I knew well and soaking in

those last moments, maybe even

finishing with a trophy and stuff like

that. But that’s not reality, is it?”

All too rarely. Instead, Ambrose’s

swansong was 13 months ago, a four-

day game against Yorkshire with the

final three days lost to rain. He didn’t

take a catch and he didn’t get to the

crease. But, having emerged blinking

into the sunlight ten years ago and

having grasped a second chance he

didn’t think would come his way,

he’s fine with that. He really is.

“

Picking your bag off the

carousel, something

that I’d done all my life,

seemed inconvenient

REBECCA NADEN/PA

Lawrence and Willis will both

get chance to impress in camp

understood to have been ignored by

Jones again.

Ollie Lawrence, the Worcester

centre, is expected to link up with the

senior squad today as a potential re-

placement for Manu Tuilagi, who is out

of action for six months with a torn

achilles.

Lawrence, a 21-year-old centre

whose blend of powerful ball-carrying

and sharp footwork have been stressing

defences all season, was due to be part

of the original training squad but the

postponement of the Sale-Worcester

game prevented him from joining up.

With players from those clubs now

available, Jones is set to bring Tom Cur-

ry into camp and he could take the op-

portunity to work again with Ted Hill,

the Worcester captain.

The training squad named today will

not include players from Bristol Bears,

Exeter Chiefs or Wasps, the three clubs

who are still fighting for silverware.

Jones will name his final autumn

squad on Monday when Jack Willis, the

Wasps flanker, is expected to win a re-

call, having been picked by England for

the 2018 tour to South Africa only to

miss out after suffering a horrific knee

injury.

Willis has been outstanding for

Wasps in their march to the Premier-

ship final, wreaking havoc at the break-

down by winning 44 turnovers, more

than twice as many as his nearest rival,

and last night he was voted player of the

year by the Rugby Players Association.

His side’s preparations, though, for

the Gallagher Premiership final have

been disrupted after four players and

three members of the coaching staff

tested positive for coronavirus. The

club have had to cancel training ses-

sions for the rest of the week.

After beating Bristol in the semi-fi-

nals at the weekend, Wasps are due to

face Exeter in the final at Twickenham

a week on Saturday.

It is understood that the four Wasps

players who have caught the virus were

not frontline players involved in the

semi-final but the club will not resume

training until next week, by which time

they hope to have contained the spread

of the virus.

Another round of testing will be con-

ducted at Wasps today and further pos-

itive tests would raise concerns about

the viability of the final taking place.

Bristol, who face Toulon in the

European Challenge Cup final in Aix-

en-Provence tomorrow evening, will

not need to disrupt their preparations

by asking their players to self-isolate.

Their playing squad all tested negative

on Tuesday.

The four Wasps players are isolating

in the hope that the club does not suffer

an outbreak on the scale that forced

Sale to forfeit their final regular-season

fixture, against Worcester, last week.

Close contacts of those players are able

to return to training after a negative

test, but players who have tested posi-

tive must isolate for ten days and re-

quire two negative tests before they can

rejoin the squad.

“All seven, who are in good health

overall, are now self-isolating and so

are their close contacts,” a Wasps

statement said.

RFU allows trans women to play on

Transgender women will be permitted

to continue playing in the domestic

women’s game after the RFU decided

that further scientific evidence was

required before implementing a ban.

Last month World Rugby became the

first international sports body to rule

that trans women could no longer play

the elite-level women’s game.

After a comprehensive review, it con-

cluded that “safety and fairness cannot

be assured for women competing

against trans women in contact rugby”.

World Rugby’s position prevents trans

women from playing international

rugby for England or representing

Great Britain at the Olympics.

However, the RFU will not impose

those guidelines on domestic rugby in

England, believing that more work

needs to be done to identify ways that

transgender players can continue

playing contact rugby.

“The RFU would like to thank World

Rugby for the work it has undertaken

on this complex subject, which invokes

many strong opinions,” the English

governing body said. “The RFU does

not currently plan to adopt World

Rugby transgender guidelines as it

believes further scientific evidence is

required alongside detailed considera-

tion of less restrictive measures in

relation to the eligibility of transgender

players.

“We will assess the current evidence

alongside safety concerns that have

been raised. The RFU will also under-

take further consultation with players

in the women’s game to understand

their views. The RFU is committed to

LGBTQ+ inclusion as well as safety and

fairness across all levels of the game.”

World Rugby’s review concluded that

it was not possible to balance inclusivity

and fairness when it came to trans

women participating in women’s rugby.

However Dr Araba Chintoh, who

chaired the review, said that individual

unions would be able to “exercise flexi-

bility on a case-by-case basis at the

community level of the game... while

World Rugby will continue to prioritise

inclusion strategies to ensure that the

trans community remain an active,

welcome and important member of the

rugby family.”

Alex Lowe

Deputy Rugby Correspondent

Davies ‘risked his career’ playing injured

Jonathan Davies has revealed that he

risked ending his career by continuing

to play after a knee injury at the World

Cup last year.

The Wales and British & Irish Lions

centre, 32, suffered damage to his left

knee in a pool match against Fiji and

missed the quarter-final victory over

France. He returned to play in the

semi-final defeat by South Africa and

the bronze medal loss to New Zealand,

despite being warned he may not

play again.

“I was told that if I played in the semi

there was a risk of not finishing my

career, but I think it was potentially

worth the risk — it was worth the risk,

I made that decision,” Davies said. “I

don’t think I was quite playing on one

leg, but it was probably one and a half.

My knee was heavily strapped and I was

in pain.”

Surgery followed and an anxious 12-

week wait to discover if it had been

successful. “I needed to keep my knee

dead straight for 12 weeks,” Davies said.

“Then there was a scan at that point to

see how the surgery went. The uncer-

tainty, not knowing the outcome, was

the hardest thing to deal with. Once

at that 12-week marker you knew

the surgery was a success, it was a

relief.”

Davies, who has 81 caps for

Wales and started all six

Tests of the Lions’ past two

tours — winning the pres-

tigious player of the series

award in New Zealand in

2017 — concedes that he did

contemplate the end of his

rugby days.

“It was tough hearing that

there was a risk it could end

my career,” he said. “I’ve had

some amazing experiences so

I think I probably could have

just about taken that, but it was

almost another challenge for me

to say, ‘This is not going to stop me

and I am going to come back from

this.’ ”

Having returned to action last

month Davies has made three

appearances for Scarlets and

is hoping to make his inter-

national comeback during an

autumn campaign that should

begin against France in Paris on

October 24 if their opponents

can resolve their club v coun-

try dispute. He attributes his

recovery to a change of diet and

some home training during lockdown.

“The diet was just trying to take out

the inflammatory foods, like red

meat,” he said. “It was like a Mediter-

ranean

diet, with oils, fishes and pasta. It def-

initely helped me. Everyone likes a

good steak but it was what needed to

be done. I’m glad I can eat a bit more

red meat and have a few more beers

now.

“I was quite fortunate during

lockdown in that Scarlets got me

some equipment. I had a squat rack

in my kitchen and a Wattbike in

my lounge, so I was flying, to be

honest. The knee feels good, I’m

working hard to get back to where I

was before the injury.”

The Wales hooker Ken Owens and

the flanker Josh Macleod have been

ruled out of the autumn through injury,

to be replaced by Elliot Dee and James

Davies, Jonathan’s brother.

Steve James

continued from back

Lee Blackett’s side

are the latest to

be hit by Covid