Injured Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel could miss World Cup
- Published
Dwayne Peel has made 76 Wales appearances, 32 of them as a replacement
Dwayne Peel's hopes of making Wales' World Cup squad have suffered a double injury setback.
Wales attack coach Robert Howley revealed Peel is suffering from a ruptured finger and a hip injury picked up in training with Sale.
Peel's deal with the the Premiership club meant he was unavailable for Wales' build-up until 4 August.
"He ruptured his finger in pre-season," said Howley. "He's still in a splint, he hasn't done any contact work."
Former Wales and British and Irish Lions scrum-half Howley says no decision has been made as to whether or not Peel will be invited to join the preliminary World Cup squad at any stage.
Scrum-half Mike Phillips started against England at Twickenham last weekend and does so again on Saturday in Cardiff, external with Tavis Knoyle again on the bench.
Uncapped Cardiff Blues youngster Lloyd Williams is also in the squad, external, having earned his call-up when Phillips was banned, external for off-field disciplinary reasons in July.
Howley said: "He's up and running doing all the fitness stuff, but he just can't do any contact work and he had a bump on his hip as well last week.
"As a result he has become unavailable to us really in terms of preparation for this [England] game."
Peel's Sale team-mate Andy Powell has been involved in Wales' tournament preparations.
But Powell's contract with his new club, external starts when Warren Gatland's side return from the World Cup in New Zealand.
Peel's situation was dictated by the International Rugby Board's official tournament build-up window which began on 4 August with the bulk of Gatland's squad having assembled in July for fitness training camps, external in Spala, Poland.
Forwards: Scott Andrews, Gethin Jenkins (Blues), Lloyd Burns (Dragons), Huw Bennett, Ryan Bevington, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Paul James (Ospreys), Ken Owens, Craig Mitchell (Exeter), Bradley Davies, Sam Warburton, Martyn Williams (Blues), Luke Charteris, Danny Lydiate, Toby Faletau (Dragons), Ryan Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull, (Scarlets),Gareth Delve (Melbourne Rebels), Andy Powell (Sale Sharks).
Backs: Michael Phillips (Bayonne), Lloyd Williams (Blues), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), James Hook (Perpignan), Jonathan Davies, Stephen Jones, Rhys Priestland, Scott Williams (Scarlets), Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Lee Byrne (Clermont Auvergne), Aled Brew (Dragons), Shane Williams (Ospreys), George North (Scarlets).