Jonathan Davies: Wales wait on centre knee injury scans

Jonathan Davies won his 84th Wales cap against Ireland

Wales are awaiting details of scans for centre Jonathan Davies after the knee injury he suffered against Ireland.

Davies was forced off the field in the 32-9 defeat in Dublin after picking up a right knee problem.

The 32-year-old has not long returned after almost 11 months out with a left knee injury suffered in the World Cup in Japan on October 2019.

"He's in the process of having scans," said Wales forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys.

"Probably in the next 24 hours we'll know how serious that is. But he's up and walking about. He was keen to get games under his belt but hopefully it won't be too serious."

Wales have called up Cardiff Blues back-rower James Botham to cover the back-row with Josh Navidi (concussion) and Ross Moriarty (ankle) having not figured in the autumn internationals so far.

Humphreys has not ruled out Navidi or Moriarty this weekend but outlined why they had called up Botham.

"We identified him in the derbies," said Humphreys.

"We thought athletically he has the ability to compete in Test rugby. He had some big moments. We thought he'd be someone in our plans for 2023.

"With the injuries we have, we thought we'd bring him in."

Humphreys also defended the decision in the 32-9 defeat to Ireland in Dublin to bring off Wales prop Rhys Carre a minute before half-time after he had constantly been penalised in the scrum.

"Every single scrum apart from one ended up on the floor," said Humphreys.

"It became a decision for the referee on every scrum and that's where you see the inconsistencies either way.

"When we're in a position like that and he's been penalised twice there's something in the referee's mind, and we are five metres from our line.

"As I said to him it's not a reflection on him, it's trying to protect the rest of the team and change the referee's opinion on that. It was purely that.

"What was excellent was he identified that. It was an experienced for him that he's got - he now knows how to deal with it and how to get better.

"Rhys has been outstanding. He's probably started less than 40 games in his entire career but we identify someone as important to us going forward.

"We see him throughout these games getting more experienced. He has started maybe one or two games this year so to start three in a row is invaluable for his development.

"What he went through on the weekend, every front-rower learning his trade has to go through that."