Six Nations 2023: Wales wait on fitness of wing Alex Cuthbert ahead of Italy test

Alex Cuthbert (centre) has played 57 internationals for Wales

Wales have a fitness worry over Alex Cuthbert for the Six Nations game against Italy in Rome on 11 March.

Ospreys wing Cuthbert missed the England defeat with a foot injury and its severity will be known in the next few days.

Wales also hope Ospreys pair Gareth Thomas and Owen Williams will be fit after being forced off in last Saturday's 20-10 defeat by England.

Fly-half Williams picked up a hip injury and Thomas had a back spasm.

The latest injury update was delivered by Wales assistant coach Jonathan Thomas, who was brought into Warren Gatland's team ahead of the tournament.

It has been a baptism of fire as a coach for the former Wales flanker Thomas, who also experienced the volatile nature of the sport.

Thomas says there will always be "external noise" as Wales approach the final fortnight of a Six Nations campaign that has produced far more questions than answers.

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Wales head to Rome for an appointment with Italy that is likely to decide which country props up this season's Six Nations table.

It is 20 years since Wales last finished bottom of the pile, but successive defeats against Ireland, Scotland and England have left them scrambling around the basement.

With reigning Six Nations champions France their final opponents in Paris, victory over the Azzurri is essential to Wales hopes of avoiding the wooden spoon.

Off the field, it has also been a difficult time with the threat of a players' strike engulfing the build-up to England's Cardiff visit before compromises were reached with Welsh rugby powerbrokers on subjects like Wales' 60-cap selection rule and fixed-variable contracts.

"As we all know, there has been some adversity for the players in the last few weeks, so that has been challenging for them," said Thomas, who has coached at Worcester and Bristol.

"I have been involved with English rugby for the last few years and there is huge adversity with the clubs there. It's where rugby is a little bit at the moment.

"Rugby goes through these cycles. My first (Wales) cap in 2003 was off the back of a disappointing Six Nations. The players threatened to strike. It is almost a little bit like history is repeating itself.

"There are peaks and troughs, politics come into it now and again. Is it ideal? No.

"It's important we stay focused. There is external noise - that is always going to be the case - but it is important that you worry about the things you can control."

Jonathan Thomas played 67 internationals for Wales

Wales have lost 12 of their last 15 Tests, including a home defeat against Italy a year ago, while they last won a Six Nations game in February 2022.

And there are just five Tests left before Wales' World Cup opener against Fiji in Bordeaux, so time is not on their side ahead of that global showpiece.

"In international rugby, the margins are really small," added Thomas.

"When you win, you are never as good as you think. When you lose, you are never as bad as you think. You are never as far away from turning the corner as potentially people on the outside think you are.

"I think it is probably one of the best Italy teams I have seen. It's really impressive how they have grown and developed, and we know it is going to be a tough challenge.

"For us, we can't be afraid of failure. It's (about) staying focused on us and us getting better. It is still a game where you need to do the basics repeatedly well."

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