Rugby World Cup round-up: Wales consider citing Tom Wood over Liam Williams injury

Liam Williams receives treatment following the collision during Wales v England at Twickenham. David Rogers / Getty Images

LONDON // Wales are mulling over whether to call in the citing commissioner following Tom Wood’s contact with Liam Williams’s head in their 28-25 victory over England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Late in the second half Williams attempted to dive on a loose ball, at which Wood appeared to take aim with his foot. The England flanker’s boot missed the ball but then clearly connected with the Welsh fullback’s head.

Wales coach Warren Gatland subsequently revealed that Williams was undergoing the concussion protocols. Wood apologised to the Welsh player on Saturday night via his Twitter account.

“There was definitely contact between part of Tom Wood’s body and Liam’s head,” Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards said at a news conference on Sunday. “It is something we are going to look at, with regards to citing. But we will make a comment on that later on. It is clearly obvious there was some contact with the head.

“The decision will be made by our manager after discussions with Warren but, as I say, we did lose one of our best players in a position where we are quite short at the moment. But we will look at it later.”

Williams was replaced by scrum-half Lloyd Williams, who played on the wing, as part of an extensive reshuffle to the back line due to further injuries in the 67th minute.

Scott Williams suffered a serious knee injury that Gatland suggested might prevent the outside centre from taking any further part in the tournament, while wing Hallam Amos has a shoulder problem. Wales expect to be in a position to know a definitive prognosis on both players on Monday.

The latest injuries are in addition to those suffered by Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb and Jonathan Davies before the tournament started and centre Cory Allen, who scored a hat-trick of tries in the 54-9 win over Uruguay last Sunday and tore a hamstring. It could be a distinctly patched-up side that takes to the field against Fiji at the Millennium Stadium on Thursday.

George North moved in to the centres in the back line reshuffle on Saturday and could line-up in midfield in Cardiff.

The Northampton wing played in the centres against France in last season’s Six Nations and then again against Australia in the autumn internationals.

If Wales beat the Pacific islanders, and with a bonus point, it would place significant pressure on England ahead of their Pool A match at Twickenham on Saturday against Australia, who thrashed Uruguay 65-3 in Birmingham on Sunday.

“Rob Howley will look at that as our backs coach, but if you are talking about George North playing in the centre, it’s not really out of position,” Edwards said. “He has played some breathtaking rugby at 13, so that is one of our options. Another option is to bring another wing in.

“I don’t think we will be resting too many players.

“We do have quite a long turnaround between the Fiji game and the Australia game” on October 10, “so the boys will get rested next weekend. So, we will be putting out a pretty strong team against Fiji, showing them the respect they deserve after they have played so well so far in the competition.”

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