22 Jun 2010

Jones in doubt for Wales

6:02 am on 22 June 2010

First five Stephen Jones is rated 50-50 to be fit for Wales' second Test against the All Blacks in Hamilton on Saturday because of a thumb injury.

Wales have already lost centre Andrew Bishop to a broken bone in a hand, suffered in Saturday's 42-9 loss.

Jones also sustained his injury in Dunedin.

Bishop is likely to be replaced by Jonathan Davies while Dan Biggar would step in for Jones, having replaced him at carisbrook.

A team physio says a scan confirmed Jones hasn't broken anything but there's quite a bit of soft tissue damage there and obviously at the moment with the weekend in mind it doesn't look particularly good.

For the All Blacks no player has been ruled out yet, but Anthony Boric and Israel Dagg are unlikely to play while Dan Carter and Conrad Smith do have fitness concerns.