End of the road for Quinnell
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Your support makes all the difference.Scott Quinnell, Wales' talismanic back row forward, is expected to retire from international rugby in the next 10 days, victim of a chronic knee condition and a losing battle to maintain the fitness levels required for Test rugby.
Although named on the bench for tomorrow's friendly against Canada at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Quinnell is not guaranteed to feature and if he did not, an appearance against New Zealand in a week's time would be anything but a certainty.
Earlier this week the Wales coach, Steve Hansen, admitted that special care had to be taken of the powerful Quinnell. However, the Cardiff rumour mills were grinding yesterday, with some saying the former captain would call it a day after the Canada match, a neat end to his career as he won his first cap against the Canucks in 1993. Hansen would not be drawn, other than to say: "Scott's knee is always going to be a problem, but he is fit enough to play. For this particular game we wanted to start with the same back row unit that started against Fiji." That means last week's debutant, Dafydd Jones of Llanelli, deservedly keeps his place.
This week's new boy is Vernon Cooper, of Llanelli, who replaces the Pontypridd second row Rob Sidoli, with the hooker Robin McBryde taking over from Mefin Davies in the middle of the front row. The centre Tom Shanklin, who suffered an ankle injury in the win over Fiji is out, so his replacement Jamie Robinson of Cardiff starts.
The Canada coach Dave Clark has named a side who include three forwards who ply their trade in Wales: Bridgend's Jon Theil, Newport's Rob Snow and the lock John Tait of Cardiff.
WALES (v Canada, Millennium Stadium, tomorrow): R Williams (Cardiff); M Jones (Llanelli), J Robinson (Cardiff), S Parker (Pontypridd), G Thomas (Bridgend); S Jones (Llanelli), D Peel (Llanelli); I Thomas (Llanelli), R McBryde (Llanelli), B Evans (Swansea), V Cooper (Llanelli), G Llewellyn (Neath), D Jones (Llanelli), C Charvis (Swansea, capt), M Williams (Cardiff). Replacements: M Davies (Pontypridd), G Jenkins (Pontypridd), M Owen (Pontypridd), S Quinnell (Llanelli), R Powell (Cardiff), I Harris (Cardiff), D James (Bridgend).
CANADA: W Stanley; S Fauth, N Witkowski, J Cannon, F Asselin; J Barker, M Williams; R Snow, P Dunkley (capt), J Theil, J Tait, M James, R Banks, A van Staveren, P Murphy. Replacements: M Lawson, K Tkachuk, J Cudmore, L Carlson, E Fairhurst, B Ross, M di Girolamo.
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