Injury list deepens at World Cup

Two weeks in and the casualties are mounting in the World Cup. More than half of the teams (11 in total) have been forced to replace at least one player, three more if you count players who were originally named in the 31-man squad but were forced to withdraw before the tournament even got started. The last two days have been particularly brutal, with 10 players in all dropping out due to injury suffered over the weekend.

Overall some 16 have had their visits cut short, 10 more didn’t even make it to the show. Wales have had it worst, losing six players since September 8, with Hallam Amos and Scott Williams the latest to give way. Eli Walker holds the unique distinction of being the only player named as a replacement to then be replaced – all without playing in a game!

PRE TOURNAMENT KICKOFF

DATE	COUNTRY	REPLACED	INJURY	REPLACEMENT
08/14	Samoa	Fa’atiga Lemalu	Knee	Faifili Levave
08/20	Argentina	Matías Diaz	Heart	Juan Pablo Orlandi
09/02	Italy	Angelo Esposito	Shoulder	Simone Favaro
09/03	USA	Scott LaValla	Elbow	Matt Trouvile
09/08	Wales	Leigh Halfpenny	Knee	Eli Walker
09/08	Wales	Rhys Webb	Foot	Mike Phillips
09/09	Italy	Luca Morisi	Knee	Enrico Bacchin
09/10	Canada	Jason Marshall	Ribs	Jake Ilnicki
09/11	Samoa	Logovi’i Mulipola	Achilles	Census Johnston
09/14	Wales	Eli Walker	Hamstring	Ross Moriarty

POST TOURNAMENT KICKOFF

DATE	COUNTRY	REPLACED	INJURY	REPLACEMENT
09/20	France	Yoann Huget	Knee	Rémy Grosso
09/20	Italy	Andrea Masi	Achilles	Michele Visentin
09/21	Wales	Cory Allen	Hamstring	Tyler Morgan
09/24	Canada	Liam Underwood	Patella	James Pritchard
09/26	Fiji	Waisea Nayacalevu	Knee	Timoci Nagusa
09/27	South Africa	Jean de Villiers	Jaw	Jan Serfontein
09/28	Canada	Connor Braid	Jaw	Patrick Parfrey
09/28	England	Billy Vunipola	Knee	Nick Easter
09/28	Fiji	Isei Colati	Knee	Taniela Koroi
09/28	Scotland	Grant Gilchrist	Groin	Blair Cowan
09/28	Wales	Hallam Amos	Shoulder	Gareth Anscombe
09/28	Wales	Scott Williams	Knee	James Hook
09/29	Australia	Wycliff Palu	Hamstring	James Hanson
09/29	Australia	Will Skelton	Pectoral	Sam Carter
09/29	Georgia	Davit Kubriashvili	Knee	Anton Peikrishvili
09/29	Romania	Ovidiu Tonita	Thumb	Vlad Nistor

The injuries themselves have been varied. Nine (ten if you count Liam Underwood’s patella) have gone down with knee injuries, three torn hamstrings, two achilles problems, and two bad shoulders. Jean de Villiers and Connor Braid each cracked their jaw on the weekend. Will Skelton tore a pec muscle, and Ovidiu Tonita broke his thumb.

While the majority of players called up have been like-for-like replacements, it is interesting to note some of those that aren’t. Simone Favaro, a flanker, was called up to replace winger Angelo Esposito. The same goes for Ross Moriarty taking Walker’s place for Wales. Blair Cowan was chosen to take the spot of second row Grant Gilchrist, and James Hanson – a hooker – was brought into replace no8 Wycliff Palu. Is this an admission of the respective coaches that they got their squad makeup wrong, or simply a reflection of the changing needs of the group as the tournament moves closer to the knock-out stages?

Given the effect that attrition has already had on results, it might not be a stretch to think that the key to the tournament lies in the medical room, rather than the captain’s run. Whichever team manages to keep its players on the pitch holds as much of an advantage as any tactical superiority.