Jones' World Cup fate in balance

Comments | AFP, July, 2007

CARDIFF (AFP) — Ryan Jones will discover Thursday what his chances are of making the World Cup after Wales head coach Gareth Jenkins confirmed that the number eight would not be fit to play England on 04 August.

The 26-year-old Ospreys player suffered a shoulder injury towards the end of the season and has undergone an exploratory operation to inspect the damage.

"The surgeon, Ryan and our medical department meet tomorrow (Thursday) and we will have a better idea of timescales then," said Jenkins.

"You want a quality world-class player like Ryan fighting fit and ready to go. There was a concern he was having a niggle and so we took a precaution.

"It was a necessary procedure. They had to trim parts of the cartilage on his shoulder.

"We are...