Back-row balance key for Wales with Sam Warburton set for return to rank and file | Paul Rees

Jan 16, 2017

The Wales openside is set to relinquish the captaincy to Alun Wyn Jones and is under increasing pressure to justify his place in the side for the Six Nations. But a perception that his powers have diminished is not necessarily fair

The announcement of Wales’s Six Nations squad on Tuesday has been overshadowed by speculation that Sam Warburton, who has led the side since 2011, would be relinquishing the position before it was snatched away. The armband is set to be given to the second row Alun Wyn Jones, a 31-year old warrior whose relish for battle is undimmed by time.

The captaincy issue sums up the transitional period Wales are going through. It is more to do with style than personnel as they look to extend their boundaries following years of a limited, but successful – in Europe at least – gameplan which involved players giving everything physically.

Tags: Rugby union Six Nations Sport Wales rugby union team