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Wednesday, 29 May, 2002, 09:37 GMT 10:37 UK
Jenkins set for Wales return
Neil Jenkins
Jenkins still believes he has much to offer Wales
Wales v Barbarians at the Millennium Stadium, Wednesday, 29 May (kick-off 1915 BST)

Live coverage on BBC Sport Online, BBC Two Wales and BBC Radio Wales MW

Neil Jenkins will wear the red shirt of Wales for the first time in nearly 14 months on Wednesday - and the fly-half is raring to go.

The world record points scorer will start the match against the Barbarians on the bench, but is certain to come on at some stage.

Jenkins won the latest of his record breaking 84 caps in the 2001 Six Nations win over Italy.


The injury feels fine and I'm looking forward to playing international rugby again
Neil Jenkins
He only returned to club action last month after finally recovering from a knee injury which had kept him out of action since the summer Lions tour to Australia.

And although no caps are awarded for the match in Cardiff, Jenkins is simply thrilled to be back on the international stage.

"I missed rugby in general," he admitted. "Three or four months into the injury I was pretty happy to get a break to be honest.

"But once the Six Nations started I realised what I was missing. I went to watch a couple of the matches and the atmosphere was fantastic."

"After being part of the team before, you'd like to back on the pitch. So to that extent I did miss it. But now it's nice to be back.

"The injury feels fine and I'm looking forward to playing international rugby again."

The match will be the last opportunity for Wales coach Steve Hansen to see his squad in action before they depart for the two Test series in South Africa.

Since being appointed to the post on a long term basis in April, Hansen has attempted to bring a higher degree of professionalism into the camp.

He wants the squad to shake themselves out of the "comfort zone" and to stop being satisfied with reaching a particular level of achievement.

"In the past, I think we've all been guilty of doing that - we get too comfortable," he said.

"But I don't see any reason why people can't stay at the top of the game if they're prepared to continuingly ask questions of themselves.

"So that's what we're trying to do as a group of people - just be the best we can.

"If that's good enough to win Test matches then that's great.

"If it's not, then we've got to keep on improving until it is."


If we can disrupt them a little bit and put on a good show, we'll be happy enough
Baa-Baas coach Rod McQueen
With only around 12,000 tickets having been sold, the match will lack the atmosphere of last Sunday's Twickenham encounter when 62,000 watched the Baa-baas lose 53-29 to England.

The Baa-Baas have also been disrupted of having 10 players unavailable - including high profile stars such as All Blacks Jonah Lomu and Christian Cullen.

Nevertheless, coach Rod McQueen has promised to send out a team intent on entertaining the crowd.

"There are now new caps in the Wales team and I notice there's only five changes from their last game," he said.

"So that tells me it's a pretty organised team we're playing against.

"That's going to be difficult for us as a team that's just come together. However, that's one of the nice things about these matches.

"If we can disrupt them a little bit and put on a good show, we'll be happy enough."

  • Wales have appointed New Zealander Andrew Hore as the team's new fitness coach.

    Hore, nicknamed "Chisel", has previously worked with Wales coach Steve Hansen during his successful time in charge of Kiwi provincial side Canterbury.

    The 30-year-old said: "I am very happy to have been offered this role, and am looking forward to getting stuck into it and achieving some positive results.

    "I have been pretty well briefed on where people are in terms of fitness at the moment and it's the challenge of improving on that which really excites me."


    Teams

    Wales: K Morgan (Swansea); R Williams (Cardiff), M Taylor (Swansea), A Marinos (Newport), C Morgan (Cardiff); S Jones (Llanelli), D Peel (Llanelli); I Thomas (Ebbw Vale), R McBryde (Llanelli), C Anthony (Newport), S Williams (London Irish), G Llewellyn (Neath), G Thomas (Bath), M Williams (Cardiff), C Charvis (Swansea, capt).
    Replacements: M Davies (Pontypridd), B Evans (Swansea) or G Jenkins (Pontypridd), R Sidoli (Pontypridd), R Parks (Pontypridd), R Powell (Cardiff), N Jenkins (Cardiff), J Robinson (Cardiff).

    Barbarians: P Montgomery (Western Province and South Africa); T Delport (Natal and South Africa); O Smith (Leicester), P Alatini (Wellington and New Zealand); J Noon (Newcastle and England); B van Straaten (Leeds and South Africa); M Robinson (Auckland and New Zealand); C Dowd (Wasps and New Zealand), R Ibanez (Castres and France), M Reggiardo (Narbonne and Argentina), D Weir (Scottish Borders and Scotland), R Strudwick (London Irish), P Lam (Newcastle and Samoa, capt), J Kronfeld (Leicester and New Zealand), J Williams (Munster and Australia).
    Replacements: M Ledesma (Narbonne and Argentina), A Garvey (Newport and South Africa), K Roche (Saracens), K Chesney (Saracens), O Tonu'u (Newport and New Zealand), P Muller (Cardiff and South Africa), L Botham (Newcastle). Referee: Rob Dickson (Scotland).

  • See also:

    27 May 02 | International
    23 May 02 | International
    Links to more International stories are at the foot of the page.


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