With Wales in final preparations against their trip to Italy to feature in their clash with Italy, they will be looking to ensure that all players are in top-notch fitness levels ahead of the game.
Taulup Faletau, Wales’s inspirational number eight, is being given enough time to prove his fitness levels before they make the trip for the Six Nations match coming up this weekend.
During the November internationals the Bath player was in superb form. However since their defeat in late December to the Wasps, he has been unable to feature for Bath ever since then.
According to Coach Shaun Edwards, Faletau will be assessed once again by Wednesday. This done, a decision will then be taken on whether he would be in the game or not.
He has seen a lot of progress in recent times but at the moment, he remains a big doubt for the clash holding in Rome. Rob Howley, the stand-in boss will hope to start the competition with a winning in the absence of Warren Gatland.
Edwards, who spoke on the case of the player, hopes Faletau would be fit in time for the game. He didn’t however rule out the possibility of getting a replacement for him if it doesn’t go as hoped.
“We’re going to wait until Wednesday night to decide. You want your best players fit and ready, we all saw the impact he made against South Africa [a 27-13 win],” Edwards said.
Edwards is also hopeful that he would be fit in due course for the game against England on the 11th of February.
“If he’s not fit, we’ll have somebody else to come in and hopefully he’ll be fit for England [on February 11],” he added.
Wales will be looking to stop Sergio Parrise, Italy’s dangerman and Faletau’s presence in the match could be crucial to that.