Rugby: King and Callard added to squad

Chris Hewett
Tuesday 11 March 1997 00:02 GMT
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Jack Rowell, the England coach, has added two names to his squad for the Five Nations' Championship match against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday.

Wasps' uncapped stand-off Alex King and Bath's full-back Jonathan Callard, capped five times, come in to the 27-man squad as cover for injured outside- half Paul Grayson.

Mike Catt is set to replace Grayson, if he fails to recover from a hip injury, but Rowell will want a kicker as back-up among the replacements.

Kevin Bowring's Red Dragons gathered in Cardiff yesterday to prepare for this weekend's emotionally charged Five Nations finale, but the only man breathing fire was the coach himself as he contemplated the smouldering remains of a squad comprehensively wrecked by injury. Colin Charvis, the powerfully effective open-side flanker from Swansea, virtually ruled himself out of contention after aggravating a groin condition and thus became the seventh front-line player to join the chorus of woe.

Arwel Thomas and Mark Rowley pulled out last week and varying degrees of doubt still affect Ieuan Evans, Scott Gibbs, David Young and Craig Quinnell.

The French were in almost the opposite situation as they began their build-up to the Grand Slam match with Scotland in Paris. They were so swamped with high-quality personnel that they felt able to ban Christian Califano, the Toulouse prop and one of the most formidable forwards in world rugby, for one match - this weekend's crunch at the Parc des Princes - following his sending-off in a club match at the weekend.

Didier Casedei, of Brive, the European champions, replaces Califano in the squad. However, French smiles may be premature; two other key Brive players, the half-backs, Alain Penaud and Philippe Carbonneau, are both struggling to recover from groin and ankle injuries respectively.

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