James in fitness race for Heineken quarters

Feb 29 2008 by Gareth Griffiths, South Wales Echo

CARDIFF Blues wing Tom James face a fitness race for the Heineken Cup quarter-final clash against Toulouse in April after having his appendix removed.

The 20-year-old is recovering after minor keyhole surgery and is expected to back in training in two weeks.

This has ruled him out of tomorrow nights Magners League clash against Munster and Wales’ Six Nations matches against Ireland and France but James will be targeting the Blues European quarter-final on April 6.

It completes a miserable time for James who has only played one game since mid December.

The Merthyr product has only just recovered from a kidney infection that forced him to endure a four-day stay in hospital and saw him drop more than a stone in just three weeks.

Warren Gatland has released Wales trio Deiniol Jones, Jamie Roberts and Robin Sowden-Taylor for the Munster match tomorrow, while Blues fly-half Rhys Jones will make his first start for the region.

Jones, son of former Wales skipper Kingsley, has been named in the region’s line-up for the first time since his loan move from Sale, with Nick Macleod dropping to the replacements bench.

Jones was drafted in by the region last December because of injuries to Nicky Robinson and Dai Flanagan, but the Blues are hoping the pair will be fit by the end of the month and available for the Toulouse clash.

Munster have included Irish lock Paul O’Connell in their squad as the Lions forward aims to prove his fitness ahead of the Triple Crown decider with Wales at Croke Park next Saturday.

Cardiff Blues: B Blair; T Selley, J Robinson, G Thomas, J Roberts; R Jones, R Rees; J Yapp, R Thomas, G Powell, D Jones, P Tito, M Molitika, X Rush, M Williams.

Replacements: T Filise, G Williams, S Morgan, B White, J Spice, N Macleod, D Hewitt.

Munster (from): S Payne, B Carney, I Dowling, D Howlett, K Lewis, L Mafi, P Warwick, J Manning, T O'Leary, P Stringer, F Pucciariello, T Buckley, Darragh Hurley, T Ryan, E McGovern, F Sheahan, D Fogarty, P O'Connell, D Ryan, M Melbourne, A Quinlan, N Ronan, J Coughlan, T O'Donnell, J O'Sullivan, A Foley.