• ‘World-class’ centre expects to be fit to face
South Africa • Hadleigh Parkes shrugs off hand injury to play in semi-finalWales had Prince Charles in at training on Wednesday. He is in Tokyo for the enthronement of Prince Naruhito, but stopped off at the Prince Chichibu rugby stadium to have a chat and present Owen Lane with his cap.
According to Ken Owens, Charles did not have any particular advice to give the team before the
World Cup semi-final but did offer one priceless observation on the Springboks. “He just said ‘they’re bloody big buggers, aren’t they?” Owens said “and left it at that.” Charles was wearing a lapel pin from Llandovery RFC, too. He is the patron there and, if he makes contributions like that, must be a good one too.