Wales and Scotland are among a number of nations who will not find out until next month if their World Cup preparations will be severely disrupted by being denied early access to their Premiership-based players. That would mean Williams, Biggar and Faletau as well as a raft of Scotland internationals in the Premiership cannot join their countries’ World Cup preparations until mid‑August, only 35 days before the tournament begins in Japan. According to World Rugby’s regulation 9, PRL must release players when it does open but does not have to before. If World Rugby ratifies the new proposal next month, however, those players are set to become available to their countries much earlier. Watson has been out of action since last March because of an achilles injury that required two operations but will begin his pursuit of a place in England’s World Cup squad at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Source: The Guardian April 25, 2019 18:49 UTC