Taulupe Faletau has been officially called into the Wales squad ahead of the Six Nations encounter with England at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Lions Test player replaces Christ Tshiunza after the Exeter Chiefs’ player injured a hamstring earlier in the championship.
Faletau will be part of the set-up for the remainder of the tournament.
It’s a significant boost for Wayne Pivac.
Faletau returned for Bath after a seven-month injury lay-off with a try for Bath against Wasps in the Gallagher Premiership and followed it up with a strong display against Leicester Tigers.
He said over the weekend: "It was a rolled ankle, and I probably ran back too early and just had issues with my calves for a rolling two weeks that ended up being seven months.
"It was a rolling two weeks for a long time, then I would get to the end of that two weeks, I would run again and it would ping again. It was basically that for the whole time.
"I am just enjoying getting out there, whether it's Bath or Wales. Whatever it is, I just want to enjoy the games because seven months out wasn't fun." Bath had been steeling themselves for a call from Wales over Faletau. After the former Dragon’s display against Leicester, head coach Neil Hatley sang the 31-year-old’s praises, saying: “He is a world class player. “You would never say he has been out for seven months.
“He is like a chameleon, you put him in a level up and he just blends in. He has that innate ability that whatever the quality of the players he is playing with he is the best player on the pitch and he has done that for ages.”
The question for Pivac is whether to include Faletau in his matchday squad for Twickenham.
Taine Basham, Jac Morgan and Ross Moriarty all performed strongly against Scotland, with Aaron Wainwright showing up well off the bench.
But Faletau is an authentically world-class player.
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