Taulupe Faletau’s extraordinary return to the Wales team against England added up to some rare good news for Wayne Pivac on the injury front.
There’s a possibility more might follow in the coming days and weeks.
Pivac will not be taking anything for granted and in the long-term he may be pleased that the number of players off limits to Wales in recent months has given him the opportunity to develop others at Test level. The likes of Will Rowlands, Taine Basham, Jac Morgan and Gareth Thomas have all enjoyed high-level exposure which should only stand them in good stead in the long run.
But where does Pivac stand in the coming weeks.?
MARK ORDERS checks out what’s happening with some of the big-name players who have been on the sidelines.
Josh Navidi
The back-rower has been sidelined since dislocating a shoulder in the United Rugby Championship match against the Bulls in October.
It had been expected he would miss the entire Six Nations campaign, but he’s recovered well from the bump and has resumed training with Cardiff.
He could be in contention to feature for Cardiff against Ulster in Belfast on Friday evening.
If he does figure and come through the match unscathed, Pivac could draft him into Wales’ squad for the final two rounds of Six Nations games.
George North
A knee injury picked up on regional duty for the Ospreys has sidelined North for the past 10 months.
But he has returned to training with the Ospreys and is pencilled into play against Zebre in the United Rugby Championship on Sunday.
In an interview with WalesOnline last week, North said he felt he was “in great shape to be playing rugby ”.
The question is after so long out do Wales fast-track him back into the national squad mix.
Such a course didn’t seem to do Gareth Anscombe any favours last autumn, but no two cases are the same and so there’s a theoretical possibility North could see some action for his country over the next month.
Justin Tipuric
He shattered his scapula playing for the Lions against Japan last summer and hasn’t played since.
The Ospreys and Wales flanker has undergone two operations in an attempt to fix the problem, but has been ruled out for the season, with the region’s coach Toby Booth saying that the nature of the injury had never been seen in rugby before.
Tipuric’s new target will be to make it back for the start of next season.
Ken Owens
He’s still to resume training as he battles to overcome the back injury which ruled him out of Wales’ autumn series.
There will be no part for The Sheriff to play in this Six Nations, then.
The Scarlets haven’t definitively ruled out the prospect of the west Walian playing a part for them later in the season, but right now there is no obvious sign of the talismanic Owens making his way back in the short term.
Alun Wyn Jones
Rugby’s world cap record holder has been out of action since suffering a shoulder injury against New Zealand in October.
The injury initially looked likely to keep him out of the entire Six Nations, with Pivac confirming as much at the time, but the stalwart lock has made rapid strides along the recovery trail to raise hopes that he might be there or thereabouts for the final knockings of this season’s championship.
"He’s not trained but he’s on track for where he is,” said Booth last week.
Whether Jones features in the championship will depend on his consultant’s verdict, with the results yet to be revealed of a meeting that had been lined up.
Willis Halaholo
The centre could be forgiven for wondering if it’s not meant to be for him in this Six Nations.
A hamstring injury initially knocked him out of contention for the early rounds and then he suffered a cut eyelid in training before the England game.
He stayed in camp for monitoring last week.
With Nick Tompkins playing well last weekend, at least one of the Wales centre spots looks nailed down ahead for the fixture with France.
Leigh Halfpenny
The full-back suffered a knee injury in the first minute of his hundredth Test cap, against Canada last June.
It was meant to have been a red-letter day.
But it turned into a personal catastrophe for Halfpenny.
Surgery duly followed with Welsh rugby's little big man stuck in long-haul recovery mode since.
The Scarlets, again, haven’t ruled out the possibility of a return in the latter stages of the campaign.
And, just four caps short of his century for Wales, Halfpenny will be keen to put himself in Test contention again.
If he does reach three figures for his country, it’s hard to imagine there would be a more popular century.
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