{"id":585010,"date":"2026-05-15T06:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585010\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T06:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T06:39:09","slug":"welsh-rugby-the-ecstasy-and-agony-of-selection-for-wales-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585010\/","title":{"rendered":"Welsh rugby: The ecstasy and agony of selection for Wales players"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exeter back row Kane James is one of the new faces and probably the most exciting selection.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old was born and raised in Wales, but after moving to England aged 16 to continue his education, James played for England Under-20s in 2024, winning the age group’s world championships that same year.<\/p>\n

He has opted for Wales, although James is currently part of Exeter’s England qualified player (EQP) stocks that are required for each Prem club.<\/p>\n

That will change if he wins his first Wales cap and becomes ineligible for Steve Borthwick\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

James is one of 14 England-based players in Tandy\u2018s squad, with that set to rise next season when Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake join Gloucester<\/a> and Aaron Wainwright links up with Leicester.<\/a><\/p>\n

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter says there will be challenges for his club over James\u2019 Wales call-up.<\/p>\n

“We view Kane as a frontline player this season, but at the same time, you also want a team with international players,\u201d said Baxter.<\/p>\n

“How we manage our EQP numbers will be a challenge, but that’s what we’ll have to do as these things happen.”<\/p>\n

Baxter’s more pressing consideration is when James will be fit because he has not played since an ankle injury in the Challenge Cup win against Cardiff<\/a> in January required surgery.<\/p>\n

“My bigger concern is how little rugby’s he played this season and where he’ll actually end up by the end of the season, how match-fit he’ll be or how ready he’ll be for full contact, match playing,” said Baxter.<\/p>\n

“He’s had multiple injuries to his ankle, so he’s had two or three bits operated on.<\/p>\n

“He’s getting back. He was straight line pitch running, that’s as far as he’s got at the minute.”<\/p>\n

Wales will play until mid-July when Exeter will be into their pre-season campaign with Baxter outlining the benefits of James staying with the club this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would benefit Kane a lot would be a full pre-season,” said Baxter.<\/p>\n

“Having had a disrupted season, a full pre-season would probably be a bigger positive for his career going forward.<\/p>\n

“But at the same time, we are coming into a World Cup season, which probably weighs on his mind also.<\/p>\n

“So there’s going to be ups and downs when you’re dealing with young players who haven’t yet been capped. We have to help Kane negotiate those challenges.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exeter back row Kane James is one of the new faces and probably the most exciting selection. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-585010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}