The Scarlets centre has travelled back to his region this morning and will be replaced by Ealing’s Will Harries as Wales head coach Gareth Williams prepares his side for Saturday’s pool games against Fiji, Scotland and Portugal in Glasgow before moving to Twickenham next weekend for the final round of the World Series.
Williams is disappointed his key man will be absent this weekend as Wales bid to climb the points table and complete the season inside the top 10 countries but he fully appreciates that players’ first priorities are their regions.
“We’ll just make the best of the situation and I have no doubt Will will slot in quickly. It is disappointing that Adam has had to return at such a late stage in our preparations but we have been aware that such a scenario may arise.”
“Although his departure poses us problems in the short term, we are very fortunate to have Will Harries coming in as his replacement. Will was very unfortunate to miss out on selection in the first place, and has been unlucky that Adam performed so well in Hong Kong and Tokyo while Tom Williams’ excellent form in the same tournaments put them both in a strong position moving forward to this block of tournaments.
“We are moving in the right direction with increased communication with the Regions and finding ways of working around these situations as best as possible for all parties concerned.
“Hopefully this working relationship can continue to grow to maximise the Player Development opportunities that our programme is designed for. A real positive is that the Scarlets have seen the benefit our environment can offer Adam, and have allowed access to Kristian Phillips who has been superb both on and off the pitch with us in our recent preparation.”
“As a group we wish the Scarlets all the best in their efforts to reach Europe for next season.”