Good news for Thomas

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Thomas thought his tournament could have been over after he was injured in a tackle by Stirling Mortlock in the first half of Wales' 32-20 defeat to Australia on Saturday.

He will miss Thursday's match against Japan but expects to be back in action in a fortnight - and could theoretically be available to face Fiji in the final pool match on September 29.

Head coach Gareth Jenkins said: "We are pleased to be able to announce that Gareth's injury is very much a short term one.

"He should be back and available to us in two weeks. We were always mindful of reacting too quickly to his injury before proper time and consideration had been given to assessing him, but this news does come as a real shot in the arm for us."

Fly-half Stephen Jones will take over as captain of a Wales side featuring 10 personnel changes for Thursday's game.

In the backs, Kevin Morgan returns at full-back, Dafydd James comes onto the wing, Jamie Robinson will partner James Hook in the centre and Mike Phillips gets a run at scrum-half.

Up front, Alix Popham regains the number eight jersey with Jonathan Thomas switching to blindside flanker and Colin Charvis starting ahead of Martyn Williams on the open-side.

Will James comes into the second row alongside Alun-Wyn Jones, who retains his place, while hooker Rhys Thomas will be propped by Chris Horsman and Duncan Jones.

Jenkins said: "We have kept a core of experienced players in key positions for us, but have made a number of changes with two factors in mind - the short turnaround time for this game has an effect on selection but we also have a need to give certain players game-time as we are going to be calling on all resources during this tournament."