Sunday 11 October 2015 19:18, UK
Wales have confirmed full-back Liam Williams will miss the rest of the World Cup after suffering a foot injury in Saturday’s defeat to Australia.
The 24-year-old limped off during the latter stages of the 15-6 Group A loss to the Wallabies at Twickenham and coach Warren Gatland admitted the injury appeared to be "serious".
The Welsh Rugby Union confirmed on Sunday morning via their official Twitter account that Williams would play no further part in their World Cup campaign.
"Disappointing news out of camp this morning. Liam Williams ruled out of RWC with foot injury," the tweet read.
Gatland lost Leigh Halfpenny, Eli Walker and Rhys Webb to injury prior to the World Cup. Wing Hallam Amos was also ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after dislocating his shoulder in the win over England.
Wales assistant coach Neil Jenkins has backed the current squad to once again respond to the disappointment of losing another key player to injury.
"We are very sorry for Liam. He has been outstanding in the last couple of years," Jenkins said on Sunday morning.
The amount of players we have lost isn't ideal. We are a pretty small nation anyway, but we still had a pretty potent back-line out there on Saturday and I am sure it will be the same again next weekend
"He's a huge player for us, and he did well again yesterday. He will be a huge loss, but we have had quite a few injuries now and we have to get on with it.
"If anyone comes in [to the squad] it will be an opportunity for them. We have enough players in the squad to cover at the moment.
"The amount of players we have lost isn't ideal. We are a pretty small nation anyway, but we still had a pretty potent back-line out there on Saturday and I am sure it will be the same again next weekend.
"Anything can happen in rugby. You prepare as best you can, and if we have to call some guys up they will be ready to go.
"We have had incredible bad luck, there is no doubt about that."
Williams had been a doubt ahead of the competition having undergone surgery on his foot in June to repair damage sustained to his fifth metatarsal.
The Scarlets man, however, managed to recover in time to feature in their opening group match with Uruguay, despite missing the pre-World Cup training camp in Switzerland.
Williams suffered a dead leg in the victory over the South Americans and then sustained a concussion in the win against England. He missed the victory over Fiji as result of that concussion, but returned to face Australia only to suffer a fresh injury.
Wales face South Africa in the quarter-finals at Twickenham on Saturday.
