Roger Lewis defends warm-up games after injury setback to Wales

Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis has claimed that the injuries sustained by Wales players in World Cup warm-up matches were unavoidable.

Warren Gatland's side have been dealt a blow ahead of the tournament after both Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb were forced to pull out of the squad with injuries picked up in the third and final warm-up game with Italy last Saturday.

Halfpenny faces an extended spell on the sidelines with a ruptured cruciate ligament while Webb suffered an injury to his foot, but Lewis believes that all three games were essential for the team's preparations.

"That's the cruelty of sport and the uncertainty around it," Lewis told BBC Radio Wales. "If I could trade these results for those two players, I certainly would but that is not possible.

"As Warren rightly said the guys have got to play these games and that's been the same for every single nation throughout the world.

"That game in Ireland which Wales won was a far more physically contested game than last weekend."

Mike Phillips and Eli Walker have been called up as replacements for Wales, who start their campaign against Uruguay next Sunday.