WALES playmaker Owen Williams has been ruled out of the Six Nations because of a hamstring injury – leaving Dragons fly-half Sam Davies next in line.

The Gloucester fly-half/centre was selected to back up Dan Biggar from the bench in the round two clash against Ireland.

However, Williams suffered an injury during the warm-up at the Aviva Stadium and was replaced by Jarrod Evans.

The 27-year-old, who won the last of his three caps against New Zealand in 2017, has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament.

“Further assessment has concluded that the injury will rule Williams out of the remainder of Wales' Guinness Six Nations campaign,” said a Welsh Rugby Union statement.

Biggar was forced off the field in the second half of the clash in Dublin after failing a head injury assessment.

The Northampton number 10 suffered head injuries against Australia and Fiji in the World Cup.

South Wales Argus:

Wales are already without Gareth Anscombe and Rhys Patchell, losses that led to Davies making a return to the international scene in November for the first time since 2017.

The Dragons fly-half was rewarded for his fine club form by a call-up to the squad to face the Barbarians in the uncapped fixture at Principality Stadium.

He came off the bench for Evans but was surprisingly left out of Wayne Pivac’s squad for the Six Nations.

Davies is set to pull the strings for the Dragons against Benetton on Saturday with fixtures to come against Glasgow at Scotstoun and the Cheetahs in Newport.