RYAN Jones and Richard Hibbard joined Wales's seemingly never-ending injury list as the Ospreys exited Europe at the Liberty yesterday.
A 15-15 draw against Leicester Tigers wasn't enough to keep Steve Tandy's team in the Heineken Cup or keep alive their hopes of reaching the last eight of the Amlin Challenge Cup.
The bumps picked up by Jones and Hibbard put the tin hat on a grim day for Welsh rugby, with the regions all out of contention for the quarter-finals with a round of pool matches still to play.
Jones left the field during the first half with a suspected thumb dislocation, while Hibbard followed him onto the sidelines midway through the second, a recurrence of the shoulder problem he picked up against Samoa in November doing for the hooker.
Ospreys coach Steve Tandy said: "Ryan has gone off to hospital.
"I think he has a dislocation of his thumb.
"It may have popped through his skin as well.
"We have been patching Richard Hibbard up since he played for Wales against Samoa in November.
"The way he goes about his business and turns up every week is just a ridiculous effort from the boy.
"We just had to take the kid off because he would have done himself harm otherwise."
Wales have 13 players in the casualty unit just 19 days out from the start of the Six Nations, with Bradley Davies another recent addition to the list of crocks, having suffered an ankle ligament injury in training with the Blues.
The problem could require surgery to put right, meaning he could be out for the entire championship.
And there are continued doubts over when Ian Evans will be ready to go again after the knee injury he sustained in the Samoa game.
"Ian probably won't come back next week against Treviso," said Tandy.
"I know Wales are decimated but we will just have to review the situation as we go along."
The immediate challenge for the Ospreys is to find a team to take the field in Treviso on Sunday, with any number of front-line players injured, particularly up front.
They may have failed to put away Leicester but they showed a lot of character in adversity, hitting back from 15-10 down to force a draw after a scintillating break from Eli Walker set up a try in the corner for Jonathan Spratt.
But Dan Biggar's conversion attempt flew narrowly wide.
MARK ORDERS
