Tom James will apologise to Wales coach Warren Gatland this week after going AWOL on Six Nations duty.
James quit the Wales camp after he was snubbed for the win over Italy last weekend in favour of teen-star Tom Prydie. But the Cardiff Blues wing, 22, will hold talks with Gatland to say sorry for his vanishing act.
And James’ regional coach Dai Young believes his misdemeanour should not affect his hopes of touring to New Zealand this summer.
Young said: “From our point of view, it happened in the Welsh camp and has been dealt with internally by the Wales management but Tom will be the first to speak to Warren and Rob Howley this week.
“I have already spoken to Tom and he knows he has made a mistake. I’m sure he will put his hand up and say he was wrong.
“But I’m sure Warren has had enough coaching experience to have seen this before. I’m sure he will understand and won’t be perturbed by it.
“Tom wants to play and have a career with Wales and I don’t see why Tom should not go on the summer tour. If he is in the best two or three wingers in Wales then he should go.”
It is the second incident nine-capped James has had with Gatland after he branded his two-minute replacement appearance against South Africa two years ago as ‘pointless’.
Young added: “Tom was hugely disappointed. I understand he missed one training session but I can’t condone what he did because if everyone left training then you wouldn’t have enough players.
“He didn’t handle it well and could have communicated better. He is a young boy and I’m sure he will learn from that. But he did it for the right reasons. He just wants to play and that was the crux of the matter.”
