Bath Rugby's Luke Charteris out of Wales' Six Nations opener with Italy

Bath Rugby's Luke Charteris will definitely be unavailable for Wales' Six Nations opener due to injury and fellow Bath colleague Toby Faletau is a doubt too.

Charteris has a fractured bone in his hand which has definitely ended his chances of making the trip to Rome with his Wales teammates while Faletau is struggling with a knee injury.

Wales forwards coach Robin McBryde is confident the pair will be fully fit for the match against England on Saturday, February 11 though.

McBryde said: "Luke Charteris has picked up a slight fracture in his hand so he's been ruled out of this weekend, but hopefully he'll be fit for the following week."

Faletau is subject to a fitness test today (Wednesday) but it looks unlikely he will be fit as McBryde said: "No, I think it will be too early this week."