Head coach Warren Gatland says props Rob Evans and Samson Lee were left out of Wales' World Cup squad because of concerns about their "durability".

Loose-head Evans was overlooked in favour of Rhys Carre, who made his debut in Saturday's loss to Ireland.

Lee, meanwhile, missed out as Wales opted for only two tight-heads in their 31-man squad for Japan.

"When we decided to go with the five props, one of the big discussions was how durable they were," said Gatland.

"Rob hasn't trained a lot in the lead-up to the World Cup matches. He came in with a shoulder injury, then he picked up a neck injury and a few back issues, so he hadn't played a lot.

"Samson has missed a few campaigns through injury, had a hamstring issue during the campaign.

"Someone like Rhys Carre has made incredible progress. He's dropped 10kgs, I thought he did well [against Ireland] and he's a big man.

"With Cory Hill not being available until the second game [because of a small leg fracture], Aaron Shingler covers us in that second-row position and we decided to go with the six loose-forwards."

Lee and Evans were two of the most notable absentees from Wales' 31-man squad announced on Sunday.

Evans, 27, has won 36 caps and started in four of Wales' five Six Nations matches as they won the 2019 Grand Slam, while 26-year-old Lee has made 41 international appearances.

However, the Scarlets pair were not included in the World Cup squad after struggling with injuries in recent seasons, with Wales opting for three loose-head props - Carre, Nicky Smith and Wyn Jones - and only two specialist tight-heads in Tomas Francis and Dillon Lewis.

"Our original thinking was six props but we've decided to go with five," said Gatland.

"There always has to be a compromise in the squad.

"That's the one position where we're potentially a little bit light, but we've been doing some work with Wyn Jones in terms of covering that tight-head position so that we've got sufficient cover there if we do get an injury."

There were a few other marginal calls for Gatland to make when trimming his squad from 40 to 31 players, such as choosing between centres Owen Watkin and Scott Williams and outside backs Hallam Amos and Owen Lane.

Scarlets fly-half Rhys Patchell was preferred to Jarrod Evans, after each player was given 40 minutes during Saturday's 17-22 defeat by Ireland in Cardiff to earn a squad place as Dan Biggar's understudy at 10.

"I thought Rhys came on and gave a pretty solid performance in the second half," Gatland said.

"It was tough for Jarrod in that first half and that was probably the decision on yesterday's performance.

"Jarrod is an incredibly talented young player and I'm sure his time will come sometime in the future.

"I thought Rhys controlled the game nicely when he came on, scored a good try and kicked his goals. He has had experience.

"For us, with Rhys, the whole time he's been with us it's been about rebuilding his confidence.

"He came in not being picked for the Scarlets, being on the bench and not having a lot of rugby, so we wanted to bring him along slowly, giving him the confidence and belief he can perform at this level."

Wales World Cup squad

Forwards

Props: Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Rhys Carre (Saracens), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues).

Hookers: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Ryan Elias (Scarlets).

Second-rows: Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Cory Hill (Dragons), Jake Ball (Scarlets).

Back-rowers: Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Ross Moriarty (Dragons), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), James Davies (Scarlets).

Backs

Scrum-halves: Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues), Aled Davies (Ospreys).

Fly-halves: Dan Biggar (Northampton), Rhys Patchell (Scarlets).

Centres: Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Owen Watkin (Ospreys).

Back three: Liam Williams (Saracens), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), George North (Ospreys), Hallam Amos (Cardiff Blues), Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues.

Wales coach Warren Gatland says they have the playing talent to win the Rugby World Cup after picking his squad for Japan.

On Sunday Gatland reduced his playing squad to a final 31 who will get on the plane to Japan.

Read more: Patchell & Hill get Wales World Cup spots

OSWEGO, N.Y. – After taking the entire season off at Oswego Speedway, Mike Bond returned to the five-eighths-mile oval on Sunday with a singular goal in mind: take the trophy back home.

And in customary Bond style in the Bud Light SBS Classic, he did exactly that at the end of 75 laps.

Bond collected his fourth-straight win – and his seventh overall – in the crown-jewel race for Pathfinder Bank Small Block Supermodifieds with a dominant second-half run in his familiar No. 74.

The wily veteran stalked early dominator and reigning track champion Anthony Losurdo for nearly 20 circuits after taking the runner-up spot prior to the lap-30 benchmark, then finally made his bid for the victory with 28 laps left after a restart just past the halfway point of the small-block feature.

A lap-45 crash involving Jesse Bearup and Greg O’Connor in turn three, which set up the restart, put Bond right on Losurdo’s bumper after the latter had opened up a lead of more than a second earlier on.

When the green flag waved, Losurdo ducked out to a brief advantage from the inside groove, but Bond was ready to pounce and did so three laps later. He ducked to Losurdo’s inside in turns three and four, edged ahead by .005 seconds at the stripe and completing the pass on the turn-one end of the track.

From there, Bond raced away to a 4.211-second victory over Losurdo, adding to previous SBS Classic wins in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

He was calm, cool and collected in victory lane, with a faint smile displayed as he accepted the trophy.

“It was really pretty uneventful,” said Bond of his race. “We had a pretty awesome car; it was hooked up again. I can’t thank my guys enough for giving me such a great car to drive.

“Only coming here this one time … it was probably a little bit of an advantage, because the motor’s fresh, you know?” he added. “Maybe that’s the way we were looking at it. But we wanted to win this one and that’s exactly what we did.”

Bond took home a winner’s share of $2,200 for his efforts on Sunday afternoon.

Losurdo, who led a race-high 42 laps after moving into the top spot on the sixth revolution, was all smiles after coming as close as he ever has to a victory in Oswego’s premier small-block event.

“There’s no one I’d rather lose to,” said Losurdo of Bond. “That’s why he’s the GOAT (greatest of all time), you know? He was just better down the stretch than we were today. It’s not too bad a finish.”

Dave Cliff completed the podium, followed by polesitter Cameron Rowe, who paced the opening two laps. Two-time SBS Classic winner Andrew Schartner crossed the line in fifth.

Brad and Bryan Haynes were sixth and seventh, respectively, while Josh Sokolic finished eighth after leading three circuits in the early going. O’Connor rallied back to ninth and James Babcock was 10th.

The finish:

Mike Bond, Anthony Losurdo, Dave Cliff, Cameron Rowe, Andrew Schartner, Brad Haynes, Bryan Haynes, Josh Sokolic, Greg O’Connor, James Babcock, Dennis Richmond, Jesse Bearup, Russell Bartlett, A.J. Bernys, Mark Denny, Stephen Flack, Ken Moody, Ray Sand Jr., Dave Latulip, Tony Pisa, Mike Bruce, Steve Wood.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – TC championship leader Johan Schwartz scored his sixth win of the season Sunday at Watkins Glen Int’l, part of the TC America weekend presented by CrowdStrike.

Schwartz’s teammate Steve Streimer finished second, while Saturday’s winner Paul Terry crossed the line in third.

Pole sitter Schwartz, in the No. 80 Rooster Hall Racing BMW M240iR Cup, led the field to the green to begin the 20-lap, 40-minute contest. Behind him teammate Streimer got a great jump and pushed into second from his third-on-the-grid starting position, while Jeff Ricca slotted back into third. Rearden Racing’s Terry slotted into fourth.

While Schwartz and Streimer settled in up front by lap two, action behind them was fierce as Cameron Evans charged up to pass Terry for fourth through turn one and then Ricca leading up to the bus stop complex. Lap three saw Terry execute a pass by Ricca through turn one. Terry then passed Evans later in the lap to move into third.

By lap 12, Schwartz and Streimer had pulled away from the pack, while Ricca closed on Terry for third and by lap 15 Ricca slid by Terry leading into the bus stop complex. Ricca then set his sights on closing in on the leaders while fending off any challenges from Terry.

On the white flag lap Terry closed on Ricca and through turn 10 executed a clean pass for third. At the line, Schwartz won over Streimer by .246 seconds, Terry crossed 3.3 seconds behind in third. Classic BMW driver Jacob Ruud and Evans rounded out the top five. Ricca ended the day in sixth.

“It was quite an interesting race being at the front in the beginning,” said Schwartz. “We (Streimer) were working together to pull away and then Steve started racing me at the end. I was a little between big picture racing and taking the win but I also knew he wasn’t going to push the issue too hard so obviously we’re in the championship hunt and points are the most important thing right now, so it’s good to have 25 (points for the win) but if I would’ve gotten 18 (for second place), that would’ve been okay too.”

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Michael McCann Jr. completed a weekend sweep of TCR competition on Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen Int’l.

TCR championship leader Michael Hurczyn led the TC America field to the green flag, with Saturday’s winner McCann and the No. 3 McCann Racing Audi RS3 LMS quickly moving past Nate Vincent for second.

James Walker would also slip by Mason Filippi’s No. 12 Copeland Motorsports Hyundai Veloster N for fourth. Filippi would need to pit for a mechanical issue a few minutes later, essentially ending his race.

With 27 minutes remaining, McCann would take the lead after slip-streaming past Hurczyn going into the bus stop and instantly gapping the field, pulling a 1.2 second lead.  McCann would go on to cruise to the overall victory, his second of the weekend.

“It was a really good weekend.  The Audi had really good pace, especially in a straight line.  The guys got the car ready and we made it happen,” said McCann.

In TCA, Mark Pombo and the No. 59 MINI Cooper JCW would lead from the start with Nate Norenberg in second, Tomas Mejia in third and Tyler Maxson in fourth.  Taylor Hagler, who spun on lap one and fell to the back of the grid, would fight her way back through the field and find herself fifth in class with 20 minutes remaining.

Maxson would get past Mejia for third with 19 minutes left on the clock and would start his pursuit of Norenberg for second.  With 11 minutes left in the race, Maxson would catch and pass Norenberg going into turn one while Mejia would get past Norenberg on the next lap.  Later in the lap both Norenberg and Halger would suffer flat tires and retire.

Mark Pombo would control the TCA field and go on to take the class win with Tyler Maxson second, and Tomas Mejia third.

“Early in the season we had some trouble with the MINIs, but the guys at LAP Motorsports have really found something with the car and this weekend has saved our season,” said Pombo.

PJ Groenke and Sally McNulty would round out the top-five.

TCR Cup saw the No. 41 TWOTh Autosport Audi RS3 LMS of Travis Hill grab his second win of the weekend with Stephen Vajda finishing second.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Jarett Andretti raced to his first overall Pirelli GT4 America Sprint victory on Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen Int’l.

Gar Robinson got the jump on the start of the event, but Andretti’s No. 18 Andretti Autosport McLaren 570S GT4 stayed close. Andretti snatched the lead away from Robinson in the bus stop on lap one and never looked back.

“We were good on new tires, so I knew I had to get Gar early in the race,” said Andretti. “It was a really good run, but I spent the last three laps defending for my life!  It feels great to win here at the Glen.  This team and everything its about is great.  These guys did not go to the hotel last night, they stayed at the track all night, and I appreciate everything they’ve done.  It’s awesome, it means a lot.”

With 39 minutes remaining in the race, Shane Lewis would attempt a pass on Michael Cooper at the bus stop, but would make contact, forcing Lewis to fall down to 19th position, with Cooper’s car also suffering damage that slowly dropped him through the field.

At the same time, Spencer Pumpelly would inherit third position, with championship leader Ian James moving into fourth.

For the next 15 minutes, the top three overall leaders would run nose to tail – Andretti, Robinson and Pumpelly – with fourth-placed Ian James slowly reeling the trio in.  With 20 minutes remaining, a safety car would be called for an incident involving Jeff Burton’s No .91 Rearden Racing Audi R8 LMS GT4, grouping the field back together for a long caution period.

The race would get back under green with just more than seven minutes remaining with Andretti leading Robinson, Pumpelly, James and Jeff Courtney, who was leading the Am category.

On the last lap, James would make a run at Spencer Pumpelly for the final podium position, but bump him slightly at turn nine and allow both Courtney and Drew Staveley through to finish first and second in the Am class, third and fourth overall.  James would let Pumpelly back through to take third in the Pro class, fifth overall, while James would end up seventh overall and fourth in class.

Courtney would take the Am-class win with Drew Staveley second and Alan Brynjolfsson third.  Aristotle Balogh would finish fourth in class with Sean Quinlan fifth.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Christian Szymczak and Matthew Fassnacht were declared the winners of Sunday’s Pirelli GT4 America SprintX race from Watkins Glen Int’l after a late crash heavily damaged a barrier.

Karl Wittmer, aboard the No. 24 Ian Lacy Racing Ford Mustang, led the field to the green flag under cool and cloudy skies at Watkins Glen Int’l.

At turn one Trent Hindman swung around the outside of the No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes AMG of Szymczak to go from fourth to third and would begin his pursuit of Jan Heylen.  At the same time, Heylen began reeling in the Wittmer-driven Mustang and would close to within two-tenths of a second of the leader.

With 40 minutes left on the clock, Heylen would power past Wittmer for the lead on the inside of turn 11 and instantly pull a gap of 2.2 seconds over his rivals.  Trent Hindman would then close on Wittmer and begin stalking as the clock ticked down closer to the pit window opening for driver changes.

As the pit window opened, Wittmer would see an issue with his car and fall from second to sixth overall in just a few turns. While that was happening Steven McAleer would slide past Hindman for second.

With 27 minutes remaining, the leading No. 37 RS1 Porsche of Jan Heylen would unexpectedly go wide at turn six and hit the tire barriers, ending his race.  Nearly the entire field would dive for the pits, expecting a safety car to be called with the #34 Murillo Racing Mercedes, now with Matthew Fassnacht driving, coming out in first.

A safety car would be called for a separate incident with 23 minutes remaining as Patrick Byrne and Randy Mueller had a massive incident at turn 10, with both cars getting into the armco barrier.

Due to armco repairs needed, race officials would call the race with eight minutes remaining, with the No. 34 Murillo Racing Mercedes AMG GT4 shared by Fassnacht and Szymczak taking the win.

“The end result was obviously good, but I would have liked more time in the car,” Fassnacht enthused. “I want to thank Murillo Racing for a great car this weekend and Christian [Szymczak] for driving a good, clean race.”

Trent Hindman and Alan Brynjolfsson were scored second, with Sean Quinlan and Gregory Liefooghe completing the podium.