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Warren Gatland will not beg Adam Jones to come out of international retirement following Samson Lee's injury.

Jones retired from international rugby in the aftermath of being excluded from the Wales squad for the Six Nations. But with Lee now a World Cup doubt after his Achilles injury against Ireland, there have been calls for Jones to end his international exile and answer Wales' SOS.

But Gatland will not go cap in hand to Jones. "If he has changed his mind and wants to get on the phone and say, 'I made a rash decision, retired too early and want to be part of the World Cup squad', that is a different conversation," Gatland said. "But at the moment I will not be going on bended knee, ringing him, saying, 'Please come back, we desperately need you'. For us, it is about dealing with the other players."

Gatland said Jones "may very well be in the squad now" had he not announced his Test retirement but instead he will look to the Ospreys' Aaron Jarvis and tight-head Scott Andrews for the Test against Italy.

Wales now face an anxious wait on Lee's prospects and retain hope he will be fit to play some part in the World Cup. He will undergo the knife this week and Gatland rates Lee's chances as 50:50 to make the tournament in September.

"He was going to be operated on yesterday, but he's got too much swelling, so they are waiting until next week," Gatland said of Lee. "We have the two warm-up games against Ireland, home and away (in August), and then we have got Italy after the World Cup squad is announced. So look, if he is up and running and in contention and things go well, he won't be far away.

"Whether we take the risk in naming him without too much rugby, that is potentially a possibility. Really, it's just down to the medics. For everyone with that sort of injury, it can be two or three weeks either side. I think he is a 50-50 chance at this stage.

"It's a full rupture, which sometimes is a little better than a tear that rehabs and takes a lot of time. At least we know what it is, and hopefully we can get it right and we can see him back on the field as quickly as possible."