Justin Tipuric ruled out of Scotland match

Wales suffered a blow ahead of their Guinness Six Nations clash against Scotland in Llanelli when flanker Justin Tipuric was ruled out.

The Welsh Rugby Union said that 77 times-capped Tipuric was sidelined due to tonsillitis, with Scarlets forward James Davies replacing him and Aaron Wainwright taking over from Davies among the substitutes.

Alun Wyn Jones, meanwhile, prepared to set a new world record of 149 Test match appearances.

The Wales skipper drew level with New Zealand World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw a week ago, and he led a team looking to end a run of four successive defeats.

Tipuric’s absence meant that Wales head coach Wayne Pivac made seven changes from the side beaten by France last time out.

The switches included a Test debut for Cardiff Blues flanker Shane Lewis-Hughes and starts for the likes of scrum-half Gareth Davies, prop Tomas Francis and lock Will Rowlands, but wing George North was dropped.

Fly-half Finn Russell returned for Scotland, handed a first Test start since last year’s World Cup after being omitted from the squad in January following a breach of team protocol, while captain Stuart Hogg and lock Jonny Gray were also back following their domestic and European double-winning exploits with Exeter.