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North recalled at centre and Sheedy will also start as Wales change 9 of their XV to play Italy
By Online Editors
Wales have named their side to take on Italy in their final Autumn Nations Cup fixture in Llanelli on Saturday, an XV that includes a recall for George North. He is one of nine changes from the loss to England, four of them in the backline.
Liam Williams starts at full-back in place of Leigh Halfpenny in a back three also containing Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams.
Kieran Hardy and Callum Sheedy start at half-back together for the second time this campaign, with Johnny Williams partnering North in the midfield. North’s last start at centre was Wales’ 42-0 victory over Italy in the Guinness Six Nations last February. Louis Rees-Zammit, Josh Adams and Liam Williams comprise the back three.
Nicky Smith, Sam Parry and Tomas Francis comprise an all-change front row, with Parry making his first start for Wales after three appearances from the bench. Will Rowlands partners Alun Wyn Jones in the second row with James Botham lining up alongside British and Irish Lions duo Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau in the back-row.
"Saturday is another opportunity for these players and for us as a squad, it is another opportunity to continue to build and to see the results of all the hard work in training," said head coach Wayne Pivac. "We have blooded eight new caps this campaign and importantly by the end of the match, each of them would have had a number of appearances to their name.
"From the outset we wanted this campaign to be about giving players an opportunity and we have done that. The hard work in training is coming through and we want to show that again on Saturday and finish the campaign on a high, with the performance and result we want."
On the bench Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones and Leon Brown provide the front-row cover. Cory Hill and Aaron Wainwright complete the forward contingent. Gareth Davies, Ioan Lloyd and Jonah Holmes are named as the backline replacements.
WALES (vs Italy, Saturday)
1. Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (37 Caps)
2. Sam Parry (Ospreys) (3 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (51 Caps)
4. Will Rowlands (Wasps) (4 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (142 Caps) (CAPT)
6. James Botham (Cardiff Blues) (2 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (79 Caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath) (80 Caps)
9. Kieran Hardy (Scarlets) (1 Cap)
10. Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears) (3 Caps)
11. Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester) (3 Caps)
12. Johnny Williams (Scarlets) (2 Caps)
13. George North (Ospreys) (97 Caps)
14. Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues) (29 Caps)
15. Liam Williams (Scarlets) (66 Caps)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Elliot Dee (Dragons) (32 Caps)
17. Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (29 Caps)
18. Leon Brown (Dragons) (11 Caps)
19. Cory Hill (Cardiff Blues) (28 Caps)
20. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) (26 Caps)
21. Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (56 Caps)
22. Ioan Lloyd (Bristol Bears) (1 Cap)
23. Jonah Holmes (Dragons) (4 Caps)
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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