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Wales make five changes for Saturday's round two trip to Scotland
By Liam Heagney
Wayne Pivac has made five changes to his injury-hit Wales team to take on Scotland in Saturday's Guinness Six Nations at Murrayfield following last Sunday's opening round 21-16 win over Ireland in Cardiff.
There is just a single change in the pack, Aaron Wainwright starting in place of the injured Dan Lydiate who lasted just twelve minutes against the Irish due to an ACL injury. Both Josh Navidi, who subbed for Lydiate, and Josh Macleod were unavailable due to injury, with the latter originally selected to earn his first cap at blindside flanker before being ruled out.
In the backs, there is a new midfield partnership in Owen Watkin and Nick Tompkins who take over from injured duo George North and Johnny Williams. On the wing, the suspension-free Liam Williams replaces the injured Hallam Amos, while Gareth Davies is at scrum-half having replaced the injured Tomos Williams last Sunday.
“We were pleased to kick the tournament off with a victory last weekend and to be heading to Scotland with a win behind us," said Pivac. “We continue to build and to move forward and it is great to do that from a position of winning.
“It is a quick six-day turnaround this week but we are looking forward to getting back out there. We have picked up a couple of injuries but we see it as more of an opportunity for those coming into the side. We have to feel extremely disappointed for Josh (Macleod) who we selected to start and to win his first cap only to be ruled out later that day through injury.”
Elliot Dee, Rhodri Jones and Leon Brown provide the front crow cover for Wales with Will Rowlands and James Botham completing the forward contingent. Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy and the uncapped Uilisi Halaholo provide the backline cover.
WALES (vs Scotland, Saturday)
1. Wyn Jones (31 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (78 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (53 Caps)
4. Adam Beard (22 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (CAPT) (144 Caps)
6. Aaron Wainwright (27 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (81 Caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (82 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (58 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (88 Caps)
11. Liam Williams (67 Caps)
12. Nick Tompkins (9 Caps)
13. Owen Watkin (26 Caps)
14. Louis Rees-Zammit (5 Caps)
15. Leigh Halfpenny (94 Caps)
Replacements:
16. Elliot Dee (33 Caps)
17. Rhodri Jones (18 Caps)
18. Leon Brown (13 Caps)
19. Will Rowlands (6 Caps)
20. James Botham (3 Caps)
21. Kieran Hardy (2 Caps)
22. Callum Sheedy (5 Caps)
23. Uilisi Halaholo (*Uncapped)
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Latest Comments
Disagree.
The challenge for the All Blacks now that they have 7 of 8 starting forwards locked in and all but one bench forward (only one loose forward and bench loosie to settle on) is to sort out the starting backline as only 9 Roigard, 12 J. Barrett, 11 Clarke and 15 Jordan had good to outstanding seasons in 2024. All the other backs were inconsistent or poor and question marks going into 2025.
Go to commentshe should not be playing 12. He should be playing 10 and team managers should stop playing players out of position to accommodate libbok.
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