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Wales make 6 changes to face Scotland, give Lewis-Hughes a back row debut
By Online Editors
Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones will become rugby’s most capped international on Saturday when he makes his 149th Test appearance (140 for Wales, plus nine British and Irish Lions caps) in an XV showing six changes from last weekend's loss to France in an autumn warm-up.
Jones levelled the record last weekend but will take the honour for himself at Parc y Scarlets this weekend as Wales face Scotland in their re-arranged Guinness Six Nations finale.
At the other end of the international spectrum, Cardiff Blues back row Shane Lewis-Hughes will make his first Test appearance for Wales in a back row alongside experienced Lions duo Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau. He steps in for Aaron Wainwright.
Will Rowlands, fresh from the English Premiership Final with Wasps, comes into the side to make his first start for Wales and he packs down alongside captain Jones in place of the benched Cory Hill.
European champion and English Premiership winner Tomas Francis comes into the front row alongside Rhys Carre and Ryan Elias in place of Samson Lee.
In the backline, Gareth Davies partners Dan Biggar following an injury to Rhys Webb, with Owen Watkin coming into the midfield alongside Jonathan Davies in place of Nick Tompkins. Liam Williams returns to the back three, taking over from George North to feature alongside Josh Adams and Leigh Halfpenny.
On the bench, Sam Parry, Wyn Jones and Dillon Lewis provide the front row replacements with Hill and James Davies completing the forward contingent. Lloyd Williams comes straight into the matchday squad and provides backline cover along with Rhys Patchell and Tompkins.
WALES (vs Scotland, Saturday)
1. Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues (9 Caps)
2. Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (14 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (48 Caps)
4. Will Rowlands (Wasps) (1 Cap)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (139 Caps) (CAPT)
6. Shane Lewis-Hughes (Cardiff Blues) (*Uncapped)
7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (77 Caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath) (77 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (54 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints) (84 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues) (25 Caps)
12. Owen Watkin (Ospreys) (22 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) (82 Caps)
14. Liam Williams (Scarlets) (63 Caps)
15. Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets) (90 Caps)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Sam Parry (Ospreys) (1 Cap)
17. Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (25 Caps)
18. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues) (27 Caps)
19. Cory Hill (Cardiff Blues) (26 Caps)
20. James Davies (Scarlets) (8 Caps)
21. Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) (28 Caps)
22. Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) (20 Caps)
23. Nick Tompkins (Dragons) (5 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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