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Wales rotate squad for final pool match against Georgia
By Josh Raisey
Warren Gatland has rotated his Wales squad for their final pool match against Georgia on Saturday in Nantes, making six changes from the side that beat Australia two weeks ago to secure their quarter-final place.
Although they have already qualified, Wales still need a point to guarantee they top Pool C, assuming Fiji pick up a bonus point against Portugal in their final match of the pool.
Gareth Anscombe starts at fly-half after Dan Biggar suffered a chest injury against in the record 40-6 win over the Wallabies, with Sam Costelow providing cover on the bench. Scrum-half Tomos Williams and winger Rio Dyer are the other two newcomers in the backline from that victory, replacing Gareth Davies and Josh Adams, respectively.
In the pack, Dewi Lake returns to captain the side at hooker, with flanker Jac Morgan being rested completely. Tommy Reffell takes Morgan's place in the No7 jersey. The final change in the starting XV is in the second-row, where Dafydd Jenkins replaces Adam Beard.
Wales XV
15. Liam Williams (Kubota Spears – 87 caps)
14. Louis Rees Zammit (Gloucester Rugby – 30 caps)
13. George North (Ospreys– 116 caps)
12. Nick Tompkins (Saracens– 30 caps)
11. Rio Dyer (Dragons– 12 caps)
10. Gareth Anscombe (Suntory Sungoliath – 37 caps)
9. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby– 51 caps)
1. Gareth Thomas (Ospreys– 24 caps)
2. Dewi Lake (Ospreys– 10 caps) captain
3. Tomas Francis (Provence Rugby – 75 caps)
4. Will Rowlands (Racing 92 – 27 caps)
5. Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs– 10 caps)
6. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons– 41 caps)
7. Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers– 11 caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby– 103 caps)
Replacements
16. Elliot Dee (Dragons– 45 caps)
17. Nicky Smith (Ospreys– 45 caps)
18. Henry Thomas (Montpellier – 3 caps)
19. Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs– 8 caps)
20. Taine Basham (Dragons– 15 caps)
21. Gareth Davies (Scarlets – 72 caps)
22. Sam Costelow (Scarlets – 6 caps)
23. Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby– 5 caps)
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Latest Comments
True, you might having something in this being their WC Final and not being able to last three big games in three weeks (ala RWC acclimatizing), that was Razor's impetus behind his selections and leadups/preparation for these first 3 weeks (for us).
With these guys being in the first two (into third) months of their season too.
Haha he certainly looked like he'd spoiled the party after the game too, we'll both have to expect he makes it up somehow 😁 I thought your 1 point win over them were the two best performances of the RWC, I think that was NZ's best performance this season too. Too bad we couldn't put a nail in the coffin like we did last week 😉
Go to commentsI know, it's going to be ugly.?! 😁
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