Friday 9 February 2018 20:52, UK
Wales have named an unchanged starting XV from the convincing Six Nations victory over Scotland for their meeting against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
The only change to the squad from the 34-7 victory against Gregor Townsend's side is the return of George North who has not featured for Warren Gatland's men since the final game of last season's Six Nations and who has recovered from a knee injury sustained in December.
Gatland has opted to retain the same back line for the match which means Leigh Halfpenny, who scored two tries as part of a 24-point haul in the tournament's curtain raiser, will line up with Worcester's Josh Adams and Scarlets' Steff Evans.
The Scarlet's duo of Hadleigh Parkes and Scott Williams will continue their midfield partnership while fellow club teammates Rhys Patchell and Gareth Davies will resume their halfback partnership.
The experienced Ospreys flanker Alun Wyn Jones, man-of-the-match in the Scotland victory at Cardiff, will lead Wales once again in a forward pack which includes an all-Scarlet front-row of Rob Evans, Ken Owens and Samson Lee.
Dragons lock Cory Hill will partner the 32-year-old Jones with Aaron Shingler, Josh Navidi and Ross Moriarty in the back-row.
Wales head coach Gatland, who is bidding for a repeat of the 2015 World Cup group victory over England and a first Six Nations success at Twickenham since 2012, said: "It's great to name an unchanged starting XV, the players deserve that for a very good performance on the opening weekend.
"We have made one change on the bench, with George coming in for Owen (Watkin), which is tough on Owen but Josh (Adams) picked up a slight strain last weekend so George provides us a bit more cover there.
"We know how tough it is going to be against that huge English forward pack. They are really going to test us.
"England have been in great form the last couple of years so we know the challenge we face but we have had a good couple of weeks in camp and we are looking forward to going up to Twickenham."
Wales team to play England: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Cory Hill, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Josh Navidi, 8 Ross Moriarty.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 George North.
