Wayne Pivac's team host Scotland at the Principality Stadium at 2.15pm on Saturday after a tough defeat to Ireland on the opening weekend; Jac Morgan joins Taine Basham and Ross Moriarty in the back row; Josh Adams is ruled out due to a tight calf
Thursday 10 February 2022 19:55, UK
Jac Morgan will make his Test debut for Wales against Scotland on Saturday, while Josh Adams is ruled out due to a tight calf.
Morgan will be joined by Taine Basham in the back row and Ross Moriarty, who returns to the starting line-up at No 8 having won his 50th cap as a replacement in Dublin.
Owen Watkin is named at outside centre and he will partner Nick Tompkins in midfield.
Louis Rees-Zammit starts on one wing with Alex Cuthbert set to make his first Six Nations appearances since 2017 on the other. Liam Williams completes the back three line-up.
Dan Biggar will lead the side in front of a home crowd for the first time and the contest will mark his 100th international appearance after 96 outings for Wales and three for the British and Irish Lions.
If Jonathan Davies comes off the bench, then he would also achieve the same milestone after 93 Wales appearances and six for the British and Irish Lions.
Tomos Williams continues at scrum-half and Wales' front five remains unchanged.
Head coach Pivac wants to see "an improvement across the board" this weekend. Wales have not started a Six Nations campaign with successive defeats since 2007, and they must beat Scotland to revive any hope of a successful title defence.
Scotland last won in Cardiff 20 years ago, losing eight Six Nations Tests, a World Cup warm-up game and an autumn international during that time.
But they will arrive at the Principality Stadium following a stirring Calcutta Cup victory over England last weekend that confirmed serious Six Nations title credentials.
"It is an improvement across the board, really," Pivac said. "The players are very critical of themselves. They are very disappointed after the game last week.
"They are desperate to go out there and show we are a much better team than the display we put on last week. Across the board, everybody in the camp was very disappointed.
"We are at home, we are in front of 75,000 people, and we owe it to ourselves and our public to put on a better display, as simple as that.
"They [Scotland] are a very good side. They have got a number of British and Irish Lions," PIvac added.
"They showed last week that they fight for every blade of grass, and that is certainly what we have got to be doing on the weekend.
"We have to match that, and then bring some on top of that. It is going to be a very hard-fought game, we know that, and it is a Scotland team coming full of confidence."
Wales XV: 15. Liam Williams, 14. Alex Cuthbert, 13. Owen Watkin, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Louis Rees-Zammit, 10. Dan Biggar (captain), 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ryan Elias, 3. Tomas Francis, 4. Will Rowlands, 4. Adam Beard (vice-captain), 6. Taine Basham, 7. Jac Morgan, 8. Ross Moriarty.
Replacements: 16. Dewi Lake, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Dillon Lewis, 19. Seb Davies, 20. Aaron Wainwright, 21. Gareth Davies, 22. Callum Sheedy, 23. Jonathan Davies.
