Wales host England for Round 3 of Six Nations on Saturday (4.45pm); Louis Rees-Zammit starts over Rio Dyer; Alun Wyn Jones, Taulupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric, Gareth Thomas all recalled; Leigh Halfpenny, Tomas Francis back from injury; Dan Biggar dropped to bench for Owen Williams
Thursday 23 February 2023 16:17, UK
Warren Gatland has made nine changes to his Wales side to face England in the Six Nations on Saturday, after a tumultuous week in Welsh rugby.
Among the alterations, wing Louis Rees-Zammit has recovered from an ankle injury to start in Cardiff, while No 8 Taulupe Faletau, second-row Alun Wyn Jones, flanker Justin Tipuric and loosehead Gareth Thomas are recalled.
Fly-half Dan Biggar has been dropped to the bench, with Owen Williams named to start.
Leigh Halfpenny is fit enough to start at full-back after a back spasm, with Liam Williams dropped from the squad, while tighthead prop Tomas Francis also returns following concussion.
In the centres, Mason Grady is named in place of George North for his Test debut, and will start alongside Joe Hawkins at centre.
With Wales originally due to name their side on Tuesday, only to cancel the announcement due to Wednesday's extraordinary meeting regarding the future of Wales rugby and the threat of strike action, Gatland has rung far more changes than expected.
In addition to Williams and North dropping out of the squad, prop Wyn Jones, impressive No 8 Jac Morgan, wing Rio Dyer and replacement scrum-half Rhys Webb have all been omitted from the 23 - Kieran Hardy coming in for the latter. Saracens centre Nick Tompkins has also come onto the bench.
"There's some experience coming back into the side with Taulupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric, Alun Wyn Jones and also Leigh Halfpenny," said Gatland.
"And then we're mixing that with giving players an opportunity. Owen Williams coming in at 10 - we need to find out about that 10 position so Owen gets a chance.
"We've given Mason Grady a first cap. He's a big lad, he's got some really lovely rugby skills and offloading ability. He's quick, so he's the kind of centre that I think is going to have it all going forward. He's got a good rugby head on him.
"He's still pretty inexperienced so the big message to him has been 'what's the biggest thing you need to work on?' He said 'keep talking and keep communicating', so that's been the focus for him and I've been really happy with him in training.
"The message to the players has been let's draw a line in the sand in terms of what's been going on and focus completely on the rugby. We know the history of Wales and England; what that means to everyone in Wales, so we've got to go out there and give a good performance.
"For both teams this is a massive game because we win on Saturday and we can get things on track a little bit more. For England it's a huge game because if you look at their final two games that's a challenge too, so it's a huge moment in this competition."
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Louis Res-Zammit, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Ken Owens (c), 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Alun Wyn Jones, 5 Adam Beard, 6 Christ Tshiunza, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: 16 Bradley Roberts, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Dafydd Jenkins, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Nick Tompkins.
