Flanker Jac Morgan captains for second time in three games, suggesting he's favourite to skipper Wales at World Cup; Taine Basham among replacements for Saturday's game despite failing head injury assessment after Owen Farrell's controversial shoulder-led tackle at Twickenham last week
Friday 18 August 2023 11:48, UK
Alex Cuthbert, Dan Biggar and Liam Williams have been withdrawn from Wales' World Cup warm-up against South Africa on Saturday due to injury, while Cai Evans will make his debut.
The trio had been selected to start the match in Cardiff, but have been withdrawn as a precautionary measure. The Welsh Rugby Union said that full-back Williams had a tight hamstring, Biggar was suffering from back irritation and Cuthbert had calf muscle tightness
Evans is promoted from the replacements' bench to make his Test debut as Williams' replacement, while Sam Costelow replaces fly-half Biggar and Tom Rogers steps in for Cuthbert.
Johnny Williams will make his first appearances of Wales' Rugby World Cup warm-up schedule, partnering Mason Grady in midfield, while there are also starts for the likes of scrum-half Kieran Hardy and hooker Elliot Dee.
Flanker Jac Morgan will captain Wales for the second time in three games, suggesting he is favourite to skipper Wales at the World Cup.
Taine Basham, meanwhile, is among the replacements for the Springboks' Principality Stadium visit. Basham failed a head injury assessment following a shoulder-led tackle to his head by England captain Owen Farrell at Twickenham last weekend.
Farrell was sent off, but in a decision that has sent shockwaves throughout the rugby world his red card was overturned by a disciplinary panel before an appeal by World Rugby.
The Welsh Rugby Union said that Basham "was not a confirmed concussion following completion of all three stages of the head injury assessment (HIA) protocol".
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has made 13 changes from the side edged out 19-17 by England, with only full-back Liam Williams and flanker Dan Lydiate remaining in his starting XV.
It will be the final chance for players to impress before he names Wales' 33-player World Cup squad on Monday. There are two uncapped players on the bench in Cardiff forward Teddy Williams and Dragons back Cai Evans.
Gatland said: "Preparations have gone well. We are really pleased with the whole squad. We are trying to build some depth within the team, and there has been a great atmosphere.
"In the first couple of games what was really pleasing for me was the physicality we brought and the way we defended. There are still things for us to work on in terms of being much more accurate.
"There has been a lot of learning from that second England game, and hopefully we put that into practice against South Africa. There is another opportunity for this group of 23 players to put their hand up before we select the World Cup squad."
Gatland's opposite number Jacques Nienaber has selected a strong Springboks side, highlighted by the return from injury of their World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi.
"We are expecting confidence and physicality from South Africa. They don't make a lot of mistakes," Gatland added.
"But we've got a great chance to go out there in front of a home crowd and produce some of the good things that we did in both the games against England.
"We just need to make sure we play for 80 minutes and are accurate for 80 minutes."
Wales: 15 Cai Evans, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Kieran Hardy; 1 Corey Domachowski, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 4 Ben Carter, 5 Will Rowlands, 6 Dan Lydiate, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit.
South Africa: Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe; Manie Libbok, Jaden Hendrikse; Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, Jean Kleyn, RG Snyman, Siya Kolisi (c), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, Franco Mostert, Marco van Staden, Duane Vermeulen, Grant Williams, Damian Willemse.
