Six Nations: Wales head coach Warren Gatland rings the changes for clash with England at Twickenham | Rugby Union News
Warren Gatland has made seven changes to Wales’ starting line-up for Saturday’s Six Nations clash against England at Twickenham.
Centre George North returns from injury for his 50th Six Nations appearances, lining up alongside Nick Tompkins in midfield.
Fly-half Sam Costelow, who went off injured during the first half of Wales’ 27-26 loss to Scotland last weekend, is replaced by Ioan Lloyd, with Tomos Williams preferred to Gareth Davies at scrum-half.
Head coach Gatland has also selected a new front row of Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee and Keiron Assiratti, with Cardiff flanker Alex Mann handed a first Wales start following his try-scoring appearance off the bench against Scotland, taking over from an injured James Botham.
“We’ve made a few changes to the starting line-up this weekend which gives opportunities to the players coming in. We need to be accurate and keep our discipline,” Gatland said.
“This is a massive game, not only because of the history and what it means to everyone in Wales. But it’s an opportunity to get things on track a bit more. England are in a rebuilding phase. We’ll go there with a lot of confidence we can build on that second half and belief.”
Elsewhere, tight-head prop Archie Griffin is in line to win his first senior international cap from the replacements’ bench, while Cai Evans could make his Six Nations debut after being named as cover for Costelow.
Sky Sports News reporter James Cole and Sky Sports digital journalist Marc Bazeley discuss Wales almost completing the biggest comeback in Six Nations history against Scotland
Forwards Will Rowlands and Taine Basham, and scrum-half Kieran Hardy all return to the Wales matchday 23 as well. For Rowlands, it could be his first Six Nations appearance since 2022 having missed last year’s tournament through injury.
Gatland is seeking a response from his team at the home of their fierce rivals after finding themselves 27-0 down against Scotland before fighting back in the second half to be just one missed conversion away from snatching a stunning victory.
“We’ve been critical and tough on ourselves this week,” Gatland said. “That first half [against Scotland] was nowhere near the standards we expect. We simply cannot start the same way this Saturday.
“We showed in the second half against Scotland what we are capable of. Now it’s about building on that performance and playing with some tempo from the off.”
Wales team to play England
Wales: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 5 Adam Beard, 6 Alex Mann, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Mason Grady.
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