Warren Gatland has named the Wales team that will take on Italy at the Principality Stadium in the final round of the Six Nations this weekend. There are four changes to the XV that lost at Twickenham.
Dan Lydiate takes the captaincy armband for the first time in a test match, with Sam Warburton ruled out after sustaining a concussion in the match against England. Justin Tipuric takes his number seven shirt.
Alun Wyn Jones and Alex Cuthbert both have heel injuries – Luke Charteris returns to the starting line-up for the former, while Hallam Amos makes his first appearance of the campaign for the latter. Rhys Webb is also included at the expense of Gareth Davies.
“This weekend it is all about finishing off the tournament well and putting in a big performance,” said Gatland.
“We are disappointed with last week, especially the first half but a win on Saturday will see us finish the tournament in second and we have to aim for that now.
“There are a number of changes, a couple injury enforced. Alun Wyn Jones has a foot problem that we have been managing for a while and he has played a lot of games. We have given Sam Warburton the week off, we decided not to push him through all the return to play protocols and we have also been managing a heel injury with Alex (Cuthbert) so Hallam comes on to the left wing.
“It’s good to see Rhys (Webb) back and starting, it’s a good opportunity for him. Saturday is a good chance for some of the players to redeem themselves and we are looking for a big performance.
“I’ve been involved in a couple of times when Dan (Lydiate) has captained the midweek sides and he jumped at the opportunity this weekend and it will be good to see how he goes.”
WALES TEAM TO PLAY ITALY
Liam Williams (Scarlets), George North (Northampton Saints), Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Luke Charteris (Racing 92), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys, Capt), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs / Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys)*, Jake Ball (Scarlets), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester Rugby), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues).
*Tomas Francis is named, subject to outcome of disciplinary hearing.
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Obviously the big miss is AWT, Gats must think that he is played out & is probably right, he looked a shadow of himself on Saturday. Happy to see Cuthbert is gone with Amos in though would have liked to see Stefan Evans drafted in to the Squad. Also glad that Charteris & Webb are on from the start ….. they should have been last weekend !.
Hopefully they will play a bit more expansive rugby this week as I think the Welsh people would demand after the debacle against England.
Italy do that thing where they target a game or two – will they be thinking the Mill Stadium is the place to turn it on? On that basis glad we resisted the temptation to go for a full on dev team, we need to win well to give ourselves something to build on. It’s come to something when a 2nd place will be widely harrumphed at – it’s right to have standards of course but probably not worth panicking at a 2nd place finish – assuming we do the job against Italy.
Looking forward to seeing Moriarty come off the bench.
I think Italy were targeting France and Scotland but seeing as its their last game they might as well empty the tank
Brighty have you seen the Italy team they are decimated by injury . They were already in double figures and yesterday they had another 3 and another 1 today. I would expect us to win with one hand tied behind our back. This dead rubber is exactly when we should have started developing for the future . Coming second in this particular six nations means nothing. There was only one form team to beat and we failed. By next year France Ireland and Scotland may be up to speed but not this year for various reasons and second would count for something. . This is Gatland at his usual conservative best and trying to send out a team to finish on a high and make him look better. Whereas we the paying public on this occasion would have been delighted to see what we’ve got in the bank.
Decent side, Glad to see Cuthbert dropped , he has been shocking for years. hope he doesn’t get his place back. Would loved to have seen Matthew Morgan on the bench in place of Anscombe. Don’t think Anscombe offers anything off the bench at all.
Nice to see Moriarty given a go too.
Very exciting looking side, relieved this wasn’t picked for the England match! Will Gats have the guts to stick with these players for the England match and NZ tour. The summer match against Eng will be up against a very developmental side, so should give him scope to experiment.
Think this is the right call for this match, no need for wholesale changes at this time but once the 6N is over I would like to think the likes of Sam Davies, Patchell & Stefan Evans etc will be included in future ….
Gats backed out again what has ken owain got to do baldwin been rubish all season they got what thy deserved last saturday no guts no passion ashamed to bee welsh should have sacked half of them
What a sad case you must be Ray. Call yourself a supporter?
No great wordsmith either !.
Almost the team I’d have gone for last week. I still think that Ken Owens is a much better player than Scott Baldwin. Twice Baldwin entered the backline this season in key attacking moments and on both occasions he dropped the ball. He is just so so overrated.
If AWJ was injured b 4 the England game he should never have been picked. This insane policy of picking the injured 1st choice over the fit 2nd choice simply never works.
Hopefully we have seen the international career of that useless turd Cuthberk come to an end
That would at least mean that the 2016 6n was had one positive.