Wales rely on old guard for England clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has named his team to face England at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.
Taulupe Faletau, who was recalled to the squad earlier this week following his return from injury, is selected at No.. He features for the first time since playing against France in last year’s Six Nations.
Elsewhere in the back row Ross Moriarty switches to blindside flank and Taine Basham moves back to openside flank after an outing at blindside against Scotland.
Alex Cuthbert will win his 50th cap for Wales this weekend after being selected on the wing. Josh Adams returns from injury to start also at wing, while Liam Williams remains at fullback.
Among the replacements Leon Brown (tighthead prop) is in line to make his first appearance for Wales since last July. Kieran Hardy and Gareth Anscombe, who last featured for Wales in the November series against Fiji and South Africa respectively, are named as halfback cover. Jac Morgan is the other change to the bench from the Wales 23 versus Scotland at Millennium Stadium.
“We’re very pleased to have the experienced Toby Faletau back. He’s trained well during the week and got 80 minutes under his belt last week. From our point of view he brings a lot of experience so we’re very excited to have Toby back.
“I’m also really pleased for Alex Cuthbert to get fifty Tests for his country. It’s a massive achievement. And it’s also great to have Josh Adams back from injury.
“They are two good players. That means Louis Rees-Zammit is the unfortunate one this week that misses out. But we’ve looked at the opposition we’re playing and niggly injuries that players pick up from time to time and we think that in this particular match, the way the game will go, that Alex and Josh are the right selection.
“Clearly everyone loves playing at home and it’s a first home game of the Six Nations for England. They will be tough opposition, they always are and both teams are still in this competition so there’s a lot at stake.
“It’s a big game. We had a great result against them last year but we’re going to have to play very, very well to get the same result this year.
“We played well against Scotland, but we’ve challenged the boys to make sure that we have that same effort away from home this week.”
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar (captain), 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Jonathan Davies.
Date: Saturday, February 26
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 16.45 (16.45 GMT)
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
