Wales change four for Les Bleus
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Wales head coach Steve Tandy has named his team to play France in Round Two of the 2026 Six Nations at Principality Stadium on Sunday.
There are four personnel and two positional changes to the starting XV for the first home match of the 2026 Championship.
Loosehead prop Rhys Carre and tighthead prop Tomas Francis, who made his first Wales appearance since RWC2023 last weekend, are selected alongside captain Dewi Lake in the front row.
Dafydd Jenkins and Adam Beard continue in the second row.
In the back row, Olly Craknell is selected at No.8 for his Six Nations debut.
Aaron Wainwright moves to blindside flanker, and Alex Mann moves to openside flanker.
Tomos Williams and Dan Edwards continue at scrumhalf and flyhalf respectively.
Joe Hawkins, named at inside centre alongside club teammate Eddie James at outside centre, will make his first appearance of this Championship.
Louis Rees-Zammit is at fullback with Josh Adams and Ellis Mee on the wings.
There are five forwards and three backs among the replacements.
Ryan Elias is in line to make his first appearance for Wales since the 2024 Nations Series.
Loosehead prop Nicky Smith and tighthead prop Archie Griffin join Elias as front row cover for Wales.
Ben Carter and Taine Plumtree are the other forward replacements.
Jarrod Evans is included among the replacement backs along with Mason Grady and Kieran Hardy.
Wales: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Rhys Carre
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Mason Grady
Date: Sunday, January 15
Venue: Principality Stadium
Kick-off: 15.10 (16.10 CET; 15.10 GMT)
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
TMO: Richard Kelly (New Zealand)