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13 changes to latest Wales team; two new caps also named on bench
By Liam Heagney
Warren Gatland has opted to make 13 changes to his Wales team for this Saturday’s Summer Nations Series match with the Springboks in Cardiff. The Welsh were beaten 17-19 last weekend in London by England, a fixture in which starters Dewi Lake and Taine Plumtree were lost to injury, and the coach has now decided to make sweeping changes for the final outing of his team’s three-game Rugby World Cup build-up.
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Full-back Liam Williams and blindside Dan Lydiate are the only two repeat starters from Twickenham in the latest Wales XV, a selection that contains two uncapped players in the replacements: Teddy Williams and Cai Evans.
The clash with the Springboks offers winger Alex Cuthbert, centre Johnny Williams and scrum-half Kieran Hardy their first appearances this month while Jac Morgan, who skippered Wales to their August 5 20-9 win over England in Cardiff, has been restored at openside and will captain the team.
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An interesting inclusion on the bench is Taine Basham, who had a HIA after being on the receiving end last weekend of a controversial tackle by England’s Owen Farrell. A WRU statement clarified: “Taine Basham was not a confirmed concussion following completion of all three stages of the head injury assessment protocol.”
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.
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“We are expecting confidence and physicality from South Africa. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. It’s a very experienced team for them. But we have 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 (vs Springboks, Saturday – 3:15pm)
15. Liam Williams (Kubota Spears – 85 caps)
14. Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 57 caps)
13. Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby – 3 caps)
12. Johnny Williams (Scarlets – 5 caps)
11. Rio Dyer (Dragons – 8 caps)
10. Dan Biggar (Toulon – 109 caps)
9. Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 17 caps)
1. Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby – 1 cap)
2. Elliot Dee (Dragons – 42 caps
3. Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby – 1 cap)
4. Ben Carter (Dragons – 10 caps)
5. Will Rowlands (Dragons – 24 caps)
6. Dan Lydiate (Dragons – 70 caps)
7. Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 10 caps) captain
8. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons – 38 caps)
Replacements:
16. Sam Parry (Ospreys – 6 caps)
17. Nicky Smith (Ospreys – 43 caps)
18. Henry Thomas (Montpellier – 1 cap)
19. Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped)
20. Taine Basham (Dragons – 12 caps)
21. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 47 caps)
22. Max Llewellyn (Gloucester Rugby – 1 cap)
23. Cai Evans (Dragons – uncapped)
Surprised. Thought it might have been more if a 1st xv