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Wales forced into late change after Friday training injury
By Ian Cameron
Wales have been forced into a late change ahead of their game with Fiji at the Principality Stadium this afternoon.
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Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis has had to withdraw from the squad after sustaining a head knock in training.
A statement from the WRU reads: “WillGriff John will start Wales’ third Autumn Nations Series Test, against Fiji at Principality Stadium this afternoon, having made his debut from the replacements bench last week.
“Tighthead prop Tomas Francis has had to withdraw from the matchday squad due to a concussion that happened during training on Friday.
“Dillon Lewis, who featured against New Zealand in the opening encounter, comes on to the bench.”
Wales are expecting a stern contest from Fiji, with Wayne Pivac saying during the week that: “We want to be able to use our squad where we can. In terms of the forwards we don’t have a lot of options with injuries and unavailability. The exciting one is Josh Adams getting an opportunity. That’s really looking at the future. When you have to pick a World Cup squad of 33, you’ve got to have players that can play in more than one position and we’ve been wanting to do it for a while so we’ll see how Josh goes in the midfield.
“Fiji are big, powerful and very quick out-wide. The introduction of Alex Cuthbert, along with Louis Rees-Zammit, is an eye on the speed that the Fijians will bring and we need to be able to match that. The offloading game that they bring is certainly different to the South Africans.
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“They are a good side. They’re a much-improved side of some of the Fiji teams of old, certainly since when I was involved with Fiji they’ve come a long.”
WALES TEAM:
15 Liam Williams (Scarlets)
14 Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys)
13 Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby)
12 Johnny Williams (Scarlets)
11 Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby)
10 Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints)
9 Kieran Hardy (Scarlets)
1 Rhys Carré (Cardiff Rugby)
2 Ryan Elias (Scarlets)
3 WillGriff John (Scarlets)
4 Will Rowlands (Dragons)
5 Adam Beard (Ospreys)
6 Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Rugby – captain)
7 Thomas Young (Wasps Rugby)
8 Taine Basham (Dragons)
Replacements:
16 Bradley Roberts (Ulster)
17 Gareth Thomas (Ospreys)
18 Dillon Lewis (Cardiff)
19 Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs – uncapped)
20 Seb Davies (Cardiff Rugby)
21 Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby)
22 Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears)
23 Nick Tompkins (Saracens)
