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Six NationsItalyWales

Wales name team to face Italy

Wales team named for Italy clash (Getty Images)

Jonathan Davies will captain Wales for the first time on Saturday as he leads his country against Italy in Rome.

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Davies will win his 70th cap at Stadio Olimpico and becomes Wales’ 137th captain.

He will line up in midfield alongside Owen Watkin with Dan Biggar and Aled Davies named at fly-half and scrum-half respectively.

In total Wales have made 10 personnel changes from the side that beat France in Paris.

Liam Williams and Josh Adams, who both started in Paris last week, are joined by Jonah Holmes in the back-three with the latter making his first Six Nations appearance.

In the pack Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee and Samson Lee form a new look front-row with Jake Ball coming into the second-row alongside Adam Beard, with Alun Wyn Jones on the bench.

In the back-row Josh Navidi moves to No. 8, Aaron Wainwright starts at blindside flanker and Thomas Young makes his first Six Nations appearance on the openside.

“We have made a number of changes this weekend but have picked what we think is a very exciting team that still has huge experience throughout it,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland.

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“We have made a similar number of changes to what we did last year, but it is all about opportunity for these players.

“We have had a squad of 31 training together, replicating the Rugby World Cup and it is important they get game-time.

“It is a great opportunity for Jon (Davies) as captain. He has a huge amount of experience, is a great leader and it is a great honour for him to lead his country.

“Italy will be hurting after last weekend but they are a different proposition in Rome. They are an experienced team themselves and they will be looking to put things right on the pitch after their opening defeat.”

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Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones and Dillon Lewis are the front-row replacements on the bench with Alun Wyn Jones and Ross Moriarty completing the forward contingent. Gareth Davies, Gareth Anscombe and Hallam Amos provide Wales’ backline cover.

WALES TEAM TO PLAY ITALY (Saturday February 9 KO 16.45 GMT – Live ITV & S4C)
15. Liam Williams (52 Caps)
14. Jonah Holmes (1 Cap)
13. Jonathan Davies (69 Caps) (Capt)
12. Owen Watkin (9 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (7 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (66 Caps)
9. Aled Davies (12 Caps)
1. Nicky Smith (24 Caps)
2. Elliot Dee (14 Caps)
3. Samson Lee (39 Caps)
4. Jake Ball (29 Caps)
5. Adam Beard (9 Caps)
6. Aaron Wainwright (4 Caps)
7. Thomas Young (2 Caps)
8. Josh Navidi (12 Caps)

Replacements:
16. Ryan Elias (6 Caps)
17. Wyn Jones (11 Caps)
18. Dillon Lewis (8 Caps)
19 Alun Wyn Jones (121 Caps)
20. Ross Moriarty (27 Caps)
21. Gareth Davies (37 Caps)
22. Gareth Anscombe (22 Caps)
23. Hallam Amos (18 Caps)

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Comments on RugbyPass

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FF 10 minutes ago
The story of Romania's Mariana Lucescu: The Stejarii ‘Madame Rugby’

Assessing the overall state of Romanian rugby is quite challenging, as it's a mixed bag with both positives and negatives.


Club Finances & Player Salaries: Teams like Steaua and Dinamo have solid financial backing and can pay their players well—often more than clubs in the French 4th division and sometimes even the 3rd. This financial stability is a key reason why many Romanian players choose to stay rather than move to lower-tier French leagues.


Professionalism & Foreign Influence: The SuperLiga, with its six teams, maintains a strong professional setup. This attracts many foreign players, which raises the overall level of competition. However, this also makes it difficult for young Romanian players to transition into the top league, as the jump from training 2-3 times a week to a full-time professional setup is significant.


Facilities: While some clubs, like Steaua, have modern facilities, others, such as Timișoara, struggle with inadequate infrastructure. Outside the SuperLiga, the situation is even worse—many clubs still rely on outdated communist-era facilities. Since most don’t own their stadiums, investment in improvements is minimal. Clubs risk losing their grounds to football academies (e.g., Tei - Bucharest), real estate developments (e.g., Brașov), or stalled public projects (e.g., Brăila’s unfinished Olympic pool, under construction for 15 years).


League Structure & Future Growth: The first division remains fully professional and competitive compared to other second-tier leagues in Europe. However, with only six teams, expansion seems unlikely in the next 1-2 years. Meanwhile, second-division teams are barely surviving.


Junior Development: Youth rugby is in decline, with fewer teams and players than before. However, there are promising efforts to establish privately funded clubs, particularly at the mini-rugby level.


Overall, while the top-tier league is stable, Romanian rugby still faces major challenges in infrastructure, youth development, and league expansion.


In theory, the current state should be enough to keep us among the top 24 teams in the world, ensuring Rugby World Cup qualification and potentially climbing a few spots in the World Rankings - but not much beyond that. However, I can also see us occasionally missing out on a World Cup or having to go through the repechage if we falter on the wrong day.

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Meredith Wechter 14 minutes ago
'France may leave top players at home but will still be serious contenders in New Zealand'

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PT 15 minutes ago
France's Peato Mauvaka cited for yellow-carded Ben White incident

And the All Blacks. Andrew Porter's head clash with Brodie Retallick, which left Brodie with a broken cheek bone. Porter was only yellow carded, unbelievable.

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AlanP 21 minutes ago
Six Nations report card: Each team graded from A to F

Lol England with a better grade than France 🤣

There's not a single part of the game I will put England ahead of France right now. England is definitely the most improved team but not the better team.

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Brett McKay 39 minutes ago
Will the real Queensland Reds please stand up

Nice one Mitch. Comfortably the best performance of the four to date..

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B
Brett McKay 40 minutes ago
Will the real Queensland Reds please stand up

Typically moronic comment. Can you seriously not consume rugby without your pathetic anti-NZ lens?


Grow up.

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RedWarriors 45 minutes ago
The story of Romania's Mariana Lucescu: The Stejarii ‘Madame Rugby’

Are you a Romanian Supporter? Can you tell us has the Romanian domestic clubs started to recover from the down after professionalism?

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RedWarriors 47 minutes ago
'I don't see them being that dominant force that they have been'

We were top of the World a couple of years before RWC 2023. Let’s come in under the radar this time. We have the players coming through and we have the skills to adapt our players to play any style.

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PB 51 minutes ago
'France may leave top players at home but will still be serious contenders in New Zealand'

Boks prior to Rassie/Nienaber have been poor in NZ, don’t expect that to be the case now.

As for an ageing squad, dream on! Rassie has his finger firmly on that pulse.

All the aging players pretty much still top of the pile and in fine fettle.

Besides the next generation in almost every position has mostly already been identified and getting serious game time.

LH: Ox, Jan Hendrik Wessels and Thomas du Toit

Hkr: Marx, Bongi still playing well, Wessels can play hooker, and some hungry youngsters.

TH: Malherbe still strong, but Wilco, Neethling Fouche, and Koch still good

4L: Eben, Kleyn, Moerat

5L: Mostert still 👌🏻, RG Snyman, Lood, Nortje, JF van Heerden

6: Kolisi still 👌🏻, Kwagga, van Staden

7: PSDT still 👌🏻, Louw, Ruan Venter, Ludwig, Cobus Wiese

8: Wiese, Hanekom, Roos, Francke Horn

9: Williams, Hendrickse, Reinach, vd Bergh

10: Pollard, Mngomezulu, Libbok, Hendrickse

11: Arendse, Moodie

12: DdA still 👌🏻, Esterhuizen, Julius

13: Kriel, Am, Hooker, van Wyk

14: Kolbe, vd Merwe

15: Fassie, Willemse, Quan Horn, Le Roux


Dream on if you think the age is going to help in anyway. Vermeulen was still a beats at 37


Also read up on Aled Walters opinion on age. Age related to conditioning and injuries all change the profile. Some players peak at 30 plus. Regardless age won’t be a relief for Bok opponents.

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WeeBey 57 minutes ago
Six Nations report card: Each team graded from A to F

Why would I cry, This guarantees Borthwicks job and constant box kicking when they play anyone slightly better than Wales.

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DM 1 hour ago
Plummer relegated for fellow All Black, Sotutu returns for Blues

There is a totally disproportionate. coverage of southern hemisphere rugby in what is supposed to be the northern edition.

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fl 1 hour ago
Mick Cleary: Five non-negotiables England need to display against Italy

Giraffes are excellent at reaching the high fruits but they don’t run or turn too well in the open.


If you’re holding out for Steward playing 12 for England then settle in for a long wait would be my advice, that’s even with Lawrence side-lined. Aki (or Tuipulotu) he ain’t.


If I was Steward and wanting to play for England I would be focused on playing a position that aligns with my strengths as a player, rather than following the advice of some extremely poorly informed online commenters to switch to a position that aligs with none of them.


The most important attribute for a 12 is the ability to defend at 12. There is no reason to think that Steward would be good at this.

29 Go to comments
O
OJohn 1 hour ago
Will the real Queensland Reds please stand up

This constant wanting to suck up to kiwi coaches is sickening.


How does it feel to be the most boring ruby commentator in Australian rugby ?

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Six Nations report card: Each team graded from A to F

Cry more WeeBeyby

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Andrew Nichols 1 hour ago
All Black returns to Crusaders bench for Blues derby

Long time since I can remember having so many top drawer 9s in this country.

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RedWarriors 1 hour ago
'I don't see them being that dominant force that they have been'

To be fair Dan Coles made the opposing case.

He said Ireland had the system, smarts and players coming through to compete. What was of interest was how they might change their game plan.


Ben Youngs said he was happy about Ireland’s slide. He was talking about England’s prospects but in fact Ireland’s standards (and France’s) have forced England up. The stronger six nations you have the stronger the chance of six nations winners, semi finalists, quarter finalists etc. England had three tough matches in this six nations. That showed in their improvements.

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J Marc 1 hour ago
France's Peato Mauvaka cited for yellow-carded Ben White incident

When other nations are playing Ireland, there are a lot of very serious accidental injuries. Ask to South Africa , France and the Last.. Italy saturday…

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J
J Marc 1 hour ago
'France may leave top players at home but will still be serious contenders in New Zealand'

Your list is not so bad but we will only know the players available 2 weeks before the first test. If Toulouse or, and, Bordeaux are not in the final, I don't think that the main players will be select because of the number of games they have allready played, but there are very good young players in these two clubs and some of them should be sélected ( Castro Ferreira, Gazzoti, Matiu, Costes, Depoortere….)

Like you, I don't think Atonio will be there, he is 35 and often injuried, but Tatafu was in the 28 in the stands saturday and maybe Bamba will be back from his knee injury he got in Argentina. Aldritt has played a lot too. Fickou was injuried 2 month and maybe he should be in the side, but he has yet played 13 games in top14 and 3 with France. At 10, we should have Berdeu, Le Brun ,or Reus. In 2023 U20 final Reus was better than his opponent Prendergast. Nene is injuried now for some month. And Galthie is used to select in july 2 or 3 U20 despite the U20 WC. Last week he select Brau Boirie in the 42 players for France Scotland.

Last year when he selected Michael Guillard for Argentina, nobody wait such good display from him. So I think ,France should have a good side in July.

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Ed the Duck 1 hour ago
Did innovative England emerge strongest from the Six Nations?

Their pensions are already well boosted with the tax refund of contract earnings they are guaranteed to receive from the Irish state on retirement.

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Ed the Duck 1 hour ago
'France may leave top players at home but will still be serious contenders in New Zealand'

“Galthié’s strategic mention that he intends to sabotage his own selections“


Galthie has no say in this, the decision is driven by the LNR but whatever happens, the French team won’t be a walkover narrative has been set up nicely for NZ to seriously underestimate the challenge. Always a dangerous position…

16 Go to comments
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