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Wales name team for Scotland clash
Wales have named two uncapped players in their 23-man squad for their clash against Scotland on Saturday with wing Luke Morgan named in the starting XV and fly-half Jarrod Evans named on the bench.
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Morgan, Wales Sevens’ all-time leading try scorer, will make his debut at Principality Stadium alongside the experienced duo of British & Irish Lions George North and Leigh Halfpenny.
Eight Lions in total are named for Wales including 2017 Player of the Series Jonathan Davies who returns from injury to feature for his country for the first time since 2017. He partners regional teammate Hadleigh Parkes in the midfield with Gareth Anscombe and Gareth Davies partnering at half-back.
Nicky Smith, Ken Owens and Dillon Lewis make-up the front-three combination, with Lewis making his first start at home for Wales.
TEAM NEWS ??????? Luke Morgan starts on the wing, with fly-half Jarrod Evans on the bench for Under Armour Series opener against Scotland. #WALvSCO
? Dau wyneb newydd yn y garfan, yn ogystal ag wyth @lionsofficial, am y gêm fawr agoriadol yr hydref. pic.twitter.com/aJsCzbpkdp
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) November 1, 2018
Cory Hill and captain Alun Wyn Jones continue their partnership in the second-row with Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Ross Moriarty linking up to make an all Lions back-row.
Wales and Scotland will go head-to-head in Cardiff on Saturday for the Doddie Weir Cup and the hosts are looking forward to kicking off their 2018/19 campaign according, to Rob Howley.
“We are excited to kick off our autumn campaign on Saturday and it was great to welcome Warren back yesterday,” said Howley.
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“Warren has been in constant dialogue with us over the past week and we have selected a very strong squad for this weekend.
“It is great to reward players on form and we are looking forward to seeing Luke make his debut on the wing. He has come through the Sevens system, he will bring a point of difference to the squad and it’s a great opportunity for him. Likewise it will be good to see Jarrod from the bench and hopefully seeing some x-factor from him.
“We have created good strength in depth, especially from the summer and have a nice balance bringing seven Lions back into the team.
“We are very respectful of this Scotland team and are looking forward to what should be a great opening match”
Elliot Dee, Rob Evans and Leon Brown provide the front-row cover on the bench with Adam Beard and Aaron Wainwright completing the forward contingent. Tomos Williams, uncapped Evans and Scarlets wing Steff Evans complete the replacements.
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WALES SQUAD TO PLAY SCOTLAND (Saturday November 3 KO 14.45)
15. Leigh Halfpenny (78 Caps)
14. George North (76 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (65 Caps)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (8 Caps)
11. Luke Morgan (*UNCAPPED)
10. Gareth Anscombe (18 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (33 Davies)
1. Nicky Smith (21 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (57 Caps)
3. Dillon Lewis (5 Caps)
4. Cory Hill (18 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (117 Caps) (CAPT)
6. Dan Lydiate (62 Caps)
7. Just Tipuric (57 Caps)
8. Ross Moriarty (23 Caps)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Elliot Dee (10 Caps)
17. Rob Evans (27 Caps)
18. Leon Brown (3 Caps)
19. Adam Beard (4 Caps)
20. Aaron Wainwright (1 Cap)
21. Tomos Williams (2 Caps)
22. Jarrod Evans (UNCAPPED)
23. Steff Evans (10 Caps)
Watch: Warren Gatland speaks about uncapped Holmes and Morgan at initial November squad selection
Comments on RugbyPass
Who got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
11 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
11 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
1 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
135 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
11 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
11 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
135 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
135 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
135 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
11 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
11 Go to comments