Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Debut for Adams as Wales name 10 Scarlets to face Scotland

By Jack Davies
Wales’ Josh Adams.

Josh Adams will make his Test debut when Wales open their Six Nations campaign against Scotland on Saturday, while 10 Scarlets players have also made Warren Gatland’s starting XV.

ADVERTISEMENT

Worcester Warriors wing Adams – the top try scorer in the Premiership this season – is the only uncapped player in the side for the match in Cardiff, which also sees Rhys Patchell start at fly-half following injuries to Dan Biggar and Rhys Priestland.

Wales’ stocks have been depleted by injury in the build-up to the tournament, with Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau, Liam Williams and George North also among the players unavailable to Gatland.

“The first-up game against Scotland this weekend is really important for us and this is a great chance for this group of players to get us off to a good start,” said Gatland.

“We have been watching Josh closely, he is top try-scorer in the English Premiership and has been going well and we are excited for him.

“Both Rhys and Gareth [Anscombe] have been training really well over the last couple of weeks. It was a tough call between them, Rhys has started most of his games for the Scarlets at 10, we are really happy with his form and the combination with Gareth [Davies] at nine.”

The Scarlets have been the form Welsh region, reaching the European Champions Cup quarter-finals with a victory over Toulon earlier this month, and Gatland was keen to tap into their success, naming an all-Scarlets front-row among the 10-strong contingent from Llanelli.

“For this opening game, we looked at a lot of combinations, especially the front-row,” he added. “It is exciting to see Samson [Lee] back playing well and the familiarity of the Scarlets front-row will be important.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Wales XV: Leigh Halfpenny, Josh Adams, Scott Williams, Hadleigh Parkes, Steff Evans, Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens, Samson Lee, Cory Hill, Alun Wyn Jones, Aaron Shingler, Josh Navidi, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Justin Tipuric, Aled Davies, Gareth Anscombe, Owen Watkin.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Dean Richards set for return to rugby management Dean Richards set for return to rugby management
Search