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George North returns for much-changed Wales to face England
George North has recovered from the shoulder injury that ruled him out of Wales’ loss to Scotland and will start at outside centre against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
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The experienced midfielder will partner Nick Tompkins after missing the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations due to a shoulder injury picked up when playing for the Ospreys in January.
North’s return in place of Owen Watkin is one of seven changes to the starting XV that agonisingly lost 27-26 to Scotland at the Principality Stadium.
Head coach Warren Gatland has named a new half-back partnership. With both Gareth Davies and Sam Costelow out of the match day squad, Tomos Williams will start at No9 and Ioan Lloyd will wear the No10 jersey.
The front row has been completely changed as well, with Gareth Thomas returning from injury to start at loosehead in place of the benched Corey Domachowski.
He will partner Keiron Assiratti and Elliot Dee who respectively take over at tighthead and hooker from Leon Brown and Ryan Elias, who drops to the subs. Uncapped prop Archie Griffin is also included in the replacements.
The only change to the starting back five in the pack sees Alex Mann earn his first start for Wales, replacing James Botham who was released from the squad this week after picking up a knee injury.
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Gatland said: “We have been critical and tough on ourselves this week. That first half was nowhere near the standards we expect. We simply cannot start the same way this Saturday.
“We showed in the second half against Scotland what we are capable of. Now it’s about building on that performance and playing with some tempo from the off.
“We have made a few changes to the starting line-up this weekend which gives opportunities to the players coming in. We need to be accurate and keep our discipline.
“This is a massive game, not only because of the history and what it means to everyone in Wales. But it’s an opportunity to get things on track a bit more. England are in a rebuilding phase. We’ll go there with a lot of confidence we can build on that second half and belief.”
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Wales (vs England, Saturday)
15. Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby– 1 cap)
14. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 55 caps)
13. George North (Ospreys – 118 caps)
12. Nick Tompkins (Saracens – 33 caps)
11. Rio Dyer (Dragons – 15 caps)
10. Ioan Lloyd (Scarlets – 3 caps)
9. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 54 caps)
1. Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 26 caps)
2. Elliot Dee (Dragons – 47 caps)
3. Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby – 3 caps)
4. Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs – captain, 13 caps)
5. Adam Beard (Ospreys – 52 caps)
6. Alex Mann (Cardiff Rugby – 1 cap)
7. Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers – 14 caps)
8. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons – 44 caps)
Replacements
16. Ryan Elias (Scarlets – 39 caps)
17. Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby – 7 caps)
18. Archie Griffin (Bath Rugby – uncapped)
19. Will Rowlands (Racing 92 – 29 caps)
20. Taine Basham (Dragons – 16 caps)
21. Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 18 caps)
22. Cai Evans (Dragons – 1 cap)
23. Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby – 7 caps)
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments