Centre Joe Roberts will make his Wales debut after being named to start in their World Cup warm-up match with England at Twickenham on Saturday – 5.30pm kick-off; Coach Warren Gatland has made wholesale changes to the side that defeated England 20-9 in Cardiff last weekend
Joe Roberts of the Scarlets will make his Wales debut in a team showing 15 changes to face England at Twickenham on Saturday
Scarlets centre Joe Roberts will make his Wales debut in a team showing 15 changes for Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match against England at Twickenham.
Coach Warren Gatland has made wholesale changes to the side that defeated England 20-9 in Cardiff last weekend, giving a run to several fringe players ahead of the announcement of his squad for the World Cup in France, which starts next month.
Roberts, 23, is partnered in midfield by Nick Tompkins, while there are also starts for wing Tom Rogers, fly-half Owen Williams, lock Rhys Davies and flanker Tommy Reffell.
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Hooker Dewi Lake captains a side that sees Taine Plumtree, who lines up at No 8, handed his first Test start following an impressive performance off the bench in Wales’ 20-9 victory over England last weekend.
Wing Josh Adams, who was top try-scorer at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, wins his 50th cap.
“There’s an opportunity for another group of players who weren’t involved last week,” Gatland said. “There’s some great competition within the squad.
“I was pretty pleased with the team performance and the result last week it wasn’t perfect but there’s a chance now for this group to go out Saturday and to put down their own marker.
“We’re in a bit of transition, so in the back of my mind I was thinking we are building not only for the next few months but also starting to think about what we need to do with the next cycle of players going forwards towards 2027.”
Centre Keiran Williams and prop Mathias are likely to earn a first cap off the bench, which also includes experienced flyhalf Dan Biggar.
Wales team to play England
15 L Williams (Kubota Spears), 14 J Adams (Cardiff), 13 J Roberts (Scarlets), 12 N Tompkins (Saracens), 11 T Rogers (Scarlets), 10 O Williams (Ospreys), 9 T Williams (Cardiff); 1 G Thomas (Ospreys), 2 D Lake (Ospreys, capt), 3 T Francis (Provence), 4 R Davies (Ospreys), 5. A Beard (Ospreys), 6. D Lydiate (Ospreys), 7. T Reffell (Leicester), 8 T Plumtree (Scarlets).
Replacements: 16 S Parry (Ospreys), 17 K Mathias (Scarlets), 18 D Lewis (Harlequins), 19 C Tshiunza (Exeter), 20 T Basham (Dragons), 21 K Hardy (Scarlets), 22 D Biggar (Toulon), 23 K Williams (Ospreys).
