Places Up For Grabs Against Scotland

Wales coach Steve Hansen admits a “dark cloud” has been lifted after Wednesday night’s victory over Romania in Wrexham.
The 54-8 win brought to an end a record run of 11 straight losses for the men in red, and the stoic New Zealander admitted it had brought a smile to the faces of the national squad.
“The young players played particularly well, although to be fair, the opposition wasn’t that great,” Hansen said on the eve of the Test against Scotland at the Millennium Stadium.
“A lot of those guys will feature for Wales in years to come and there is definitely a different cloud hanging over us this week. It’s been a dark one of late, but the win has brought a lot of smiles to people’s faces.”
Hansen admitted that after last weekend’s 9-43 loss to England, there was a “great expectation” in the squad to perform considerably better today in the players’ last chance to book a plane ride to the World Cup.
“Most of the side for the Cup have been picked,” Hansen admitted. “There are probably three or four spots still to be worked out, with several players going for them.”
Of the starting XV beaten by Clive Woodward’s second XV last weekend, only backrow player Colin Charvis, who captains the side, and hooker Robin McBryde return to the fray. Wales haven’t beaten Scotland since March 2000.
Hansen has turned largely to the group of players who lost 12-35 to Ireland at Lansdowne Road a fortnight ago for what is Wales’ fourth and final warm-up game.
Centre Tom Shanklin gets his first run-out since the summer tour to Australia and New Zealand while several fringe players have a last chance to impress Hansen before he names his World Cup squad on Monday.
Centres Jamie Robinson and Matthew Watkins have both been selected on the wing, while flanker Richard Parks and fly-half Ceri Sweeney will be hoping to reproduce their form from the Ireland game to cement a World Cup berth.