Wales team to play England

Ruddock’s side begin thier Grand Slam title defence at Twickenham with just one change to the pack, Adam Jones replacing the injured Chris Horsman at tighthead prop, but it’s all change in midfield.

Matthew Watkins moves to inside centre in place of the retired Sonny Parker and partners Hal Luscombe, who returns from injury. Dwayne Peel returns from an ankle injury to fill the scrum-half berth, with Gareth Cooper moving to the bench and Mark Jones is preferred to Dafydd James on the wing.

On the bench, the return to full fitness of British Lions prop Gethin Jenkins provides a boost and he is joined by a new face in the uncapped back rower Gareth Delve. Alix Popham provides back row cover in place of Dafydd Jones who has been suspended for three weeks after a disciplinary hearing this evening (Tues).

“The issues we have with injuries and suspensions are well documented, but we have been able to establish some stability in the pack and we have picked some new faces in a backline that we are confident will be able to make a statement in the competition,” said Ruddock.

“You could argue that the centre partnership is not unlike the one formed by Tom Shanklin and Gavin Henson which faired so well last season. Hal (Luscombe) is a similar player to Tom in terms of his physicality and ability to run some exceptional angles and Matthew is  more than capable of producing magic of his own.

“Alix Popham comes onto the bench on the back of playing some of the best rugby of his career for the Scarlets and, although Dafydd (Jones) has been a front line player for us for some time, Alix’s inclusion is a positive step for the team.

“We know its going to be ferocious out there, they will be running straight lines at us and the biggest battle will be for parity up front in the scrums and line-outs.

“Two years ago we only managed a 55% success rate in the line-out and our scrum was under attack so we expect those areas to be under pressure again. But we were able to match them in those areas last season and we want to be reproducing the same kind of performance again.

“Our players are up for the challenge, excited about the prospect of playing England at Twickenham and liberated by the knowledge that if they play the way we know they can then we have a chance to frighten the opposition.

“They are a formidable opponent, with a front row of Lions and leaders throughout and they probably have more cohesion than us at the moment in contrast to last year when we played them at a good time for us.”

RBS Six Nations Championship 2006
England v Wales
Twickenham
Saturday 4th February 2006
Kick-off: 3.30pm

Wales
15 Gareth THOMAS (Toulouse, Captain)
14 Mark JONES (Scarlets)
13 Hal LUSCOMBE (Dragons)
12 Matthew WATKINS (Scarlets)
11 Shane WILLIAMS (Ospreys)
10 Stephen JONES (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
09 Dwayne PEEL (Scarlets)
01 Duncan JONES (Ospreys)
02 Rhys THOMAS (Blues)
03 Adam JONES (Ospreys)
04 Ian GOUGH (Dragons)
05 Robert SIDOLI (Blues)
06 Colin CHARVIS (Newcastle Falcons)
07 Martyn WILLIAMS (Blues)
08 Michael OWEN (Dragons)

Replacements
16 Mefin DAVIES (Gloucester Rugby)
17 Gethin JENKINS (Blues)
18 Gareth DELVE (Bath Rugby)
19 Alix POPHAM (Scarlets)
20 Gareth COOPER (Dragons)
21 Ceri SWEENEY (Dragons)
22 Lee BYRNE (Scarlets)