Gatland’s men have already risen two places in the IRB world rankings, after his debut game in charge brought away victory in the English HQ for the first time in 20 years, but he is still looking for improvement in this 125th anniversary meeting with the Scots.
WRU Audio: Warren Gatland on the team to face Scotland
WRU Audio: New cap Jamie Roberts talks about facing Scotland
“When you beat England at Twickenham you don’t feel the need to make changes to a winning side, but there are areas we think we can improve,” said Gatland.
“Scotland will be hurting from their defeat to France last week and they will come to Cardiff targeting a win. They may feel they will find us in complacent mood after such a great result in Twickenham, but nothing could be further from the truth.
“We enjoyed the win, but 24 hours later we were straight back to business. We know we need to improve, Scotland will want to bounce back and we need a better performance this weekend if we are to achieve what we want from the game.”
Blues pair Jamie Roberts and Tom Shanklin come into the backline for Wales’s 113th meeting with Scotland replacing Mark Jones and Sonny Parker respectively.
The uncapped Roberts replaces Jones on the wing and will be Wales’s 1,057th international. Shanklin retains his spot at outside centre after coming on for Osprey Parker in the second half last week.
The only change up front is Ospreys lock Ian Evans replacing his injured colleague Alun-Wyn Jones (ankle).
There are four changes on the bench where Gareth Delve is preferred to Alix Popham as back row cover and new call-up Deiniol Jones is handed the chance to add to his three caps. Scrum half Dwayne Peel replaces Gareth Cooper and Parker completes his switch with Shanklin.
“Injury has forced Alun-Wyn out of contention, but Ian Evans should slot pretty smoothly into the second row and he is more than capable of picking up where his teammate left off,” added Gatland.
“After reviewing last week’s match we’ve given Mark Jones and Alix Popham a few things to work on and are pleased to offer both Jamie Roberts and Gareth Delve an opportunity.
“Both have been in fine form so far this season. Gareth is capable of coming off the bench to make an impact and we have been pleased with Jamie in training.
“Impact from the bench was important for us last week and we are blessed again with the ability to use the likes of Gethin Jenkins and Matthew Rees if needed. We’ve also been able to name Dwayne Peel there with that thought in mind.”
WALES: Lee Byrne; Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams; James Hook, Mike Phillips; Duncan Jones, Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Ian Gough, Ian Evans, Jonathan Thomas, Martyn Williams, Ryan Jones
REPLACEMENTS: Matthew Rees, Gethin Jenkins, Deiniol Jones, Gareth Delve, Dwayne Peel, Stephen Jones, Sonny Parker
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