Housemates Blair Murray and Taine Plumtree have been named in the Wales squad to face Japan in the second match of the Quilter Nations Series at the Principality Stadium on Saturday (KO 5.40pm. TNT Sports, discovery+ and S4C).
Murray continues at full-back, while Plumtree is included among the replacements. Both featured in Kobe the last time the two sides met in the summer.
Head coach Steve Tandy has made four personnel changes and one positional switch to his starting XV in the wake of last weekend’s loss to Argentina.
Behind the scrum there is limited movement with Louis Rees-Zammit coming in for Scarlet Tom Rogers on the right wing. The rest of the backline remains intact.
Dewi Lake starts at hooker and will captain the side in the absence of the injured Jac Morgan, who has been ruled out of the series with a dislocated shoulder suffered against Los Pumas. Joining Lake in the Wales front row are Nicky Smith and Archie Griffin.
Dafydd Jenkins and Adam Beard continue their second-row partnership, while there is an enforced reshuffle of the in the back row to fill the void left by Morgan’s injury. Aaron Wainwright switches to blindside, Alex Mann moves across to openside and Olly Cracknell, who became the 1,216th Wales men’s international last weekend, gets the nod at No. 8.
Tandy said: “The props started the game really well (last week) and played 45 minutes. We were always planning to rotate those round after the six-day turnaround. Then there’s a reshuffle in the back row: Alex Mann goes to seven. We feel he’s got all the qualities to play six or seven. Some of his attacking ability you’ve seen on the weekend and his defensive energy was outstanding. Then bringing Olly Cracknell in at No. 8 and moving Aaron Wainwright to six gives us a really good balance in the back row.
“Louis Rees-Zammit comes in on the wing. He played a good few minutes last weekend and we feel he’s ready to return to the starting line-up.
“I think we’ve definitely seen lots of how we want to play against Argentina. There was lots to be pleased about – our attack I thought was excellent and I saw a lot of physicality – but there’s lots to improve. So that’s what we’ve been focusing on. We’re looking to build on the first performance into this weekend.”
Wales team to play Japan
15 Blair Murray (Scarlets); 14 Louis Rees-Zammit (Bristol Bears), 13 Max Llewellyn (Gloucester), 12 Ben Thomas (Cardiff), 11 Josh Adams (Cardiff); 10 Dan Edwards (Ospreys), 9 Tomos Williams (Gloucester); 1 Nicky Smith (Leicester Tigers), 2 Dewi Lake (Ospreys; capt), 3 Archie Griffin (Bath), 4 Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), 5 Adam Beard (Montpellier), 6 Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), 7 Alex Mann (Cardiff), 8 Olly Cracknell (Leicester Tigers).
Reps: 16 Liam Belcher (Cardiff), 17 Rhys Carré (Saracens), 18 Kieron Assiratti (Cardiff), 19 Freddie Thomas (Gloucester), 20 Taine Plumtree (Scarlets), 21 Kieran Hardy (Ospreys), 22 Jarrod Evans (Harlequins), 23 Nick Tompkins (Saracens).