Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow has earned a Wales recall for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Scotland in Cardiff (16:40; BBC & S4C).
Costelow returned from an ankle injury last month to deliver impressive performances against Northampton Saints and Ulster.
He has now been handed the Wales No. 10 jersey for his 20th international cap – one of six Scarlets named in Steve Tandy’s matchday squad for the round three encounter at the Principality Stadium.
Costelow links up with the all-Scarlet midfield of Joe Hawkins and Eddie James – one of Wales’s leading performers against France last weekend – a combination that caught the eye for the Scarlets in those games against Saints and Ulster.
Taine Plumtree also gets a chance in the run-on side and will make his first Six Nations start as Tandy makes four changes to the starting team routed by France. Ryan Elias and Blair Murray are named among the replacements.
Gabriel Hamer-Webb starts on the wing to become the 1,221st Wales men’s international. The Leicester flyer replaces Ellis Mee.
Tandy said: “There are some changes to the team this week. We feel this is the best team to take on Scotland and with a six-day turnaround you want some freshness as well going into the game.
“It’s our third game of the championship. We want to build on our performance. We want to see more consistent moments and back-to-back moments, which we feel if we get we’ll be closer to getting the outcome we want from games.”
Wales team v Scotland
15 Louis Rees-Zammit (Bristol Bears) 14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb (Leicester Tigers), 13 Eddie James (Scarlets), 12 Joe Hawkins (Scarlets), 11 Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby); 10 Sam Costelow (Scarlets), 9 Tomos Williams (Gloucester Rugby); 1 Rhys Carre (Saracens), 2 Dewi Lake (Ospreys, capt), 3 Tomas Francis (Provence Rugby), 4 Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), 5 Ben Carter (Dragons), 6 Taine Plumtree (Scarlets), 7 Alex Mann (Cardiff Rugby) 8 Aaron Wainwright (Dragons).
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias (Scarlets), 17 Nicky Smith (Leicester Tigers), 18 Archie Griffin (Bath Rugby), 19 Freddie Thomas (Gloucester Rugby), 20 James Botham (Cardiff Rugby), 21 Kieran Hardy (Ospreys), 22. Jarrod Evans (Harlequins), 23 Blair Murray (Scarlets).