Scarlets captain Jonathan Davies returns to the starting XV for Wales’ Guinness Six Nations round four clash with France at the Principality Stadium on Friday night (8pm).
Davies replaces the unavailable Nick Tompkins at inside centre, joining clubmates Liam Williams and Ryan Elias in the starting XV. Prop Wyn Jones and scrum-half Kieran Hardy are named among the replacements.
Head coach Wayne Pivac makes four personnel changes in all. Josh Navidi returns from injury at openside; Cardiff team-mate Seb Davies get the nod at blindside, while Gareth Thomas replaces Wyn Jones at loose-head prop.
Pivac said: “France are the in-form team in the world at the moment. Any team that can score 40 points against New Zealand plus having recently beaten Ireland in this competition are going to be hard to beat. They have a number of world-class players and are a big side that will test us physically and at the set piece.”
“We’re really excited to be back at Principality Stadium this week. The guys love playing at home. It’s just fantastic having the crowd there. I think there’s still a few seats left so we’d encourage people to get along and support the team.”
Wales senior men’s team to face France (Friday 11 March, KO 8pm. Live on BBC and S4C)
15. Liam Williams (Scarlets – 77 caps); 14. Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 50 caps), 13. Owen Watkin (Ospreys – 29 caps), 12. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets – 95 caps), 11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 37 caps); 10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints – 98 caps), captain, 9. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 32 caps); 1. Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 8 caps), 2. Ryan Elias (Scarlets – 26 caps), 3. Tomas Francis (Ospreys – 63 caps), 4. Will Rowlands (Dragons – 16 caps), 5. Adam Beard (Ospreys – 32 caps), vice-captain, 6. Seb Davies (Cardiff Rugby – 15 caps), 7. Josh Navidi (Cardiff Rugby – 28 caps), 8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby – 87 caps)
Replacements: 16. Dewi Lake (Ospreys – 3 caps), 17. Wyn Jones (Scarlets – 41 caps), 18. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby – 36 caps), 19. Ross Moriarty (Dragons – 52 caps), 20. Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 2 caps), 21. Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 9 caps), 22. Gareth Anscombe (Ospreys – 30 caps), 23. Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby – 14 caps)