WARREN GATLAND NAMES SHOCK FLY-HALF AGAINST WALLABIES AS WALES MOVE TO CAP ENGLISH-QUALIFIED FLYER

Wales boss Warren Gatland has made a shock change to his starting XV for the opening Test match against the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.

Looking to end a run of seven straight defeats – six in 2024 – Gatland has named Cardiff centre Ben Thomas at fly-half for the first of two Tests against Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies.

Thomas earns just his third Test cap on Saturday. While he is a gifted playmaker, he has played much of his senior professional rugby at inside centre, with a single start in the number 10 jumper in the United Rugby Championship this season.

Meanwhile, Gatland has moved quickly to secure the services of 20-year-old speedster Josh Hathaway by capping the English-qualified back against the Wallabies.

Hathaway debuts for Wales

Aberystwyth-born Hathaway, who has represented Wales and England at U20 level, starts on the wing – a position brought into focus after Louis Rees-Zammit’s move to the NFL and Exeter wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso opting to play for England.

“We want to make sure we qualify him for Wales,” Gatland said, after naming his training squad in June.

“He is a young player with a lot of potential and we think there is a lot of improvement in his game, whether it is wing or full-back.”

Liam Williams shifts to full-back in another change to the back three that the Springboks defeated at Twickenham, with Cameron Winnett dropping out of the starting XV after donning the number 15 jumper in Wales’ last six Tests. Rio Dyer completes the starting outside backs.

Mason Grady and Owen Watkin remain the starting centres, while Ellis Bevan – who made his Test debut against South Africa – partners Thomas in the half-backs.

July Internationals: This week’s fixtures, kick-off times and match officials

Back-rower Aaron Wainwright packs down at number eight and will earn his 50th cap for his country, doing so six years after making his first appearance as a replacement in the 23-10 win over Argentina in San Juan (9 June 2018).

He starts alongside Taine Plumtree and Tommy Reffell in the back-row, the latter replacing James Botham, who drops to the bench.

The Exeter Chiefs pairing of Christ Tshiunza and Dafydd Jenkins feature in the second-row, while the side is skippered by hooker Dewi Lake with Gareth Thomas and Archie Griffin on either side of him in the starting front-row.

Wainwright and Thomas are the only starting line-up survivors from Wales’ record 40-6 victory over Australia at the 2023 World Cup.

Evan Lloyd, Kemsley Mathias and Harri O’Connor are the front-row replacements in the 5-3 split, with Cory Hill and James Botham covering the back-five forward positions.

Kieran Hardy, Sam Costelow and Nick Tompkins round out the team.

Wales team v Australia

Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Josh Hathaway, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Mason Grady, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Ben Thomas, 9 Ellis Bevan, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Christ Tshiunza, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Gareth Thomas

Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Cory Hill, 20 James Botham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Nick Tompkins

Date: Saturday, July 6

Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Kick-off: 19:45 local (10:45 BST, 09:45 GMT)

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)

Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), James Doleman (New Zealand)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

READ MORE: At home XV: World-class stars who will miss the July Tests, including Springboks and All Blacks snubs

2024-07-04T08:33:10Z dg43tfdfdgfd