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Williams and Adams start as Wales face England

International | 24th February 2022


Josh Adams makes a return to the Wales team for Saturday’s trip to take on England at Twickenham.

The Blue and Blacks wing, who missed out on the victory over Scotland with a calf injury, is one of two changes made by Wayne Pivac as Wales seek their first victory in London since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Joining British and Irish Lion Adams in the back three is Cardiff academy graduate, Alex Cuthbert - who now plies his trade with Ospreys - and full back Liam Williams, who is set to move to the Arms Park in the summer.

Scrum half Tomos Williams makes his fourth consecutive start in the number nine jersey, continuing his partnership with captain Dan Biggar.

The only change in the pack sees Taulupe Faletau making a long-awaited return to the number eight jersey. The Bath back row joins full back Williams in committing to a move to Cardiff ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Dragons duo Ross Moriarty and Taine Basham line up on the flanks while the front three and centres remain unchanged from the win over Scotland.

Elsewhere,  Seb Davies is again included amongst the replacements, having made an impression from the bench last time out.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac said: “We’re very pleased to have the experienced Toby Faletau back. He’s trained well during the week and got 80 minutes under his belt last week. From our point of view he brings a lot of experience so we’re very excited to have Toby back.

“I’m also really pleased for Alex Cuthbert to get fifty Tests for his country. It’s a massive achievement. And it’s also great to have Josh Adams back from injury. They are two good players. That means Louis Rees-Zammit is the unfortunate one this week that misses out. But we’ve looked at the opposition we’re playing and niggly injuries that players pick up from time to time and we think that in this particular match, the way the game will go, that Alex and Josh are the right selection.

“Clearly everyone loves playing at home and it’s a first home game of the Guinness Six Nations for England. They will be tough opposition, they always are and both teams are still in this competition so there’s a lot at stake.

“It’s a big game. We had a great result against them last year but we’re going to have to play very, very well to get the same result this year.

“We played well against Scotland, but we’ve challenged the boys to make sure that we have that same effort away from home this week.”

Wales senior men’s team to face England (Saturday 26 February, KO 4.45pm. Live on ITV and S4C)

15. Liam Williams (Scarlets – 76 caps)
14. Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 49 caps)
13. Owen Watkin (Ospreys – 28 caps)
12. Nick Tompkins (Saracens – 18 caps)
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 36 caps)
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints – 97 caps), captain
9. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 31 caps)
1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets – 40 caps)
2. Ryan Elias (Scarlets – 25 caps)
3. Tomas Francis (Ospreys – 62 caps)
4. Will Rowlands (Dragons – 15 caps)
5. Adam Beard (Ospreys – 31 caps), vice-captain
6. Ross Moriarty (Dragons – 51 caps)
7. Taine Basham (Dragons – 9 caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby – 86 caps)

Replacements
16. Dewi Lake (Ospreys – 2 cap)
17. Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 7 caps)
18. Leon Brown (Dragons – 20 caps)
19. Seb Davies (Cardiff Rugby – 14 caps)
20. Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 1 cap)
21. Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 8 caps)
22. Gareth Anscombe (Ospreys – 29 caps)
23. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets – 94 caps)