Faletau, Tipuric and Jones miss out as Gatland opts for youth against Scotland

Kiwi, Gatland, 59, looking for his first win in his second spell in charge of the nation has made five changes in total to the side that were convincingly beaten 34-10 against Ireland in Wales’ opening fixture of the tournament at the Principality Stadium last weekend.

There will be a new look to Wales’ forward line with Exeter Chief’s duo Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza both winning their first caps, whilst there is also a start for Leicester Tigers Tommy Reffell in the back row.

Scarlets Wyn Jones has recovered from injury to take his place at prop alongside Dillon Lewis, a replacement last time out. George North, an injury doubt, has recovered from a knock gained against the Irish to continue at centre.

It will be the omission of three of Wales’ most experienced players to face the buoyant Scots, fresh from their comeback 29-23 victory over England at Twickenham last weekend that will draw the talking points.

Gatland, however, feels that despite blooding youth, that does not necessarily mean a changing of the guard for Wales, but a chance to strike the right balance as his side looks to play with a clinical edge to their game with and without the ball. 

“We thought we created opportunities last week, but we weren’t clinical enough in terms of finishing off some of those chances”, said Gatland.

“We need to start better. We gave away some stupid penalties and unforced penalties when we weren’t really under a lot of pressure so that’s again been an area that we’ve spoken about.

“Scotland have some experience in that squad so it’s going to be a great encounter and it’s a good test of the improvements that we can make from the things that we need to tidy up from last week.

“I’ve spoken to Alun Wyn [Jones] and said we don’t expect him to play all of the games and we need to see some of the youngsters. It’s a position where we have some talent, but they’re pretty young and inexperienced.

“Christ [Tshiunza] comes in then and has an opportunity. He’s a great athlete. The decision at number eight is that we looked at who gets in there if Toby Faletau gets injured, so that’s the thinking behind that.

“There are players that we know what we have got and what they can do. Some of the youngsters we don’t know what their potential is going to be and how they are going to handle international rugby. 

“For some of them it’s a first Six Nations start and for Rhys Davies it’s potentially a first cap for Wales as well coming off the bench.

“Tom Francis has an injury, so we wanted to see Wyn Jones in there. He’s been training really well and obviously has been out for quite a while with an injury. 

“We’ve kept some continuity in the backline as we thought we attacked well; we just weren’t clinical at finishing some of the opportunities. 

“That’s kind of our thinking, it’s trying to get that balance to give that group of players a chance and we’re excited about that without making wholesale changes.”

Wales XV to play Scotland

15 Lee Halfpenny (Scarlets), 14 Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby), 13 George North (Ospreys), 12 Joe Hawkins (Ospreys), 11 Rio Dyer (Dragons), 10 Dan Biggar (Toulon), 9 Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby), 1 Wyn Jones (Scarlets), 2 Ken Owens (Scarlets, Captain), 3 Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), 4 Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), 5 Adam Beard (Ospreys), 6 Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs), 7 Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers), 8 Jac Morgan (Ospreys).

Replacements

16 Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), 17 Rhys Care (Cardiff Rugby), 18 Leon Brown (Dragons), 19 Rhys Davies (Ospreys), 20 Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby), 21 Rhys Webb (Ospreys), 22 Rhys Patchell (Scarlets), 23 Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys).

(Lead image: Planet Rugby)