Without the likes of co-captain’s Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake and Talupe Faletau amongst others through injury, the retirements of Dan Biggar, Lee Halfpenny and Alun Wyn Jones and the unavailability of several others, the Welsh team named for the fixture against an experienced Scottish lineup has a fresh look about it.
Led by its second youngest-ever skipper in Exeter Chiefs 21-year-old Dafydd Jenkins. Wales will look to avenge a tough afternoon in last season’s competition against the Scots and after the progress made in last autumn’s World Cup will be confident, they can cause a surprise or two.
Wales were well-beaten 35-7 in Edinburgh in last year’s competition at the beginning of Gatland’s second stint in charge, however, in Cardiff in recent years in front of a rousing atmosphere, they have had the edge over the Scots.
The Welsh have triumphed against Scotland 11 times on the bounce in Cardiff, winning nine Six Nations games, a World Cup warm-up fixture and an autumn Test since the Scots triumphed in April 2002.
“We were disappointed with last year up in Scotland. We’ve got a responsibility to go and deliver a performance,” said Gatland.
“Scotland haven’t won here in a long time and it is an opportunity to continue with that record.
“I get excited for the young players. I like to think that people see us preparing for the Six Nations, but also for the next few years with a group of players.
“You can’t coach experience. Those young players get to go out there and learn what it’s like to play in front of 75,000 players.”
The former British & Irish Lions head-coach has handed a debut to Cardiff full back Cameron Winnett, whilst club teammate Alex Mann and exciting Scarlets back Ioan Lloyd are on the bench.
“Cameron is a lovely footballer and I think he’s going to develop into a quality international player in the future,” continued Gatland.
“I spoke to him last week and he’s comfortable. He’s been training really well. He’s a tough kid.
“With the injury, the initial outlook was a couple of weeks, but after speaking with the surgeon everyone was happy for him to be selected, he’s fit and ready to go.
“There’s no pressure on him. It’s his first cap so just go out there and enjoy it. We’ve been impressed with his form for Cardiff. He runs some good lines.”
Whilst Winnett solved Gatland’s selection headache at full back, the Kiwi had a tough call to make at scrum-half with Scarlets Gareth Davies getting the nod over in form Dragon Tomos Williams.
But it was not all good news for the Kiwi who will be without Ospreys duo George North and Gareth Thomas who both failed to recover from respected injuries in time for the clash.
“Tomos [Williams] has been playing exceptionally well. Gareth [Davies] gets the nod at this stage. They’re two quality nines,” explained Gatland.
“Both [Gareth Thomas and George North] haven’t trained enough. They didn’t train last week and missed the start of this week, so we didn’t consider them.”
“George got quite a big stinger in terms of his shoulder and didn’t take part in full training last week so Owen Watkin comes in.”
Gatland would not be pleased, however, with the news that the Principality Stadium roof will be left open with the Scots keen to avoid giving Wales any psychological advantage.
“They want the roof open which I think is a little bit disappointing from an atmosphere point of view,” continued Gatland.
“When the roof is shut, it does tend to create a lot more atmosphere and noise in the stadium. But that’s the decision that they made.
“The thing about the roof is that both teams have to agree and I look at it and say it’s our stadium. We should be able to decide whether it’s closed or open.
“We always want the roof closed. We’ve been consistent on that; it creates an unbelievable atmosphere. It’s going to be a bit drizzly. We’ve told the players, and we’ll just have to deal with it.”
Wales XV to face Scotland:
Cam Winnett, Rio Dyer, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams, Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies
Corey Domachowski, Ryan Elias, Leon Brown, Dafydd Jenkins (captain), Adam Beard, Liam Botham, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements:
Ellott Dee, Kemsley Mathias, Keiron Assiratti, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Tomos Williams, Ioan Lloyd, Mason Grady.
Scotland XV:
Kyle Rowe, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan Van der Merwe,
Finn Russell, Ben White,
Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson; Richie Gray, Scott Cummings, Luke Crosbie, Jamie Ritchie, Matt Fagerson
Replacements:
Ewan Ashman, Alec Hepburn, Elliott Millar-Mills, Sam Skinner, Jack Dempsey,
George Horne, Ben Healy, Cameron Redpath
[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]
