WALES: Costelow at ten as three Scarlets start against Japan, but no Ospreys in Tandy’s XV

Sam Costelow wears the ten shirt as one of three Scarlets in the Wales side to face Japan on Saturday (4.40pm).

Full-back Blair Murray and centre Eddie James are the other Scarlets starters. But there is no Ospreys player in Steve Tandy’s starting XV.

Ospreys half-backs Dan Edwards and Reuben Morgan-Williams are both among the replacements. Scarlets hooker Ryan Elias is on the bench too.

Former Ospreys Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan lead the Wales pack

Two of the Ospreys’ summer departures are at the heart of the pack, and both are now at Gloucester.

Dewi Lake captains the side from hooker. Jac Morgan is at openside.

They are among nine of the starting XV who play their club rugby in England, six of them forwards. Cardiff provide Alex Mann and Josh Adams, and Ben Carter is the only Dragon.

Seven changes after the 43-0 defeat in Durban

Tandy makes seven changes from the side beaten 43-0 by South Africa in Durban in July.

Bath tighthead Archie Griffin and Exeter lock Dafydd Jenkins come back from injury to make their first appearances of the Nations Championship. Sale loosehead Nicky Smith makes his first start of the competition.

Carter returns after missing round three. Bath centre Louie Hennessey, on the bench, could make his Principality Stadium debut, having won his only cap away to Ireland in the Six Nations.

‘Lots of competition for position’

Tandy said: “There’s lots of competition for position within the squad, which is where we want to be.”

He added: “We’re excited to be back at home. We want to go out there on Saturday, put our mark on the match, and start the next phase in our Nations Championship campaign strongly.”

No place in the 23 for Macs Page

Macs Page misses out on the matchday 23 after his late call-up to replace injured Dragons wing Rio Dyer. Scarlets director of rugby Nigel Davies had backed him to win a first cap “sooner rather than later”.

Louis Rees-Zammit and Adams are on the wings. Scarlets wing Ellis Mee and Ospreys full-back Tom Rogers, both in the original squad, miss out too.

A Fiji win, then two defeats: where Wales stand

Wales started the competition in July with a 39-24 win over Fiji, then lost to Argentina and South Africa.

After Japan, they host New Zealand on Saturday 14 November (2.10pm) and Australia on Saturday 21 November (8.10pm). All three home games are live on ITV and S4C.

The play-offs are at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on the final weekend of November.

Wales: Blair Murray (Scarlets); Louis Rees-Zammit (Bristol Bears), Eddie James (Scarlets), Max Llewellyn (Gloucester), Josh Adams (Cardiff); Sam Costelow (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Saracens); Nicky Smith (Sale), Dewi Lake (Gloucester, captain), Archie Griffin (Bath), Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter), Ben Carter (Dragons), Alex Mann (Cardiff), Jac Morgan (Gloucester), Aaron Wainwright (Leicester).

Replacements: Ryan Elias (Scarlets), Rhys Carré (Saracens), Tomas Francis (Sale), Teddy Williams (Cardiff), James Botham (Cardiff), Reuben Morgan-Williams (Ospreys), Dan Edwards (Ospreys), Louie Hennessey (Bath).