Wales coach Wayne Pivac has made one change to his starting lineup for their Six Nations showdown against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
Nick Tompkins, who made a try-scoring Test debut off the bench in their season opener against Italy last week, is elevated to the starting lineup.
He will play outside centre, with George North shifting from midfield to right wing at the expense of Johnny McNicholl, who is relegated to the bench.
On the bench, Rhys Carre joins Ryan Elias and Leon Brown as the front-row replacements with Adam Beard and Ross Moriarty completing the forwards contingent. Gareth Davies, Owen Williams and Johnny McNicholl provide the backline cover.
‘We’ve made just one change after a winning start last weekend,’ Pivac said. ‘Nick comes into the side; I thought he played exceptionally well when he came on last week, so he deserves the start. George, who played really well last weekend at centre, moves back out to the wing.
‘On the bench we have a few players back available. Rhys Carre impressed at the RWC and he comes back in. Adam Beard comes in for Cory Hill who picked up a leg injury earlier this week, Gareth [Davies] is fully fit and Owen Williams comes on to the bench and gives us a bit more cover,’ Pivac added.
‘Momentum is important in the Championship. It was nice to get a good winning start under our belts and hopefully we can build on that through the tournament.’
Wales – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones.
Subs: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Johnny McNicholl.
*Have you signed up to our newsletter? Click here to join the thousands of readers who are part of our newsletter community.
Photo: Getty Images
