(image: Jeanfrancois Beausejour, Flickr)
Gethin Jenkins is set to become Wales’s record cap-holder having been named in the starting line-up to face Scotland at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Jenkins, 33, will surpass Stephen Jones’s record by making his 105th appearance for Wales in the final match of this year’s Six Nations campaign. Having been sin-binned in successive Six Nations games against France and England, loose-headed Jenkins has been defended by Wales’ coaching team and keeps his starting spot for this weekend.
Following a crushing defeat to a brilliant England on Sunday, Wales will be expecting to finish the competition on a high against a Scotland team who have not won in Cardiff since 2002. The Scots will also be seeking to end their campaign on a winning note following a narrow defeat by France at Murrayfield.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has made six changes in total to the team defeated at Twickenham for this weekend’s game against the Scots. There are three changes in the backs, with Liam Williams, Mike Phillips and Dan Biggar coming into the starting line-up at full-back, scrum-half and fly-half respectively. They replace injured duo Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb and dropped fly-half Rhys Priestland. Halfpenny dislocated his shoulder making a try-saving tackle against the English on Sunday, and will not play for the rest of the season as a result.
The rest of the backs remain unchanged from Sunday’s game at Twickenham with Alex Cuthbert and George North named on the wings while Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies start in the centre. Injury to Webb means 20-year-old Scarlet Rhodri Williams has been named on the bench and could come on to make his first appearance of this year’s Six Nations campaign, and only his third outing in total for his country.
The three changes in the forwards see hooker Ken Owens, prop Rhodri Jones and lock Luke Charteris, who withdrew from the team to face England because of a neck injury, come into the side. This means Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones and Jake Ball, who has impressed in his first three appearances so far for Wales during this year’s campaign, all drop to the bench.
The back-row remains unchanged for the fourth game running with captain Sam Warburton playing alongside Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau. Paul James and Justin Tipuric complete the replacements for the forwards. Scotland head coach Scott Johnson has made three changes to his starting line-up for Saturday. Edinburgh winger Dougie Fife, 23, will win his first cap at the Millennium Stadium as he comes in for the injured Tommy Seymour. Castres’s Max Evans takes Sean Lamont’s spot on the left wing while injury to flanker Johnnie Beattie presents an opportunity for Glasgow’s Ryan Wilson to impress.
