Veterans Jones and Tipuric left out as Wales make six changes for Scotland showdown

Jones, the most capped international in world rugby, has been replaced in the Wales side by debutant Dafydd Jenkins having taken a knock to the head in the 34-10 loss to Ireland last weekend. Team officials had cleared him to play this week.

Jenkins will partner Adam Beard in the second row, while prop Wyn Jones has returned from injury having missed the autumn internationals. He will pack down alongside Dillon Lewis and hooker Ken Owens.

Tipuric makes way from the forward pack for Christ Tshiunza, who makes a first Six Nations start at the back of the scrum alongside Tommy Reffell and number eight Jac Morgan, who played flanker last weekend.

"We've made some changes but tried to keep some continuity with the same backline," Gatland said in a media release from Welsh Rugby. "Wyn has been working really hard in the last three weeks in camp and he gets an opportunity.

"Then Dafydd Jenkins comes into the second row, looking a bit to the future. Christ Tshiunza as well. We’re looking at options at eight if Toby Faletau picks up an injury who’s going to cover there, so Jac gets that chance."

The backline stays the same with the impressive centre Joe Hawkins and wing Rio Dyer given another run.

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

"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.

"We’ve tried to focus on the positives and the things that we can address ourselves."

Gatland plays down Jones and Tipuric absences

"We need to think about what’s important in this tournament," Gatland told reporters.

"We still want to do well and Saturday is important. But we need to think long-term in the next seven or eight months. We’ve got a huge disparity between the young players and the caps they (Jones and Tipuric) have.

"We’d spoken to Alun Wyn Jones about not playing all the games as we need to see some youngsters. They’ve been brilliant. We know what they can do. But these other (younger) players, we don’t know if they can handle it.

"That’s our thinking, getting that balance and giving those group of players a chance without too many changes."

Gatland admits it has opened the door for others to stake a claim for a place at the Rugby World Cup in France later this year.

"We’ve got a group of youngsters who should be thinking they’ve got a chance of holding onto that jersey. The guys should be excited."

Scotland are coming off a 29-23 victory over England at Twickenham this past weekend and will be favourites for another win.

"I think it’s the strongest Scottish side I’ve seen in terms of depth," Gatland admitted. "They kept the All Blacks scoreless for 50 minutes in a game they could have won. The comments coming out of their camp is about consistency.

"For us, the goal is starting well. If we take the first 20 minutes out (against Ireland), the score in the second half was 7-7. Andy Farrell said we put them under pressure and stressed them."

Team:

15. Liam Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 82 caps), 14. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 45 caps), 13. George North (Ospreys – 110 caps), 12. Joe Hawkins (Ospreys – 2 caps), 11. Rio Dyer (Dragons – 4 caps), 10. Dan Biggar (Toulon – 104 caps), 9. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 41 caps), 1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets – 45 caps), 2. Ken Owens (Scarlets – 87 caps) captain, 3. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby – 46 caps), 4. Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs – 2 caps), 5. Adam Beard (Ospreys – 42 caps), 6. Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs – 3 caps), 7. Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers – 5 caps), 8. Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 7 caps).

Replacements: 16. Scott Baldwin (Ospreys – 35 caps), 17. Rhys Carre (Cardiff Rugby – 18 caps), 18. Leon Brown (Dragons – 22 caps), 19. Rhys Davies (Ospreys – uncapped), 20. Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby – 96 caps), 21. Rhys Webb (Ospreys – 37 caps), 22. Rhys Patchell (Scarlets – 21 caps), 23. Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 56 caps).

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