Francis named in Welsh squad

By Mark Stevens
6/2/18

Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis has been named on the bench as Wales have selected an unchanged starting XV from the side that beat Scotland in their NatWest 6 Nations opener for their game against England at Twickenham on Saturday (16.45pm).

Francis, who came off the bench to play the final 30 minutes in Cardiff, will bejoined on the bench by Northampton's George North, who is the sole change in personnel made by Head Coach Warren Gatland.

He said: "It's great to name an unchanged starting XV, the players deserve that for a very good performance on the opening weekend.

"We have made one change on the bench, with George coming in for Owen (Watkin), which is tough on Owen but Josh (Adams) picked up a slight strain last weekend so George provides us a bit more cover there.

"We know how tough it is going to be against that huge English forward pack. They are really going to test us. England have been in great form the last couple of years so we know the challenge we face but we have had a good couple of weeks in camp and we are looking forward to going up to Twickenham."

WALES TEAM TO PLAY ENGLAND:

Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets) (75 Caps)
Josh Adams (Worcester) (1 Cap)
Scott Williams (Scarlets) (52 Caps)
Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets) (2 Caps)
Steff Evans (Scarlets) (6 Caps)
Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) (6 Caps)
Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (28 Caps)
Rob Evans (Scarlets) (21 Caps)
Ken Owens (Scarlets) (53 Caps)
Samson Lee (Scarlets) (34 Caps)
Cory Hill (Dragons) (11 Caps)
Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (114 Caps) CAPT
Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) (14 Caps)
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) (8 Caps)
Ross Moriarty (Gloucester) (18 Caps)

Replacements:

Elliot Dee (Dragons) (3 Caps)
Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (6 Caps)
Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (27 Caps)
Bradley Davies (Ospreys) (58 Caps)
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (53 Caps)
Aled Davies (Scarlets) (6 Caps)
Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) (12 Caps)
George North (Northampton Saints) (69 Caps)