Francis starts for Wales in Paris

By Mark Stevens
30/1/19

Tomas Francis will start for Wales in Friday night's Guinness Six Nations opener against France in Paris (8pm).

The Exeter Chiefs tight-head prop - who featured prominently during Wales' unbeaten Autumn Series - is in line to win his 37th cap for his country, packing down in the front-row alongside Rob Evans and Ken Owens, who will become Wales' most capped hooker, making his 61st appearance.

Captain Alun Wyn Jones lines up in the second-row alongside fellow Osprey Adam Beard with Josh Navidi returning from injury to start in the back-row alongside British & Irish Lions Justin Tipuric and Ross Moriarty.

Tomos Williams will make his first Six Nations appearance at scrum-half lining up alongside regional teammate Gareth Anscombe at fly-half.

Scarlets duo Hadleigh Parkes and Jonathan Davies continue their partnership in midfield with Josh Adams, George North and Liam Williams comprising the back-three.

Wales, who finished second in the tournament in 2018, face France before travelling to Rome to play Italy the weekend after. Warren Gatland's team is currently on a nine-match winning streak and Wales' head coach knows the importance of starting their campaign well.

"We are looking forward to kicking off the Six Nations and kicking off our 2019 campaign as a whole," said Gatland. "We come into the game on an impressive run of results but we know how tough it will be to face France in Paris in the tournament opener.

"It will be a huge contest but we are excited going into it. We have a great deal of experience across the team and on the bench and we want to kick things off well on Friday."

WALES TEAM TO PLAY FRANCE:

15. Liam Williams (51 Caps)
14. George North (79 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (68 Caps)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (11 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (6 Caps)
10. Gareth Anscombe (21 Caps)
9. Tomos Williams (6 Caps)
1. Rob Evans (31 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (60 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (36 Caps)
4. Adam Beard (8 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (120 Caps, capt)
6. Josh Navidi (11 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (60 Caps)
8. Ross Moriarty (26 Caps)

REPLACEMENTS:

16. Elliot Dee (13 Caps)
17. Wyn Jones (10 Caps)
18. Samson Lee (38 Caps)
19. Cory Hill (22 Caps)
20. Aaron Wainwright (3 Caps)
21. Gareth Davies (36 Caps)
22. Dan Biggar (65 Caps)
23. Owen Watkin (8 Caps)