Rugby World Cup start for Francis

By Mark Stevens

22/9/19

Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis will start for Wales when they kick-off their Rugby World Cup campaign against Georgia in Toyota City tomorrow.

Francis - who will win his 44th Test cap - will pack down at tight-head as he gears up to feature in his second World Cup, having previously competed in the tournament four years ago.

He lines-up in a powerful Welsh pack, which will be headed up by skipper Alun Wyn Jones, who will equal the record of most test appearances for his country when he draws level with Gethin Jenkins on 129 Welsh caps.

Behind them, Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar provide real experience at half-backs, whilst Warren Gatland has plenty of firepower outside of them with the likes of Liam Williams, George North and Jonathan Davies all starting the game.

This is Gatland's third World Cup campaign with Wales and his last chance of success after an agonising semi-final defeat in 2011 to France and a quarter-final loss to South Africa four years later at Twickenham.

"This is my last one. I am looking forward to it there has been a little bit of edge and niggle at training; to me that's always a good sign, the players know the game is coming close," said Gatland.

"I have said to the players, 'we've had our warm-up games, we're in competition phase now, and that's when we thrive'.

"We are Grand Slam champions, had 14 wins in a row unbeaten and that was because of the way we prepared, mentally how tough we were, our game management."

One of Gatland's strengths of his Wales reign has been his ability to mould new sides and this class of 2019 has been a couple of years in the making.

A prime example is that with an average age of 28 years and 331 days, Gatland's selection for the opening game against Georgia on Monday is the oldest Wales starting 15 at a Rugby World Cup.

"When you get to that sort of stage it's not a mistake," said Gatland. "When you're thinking about cycles, and for us it was a couple, in terms of getting players through to a World Cup where you think you can compete and have the right age profile and experience with some quality young players coming through.

"We think we're in a pretty good place. We've got some X-Factor and some firepower to come off the bench. We know that when we prepare and train well and everything is right, we're a tough team to beat and we can beat anyone.

"We're a relatively small nation and have punched above our weight. We've worked incredibly hard to get to what we've achieved in the last few years and we need to make sure we go out and give our best at this World Cup.

"We want to make sure the people at home in Wales are proud of watching us perform and see we are giving our best."

Wales team to face Georgia

15. Liam Williams (Saracens, 58 Caps)
14. George North (Ospreys, 86 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets, 76 Caps)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets, 18 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues, 14 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, 73 Caps)
9 Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (44 Caps)
1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets, 13 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (Scarlets, 67 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs, 43 Caps)
4. Jake Ball (Scarlets, 36 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt, 128 Caps)
6. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons, 12 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys, 66 Caps)
8. Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues, 19 Caps)

16. Elliot Dee (Dragons, 22 Caps)
17. Nicky Smith (Ospreys, 31 Caps)
18. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues, 15 Caps)
19. Aaron Shingler (Scarlets, 20 Caps)
20. Ross Moriarty (Dragons, 34 Caps)
21. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues, 9 Caps)
22. Rhys Patchell (Scarlets, 13 Caps)
23. Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets, 82 Caps)