Wales have made one change to the starting XV that lost 16-14 to England at Twickenham; Sam Costelow returns at fly-half after injury, replacing Ioan Lloyd; Wales travel to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday February 24, with kick-off at 2.15pm
Tuesday 20 February 2024 14:52, UK
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has made one change to his starting XV for Saturday's Six Nations game against Ireland as Sam Costelow returns at fly-half.
Ioan Lloyd drops out of the starting XV that played in the 16-14 defeat to England at Twickenham for the trip to Dublin's Aviva Stadium.
Among the replacements, back-row Mackenzie Martin is in line to win his first senior cap in place of Taine Basham, while tight-head prop Dillon Lewis will make his first appearance of this Championship if called on from the bench.
Gatland said: "We are excited to go out to Dublin and test ourselves against one of the leading sides in world rugby. It's a challenge we are relishing.
"We've made steps in the last couple of games and now it's about building on that, learning from those experiences and taking that into this weekend.
"It's about continuing to work hard, looking for accuracy in our performance across 80 minutes and also keeping our discipline."
Wales are looking for their first success in this year's Six Nations but are up against a rampant Ireland, who have won both their opening fixtures in this year's tournament.
Gatland had made seven changes ahead of the England clash after Wales went down at home to Scotland in an opening 27-26 loss.
Wales starting XV: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Josh Adams,13 George North, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Tomos William; 1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Keiron Assiratt, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 5 Adam Beard, 6 Alex Mann, 7 Tommy Reffell, 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowsk, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Mackenzie Marti, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Mason Grady.
You can now start receiving messages and alerts for the latest breaking sports news, analysis, in-depth features and videos from our dedicated WhatsApp channel!
