Warren Gatland has named the Welsh team vs France in the last of 2011 6 Nation’s games to be played in Paris on Saturday.
Warren Gatland has named a fairly settled side to take on the much changed French team in Paris on Saturday. The only 2 changes to the team being enforced by injuries to tighthead prop Craig Mitchell and record try scoring wing Shane Williams.
Young Scarlets winger George North returns from injury, leap frogging Morgan Stoddart who had played wing at the start of the championship. Adam Jones also comes straight from out of the squad into the starting line up after convincing Gatland and co of his fitness.
Championship Shot
Gatland still has some hope of claiming the 6 Nations crown, despite England going for their first Grand Slam since 2003. Wales need a 43 point swing n their favour, including England losing to Ireland, for them to win the championship
“We are going into the final round of the Championship in second place and still with a shot at the title,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland.
“That’s pleasing, but it is not good enough yet, we need to finish the job and win in France. That is the only element of this weekend we can control and it is vitally important that we maintain our focus on what will be one of the toughest challenges of this campaign.”
About the Welsh Team
Neil Jenkins spoke a bit mroe in depth about the reasons behind the choices made for the Welsh team vs France
“Adam (Jones) is quite a player to have coming back into your side, he is a British Lion and one of the best players in his position in the world so we are very happy that he has timed his return from injury to perfection,” said Jenkins.
“Craig (Mitchell) has done a great job for us so far this campaign, but it is reassuring to know Adam is there to slot straight back in. We know now that when everyone is fit we will have real depth in that front row. It goes without saying that we will miss Shane (Williams), any side would, but George presents an entirely different prospect.
“He will want to get involved in the game and he has got all the attributes to do himself and Wales justice on Saturday. He will be looking forward to the challenge, we are putting no pressure on him, he will just be told to go out there and enjoy his rugby.”
“Morgan (Stoddart) has been unlucky, he was definitely in the running to come onto the wing and there was not a lot in it,” added Jenkins.
“We know he won’t let anyone down if called upon and we have plenty of experience elsewhere on the bench who may well have a role to play. France are always tough opponents on their own patch, they have some great players and are a top class side when they get things right so we are in no doubt that this is going to be an incredibly tough game.
“But we won’t think too much about what they are going to do, we will concentrate on ourselves and we know there is a chance that we can still have more to say in this Championship.
“Our focus must be on winning this next game, it’s a big year for us with the World Cup just around the corner. We have the Barbarians, England and Argentina all at the Millennium Stadium this summer and although we can’t look past France at the moment we are all well aware of what a win could do for us in the long term.”
Wales Team vs France
Lee Byrne, Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Jonathan Davies, George North; James Hook, Mike Phillips; Paul James, Matthew Rees (C), Adam Jones, Bradley Davies, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Ryan Jones
Replacements
Richard Hibbard, John Yapp, Jonathan Thomas, Rob McCusker, Dwayne Peel, Stephen Jones, Morgan Stoddart
French Team vs Wales
France have made 5 changes of their own, most of which seem to strengthen them – and is probably the best team named by France so far in this odd 6 Nations campaign of theirs.
France: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Luc Ducalcon, 18 Pascal Papé, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Fabien Estebanez, 22 Yoann Huget.
Discuss this team, and more, over on our new Welsh Rugby Forum where the debate is really starting to pick up! Got to be better than work…
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Once again I feel for Stoddart being left out…
The key will be 6/7/8 for us. If Warburton can play as well as he did against Ireland then I think we’ll have a massive chance.
For the first time in a while, we’ll have the edge over the French in the centre, but I still think Jonathan Davies has a bit to prove.
I think Jones should be 10, Hook 13, Davies 12 and Roberts 11
G – I agree about J Davies having a bit to prove. He has improved dramatically in the last year or so but he still has to improve a little to be a proper ‘international class centre’ imo. I reckon he will do it, whether he does it in time for the RWC is another matter (not that we have many other options)
Fernando – Do you think Roberts has the pace to be an international class wing? Give North another year or two and he will be roughly the same size as Roberts and a darn sight quicker.
Welsh backs? What welsh backs?