Rees, Delve and Charteris to start for Wales against Ireland
Gatland confirms Rees, Delve and Charteris to start for Wales against Ireland
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Tuesday, 09, Mar 2010 01:05
By Lewis Bazley.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has made three changes to the starting line-up for Saturday's clash with Ireland, as Matthew Rees, Gareth Delve and Luke Charteris come into the team.
Martyn Williams will captain the Wales XV at Croke Park on Saturday as injured captain Ryan Jones is withdrawn from the squad and replaced at number eight by Gloucester's Delve.
Charteris will start at second row having replaced the injured Deiniol Jones in the first half of Wales' defeat to France last month while Rees returns at hooker with the Ospreys' Huw Bennett moving to the bench.
"We have taken the decision not to include any players who are unable to take a full part in training in the build-up to the Ireland game," said Gatland.
"This Ireland side will be meticulous in its planning and for this game in particular we need to get our preparation exactly right and once we had reached that conclusion a couple of selection decisions were really made for us."
He continued: "This is also a great opportunity for Gareth Delve, who we have been keeping a close eye on and who is also a leader himself. We feel we have a loose forward trio here who can be competitive," Gatland continued.
"Ireland are an impressive and experienced side with a pack of players who have been around for a long time and who are tough players. We meet them after a good win against England and a loss to France by a scoreline which probably flattered the French.
"We know we need to improve but we do think we have the talent and ability in this squad to match any squad and confident we are good enough to win this match if we can get things right on the day."
Wales' squad to face Ireland is:
15 Lee Byrne
14 Leigh Halfpenny
13 James Hook
12 Jamie Roberts 11
Shane Williams
10 Stephen Jones
9 Richie Rees
1 Paul James
2 Matthew Rees
3 Adam Jones
4 Bradley Davies
5 Luke Charteris,
6 Jonathan Thomas
7 Martyn Williams (Captain)
8 Gareth Delve
Replacements
Huw Bennett
Rhys Gill
Ian Gough
Sam Warburton
Dwayne Peel
Andrew Bishop
Tom Shanklin