TWO Pembrokeshire rugby players will take their places on the bench for Wales against England at Twickenham this weekend.
It is a chance for prop Kemsley Mathias to earn his first senior Welsh cap.
The Haverfordwest-born 24-year-old will start the match on the bench alongside fellow Pembrokeshire forward Sam Parry, who will be looking to add to his five caps.
Elsewhere in the team, Josh Adams will win his 50th cap and there will be a debut for Scarlets centre Joe Roberts, who becomes the 1,192nd player to represent the men’s senior side.
Dewi Lake will captain the side, following in Brynaman native Jac Morgan’s footsteps by captaining the senior side for the first time after leading the U20 side.
Jac misses out after a man-of-the-match performance last week as head coach Warren Gatland gives all the squad a chance to impress ahead of naming Wales’ final World Cup squad.
Gatland said: “There’s an opportunity for another group of players who weren’t involved last week. There’s some great competition within the squad.
"I was pretty pleased with the team performance and the result last week – it wasn’t perfect but there’s a chance now for this group to go out Saturday and to put down their own marker.
"Like I said there’s some real competition and perhaps a bit of pressure on this group as well. Then we’ll look potentially what the make up of the team is the following week against South Africa.”
On the captaincy Gatland added: “I’ve been really impressed with Dewi. Like Jac (Morgan – who captained the side last week) he’s well-respected in the group, he’s got a voice and he has confidence about himself and his own ability.
“We’re in a bit of transition, so in the back of my mind I was thinking we are building not only for the next few months but also starting to think about what we need to do with the next cycle of players going forwards towards 2027.”
Wales team to face England at Twickenham on Saturday, August 12 (5.30pm kick off, live on Prime Video in English and Welsh):
15 Liam Williams, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Joe Roberts, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Tom Rogers, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Kieran Williams.
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