Three changes for Wales in team against Argentina
CARDIFF, July 8 (Reuters) - Wales have made three changes for the first of two tests against Argentina at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, coach Wayne Pivac announced on Thursday.
All come in the back line after last Saturday´s 68-12 win over Canada where Leigh Halfpenny was injured and forced to undergo knee surgery.
Hallam Amos replaces him at fullback while Kieran Hardy takes over at scrum-half from Tomos Williams. Owen Lane is brought in on the wing in place of Tom Rogers.
"Argentina provide the perfect opponents for us this weekend and are the exact test we want for this group of players," said Pivac, who is without a sizeable contingent away with the British & Irish Lions in South Africa.
"We will be tested up front and the physicality will be at a level that some of these players have not experienced before but that will answer a lot of questions for us as we build towards Rugby World Cup 2023."
Team: 1 Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (40 caps) 2 Elliot Dee (Dragons) (38 caps) 3 Dillon Lewis (Cardiff) (29 caps) 4 Ben Carter (Dragons) (1 cap) 5 Will Rowlands (Dragons) (8 caps) 6 Ross Moriarty (Dragons) (46 caps) 7 James Botham (Cardiff) (7 caps) 8 Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) (30 caps) 9 Kieran Hardy (Scarlets) (5 caps) 10 Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears) (10 caps) 11 Owen Lane (Cardiff) (2 caps) 12 Jonathan Davies (capt) (Scarlets) (89 caps) 13 Uilisi Halaholo (Cardiff) (5 caps) 14 Jonah Holmes (Dragons) (6 caps) 15 Hallam Amos (Cardiff) (23 caps)
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (18 caps) 17 Gareth Thomas (Ospreys) (1 cap) 18 Leon Brown (Dragons) (18 caps) 19 Josh Turnbull (Cardiff) (11 caps) 20 Taine Basham (Dragons) (1 cap) 21 Tomos Williams (Cardiff) (23 caps) 22 Jarrod Evans (Cardiff) (6 caps) 23 Nick Tompkins (Saracens) (11 caps) (Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
