Six Nations: Joe Roberts Named Out Of Position On Wing For Wales Vs England In Cardiff | Rugby Union Newsnews24 | News 24
Dark Mode Light Mode
Dark Mode Light Mode

Six Nations: Joe Roberts named out of position on wing for Wales vs England in Cardiff | Rugby Union Newsnews24

Wales have made two changes to their starting XV ahead of hosting England at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff for their final-round Six Nations encounter.

Having named an unchanged side from round three to round four – the first time Wales had done so in 66 Tests dating back to 2019 – interim head coach Matt Sherratt was unable to repeat the feat due to a fractured thumb suffered by impressive wing Tom Rogers.

Instead, Joe Roberts – ordinarily a centre – is named to start on the wing for the first time in his professional career. Indeed, each of the 24-year-old’s previous 32 starts have come at outside-centre.

Wales’ other change comes in the back-row as Aaron Wainwright replaces Tommy Reffell, who drops down to the bench. That alteration means Wales field a back-row of Wainwright, captain Jac Morgan and No 8 Taulupe Faletau for the first time since their 2023 Rugby World Cup pool-stage win over Australia.

Wales are seeking to end a record run of 16 straight Test defeats when welcoming an England side still involved in the Six Nations title mix.

Image:
Back-row Aaron Wainwright comes in to replace Tommy Reffell in Wales’ forward pack

Elsewhere in the side, full-back Blair Murray and wing Ellis Mee complete the back-three with Roberts, while the centre pairing remains Max Llewellyn and Ben Thomas.

Gareth Anscombe and Tomos Williams fill the half-back positions again, while the front-row unit of Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee and WillGriff John is unchanged.

On the bench, Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, Keiron Assiratti, Teddy Williams, Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Jarrod Evans and Nick Tompkins complete the squad.

“Wales vs England is always a special occasion and we know it will be an incredible atmosphere at Principality Stadium,” Sherratt said.

“We’re excited to finish our campaign at home and are looking to put in our best performance on pitch on Saturday.”

Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Joe Roberts, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Will Rowlands, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 6 Aaron Wainwright 7 Jac Morgan (c), 8 Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Nick Tompkins.

Six Nations Super Saturday fixtures: Round Five

Saturday March 15

Italy vs Ireland (2.15pm kick-off)

Wales vs England (4.45pm kick-off)

France vs Scotland (8pm kick-off)

British & Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

The Lions will tour Australia in 2025
Image:
Watch the Lions tour of Australia live on Sky Sports in 2025


Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.

British and Irish Lions 2025 tour schedule

Date Opponent Venue
Saturday, June 28 Western Force Perth
Wednesday, July 2 Queensland Reds Brisbane
Saturday, July 5 NSW Warratahs Sydney
Wednesday, July 9 ACT Brumbies Canberra
Saturday, July 12 Invitational AU-NZ Adelaide
Saturday, July 19 AUSTRALIA (first Test) Brisbane
Wednesday, July 22 TBC Melbourne
Saturday, July 26 AUSTRALIA (second Test) Melbourne
Saturday, August 2 AUSTRALIA (third Test) Sydney

Add a comment Add a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post

How ESOPs can boost employee compensation and drive wealth creationnews24

Next Post

Training AI models might not need enormous data centresnews24