NICE, France (AP) — Wales made 13 changes to its starters to face Portugal at the Rugby World Cup, with only wing Louis Rees Zammit and No. 8 Taulupe Faletau retained from the breathless win against Fiji.
Four Welsh will make their World Cup debuts against the Portuguese in Nice on Saturday in centers Mason Grady and Johnny Williams, lock Christ Tshiunza and hooker Dewi Lake, who is captain. Taine Basham may also get a first World Cup appearance off the bench.
Leigh Halfpenny is at fullback and set to play his 101st test and appear in a third Rugby World Cup.
Gareth Anscombe comes in for Dan Biggar at No. 10 and will combine with scrumhalf Tomos Williams, who's set for a 50th test appearance. Tommy Reffell and Dan Lydiate complete the back row alongside Faletau.
Club teammates Tshiunza and Dafydd Jenkins are the locks, with loose forward-lock utility Tshiunza also starting his first game in the second row for Wales.
Wales rested most of its frontliners and is expecting an easier game than the 32-26 win over the Fijians, which went down the wire before the Welsh clung on to win in the dying seconds in the game of the tournament so far.
Nearly all of the frontliners get a rest after that, although Wales does have hooker Ryan Elias, lock Adam Beard, scrumhalf Gareth Davies and wing Josh Adams on the bench.
“We’ve done a thorough debrief of last week’s game and know the areas we need to improve," Wales coach Warren Gatland said. “We have a clear plan of how we want to play on Saturday and it’s about going out there and executing that as we have prepared.”
Portugal is set for its first appearance at this Rugby World Cup. The Portuguese have played only at one previous World Cup, also in France in 2007.
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Wales: Leigh Halfpenny, Louis Rees Zammit, Mason Grady, Johnny Williams, Rio Dyer, Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Taulupe Faletau, Tommy Reffell, Dan Lydiate, Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Dillon Lewis, Dewi Lake (captain), Nicky Smith. Reserves: Ryan Elias, Corey Domachowski, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Taine Basham, Gareth Davies, Sam Costelow, Josh Adams.
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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
