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If 2024 was the year of focusing on blooding young talent. The 2025 International Calendar for Wales appears to have well…..changed its mentality a bit.
Galtands first starting XV of the Six Nations is a mixture of old and new heads as he looks to undertake possibly the toughest ask in World Rugby at the moment – Beating France, In France.
Centre Partnership of Owen Watkin and Nick Tomkins boasts a collective 70 caps between them – more than the entire backline that faced the Springboks last Autumn and Liam Williams makes a return to the 15 jersey to diffuse what I can only imagine will be a lot of bombs on Friday Night.
A very young front row could be in for a very long afternoon against a huge French pack (a certain Antonio x Meafou Tight Head side scrum) and Ben Thomas with very little experience at 10 for his club could be looking at a long afternoon against the best half back pairing in World Rugby.
Captain Jac Morgan returns to the back row in what appears to be a balanced back-row with Jim Botham and the ever-impressive Aaron Wainwright packing down at 8.
Whereas this might seem like a proverbial “Welsh Lambs to the Slaughter” evening there is some calm in the squad in comparison to last season but hard to imagine anything other than a convincing French win and a record 13th defeat in a row for Gatlands Men.
Wales Starting XV (1-15) Gareth Thomas, Evan Lloyd, Henry Thomas, Will Rowlands, Dafydd Jenkins, James Botham, Jac Morgan, Aaron Wainwright, Tomos Williams, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Tom Rogers, Liam Williams
Wales Replacements (16-23) Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Keiron Assiratti, Freddie Thomas, Tommy Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Dan Edwards, Blair Murray
