Rob Howley names Welsh team for Scotland clash.
Gethin Jenkins will miss Wales’ Six Nations away match with Scotland on Satuday with a calf muscle injury, interim head coach Rob Howley said on Tuesday.
Prop forward Jenkins, now with French club Toulon, suffered the problem during Wales’s 26-9 win against Italy in Rome and the 97-times capped front row was replaced by Paul James in the starting line-up for Saturday’s match at Murrayfield.
Two other changes from the side that triumphed at Rome’s Olympic Stadium saw Sam Warburton, Wales’s Grand Slam-winning captain last season, replace openside flanker Justin Tipuric in a reshaped back row, with experienced lock forward Alun-Wyn Jones taking over from Andrew Coombs.
However, although Warburton is back after suffering a shoulder injury earlier in the Championship, fellow loose forward Ryan Jones has been retained as captain by former Wales and British and Irish Lions scrum-half Howley.
Jones, who has led Wales a record 31 times, took over from Warburton when Wales beat France in Paris.
Coombs and Tipuric are on the bench, replacing Jones and Warburton respectively, with Scott Andrews filling the replacement spot vacated by James.
Both second-placed Wales and Scotland, level on four points, have title aspirations heading into this weekend’s penultimate round of matches, although it is Grand Slam-chasers England who currently top the table.
Wales (15-1)
Leigh Halfpenny; Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North; Dan Biggar, Mike Phillips; Toby Faletau, Sam Warburton, Ryan Jones (capt); Ian Evans, Alun-Wyn Jones; Adam Jones, Richard Hibbard, Paul James
Replacements: Ken Owens, Scott Andrews, Craig Mitchell, Andrew Coombs, Justin Tipuric, Lloyd Williams, James Hook, Scott Williams
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