WARREN GATLAND has been having the sort of season that has seen him open one door only to have another slammed in his face. The Wales coach’s relief at having Lee Byrne available to face England at Twickenham on Saturday was yesterday tempered by the loss of another of last summer’s Lions, Matthew Rees, after the recurrence of a groin injury.
Gatland has not been able to field his strongest team this season. While on the surface the absence of Byrne, the only specialist fullback in the squad, would have seemed the greater handicap, Rees’s unavailability at hooker jeopardises expected Welsh dominance up front. His replacement, Gareth Williams, 31, who will make his third international start, is known more for his mobility than his scrummaging and is nearly two stone lighter than Rees.
James Hook deputised for Byrne in the autumn series and was one of Wales’s outstanding players, emphasising the versatility that has become a mixed blessing for the 24-year old, who on Saturday will start in his fourth position for Wales. He will be at outside centre with Jamie Roberts inside him although their respective skills would suggest they would be better employed the other way round.
Hook, an outhalf by preference, would be a better foil for Stephen Jones, a natural second five, but Roberts made his reputation as an inside-centre with the Lions last summer and has expressed his desire to play in the position.
“James has the skill set to play in a variety of positions,” Rob Howley, the Wales attack coach, said.
“Sometimes you feel you just have to find a role for him and we think we might have found his position. We played Jamie at outside-centre in the autumn because of injuries but he is now back in his preferred position.”
It is not clear what Gatland would have done with Roberts had Gavin Henson not been on sabbatical. In a reshuffled back division, Wales have three left-footed players in the back three, with Tom James replacing Leigh Halfpenny on the right wing. This in part explains the preference for the experienced Gareth Cooper at scrumhalf ahead of the player who has kept him out of the Blues starting line-up for most of the season, Richie Rees.
Cooper has started only one match in the last six weeks, a low-key Magners League game against Edinburgh at Murrayfield, but he will be making his 45th international appearance while Rees, who spent a season at London Irish when the England attack coach, Brian Smith, was in charge of the club four seasons ago, will win his first cap if he comes off the bench.
Wales are looking for a fourth consecutive Six Nations victory over England for the first time since 1979. There are seven survivors from the side that started at Twickenham in 2008 and ended a 20-year drought at the ground: Hook, Byrne, Shane Williams, Adam Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Jones and Martyn Williams.
WALES (v England at Twickenham on Saturday): L Byrne; T James, J Hook, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, G Cooper; G Jenkins, G Williams, A Rhys Jones, A-W Jones, L Charteris, A Powell, M Williams, R Jones (capt). Replacements: H Bennett, P James, B Davies, J Thomas, R Rees, A Bishop, L Halfpenny.
FRANCE (v Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday): C Poitrenaud; B Fall, M Bastareaud, Y Jauzion, A Rougerie; F Trinh-Duc, M Parra; T Domingo, W Servat, N Mas, L Nallet, P Pape,T Dusautoir (capt), F Ouedraogo. Replacements: D Szarzewski, L Ducalcon, J Pierre, J Bonnaire, J-Baptiste Elissalde, D Marty, V Clerc.
