Internationals - Peel to start for Wales

PA Sport - Tue, 24 Nov 13:09:00 2009

Wales coach Warren Gatland has named Dwayne Peel at scrum-half as the only change to his starting XV for the clash with Australia at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Dwayne Peel - Wales - 0

Peel (pictured) takes over from Gareth Cooper and wins his 72nd cap as Wales look to build on their autumn victories over Samoa and Argentina following their opening loss to New Zealand.

The Sale number nine gains a second start of the four-Test November series, preferred to Cooper, who has been released from Wales squad training to play for Cardiff Blues in Tuesday's tour match appointment with Australia.

Gatland's selection means that nine players - James Hook, Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Gethin Jenkins, Paul James, Alun-Wyn Jones, Luke Charteris, Andy Powell and skipper Ryan Jones - will have started all four of Wales' autumn Tests.

Scarlets scrum-half Martin Roberts will provide bench cover for Peel, but Blues centre Tom Shanklin fails to gain a place in the match-day 22.

Shanklin missed the 33-16 victory over Argentina due to a broken nose suffered against Samoa eight days earlier, and Scarlets back Jonathan Davies retains a midfield berth alongside Roberts.

Ospreys forward Jonathan Thomas, meanwhile, will reach 50 caps if he appears as a substitute against the Wallabies.

Gatland said: "We were pretty pleased with the performance against Argentina.

"We matched them up-front, our defence held up well and we are starting to show a more clinical edge in attack.

"There is still improvement left in us, and we feel we need to go up a couple more gears if we are to achieve what we want against Australia, but we are coming to the end of the series and the players feel they are starting to get into their stride."

Wales: 15-James Hook, 14-Leigh Halfpenny, 13-Jamie Roberts, 12-Jonathan Davies, 11-Shane Williams, 10-Stephen Jones, 9-Dwayne Peel, 8-Ryan Jones (capt), 7-Martyn Williams, 6-Andy Powell, 5-Luke Charteris, 4-Alun-Wyn Jones, 3-Paul James, 2-Matthew Rees, 1-Gethin Jenkins.

Replacements: 16-Huw Bennett, 17-Duncan Jones, 18-Jonathan Thomas, 19-Dan Lydiate, 20-Martin Roberts, 21-Andrew Bishop, 22-Tom James.

PA Sport

Comment 1 - 8 of 8

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  1. COME ON WALES!!! LETS GET READY TO RHUMBLE ON SATURDAY.­ A STRONG TEAM WILL MAKE US WIN. WALES...DO THE WELSH­ PROUD!

    From Laura B, on Thu 26 Nov 8:59AM

  2. The contest between the two half backs will be­ interesting, whilst I am expecting the Wallabies to run­ away with it, particularly in the second half, the­ level of fitness in northern hemisphere sides is to me­ always an issue, look at England's second half­ performance, in any case it should be a cracking game­ of rugby, the Aussies could not play as bad as they did­ against Scotland, despite their effort they are still­ potential wooden spooners for the sixth nations­ tournament, Ned Kelly

    From jcastledineruiz, on Wed 25 Nov 12:21PM

  3. I tend to agree with Moggie and Lee.
    I like Powell but­ he has not been breaking through and getting over the­ gain line with conviction. Needs a very big game on­ Saturday. If Jonathan Thomas would stop messing about,­ he could be the blindside choice.
    Should be a cracking­ game with a wounded Australia out for redemtion and­ Wales starting to come together.
    Both teams like to­ move it and I think it could well be the game of the­ Autumn, which lets face it, has not been­ outstanding.
    NZ were poor last week and a decent team­ would have beaten them. Scotland did well but it was­ more about Aussie mistakes than anything else.

    Wales­ to win on Saturday but not by much.
    CONCIEVE, BELIEVE­ & ACHIEVE
    C'mon Cymru

    From Cymro, on Wed 25 Nov 11:10AM

  4. agree with you both about powell, he reminds me a bit­ of alex popem, good strong player but gives away to­ many penaulties. just been looking on the irb ranking­ page, wales are 6th with 81.46 points and australia are­ 3rd with 83.98. if wales beat them by more than 6­ points saturday we'd leapfrog the irish,french and­ australians and get 3rd. got to beat them first though

    From matthewschris55, on Wed 25 Nov 10:31AM

  5. Moggie 2727, I agree with both your points.As far as­ Powell is concerned there is a worry that he will give­ away a penalty of some sort every 5.36 minutes without­ fail !!!! With regards to hook, there are not many more­ naturally gifted rugby players on these shores(if any),­ I do worry that this talent will see him endlessly­ tagged as the"utility player". He deserves a­ run of games in a settled position and I do believe­ that a centre partnership with Jamie Roberts would be a­ hugely formidable one, complimenting each other­ perfectly, running opposition defences ragged.

    From Lee R, on Wed 25 Nov 8:03AM

  6. Would have thought a backrow of williams, jones and­ thomas would be more aggressive, better at the lineout­ and more controlled.
    i see no reason to persevere with­ powell, he brought something fresh initially, but hes­ been found out, and just gives away penalties now
    once­ byrne is back, Gatland surely should be lookin at a­ hook/roberts centre combo?

    From moggie2727, on Tue 24 Nov 10:45PM

  7. Well said Simon W Peels does get the ball away to the­ backs a lot quicker than Cooper.
    Would have liked see J­ Thomas to get a start. Looks a good team

    From alan, on Tue 24 Nov 6:33PM

  8. Thank god Gatlands seen sense, peel gets the ball away­ much quicker and also holds the back row better due to­ the threat he poses with quick penalties and breaks he­ makes, glad to see Jonathan Davies given another game­ he's quality and once he relaxes in a wales jersey­ he show it-sad to say Shankin looked a shadow of his­ former self this season???

    From Simon W, on Tue 24 Nov 2:02PM
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