MX23RW : Wednesday, April 24 05:19:38| >> :600:560742:560742:
Six Nations | Group Stage
Feb 8, 2020 at 2.15pm UK
 
Ireland
24-14
Wales
Larmour (19'), Furlong (32'), van der Flier (47'), Conway (75')
FT
Williams (27'), Tipuric (81')

Team News: Nick Tompkins handed first Wales start against Ireland

The Saracens centre made a try-scoring debut off the bench in the win over Italy.

Saracens centre Nick Tompkins will make his first Wales start in Saturday's Guinness Six Nations clash against Ireland.

Tompkins, who delivered a try-scoring debut off the bench when Wales beat Italy 42-0 five days ago, partners Hadleigh Parkes in midfield.

George North, a centre starter against the Azzurri, moves back to his familiar wing position, replacing Johnny McNicholl.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has made no other changes to the starting line-up.

Switches among the replacements, though, see McNicholl being joined by prop Rhys Carre, who is available again after serving a suspension following his sending off in Saracens' Champions Cup victory over the Ospreys last month.

Scrum-half Gareth Davies and Gloucester back Owen Williams are also on the bench, together with Ospreys lock Adam Beard, who replaces an injured Cory Hill.

Pivac said: "Nick comes into the side, I thought he played exceptionally well when he came on last week, so he deserves the start.

Wayne Pivac has made changes
Wayne Pivac has made changes (Steven Paston/PA)

"We've been seeing it in training every day and the way he conducts himself off the field. He is a true professional. He handles himself very well. He is very impressive.

"We were happy with Johnny (McNicholl). But we just felt we couldn't leave Nick out. It's an opportunity for George on the wing.

"Overall, we got what we wanted out of the Italy game – five points, and there was some good play there and some parts of our game needed to be looked at, which we've done this week.

"Hopefully, there will be a marked improvement, so we got what we needed out of the game and now we move forward, keeping that nucleus as it is to help us achieve that.

"Momentum is important in the championship. It was nice to get a good winning start under our belts, and hopefully we can build on that through the tournament."

ID:388920: cacheID:388920:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:5377:No Data Analysis info
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Wales' Ross Moriarty pictured in March 2019
Read Next:
Ross Moriarty impressed by Nick Tompkins Wales debut
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
10am
Munar
Borges
10am
Navone
Popyrin
10am
Vukic
Daniel
10am
Bouzas Maneiro
Badosa
10am
Davis
Sherif
10am
Putintseva
Yuan
10am
Stephens
Trevisan
10am
Zhu
Jimenez Kasintseva
11.30am
Altmaier
Landaluce
11.30am
Rinderknech
Shevchenko
11.30am
Safiullin
Seyboth Wild
11.30am
Arango
Anisimova
11.30am
Sorribes Tormo
Pera
11.30am
Zhang
Rogers
12pm
Osaka
Minnen
12pm
Vekic
Siegemund
1pm
Darderi
Monfils
1pm
Karatsev
Marozsan
1pm
Van Assche
Bergs
1pm
Linette
Cocciaretto
1pm
Wang
Tomova
1pm
Wang
Dolehide
1.30pm
Dart
Bucsa
1.30pm
Raducanu
Lourdes Carle
2.30pm
Bronzetti
Gracheva
2.30pm
Frech
Cristian
2.30pm
Hibino
Krueger
3pm
Coric
Hassan
3pm
Kokkinakis
Draper
3pm
Nakashima
Bagnis
3pm
Van De Zandschulp
Eubanks
4pm
Baptiste
Saville
4pm
Bejlek
Blinkova
4pm
Errani
Wozniacki
4pm
Montgomery
Avanesyan
4.30pm
Klein
Llamas Ruiz
4.30pm
Burel
Danilovic
5pm
Moutet
Shang
5.30pm
Diaz Acosta
Shapovalov
6pm
Andreeva
Townsend


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!