Wales team: Lions duo start and Louis Rees-Zammit discovers fate in Steve Tandy’s opening match
Jac Morgan skippers Wales while Louis Rees-Zammit makes the bench.
British and Irish Lions pair Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams will make their first appearances for Wales since the 2025 Six Nations when they face Argentina in Cardiff.
The duo, who impressed on the Lions tour of Australia, get the nod at openside flanker and scrum-half respectively, with Morgan skippering the XV from the back-row.
New Wales head coach Steve Tandy named his team on Friday as his charges kick off their Autumn Nations Series campaign with a tricky fixture at the Principality Stadium.
Solid locks
Dafydd Jenkins and Adam Beard return as the locks. Jenkins makes his first appearance since the Six Nations while Beard features for Wales for the first time in 2025.
Alex Mann is picked at blindside flanker and Aaron Wainwright completes the back-row at number eight as Tandy begins his reign in the top job with a game in Cardiff.
Rhys Carré is named at loosehead prop to make his first appearance for Wales since 2023. Hooker Dewi Lake and tighthead Keiron Assiratti join Carré in the front-row.
Moving into the backline and Dan Edwards is named at fly-half and is set to make his second start for Wales. Ben Thomas and Max Llewellyn pair up in Wales’ midfield.
Josh Adams and Tom Rogers are named as wings, with full-back Blair Murray completing the starting XV, meaning that Louis Rees-Zammit must settle for a bench role.
Among the replacements, back-row Olly Cracknell is in line to make his Wales bow off the bench while Rees-Zammit could play his first Test since the 2023 World Cup.
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Liam Belcher, who won his first two caps for Wales this summer in Japan, provides cover at hooker. Nicky Smith and Archie Griffin are the replacement props this week.
Freddie Thomas is the remaining forward sub, while Kieran Hardy is the scrum-half cover and Jarrod Evans is the fly-half option for Tandy should he decide to use him.
Coach Tandy said: “It’s a real privilege to announce my first matchday 23 for Wales. I just want to see that 23 really go out there and express themselves on Sunday and enjoy every moment of representing the country in such a unique and special jersey.”
On Cracknell, Tandy added: “Olly’s impressed us since he came into camp, but I’ve known Olly a long time. I was lucky enough to coach him at the Ospreys. He’s an unbelievable professional and you see Olly’s had to have resilience throughout his career.
“He’s shown that, whether it be London Irish, then he goes to Leicester, plays minutes every week and he’s battle-hardened and he’s performing at a big club. So I’m just excited to see that transfer to the international arena.”
Team news
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Rhys Carré
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Louis Rees-Zammit
Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Justo Piccardo, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 9 Simon Cruz Benitez, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Marcos Kremer, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 1 Mayco Vivas
Replacements: 16 Ignacio Ruiz, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Tomas Rapetti, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Agustin Moyano, 22 Juan Cruz Mallia, 23 Rodrigo Isgro
Date: Sunday, November 9
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 15:10 GMT
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Anthony Woodthorpe (RFU)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (SARU)
FPRO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
