Alun Wyn Jones to become world’s most-capped player

Wales captain and second-row Alun Wyn Jones will become the most capped international on Saturday when he starts against New Zealand in Cardiff.

Talismanic figure Jones will lead his side on the field, in front of a capacity crowd for the first time since February 2019, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The forward will make his 149th appearance for Wales this weekend, surpassing the great Richie McCaw’s record of 148 appearances for the All Blacks.

Gareth Anscombe starts at 10

Wayne Pivac has named a line-up that combines experience and some of the country’s most exciting young talent for their Autumn Nations Series opener.

Scarlets and British & Irish Lions loosehead prop Wyn Jones is joined in the front-row by Cardiff hooker Ryan Elias and Ospreys tighthead Tomas Francis.

It’s an Ospreys lock pairing with Adam Beard alongside Jones. The Dragons trio of Ross Moriarty, Taine Basham and Aaron Wainwright are the back-row.

Basham will make his first start for Wales having made his international debut against Canada during the summer, scoring a brace of tries in that victory.

Cardiff’s Tomos Williams and Ospreys’ Gareth Anscombe will line up at scrum-half and fly-half respectively. Scarlets centre pairing Johnny Williams and Jonathan Davies take their place in midfield with Cardiff wings Josh Adams and Owen Lane linking up with Scarlets full-back Johnny McNicholl in behind.

“The focus for this group has been two weeks of training, they’ve worked really, really hard and it has galvanised them. We have been low on numbers this week so it hasn’t been the normal preparation in terms of exact numbers to train against each other, so that’s been a challenge,” said Pivac ahead of the tough fixture.

“The guys are really excited but they know it’s a big task at hand. The reality is we’re two years away from a Rugby World Cup and we’re building towards that. We’ve got a Six Nations around the corner to defend, and try to win that tournament again.

“They know it’s a massive challenge ahead. Every young Welsh player when they’re growing up want to play at the Principality in front of 75,000, and if you ask them who they want to play against New Zealand would be one of the top couple of sides they’d choose.

“With injuries and unavailability it’s another great opportunity for players like Taine Basham and Ben Thomas to come into the group and gain valuable experience. They’re going to come away from this test match knowing what it’s like to play one of the best teams in the world.

“To win a World Cup you have to play against teams like New Zealand at some stage in the tournament and you have to win those games. It’s going to be a great experience for those guys who haven’t played a lot of test rugby and they’ll certainly know they’ve been in a match afterwards.”

Wales: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Taine Basham, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Adam Beard, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Seb Davies, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Ben Thomas

Date: Saturday, October 30
Venue: Principality Stadium
Kick-off: 17:15 BST (16:15 GMT)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (England), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Wales’ 23 to be blown away

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