Jenkins beefs up Wales pack

GARETH JENKINS reacted to Wales’ 21-9 defeat to Scotland by making seven changes for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash with France, including four in a revamped pack.

Wales lost the forward battle at Murrayfield and Jenkins has beefed up his pack in the hope of avoiding a fourth straight Test defeat.

Props Chris Horsman and Gethin Jenkins return to a new-look front row with Matthew Rees named the starting hooker in place of Rhys Thomas.

And Jenkins has reinstated powerful Newport Gwent Dragons lock Ian Gough into the second row, with Brent Cockbain named on the bench and Robert Sidoli dropping out of the squad.

In the back division, Tom Shanklin starts at outside centre, winger Shane Williams returns from injury and Lee Byrne takes over at full-back from Kevin Morgan, who broke his jaw at Murrayfield.

Jenkins said: “When we looked at our performance against Scotland we all recognised how disappointing we were. It was not only a bad game but a poor performance from us and this selection reflects that.

“France have a big physical presence up front which we will need to combat, they operate a blitz defence and take their opportunities well in attack.”

Wales lost their first scrum against an ordinary Scotland pack and had their lineout picked apart by expert spoiler Scott Murray, Jim Hamilton and Nathan Hines.

In response, Jenkins has recalled Horsman, Wales’ most destructive scrummager, at tight-head prop in place of Adam Jones. Meanwhile, France’s rotation policy continues for this weekend’s RBS 6 Nations clash against Wales — and team manager Jo Maso has vowed it will be in full force until the end of the tournament. Les Bleus have made five changes to the squad that beat Ireland 20-17 last time out for Saturday’s match at the Stade de France.

Nicolas Mas, Benoit August, Gregory Lamboley, Elvis Vermeulen and Aurelien Rougerie have been drafted in, as head coach Bernard Laporte continues to cast his eye over some of his fringe players with the World Cup later this year in mind.

Chabal, Pieter De Villiers, Sebastien Bruno, Pascal Pape and Cedric Heymans were the men to be dropped from the squad for the Wales game, but there are still a clutch of key players who have been selected for all three of France’s Six Nations games this year.

That includes the experienced Christophe Dominici, who will compete with Rougerie and Vincent Clerc for the two places on the wings.

Rougerie is available again after suspension, while Vermeulen should start at number eight after being forced to play second fiddle to Chabal for the opening two games.

WALES: L Byrne (Ospreys); S Williams (Ospreys), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Ospreys), M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), C Horsman (Worcester), I Gough (Newport Gwent Dragons), AW Jones (Ospreys), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys)

Replacements: R Thomas (Cardiff Blues), D Jones (Ospreys), B Cockbain (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Phillips (Cardiff Blues), C Sweeney (Newport Gwent Dragons), J Robinson (Cardiff Blues).