 | WALES v SOUTH AFRICA |
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Saturday, 19 November
Kick-off: 1700 GMT
Weakened Wales have recalled Dafydd James and moved captain Gareth Thomas to centre for Saturday's South Africa Test at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Ex-Lions wing James, 30, who replaces ankle injury victim Kevin Morgan, has 41 caps, but has not featured since facing New Zealand in November 2002.
Thomas partners Sonny Parker at centre, Lee Byrne holding the full-back berth.
Up front, Rhys Thomas is at hooker, Chris Horsman at tight-head prop and Luke Charteris in the second row.
Charteris edged out Dragons team-mate Ian Gough in the battle for the injured Brent Cockbain's jersey.
|  Dafydd brings a wealth of experience, along with international size and physique |
Duncan Jones has held off the challenge of John Yapp for the loose-head prop berth. The back row is as expected, with Colin Charvis, Michael Owen and Martyn Williams starting.
Jonathan Thomas is on the bench, with Dafydd Jones' ankle injury ruling him out of the autumn series.
Gareth Cooper starts at scrum-half ahead of Mike Phillips, forming an experienced half-back partnership with Stephen Jones, who is set to win his 50th cap.
Mark Taylor was unavailable for selection in the back line, his release to help Sale through an injury crisis casting doubt on his international future.
Lions Gavin Henson, Gethin Jenkins, Tom Shanklin, Dwayne Peel, Ryan Jones and Cockbain are out of the entire autumn series with a variety of injuries.
| It was difficult to move Gareth from full-back |
But the return of Scarlets three-quarter James - who played all three Tests on the 2001 Lions tour of Australia - at least lends some solidity to a physical-looking Wales back line. Whether he can cope with the electric pace of opposing wing Bryan Habana and the speedy Springbok three-quarters remains to be seen.
"Dafydd brings a wealth of experience, along with international size and physique," said Wales coach Mike Ruddock.
"He's been more like his old self since returning to the Scarlets.
"It was difficult to move Gareth from full-back given the impact he makes coming into the line and his try-saving tackling.
"But given our injuries we need to get him involved and outside centre is the place to do that from.
"Up front, Chris Horsman is an experienced, quality player and Rhys Thomas has played himself into the team.
"Our rationale has been to go for a team that has the potential to play the exciting brand of rugby that we associate with the Welsh team and a team that can adopt a strong defensive attitude when the Springboks have the ball.
"We may have lost a few players to injuries but we believe we have an exceptionally strong team here with a good mix of experienced players and some great young prospects."
Wales: L Byrne (Llanelli Scarlets); D James (Llanelli Scarlets), G Thomas (Toulouse, capt), S Parker (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), G Cooper (Newport Gwent Dragons); D Jones (Ospreys), R Thomas (Cardiff Blues), C Horsman (Worcester), R Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), C Charvis (Newcastle), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: M Davies (Gloucester), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Newport Gwent Dragons), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Phillips (Cardiff Blues), C Sweeney (Newport Gwent Dragons), M Watkins (Llanelli Scarlets).
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
MMIX
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