Hill and Davies to start for Wales as Pivac sets his stall out early

Wales have made two changes to the team who beat England for Saturday’s clash against Italy, with Cory Hill and Gareth Davies replacing Adam Beard and Kieran Hardy.

Hardy has been ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations through injury, while line-out caller Beard is being rested after a heavy workload in recent weeks.

There is no rest, however, for No8 Taulupe Faletau, who has featured regularly for both Bath and Wales over the past two months, facing Exeter Chiefs last weekend.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, who named his team two days early, said: “Toby is pretty conditioned. When he is back at his club, he is very economical in what he does, and plays out wide quite a lot. He has had a lighter workload today than he normally would, so there are ways and means of getting them through 80 minutes on the park on the weekend coming. With any luck, it might be a bit less than that.”

Davies starts again at scrum-half after dropping to the bench against Scotland, with Jake Ball poised to win a 50th cap for Wales off the bench at lock and Lloyd Williams named as the replacement scrumhalf in Rome.

Pivac said “Once the injuries were all settled, I think internally what we wanted to do was name the team nice and early so we have a good build-up, and that’s certainly what we’ve done.”

Wales were in this Grand Slamchasing position two years ago, with Pivac admitting the experience in the squad was a huge benefit.

“The senior players are invaluable, have experienced it, and have the emotional support for the others around them that are experiencing this situation for the first time,” he said.