Gatland gives Test rookies go- ahead

Wales boss Warren Gatland has backed his international rookies to relish the task that awaits them against Georgia on Saturday.

Flanker Dan Lydia te leads a team in which he boasts almost twice as many caps as his seven fellow for wards combined, while Wales’ frontfive features just 29 Test match appearances.

Cardiff Blues lock S eb Davies starts at No 8, and the third member of Wales’ back- row –Great Britain 2016 Olym- pi cs evens silver medal list Sam Cross–has played just three professional games of 15- a- side rugby.

Add into the equation that Georgia have beaten Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Canada ( twice) and America since the 2015 World Cup, while Wales’ recent history shows frequent close battles against Tier- Two nations during their autumn campaigns, and it has ingredients to be a fascinating contest.

“We feel this is an opportunity for some of those youngsters in the squad ,” Gatland said .“We’ ve talked about exposing them at this level.

“In the past, it has felt like you are kind of in a no- win situation ( in Tier- Two games).

“You’ re thinking about the future and you’re wanting to expose youngsters to that level, but sometimes by doing that you know the performance is going to be rusty, and when the performance is rust y, comes the criticism.

“These guys have been together with us for a few weeks, they’ ve trained well, they know what is at stake. I’m expecting these guys to go out and play well. We want to build on the positives of last week ( against Australia).”