Warren Gatland has explained his Wales team selection decisions having dropped the likes of Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones while moving Taulupe Faletau to the bench for the trip to Scotland.
Here's what the Wales coach had to say:
Question: What's the reasons for wholesale changes?
Warren Gatland: "Tomas Francis has got an injury. We wanted to see Wyn Jones who has been training really well. He’s been out for a quite a long time with an injury, but he’s been back.
"We’d spoken to Alun Wyn Jones before the campaign about not playing all the games as we need to see some of the youngsters in that position where we’ve got some talent, but they’re young and inexperienced. Christ gets an opportunity. He’s a great athlete.
"The decision-making at 8 is who is our cover at No. 8 if Faletau gets injured. That’s the thinking behind that. It could have been someone like Aaron Wainwright as well.
"We’ve kept some continuity in the backline who we thought we attacked well but we just weren’t clinical in finishing some of those opportunities. So there’s changes, but I wouldn’t say there’s wholesale changes.
"In the past I’ve been criticised for making too many changes, particularly against Italy or in the autumn, so I’ve tried to work on the balance. We’ve spoken about giving these youngsters some time. But I wouldn’t say too many changes."
Is this the changing of the guard?
WG: "I don’t think so. I just think we need to think about what’s important in this tournament.
"We lost that first game so we can’t win the Grand Slam or the Triple Crown. We still want to do well in this tournament and Saturday’s game is important for us.
"But we need to think long-term as well in the next seven or eight months. We’ve got a huge disparity between those experienced players with the number of caps they’ve got and a lot of incredibly talented youngsters with a limited number of caps. We just need to find that balance."
Is there a way back in for the likes of Justin Tipuric, Alun Wyn Jones and Taulupe Faletau?
WG: "Absolutely. In fairness, they’ve been brilliant. We’ve had those conversations and explained it to the squad in terms of our rationale and thinking. They understand it.
"We know what they can do. But some of these youngsters, we don’t know what their potential is or how they are going to handle international rugby. Rhys Davies, this could be his first cap for Wales.
"That’s our thinking, getting that balance and giving that group of players a chance, who will be excited about it, without too many wholesale changes."
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Is it a similar to 2011, when you brought through youth ahead of that World Cup?
WG: "Possibly. I’m not looking that far ahead at the moment, but you could draw some comparisons. I don’t have any problems with people alluding to that, because a lot of those decisions will be made after this campaign around the World Cup warm-up games and camps when we’re together as a whole squad when we’ll continue further with the development of this team."
Is it a concern there's a lack of 25/30-year-olds to call upon?
WG: "I think that’s exciting. We’ve got a group of youngsters who, if I was in that age bracket, I’d be thinking if I go out, perform well and put my hand up, I’ve got a chance of holding onto that jersey. That’s what I’d be excited about, getting that chance. The older guys have been brilliant as a whole group, working and helping each other out. As a youngster, I’d be excited by the opportunity."
You've never lost to Scotland before. What sort of challenge do you expect?
WG: "I said it during the autumn, I think it’s the strongest Scottish side I’ve seen for a number of years in terms of the depth they've got. They kept the All Blacks scoreless for 50 minutes in a game where they could have won.
"The comments coming out of their camp are about consistency and having big wins, but being unable to follow it up.
"For us, the goal for us this week is to start well and cut out the silly penalties we gave away early in the game that put us under pressure. Then it’s about being clinical. If we take the 20 minutes out, the score in the second-half was 7-7 and we conceded those seven points when we were down to 14 men.
"I’ve tried to take the positives out of Saturday and there were a lot of positives. I spoke to Andy Farrell after the game and he said we put them under pressure a lot of times and we put some good defensive sets together. He said we stressed them defensively.
"There’s a few things for us to tidy up and if we can get those right, it should be a great game.."
You've coached Finn Russell on the last Lions tour. What threat does he pose?
WG: "He wasn’t really fit for a lot of that tour in South Africa. There’s no doubt he’s matured incredibly as a player. He’s a running threat.
"I think in the past, people would call him a maverick. I’m not quite sure that tag is applicable at the moment.
"I just think with that maturity in his game management, what he’s learned in his attacking game and kicking game, I think he’s got an incredible balance. What I love about him is that he plays with a smile on his face. He’s pretty relaxed in the way that he plays.
"He’s pretty key for them. He’s on top of his form and he was excellent for them last week."
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