Williams out as Wales change four for Australia

PARAPHRASED_TITLE: Tomos Williams Excluded, Wales Announce Four Team Changes for Australia Encounter
CATEGORY: Sports
PARAPHRARED_CONTENT: Tomos Williams has participated in 59 international matches for Wales.
The Autumn Nations Series fixture between Wales and Australia is scheduled for:
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Date: Sunday, 17 November
Kick off: 16:10 GMT
Coverage: Live commentary will be available on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC 5 Sport Extra, and BBC Sounds. Live text commentary can be followed on the BBC Sport website and app.

Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams has been excluded from the Autumn Nations Series match against Australia, taking place in Cardiff on Sunday.

The Gloucester half-back sustained a shoulder injury during the 24-19 defeat against Fiji and will be replaced by Cardiff’s Ellis Bevan.

Head coach Warren Gatland has implemented four alterations to the team as Wales seeks to prevent a record 11th consecutive international loss.

Scarlets wing Tom Rogers will step in for the injured Mason Grady, while flankers Jac Morgan and James Botham will take the places of Taine Plumtree and Tommy Reffell, respectively.

Dragons scrum-half Rhodri Williams, aged 31, has been included on the replacements’ bench, marking over a decade since his most recent international appearance.

Morgan is set to make his initial international start since captaining Wales in the World Cup quarter-final loss to Argentina in October 2023 in Marseille.

The flanker was absent from the 2024 Six Nations due to a knee issue and subsequently missed the summer tour owing to a hamstring injury.

Morgan, 24 years old, was initially listed among the substitutes for the Fiji match but made a notable impact after entering the game in the second half.

Cardiff back-row player Botham also performed notably in the concluding phases of last weekend’s game and replaces Plumtree, who has been omitted from the 23-man squad, with Reffell moving to the bench.

Cardiff wing Grady was withdrawn from the autumn series following a first-half injury sustained during the loss to Fiji, with Rogers being selected ahead of Rio Dyer and Josh Hathaway.

Gatland has chosen a more conventional bench composition of five forwards and three backs for this match, following the unsuccessful deployment of six forwards and two backs against Fiji.

Following Grady’s injury, Gatland later conceded that an incorrect replacement had been introduced, as Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow played out of his usual position instead of Cardiff scrum-half Bevan, who was designated to provide wing cover.

Scarlets centre Eddie James has been designated as a replacement for the fixture against Australia.

Should Dragons scrum-half Williams participate in this weekend’s match, he will establish a new record for the longest interval between international appearances for Wales.

The current record was set by Newport hooker Bunner Travers, who earned his eighth cap against Ireland in March 1939 and his ninth against England in January 1949. Williams is poised to exceed this by 10 months.

Notably, the overall record holder is New Zealand’s Ned Hughes, who experienced a remarkable gap from 1908 to 1921 between his international caps.

Warren Gatland, the Wales boss, stated: “didn’t think there’d be this much pain”.

Wales experienced a record-equalling 10th consecutive Test match defeat last weekend, a sequence that mirrors a similar period of losses in 2002 and 2003 under Steve Hansen, a fellow New Zealander of Gatland.

Gatland’s team has not achieved international victory since defeating World Cup pool stage adversary Georgia in October 2023, subsequently falling to their lowest ranking of 11th in World Rugby’s standings.

This run encompasses finishing last in the Six Nations for the first time in 21 years, summer losses to South Africa and Australia, and now an inaugural defeat against Fiji in Cardiff.

Since assuming the role of Wales head coach for a second tenure in December 2022, succeeding Wayne Pivac, Gatland has secured victories in only six of 22 matches.

Australia will arrive in Cardiff following an impressive 42-37 triumph over England and have recorded nine wins in their last 11 trips to the Welsh capital.

The starting lineup is as follows: Winnett; Rogers, Llewellyn, B Thomas, Murray; Anscombe, Bevan; G Thomas, Lake (capt), Griffin, Rowlands, Beard, Botham, Morgan, Wainwright.

Substitutes include: Elias, N Smith, Assiratti, Tshiunza, Reffell, R Williams, Costelow, James.