Martyn Williams Skippers Wales in Ireland

Martyn Williams will captain Wales as he breaks Welsh Test forward cap record currently held by Colin Charvis. The 34-year-old replaces calf injury victim Ryan Jones as Wales skipper when he wins his 95th cap in their RBS Six Nations showdown in Dublin on Saturday.

Number eight Gareth Delve starts his second Test in place of the injured Jones, whilst lock Luke Charteris replaces Deiniol Jones. British and Irish Lions hooker Matthew Rees returns in place of Huw Bennett.

Warren Gatland keeps Richie Rees at number nine, as he named an unchanged backline for the third successive game.

Other changes sees Sale Sharks scrum-half Dwayne Peel replace Phillips on the bench while Ian Gough takes the slot vacated by Charteris

Gatland said: (quote) We have taken the decision not to include any players who are unable to take a full part in training in the build up to the Ireland game.
This Ireland side will be meticulous in its planning and for this game in particular we need to get our preparation exactly right and once we had reached that conclusion a couple of selection decisions were really made for us. Ryan has been managing his calf but it has hampered his involvement in training and he needs to get it right for his own sake as well as for his region, who have some big matches of their own coming up, and for the sake of the national cause as we countdown to the World Cup. Mike Phillips is carrying a knock which he picked up on Ospreys duty at the weekend and so was not in contention. But this is an opportunity for Martyn, who is one of our key leaders, to captain Wales again and rise to that challenge after doing a good job against Scotland last year when Ryan was again forced to withdraw. (end quote)

Team

Lee Byrne; Leigh Halfpenny; James Hook, Jamie Roberts; Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Richie Rees; Paul James, Matthew Rees, Adam Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Jonathan Thomas, Martyn Williams (capt), Gareth Delve.
Replacements: Huw Bennett, Rhys Gill, Ian Gough, Sam Warburton, Dwayne Peel, Andrew Bishop, Tom Shanklin.

RBS SIX NATIONS: Ireland v Wales Croke Park, Dublin Saturday, 13 March Kick-off: 1430 GMT

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