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Kevin Morgan to Start Against France

Dragons fullback Kevin Morgan has been named in the Welsh starting XV for their final World Cup warm up game on Sunday while Ceri Sweeney and Colin Charvis have been named on the replacements bench.

Kath McCarthy | 23/08/2007

Dragons fullback Kevin Morgan has been named in the Welsh starting XV for their final World Cup warm up game on Sunday while Ceri Sweeney and Colin Charvis have been named on the replacements bench.

Gareth Jenkins has made three changes to the side that beat the Pumas last week for the visit of the reigning Six Nations champions. But with tickets selling at a rate of 2,000 a day he is backing his record breaking captain and team-mates to repeat last weekend's winning performance for the expected bumper pre-World Cup crowd in Cardiff against another IRB top-five ranked side.

Blues centre Jamie Robinson, a try scorer in Paris earlier in the year, comes into the midfield to replace his regional colleague Tom Shanklin, who is rested after sustaining a knock to his knee. In the front row, Worcester prop Chris Horsman replaces Osprey Adam Jones, who is resting an ankle injury.

The third change comes on the wing where Ospreys speedster Shane Williams returns in place of Dafydd James after regaining full fitness after elbow and shoulder surgery.

"We have a lot of work still to do and we must concentrate on developing our style of play. But we are very much looking for a repeat result from last weekend coupled with an improved performance," said Wales head coach Jenkins.
"We are at the sharp end of the coaching process and have maintained a consistency of selection in order to allow this side to develop its style.
"That is not to say that there is no room for players to break into this side, but it will be easier to add different players once the team has developed the collective understanding we are looking for.
"There are obviously things we need to work on and we have undergone in-depth analysis of our performance against Argentina with a view to improving ourselves against France.
"We went home with a victory on Saturday and that was very much a step in the right direction for us. France are a different prospect and equally tough opposition, but we have reached a point as a team where we are ready to meet this type of challenge and we will relish the chance to meet another top side at the weekend.
"We have had the chance to measure ourselves against some of the best teams that world rugby has to offer prior to the World Cup, with France rating as the top side in Europe.
"We began our campaign in earnest last week and are looking forward to getting out there again at the Millennium Stadium and putting all our hard work of recent weeks into practice."

One of the toughest challenges facing the Welsh side will be to break down a French defence that stopped England from scoring a try against them in 160 minutes of rugby over the past two weekends. Wales have scored 11 tries against France in their last six meetings, while conceding 14. However, the French have returned victorious in their last four visits to Cardiff.

"A couple of bumps and bruises mean that Jamie Robinson and Chris Horsman have come into the equation and get another chance to stake their claims in their respective positions. We are just looking at short term injuries with Tom and Adam and both will be back in contention for our next game," added Jenkins.
"Shane Williams also has a chance to remind us what he has to offer after reaching full fitness and, although Dafydd James is perhaps unlucky to miss out on this occasion, we are all looking forward to seeing what Shane can produce."

Team: Kevin Morgan; Mark Jones, Jamie Robinson, Gareth Thomas (C), Shane Williams, James Hook, Dwayne Peel; Duncan Jones, Matthew Rees, Chris Horsman, Ian Gough, Alun-Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Martyn Williams, Alix Popham. Replacements: T Rhys Thomas, Gethin Jenkins, Will James, Colin Charvis, Michael Phillips, Ceri Sweeney, Sonny Parker

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