Kevin Morgan and Colin Charvis will both start for Wales in their third World Cup game against Japan on Thursday (8pm) while Ceri Sweeney is named on the replacements bench.
A landmark will be reached by back row forward Colin Charvis, who packs down at openside flanker in place of the rested Martyn Williams. Charvis is set to equal the national Test appearance record for a forward set by Gareth Llewellyn (92 caps).
Shane Williams will win his 50th Welsh cap and boasts a Welsh record of 14 tries – four in one match – against the Japanese and will lead the team out ahead of captain Stephen Jones in celebration of being the 19th member of the nation's exclusive 50 Cap Club.
Jones is at the helm for the eighth time in his career in the absence of the injured Gareth Thomas, who is ruled out for the next two weeks with a rib cartilage injury, and the Scarlets fly half is chasing a milestone of his own as he is just one kick away from converting his 100th international try.
"We are pleased to be able to announce that Gareth's injury is very much a short term one, similar to that of Sonny Parker," said Wales head coach Gareth Jenkins, who has made a total of 10 personnel changes, plus one positional, to the side defeated by Australia last week.
"He should be back and available to us in two weeks. We were always mindful of reacting too quickly to his injury before proper time and consideration had been given to assessing him, but this news does come as a real shot in the arm for us."
Dafydd James joins a new look back line as he returns to World Cup action after an eight-year absence. He is joined by Kevin Morgan at full back to make up the back three alongside Williams.
A new centre partnership of James Hook and Jamie Robinson starts for the first time in this campaign and scrum half Michael Phillips is given a chance to impress with Dwayne Peel rested.
It's all change in the front row with Duncan Jones and Chris Horsman propping up the scrum and hooker Rhys Thomas handed his first World Cup start.
Alun-Wyn Jones is retained in the second row, but Will James is preferred to Ian Gough alongside him – with Ian Evans, significantly, providing cover from the bench after a 10-month absence from rugby through injury.
Alix Popham is re-instated at No 8 in the back row with Jonathan Thomas moving to blindside flanker and Charvis – another player to have scored four tries in one outing against Japan - completing the trio.
"We have kept a core of experienced players in key positions for us, but have made a number of changes with two factors in mind - the short turnaround time for this game has an effect on selection but we also have a need to give certain players game-time as we are going to be calling on all resources during this tournament," added Jenkins.
"A number of players will be itching to get out there and make their mark on this World Cup and we have the strength in a number of positions to allow us to re-assess form and grow the experience in our squad.
"The front row is a strong area for us and Duncan, Chris and Rhys will be invaluable to us if we are to progress as we feel we should.
"In the second row Will has an opportunity to show his worth and it is also a boost to be able to feature a fully fit Ian Evans on the bench. He will come into the fray if the opportunity arises and he is another player who could be important to us in future matches.
"We have injuries in the centre position and both James and Jamie will be keen to impress there as will Mike Phillips who will relish the opportunity to start.
"We have kept a balance in the back row that has been serving us well for sometime now and the likes of Jonathan Thomas and Alun-Wyn Jones are becoming increasingly important to our set-piece, so they are retained for the purposes of continuity in that area."
In six matches the least number of tries Wales have scored in any one game against Japan has been seven and the sides meet with the Red Dragons looking for their 300th Test win.
Shane Williams' 32 tries place him third on the Wales try scoring list, one behind Ieuan Evans who scored his 33 tries in 72 Tests.
Williams has a strike rate of a try in every one and a half Tests and is seven tries behind Gareth Thomas who has scored 39 in 99 Tests.
WALES: Kevin Morgan; Dafydd James, Jamie Robinson, James Hook, Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips; Duncan Jones, Rhys Thomas, Chris Horsman, Will James, Alun-Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Colin Charvis, Alix Popham
REPLACEMENTS: Huw Bennett, Gethin Jenkins, Ian Evans, Martyn Williams, Gareth Cooper, Ceri Sweeney, Tom Shanklin
