Basham starts for Wales as Wainwright ruled out
Taine Basham and Aaron Wainwright are former Dragons team-mates [Huw Evans Picture Agency] Wales number eight Taine Basham will start his first international for four years as he replaces injured Aaron Wainwright for the Nations Championship match against New Zealand on Saturday.
Key points
- "We want to be better and put in an 80-minute performance." Smiling Rees-Zammit has no fear of All Blacks Why Wales have a lot to prove despite beating Japan How they line up Wales: Murray; Rees-Zammit, E James, Llewellyn, Hamer-Webb; Costelow, Tomos Williams; N Smith, Lake (capt), Griffin, D Jenkins, Beard, Botham, Morgan Basham.
- Sale prop Tomas Francis has been ruled out of the rest of the campaign through injury with Cardiff tight-head Keiron Assiratti called into the squad.
- Wales are looking to improve the line-out after losing six on their own throw against Japan.
He picked up a minor calf injury against Japan and has spent the week in a protective boot as he battles to be fit against Australia Basham was recalled to the Wales squad after impressing for Cardiff.
Additional details
- "The way he's been playing for Cardiff has been great and I'm excited to see him go on Saturday." Hamer Webb in, Adams out Josh Adams joined Cardiff from Worcester [Huw Evans Picture Agency] It will be a second cap for Hamer-Webb after he started the Six Nations defeat against Scotland in February.
- Trying to create history Adam Beard went on the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021 [Huw Evans Picture Agency] Wales have not beaten New Zealand since 1953 with the All Blacks winning the past 34 matches and scoring more than 50 points on their three previous trips to Cardiff.
- His previous Wales appearance came as a replacement in the 2024 Six Nations against England, while his past international start came against in the 2022 tournament against the same opposition.
- Wing Josh Adams, who scored two tries in the 28-21 victory against Japan, is left out in favour of Leicester wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb who only wins his second cap.
- Basham is part of a back-row reshuffle with James Botham starting instead of fellow Cardiff flanker Alex Mann with Jac Morgan completing the trio.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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