Elias in for Lake at hooker - Wales name team to play Australia
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has named his match-day 23 to face Australia in Pool C in Lyon on Sunday, 24 September, with co-captain Dewi Lake not in the XV or among the replacements in an otherwise expected line-up.
1 Gareth Thomas
2 Ryan Elias
3 Tomas Francis
4 Will Rowlands
5 Adam Beard
6 Aaron Wainwright
7 Jac Morgan (c)
8 Taulupe Faletau
9 Gareth Davies
10 Dan Biggar
11 Josh Adams
12 Nick Tompkins
13 George North
14 Louis Rees-Zammit
15 Liam Williams
Replacements:
16 Elliot Dee
17 Corey Domachowski
18 Henry Thomas
19 Dafydd Jenkins
20 Taine Basham
21 Tomos Williams
22 Gareth Anscombe
23 Rio Dyer
• Head coach Warren Gatland has recalled 12 players from Wales' opening match against Fiji after being rested last game. Only Taulupe Faletau, Louis Rees-Zammit and captain Jac Morgan remain from their last game against Portugal.
• Adam Beard will earn his 50th test cap for Wales after celebrating his 50th international cap last game following one test for the British and Irish Lions in 2021.
• Dan Biggar enjoys an 87% RWC career success-rate from the kicking tee, missing just six attempts in total across 11 games played.
• Gareth Davies scored a try against Australia at RWC 2019, and is one of nine survivors in this match-day from their 29-25 victory in Tokyo, including five of the seven starting backs: Dan Biggar, Liam Williams, George North, Josh Adams are the others.
• George North has played 15 tests against Australia, 12 for Australia and three for the British and Irish Lions on their 2013 tour, where two of his five career tries against the Wallabies were scored.
• Taulupe Faletau has missed just one tackle at RWC 2023, completing 19 of 20 attempts.