Head coach Warren Gatland has named his Wales senior men’s XV to play Fiji at Stade de Bordeaux in their opening pool C match of Rugby World Cup 2023 (Sunday 10 September 8pm BST / 9pm local time live on ITV and S4C).
Wales have arrived in Bordeaux from their team base in Versailles ahead of the weekend’s fixture.
Scarlets scrum-half Gareth Davies will start in the No. 9 shirt featuring in his third global tournament. Davies has played a part in each of Wales’ last 12 World Cup games in the 2015 and 2019 competitions.
Ryan Elias who is featuring in his second tournament is selected at hooker with Sam Costelow named on the bench in his first World Cup competition.
Gatland said: “The squad has worked incredibly hard over the last few months and has been preparing well for Fiji in the last couple of weeks.
“Fiji are a good side with some great individual athletes and they play with a lot more structure now than maybe they have done traditionally.
“We’ve had some good clarity about what we want to achieve and the way we want to play on the weekend. It’s going to be an exciting contest on Sunday and one that we are relishing.
“The boys are looking sharp, there’s a great environment in this group – players working for each other, enjoying each other’s company. We’re in a good place and can’t wait to get out there and get our Rugby World Cup 2023 campaign underway.”