Rugby Union Feb 20, 2026

Wales vs Scotland: Gabriel Hamer-Webb set for debut from start as Steve Tandy makes four changes following France thumping

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Wales vs Scotland: Gabriel Hamer-Webb set for debut from start as Steve Tandy makes four changes following France thumping

Gabriel Hamer-Webb is set to make his Wales debut in this weekend's Six Nations clash against Scotland in Cardiff.

Head coach Steve Tandy has made four changes to the side that fell to a heavy 54-12 defeat to France last weekend.

Scarlets pair Sam Costelow and Taine Plumtree come in as well as Dragons lock Ben Carter. Adam Beard, Ellis Mee, Dan Edwards and Olly Cracknell all drop out of the squad completely.

Gloucester lock Freddie Thomas, Cardiff flanker James Botham and Scarlets full-back Blair Murray are called up to the bench.

The most eye-catching announcement is the inclusion of 25-year-old Hamer-Webb who joined Tigers from Cardiff last summer.

He lines up in the back-three with Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams as Wales look for an improvement having conceded over 100 points across their first two games in this year's competition.

"We feel this is the best team to take on Scotland and with a six-day turnaround you want some freshness as well going into the game," Tandy said.

"Gabe has really impressed me in the way he's attacked training, the way he's learnt, the way he's adapted and the way he's just settled into the squad. His training efforts have been outstanding.

"Then when you dig into his background at Leicester, even when he wasn't in the team, everyone said he was an amazing team player. He also kept pushing, he never gave up and then when he had his Leicester opportunity he took it with two hands and now this opportunity has come up and it's thoroughly deserved."

Wales starting XV: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit; 14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 13 Eddie James, 12 Joe Hawkins, 11 Josh Adams; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 5 Ben Carter, 6 Taine Plumtree, 7 Alex Mann, 8 Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements:
16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 James Botham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Blair Murray.

Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe have been restored to Scotland's starting XV for Saturday's Guinness Six Nations clash with Wales in Cardiff.

The British and Irish Lions duo were omitted from the 23 for the first two matches against Italy and England amid question marks about their form.

Toulouse's Kinghorn will start at full-back in place of Tom Jordan, who drops to the bench, while Van der Merwe, Scotland's record try-scorer, returns at wing to take over from Jamie Dobie, who is out due to injury.

There are three further changes to the XV that started - all of them in the pack.

Dave Cherry replaces George Turner at hooker, with the latter dropping to the bench.

Back-rowers Jamie Ritchie and Jack Dempsey miss out through injury, with Matt Fagerson coming in at number eight and the versatile Gregor Brown, who started in the second row last weekend, moving to blindside flanker.

Glasgow lock Max Williamson comes to take Brown's place in the second row.

Forwards Grant Gilchrist and Josh Bayliss are restored to the squad as substitutes, with Gregor Townsend again going for a 5-3 bench split.

Scotland starting XV:
15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White; 1 Nathan McBeth, 2 Dave Cherry, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Max Williamson, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Gregor Brown, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Matt Fagerson.

Replacements:
16 George Turner, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 George Horne, 22 Tom Jordan, 23 Darcy Graham

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