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Hooker Rees ruled out of England showdown

Matthew Rees will be a big loss from the Wales front row at Twickenham © Getty Images

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A groin injury has ruled British & Irish Lions hooker Matthew Rees out of Wales' Six Nations opener against England, handing a rare start to Cardiff Blues' Gareth Williams.

Rees' injury comes as a huge blow to Warren Gatland's men, who had looked set to field a complete Lions front-row for the game. However, injuries to both Rees and Gethin Jenkins mean Adam Jones is joined by Williams and Paul James up front, with Luke Charteris winning the battle to partner Alun-Wyn Jones in the second-row. Ryan Jones captains the side from No. 8 as Andy Powell and Martyn Williams complete the back-row.

Lee Byrne starts at fullback after winning his appeal against a two-week ban following the Ospreys' 16th man controversy, allowing James Hook to start at outside-centre alongside Jamie Roberts. Gareth Cooper has won the battle to wear the No. 9 shirt vacated by the injured Mike Phillips and Dwayne Peel, with Richie Rees set for a debut off the bench. The experienced Stephen Jones starts at fly-half.

Leigh Halfpenny must make do with a place on the bench as Tom James is given the nod to join Byrne and Shane Williams in the back-three.

"Gareth Williams has been in great form for his region and produced some impressive performances in recent weeks and very much deserves his chance," Gatland said. "We are obviously disappointed for Matthew but he returned to us with a sore groin after playing at the weekend and he has not responded as quickly as we would have like to treatment which has ruled him out of this weekend.

"Gareth is surrounded by a wealth of experience not just in the front row but throughout the forwards, we have a pretty settled pack at the moment with our captain playing particularly well at No. 8 for the Ospreys and Andy Powell settling into the blindside role with some great performances for the Blues. Andy is looking comfortable there, in his last couple of performances for the Blues he has been error free and very strong and we are looking for him to keep that up at international level.

"It's a big game for the second rows not just because of the standard of the opposition we are up against but also because we have a number of players competing for a starting spot in that position at the moment and we are looking for the likes of Luke Charteris to really nail his performance."

Wales team to play England in the RBS 6 Nations championship at Twickenham on Saturday, kick-off 5pm:
L Byrne (Ospreys); T James (Cardiff Blues), J Hook (Ospreys), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), G Cooper (Cardiff Blues); P James (Ospreys), G Williams (Cardiff Blues), A Jones (Ospreys), A-W Jones (Ospreys), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), A Powell (Cardiff Blues), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys, capt).
Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), R Gill (Saracens), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys), R Rees (Cardiff Blues), A Bishop (Ospreys), L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues).

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