Three Dragons in Wales Starting XV

Three Dragons players have been named in the starting XV for Wales' final Invesco Perpetual Autumn series game against Australia.

Kath McCarthy | 24/11/2005

Gareth Cooper, Ian Gough and Michael Owen will all start the match while Ceri Sweeney who came on as a second half replacement for the match against South Africa and scored the only try is named on the replacements bench.

Commenting on the selection of Sweeney on the bench Wales coach Mike Ruddock said,

"We felt we needed as much experience as possible in the back line and have opted for Matthew and Sonny Parker as the centre pairing. The other option was to bring in Ceri Sweeney, but the thinking there is that Ceri has been able to make such a positive impact from the bench that we want to try to keep that weapon in our armoury. Ceri has emerged into the super-sub role, akin to the one Tom Shanklin filled at one stage of his career and it is one he is very much suited to for the time being."

Wales Team
15. Gareth Thomas (c)
14. Dafydd James
13. Matthew Watkins
12. Sonny Parker
11. Shane Williams
10. Stephen Jones
9. Gareth Cooper
1. Duncan Jones
2. Rhys Thomas
3. Chris Horsman
4. Ian Gough
5. Robert Sidoli
6. Colin Charvis
7. Martyn Williams
8. Michael Owen

Replacements
16. Mefin Davies
17. Adam Jones
18. Ian Evans
19. Jonathan Thomas
20. Michael Phillips
21. Ceri Sweeney
22. Lee Byrne