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Unchanged Wales Team

Dragons players Kevin Morgan and Ian Gough keep their place in Gareth Jenkins' Wales team for their final RBS Six Nations game against England.

Kath McCarthy | 13/03/2007

Dragons players Kevin Morgan and Ian Gough keep their place in Gareth Jenkins' Wales team for their final RBS Six Nations game against England as Jenkins announces an unchanged side from the one that narrowly lost to Italy.

Jenkins knows he did not get the result or performance required from his Wales team last weekend and refuses to make any excuse for the loss regardless of the controversy surrounding the final seconds of the game, but says he has genuine belief in his players and has handed them a second chance to get it right.
"This selection is very much a message to these players that we believe in them," said Jenkins.
"We believe in their talents and we don't think we are very far away from putting the kind of performances together that will start winning us matches.
"They have a second chance as a group to prove what they can do and we are all backing them to do it.
"We are a proud group and we are returning home to the Millennium Stadium after five tough weeks on the road. We have played three away matches back-to-back and we are looking forward to returning to our spiritual home in Cardiff.
"We haven't won a game in this Championship and that hurts the whole squad and management team, but we said we had been able to select our strongest side against Italy and we still believe that to be true and have endorsed that selection this weekend.
"There are things we need to change on match-day to come away with a win, but the selection process we have gone through tells us that this is the right team to beat England.
"There was a danger of making changes for changes sake and when we took all of the emotion out of the defeat last weekend and looked at the facts it became obvious to us that we have the right players in the right places.
"We made mistakes and there where one or two things that could have gone our way which may have changed the result, but we know we only have ourselves to blame for failing to close the game down. We have learnt a harsh lesson and the same players have the chance to prove they can be better than that.
"The message is not that we got everything right last week, but that we believe this group of players is capable of getting it right - and capable of beating England.
"We believe in them and we are sticking with them and giving them the chance to show how good they can be in front of our home fans this weekend."
Stephen Jones (eye injury), Chris Horsman (foot) and Matthew Rees (leg) have all been passed fit allowing Jenkins to maintain consistency of selection for the first time in the current campaign.
"Stephen has recovered from the impact injury which forced him to leave the field against the Azzurri and we are confident he is fit to lead the team again against England," added Jenkins.
"It is a major boost to the side that the captain will be able to take to the field.
"Stephen's contribution is invaluable, he has been inspirational and hugely encouraging to the squad as we lift ourselves this week and he is a huge leader.
"The strengths that we see from Stephen inside the camp may not be obvious to everyone on the outside, but he brings an emotional intensity and positive input to his leadership role that makes him invaluable to this team.
"A week is a long time in rugby and things can change around, as England proved with an impressive victory at Twickenham last week.
"They are always strong at home, they have a good scrum and are well organised, but they are coming to the Millennium Stadium with 74,500 people creating a magnificent atmosphere and we will be looking to make sure our fans don't go home disappointed."
RBS 6 NATIONS 2007 CHAMPIONSHIP - ROUND 5
WALES v ENGLAND
 
15 Kevin MORGAN (Dragons)

14 Mark JONES (Scarlets)
13 Tom SHANKLIN (Blues)
12 James HOOK (Ospreys)
11 Shane WILLIAMS (Ospreys)

10 Stephen JONES (Scarlets, captain)
9 Dwayne PEEL (Scarlets)

1 Gethin JENKINS (Blues)
2 Matthew REES (Scarlets)
3 Chris HORSMAN (Worcester)
4 Ian GOUGH (Dragons)
5 Alun-Wyn JONES (Ospreys)
6 Alix POPHAM (Scarlets)
7 Martyn WILLIAMS (Blues)
8 Ryan JONES (Ospreys)

REPLACEMENTS

16 T Rhys THOMAS (Blues)
17 Duncan JONES (Ospreys)
18 Adam JONES (Ospreys)
19 Brent COCKBAIN (Ospreys)
20 Jonathan THOMAS (Ospreys)
21 Mike PHILLIPS (Blues)
22 Gareth THOMAS (Toulouse)

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