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Gatland recalls Jenkins for Australia Test

<> on March 17, 2012 in Cardiff, Wales.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland is calling on his side to pick up where they left off in the second half against New Zealand last weekend in Saturday’s clash against Australia.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland is calling on his side to pick up where they left off in the second half against New Zealand last weekend in Saturday’s clash against Australia.

Gatland’s troops found themselves 33-0 down just after the break against the All Blacks but dug deep to cross twice in the closing stages through Scott Williams and Alex Cuthbert.

In response, Gatland, who will hand coaching duties over to Rob Howley in next year’s RBS 6 Nations, has made four changes for the Wallabies Test – the final match of their autumn international campaign.

Gethin Jenkins, who has started the previous two games on the bench, returns in place of Paul James and is joined in the front row by Scott Andrews.

Ian Evans returns from injury to replace Bradley Davies at lock and Aaron Shingler is preferred at flanker to Ryan Jones.

Joining Jones on the bench are Ryan Bevington, Dan Biggar and Samson Lee – who will win his first cap should he be called into action.

But with a crucial top eight place in the world rankings at stake, Gatland is desperate to get a positive result.

“We need to pick up again where we left off in the second half last week,” he said.

“We managed to retain 73 per cent possession after the break against the All Blacks and win the territory battle, and we need to put Australia under similar pressure from the outset.

“We have played them regularly over the last couple of years and have come close to winning on a number of occasions, but have not quite been able to get ourselves over the chalk of the finish line.

“Both sides have had injuries to cope with, but there is every reason for optimism.”

WALES: 15. Leigh Halfpenny 14. Alex Cuthbert 13. Jonathan Davies 12. Jamie Roberts 11. Liam Williams 10. Rhys Priestland 9. Mike Phillips 1. Gethin Jenkins 2. Matthew Rees 3. Scott Andrews 4. Ian Evans 5. Luke Charteris 6. Aaron Shingler 7. Sam Warburton 8. Toby Faletau

Replacements: 16: Ken Owens 17. Ryan Bevington 18. Samson Lee 19. Ryan Jones 20. Justin Tipuric 21. Tavis Knoyle 22. Dan Biggar 23. Scott Williams