Wales coach Steve Hansen has surprised Welsh rugby fans by taking Bath hooker Jonathan Humphreys out of the international wilderness and giving him the captaincy for Saturday’s daunting match against England at the Millennium Stadium.
The selection is one of eight changes to the starting XV that limped to a shock loss to Italy in their Six Nations opener.
Last week’s captain Colin Charvis has been dumped to the bench, a new halfback pairing of Bath’s Gareth Cooper and Pontypridd’s Ceri Sweeney comes in and Bath flanker Gavin Thomas is the new No 8.
“I got a phone call last night asking if I was prepared to come down to Cardiff and help out the team, so I said ‘yeah, fine’,” said Humphreys, a 33-year-old veteran of 33 Tests – the last of which came almost four years ago.
“I talked to Steve and a few of the players this morning and I was asked if I would captain the side – I couldn’t turn it down. It’s something I didn’t think would happen to me again.”
The Bath hooker and former Cardiff skipper has captained Wales 17 times – the most by a forward – but doesn’t see himself wearing the captain’s armband for long.
“I don’t see myself as a long-term solution. There are a lot of injured hookers in Wales and they’ll be back soon.
“I’m just concentrating on Saturday’s game,” said Humphreys, who has had only one training session with his new team-mates.
Hansen defended the surprise selection.
“Under the circumstances, with Colin and Gareth Llewellyn on the bench, we needed to go outside the squad for a captain. We felt Martyn Williams isn’t ready for the burden of the captaincy in an international yet.
“If this side hangs together, they have enough talent to be one of the best teams in the world in two years, and they’ll be challenging for the Six Nations title.”
In other changes, Swansea’s Kevin Morgan comes in at fullback for Rhys Williams, who moves to the left wing to replace the injured Mark Jones. Former skipper Mark Taylor comes in at outside centre, with Saracens’ Tom Shanklin moving in one to inside centre and Llanelli captain Leigh Davies being dumped from the squad.
Sweeney and Cooper form a halfback pairing with four caps between them, while Gavin Thomas slots in at No 8. Pontypridd hooker Mefin Davies started the Italy game but finds himself out of the squad, with the bench spot going to Bridgend youngster Gareth Williams.
