Colin Charvis, currently plying his trade in France with Tarbes, returns from injury to replace Martyn Williams both as Captain and in the back row. Blues flanker Williams moves to the bench, but is likely to figure at some stage during the match.
Adam Jones, who injured an ankle playing for the Ospreys and Sonny Parker, who broke his thumb against Ireland, are replaced in turn by Warriors prop Gethin Jenkins and the experienced Scarlets centre Mark Taylor.
The final change comes in the second row where Dragons lock Michael Owen is promoted from the replacements bench and preferred to Robert Sidoli who will play for the Warriors this weekend.
“Sid will turn out for his region because he needs more match play,” said Hansen. “He has only played two games in the last eight weeks because of his pelvis problem and in Michael Owen we have someone who is in excellent current form.
“Mark Taylor comes in at centre and offers a valuable level of experience and, of the options available to us to replace Sonny, Tom Shanklin is able cover wing, centre and full-back for us from the bench. Jamie Robinson is unlucky to miss out after showing some good form for the Blues, but that
just shows the competition for places we have in his position.
“We had a tough decision in the back row and have gone for size to combat a big French pack. The decision is no reflection on Martyn’s performance last time out and he will no doubt come on and play a part later in the game, as he has done so effectively in the past.
“In the front row, Duncan Jones has a slight wrist injury, so we decided it was too risky to consider him for selection and in Iestyn we have a top quality player who made the decision easy and he keeps his place.
“Finally Gethin Jenkins was the obvious replacement at tighthead for Adam and Ben Evans joins the bench to cover for that specialist position.”
