The Scarlets flanker will follow elder brother Jonathan into the side to become the 1146th Welsh international. He will also become the 18th new cap, and the fourth back row forward, in nine tests dating back to June last year.
“We know James has done exceptionally well in the last couple of years for the Scarlets. He’s unfortunately had injuries in a couple of campaigns and has missed out, so we want to see if he is capable of making the next step up,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland.
“He’s done exceptionally well in the Sevens, and obviously got a silver medal in the Olympic games, which was fantastic. We want to see if he is capable of performing at international rugby.
“It’s a good opportunity. I spoke to him a few weeks ago and said that he would be involved in one of the next two games, be it the Irish week or the Italian week. He’s known that he’s going to have some involvement and we just think it’s a great chance for him to get a start.”
The last brothers to play for Wales were the Brews, Nathan and Aled. Nathan won his only cap against Romania in Wrexham in 2003 and Aled joined him as a Wales player in 2006 when he won the first of his nine caps against Ireland.
The last pair of brothers to play in the same side were the Robinsons, Jamie and Nicky, in the two Tests in Argentina in 2006. Of the 32 sets of brothers to play for Wales to date, only 10 have actually played together in the same international.
If ‘Cubby Boi’ passes his audition against the Italians then he might be able to join Jonathan in a Wales team in the future when he has recovered from injury.
WELSH INTERNATIONAL BROTHERS
(Caps won in brackets; games played together in italics)
Billy Bancroft (33) and Jack Bancroft (18)
Arthur Bassett (15) and Jack Bassett (6)
Norman Biggs (8) and Selwyn Biggs (9)
Aled Brew (9) and Nathan Brew (1)
Terry Davies (21) and Len Davies (3)
George Dobson (1) and Tom Dobson (4)
John Dyke (1) and Louis Dyke (4)
Arthur Gould (27), Bert Gould (3) and Bob Gould (11)
Arthur and Bert: v Ir (lost), S (won) 1892, v Ir (won) 1893
Bob and Arthur: v E (lost), S (draw) 1885; v S (draw)1886; v E (draw), S (lost) 1887
David Gwynn (6) and William Gwynn (5)
George Harding (4) and Theo Harding (3)
Bert Hollingdale (2) and Thomas Hollingdale (6)
David James (4) and Evan James (5)
v Ir (won) 1891; v S (lost), Ir (lost) 1892; v E (won) 1899
Jack Jones (4), Ponty Jones (1) and Tuan Jones (1)
Gareth Llewellyn (92) and Glyn Llewellyn (9)
v E (lost), S (lost), A (lost) 1991
Andrew Moore (26) and Stephen Moore (3)
Teddy Morgan (16) and Willie Morgan (1)
Richard Moriarty (22) and Paul Moriarty (21)
v Fj (won), Ton (won), Sam (won) 1986; v Ir (won), Ton (won), Can (won), E (won), NZ (lost), A (won)1987
Charles Nicholl (15) and David Nicholl (1)
Gwyn Nicholls (24) and Sydney Nicholls (4)
Dai Parker (10) and Tom Parker (15)
Jack Powell (1) and Wickham Powell (4)
Dai Prosser (2) and Glyn Prosser (4)
v S (won), Ir (won) 1934
Scott Quinnell (52) and Craig Quinnell (32)
v Ir (lost), E (lost) 1997; v SA (lost), Arg (won) 1998; v Ir (lost), F (won), It (won), E (won), Arg 1, 2 (W W), SA (won), Can (won), F (won), Arg (won), Jp (won), A (lost) 1999; v It (won), E (lost) 2000; v S (draw), F (won), It (won), Arg (lost) 2001; v Ir (lost), F (lost) 2002
John Roberts (13) and William Roberts (1)
v E (lost) 1929
Jamie Robinson (23) and Nicky Robinson (13)
v Ir (lost) 2003; v Arg 1,2 (L L) 2006
David Samuel (2) and John Samuel (1)
v Ir (won) 1891
David L Thomas (1) and Harold W Thomas (6)
v E (lost) 1937
Bernard Turnbull (6) and Maurice Turnbull (2)
Harry Wetter (2) and Jack Wetter (10)
Bleddyn Williams (22) and Lloyd Williams (13)
Gareth Williams (5) and Owain Williams (1)
Richard Wintle (1) and Matthew Wintle (1)
