LONDON, March 13, Wales captain Ryan Jones will miss Saturday's Six Nations match against Ireland after failing to shake off a calf injury, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) said on Tuesday.
Martyn Williams will captain the side for the game at Croke Park, while Gloucester's Gareth Delve will come in for Jones at number eight in one of three changes to the side that lost 26-20 to France on Feb. 26.
Ryan has been managing his calf but it has hampered his involvement in training and he needs to get it right for his own sake as well as for his region ... and for the sake of the national cause as we count down to the (2011) World Cup," Wales coach Warren Gatland said in a WRU statement.
Lock Luke Charteris replaces Deiniol Jones and hooker Matthew Rees is preferred to Huw Bennett in the other changes.
This Ireland side will be meticulous in its planning and for this game in particular we need to get our preparation exactly right and once we had reached that conclusion a couple of selection decisions were really made for us," said Gatland, who named an unchanged backline for the third successive game.
On the bench, scrumhalf Dwayne Peel replaces the injured Mike Phillips and lock Ian Gough fills the space left by Charteris.
Williams, who will captain his country for the seventh time, will win his 95th cap making him Wales' most capped forward surpassing flanker Colin Charvis.
15-Lee Byrne, 14-Leigh Halfpenny, 13-James Hook, 12-Jamie Roberts, 11-Shane Williams, 10-Stephen Jones, 9-Richard Rees, 8-Gareth Delve, 7-Martyn Williams (captain), 6-Jonathan Thomas, 5-Luke Charteris, 4-Bradley Davies, 3-Adam Jones, 2-Matthew Rees, 1-Paul James.
Replacements: 16-Huw Bennett, 17-Rhys Gill, 18-Ian Gough, 19-Sam Warburton, 20-Dwayne Peel, 21-Andrew Bishop, 22-Tom Shanklin.
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