Behind the scrum Roger Davies will make his debut at full back while Chris Clayton and Aaron Bramwell will make their first starts on the wings. Up front, the Scarlets duo of Daniel George and Rob McCusker will win their first caps at this level. Davey has also included two uncapped players among his replacements – Richard Cornock and Craig Evans.
“We brought 10 uncapped players with us to France because, at the last count, we were about a dozen players down due to senior team call-ups and injuries,” said Davey. “But I’ve been very encouraged by our recent training sessions and the squad has gelled well in a limited amount of time. They are a very tight group and it will be interesting to see who emerges out of the tournament.
“Georgia are an unknown quantity to us, but they we know they will be a big, physical side. We have to be looking to get a bonus point from the match if we are to have a chance of progressing to the last four.
“We have to be aiming for a semi-final spot and it seems we will need 11 points from our three Pool matches to qualify for the last four. With France and Argentina providing the opposition in our other Pool matches we certainly have three physical games to plan for.”
Dragons outside half Aled Thomas will earn his 15th cap at U21 level when he partners Martin Roberts at half-back, while the Blues’ centre pairing of skipper Dafydd Hewitt and Tom Riley will provide further experience behind the scrum.
Wales U21: Roger Davies (Bridgend)*; Chris Clayton (Blues)*, Dafydd Hewitt (Blues, captain), Tom Riley (Blues), Aaron Bramwell (Ospreys)*; Aled Thomas (Dragons), Martin Roberts (Ospreys); Rhys Gill (Blues), Daniel George (Scarlets)*, Craig Mitchell (Ospreys), Chris Dicomidis (Blues), Dominic Day (Scarlets), Rob McCusker (Scarlets)*, Rhys Shellard (Blues), Adam Powell (Blues)
Replacements: Phil Osbourne (Dragons), Ed Shervington (Ospreys), Richard Cornock (Dragons)*, Will Jones (Dragons), Craig Everett (Worcester), Nicky Griffiths, Craig Evans (Scarlets)*
* = uncapped
