Back-row forward Alisha Butchers makes her first international start of the season against Ireland in the Women’s Six Nations on Sunday – one of five Warriors Women players representing Wales (1.00pm).
Butchers spent the autumn playing sevens for Adelaide University along with fellow Warriors teammate Jasmine Joyce, who retains her place on the wing.
Gwen Crabb packs down at second-row, while Ffion Lewis and Alex Callender are among the replacements as Wales look to bounce back from last weekend’s 19-15 defeat to Italy at Cardiff Arms Park.
Coach Chris Horsman said: “We are extremely lucky with the riches that we have available to us in the back-row. It’s a hotly contested area and it’s a case of giving these players a chance to shine and provide the right balance in this match.
“Beth Lewis and Alex Callender will also play a key part as Manon and Alisha did from the bench on Sunday.
“We are comfortable with where we are as a group. We showed how dangerous we can be in the first half against Italy, our scrum was excellent against a bigger Italian team and defensively we were very good, but we need to manage our possession better and be more clinical with ball in hand.
“The girls should be confident going into this weekend. We did well to come back into the game and be in with a shout of sneaking the win and we learned a lot from the game.
“All Round One games were extremely tight, which shows how competitive the Six Nations is this year. It’s all about how you perform on the day, which is what we’ve been working on.”
Wales Women
15 Kayleigh Powell
14 Lisa Neuman
13 Hannah Jones
12 Kerin Lake
11 Jasmine Joyce
10 Robyn Wilkins
9 Keira Bevan
1 Gwenllian Pyrs
2 Kelsey Jones
3 Cerys Hale
4 Natalia John
5 Gwen Crabb
6 Alisha Butchers
7 Mannon Johnes
8 Siwan Lillicrap (C)
Replacements
16 Molly Kelly
17 Cara Hope
18 Ruth Lewis
19 Georgia Evans
20 Beth Lewis
21 Alex Callender
22 Ffion Lewis
23 Paige Randall