Jasmine Joyce and Rhiannon Parker will make their Wales debuts in Friday night’s Women’s Six Nations match against Scotland at Broadwood Stadium (18:20).
The new duo are two of four changes to coach Rowland Phillips’ line-up to the side that suffered a 63-0 whitewash to England in Cardiff last time out.
Wing Joyce, who starred for Team GB at last year’s Rio Olympics, scored two tries for Wales Women in an uncapped victory against Spain last month.
The Scarlets flier is joined in the starting team by scrum-half Parker, whilst Rebecca de Filippo returns from injury to start at inside centre for the first time in the tournament.
Cerys Hale earns the starting shirt at loosehead prop in the only change to the forward pack.
Head coach Phillips hopes the game in Scotland will see Wales regain momentum having been forced to lick their winds since the England defeat having opened with a win against Italy.
“The response of the players following the England match has been outstanding,” said Phillips.
“From the Sunday following that game, our focus immediately moved on to Scotland.
“Scotland’s last two performances in the competition – losing to a last-minute play from Ireland and being very competitive in the first 20 minutes against France – shows how much they have improved this season.
“We will need to be ready for this challenge.”
Of the new caps in the team, Phillips says: “Jasmine and Rhiannon are two talented individuals who have been in and around the squad for a while now, and we feel the way they’ve performed in the warm-up games and in training has earnt them this opportunity.”
Wales then face Ireland in Cardiff on March 11th with Phillips hoping for another magnificent crowd after the record 4,000+ that witnessed the game against the Red Rose.
He added: “We can’t thank our supporters enough for the way they’ve backed the team.
“It was an incredible day in Cardiff for the England match and, despite the result, they made it a special occasion.
“If we can perform the way we know we can against Scotland, we’ve got it all to play for when we welcome Ireland a fortnight later.”
Wales Women to face Scotland Women
15 Dyddgu Hywel (Scarlets)
14 Jasmine Joyce (Scarlets)*
13 Kerin Lake (Ospreys)
12 Rebecca de Filippo (Newport Gwent Dragons)
11 Elen Evans (Scarlets)
10 Elinor Snowsill (Newport Gwent Dragons)
9 Rhiannon Parker (Cardiff Blues)*
1. Cerys Hale (Newport Gwent Dragons)
2. Carys Phillips (c) (Ospreys)
3. Amy Evans (Ospreys)
4. Rebecca Rowe (Newport Gwent Dragons)
5. Mel Clay (Ospreys)
6. Alisha Butchers (Scarlets)
7. Rachel Taylor (Scarlets)
8. Sioned Harries (Scarlets)
Replacements
16 Lowri Harries (Scarlets)
17 Gwenllian Pyrs (Scarlets)
18 Caryl Thomas (Scarlets)
19 Siwan Lillicrap (Ospreys)
20 Nia Elen Davies (Cardiff Blues)
21 Sian Moore (Newport Gwent Dragons)
22 Robyn Wilkins (Ospreys)
23 Gemma Rowland (Newport Gwent Dragons)
*Denotes new caps
