Second-ranked Wales will face eighth-ranked France at Oita Stadium, Oita Prefecture on Sunday, 20 October. Kickoff is at 16:15 local (03:15 ET). In the U.S, the match may be viewed on-demand on NBC Sports Gold and in Canada on TSN 1 and 4.
Wales
Wales coach Warren Gatland has named the same starting XV that beat Australia for Sunday’s quarter-final against France in Oita.
Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies, and George North return from injury and are fit for the match against Les Bleus.
Fly-half Biggar suffered a head injury when colliding with team-mate Liam Williams against Fiji last Wednesday but has cleared head injury protocols. Center Davies left the field with a knee injury in the same match, while winger North has been suffering from a sore ankle.
There are two changes in the reserves from the Australia match with prop Rhys Carre replacing Nicky Smith and Adam Beard backing up at lock in place of flanker Aaron Shingler.
Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Davies, and George North all started the 9-8 defeat by France in the semi-final of Rugby World Cup 2011. Wales assistant coach Stephen Jones also played in that match.
Captain Jones will play his 141st test match for Wales and the British & Irish Lions which equals Brian O’Driscoll. Only Richie McCaw (148) and Sergio Parisse (142) have played more test matches.
Jones will also break Gethin Jenkins’ record for Rugby World Cup appearances when he plays his 19th RWC game on Sunday.
France
Coach Jacques Brunel has made five changes from the side that defeated Tonga almost two weeks ago, as the final pool match against England was canceled due to Typhoon Hagibis.
France scrum-half Antoine Dupont returns from a back injury and will line up alongside his Toulouse teammate Romain Ntamack against Wales.
Dupont takes the place of Baptiste Serin. His last start was against Argentina in France’s opening match, although he did come off the bench to play the last 27 minutes of the win over Tonga.
Damian Penaud takes Serin’s place on the right-wing with Serin as a reserve. Yoann Huget is at left-wing in place of Alivereti Raka, who was not included in the match-day 23 along with center Sofiane Guitoune, with Gael Fickou returning to a starting role.
Captain Guilhem Guirado makes his first start since the Argentina game with Camille Chat moving to the bench after starting against the USA and Tonga.
Squads
Wales: 1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (capt.), 6 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Josh Navidi, 9 Gareth Davies, 10 Dan Biggar, 11 Josh Adams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 13 Jonathan Davies, 14 George North, 15 Liam Williams 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhys Carré, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Owen Watkin
France: 1 Jefferson Poirot, 2 Guilhem Guirado (capt.), 3 Rabah Slimani, 4 Bernard le Roux, 5 Sébastien Vaha’amahina, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Charles Ollivon, 8 Grégory Alldritt, 9 Antoine Dupont, 10 Romain Ntamack, 11 Yoann Huget, 12 Gaël Fickou, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 14 Damian Penaud, 15 Maxime Médard 16 Camille Chat, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Emerick Setiano, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Camille Lopez, 23 Vincent Rattez
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistants Referees: Nic Berry (Australia) & Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
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