Wing Mark Jones takes over from Halfpenny

Wing Mark Jones and lock Ian Gough will return for Wales when they face Australia at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Jones replaces Leigh Halfpenny, 19, and Gough comes in after Ian Evans picked up a knee injury in the 29-9 defeat to New Zealand at the weekend.

Coach Warren Gatland said: "Ian Gough brings a wealth of experience.

"Jones now has an opportunity to re-stake his claim and we are sure he will rise to that particular challenge."

Dwayne Peel has been recalled to club duty by Guinness Premiership club Sale, but Gloucester have released Gareth Cooper to Wales so he will be at scrum-half with Scarlet Martin Roberts on the bench.

Luke Charteris, who took over from the injured Evans against the All Blacks, must again be content with a place on the bench.

A scan confirmed that 24-year-old Osprey Evans, capped 16 times, will be sidelined for between six and nine months with ruptured knee ligaments.

"In Mark Jones we have a player who has been in form himself but was kept out, after being injured for our opening fixture, by Leigh (Halfpenny)'s impressive showing," said Gatland.

"Leigh has represented himself well in his first three caps for his country and made a real impact on the international scene, but he is a young man and after three huge games in succession we have decided to look after him and have him to sit this one out.

"Although Luke Charteris can be pleased with his performance when he came on against the All Blacks last week we have preferred him as an option on the bench who can come on and make an impact.

"For the rest of the squad we were pleased with the performance last week and so have kept faith, although we are now very much looking for a result to go with that performance."

Gatland hopes his side can claim the Tri-Nations scalp that has eluded them this autumn following defeats to South Africa and New Zealand.

He said: "We want to play the best teams regularly in order to improve ourselves and raise our own standards, we want to achieve consistency and any rise up the world rankings would certainly be a reflection that we may be going in the right direction.

"But the most important thing for everyone is to get a result if we can. That is an incredibly tough prospect, but on the other side of the coin there is no doubting that we have an opportunity here against the Wallabies.

"The statistics say they are a better team than us and they will rightly carry the favourites tag, but we have the opportunity on Saturday to achieve something special out of this autumn campaign and it is a chance we do not want to miss."

Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Mark Jones (Scarlets), Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys), Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Gareth Cooper (Gloucester); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Ian Gough (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues).
Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), John Yapp (Cardiff Blues), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Dafydd Jones (Scarlets), Martin Roberts (Scarlets), James Hook (Ospreys), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys).

Australia: Drew Mitchell; Peter Hynes, Ryan Cross, Stirling Mortlock (capt), Digby Ioane; Matt Giteau, Luke Burgess; Ben Robinson, Stephen Moore, Al Baxter, Mark Chisholm, Nathan Sharpe (capt), Hugh McMeniman, Phil Waugh, Richard Brown.
Replacements: Adam Freier, Matt Dunning, Dean Mumm, George Smith, Sam Cordingley, Quade Cooper, Lote Tuqiri/Adam Ashley-Cooper.