Dewi Lake to captain Wales for Twickenham game against South Africa

Wales have suffered a major blow ahead of the Twickenham game against South Africa to be played on Saturday after flanker Jac Morgan is ruled out of the encounter due to a hamstring injury.

Morgan already missed this year's Six Nations tournament with a knee injury but now the hamstring problem he suffered during Ospreys' United Rugby Championship quarter-final against Munster has also ruled him out of the upcoming Australia tour.

Dewi Lake, who was one of the co-captain along with Morgan during the last year's World Cup will now lead the side.

Cardiff's Ellis Bevan will make his debut as he has been named at scrum-half while Eddie James, James Ratti and Jacob Beetham are in line to win their first cap from the bench.

Liam Williams, who missed the Six Nations due to his club commitments in Japan returns along with Cameron Winnett and Rio Dyer while Nick Tompkins, Dafydd Jenkins and Tommy Reffell are unavailable as the game falls outside international window.

"We have our backs to the wall a little bit this week, but we are really excited about the challenge on Saturday," said Gatland.

"Facing the world champions at Twickenham Stadium will be a great occasion, and we are relishing the opportunity to get out there and put in a performance.

"We have a big week ahead of us with this young squad, but the coaches and I have been very happy with the effort that is going in.

"There's a huge amount of potential in this group, and the next five weeks will be extremely important for us in terms of wanting to develop this team."

Wales XV: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Mason Grady, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Ellis Bevan, 1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Matthew Screech, 5 Ben Carter, 6 Taine Plumtree, 7 James Botham, 8 Aaron Wainwright.

Reserves: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 James Ratti, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Eddie James, 23 Jacob Beetham.