Rugby – Six Nations:Wales named James Hook at fullback for Friday's Six Nations opener against England, while Northampton flanker Tom Wood will make his England debut at the Millennium Stadium.
Hook, who has won the majority of his caps at centre, was preferred to Lee Byrne who drops to the bench.
"Lee Byrne misses out solely through virtue of the fact he has had limited game time after injury and he will offer us some impact from the bench, which is fairly experienced in itself and will undoubtedly be utilised during the evening," said assistant coach Rob Howley.
Ospreys props Craig Mitchell and Paul James start in place of injured British and Irish Lions Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones.
Alun Wyn Jones and Bradley Davies were named at lock and flankers Sam Warburton and Dan Lydiate join Andy Powell in the backrow.
"In the frontrow we have two guys who have done well at regional level and know each others games either side of our leader and the Lions hooker in Matthew Rees, so we are comfortable with the selection," added Howley.
Lions centre Jamie Roberts returns having missed the autumn internationals with a wrist injury. Stephen Jones and Mike Phillips resume their halfback partnership and record try-scorer Shane Williams and Morgan Stoddart were named on the wing.
"We did debate selection at outhalf and elsewhere in the backs but we feel we have settled on the right pairing there with the experience they offer," Howley said.
"We are playing England at the home of Welsh rugby at the start of the Rugby World Cup year so we are looking to get ourselves off to a great start and create some momentum and I can't think of a better place for a Welshman to do that."
England coach Martin Johnson has handed Wood his debut with centre Mike Tindall captaining the team in place of the injured flanker Lewis Moody.
Moody is out with a knee injury for at least the first two games of the championship and, with fellow flanker Tom Croft also injured, James Haskell comes in on the blindside.
Louis Deacon will partner Tom Palmer in the secondrow in place of the injured Courtney Lawes at the Millennium Stadium.
Wood was not a part of England's 33-man elite squad but has enjoyed a terrific year. He helped Northampton qualify as top seeds in the Heineken Cup, after moving to the Midlands club from Worcester at the start of the season, and is promoted to the starting XV straight from the second-string Saxons.
Able to operate on both sides of the scrum, the 6ft 4ins (193cm) flanker also offers a good lineout option.
The backs have come through the last few weeks' Premiership and Heineken Cup action unscathed and Johnson is able to field the same men who ripped through Australia in November.
England have not won a Six Nations game in Cardiff since Johnson captained them to victory en route to a grand slam in 2003, the last time they won the title, and their away form since then has been poor.
Of their last 16 away games in the championship they have won only four, and three of those came against Italy.
Kick-off on Friday is 7.45pm.
Wales team:J Hook, M Stoddart, J Roberts, J Davies, S Williams, S Jones, M Phillips, A Powell, S Warburton, D Lydiate, A Wyn Jones, B Davies, B Mitchell, M Rees, P James. Replacements: R Hibbard, J Yapp, R Jones, J Thomas, D Peel, R Priestland, L Byrne
England team:B Foden, C Ashton, M Tindall (capt), S Hape, M Cueto; T Flood, B Youngs; A Sheridan, D Hartley, D Cole, L Deacon, T Palmer, T Wood, J Haskell, N Easter. Replacements: S Thompson, D Wilson, S Shaw, J Worsley, D Care, J Wilkinson, M Banahan
