Back-row Charvis to oust Popham

Wales v Australia
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Saturday, 15 September
Kick-off: 1400 BST
Live coverage on BBC Radio 5live, Radio Wales, Radio Cymru & the BBC Sport website

BBC Sport Wales understands that Colin Charvis, Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas will start Wales' crunch Pool B game against Australia on Saturday.

Jones and Thomas come in at fly-half and full-back for James Hook and Kevin Morgan, after successfully replacing the two in the opening win over Canada.

Charvis' replacement of Alix Popham at eight is more of a shock, the veteran thought to be a more robust option.

Wales are set to name their team at 1230 BST on Thursday.

Popham, Hook and Morgan are all expected to be named on the bench, the rest of the team unchanged from the side that stuttered then shone against Canada.

That means Adam Jones holding on to the tight-head jersey ahead of Chris Horsman, who has troubled Australia with his scrummaging in recent encounters.

Australia are due to announce their side for the Millennium Stadium showdown on Wednesday.

More to follow...

Expected Wales team to play Australia at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday: G Thomas (Cardiff Blues, capt); M Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), S Parker (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), M Rees (Llanelli Scarlets), A Jones (Ospreys), I Gough (Ospreys), AW Jones (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), C Charvis (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: T Rhys Thomas (Cardiff Blues), D Jones (Ospreys), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys), J Hook (Ospreys), K Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Source: BBC Sport