George North will miss Wales' crucial Six Nations match against Scotland as a precaution with Liam Williams taking his place on the wing.

North has been at the centre of a discussion surrounding head injuries this week after playing on despite suffering two separate blows to the head during Wales' 21-16 defeat to England in their opening Six Nations match. North appeared momentarily to lose consciousness after a collision with teammate Richard Hibbard in the 61st minute but played on.

Wales coach Warren Gatland has decided not to risk his star winger, instead Liam Williams will win his 20th cap for Wales, with Scott Williams coming in on the bench. The rest of the match-day squad remains unchanged.

'The response from the players has been very positive in training this week and we are looking forward to having the opportunity to right last weekend's wrongs,' said Gatland.

'Scotland started the tournament well against France, building on their autumn campaign and they will be looking forward to welcoming us to Edinburgh this weekend.

'We know what we need to do and we hope our performance can reflect that.

'We have taken the decision to give George an extended recovery period ahead of the game against France, in light of his concussion in the autumn.'

Wales – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Subs: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Paul James, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Scott Williams.

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