Sam Warburton, confirmed fit and comfortable after recovering from a shoulder injury, will resume the captaincy of Wales against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

Warburton, who sustained the injury playing against Australia in December, was eased in off the bench against Italy last weekend, and now comes on in place of Justin Tipuric to add some drive to the loose play.

Despite the stuttering performance against Italy, where they conceded two tries in a 23-15 win, the selectors have made just two other changes to the run-on team: first-choice loosehead prop Gethin Jenkins, returning from injury, replaces Paul James and Andrew Coombes locks the scrum with Alun Wyn Jones after Luke Charteris was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Coach Warren Gatland has kept faith with Rhys Priestland at 10, despite growing criticism and calls for Dan Biggar or James Hook to step up.

Wales – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5, Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Andrew Coombs, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Subs: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 James Hook, 23 Liam Williams.

Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images