Williams ruled out for Wales with Hardy called up

Autumn Nations Series: Wales v Australia

Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Sunday, 17 November Kick off: 16:10 GMT

Coverage: Live on S4C, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru, live text and commentary on the BBC Sport website and app

Gloucester scrum-half Tomos Williams has been ruled out of the rest of Wales' autumn series and been replaced in the squad by Ospreys number nine Kieran Hardy.

Williams suffered a shoulder injury in the 24-19 defeat by Fiji and had already been ruled out against Australia on Sunday.

The 29-year-old will also be unavailable for the game against South Africa on 23 November.

Cardiff scrum-half Ellis Bevan starts against Australia on Sunday, with Rhodri Williams named on the replacements bench.

If Dragons number nine Williams takes to the field, it will set a new record for the longest gap between appearances for Wales.

The existing record was set by Newport hooker Bunner Travers who gained his eighth cap against Ireland in March 1939 and his ninth versus England in January 1949. Williams would surpass that by 10 months.

Cardiff wing Mason Grady also withdrew from the Wales squad earlier this week after damaging his ankle in the Fiji defeat.

Warren Gatland's Wales are still without a Test win since they beat Georgia during the World Cup pool stage in Nantes more than 13 months ago.

Another loss for Wales would see them arrive at an all-time low of 11 successive international defeats, surpassing their previous worst results sequence set under Gatland's fellow New Zealander Steve Hansen in 2002 and 2003.

Forwards: Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Kemsley Mathias, Ryan Elias, Dewi Lake, Evan Lloyd, Henry Thomas, Keiron Assiratti, Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Taine Plumtree, James Botham, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Backs: Kieran Hardy, Rhodri Williams, Ellis Bevan, Sam Costelow, Gareth Anscombe, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins, Max Llewellyn, Eddie James, Owen Watkin, Blair Murray, Rio Dyer, Josh Hathaway, Tom Rogers, Cameron Winnett.