Wales squad selector: Your starting XV to play Ireland

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Wales' Dan Biggar and Adam BeardImage source, Dan Mullan
Image caption,

Part of the team that beat Ireland to win the Grand Slam in 2019, Dan Biggar (left) will captain Wales' 2022 side with Adam Beard vice-captain

Six Nations: Ireland v Wales

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 5 February Kick-off: 14:15 GMT

Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. Live Audio and text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. Live on S4C.

Louis Rees Zammit was the most popular choice with BBC Sport website users selecting a side they would like to see starting against Ireland in the opening match of the Six Nations in Dublin on Saturday.

The Gloucester wing was chosen in more than 97% of your selections.

Captain Dan Biggar, Adam Beard and Liam Williams also all received the backing of more than nine in 10 voters.

And Josh Adams also polled over 95%, mainly on the wing.

However, the British and Irish Lion was named at centre when Wayne Pivac announced his official line-up on Thursday morning, with Willis Halaholo not fit.

Your ideal choice at centre would have been Halaholo partnering Jonathan Davies. Nick Tompkins, who got the nod from Pivac alongside Adams, picked up 43% of your votes.

Liam Williams was the overwhelming choice at full-back, with Tomos Williams (56.61%) preferred to Gareth Davies (36.32%) as Biggar's half-back partner, mirroring the official selection.

Props Wyn Jones and Tomas Francis both received more than 80% of the vote, with Ryan Elias (76.35%) the most popular hooker ahead of Bradley Roberts (14.6%).

Will Rowlands was a standout choice as Beard's partner at lock but voting was far closer in your back row deliberations, where there was one difference between your pack and Pivac's.

Aaron Wainwright received a vote in almost 80% of nearly 17,000 teams submitted but in each position missed out to blind-side Ellis Jenkins, open-side Taine Basham and number eight Ross Moriarty.

Wainwright will however pack down at the base of the scrum in Dublin with Moriarty - who is returning from injury - named amongst the replacements in Wales' matchday 23.

Image source, BBC Sport

You can still pick your XV but your selections won't be counted towards the result - don't forget to share your picks on social media using #bbcrugby.

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