Six Nations 2022: Wales back row Ross Moriarty in contention for Scotland start

Ross Moriarty made his Wales debut against Ireland in August 2015

Wales forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys says Ross Moriarty is in contention to start against Scotland.

Moriarty, 27, gained his 50th cap from the replacements bench after coming on for Ellis Jenkins during the 29-7 defeat against Ireland in Dublin.

It was only his second game since recovering from a shoulder injury against New Zealand in October 2021.

Seb Davies, Louis Rees-Zammit and Willis Halaholo are all back in training and fit for selection.

Cardiff lock Davies pulled out just before the game against Ireland as a replacement because of a back spasm.

Cardiff centre Halaholo missed the Dublin defeat because of a hamstring injury with Nick Tompkins and Cardiff wing Josh Adams selected in the Welsh midfield.

Gloucester wing Rees-Zammit played at the Aviva Stadium despite picking up an ankle problem in the warm-up.

Should he start in Cardiff on Saturday, back row Moriarty would help bolster Wales' physicality, an area Humphreys says they must improve on.

"He's certainly in consideration," said Humphreys.

"He's had good game time with the Dragons and he came on at the weekend."

Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan says he would begin the game with Moriarty.

"I personally would frontload him and use that 50 minutes at the beginning rather than chase something at the end," said Ryan.

"Wales do need some sort of reaction and need to show a different intent. If you going to tick a boss of who does that then I would Ross is pretty high on that list."

Moriarty's presence would help Wales after head coach Wayne Pivac highlighted Ireland's physical dominance proved a key factor in the Dublin defeat and the video review emphasised that.

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"We talked a lot about physicality on both sides of the ball and we came up second best there," said Humphreys.

"It certainly wasn't attitude. There are a few things structurally we've looked at that will give us a little bit more momentum, to help our ball carriers.

"But it's a tough place to go in terms of the physicality that they bring. It's a big work-on for us we need to improve before we play Scotland.

"We can say we need to be more physical but how are we going to do that? That's what we're working on.

"We don't just want people to run harder or tackle harder, they are throw away words.

"We're on about, technically, how do we get into those positions to be able to get dominance. That's been a big focus for us this week."

Ex Wales captain and former member of Pivac's backroom team Sam Warburton also highlighted the difference in the carrying of the opposing front-fives at the Aviva Stadium.

"It comes around to that physicality and Ireland were on the front foot carrying ball and it's a lot easier to get momentum," added Humphreys.

"We're working hard this week in terms of trying to create that momentum, to allow us to move forward onto the ball rather than be static as we were on the weekend.

"It's definitely an area we recognise as something to work on."

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