Warren Gatland has changed course tactically in his squad for Wales’s four autumn internationals by including four outside‑halves and omitting one of the main planks of the physical approach that delivered two Six Nations titles this decade, Jamie Roberts.

Roberts, who has won 93 caps, led Wales against Tonga and Samoa in the summer and was praised by the management for his overall contribution to the two wins achieved by a largely reserve team. He was dropped from the starting lineup after the opening Test last season against Australia but his replacement, Scott Williams, has also been overlooked next month.

The decision of Gatland, Wales’s head coach, to include the outside-halves Dan Biggar, Rhys Patchell, the recalled Rhys Priestland, who has impressed for Bath in the opening two months of the season, and Owen Williams gives him the option of having a playmaker at inside‑centre, as he did for the British & Irish Lions in the final two Tests in New Zealand in the summer, when he picked Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell.

It is a ploy that Eddie Jones has used since taking over as England’s head coach after the 2015 World Cup. Wales changed their tactics last season, when Gatland was on sabbatical with the Lions but, other than relegating Roberts to the bench, tried to do so with largely the same personnel and they lost three of their matches in the Six Nations.

Williams, who has played at 12 for Leicester and his current club Gloucester, has been preferred along with Priestland and Patchell to Sam Davies – Wales’s replacement outside‑half last season – whose slight frame, even with the decommissioning of “Warrenball”, has counted against him because he is not a midfield option.

“The game is now about playmaking and offloading,” Gatland said. “It’s not so much the ball-in-play time, it’s the ability to keep possession for long periods. We’ve got players with attacking ability, but our set piece has to be good; scrum and defensively we have got to be strong as well.

“What we also have to do is exploit the opportunities we might get in attack. We changed the way we played in New Zealand in 2016. It’s not like you are a club side with time, but we’ve got 13 days before the first game, and we will try and get up to speed. It might take time to change what we are trying to do in midfield.”

Rhys Webb is one of two scrum‑halves in the squad. But after a change in the policy governing players who are based outside Wales, he will be ineligible to play for the national side next season because he is joining Toulon. Gatland said: “I was not involved in the process but I was pushed out in front of the media [last week] as if it were my policy. The arrangement we have now is better, but I feel for Rhys and hope that if we had an injury crisis at scrum-half that common sense would prevail and we could call on him. We are, though, at the mercy of others.”

The head coach has named five uncapped players in his 36. They include the Scarlets’ New Zealand centre Hadleigh Parkes, who qualifies on residency in the week of the final match against South Africa, and the Ospreys centre Owen Watkin. Alun Wyn Jones retains the captaincy, but Gatland has shaken up his second rows with Luke Charteris and Bradley Davies left out for Cory Hill, Seb Davies and Rory Thornton, who have nine caps between them but all impressed in the summer.

It is a relatively inexperienced squad given Wales’s trust over the years in players who have delivered, but two years out from the World Cup in Japan and after a couple of seasons of mixed results, Gatland is looking at players coming through, changing faces as well as style.

Wales squad

Forwards N Smith, R Evans, W Jones; T Francis, S Lee, L Brown; K Dacey, K Owens, E Dee; J Ball, AW Jones, S Davies, A Beard, C Hill; J Tipuric, S Cross, D Lydiate, T Faletau, A Shingler, J Navidi. Backs G Davies, R Webb, A Davies; D Biggar, R Patchell, R Priestland, O Williams; H Parkes, O Watkin, J Davies, T Morgan; A Cuthbert, S Evans, H Amos; L Williams, L Halfpenny.

Gregor Townsend taking no risks with Scotland

Gregor Townsend claims he will be taking no risks next month as he dismissed the possibility of fielding an experimental Scotland lineup during their autumn series.

The head coach has named a 36-man squad for Tests against Samoa, New Zealand and Australia – including 10 uncapped players. He insisted they all deserve a place in his side but said: “We pick this team on form. We want players who are working hard and are on form because we need to be at our best when we take on Samoa, the All Blacks and Australia. We’ll be looking to put our best team out in all three games. It’s up to the players to play in all three.

“We know we have to play at our best against these teams – but now is not the time to try things out that we’re not sure about. The way the players are playing for their club they should be standing up and saying: ‘I’m ready to play for Scotland.’ These guys are absolutely here because we think they are ready for that.”

Townsend’s squad includes the uncapped centres Phil Burleigh and Chris Harris, wing Byron McGuigan and scrum-half Nathan Fowles as well as the front-row trio of Jamie Bhatti, George Turner and Darryl Marfo, lock Scott Cummings and back-row forwards Luke Hamilton and Jamie Ritchie.

For the Newcastle centre Harris, Sale’s McGuigan – who is joint top of the Premiership try-scoring charts – the Welsh-born Leicester flanker Hamilton and the Edinburgh pair of Fowles and Marfo, this is their first involvement with the full Scotland set-up.

The captain, Greig Laidlaw, misses out with a fractured ankle, while Richie Gray, Mark Bennett, Allan Dell, Alasdair Dickinson, Sean Maitland, Matt Scott, Fraser Brown and Duncan Taylor are also out with injury. The Harlequins wing Tim Visser, though, is a surprise absentee.

However, there was good news for Townsend after the stand-in captain John Barclay overcame concussion worries to make himself available. The full-back Stuart Hogg and the wing Tommy Seymour also return to the fold after their involvement with the Lions last summer.

“It’s a boost to have John back,” Townsend said. “He has now been training the last couple of games and has had no symptoms from his concussion. There are a few guys who would be in the squad who have the same length of injury, which is about two months. We expect them all to be playing before the Six Nations but Greig might be closer to the Six Nations than the likes of Fraser Brown and Duncan Taylor. It’s a shame he suffered his injury just two weeks out from the November Tests but these things happen and I’m sure he will come back strong.” Press Association

Scotland

Forwards S Berghan, J Bhatti, J Barclay, S Cummings, C du Preez, Z Fagerson, R Ford, G Gilchrist, J Gray, R Harley, L Hamilton, D Marfo, S McInally, WP Nel, J Ritchie, T Swinson, B Toolis, G Turner, R Wilson, H Watson. Backs P Burleigh, A Dunbar, D Fife, N Fowles, C Harris, N Grigg, S Hogg, P Horne, R Jackson, L Jones, H Jones, B McGuigan, A Price, H Pyrgos, F Russell, T Seymour.