• Dan Biggar was symptom-free the next day, says Warren Gatland • Justin Tipuric to captain Wales for the first time

Wales are hopeful the fly-half Dan Biggar and the centre Jonathan Davies will be fit for a likely quarter-final against France. Neither is involved in Sunday’s Pool D match with Uruguay, when victory for Wales would confirm they meet Les Bleus next weekend.

Biggar is following return-to-play head injury assessment (HIA) protocols after going off in the 29-17 win over Fiji on Wednesday, while Davies has a knee problem.

Warren Gatland, the Wales head coach, said: “George North has a sore ankle that he took into that [Fiji] game, so he’s been rested, and we wanted to rest Liam Williams, and Jonathan Davies had a knock on the knee.

Wales survive major Fiji scare as Josh Adams hat-trick seals top spot Read more

“Dan Biggar is symptom-free. He is being closely monitored by the medical team. He was symptom-free the next day, which was great. The medics have spoken to a number of people, doing consultations. He [Biggar] said he feels really good in himself. He is just going through the HIA protocols at the moment.

“Jonathan took a knock on the knee. He’s being monitored as well. The knee was pretty good the next day. It had a bit of swelling and he’s been icing it regularly. He gets a little bit more time, and hopefully that keeps improving over the next few days.

“It’s a bit of a juggling act with the four-day turnaround. The message to the players against Uruguay is that the door is not shut. There are opportunities for players to go out there and impress and stake a claim for a quarter-final spot.”

Justin Tipuric will captain his country for the first time, leading a team showing 13 changes from the one that beat Fiji, with only the wing Josh Adams and centre Hadleigh Parkes remaining. First starts in this tournament will go to the wing Hallam Amos, Owen Watkin at centre, the scrum-half Aled Davies, the lock Bradley Davies and a fit-again Adam Beard, who returns to action a month after appendix surgery that delayed his arrival in Japan.

Gatland has opted for a split of six forwards and two backs on the bench, with the scrum-halves Gareth Davies and Tomos Williams providing back division cover. “We are confident that we have cover, with players being able to move around if we need to,” the head coach added. “We’ve got to make sure we do a job early-on against Uruguay. It’s challenging with such a short turnaround, but that’s what World Cups are all about.”

Wales’s game against Uruguay takes place in Kumamoto on the southerly island of Kyushu, away from the likely impact of Typhoon Hagibis. “We knew from the start that this was a possibility,” Gatland added. “If a typhoon came then games could be called off and teams would share the points. It’s disappointing for the fans and some of the teams involved as well.

“You have to feel for Italy a little bit. Nobody considered them likely to beat the All Blacks, but we’ve seen in this World Cup with red cards, you never know what might happen in a game. You have to feel sorry for the players involved and the fans. But we were well aware of the potential hazards of typhoons coming in and what the consequences were.”