PROP Aaron Jarvis is being given a crash course in life as a hooker after Wales boss Warren Gatland admitted they are 'taking a punt' by going to the World Cup with just two specialists, writes Chris Kirwan.

The head coach opted for Ken Owens and Scott Baldwin in his final 31 for England 2015 after cutting Richard Hibbard and Kristian Dacey, the latter of whom will be on the bench against Italy in Cardiff on Saturday.

Australia have also opted for a pair of 2s but World Rugby expect all teams to have six front-row forwards in their matchday squads at the World Cup with two able to play hooker.

A spokesman said that any replacement must be "suitably trained and experienced" and Gatland revealed that Jarvis, the third-choice tighthead after Samson Lee and Tomas Francis, had packed down in the middle for a few scrums in training and done a few lineouts.

"Everyone is taking risks," said Gatland. "The All Blacks have only picked three second rows. Some teams have picked two nines and two tens. In every team, you've got some sort of exposure somewhere."

"We have to be comfortable that if he throws the ball in then he knows the options and if he goes into a couple of scrums as well," said Gatland of Jarvis.

"That's only if we end up in a worst-case scenario. We won't be focusing massively on it. He's covered there before, he's scrummaged there in the past and he's thrown a few balls in.

"We wouldn't be doing it unless he'd done it in the past. We've spoken to him about it and he's comfortable to do it.

"We've gone through all the permutations and we've said that there's an element of that (risk), but we'd be pretty unlucky to have to us Aaron Jarvis there."

Alun Wyn Jones, Liam Williams and Samson Lee are expected to be fit for World Cup duty.

Lock Jones could now be fit to face Uruguay in the opener after injuring his right knee against Ireland, full-back Williams will return to full training next week after suffering a foot injury and Lee has been taking a full part in scrummaging in his return from a ruptured Achilles.

Wales: L Halfpenny, A Cuthbert, C Allen, S Williams, G North, D Biggar, R Webb, G Jenkins, K Owens, T Francis, J Ball, D Day, J King, S Warburton (captain), T Faletau.

Replacements: K Dacey, P James, A Jarvis, L Charteris, R Moriarty, G Davies, R Priestland, M Morgan.

Italy: A Masi, L Sarto, L Morisi, G Garcia, G Venditti, T Allan, E Gori, M Rizzo, L Ghiraldini, M Castrogiovanni, Q Geldenhuys, J Furno, A Zanni, S Parisse (captain), F Minto.

Replacements: A Manici, M Aguero, L Cittadini, V Bernabo, S Vunisa, G Palazzani, C Canna, L McLean.