Wales may have taken off Ross Moriarty early in the second half against England, but the Gloucester forward has seen off the challenge of Taulupe Faletau to retain his place at No8 for Saturday’s visit to Murrayfield.

Wales are looking to extend their record winning run in the Scottish capital to five matches and are fortified by the return of George North after the Northampton wing pulled out of the England match a few hours before kick-off having failed to recover from a dead leg.

It was the back row that caused the greatest selection debate following Moriarty’s standout performances against Italy and England playing out of position at No8 where he was covering for the 2013 Lion Faletau, who has started only six matches for Bath this season having damaged knee ligaments on the opening weekend.

Faletau was not considered for the trip to Italy, but returned to the bench against England and played for 80 minutes last weekend when Bath defeated Harlequins. Wales had the option of moving Moriarty to blindside flanker and choosing between Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric on the openside, but having identified the breakdown as a key area against Scotland, they have opted for maximum pace in the back row.

The defeat to England in Cardiff has left Wales needing other results to go their way to get back into contention for the title they last won in 2013, but their Saracens-bound wing Liam Williams believes there are twists to come in the remaining three rounds.

“It is still an open championship,” said Williams. “England only need to lose once and that allows someone to slip in. We have to get our performances right and make sure we win our remaining three matches. They are all tough, against Scotland, Ireland and France, and we have to prepare for each one.”

Williams has scored a try in each of Wales’s opening two matches, and is disappointed he did not get another in the final minute in Italy that would have secured a bonus point at the end of a second-half comeback.

“I almost got the ball down,” he said. “We started edgily that day, but we were there for the first 65 minutes against England. The last 15 were not great for us and we switched off in the final stages. No blame has been attached to one person and we have picked ourselves up and are looking forward to Scotland.”

Williams is set to be opposite Sean Maitland, who will be a club colleague at Saracens next season when the Welshman moves from the Scarlets. “It was an opportunity I could not turn down,” he said. “They are the European and English champions and I hope to be part of a side that wins a few more trophies. I have really enjoyed my time in Llanelli, but this will be a new chapter.”

Scotland name their side on Thursday and there will be at least two changes from the team that lost in France with the captain, Greig Laidlaw, and the No8 Josh Strauss ruled out of the rest of the championship.

Wales team to play Scotland at Murrayfield

Backs L Halfpenny (Toulon); G North (Northampton), J Davies (Scarlets), S Williams (Scarlets), L Williams (Scarlets); D Biggar (Ospreys), R Webb (Ospreys); Forwards R Evans (Scarlets), K Owens (Scarlets), T Francis (Exeter), J Ball (Scarlets), AW Jones (Ospreys, capt), S Warburton (Cardiff Blues), J Tipuric (Ospreys), R Moriarty (Gloucester).

Replacements S Baldwin (Ospreys), N Smith (Ospreys), S Lee (Scarlets), L Charteris (Bath), T Faletau (Bath), G Davies (Scarlets), S Davies (Ospreys), J Roberts (Harlequins)