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Less than a fortnight ago Thomas feared his World Cup was over after he suffered rib cartilage damage in a strong tackle from Stirling Mortlock during Wales' 32-20 defeat to Australia.

Even when scans proved the injury was not as bad as first expected, there was only thought to be an outside chance Thomas would be fit to face the Fijians but he has been in full contact training this week and replaces Kevin Morgan at full-back to bring up a century of Test caps in a must-win encounter for Wales.

At stake is a place in the World Cup quarter-finals and head coach Gareth Jenkins said: "No side would want to go into a game of this magnitude without its captain, it's as simple as that.

"Gareth's importance to this team cannot be understated, he's reached an historic landmark but no-one will be more focused than him on match day."

Thomas will lead a side out in Nantes featuring seven changes from Wales' 72-18 win over Japan last Thursday.

The biggest surprise is the inclusion of Ospreys lock Ian Evans, who will start his first game of rugby since December having played 28 minutes coming off the bench against Japan.

Evans has spent nearly 10 months on the sidelines recovering from shoulder and collar-bone injuries but is held in such high regard that he was still included in the World Cup squad.

He will partner Alun-Wyn Jones in the second row, while Matthew Rees returns at hooker and Chris Horsman keeps the tight-head duties with Adam Jones recovering from a foot injury.

As expected, Dwayne Peel returns at scrum-half despite Mike Phillips' man-of-the-match performance against Japan, while Mark Jones replaces Dafydd James on the wing and Tom Shanklin comes back into the centre to partner James Hook.