JONATHAN Davies insists Wales won’t let standards slip this week when Warren Gatland rings the changes for Saturday’s Test against Tonga.

The head coach, with one eye on South Africa, is prepared to tinker with his team for the third game of the autumn series after victories against Scotland and Australia.

A raft of first-teamers, including Davies, will face a week of conditioning rather than preparing to face the Islanders, who are 12th in the World Rugby rankings.

But the Lions centre says that the squad will demand the same standards in the build-up for Tonga as they did for the Scots and Wallabies.

“For us it is about building and making sure we keep training like we have,” said Davies after the 9-6 triumph against Australia.

“The strength in depth and the standards we have are helping us on a Saturday and whoever is picked, as a squad of 36 or however many, we will be preparing for a tough Test match.”

Davies has combined with Hadleigh Parkes in the past two weeks but Saturday could be the chance for the promising pair of Owen Watkin and Dragons outside centre Tyler Morgan to enjoy their first autumn action.

“I think competition for places is strong all over the park. It is important that we push ourselves and set standards in training,” said the Scarlets 13.

“You are only as good as your last performance and it is about setting your standards in the week.”

Davies would no doubt welcome a week off to prepare for winning his 68th cap against the hard-hitting Springboks in the November finale but lock Adam Beard wants to keep his jersey.

The towering Ospreys forward was brought into the XV for the clash against the Wallabies with Dragons skipper Cory Hill charged with adding oomph from the bench

Beard has won all six of his Tests and wants the chance to make it seven against the Tongans rather than putting his feet up.

“I want to play every game, I am young enough at 22 and want to play again next week but there is a lot of depth in this squad,” he said.

“There are 30-plus players putting their hands up. If I have a rest then I know the boys will do a good job and if it’s me selected then that’s great.”

Beard, Hill, captain Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball have battled for starts this autumn, while Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Rory Thornton and Seb Davies will also harbour hopes of featuring at next year’s World Cup.

“It’s great for Welsh rugby to have six or seven of us fighting for the two jerseys. It does get a bit tasty in training, which is great for the competitiveness,” said Beard.

“It’s great to be unbeaten in a Wales jersey but I’ve got to keep training well and performing. It’s just great to have that feeling of being six from six,” he continued.

“We are on a good run and have won our last seven, so confidence is high in the camp but we will keep our feet on the ground.

“We know that we have to keep working hard and strive for the end goal, which is the World Cup.”