Three uncapped players in Wales squad for Japan, New Zealand and Australia
Archive article. Published on Sun 25 Oct, 22:10. Conditions may have changed since this reporting.
Wales have three uncapped players in Steve Tandy’s 39-man squad for the November half of the Nations Championship: Cardiff loose-head prop Rhys Barratt and the Dragons pair of scrum-half Che Hope and centre Aneurin Owen. The Welsh Rugby Union named the squad on Tuesday 20 October. Dewi Lake captains a group of 22 forwards and 17 backs with 1,042 caps in all and an average age of 27.
Wales squad, November window
- Forward 1
- Rhys Barratt (Cardiff Rugby, uncapped)
- Forward 2
- Taine Basham (Cardiff Rugby, 17 caps)
- Forward 3
- Adam Beard (Montpellier, 68)
- Forward 4
- Liam Belcher (Cardiff Rugby, 5)
- Forward 5
- James Botham (Cardiff Rugby, 24)
- Forward 6
- Rhys Carre (Saracens, 31)
- Forward 7
- Ben Carter (Dragons, 21)
- Forward 8
- Seb Davies (Dragons, 17)
- Forward 9
- Ryan Elias (Scarlets, 51)
- Forward 10
- Tomas Francis (Sale Sharks, 82)
- Forward 11
- Archie Griffin (Bath Rugby, 16)
- Forward 12
- Kane James (Exeter Chiefs, 1)
- Forward 13
- Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs, 31)
- Forward 14
- Dewi Lake (Gloucester Rugby, 34), captain
- Forward 15
- Dillon Lewis (Dragons, 60)
- Forward 16
- Alex Mann (Cardiff Rugby, 18)
- Forward 17
- Jac Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 27)
- Forward 18
- Taine Plumtree (Scarlets, 15)
- Forward 19
- Nicky Smith (Sale Sharks, 66)
- Forward 20
- Gareth Thomas (Ospreys, 44)
- Forward 21
- Aaron Wainwright (Leicester Tigers, 70)
- Forward 22
- Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby, 10)
- Back 1
- Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby, 72)
- Back 2
- Sam Costelow (Scarlets, 22)
- Back 3
- Rio Dyer (Dragons, 24)
- Back 4
- Dan Edwards (Ospreys, 13)
- Back 5
- Gabriel Hamer-Webb (Leicester Tigers, 1)
- Back 6
- Joe Hawkins (Scarlets, 13)
- Back 7
- Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby, 1)
- Back 8
- Che Hope (Dragons, uncapped)
- Back 9
- Eddie James (Scarlets, 11)
- Back 10
- Max Llewellyn (Gloucester Rugby, 13)
- Back 11
- Ellis Mee (Scarlets, 11)
- Back 12
- Reuben Morgan-Williams (Ospreys, 3)
- Back 13
- Blair Murray (Scarlets, 19)
- Back 14
- Aneurin Owen (Dragons, uncapped)
- Back 15
- Louis Rees-Zammit (Bristol Bears, 43)
- Back 16
- Tom Rogers (Ospreys, 13)
- Back 17
- Tomos Williams (Saracens, 75)
Three Saturdays in Cardiff
Wales host Japan on Saturday 7 November (4.40pm), New Zealand on Saturday 14 November (2.10pm) and Australia on Saturday 21 November (8.10pm). All three are at Principality Stadium and live on ITV and S4C. The tournament ends with a Finals Weekend at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November, where all 12 teams play for a final placing. Wales took one win from three in July: 39-24 against Fiji in Cardiff, then defeats of 35-21 in Argentina and 43-0 in South Africa.
Who is back
Liam Belcher, Tomas Francis, Archie Griffin, Louie Hennessey and Dafydd Jenkins return after missing the July window. Taine Basham, Seb Davies and Rio Dyer are also called up. Taulupe Faletau and Tommy Reffell are not among the 39. The union’s announcement does not give a reason.
What Tandy said
“It’s great to welcome back the players who were unavailable for the first three rounds of the Nations Championship,” Tandy said in the union’s announcement. “Added to that, there are a number of players who’ve been in great form for their clubs and so we wanted to give them an opportunity in the squad this autumn.” The squad was due to assemble the week after the announcement, Tandy said, with “all eyes” on the opening home game against Japan. The full 39 are listed below.