Jonathan Davies to captain Wales, five uncapped players included in the summer series squad

June 07, 2021
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Ultimate Rugby

The 2021 Six Nations Champions will face three home games against Canada and Argentina this July and head coach Wayne Pivac has selected a squad that features experience as well as youth as he continues his preparations for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Uncapped former Wales U20 Gareth Thomas is named alongside fellow Ospreys loosehead props Rhodri Jones and Nicky Smith. Experienced trio Leon Brown, Tomas Francis and Dillon Lewis are named as the tight-heads.

Elliot Dee, Ryan Elias and Sam Parry, who made his debut back in the Autumn Nations Cup, are named as the three hookers in the squad.

Adam Beard, Cory Hill and Will Rowlands, who were all part of Wales’ Six Nations squad, are named as the second-rows alongside uncapped Dragon Ben Carter.

James Botham, Josh Navidi and Aaron Wainwright are joined by Ross Moriarty who returns from injury to be selected alongside Josh Turnbull, who last featured for Wales in Argentina in 2018, and Dragons back-row Taine Basham, who whilst uncapped has previously featured in Wales squads.

Kieran Hardy and Tomos Williams who both featured in Wales’ Six Nations triumph are named along with Rhodri Williams (whose last match for Wales came in 2014) as the scrum-halves.

Callum Sheedy and Jarrod Evans have been named as the two fly-halves.

Jonathan Davies is named in the squad as captain, a role he previously fulfilled for his country in the 2019 Six Nations versus Italy. Willis Halaholo who made his debut in the Six Nations is named along with Nick Tompkins and uncapped Cardiff Rugby and former Wales U20 centre Ben Thomas, who can also cover fly-half.

Leigh Halfpenny, who is on 99 test caps (including 4 British & Irish Lions caps), is named along with Hallam Amos, Jonah Holmes (who missed the Six Nations through injury), Owen Lane (who last featured for Wales in the RWC Bronze medal match versus New Zealand), Ioan Lloyd who can play across the back-three and at fly-half and uncapped Scarlets back Tom Rogers.

FORWARDS (19):

Rhodri Jones (Ospreys) (20 Caps)

Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (39 Caps)

Gareth Thomas (Ospreys) (*Uncapped)

Elliot Dee (Dragons) (37 Caps)

Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (17 Caps)

Sam Parry (Ospreys) (4 Caps)

Leon Brown (Dragons) (17 Caps)

Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (57 Caps)

Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby) (28 Caps)

Adam Beard (Ospreys) (25 Caps)

Ben Carter (Dragons) (*Uncapped)