Wayne Pivac names his first Six Nations squad
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Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has named his first Guinness Six Nations squad which features 38 players, including five uncapped.
Prop WillGriff John, second-row Will Rowlands, centre Nick Tompkins and back-three duo Johnny McNicholl and Louis Rees-Zammit are all included in Wales’ 2020 Six Nations squad as they look to defend their Grand Slam and Six Nations title.
Louis Rees-Zammit's career to date:
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) January 13, 2020
✅Gloucester’s youngest Premiership player
✅Gloucester’s European player
✅ Youngest player to score a Prem hat-trick
1⃣ Prem POTM🏅
9⃣ Games🧢
7⃣ Tries🏉
2⃣ Try assists🅰️
1⃣5⃣ Defenders beaten⚡️
2⃣0⃣ Clean breaks💨
5⃣3⃣7⃣ Running metres🔥 pic.twitter.com/W7E8X96jF8
Watch Tompkins' hattrick against Gloucester in the Premiership semi-final:
Rhys Carre, Rob Evans and Wyn Jones are the three loose-heads named with Leon Brown, Dillon Lewis and John the three tight-heads.
Elliot Dee, Ryan Elias and Ken Owens are the hookers included.
Jake Ball, Adam Beard, Seb Davies, captain Alun Wyn Jones, Cory Hill and Rowlands are named as the second-rows.
Taulupe Faletau returns from injury to be included (Faletau’s last Wales appearance was in the Six Nations two years ago) along with back-row options of Aaron Shingler, Aaron Wainwright, Ross Moriarty, Josh Navidi and Justin Tipuric.
Gareth Davies, Tomos Williams and Rhys Webb, who last played for Wales in December 2017, are named as the three scrum-halves.
Dan Biggar, Jarrod Evans and Owen Williams are included, Williams’ last appearance also coming in the autumn of 2017.
Backline options see the uncapped trio of Tompkins, Rees-Zammit and McNicholl (who made his first appearance for Wales in the uncapped match against the Barbarians in November) join the experienced group of Hadleigh Parkes, Owen Watkin, George North, Josh Adams, Owen Lane, Jonah Holmes, Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams.
🏴 Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has named his first #GuinnessSixNations squad, including five uncapped players.
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) January 15, 2020
📋 WillGriff John, Will Rowlands, Nick Tompkins, Johnny McNicholl a Louis Rees-Zammit yw'r chwaraewyr di-gap yn y garfan.
📰 https://t.co/DlUgkpX1CP #HWFN pic.twitter.com/cK4C0iquq8
“We are really excited to be naming our Six Nations squad and kicking the campaign off,” said Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.
“A lot of time and effort has gone into selecting the squad, all of the coaches have been out and about, seeing players in training, speaking with them and we are pretty excited with the group we have got.
“Looking back to the Barbarians week, that was hugely important for us. We got a lot of ‘firsts’ out of the way, getting to meet and get in front of the players and having a game together was hugely beneficial.
“We do have a couple of injuries but we flip that into seeing it as an opportunity for some new players to impress, with not only the Six Nations in mind but also longer term and 2023.
“The Six Nations is hugely exciting for me, it is something I grew up watching from afar and it has such history attached to it, I’m really looking forward to the campaign.”
Louis Rees-Zammit highlights:
