Wales senior men’s head coach Waren Gatland has named a 37-player squad for the 2023 Guinness Six Nations campaign - and he includes four Dragons with Bradley Roberts, Leon Brown, Aaron Wainwright and Rio Dyer all named.
Ken Owens will captain the squad for the championship. Wyn Jones, Dewi Lake and Liam Williams return to the squad having missed the Autumn Nations Series due to injury.
There are also recalls for Leon Brown, Rhys Carre, Rhys Patchell, Aaron Wainwright, Rhys Webb and Owen Williams. Four uncapped players are selected.
Rhys Davies, who was called into Wales camp during the autumn, features alongside Ospreys team mate Keiran Williams plus Cardiff Rugby duo Mason Grady and Teddy Williams.
Another six players could be in line to make their first Six Nations appearance including Rio Dyer, Joe Hawkins and Dafydd Jenkins, who made their international debut last November.
Gatland said: “It’s probably a bigger squad than I’d normally name, but we want to have a good Six Nations and also look forward to the world cup.
“We’ve some youngsters that have come in and then we’ve some older very experienced players that we need to manage. It's looking at the whole element for the squad and how we get the balance right, because that’s definitely going to be a challenge over the next ten months.
“There are some players that were unlucky they didn’t’ make the squad, so the message to them is keep working hard you’re not out of the picture.
Regarding the captaincy, Gatland added: “Ken’s incredibly experienced and a passionate Welshman – it means a lot to him to play for Wales. He’s also very popular with the players.
“He came back from injury and was absolutely outstanding during the autumn campaign. Probably, if you’re picking a team at the moment he’s the number one in that position. But he’s going to have some competition with Dewi and Bradley as well which is going to be great.”
The squad will meet up at the national training base in Hensol on Monday 23 January ahead of its first game against Ireland which will take place at a sold out Principality Stadium, Cardiff on Saturday 4 February (KO 14.15h).
WALES SQUAD:
Forwards (20)
- Rhys Carre (Cardiff Rugby 17 caps)
- Wyn Jones (Scarlets – 45 caps)
- Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 17 caps)
- Dewi Lake (Ospreys – 8 caps)
- Ken Owens (Scarlets – 86 caps), Captain
- Bradley Roberts (Dragons – 3 caps)
- Leon Brown (Dragons – 22 caps)
- Tomas Francis (Ospreys – 67 caps)
- Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby – 45 caps)
- Adam Beard (Ospreys – 41 caps) Rhys Davies (Ospreys – uncapped)
- Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs – 1 cap)
- Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys – 155 caps)
- Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped)
- Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby – 95 caps)
- Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 6 caps)
- Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers – 4 caps)
- Justin Tipuric (Ospreys – 89 caps)
- Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs – 3 caps)
- Aaron Wainwright (Dragons – 36 caps)
Backs (17)
- Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 16 caps)
- Rhys Webb (Ospreys – 36 caps)
- Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 40 caps)
- Dan Biggar (Toulon – 103 caps)
- Rhys Patchell (Scarlets – 21 caps)
- Owen Williams (Ospreys – 3 caps)
- Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped)
- Joe Hawkins (Ospreys – 1 cap)
- George North (Ospreys – 109 caps)
- Nick Tompkins (Saracens – 25 caps)
- Keiran Williams (Ospreys – uncapped)
- Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 44 caps)
- Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 55 caps)
- Rio Dyer (Dragons – 3 caps)
- Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets – 97 caps)
- Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby – 22 caps)
- Liam Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 81 caps)
