WALES COACH WARREN Gatland has recalled the experienced trio of Josh Adams, Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau to his squad on Monday ahead of what promises to be a make-or-break Six Nations for the veteran New Zealander.
Back-row Faletau has not played for Wales since the 2023 World Cup because of injury.
Jac Morgan, a flanker, takes over the captaincy from the injured Dewi Lake.
The uncapped duo of Scarlets wing Ellis Mee and Ospreys out-half Dan Edwards have also been included in a 34-strong squad named by Gatland, 61.
This season’s Autumn Nations out-halves Gareth Anscombe and Sam Costelow are absent, however, with Costelow set to miss the whole tournament after suffering a shoulder injury playing for regional side Scarlets in their European Challenge Cup defeat by Gloucester on Friday.
Gatland, in his second spell as Wales coach, remains in charge after a dire 2024 that extended the side’s losing streak to a national record 12 matches.
Wales’ 45-12 drubbing by the Springboks in Cardiff in November also meant they finished a calendar year without a win for the first time since 1937.
They now have a tough start to the Six Nations, against France in Paris on 31 January, but Gatland insisted: “We’ve selected a squad that we feel has a good blend of exciting young talent and experience.”
Wales squad
Backs (15): Josh Adams, Ellis Bevan, Dan Edwards, Josh Hathaway, Eddie James, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Liam Williams, Rhodri Williams, Tomos Williams
Forwards (19): Keiron Assiratti, James Botham, Elliot Dee, Taulupe Faletau, Dafydd Jenkins, WillGriff John, Evan Lloyd, Kemsley Mathias, Jac Morgan (capt), Sam Parry, Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Freddie Thomas, Henry Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Aaron Wainwright, Teddy Williams
God English football is becoming more and more like the NFL. This tiny thing that means nothing. If your going to show support do something meaningful. Not change the corner flags for a week
I think the only people that care about being gay are gay people. The majority of society couldnt give a rolax!!
Ridiculous stuff. No one cares if a lad is gay, straight, bi, trans, whatever…as long as he’s getting fantasy points
@Theresonly1Liamo123: Too much people care! If only people minded their own beeswax there would be no need for these flags.
@Coner Willis: My eyes hurt reading that. It should say, Too many people not too much people.
Look at all the straight people telling minorities that there’s no such thing as oppression . Why have no gay footballers come out? With all the players in the premier league you’d imagine there has to be at least a few gay lads. I think it’s because the asian market is massive to the epl and also a lot of Asian and African countries are still living in the 1950′s when it comes to gay rights etc. Truly believe there are gay footballers who are warned against coming out of the closet
@William Motley: Haha ! And you think having rainbow corner flags is going to make them come out. Daft bullshit.
@Mike Flannery: it’s a step in the right direction.
@Ger: bs. So if there is a homophobic element in the stands, forcing their teams’ to adopt rainbow flags if going to make the problem go away? If anything it will make people worse and all this will do is paper over the cracks and have mullets getting more vocal, causing arguments among their own fans.
@deano connors: no one is forcing clubs to adopt rainbow flags or laces. It is up to individual clubs Thankfully most (but not all) clubs do. Will it make homophobic fans less homophobic? Of course not. The boot racism out of football initiative didn’t stop racists being racist but it drastically decreased the amount of racist abuse from the stands in English football. To the point where being caught using racist language can get you a lifetime ban from the ground. This is what can and will happen with homophobic abuse eventually, which is what this is a step in the right direction towards. As a gay man who played competitive team sports as a teen I would have felt a lot more at ease in my surroundings had there been something like this when I played.
@William Motley: I’m laughing here . It’s sport. What the hell does someone sexuality matter . If the guy is doing his job ,who the hell cares about anything else . Are we so pc mad that it’s become a joke . We used to just enjoy the beautiful game for what it was. Now football is non contact ,no lauguage . Sad very sad
Ref no way is that a goal kick. Stonewall corner…..
What a load of cobblers and typical of this bleeding heart ridiculous generation
Most of us don’t want to know what anybody else’s orientations are. What has it got to do with football or any other occupation?
This ridiculous token does LG** more harm than good.
More politics in sport by the Brits.