Five new caps for Gatland and Wales
Wales coach Warren Gatland has named five uncapped players in the 32-man squad to prepare for the matches against South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has named five uncapped players in the 32-man squad to prepare for the matches against South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
There are two new faces amongst the forwards, with Sale's giant prop Eifion Roberts and Cardiff Blues' Andy Powell both being rewarded for recent form with call-ups.
Behind the scrum the three new faces are the impressive Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Biggar and Martin Roberts, all of whom stand a fair chance of featuring at some stage during November.
Speaking of the new caps included in the squad, Gatland felt every player had deserved their selection.
“Andy Powell has been playing well for some time and his performance at the weekend was there to convince us of his ability if we had needed any convincing,” Gatland said.
“Eifion Roberts is another who has been on the radar and he now gets his chance to sample life at international level.
“It's particularly pleasing to be able to select two players in Daniel Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny who stood out for Wales in the Junior World Championships in the summer and Martin Roberts has shown enough for his region to be deserving of his chance.
“Robin Sowden-Taylor is just coming back from injury, but we are looking for him to come through and provide cover in the back row during the course of the four-match series and there are one or two others who we have shown some loyalty towards.
“Gavin Henson, for example, was outstanding for us during the Six Nations last year. He's one of our world class players and, when fit, he is always going to be in our thoughts.”
Gatland was quick to explain why he had named such a large squad, highlighting the need for cover with such a torrid fixture list.
“This squad is larger than I would normally select and we may reduce it after we get the first two games under our belts, but the current size reflects the fact that we could be asking some players to turn out three times in the space of 13 days,” said Gatland.
“The Ospreys players, for example, are currently due to play for their region on the Sunday before the South Africa game and with the Canada match coming only six days later we will need to use our squad correctly.
“But we have an exciting month of rugby ahead of us. The Welsh Rugby Union worked hard to ensure we have the three top Southern Hemisphere teams coming to Cardiff.
“These sides have consistently been the top three in world rugby for many years and we will be relishing the opportunity to play each of them.
“We have made no secret of our ambition to climb the world rankings and it is only by meeting these sides regularly and ensuring that we are able to compete that we stand a chance of achieving our aims.”
Wales:
Forwards: Gethin Jenkins, Duncan Jones, Huw Bennett, Matthew Rees, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Eifion Roberts, Rhys Thomas, Alun-Wyn Jones, Ian Gough, Ian Evans, Luke Charteris, Dafydd Jones, Andy Powell, Martyn Williams, Robin Sowden-Taylor, Ryan Jones (c).
Backs: Gareth Cooper, Dwayne Peel, Martin Roberts, Stephen Jones, James Hook, Daniel Biggar, Jamie Roberts, Andrew Bishop, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams, Mark Jones, Leigh Halfpenny, Lee Byrne, Morgan Stoddart.