Chiefs duo named in Wales training squad for Rugby World Cup

By Mark Stevens
2/5/23

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has included Exeter Chiefs duo Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza in his 54-man World Cup training squad announced on Sunday.

However, there is no place for highly-rated centre Joe Hawkins, who is set to move to the Chiefs from the Ospreys at the end of the current campaign.

In March, Professional Rugby Board chairman Malcolm Wall said the Welsh Rugby Union was reviewing the future international eligibility of Hawkins and fellow international Will Rowlands.

Gatland has since been told by the PRB that Hawkins was ineligible, while Rowlands was available to be picked. Those playing outside of Wales are now required to have 25 caps to represent their country after the number was dropped from 60 in February 2023.

Both will play outside Wales from the end of the 2022-23 season and neither were going to reach the 25-cap threshold by that time.

Hawkins, with five caps, will join Exeter from Ospreys for the 2023-24 season, while Dragons lock Rowlands has 23 caps and joins Racing 92.

Hawkins could still have been deemed available for Wales by eligibility rules if he was uncapped when he signed his Exeter contract. He was first named in a national squad in October 2022, winning his first cap the following month against Australia.

Hawkins started the first four 2023 Six Nations games under Gatland before missing the final fixture against France because of injury.

There are 10 uncapped Wales players in the 54-man squad which includes former England prop Henry Thomas.

Thomas is joined by Corey Domachowski, Kemsley Mathias, Keiron Assiratti, Will Davies-King, Teddy Williams, Max Llewellyn, Joe Roberts, Keiran Williams and Cai Evans.

Lock Cory Hill also receives a recall.

Wales will meet up officially towards the end of June before two gruelling trainings camps in Switzerland and Turkey in July. They play England in a double-header at Principality Stadium and Twickenham on 5 August and 12 August before hosting South Africa on 19 August in Cardiff.

Gatland will name in his final 33-man squad in late August before Wales open their World Cup campaign against Fiji in Bordeaux on 10 September before further group games against Portugal, Australia and Georgia.

"We've picked a large squad for a number of reasons," said Gatland. "We will reduce the squad to about 45 before we go to Switzerland so there's a bit of jeopardy in the first part of the campaign. It's a great opportunity for some players that were involved in the Six Nations and some youngsters for the future to show us what they are capable of doing in the first part of the preparation.

"In the past we've prided ourselves on how hard we've worked and how fit the squad has been. So that's the message to the players to come in and make a statement, work really hard, make the coaches sit up and take notice and get yourself in great shape physically. A lot of skill work needs to be done and there's an opportunity to work on the detail you often don't get when you go into Six Nations or autumn campaigns when you have limited preparation time."

Wales' preliminary Rugby World Cup squad

Forwards: Rhys Carre (Cardiff Rugby), Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby), Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Gareth Thomas (Ospreys), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Ryan Elias (Scarlets), Dewi Lake (Ospreys), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby), Will Davies-King (Cardiff Rugby), Tomas Francis (Ospreys), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), Henry Thomas (Montpellier), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Ben Carter (Dragons), Rhys Davies (Ospreys), Cory Hill (Yokohama Canon Eagles), Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Will Rowlands (Dragons), Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs), Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby), Taine Basham (Dragons) Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Josh Macleod (Scarlets), Jac Morgan (Ospreys), Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons).

Backs: Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Kieran Hardy (Scarlets), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby), Gareth Anscombe (Ospreys), Dan Biggar (Toulon), Sam Costelow (Scarlets), Owen Williams (Ospreys), Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby), Max Llewellyn (Cardiff Rugby), George North (Ospreys), Joe Roberts (Scarlets), Nick Tompkins (Saracens), Johnny Williams (Scarlets), Keiran Williams (Ospreys), Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby), Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys), Rio Dyer (Dragons), Cai Evans (Ospreys), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby), Tom Rogers (Scarlets), Liam Williams (Cardiff Rugby).