Warren Gatland has named his first Wales squad since his return as coach, naming four uncapped players in his 37-man squad for the Six Nations.
Scarlets hooker Ken Owens takes over the captaincy, with Dan Biggar and Justin Tipuric having led the side throughout 2022.
The fresh faces come in the second-row and centre, with locks Rhys Davies and Teddy Williams being selected alongside midfield duo Keiran Williams and Mason Grady. Follow live updates from Gatland's press conference here.
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Rhys Webb is handed a recall at scrum-half alongside Kieran Hardy and Tomos Williams, but there's no place for his Ospreys team-mate Nicky Smith despite his fine form this season. Other players to receive recalls under Gatland include Owen Williams, Rhys Patchell, Aaron Wainwright and Leon Brown.
The likes of Liam Williams, Biggar and Wyn Jones return having missed the autumn through injury, while Rhys Carre is recalled after being overlooked by Wayne Pivac last year.
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 10 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 [Lake] and Bradley [Roberts] as well which is going to be great.”
Having left the role in 2019, Gatland returned in December to take the reins from axed Pivac following a disastrous autumn campaign which included a shock home defeat to Georgia.
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Wales squad:
Forwards (20): Rhys Carre, Wyn Jones, Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake, Ken Owens (capt), Bradley Roberts, Leon Brown, Tomas Francis, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Rhys Davies, Dafydd Jenkins, Alun Wyn Jones, Teddy Williams, Taulupe Faletau, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Justin Tipuric, Christ Tshiunza, Aaron Wainwright.
Backs (17): Kieran Hardy, Rhys Webb, Tomos Williams, Dan Biggar, Rhys Patchell, Owen Williams, Mason Grady, Joe Hawkins, George North, Nick Tompkins, Keiran Williams, Josh Adams, Alex Cuthbert, Rio Dyer, Leigh Halfpenny, Louis Rees-Zammit, Liam Williams.
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