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Wales include one uncapped player in 36-man Six Nations squad, ignore calls for Priestland recall
By Online Editors
Under pressure Wales boss Wayne Pivac has named a 36-strong squad for the upcoming Six Nations which starts at home to Ireland on February 7, including uncapped Scarlets back row Josh Macleod. The forward had been named in the autumn squad last year but didn’t feature after picking up an injury before that campaign began.
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Ken Owens, Alun Wyn Jones and Josh Navidi are all selected after injury concerns but the clamour to have Rhys Priestland recalled came to nought as the Bath out-half was ignored and Cardiff out-half Jarrod Evans included.
Priestland, 34, hasn’t played Test rugby since 2017 but there was speculation that a mooted switch back to Wales from Bath this summer could have earned him a recall.
Wales lost their closing Six Nations match to Scotland in October and then finished fifth in the Autumn Nations Cup, the tournament where they gave Test debuts to Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy, Johnny Williams and Louis Rees-Zammit. “We are hugely looking forward to meeting up as a squad on Monday and to the forthcoming campaign,” said boss Pivac. “The Guinness Six Nations is an important tournament and we have selected a squad accordingly.
“As we consistently spoke about, the autumn for us was about opportunity and development, looking ahead to RWC 2023 and it served that purpose for us. This campaign is different, it is tournament rugby and we are excited to get going and to play our part.
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Your squad for the #GuinnessSixNations. ?
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“We have picked a squad for this tournament based on form and we are excited to meet up on Monday and to get our preparation underway.”
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WALES 2021 GUINNESS SIX NATIONS SQUAD
Forwards:
Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues) (12 Caps)
Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (30 Caps)
Rhodri Jones (Ospreys) (17 Caps)
Elliot Dee (Dragons) (33 Caps)
Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (17 Caps)
Ken Owens (Scarlets) (77 Caps)
Leon Brown (Dragons) (12 Caps)
Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (52 Caps)
Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues) (28 Caps)
Jake Ball (Scarlets) (49 Caps)
Adam Beard (Ospreys) (21 Caps)
Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (143 Caps)
Will Rowlands (Wasps) (5 Caps)
Cory Hill (Cardiff Blues) (29 Caps)
Dan Lydiate (Ospreys) (62 Caps)
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) (24 Caps)
Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) (27 Caps)
Taulupe Faletau (Bath) (81 Caps)
Josh MacLeod (Scarlets) (*Uncapped)
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (80 Caps)
Backs:
Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (57 Caps)
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) (20 Caps)
Kieran Hardy (Scarlets) (2 Caps)
Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints) (87 Caps)
Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears) (4 Caps)
Jarrod Evans (Cardiff Blues) (6 Caps)
Johnny Williams (Scarlets) (2 Caps)
Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) (85 Caps)
Nick Tompkins (Dragons) (8 Caps)
Owen Watkin (Ospreys) (25 Caps)
George North (Ospreys) (98 Caps)
Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues) (29 Caps)
Hallam Amos (Cardiff Blues) (22 Caps)
Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester) (4 Caps)
Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets) (93 Caps)
Liam Williams (Scarlets) (67 Caps)
Players unavailable for selection due to injury:
Rob Evans, Nicky Smith, Samson Lee, Ross Moriarty, James Davies, Ellis Jenkins, Gareth Anscombe, Rhys Patchell, Scott Williams, Jonah Holmes.
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Ominous for Italy. I reckon the All Blacks have got their timing spot on for this world cup. Hard to see them not make the final and I suspect they'll make it four take homes of the Webb-Ellis trophy.
Go to commentsWith what he has said, he needs to be held account able for, to be held up to the same standard as every other coach, but I can't see how anyone would think that anything that comes out of his mouth is worth listening to or is to be taken seriously. Anyone who read this would have to look back at their interactions with Eddie and perceive them in new light. I can't help but feel that he's like one those high profile celebrities that go down, that what we see as the on-TV-coach persona is really now how Eddie treats everybody. He's basically a conman. The shameful thing is the way he does it, how he thinks he's too good for the people downunder, how he ruthlessly blames his players and their leadership for not being able to hang in there in games. How his ideas are too good for the home of running rugby, q I would say show some humility Eddie, to the people in the game, to the fans, to rugby, and you can still save it, but we can see here that after last week he has doubled down. There is no chance of a eureka moment of realization dawning on him.
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