Dan Biggar will captain defending champions Wales for the first time at the 2022 Guinness Six Nations after Wayne Pivac named the fly-half as skipper in his 36-man squad for the Championship.
The experienced No.10 hasn’t donned the armband for his country before but gets the nod with regular captain Alun Wyn Jones currently out injured, along with the likes of Ken Owens, Taulupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric and George North.
And head coach Pivac is confident that his talismanic fly-half, who will have lock Adam Beard as his vice-captain, has what it takes to lead his country as they look to defend the Guinness Six Nations title they so impressively won 12 months ago.
READ: 2022 Prospects – Wales’ Guinness Six Nations fixtures
“In terms of captaincy we’ve named Dan Biggar,” he explained. “With the experience missing with some players out injured, we wanted someone who had experienced the competition on a number of occasions and knows the rigours of it.
“He gives us that – he has 95 Wales caps and he’s toured with the British & Irish Lions. Dan has the respect of the other players and management so we think he’ll do a great job.”
There are three uncapped players in the squad as Ospreys hooker Dewi Lake is included alongside his clubmate Jac Morgan and another back-rower in Cardiff Rugby’s James Ratti.
Pivac has had to deal with a number of injuries in the back row, as Faletau, Tipuric, Dan Lydiate, Josh Macleod and Josh Navidi are all unavailable but such is the depth that Wales possess, they can still call on the likes of Taine Basham, Ellis Jenkins, Ross Moriarty and Aaron Wainwright in addition to newcomers Morgan and Ratti.
READ: Six uncapped players in England squad
Bradley Roberts and Christ Tshiunza could both play in their first Guinness Six Nations contests, having made their international debuts in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series, while Biggar would claim his 100th Wales cap if he features in all five matches and Jonathan Davies could reach the milestone of 100 Test appearances when including his caps for the Lions.
The squad will meet up at the national training base in Hensol on Monday 24 January ahead of the Round 1 contest with Ireland in Dublin on Saturday 5 February.
“We are excited to get back together as a squad when we meet up on Monday,” added Pivac.
“The Guinness Six Nations is a very special competition and we want to go out and win, like every other nation. This is tournament rugby, so it’s about working hard in training and preparing well each week.
“Last year the Six Nations offered fans an exciting brand of rugby with lots of tries and, while we know we have five tough matches ahead and the margins in Test rugby are fine, we are looking forward to the challenge.”
WALES 2022 GUINNESS SIX NATIONS SQUAD
Forwards Rhys Carre (Cardiff Rugby – 16 caps) Wyn Jones (Scarlets – 38 caps) Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 5 caps) Ryan Elias (Scarlets – 23 caps) Dewi Lake (Ospreys – uncapped) Bradley Roberts (Ulster Rugby – 1 cap) Leon Brown (Dragons – 16 caps) Tomas Francis (Ospreys – 60 caps) Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby – 34 caps) Adam Beard (Ospreys – 29 caps), vice-captain Ben Carter (Dragons – 5 caps) Seb Davies (Cardiff Rugby – 13 caps) Will Rowlands (Dragons – 13 caps) Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs – 2 caps) Taine Basham (Dragons – 7 caps) Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Rugby – 14 caps) Jac Morgan (Ospreys – uncapped) Ross Moriarty (Dragons – 49 caps) James Ratti – (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped) Aaron Wainwright (Dragons – 34 caps)
Backs Gareth Davies (Scarlets – 65 caps) Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 8 caps) Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 29 caps) Gareth Anscombe (Ospreys – 29 caps) Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints – 95 caps), captain Rhys Priestland (Cardiff Rugby – 52 caps) Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears – 13 caps) Jonathan Davies (Scarlets – 93 caps) Uilisi Halaholo (Cardiff Rugby – 9 caps) Nick Tompkins (Saracens – 16 caps) Owen Watkin (Ospreys – 26 caps) Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 35 caps) Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 48 caps) Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby – 12 caps) Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets – 8 caps) Liam Williams (Scarlets – 74 caps)
