Warren Gatland has named his 31-man Wales squad for the summer tour to Argentina, with Cardiff Blues scrum-half Tomos Williams the sole uncapped player.
Cory Hill and Ellis Jenkins have been named co-captains for the three-Test tour, while George North and Ross Moriarty are the only two British & Irish Lions to feature in the squad.
Along with the call up for Williams, Scarlets winger Tom Prydie returns to the international scene after a five-year absence – having made his debut when he was just 18 years and 25 days.
Notable absentees include Taulupe Faletau, Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams, Dan Biggar, Justin Tipuric, Rhys Webb, Jonathan Davies, Ken Owens and Alun Wyn Jones – who have been given the summer off following their exploits with The British & Irish Lions.
The tour begins next month against South Africa in Washington, before heading south for back-to-back Test matches against Argentina in San Juan and Santa Fe.
“This summer is a great opportunity for this squad to build on their experience, get test match game time under their belt and face Rugby Championship opposition,” said Gatland.
“We have picked a squad of 31 to try and give players as much game time as possible. It shows the depth we have built in recent years that we have just one uncapped player in the squad in Tomos, but he has been in a number of squads so knows the environment well.
“We have picked Cory and Ellis as co-captains, they are both leaders and have experience captaining at regional level so this is an opportunity for them to build on that.
“This summer is another step on our 2019 RWC path and a great opportunity to build on recent campaigns.”
31-MAN WALES SQUAD FOR SUMMER TOUR
FORWARDS (18) Rob Evans (Scarlets) – 25 Caps Wyn Jones (Scarlets) – 8 Caps Nicky Smith (Ospreys) – 18 Caps Elliot Dee (Dragons) – 7 Caps Ryan Elias (Scarlets) – 2 Caps Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) – 31 Caps Samson Lee (Scarlets) – 38 Caps Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues) – 2 Caps Adam Beard (Ospreys) – 2 Caps Bradley Davies (Ospreys) – 62 Caps Seb Davies (Cardiff Blues) – 4 Caps Luke Charteris (Bath) – 74 Caps Cory Hill CO-CAPTAIN (Dragons) – 15 Caps James Davies (Scarlets) – 1 Cap Ellis Jenkins CO-CAPTAIN (Cardiff Blues) – 6 Caps Ross Moriarty (Gloucester) – 20 Caps Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) – 11 Caps Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) – 17 Caps
BACKS (13) Aled Davies (Scarlets) – 8 Caps Gareth Davies (Scarlets) – 32 Caps Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) – uncapped Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) – 15 Caps Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) – 8 Caps Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets) – 55 Caps Owen Watkin (Ospreys) – 4 Caps Scott Williams (Scarlets) – 55 Caps Josh Adams (Worcester Warriors) – 2 Caps Hallam Amos (Dragons) – 15 Caps Steff Evans (Scarlets) – 9 Caps George North (Northampton Saints) – 73 Caps Tom Prydie (Scarlets) – 7 Caps
