Wales will travel to the 2023 Rugby World Cup with Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake as co-captains and just two scrum-halves as Warren Gatland gambles in his 33-player squad for the tournament in France.
Morgan had been widely tipped to captain the squad but the Ospreys back-rower has been chosen, after a two-hour selection meeting among Wales’ coaches, alongside hooker and club-mate Dewi Lake, who has been selected despite his own injury worries.
“The two lads are young players for the future and I think they’ll complement each other really well,” said Gatland of his decision to appoint co-captains. “They’re mates with a good relationship and depending on what game it is one will lead and be captain that day and the other will be supporting them. Something we haven’t done before.
“Whoever is in charge on the day will make the final decision [on captaincy calls]. That’s always a discussion which takes place on the field, where senior players in the group make a suggestion on taking the three points or kicking to the corner or taking a tap and go. The captain has the final decision on the day.”
With Gareth Davies, Kieran Hardy and Tomos Williams in the training group – and with all squads so far comprising three scrum-halves or more – the assumption had been that the trio would travel to France en masse as part of Gatland’s squad. Hardy, however, has missed out, with the New Zealander gambling on two nines – just as Eddie Jones did in Japan with England four years ago.
That decision came back to haunt the England head coach, who had to call up Ben Spencer for the final against South Africa despite the scrum-half having played no part whatsoever in the tournament. Gatland added that, in the event of a short-term injury or head injury assessment ruling out one of his scrum-halves, fly-half Sam Costelow would act as cover. It will be the first time in 20 years that Wales will arrive at a World Cup with just two scrum-halves.
“Potentially [a big workload for the duo],” Gatland added. “If we do pick up injuries, it is not too far of a distance to go. Both of them have been really robust in this campaign. There is potentially a point there where you have got to make a concession and look at a bit of depth. Probably all along, we were thinking of three nines, and we were just looking at some depth in our back-three and covering players that are getting on a little bit and whether they can back up in all the games. We just wanted a bit more cover in that back-three.
“We’d had a discussion with the players right from the start that the tipping point could be we take two nines or three tens. There was no certainty about anyone being selected in the squad. We know we’ve taken a risk. Other teams have done the same thing.”
If Gatland did wish to call up Hardy, then it would require a player - not necessarily a scrum-half - being ruled out due to genuine injury. That player would then be unable to rejoin the squad at any point in the tournament.
High-profile omissions from the squad include Owen Williams and Alex Cuthbert, although the latter is one of three players to not have featured in a World Cup warm-up. The other two, fly-half Gareth Anscombe and No 8 Taulupe Faletau, are both selected despite ongoing niggles – although Gatland clarified that his medical staff were confident that the duo would be ready for Wales’ opener against Fiji on September 10.
Henry Thomas, the prop who won seven caps for England between 2013 and 2014, has been included after switching allegiances courtesy of his Welsh father and impressing in the World Cup warm-ups, which featured a victory and loss to England and a hammering in Cardiff to South Africa. Fellow prop Corey Domachowski also earns selection, with both front-rowers earning their debut caps for Wales during the World Cup warm-ups.
Premiership contingent Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza (both Exeter Chiefs), Tommy Reffell (Leicester), Nick Tompkins (Saracens) and Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester) have all been included – as well as Dan Biggar of Toulon in the French Top 14.
Props Kemsley Mathias and Keiron Assiratti; locks Ben Carter, Rhys Davies and Teddy Williams; and back-rower Taine Plumtree, carrying a shoulder injury, complete the rest of the forward omissions. Fly-half Owen Williams; centres Max Llewellyn, Keiran Williams and Joe Roberts; utility backs Tom Rogers and Cai Evans have all been omitted from the backs division.
“Taine is really unlucky having picked up a shoulder injury,” Gatland said. “He’s unfortunately drawn the short straw.
“I had a chat with him this morning and told him to be ready in case there’s potentially an opportunity. I spoke to him last week about where he was at with his injury. It was always going to be a tight call whether we were going to take him.”
Wales’ Rugby World Cup squad
Forwards (19): C Domachowski, N Smith, G Thomas, E Dee, R Elias, D Lake (co-capt), T Francis, D Lewis, H Thomas, A Beard, D Jenkins, W Rowlands, C Tshiunza, T Basham, D Lydiate, J Morgan (co-capt), T Reffell, A Wainwright, T Faletau.
Backs (14): G Davies, T Williams, G Anscombe, D Biggar, S Costelow, J Williams, N Tompkins, M Grady, G North, J Adams, R Dyer, L Rees-Zammit, L Williams, L Halfpenny.
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