Wales rugby squad LIVE: World Cup announcement reaction as Warren Gatland names 33-man squad
The 33-man squad is set to be unveiled as Wales look to bounce back after a disappointing Six Nations
Warren Gatland prepares to name his 33-man Wales rugby squad for the Rugby World Cup in France. The announcement comes just days after his side suffered a thumping 52-16 warm-up defeat to South Africa in Cardiff.
Jac Morgan looks likely to captain the side having done so in two of their three warm-up games but Wales already have to contend with a host of injuries as they look to bounce back from a disappointing Six Nations performance.
Fly-half Gareth Anscombe, winger Alex Cuthbert and No 8 Taulupe Faletau have not featured in any of the three preparation games. Dan Biggar and Liam Williams also missed the clash with South Africa while there are concerns, too, at hooker after injuries sustained by Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias against England.
Wales reached the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup - held in Japan - losing out to eventual winners South Africa in the semi-finals.
Follow all the updates and reaction below:
Warren Gatland announces Wales’ World Cup squad
The Wales Rugby Union head coach is about to confirm which 33 players will be heading to France as part of the World Cup campaign that begins in September.
Warren Gatland is due to name his squad just after 12pm and we’ll have all the updates and reaction when it comes through.
South Africa send message to Rugby World Cup rivals with Wales demolition
World champions South Africa delivered a ruthless display that bristled with pace and power to demolish Wales 52-16 at the Principality Stadium.
An inexperienced Wales line-up contained a total of only 235 caps and the Springboks showed no mercy as they cruised to a record victory over their opponents in Cardiff.
Wales’ final Rugby World Cup warm-up Test – head coach Warren Gatland will name his 33-strong squad for the tournament on Monday – proved a horribly one-sided affair.
It was the first time in either of Gatland’s reigns as head coach that Wales had conceded 50 or more points.
South Africa send message to Rugby World Cup rivals with Wales demolition
Wales 16-52 South Africa: The Springboks scored a record amount of points in Wales as Siya Kolisi returned from long-term injury
Costelow is one for right now says Gatland
Warren Gatland has four fly-halves in his wider training squad: Dan Biggar, Gareth Anscombe, Owen Williams and Sam Costelow with Costelow, who is just 22-years-old, seemingly set to miss out if one of them were to be dropped from the World Cup squad.
Gatland, however, is unsure and has himself admitted that Costelow could well be a valuable addition to the squad right now.
“When you think about our 10s, they’re all different, have different strengths and have had different experiences,” the Wales head coach said on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast last week.
“You’ve got someone like Sam Costelow who’s definitely going to be one for the future but he could be one for now as well.
“He’s got a great skillset, he gets the ball through his hands, he’s really aware of space, he’s a lot quicker than people think for not a big man, and he’s as brave as hell.
“He’s got a few things to work on - his kicking game, he’s aware of that. But from an attacking perspective he gives you something.”
Can Wales take Halfpenny?
Warren Gatland has lost a lot of experience following the retirements of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb and he has to decide whether he can afford to leave out experienced full-back Leigh Halfpenny.
Wales are considering taking four players to cover full-back and wings with Halfpenny providing a specialist and dependable number 15 option alongside Liam Williams.
Whether Halfpenny is selected ahead of wings Louis Rees-Zammit, Josh Adams, Rio Dyer and Alex Cuthbert remains to be seen though and Wales will struggle to fit everybody in.
How many injured players will Gatland pick?
Nine players in Wales’ current squad have niggles, with fly-half Gareth Anscombe, wing Alex Cuthbert and No. 8 Taulupe Faletau not playing a single minute of the three warm-up games this month.
Cuthbert (calf), fly-half Dan Biggar (back) and full-back Liam Williams (hamstring) all pulled out of the South Africa match because of minor problems, in moves which were labelled “precautionary”.
Hookers Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias, lock Dafydd Jenkins and back-row forward Taine Plumtree suffered injuries during Wales’ home and away appointments with England.
How will Gatland see the process of selecting injured players? Is there enough cover if they’re not fit to play, can they recover in time for the start of the World Cup? Will it be better to select someone with less experience but who can perform to at their best?
Gatland started whittling down the Wales squad on Saturday
Wales’ defeat to South Africa was the final blow to kick Warren Gatland into gear when deciding which players will be part of Wales’ Rugby World Cup squad.
The Dragons’ head coach spoke after the match on Saturday and began the process of reducing his current squad to just 33 names.
“A lot of questions have been answered. We’ll go back to the hotel, sit down and hopefully finalise it. If we need to have more discussion, we can do that tomorrow (Sunday) morning,” he said after the loss to the Springboks.
“We wanted to give everyone an opportunity and we wanted to find out about players. There’s no doubt we are going to pick up injuries during the World Cup as well, and every team will do that.
“Players who have had some game time, that have been a part of the squad for the last number of weeks, will hopefully then be able come in a little bit better prepared if needed. For a large number of those they would have learnt a huge amount from today’s experience.”
Wales kick-off their Pool C campaign against Fiji in Bordeaux on Sunday, 10 September.
Williams hoping for World Cup call-up after chemotherapy
Johnny Williams is on the verge of a World Cup dream four years after he watched the last tournament from a hospital bed.
The centre is an option in midfield for Wales head coach Warren Gatland who is putting the finishing touches on his 33-player squad for the tournament which is due to be announced at 12pm today.
If Williams makes the final cut it would be an incredible achievement following his diagnosis of testicular cancer at the age of 22 in June 2019.
“Four years ago, I was watching the World Cup from a hospital bed, so the ability to maybe play at the tournament four years later is hard to sum up in words,” Williams said when remembering his chemotherapy treatments from four years ago.
“Every working day has been towards playing for Wales and going to the World Cup ever since I can remember from the age of six-years-old when my dad was bringing me to the stadium to watch Wales.
“It would be hard to sum up, considering where I was four years ago. I have dreamt about one day going to a World Cup.
“My dad took me to Cardiff to watch the internationals. I just remember that I really wanted to be on the pitch and to play for Wales.
“Hopefully, it will all be topped off on Monday with selection for the World Cup.”
Gatland on Wales’ Rugby World Cup warm-ups
Wales’ defeat to the Springboks at the weekend was their third and final warm-up before the World Cup begins. Head coach Warren Gatland now has three weeks to hone his squad before launching his fourth campaign in charge of the Dragons.
“I was pleased with the first couple of games in terms of the physicality we brought against England. We weren’t quite there against South Africa,” he admitted.
“The breakdown needs to be a cleaner and it was a little bit disjointed from an attack perspective. We created some nice chances down the short-side, and we probably needed to look at that a little bit more.
“I thought our box kicking was effective but we didn’t have enough variation in terms of cross-field kicks and kicks in behind. They were pretty much front loaded in terms of having 14 in the line and space in behind.
“We’ll look at those things and see where we can get better in terms of putting the team under a little bit more pressure. For us we’ve got to be more accurate with ball in hand and not give away soft points.”
The 48 Wales players Gatland has to select from
Here’s a look at the current Wales squad before Warren Gatland needs to cut it down to 33 this afternoon:
Forwards (26): Corey Domachowski, Kemsley Mathias, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Ryan Elias, Dewi Lake, Sam Parry, Keiron Assiratti, Tomas Francis, Dillon Lewis, Henry Thomas, Adam Beard, Ben Carter, Rhys Davies, Dafydd Jenkins, Will Rowlands, Christ Tshiunza, Teddy Williams, Taine Basham, Dan Lydiate, Jac Morgan, Taine Plumtree, Taulupe Faletau, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.
Backs (22): Gareth Davies, Kieran Hardy, Tomos Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Dan Biggar, Sam Costelow, Owen Williams, Mason Grady, Max Llewellyn, George North, Nick Tompkins, Johnny Williams, Joe Roberts, Keiran Williams, Josh Adams, Alex Cuthbert, Rio Dyer, Cai Evans, Leigh Halfpenny, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Rogers, Liam Williams.
15 players set to miss out on Rugby World Cup
15 players will today learn that they have not been included in Wales’ Rugby World Cup squad when the 48-man squad is cut down to 33.
Players can elect to receive an email, phone call or text shortly before the public announcement should they be unlucky in selection.
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