Ponty four make Wales Six Nations squad
Four Blues players whose development careers were strongly linked to Pontypridd RFC have been included in the 36 man Wales senior squad in preparation for the 2021 Guinness Six Nations campaign.
Fly-half Jarrod Evans, prop Dillon Lewis and lock Cory Hill all came up through the ranks of Pontypridd Mini & Juniors whilst scrum half Tomos Williams is a Treorchy product who featured regularly for Ponty at Premiership and BIC levels. Williams returns to the squad having missed the Autumn Internationals with a shoulder injury.
Upcoming pivot Jarrod Evans (pictured) has been in impressive form lately for Cardiff Blues and will seek to establish himself at senior international level, adding to his six cap haul.
Wales’ Six Nations campaign is due to kick off with a home tie against Ireland on 7th February.
Announcing his squad, national coach Wayne Pivac said:
“We are hugely looking forward to meeting up as a squad and to the forthcoming campaign. 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.
“We have picked a squad for this tournament based on form and we are excited to get our preparation underway.”
WALES 2021 GUINNESS SIX NATIONS SQUAD
Forwards:
Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues) Wyn Jones (Scarlets) Rhodri Jones (Ospreys) Elliot Dee (Dragons)
Ryan Elias (Scarlets) Ken Owens (Scarlets) Leon Brown (Dragons) Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs)
Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues) Jake Ball (Scarlets) Adam Beard (Ospreys) Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
Will Rowlands (Wasps) Cory Hill (Cardiff Blues) Dan Lydiate (Ospreys) Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues)
Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) Taulupe Faletau (Bath) Josh MacLeod (Scarlets) Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)
Backs:
Gareth Davies (Scarlets) Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) Kieran Hardy (Scarlets)
Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints) Callum Sheedy (Bristol Bears) Jarrod Evans (Cardiff Blues)
Johnny Williams (Scarlets) Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) Nick Tompkins (Dragons)
Owen Watkin (Ospreys) George North (Ospreys) Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues)
Hallam Amos (Cardiff Blues) Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester) Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets)
Liam Williams (Scarlets)
