Dafydd Jenkins to captain Wales as squad named after shock LRZ news

Warren Gatland has named Exeter Chiefs lock Dafydd Jenkins as his new Wales captain for this year’s Guinness Six Nations, in what is a young squad.

The 21-year-old will be the second-youngest player to captain Wales, and he will lead a squad with five uncapped players (Alex Mann, Mackenzie Martin, Evan Lloyd, Cameron Winnett and Archie Griffin), which has an average age of 25.

After a raft of experienced players retired from Test rugby in 2023, this focus of this Championship was always going to be to blood a new generation of players into the squad. That is why, on top of the five uncapped players, there is a further eleven that have fewer than ten caps.

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With World Cup co-captains Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake injured, Gatland has again opted for another young captain. That is not unlike the Kiwi though, who made Sam Warburton the captain of Wales at the age of 22. At the age of 21, Jenkins is set usurp Warburton’s record of being the second-youngest Wales captain, with only Gareth Edwards, who captained Wales at 20, beating him.

The squad was announced just minutes after winger Louis Rees-Zammit confirmed that he will quit rugby with immediate effect to join the NFL International Player Pathway (IPP).

Another noticeable exclusion is Exeter Chiefs’ Cardiff-born winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso after weeks of speculation over whether he will represent Wales or England. His exclusion all but confirms his place in Steve Borthwick’s England squad, which will be announced tomorrow.

After naming his squad, Gatland said: “There’s a little bit of experience in terms of players like George North and Gareth Davies – we wanted a little bit of continuity with that and we’re also thinking about the next RWC cycle and giving some youngsters an opportunity, some youngsters that are not featuring regularly for their club sides.

“I’m really excited about those youngsters and that opportunity to develop them over the next four years. The average age of the squad is about 25 compared to a little bit older during RWC and then you look at this next cycle and you want to get those players to mid to late 20s in terms of experience and age.

“What I’ve learned in the past is that even though we’ve done all that hard work in terms of preparation and build up to the RWC. For me it’s about going back the start a little bit, going back to honing the basics and hammering away at that and almost like starting again. You have to reset in terms of our goals and what we want to achieve. I think Scotland at home is a good game for us, they’re a quality side, they’ll be disappointed with what happened with them in terms of not getting out of the pool at the world cup.

“For us it’s a great game to start at home with a full crowd, packed stadium, exactly what you want under a bit of pressure. If you can get off to a good start and win your opening game then it gives you an opportunity to go further in the tournament.

“This first game is incredibly important to us and those first two weeks in terms of putting in the hard word and bringing the squad together. I hope people can see that what we’re trying to do with the team is to develop some of these youngsters to help support the regions I think that’s really, really important in terms of us working together as a collective going forward – developing the young players but also preparing for a good Six Nations and for the future.”

Wales’ 34-player squad
Forwards (19)
Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 6 caps)
Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets – 1 cap)
Gareth Thomas (Ospreys / Gweilch – 26 caps)
Elliot Dee (Dragons / Dreigiau – 46 caps)
Ryan Elias (Scarlets – 38 caps)
Evan Lloyd (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped / heb gap)
Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 2 caps)
Leon Brown (Dragons / Dreigiau – 23 caps)
Archie Griffin (Bath Rugby – uncapped / heb gap)
Adam Beard (Ospreys / Gweilch – 51 caps)
Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs / Caerwysg – 12 caps)
Will Rowlands (Racing 92 – 29 caps)
Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 1 cap)
Taine Basham (Dragons / Dreigiau – 16 caps)
James Botham (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 9 caps)
Alex Mann (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – uncapped / heb gap)
Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – uncapped / heb gap)
Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers / Caerlr – 13 caps)
Aaron Wainwright (Dragons / Dreigiau – 43 caps)

Backs (15)
Gareth Davies (Scarlets – 74 caps)
Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 18 caps)
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 53 caps)
Sam Costelow (Scarlets – 8 caps)
Cai Evans (Dragons / Dreigiau – 1 cap)
Ioan Lloyd (Scarlets – 2 caps)
Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 6 caps)
George North (Ospreys / Gweilch – 118 caps)
Joe Roberts (Scarlets – 1 cap)
Nick Tompkins (Saracens / Saraseniaid – 32 caps)
Owen Watkin (Ospreys / Gweilch – 36 caps)
Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – 53 caps)
Rio Dyer (Dragons / Dreigiau – 14 caps)
Tom Rogers (Scarlets – 3 caps)
Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby / Caerdydd – uncapped / heb gap)