Overlooked Wales prop Henry Thomas swaps Top 14 clubs

Wales prop Henry Thomas has joined Top 14 outfit Castres with immediate effect until the end of the season, with the club announcing his move just hours after he missed out on Warren Gatland’s 34-player squad for the Guinness Six Nations.

The 32-year-old has previously been playing for Montpellier, having signed as a medical joker at the beginning of the season. In a complex series of events, he had been with Montpellier since joining from Bath in 2021, but the Top 14 outfit chose not to renew his contract in the summer. Shortly after, he was picked by Wales and made their World Cup squad, earning four caps.

After the World Cup, the tighthead rejoined Montpellier as a medical joker, in which he said he was still eligible for Wales as he had only signed a contract extension to the one that he originally signed when he was uncapped by Wales.

However, by choosing to made the journey westward to Castres instead of northward to a Welsh region, the seven-cap England international is no longer eligible to play for Wales as he falls under the 25-cap threshold to play abroad.

While the move puts Thomas’ Wales career on hold for the time being, the deal is only until the end of the season, which means he could revive his international career should he move to a Welsh club next season.

Thomas is not the only capped prop to miss out on Gatland’s squad, with Harlequins’ 54-cap tighthead and the Ospreys’ 46-cap loosehead Nicky Smith also being overlooked.