Warren Gatland announces Wales 39-man preliminary squad for 2011 pre-World Cup matches
Wales national rugby union team’s head coach, Warren Gatland, has announced a preliminary 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) squad that will participate in Wales' upcoming pre-world Cup warm-up matches
against England and Argentina in August. Gatland listed his squad on Friday, July 29.
The squad was named at the end of Wales' second 2011 RWC training camp at Spala, Poland. Earlier in July, Gatland had announced a 35-man team for the second leg of the training camps.
Gatland has dropped Rob McCusker from the squad. McCusker is struggling with a back problem and failed to recover in time to retain his place in the squad.
Four new players have been added to the 35-man squad announced earlier. The players are Sale Sharks lock Andy Powell, Ospreys flanker Jonathan Thomas, Blues front row forward Scott Andrews
and Scarlets hooker Ken Owens.
Commenting on the occasion, Gatland confirmed that the final 30-man squad for the 2011 RWC will be selected from the set of 39 players. He added, “We have established a nucleus of players who
will form our RWC squad based on their performances in training over recent weeks, but it is now time to translate those efforts onto the field.”
Regarding the selection of the candidates in the final Wales squad for 2011 RWC, Gatland said, “The players have worked hard, but places in that final World Cup squad are still very much up
for grabs and a lot will depend on what we see over the course of these next three games.”
Wales will fly to Twickenham to play against England on Saturday, August 6. A week later, they will host England at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
The Wales 39-man preliminary 2011 RWC squad announced by Gatland on Friday, July 29 includes:
Scott Andrews, Gethin Jenkins (Blues), Lloyd Burns (Dragons), Huw Bennett, Ryan Bevington, Adam Jones, Paul James (Ospreys), Ken Owens, Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Craig Mitchell (Exeter Chiefs),
Bradley Davies, Sam Warburton, Martyn Williams (Blues), Luke Charteris, Danny Lydiate, Toby Faletau (Dragons), Ryan Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull, (Scarlets), Gareth Delve (Melbourne Rebels), Andy Powell (Sale
Sharks), Michael Phillips (Bayonne), Lloyd Williams (Blues), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets),Jamie Roberts (Blues), James Hook (Perpignan) Jonathan Davies, Stephen Jones, Rhys Priestland, Scott Williams (Scarlets), Gavin Henson (unattached),Leigh Halfpenny (Blues),
Lee Byrne (Clermont Auvergne), Aled Brew (Dragons), Shane Williams (Ospreys), George North, Morgan Stoddart (Scarlets).
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7067011,00.html
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