Jac Morgan to captain Wales against Barbarians

Jac Morgan will captain Wales in next month’s fixture with Barbarians.

Wales will host the invitational side at Principality Stadium on November 4 in a match which will act as a tribute to former skipper Alun Wyn Jones, who retired from international rugby in May.

Head coach Warren Gatland has called up seven players to the 23-man squad who did not feature in Wales’ World Cup campaign and named Morgan as the outright captain after he shared leadership duties with Dewi Lake in France.

No players based in France, England or Japan are selected due to this game falling outside of the international window.

Gatland said: “For this match we have a good mix of players who were part of the Rugby World Cup squad and some other players that we have worked with previously.

“We’ve decided to go with a smaller squad than usual to prepare for the game because we wanted to help the regions as much as we can by not taking too many of their players away.

“Our next World Cup cycle starts now. When you look at the potential of the players we have coming through it’s exciting.”

Wales squad: Fowards: Corey Domachowski (Cardiff), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Dewi Lake (Ospreys), Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff), Leon Brown (Dragons), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Ben Carter (Dragons), Teddy Williams (Cardiff), Dan Lydiate (Dragons), Jac Morgan (Ospreys, capt) Taine Plumtree (Scarlets), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons)

Backs: Kieran Hardy (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Cardiff), Sam Costelow (Scarlets), Cai Evans (Dragons), Mason Grady (Cardiff), George North (Ospreys), Johnny Williams (Scarlets), Rio Dyer (Dragons), Leigh Halfpenny (unattached), Tom Rogers (Scarlets).