Brynamman star Jac Morgan to co-captain Wales at Rugby World Cup

The 23-year-old Ospreys flanker, from Brynamman, led Wales in two of their three warm-up Tests, and will share the responsibility with hooker Dewi Lake who captained Wales in the second warm-up match against England before being replaced due to injury.

Head coach Warren Gatland has today - Monday, August 21 - named his 33-man squad to compete in the tournament in France.

Jac Morgan captained Wales in World Cup warm-up Tests against England and South Africa (David Davies/PA)

Morgan will be following previous Wales skippers like Sam Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones and Gareth Thomas in captaining his country on the sport’s biggest stage and memories would also be evoked of Warburton being appointed as a 22-year-old for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, when Gatland masterminded a run to the semi-finals.

Also included in the 33-man squad is winger Josh Adams who began his career playing for Hendy RFC.

Centre George North, Wales’ most-capped senior men’s back with 114 appearances, will compete in his fourth Rugby World Cup.

Fly-half Dan Biggar, Wales’ second most-capped back behind North with 109 appearances, scrum-half Gareth Davies, tighthead prop Tomas Francis, blindside flanker Dan Lydiate and full-backs Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams will all compete in their third Rugby World Cup.


Loosehead prop Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby) and tighthead prop Henry Thomas (Montpellier) are included having won their first senior caps for Wales during the Summer Series matches this August.

Twenty-year old second row Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs) is the youngest member of the squad.

“The toughest part of the job is always selection and this is particularly the case when it comes to picking a Rugby World Cup squad,” said Gatland.

“Over the past three months the whole group of 48 players in the wider training squad has been outstanding in terms of attitude and effort, so having to reduce the squad down to the final 33 has been really hard and there have been some close final decisions in the last 36 hours.

“But we can only take 33 players and those we have selected we think offer a good combination in terms of talent and experience.

“We have a few more training sessions here in Wales before we depart for France on 3 September and we cannot wait to get out there and get started in this tournament. We look forward to what lies ahead for this group.

“This will be a very proud moment for these players, their families and friends and I’d like to congratulate them all on the achievement.”

Wales squad for the Rugby World Cup in France:

FORWARDS (19)

Taine Basham
Adam Beard
Elliot Dee
Corey Domachowski
Ryan Elias
Taulupe Faletau
Tomas Francis
Dafydd Jenkins
Dewi Lake
Dillon Lewis
Dan Lydiate
Jac Morgan
Tommy Reffell
Will Rowlands
Nicky Smith
Gareth Thomas
Henry Thomas
Christ Tshiunza
Aaron Wainwright

BACKS (14)
Josh Adams 
Gareth Anscombe
Dan Biggar 
Sam Costelow
Gareth Davies
Rio Dyer
Mason Grady
Leigh Halfpenny
George North
Louis Rees-Zammit
Nick Tompkins
Johnny Williams
Liam Williams
Tomos Williams