With an average of just 22, only Japan have fewer caps of all the core teams going into tomorrow’s competition. Among the squad is newcomer Billy McBryde, last year’s Wales U20 Grand Slam-winning fly-half, whilst Owen Lane returns to the side after featuring in the 2017 U20 Six Nations.
“We’ve taken the opportunity this week to further develop the squad with these two young players coming in,” says head coach Gareth Williams. “It highlights the commitment to our role in Welsh Rugby to work with the regions in the development of such players in this hugely competitive series. We are fully aware of our responsibility and are very proud of how we’ve managed to do this over the course of the season.”
The ability to expose young players to tournaments also increases the squad’s depth moving towards next year’s Commonwealth Games and World Cup, Williams says. “A lot of decisions this season are being made with the long term very much in mind, both with regards to individual player development, but also for squad development moving towards a landmark season.”
Despite mixed results in Hong Kong, Wales can take several positives from the tournament. They were the only team to face Fiji and not lose last weekend, earning a 17-17 draw against Gareth Baber’s team, who went on to cruise to a 22-0 win against series leaders South Africa in the Cup Final.
A highly competitive Pool D in Singapore sees Wales take on USA, Scotland and New Zealand. Full tournament information here.
Wales Sevens squad for Singapore
Sam Cross (co-captain)
James Benjamin (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Owen Lane (Cardiff Blues)
Lloyd Evans
Owen Jenkins
Luke Treharne (co-captain)
Billy McBryde (Scarlets)
Ethan Davies
Morgan Williams (Ospreys)
Jared Rosser (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Luke Morgan
Ben Roach
