Wales have rested all but two of their 12 players who toured New Zealand with the Lions last year for next month’s game against South Africa in Washington and two Tests in Argentina.
The Gloucester flanker Ross Moriarty and the Northampton wing George North, who are joining the Dragons and Ospreys respectively in the summer, have had injury-disrupted seasons, and have been selected but the Wales captain, Alun Wyn Jones, the No 8 Taulupe Faletau, the fly-half Dan Biggar, the wing Liam Williams, the full-back Leigh Halfpenny and the hooker Ken Owens are among those remaining in Wales to rest in readiness for a busy year which culminates with the World Cup in Japan.
Warren Gatland has named co-captains for the tour. Cory Hill, the Dragons’ second-row, featured throughout the Six Nations campaign but the choice of the flanker Ellis Jenkins, who recovered from injury to spearhead Cardiff Blues’ progress to Friday’s European Challenge Cup final against Gloucester in Bilbao, was a surprise.
There is only one uncapped player in the 31-strong squad, the scrum-half Tomas Williams, as Wales prepare for life without Rhys Webb, who is joining Toulon and will be unavailable under a new rule as he turned down a regional contract having played fewer than 60 Tests, but 15 of the squad have a single-figure number of caps, including Jenkins, who has six.
Gatland has recalled Bath’s veteran second-row Luke Charteris to add his experience. He is one of four players, North, Scott Williams and Bradley Davies are the others, who have more than 50 caps. Gareth Anscombe and Rhys Patchell will vie for the fly-half jersey while the Worcester wing Josh Adams, who scored 12 Premiership tries this season, and the Scarlets wing Tom Prydie, who won the first of his seven caps eight years ago when he became the youngest player to appear for Wales having just turned 18, are included.
“It is a great opportunity for this squad to build experience and we will give players as much game time as possible,” said Gatland. Cory and Ellis are both leaders who have experience captaining at regional level and this is an opportunity for them to develop on that.”
Gregor Townsend, meanwhile, has named six new faces in his Scotland squad for their summer tour of the United States, Canada and Argentina.
The Edinburgh hooker Stuart McInally will captain a squad which features the uncapped Lewis Carmichael, Matt Fagerson, Adam Hastings, George Horne, James Lang and Jamie Ritchie.
Hastings – the 21-year-old Glasgow fly-half – is the son of the former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings and the nephew of Scott.
Townsend said: “There are twin goals for this tour – the first is to build on the work we’ve done so far this season and finish with improved performances. We also have the World Cup in our thoughts, as this will be our last tour before we leave for Japan next year.”
Wales and Scotland tour squads
Wales and Scotland summer tour squads
Wales squad – backs A Davies (Scarlets), G Davies (Scarlets), T Williams (Cardiff Blues), G Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), R Patchell (Scarlets), H Parkes (Scarlets), O Watkin (Ospreys), S Williams (Scarlets), J Adams (Worcester), H Amos (Dragons), S Evans (Scarlets), G North (Northampton), T Prydie (Scarlets). Forwards R Evans (Scarlets), W Jones (Scarlets), N Smith (Ospreys), T Francis (Exeter), S Lee (Scarlets), D Lewis (Cardiff Blues), E Dee (Dragons), R Elias (Scarlets), A Beard (Ospreys), B Davies (Ospreys), S Davies (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Bath), C Hill (Dragons, co-captain), J Davies (Scarlets), E Jenkins (Cardiff Blues, co-captain), R Moriarty (Gloucester), J Navidi (Cardiff Blues), A Shingler (Scarlets).
Scotland squad – backs N Grigg (Glasgow Warriors), C Harris (Newcastle Falcons), A Hastings (Glasgow Warriors), S Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby), A Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), S Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), G Horne (Glasgow Warriors), P Horne (Glasgow Warriors), R Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), L Jones (Glasgow Warriors), B Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby), J Lang (Harlequins), B McGuigan (Sale Sharks), A Price (Glasgow Warriors), D Taylor (Saracens). Forwards S Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby), J Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors), M Bradbury (Edinburgh Rugby), F Brown (Glasgow Warriors), L Carmichael (Edinburgh Rugby), A Dell (Edinburgh Rugby), D Denton (Worcester Warriors), M Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Z Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), R Gray (Toulouse), L Hamilton (Leicester Tigers), M McCallum (Edinburgh Rugby), S McInally (Edinburgh Rugby), J Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby), T Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), G Turner (Glasgow Warriors), B Toolis (Edinburgh Rugby)
