Yapp gets Wales call

Wales coach Mike Ruddock has named one uncapped player – Cardiff Blues prop John Yapp – in his squad for this season’s RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Ruddock today announced 30 players, and left an additional front-row vacancy, with Neath-Swansea Ospreys prop Duncan Jones currently recovering from a broken thumb and Llanelli Scarlets’ Iestyn Thomas nursing a neck problem.

Despite the Blues’ poor run of Heineken Cup and Celtic League results, Yapp has forced his way into the Wales reckoning, while there is also a recall for 21-times capped Newport Gwent Dragons lock Ian Gough.

But Ruddock has predictably retained the players who served him well during the autumn Test programme, when Wales suffered agonising defeats against southern hemisphere giants South Africa and New Zealand.

Wales open their Six Nations campaign against world champions England at the Millennium Stadium on February 5.

Wales squad for the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Backs: G Thomas (Toulouse, capt), K Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Williams (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), H Luscombe (Newport Gwent Dragons), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues), S Parker (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), G Henson (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), C Sweeney (Newport Gwent Dragons), Stephen Jones (Clermont Auvergne), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets), G Cooper (Newport Gwent Dragons), M Phillips (Llanelli Scarlets).

Forwards: A Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), A N Other, J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), M Davies (Gloucester), R McBryde (Llanelli Scarlets), Steve Jones (Newport Gwent Dragons), B Cockbain (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), G Llewellyn (Narbonne), R Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), I Gough (Newport Gwent Dragons), D Jones (Llanelli Scarlets), J Thomas (Neath-Swansea Ospreys), C Charvis (Newcastle), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Jones (Neath-Swansea Ospreys).