Wales out to make impact in Cape Town

Lloyd Evans returns from the minor injury which ruled him out of Dubai, and Morgan Williams rejoins the squad after his involvement with Scarlets in South Africa. Durham University’s Cai Devine (a try-scorer on debut against Fiji) is this weekend named 13th man. 

“Cai is very unlucky to miss out in Cape Town, because he had a good debut tournament last week and continues to grow in the environment,” commented head coach Gareth Williams. “We’re very excited about his future with us and as a developing young player in Wales. 

“Lloyd has trained brilliantly all summer and was an excellent performer in our tournament win in Elche in Spain last October, so it’s exciting to send him out on the World Series.

“It’s great to have Morgan Williams back in the fold from a playing point of view, and with his character in the group. Losing George Gasson is a shame as he did very well in his first appearance for us last week, but the ankle injury he picked up rules him out this week.”

Wales have been drawn in Pool D this Saturday alongside Fiji (08:37 GMT), Samoa (11:36 GMT) and Canada (14:57 GMT). A number of Wales’ young debutants made an impact in Dubai, not least 18-year-old Tomi Lewis who was second-top try-scorer after crossing the line seven times.

“This week offers another exciting opportunity to build on a lot of positives from last week’s performances,” Williams continued, “and we are aiming to make more of an impact on another highly-competitive group.”

Wales Sevens Squad (Dubai): Luke Treharne (Wales Sevens); Tomi Lewis (Scarlets); Phil Jones (Ospreys); Luke Morgan (Wales Sevens); Owen Jenkins (Wales Sevens); Cameron Lewis (Cardiff Blues); Ethan Davies (Wales Sevens); Lloyd Evans (Wales Sevens); Adam Thomas (Wales Sevens); Morgan Williams (Wales Sevens/Scarlets); Will Talbot-Davies (Dragons); Joe Jenkins (Wales Sevens/Ospreys).

The World Rugby Sevens Series will be shown live on Sky Sports from 9th-10th December.