And for coach Patrick Horgan’s side, it all starts against Italy this evening (Friday) at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea (7.10).
“We are all excited at the prospect of competing in this tournament, especially as host nation,” admitted Horgan.
“We have had injury problems during the season, but in the end we have been able to select from a position of relative strength with the returns to fitness and form of some of last season’s top performers like Sam Warburton.
“Sam is a talismanic leader both on and off the field and did a fantastic job as Wales Under 19 captain last season. He has been in exceptional form for the Wanderers and, although it is disappointing to lose Nic Cudd through injury, the returns of Sam and Dan Franks will boost our back row efforts.”
Whilst Horgan waxes lyrical about his back row strength – Josh Turnbull completes a gifted triumvirate – it is behind the scrum where Wales will look to make hay.
Jonathan Davies and Gareth Owen form a wonderfully dynamic midfield whilst Dan Biggar’s presence at outside half will provide Pool D opponents Italy, Japan and France with plenty to think about.
Horgan said, “We were delighted with the way in which we played and competed in the Six Nations and to lose only one game is a record we can be proud of.
“Having said that, we eased off against Italy and were pushed all the way against France. We can’t afford to do that again or we are sure to get punished.”
Far from being littered with stars, the Azzurri will pose a significant threat at forward where their size and power was a key element of the Championship game at Rodney Parade.
Wales ran out 33-13 winners in the end before making sure of second place behind England with a 20-16 victory, once again in Newport, over France.
Morgan Parra and Yann David are likely to be two of the stand out players in a French side that also includes giant centre Mathieu Bastareaud.
Before Wales and Italy get to grips, fans at the Liberty Stadium will get a chance to run the rule over France when they meet Japan in the opening Pool game (5.00pm).
Match tickets are on sale at £2 for children and £8 for adults and can be bought at the Liberty Stadium Ticket Office right up until kick-off.
France: Julien Dumora; Benjamin Fall, Yann David, Mathieu Bastareaud, Guillaume Namy; Mathieu Belie, Morgan Parra (Capt); Nicolas Agnesi, Clement Maynadier, Kevin Kervarec, Yoann Maestri, Adam Jaulhac, Jeremy Braille, Louis Madaule, Raphael Lakafia
Replacements: Marc Antoine Rallier, Clement Ric, Jean Baptiste Roidot, Wencelas Lauret, Thierry Lacrampe, Alexandre Dumoulin, Henry Chavancy
Japan: Tsuyoshi Iguchi; Daisuke Natsui, Yasutaka Sasakura, Aisea Havea, Kanzo Nakahama; Ryohei Yamanaka, Mizuki Yanagihara; Masataka Mikami, Ryuhei Arita, Shinsuke Ono, Pohiva Lotoahea, Eiri Nakada, Tsuyoshi Murata, Hiraoki Sugimoto, Michael Leitch (Capt)
Replacements: Koichi Nitta, Motoki Yamazaki, Keiichi Tanaka, Takaya Kato, Shuhei Oshima, Takamasa Okubo, Katsuyuki Sakai
Wales: Daniel Evans; Leigh Halfpenny, Jonathan Davies, Gareth Owen, Jimmy Norris; Daniel Biggar, Rhys Webb; Ryan Bevington, Rhys Lawrence, Scott Andrews, Haydn Pugh, Jevon Groves, Josh Turnbull, Dan Franks, Sam Warburton (Capt)
Replacements: Ryan Prosser, Sam Hobbs, Ashley Sweet, Lloyd Phillips, Jason Tovey, Gareth Williams, Luke Ford,
Italy: Andrea Pratichetti; Andrea Bacchetti, Roberto Quartaroli, Alberto Chiesa (Capt), Edoardo Rotella; Riccardo Bocchino, Carlo Vannini; Andrea De Marchi, Tommaso D’Apice, Massimiliano Ravalle, Emiliano Caffini, Alberto Cazzola, Filippo Giusti, Simone Favaro, Luca Petillo
Replacements: Otis Lombardi, Luca Zara, Lorenzo Sebastiani, Joshua Furno, Rudolph Mernone, Giovanni Massaro, Alessandro Castagnoli
