Wales Students head coach Craig Fisher has named his squad of 20 for the Four Nations that will take place in England later this year.
Seven of the players remain from last season’s squad with three of the 13 newcomers coming through Wales Rugby League’s development system.
George Birch, who has played for Newcastle Thunder this season, and Jamie Jenkins, former of Cardiff Blue Dragons but now a North Wales Crusaders player, are both Wales junior internationals. Ed Weston, the oldest player at 38-years old, was a Wales Dragonhearts international in 2012.
This means that ten players will be pulling on the Welsh shirt in rugby league for the first time.
Fisher said: “We have assembled a coaching staff in Jon Burgess, Pete Eccles and Doug Owen who are equipped to deliver the success we strive for.
“We have retained some standouts from last year, most notably our Captain Oscar Fisher and vice-captain Ben Luxford. We have in place now a more physically robust and competitive squad of players that we feel can deal with the challenges and rigor of playing three games in a week against some tough opponents.
“We have a few months now to work on our systems and make our environment as tough as possible so we can adapt instantly to the environment of the Four Nations.”
The fixture dates and venue for the tournament are yet to be announced.
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Wales Squad: Garin Nicholls (Abingdon and Witney College), Ben Luxford (University of Birmingham), Jamie Jenkins*, Dylan Morgan (both Cardiff and Vale College), Jacob Purcell, Scott Simons (both Cardiff Metropolitan University), Gabriel Holt (University of Central Lancashire), Joseph Caldwell* (Lancaster University), Oscar Fisher (Leeds College of Building), Jac McGuffie* (Liverpool John Moore University), Lloyd Evans*, Morgan Owen*, Ed Weston* (all Coleg Llandrillo), George Birch* (Northumbria University), Oliver Firth*, Jack Hunter*, Oliver Moody*, Thomas Moore*, Euan Owen*, Alfie Velasco* (all Swansea University)
* potential Wales Students debutants.
