| Wales Coach, Steve Hansen, gave a vote of confidence to the majority of his Rugby World Cup squad when he named the thirty-one man party to contest the 2004 RBS Six Nations Championship, this morning.
Injured full backs Kevin Morgan and Mark Jones miss out, as does hooker, Huw Bennett, who has struggled with injury since his return from Australia and will be given the opportunity to get maximum game time in the U21 Six Nations Championship. The only other player to miss out is lock, Chris Wyatt, who has been struggling over the last month to make the Scarlets starting line up.
These players have been replaced by Cardiff Blues centre Jamie Robinson, hooker Gareth Williams, wing Craig Morgan and Dragons utility back Hal Luscombe.
Each have been rewarded for their good regional Heineken Cup form with selection. The other feature of the squad is the return to the international scene of Dragons lock Michael Owen who was forced to miss the Rugby World Cup due to injury.
Tarbes back row Colin Charvis retains the Wales Captaincy.
"We are happy with the form of all the players we have in the squad," said Hansen. "The process has been made more difficult than normal due to the number of players who have been in good form throughout the regions.
"Rather than seeing this as a negative we look at it as a positive, the more competition we have for places not only within but outside the squad, the better it is for Welsh rugby."
Wales RBS Six Nations Squad
Backs
Craig Morgan (Cardiff Blues)
Jamie Robinson (Cardiff Blues)
Rhys Williams (Cardiff Blues)
Garan Evans (Llanelli Scarlets)
Gareth Thomas (Celtic Warriors)
Mark Taylor (Llanelli Scarlets)
Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues)
Sonny Parker (Celtic Warriors)
Iestyn Harris (Cardiff Blues)
Ceri Sweeney (Celtic Warriors)
Stephen Jones (Llanelli Scarlets)
Dwayne Peel (Llanelli Scarlets)
Gareth Cooper (Celtic Warriors)
Shane Williams (Ospreys)
Hal Luscombe (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Forwards
Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys)
Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues)
Colin Charvis (Tarbes)
Dafydd Jones (Llanelli Scarlets)
Alix Popham (Leeds Tykes)
Michael Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons)
Gareth Llewellyn (Ospreys)
Robert Sidoli (Celtic Warriors)
Brent Cockbain (Celtic Warriors)
Gethin Jenkins (Celtic Warriors)
Adam Jones (Ospreys)
Duncan Jones (Ospreys)
Iestyn Thomas (Llanelli Scarlets)
Robin McBryde (Llanelli Scarlets)
Gareth Williams (Cardiff Blues)
Mefin Davies (Celtic Warraiors)
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