Warren Gatland has named a massive 54-man squad with a host of uncapped players inlcuded but no place for Joe Hawkins.
Cardiff Rugby boast five uncapped playersin the squad, with Corey Domachowski, Keiron Assiratti, Will Davies-King, Teddy Williams and Max Llewellyn selected. Scarlets duo Kemsley Mathias and Joe Roberts are also new faces, while Ospreys duo Cai Evans and Keiran Williams are included.
Perhaps the most surprising uncapped name is Montpellier prop Henry Thomas, who has previously played seven times for England but is eligible due to new rules that allow players to switch allegiance after a stand down period of three years. He qualifies through his Welsh father.
Elsewhere, there's no place for the likes of Wyn Jones, Bradley Roberts, Thomas Young and Joe Hawkins, but Will Rowlands and Cory Hill are both selected.
As had been expected, five-cap centre Joe Hawkins misses out. The Exeter-bound playmaker needed to provide evidence that he hadn't signed a contract with the Premiership club before being called up by Wales last October.
That always seemed unlikely, given the Ospreys had claimed to have been in talks with the player up until weeks before his move to England was announced in April.
Regardless of how likely his selection was, losing a player whom Gatland had started in four out of the five Six Nations matches is undoubtedly a blow as the Wales coach heads back to square one in terms of his midfield selection.
However, selecting last year's Welsh Rugby Writers' player of the year Rowlands is a boost - given his own availability was also up in the air. Two short of the 25-caps required to carry on playing for Wales when he joins Racing 92 later this year, it's understood that his contract in France doesn't start until October - making him available for selection.
This squad will eventually be whittled down to 33 players ahead of the tournament in France.
Gatland said: “We’ve picked a large squad for a number of reasons. We will reduce the squad to about 45 before we go to Switzerland so there’s a bit of jeopardy in the first part of the campaign.
“It’s a great opportunity for some players that were involved in the Six Nations and some youngsters for the future to show us what they are capable of doing in the first part of the preparation.
“In the past we’ve prided ourselves on how hard we’ve worked and how fit the squad has been. So that’s the message to the players to come in and make a statement, work really hard, make the coaches sit up and take notice and get yourself in great shape physically.
“A lot of skill work needs to be done and there’s an opportunity to work on the detail you often don’t get when you go into Six Nations or Autumn campaigns when you have limited preparation time.”
Wales World Cup training squad:
Forwards (31)
Rhys Carre (Cardiff Rugby – 20 caps), Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped), Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets – uncapped), Nicky Smith (Ospreys – 42 caps), Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 21 caps), Eliott Dee (Dragons – 41 caps), Ryan Elias (Scarlets – 33 caps), Dewi Lake (Ospreys – 8 caps), Ken Owens (Scarlets – 91 caps), Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped), Tomas Francis (Ospreys – 71 caps), Will Davies-King (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby – 50 caps), Henry Thomas (Montpellier – uncapped), Adam Beard (Ospreys – 46 caps), Ben Carter (Dragons – 9 caps), Rhys Davies (Ospreys – 2 caps), Cory Hill (Yokohama Canon Eagles – 32 caps), Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs – 6 cap), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys – 157 caps), Will Rowlands (Dragons – 23 caps), Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs – 5 caps), Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped), Taine Basham (Dragons – 11 caps), Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby – 100 caps), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys – 68 caps), Josh Macleod (Scarlets – 2 caps), Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 9 caps), Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers – 9 caps), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys – 93 caps), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons – 37 caps)
Backs (23)
Gareth Davies (Scarlets – 67 caps), Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 17 caps), Rhys Webb (Ospreys – 40 caps), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 45 caps), Gareth Anscombe (Ospreys – 35 caps), Dan Biggar (Toulon – 107 caps), Sam Costelow (Scarlets – 2 caps), Owen Williams (Ospreys – 7 caps), Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby – 2 caps), Max Llewellyn (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped), George North (Ospreys – 113 caps), Joe Roberts (Scarlets – uncapped), Nick Tompkins (Saracens – 27 caps), Johnny Williams (Scarlets – 5 caps), Keiran Williams (Ospreys – uncapped), Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby – 49 caps), Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 57 caps), Rio Dyer (Dragons – 7 caps), Cai Evans (Ospreys – uncapped), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets – 99 caps), Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby – 25 caps), Tom Rogers (Scarlets – 2 caps), Liam Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 84 caps)
READ NEXT:
Welsh rugby's best and worst signings this season as Young incredible and Wales star suffers
Welsh rugby season descends into farce as raft of matches forfeited
Wales Women reach new heights after five-try victory over Italy in Six Nations finale
