The Wales Sevens squad has arrived in New Zealand ahead of the next two legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series - Wellington on Friday and Saturday and Las Vegas on February 12 and 13.
Dragons scrum half Nicky Griffiths will be looking for his first cap and joins Rhodri Gomer-Davies and Jevon Groves in the national side.
Head coach Paul John said: “We are pleased with our return from the first two tournaments of the season in Dubai and George. We got to the Cup quarter-finals both times which is something we haven’t done before and were competitive in both. That has to be our primary aim in these two tournaments – to get out of our Pool.”
There are four changes in the squad – other than three new caps, Alex Cuthbert returns to the squad after injury.
John added, “It will be tough because we have some new players and it will take them a while to get up to speed in an international Sevens competition. We haven’t had much preparation time as a 12 man squad but I know the players will all be 100% committed. The selection is a great reward for Ricky and Adam and their Principality Premiership clubs, while Nicky Griffiths has been training with us since before the Commonwealth Games but has missed out through injury so he gets a chance to show what he can do.
Wales Sevens squad for New Zealand and USA Sevens:
Lee Rees (Scarlets), Rhys Jones (Newport), Gareth Davies (Cardiff), Rhodri Gomer-Davies (Dragons), Ifan Evans (Llandovery), Rhys Shellard (Cardiff), Richie Pugh (Scarlets), Alex Cuthbert (Blues), Jevon Groves (capt, Dragons), Nicky Griffiths (Dragons), Adam Thomas (Pontypridd), Ricky Thomas (Aberavon)
