"Gloucester & England U20 Star Included" - Meet the Four Uncapped Players in Warren Gatland's Wales Summer Training Squad

Wales then round off the tour with an exhibition match against the Queensland Reds, who currently have their sights set on a Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final against the Chiefs. Gatland selected four uncapped players amongst the 22 forwards and 15 backs, which were named yesterday as Cardiff Rugby’s Ellis Bevan (scrum half) and Jacob Beetham (full back), as well as wingers Keelan Giles (Ospreys) and Josh Hathaway (Gloucester Rugby).

These four talents are all brimming with potential, and will be eager to make their maiden run out for Wales this Summer. Here is a run down of the quartet of budding uncapped hopefuls, as Wales begin their preparations for the forthcoming battle with the 'Boks on June 22nd.

An exciting scrum half who has been tearing it up in blue and black this season, Ellis Bevan has more than staked his claim for the Cardiff nine shirt this year. Despite being born in Solihull in the English Midlands, Bevan has his sights on doing the same in the famous Welsh red, and has dutifully earned a call-up into Warren Gatland's wider training squad for the Summer. Bevan has previously gained international honours with the Wales U20 squad, which coincided alongside his scholarly tenure at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Whilst Bevan's first taste of U20s honours was unsuccessful, with Wales defeated by Italy on the opening round of the 2020 U20 Six Nations, he soon found success along with his first try at the age grade level. Bevan crossed over for a try against France U20s, with halfback partner Sam Costelow kicking the extras for the 14-11 win. Bevan has long been on the radar for a Welsh camp breakthrough, after he marked his Cardiff senior debut with a try against Welsh rivals Ospreys, in the short-lived Rainbow Cup of 2021.

A dynamic ball-player, Bevan continued to progress up the ranks in the Welsh capital and made his first senior start at the beginning of the current season. With Tomos Williams away on Wales duties at the Rugby World Cup, Bevan had the ultimate opportunity to impress and made good on his inaugural run in the Cardiff nine shirt. The 24-year-old crossed over for a try against Benetton, and kick-started his United Rugby Championship season that would see him jostle for the starting jersey when Williams returned from France.

Bevan would go on to make 10 starts from 22 appearances, with the veteran Williams taking precedence over the young halfback. However, opportunity once again will be knocking for Bevan, as Tomos Williams has confirmed his move to Gloucester Rugby for the 2024/25 season. The upcoming Summer will be a valuable learning curve for Bevan, who could well take the experiences of the international stage back home to Cardiff, to then lead the line at the Arms Park for the upcoming URC and European campaigns.

A long-time teammate of Ellis Bevan, exhilarating fullback Jacob Beetham has come through the ranks with his soon to be Welsh campmate. Beetham also gained Wales U20 honours, and made his debut in the aforementioned win over France in the 2020 U20 Six Nations. Apart of the same class of 2020/21 that introduced the likes of Jac Morgan, Mason Grady, Joe Hawkins and Archie Griffin to the Welsh senior squad, Beetham could well become the next player from that group to make their debut under Gatland.

Beetham's debut for Cardiff came in what could well be described as a baptism of fire. Called into action for the 2021/22 Champions Cup pool stages, Beetham took up the 15 shirt for his first senior Cardiff cap and went up against the likes of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack for Stade Toulousain. Despite putting out a resilient performance, the now six-time Champions Cup winners proved too dominant for Cardiff, as they ran out a 39-7 win at the Arms Park. This was Beetham's sole cap of the 2021/22 season, and he would have to wait over a year for his next taste of first team action in blue and black.

Beetham would instead go on to earn his stripes for Cardiff RFC in the Welsh Premiership, yet suffered a devastating ACL injury in September 2022. After a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Beetham returned to Cardiff RFC, as the Welsh Premiership title returned to the nations capital. The fullback would go on to break into the URC squad within this past season, for a total of 17 appearances with six coming as starts. Beetham was also once again reunited with Dupont this season, as Cardiff met Toulouse in the latest Champions Cup pool stages.

Beetham enjoyed a stretch of four consecutive starts for Cardiff, as he impressed despite the defeats to Racing 92, Connacht, Leinster and Glasgow. Gatland has certainly been amongst those to have taken notice of the 23-year-old, who has been amongst Cardiff's brighter sparks in what has been an underwhelming season by their standards. It will be interesting to see if the young fullback gets the nod for a test debut, and returns to Cardiff alongside Bevan as capped internationals for the 2024/25 campaign.

The third call-up on this list comes from the Ospreys, in the form of highly rated winger Keelan Giles. Having made a name for himself across Swansea since 2016, Giles is already an established player to Ospreys fans and could well become a household name across the country this Summer. In January, Giles became the club's eighth highest try scorer in their history, as he crossed over against the Emirates Lions in the EPCR Challenge Cup to score his 32nd Ospreys try.

Giles has since added four more scores to his tally for the season, and could well etch some additional tries to his total of nine, as the Ospreys embark on the URC Play Off Quarter-Finals this weekend. The Ospreys managed to scrape into the top eight after their Judgement Day derby win against Cardiff last weekend, yet Giles and co are in for a tough test as they take on the league leaders and reigning URC Champions Munster on Friday night.

At 26-years-old, Giles is the oldest of the uncapped four, and he has been a player that Ospreys fans have long been calling for a test match debut. Giles began his Ospreys career in the 2016/17 Pro12 season, and marked his first appearence for the club with a try against Italian outfit Benetton Treviso. Giles was in immense form for his first few matches for the club, as he immediately followed this up with seven tries in three matches against Newcastle Falcons (two tries), Lyon (hat-trick) and Welsh rivals the Dragons (two tries).

Such scintillating form did not go unnoticed by the Wales coaching staff, and Warren Gatland called upon the then 21-year-old for the 2016 Summer tour of New Zealand. Unfortunatly for Giles, he was unable to make a test match cap in the land of the All Blacks, and was later an unused replacement in an Autumn International test against Japan.

In 2017, Gatland was preoccupied with the British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, and Robin McBryde called up Giles for Wales' Summer tour of the Pacific Islands. However once again, the Ospreys man was unable to get picked for the match day 23s, and had to watch on as Wales took on Samoa and Tonga in some physical encounters.

Whilst Giles has not seen a similar run of scoring since when he arrived in Swansea, he has been one of the Ospreys most consistent players throughout his eight years at the club. However, the one blemish on his resume was the 2019/20 season, which was a tough one for the winger. Giles had a disrupted start to the season, and it was later cut short through injury, which saw him only accrue seven caps for the campaign. Giles' more recent form has been rivalling that of his first season with the Ospreys, and his long wait for a Welsh cap could finally be coming to an end.

The powerful wing was back at his try-scoring best throughout the latest URC season, and could well cause the heavily favoured Munster some trouble along the touchlines this Friday.

The fourth and final name on Gatland's uncapped list, Josh Hathaway has been exciting the Cherry and White faithful with his recent performances for Gloucester Rugby. Another member of the Wales U20 class of 2020/21, Hathaway was ushered into the fold at the earliest possible opportunity and made his Wales U20 debut in the previously discussed defeat to the Azzurri. An Aberyswyth native, Hathaway swapped the Welsh seaside town for a spot in the Scarlets Academy, yet failed to make his senior squad impact during his time in Llanelli.

Hathaway would move across the Severn Bridge in 2022, and refresh his early career as he arrived in Gloucester. The young wing made his Gloucester senior debut whilst still firmly amongst the U20 fold, yet he had since swapped the Welsh age grade squad for a spot in the England U20s set-up. Hathaway marked his England U20 debut with a hat-trick against Scotland in the 2023 U20 Six Nations, and was listed in the same starting XV that has since produced Chandler Cunningham-South and Greg Fisilau to the England camp.

The talented youngster could well become the latest England eligible talent to slip through Steve Borthwick's fingers, and join the likes of Sale's Scotland camp member Arron Reed as a 'what could have been' for England fans. Hathaway scored his first Gloucester try upon the opening weekend of the 2023/24 season, as he crossed over against Nottingham in the Premiership Rugby Cup. The 20-year-old has since tallied up eight tries for George Skivington's side, and has given Gloucester fans rare enjoyment from a difficult Premiership campaign.

Hathaway has been apart of 19 Gloucester fixtures from the latest season, with nine of the involvements coming in the starting XV. He made replacement appearances in both of Gloucester's finals, first coming in the form of an eight minute cameo in the Premiership Rugby Cup triumph over Leicester Tigers. The latter replacement saw Hathaway receive the touchline torch from Gloucester's stalwart flyer Jonny May, as the former England wing bid his farewells in the EPCR Challenge Cup Final defeat to the Hollywoodbets Sharks.