DAN Lydiate has been named among the Welsh squad to take on South Africa in the final match of the 2023 Vodafone Summer Series this Saturday (3.15pm).

The Dragons flanker from Abbey-cwm-hir will be aiming to nail down a place in Warren Gatland's squad for the forthcoming World Cup in France.  

Alex Cuthbert, selected on the wing, and Johnny Williams, named at centre, make their first appearances this summer, as does Kieran Hardy who starts at scrum-half.

Teddy Williams and Cai Evans, named among the replacements for this fixture, are in line to win their first senior Wales caps on the weekend.

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Jac Morgan, who starts at openside flanker, will captain the side for the second time. 

Gatland said: “Preparations have gone well. We’re really pleased with the whole squad. We’re trying to build some depth within the team and there’s been a great atmosphere.

“In the first couple of games what was really pleasing for me was the physicality we brought and the way we defended.

County Times:

"There are still things for us to work on in terms of being much more accurate. There’s been a lot of learning from that second England game and hopefully we put that into practice against South Africa.

"There’s another opportunity for this group of 23 players to put their hand up before we select the world cup squad.

“We’re expecting confidence and physicality from South Africa. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. It’s a very experienced team for them. But we’ve got a great chance to go out there in front of a home crowd and produce some of the good things that we did in both the games against England.

"We just need to make sure we play for 80 minutes and are accurate for 80 minutes.