Wales cut players from squad as Warren Gatland makes announcement

Warren Gatland has named his Wales squad for next month's tour of Australia, with Dewi Lake announced as captain.

After their summer started with defeat to South Africa at Twickenham, Wales will now take on the Wallabies in a two-Test series, facing them in Sydney on July 6 before meeting them again in Melbourne the following week. Gatland's men will also take on the Queensland Reds in Brisbane during their time Down Under.

Gatland has named a 34-man squad featuring three uncapped players, with Cardiff's Efan Daniel earning his first call-up having been called into camp to train last week, while Gloucester's Josh Hathaway and former rugby league star Regan Grace are also set to win their first caps in Australia.

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The injured front row trio of Keiron Assiratti, Elliot Dee and Henry Thomas have also been ruled out of the tour. Assiratti suffered a back injury against South Africa, while Dee failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained prior to Wales camp and Thomas is currently recovering from a foot injury.

James Ratti, who was called into the squad last week, has also been left out having made his Wales debut off the bench against South Africa on Saturday.

Lake has won the race for the captaincy after a huge performance against the Springboks. He is preferred to Six Nations skipper Dafydd Jenkins.

The Welsh camp had been hit by controversy ahead of their 41-13 defeat to the Springboks, with Ospreys hooker Sam Parry quitting earlier in the week amid reports he felt "disrespected" by the coach. That