Steve Tandy has named a 39-man squad for the autumn

Uncapped Dragons duo Aneurin Owen and Che Hope have been included in Wales' autumn squad by Steve Tandy.

The Wales head coach has named a 39-man squad for next month's Nations Championship. Wales take on Japan, New Zealand and Australia in Cardiff, before playing another Test in the finals weekend in London.

Cardiff loosehead Rhys Barratt, who played in the uncapped summer game against the Barbarians, is also included as one of four looseheads in the squad.

Elsewhere, there are Wales recalls for Taine Basham and Seb Davies in the pack, while wing Rio Dyer is back in the squad for the first time in a year. However, the likes of Macs Page, Tommy Reffell and Taulupe Faletau miss out.

Owen, who turned 26 on Monday, has featured in a Wales squad before - being part of Wayne Pivac's summer squad for Tests against Argentina in 2021, following injury to Leigh Halfpenny, after initially training with the squad.

Having been a consistent cog in the Dragons' midfield for a number of seasons, he was player of the match in their Challenge Cup victory over Perpignan on Friday night.

With Cardiff centre Ben Thomas injured, Owen is brought in to camp by Tandy for the first time.

As for Hope, the scrum-half is called up for the first time, after picking up where he left off before injury struck last season.

With Kieran Hardy injured, there's a need for someone to step up as a deputy to Tomos Williams. Hope is uncapped, while Ospreys half-back Reuben Morgan-Williams has just 55 minutes of Test rugby under his belt.

Liam Belcher, Tomas Francis, Archie Griffin, Louie Hennessey and Dafydd Jenkins are all back in the squad, having missed the summer.

Players miss out

There's no place for the United Rugby Championships' top try-scorer Elliot Dee, who misses out after being a late addition to the squad in the summer.

Faletau could have been an option for a recall, having made his long-awaited return on the weekend. Having not played since March, the legendary two-time Lion looked a class act against Northampton.

Providing he stays fit for Cardiff in the coming weeks, a call-up later down the line can't be ruled out.

Tandy said: “It’s great to welcome back the players who were unavailable for the first three rounds of the Nations Championship. Added to that, there are a number of players who’ve been in great form for their clubs and so we wanted to give them an opportunity in the squad this autumn.

“We’re excited to head into our three home rounds of the competition. Principality Stadium is a special place to play and means an awful lot to the players. When we assemble as a group next week all eyes will be on that first home fixture against Japan and preparing well to put in a good performance for the fans.”

Wales autumn squad

Rhys Barratt*, Taine Basham, Adam Beard, Liam Belcher, James Botham, Rhys Carre, Ben Carter, Ryan Elias, Seb Davies, Tomas Francis, Archie Griffin, Kane James, Dafydd Jenkins, Dewi Lake (c), Dillon Lewis, Alex Mann, Jac Morgan, Taine Plumtree, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Aaron Wainwright, Teddy Williams.

Backs:

Josh Adams, Sam Costelow, Rio Dyer, Dan Edwards, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Joe Hawkins, Louie Hennessey, Che Hope*, Eddie James, Max Llewellyn, Ellis Mee, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Blair Murray, Aneurin Owen*, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tom Rogers, Tomos Williams.