Tandy faces criticism after naming Wales' 39-man Nations Championship squad

Steve Tandy, Wales head coach, named a 39-man squad for November's Nations Championship on Tuesday and said he is accustomed to receiving criticism over his selections.

Tandy, who has been in charge for just over a year and 13 games, left his role as Scotland's defence coach in the summer of 2025 to take the Wales job and has now named four squads. He has used 54 players since taking charge and selected 39 for the Nations Championship despite being limited to 33 players for the World Cup in Australia that starts in just under a year.

The squad includes uncapped trio Aneurin Owen, Che Hope and Rhys Barratt and recalls for Rio Dyer, Seb Davies, Taine Basham and Gabriel Hamer-Webb, while notable omissions are Taulupe Faletau, Macs Page, Elliot Dee, Bryn Bradley, Mason Grady and Tommy Reffell, the latter of whom Tandy later said had suffered a knee injury. "There'll be people out there challenging me on selections," Tandy said. "No-one really says who they would leave out either, it's always the people that should be in! It's something that comes with the territory."

Addressing the criticism, Tandy said: "I cop flak wherever I go, that's something I'm getting used to. I get some of that, but you can only pick so many." He added a budget-related aside about his management: "Martyn [Williams, team manager] would have kicked off if I had gone with more, he wouldn't be happy with the budget!" He also defended the process: "I'm comfortable in this space and know that we are thorough around our selection."

Tandy acknowledged strong performances from players not selected and described some recent conversations as difficult: "There have been some brilliant performances out there from boys that are not in. I've had some phone calls over the last few days that were tough, but I'd rather the boys know where they sit." He emphasised the squad announcement as an opportunity to evaluate more players in the national environment.

Regarding Seb Davies, Tandy noted the lock/flanker is in his second season with Dragons after moving from Cardiff, has 17 caps and has not featured since facing Italy in the 2022 Six Nations. Wales already have Dafydd Jenkins, Ben Carter, Adam Beard and Teddy Williams in the squad and "are highly unlikely to take five second-row forwards to the World Cup," but Tandy said he wanted to assess the 30-year-old further: "You see the athletic ability with Seb and speaking to him there was the emotional outpouring of being involved with the squad. We had an alignment camp – a smaller unit gathering – and he came in to get to know them. With that exposure, it's a great opportunity to see boys in our environment."

Macs Page, who made his 50th Scarlets appearance against Newcastle this month, has scored four tries in four appearances and made nine line breaks but misses out as Dyer and Hamer-Webb join Josh Adams, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray, Tom Rogers and Louis Rees-Zammit in the wide options. On Page and the competition for places, Tandy told the Scrum V podcast: "Macs has been outstanding but that's where the depth of our wingers and back field is really encouraging. Look at others - Mason Grady, Keelan Giles, Tom Bowen, all those boys are playing well. Jacob Beetham was outstanding at the start of the season [before injury]."

Midfield selection saw Ben Thomas miss out with a calf injury while Aneurin Owen, who was part of the Wales squad in the summer of 2021 after a breakthrough season that disrupted the expected partnership of Jamie Roberts and Nick Tompkins, has been called up and is considered a specialist 12 to rival Joe Hawkins. Tandy praised Owen's consistency: "He has been outstandingly consistent and does everything really well. Speak to coaches and they mention his standards on and off the field, how he is the last one off after working on extras. He has had injuries, and you could argue he could have been in the selection mix sooner, but what I love is that he has kept going and kept getting better. He has been so consistent and at a high level, not just seven out of 10 but above that." The article notes Joe Hawkins is with Scarlets in South Africa to play Stormers this weekend along with Taine Plumtree.

Two of Eddie James' three starts for Scarlets this season have been at inside centre and he is one of five squad members who remain at home, with Tandy likely to select him for Wales' Nations Championship opener against Japan. On James' role, Tandy said: "I see Eddie more as a 13. He can definitely play 12, as we have seen for the Scarlets, but in our team he is more of a 13 who can play 12. Louie Hennessey, Max Llewellyn and Eddie, they have big frames and there is lot of interchangeability for the 12s and 13s. We have a nice variety of options there."

Tandy's 39-man squad is the first of Wales' Nations Championship selections and he faces further scrutiny with four more team announcements to come; Wales have just 12 or 13 games until their World Cup campaign gets under way against Zimbabwe.