Wales Wheelchair Rugby League side head coach Alan Caron has named a 15-player squad to train for the World Cup that will be held in Australia in October and November this year.
This squad will train at the end of August before numbers are reduced to the final travelling squad of 12.
Six remain from Caron’s Celtic Cup squad from May, with Jason Reynolds, Jamie Reynolds and Harry Mitchell-Jones unable to travel for the tournament.
Named for the first time are York Knights’ John Berriman and North Wales Crusaders’ Fionn McCabe, both of whom have excelled in the RFL Wheelchair Championship this season.
Uncapped Gareth Ramsey, father of Sid, is also included, meaning that there are two father-son combinations in the squad, with Martin Turner rejoining his son Matthew.
Andrew Higgins, who is currently working in the USA but made a comeback with Midlands Hurricanes this summer, has been named in a Welsh squad for the first time in two years. Wales’ record points scorer with 511, he played 37 times for Wales between 2014 and 2024.
Jess Booth, Jonathan Gill, Gary Preece and Jakub Wasieczko, who were injured or unavailable for this year’s Celtic Cup, also return.
Caron said: “Following a training camp last weekend, we’ve selected 15 players who will move on to the next stage before we cut down for the 12 that will go to Australia.
“These players will train in August for us to watch them again, push them to see what they can and can’t do, to see if they fit into the system that we’re looking to run in the World Cup.
“From that it will go down to a team of 12 and then we’ll have a number of training sessions during September and October, before we fly out with those 12. We may look to have a couple in reserve just in case we have any injuries between now and then.
“I’m really pleased with what we’ve been doing, implementing new sessions and some new plans that we want to move forward.”
Wales Training Squad (some players are registered in the WRL and RFL league systems):
John Berriman (York Knights)*
Jess Booth (Cardiff Blue Dragons/Salford Red Devils)
Jodie Boyd-Ward (Leeds Rhinos)
Jonathan Gill (North Wales Crusaders)
Andrew Higgins (Midlands Hurricanes)
Fionn McCabe (North Wales Crusaders)*
Gary Preece (Midlands Hurricanes)
Gareth Ramsey (Sheffield Eagles)*
Sid Ramsey (Sheffield Eagles)
Lee Sargent (Cardiff Blue Dragons/Midlands Hurricanes)
Martin Turner (North Wales Crusaders)
Matthew Turner (North Wales Crusaders/Wigan Warriors)
Jakub Wasieczko (North Wales Crusaders)
Mark Williams (South Wales Jets/Wigan Warriors)
Stuart Williams (North Wales Crusaders/Edinburgh Giants)