One newcomer for Wales

Byrne, 25, is rewarded for a series of impressive displays this season, and he takes his place in a 30-man group captained by Gareth Thomas.

He could be joined tonight by Worcester Warriors prop Chris Horsman. The 27-year-old tight head, who recently completed his three year residency qualification to represent Wales, is appearing before an RFU disciplinary panel to hear a citing complaint regarding an alleged stamping incident in a Guinness Premiership game against Leeds Tykes.

Ruddock has left a place open in his party for a tight-head prop. If Horsman is unable to take up that place, then Saracens front row man Ben Broster, who was capped on the summer tour to North America, will take the 31st place. "Lee Byrne has hit the headlines in recent weeks with a string of outstanding performances for the Scarlets to fully justify his selection," said Ruddock. "Lee is a hugely exciting footballer who has the pace and size to break through opposition defences. He has a fantastic left foot, can play in more than one position and has been given the nod over Rhys Williams because of his rich vein of form.

"The door is not closed on Rhys, nor anyone else who performs well in forthcoming games, and we will add to the squad as and when necessary. The same goes for any players who are currently out of contention through injury but who may recover and find form." Toulouse ace Gareth Thomas, who is the leading try scorer in French rugby this season, has been reinstated as captain while Michael Owen is named as vice-captain. Thomas, who stepped in to take over from the injured Brian O'Driscoll as captain of the Lions in the summer, missed the last two matches of last season's Grand Slam campaign after breaking his thumb. Michael Owen took over the captaincy duties for the games against Scotland and Ireland, while Mark Taylor skippered the side against the USA and Canada on the summer tour. "Gareth proved what a great leader he is last season. He is an inspiration within the squad - a real energiser and someone who leads by his own shining example," said Ruddock "There is no doubt his experiences of playing in France, and on the Lions tour, have given him an insight into the make-up of top international players from other countries and that experience will help us in our challenge to beat the best in the world.

"Michael Owen stepped up to the mark last year when he took over the captaincy reins from Gareth. We know his abilities as a player and he will assist Gareth in the leadership of the team, along with other individual leaders within the squad."

"As we showed on the summer tour, when we had 12 players missing on Lions duty and others injured, we are able to keep our cohesion because we have developed much greater strength in depth within the squad," said Ruddock. "I have been enormously encouraged by the way the team has maintained its cohesion and consistency when we interchanged players and the team spirit within the camp continues to develop.

"We all know we face a massive test in November - one no Welsh team in the 124 year history of our game has ever had to tackle. But in order to prepare properly for the 2007 Rugby World Cup we need this level of competition. "If you want to be the best, you have to play, and beat, the best. We have risen to fifth in the IRB World Rankings thanks to last season's Grand Slam, but over the next month we have to face three of the teams ranked ahead of us. "The players and management are relishing the opportunity and we all know that playing in front of a full house at the Millennium Stadium will give us all the inspiration we need to meet the Tri-Nations teams and Fiji head-on."

Backs: L Byrne (Llanelli Scarlets), G Thomas (Toulouse, capt), K Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), C Czekaj (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys), M Taylor (Sale Sharks), S Parker (Ospreys), M Watkins (Llanelli Scarlets), C Sweeney (Newport Gwent Dragons), S Jones (Clermont Auvergne), N Robinson(Cardiff Blues), D Peel (Llanelli Scarlets), G Cooper (Newport Gwent Dragons), M Phillips (Cardiff Blues)

Forwards: D Jones (Ospreys), J Yapp (Cardiff Blues), A Jones (Ospreys), R Thomas (Cardiff Blues), M Davies (Gloucester), H Bennett (Ospreys), B Cockbain(Ospreys), I Gough (Newport Gwent Dragons), R Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), C Charvis (Newcastle), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), R Sowden-Taylor (Cardiff Blues), M Owen (Newport Gwent Dragons, vice-capt), A Popham (Llanelli Scarlets).