Super League sextet named in Wales squad for autumn double-header against Ireland
From left to right: Luke Thomas, Denive Balmforth and Finley Yates all star in Wales' squad for their autumn Tests against Wales
Six Super League players have been named in Wales’ 19-man squad for their upcoming double-header of Tests against Ireland, including Hull FC hooker Denive Balmforth.
The Dragons face the Wolfhounds at The Gnoll in Neath on Saturday, October 25, and then again on Saturday, November 1 at Post Office Road – the home of Championship outfit Featherstone Rovers.
Leeds-born Balmforth turned 22 earlier this month, and qualifies to represent Wales through his heritage.
He is one of five players in the squad who could make their debut for Paul Berry’s side at the end of a season which saw him don a shirt as a loanee for Catalans Dragons in Super League as well as parent club Hull FC.
Elsewhere, Salford duo Charlie Glover and Finley Yates have made the cut in Wales’ 19 having both played their part in what has been a dismal campaign for all connected to the Red Devils with their financial crisis still ongoing.
Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers are represented in the Dragons squad by youth products Sam Dickenson and Sam Grice respectively, with neither of those two having made their first-team bow at club level just yet.
Dickenson has caught the eye for the Warriors at academy level, and captained Wales’ under-16s as they clinched the Four Nations title last year.
Rounding off the Super League representatives is young Warrington Wolves prop Luke Thomas, who has battled his way back from an ACL injury and impressed in the final few weeks of the season at club level.
Thomas already has a Wales cap under his belt, earned in a 34-10 defeat to France back in June 2022.
Super League sextet named in Wales squad for autumn double-header against Ireland
With one eye already on the 2030 Rugby League World Cup, head coach Berry’s desire to bring through a new crop of talent has been made clear.
Lloyd McEwan-Peters, whose club rugby was played for Championship outfit Hunslet this year, will aim to pick up a first cap on October 25 – which also happens to be his 20th birthday.
The teenager last donned a shirt for Wales at under-16s level in 2022.
But at the other end of the age scale, the two autumn Tests against Ireland will provide a fitting way for former Super League ace Rhodri Lloyd to bow out of the game.
Now 32, Lloyd had just turned 17 when he made his Wales debut back in 2010, becoming the country’s youngest-ever player to represent the senior men’s team in the process.
15 years on, he has announced his retirement from the game having spent 2025 in the Championship with Widnes Vikings: and he will hang up his boots following these two international fixtures.
19-man Wales squad for autumn Tests against Wales
Listed in alphabetical order by surname and with the club they ended the 2025 campaign permanently contracted to…
Denive Balmforth (Hull FC)
Sam Bowring (Midlands Hurricanes)
Mike Butt (Widnes Vikings)
Max Clarke (Workington Town)
Connor Davies (Halifax Panthers)
Curtis Davies (London Broncos)
Sam Dickenson (Wigan Warriors)
Matty Fozard (Widnes Vikings)
Charlie Glover (Salford Red Devils)
Sam Grice (Castleford Tigers)
Rhodri Lloyd (Widnes Vikings)
Lloyd McEwan-Peters (Hunslet)
Owen Restall (Halifax Panthers)
Ashton Robinson (Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs)
Matt Ross (London Broncos)
Luke Thomas (Warrington Wolves)
Billy Walkley (Sheffield Eagles)
Huw Worthington (London Broncos)
Finley Yates (Salford Red Devils)
