NEWPORT Gwent Dragons speedster Hallam Amos has been backed to fill the gap in Wales' back three left by the injury to Leigh Halfpenny.

The Lions full-back has been ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a knee injury in the final warm-up with Italy last Friday.

Liam Williams, who is on the comeback trail from a foot injury, is set to wear 15 on his back in the tournament opener against Uruguay while wing George North is inked in for the big Pool A encounters.

That leaves Amos battling with Alex Cuthbert, Eli Walker and Matthew Morgan for the one remaining spot.

The 20-year-old from Cross Ash started at full-back against Ireland in Cardiff last month before moving to the wing and then came on as a replacement out wide in the return fixture in Dublin.

Amos impressed and his Dragons backs coach Shaun Connor is confident that the bright prospect could thrive across the back three in the coming weeks.

"Hallam is a quality player and was probably the form left winger in Wales last year but in the future we see him probably as a full-back," said the former fly-half.

"He knows there are areas of his game that he has to improve and has gone away and done that.

"The back three these days are very interchangeable, it's a similar skill-set for both positions and Hallam has the capabilities to play both.

"He's bouncing that he's made the World Cup squad. He's one for the future but also he's one for now.

"I'm sure if he keeps performing and training like he has been, he could force his way into the team."

Amos was joined in Wales' summer training camps by centres Jack Dixon and Tyler Morgan and Connor, who was promoted to backs coach from an academy role, believes the future is also bright up front.

"We all speak about the backs but we've got Ollie Griffiths, Elliot Dee, James Benjamin coming through the system," he said.

"We are not a region that can go out and spend a lot of money on players so it's down to us to develop our own.

"Our academy does a great job and when the players come to us we have seen the benefits of them getting plenty of game time. Hallam has played 60-odd games for us, Jack 50-odd and for 20-year-olds that's a lot of rugby."