ROB Howley expects Ashton Hewitt to add freshness to his Wales squad after calling the Newport Gwent Dragons speedster up for the Six Nations.

The 22-year-old from Newport has been rewarded for a series of lively performances with selection for the tournament.

Hewitt and fellow uncapped winger Steff Evans, of the Scarlets, will look to put the heat on the established trio of Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams and George North along with Alex Cuthbert.

The livewire Dragons man has been on the Wales radar for some time and was denied the chance to push for a place on the summer tour to New Zealand by a shoulder injury.

However, Howley has finally given him the call and is relishing the chance to see him at close quarters at Wales' Vale of Glamorgan headquarters.

"I am delighted for both Ashton and Steff, we spoke about them before coming in for the autumn series," said the head coach.

"They have played well and you have to appreciate their selection is down to consistency of performance over a period of time.

"Watching Steff in the Champions Cup against quality opposition gives you a better indication of where a player is at, he has played Saracens and Toulon against world class wingers.

"Ashton is young, talented and needs to be given a chance to come into the national squad. Having spoken to Kingsley there are areas of his game that he has improved on in the last four or five months in the aerial battle, his ability to kick and make decisions in the back field.

"It's (bringing) an important freshness to the squad and as a coaching team we are really excited about that and how it will transfer to the training field. Hopefully it's a difficult selection for the Italy game."

Howley named five other novices in his 36-strong squad – back row forwards Olly Cracknell (Ospreys) and Thomas Young (Wasps), fly-half Owen Williams (Leicester), lock Rory Thornton (Ospreys) and scrum-half Aled Davies (Scarlets) – and expects them to put the big names under pressure by bringing a vibrancy to training.

"They deserve their chance. We are all aware of the step up from regional and club rugby to international rugby," said the former scrum-half.

"Certainly over the next two weeks in terms of training we are excited about the dynamics of our sessions because we've got young talent playing with a lot of self-belief and confidence that will bring an edge to training.

"That's a freshness and edge that we need. It's the right ingredients for this moment in time and it's with a view to the 2019 World Cup."

Ospreys speedster Keelan Giles, who was an unused replacement in the November win against Japan, missed out after suffering a hamstring injury last weekend.