FIVE Dragons have been named in the 43-strong Wales Women squad for the autumn series at Cardiff Arms Park.

With planning in mind for the World Cup in 2021, head coach Rowland Phillips has selected 20 uncapped players in his group to face South Africa, Hong Kong and Canada in November.

Dragons prop Cerys Hale, flanker Beth Lewis, prop Caryl Thomas, wing Hannah Bluck and uncapped centre Alicia McComish get call-ups after catching the eye against their regional rivals.

"The regional programme has been very successful with regards to improving standards in the women's game, and it's delivered what we hoped it would," said Phillips. "It's enabled us to discover new players and it's highlighted our strength in depth."

With an average age of 22, the Wales squad will be put through their paces by Phillips and his assistant coaches, Gareth Wyatt and the newly-appointed Hugh Gustafson.

"We've got a limited amount of time together in camp before we face South Africa," said Phillips.

"We know the Springboks have really pushed on their rugby programme, and they'll be a big and physical challenge to kick-start our autumn series.

"We're familiar with Hong Kong after the World Cup last year. Even though we won with a bonus point in Dublin, we'll admit we got our nose bloodied in that match.

" They play a quick game because they've got a lot of speed and agility in their side, so that encounter might warrant a different selection approach to the others."

He continued: "With Canada being fourth in the world, that's a great way for us to finish off our autumn series. How we perform in that match will give us clarity on how we move forward."

Forwards: Alisha Butchers (Scarlets) Alex Callender* (Scarlets) Mel Clay (Ospreys) Gwen Crabb* (Ospreys) Amy Evans (Ospreys) Georgia Evans* (Cardiff Blues) Nia Gwyther* (Scarlets) Cerys Hale (Dragons) Sioned Harries (Scarlets) Cara Hope (Ospreys) Natalia John (Ospreys) Manon Johnes* (Cardiff Blues) Kelsey Jones (Ospreys) Beth Lewis (Dragons) Brea Leung (RGC) Siwan Lillicrap (Ospreys) Maisie McKenzie* (Scarlets) Carys Phillips (Ospreys) Awen Prysor (Scarlets) Gwenllian Pyrs (RGC) Caryl Thomas (Dragons)

Backs: Sasha Bailey* (Ospreys) Keira Bevan (Ospreys) Hannah Bluck (Dragons) Ffion Bowen* (Ospreys) Bethan Davies* (RGC) Alecs Donovan* (Ospreys) Lleucu George (Scarlets) Emma Hennessy* (Ospreys) Jo Jones* (Cardiff Blues) Jasmine Joyce (Scarlets) Jessica Kavanagh (RGC) Kerin Lake (Ospreys) Caitlin Lewis* (Scarlets) Ffion Lewis* (Scarlets) Alicia McComish* (Dragons) Lisa Neumann (RGC) Molly Philpott* (Cardiff Blues) Anghard De Smet* (Cardiff Blues) Lauren Smyth* (Ospreys) Niamh Terry* (Ospreys) Megan Webb* (Cardiff Blues) Robyn Wilkins (Cardiff Blues)

Fixtures: South Africa – Saturday, November 10 (11.30am); Hong Kong – Friday, November 16 (7pm); Canada – Saturday, November 24 (11.30am)