Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, rejected the idea of recalling veteran loose forward Colin Charvis for the summer tour to South Africa despite being without a specialist openside flanker.

The grand slam winners have been hit by injuries and go to South Africa without Martyn Williams, his understudy Robin Sowden-Taylor and Ospreys youngster Ben Lewis.

Gatland, however, decided his attention has to be on the future and will put Jonathan Thomas into action as an emergency openside flanker against the Springboks.

"It wasn't a close decision," said Gatland. "We had looked at the possibility of bringing back Colin as a short-term fill, but this tour is about the future and it has given us the chance to call some younger guys into the squad to develop them.

"We feel we can cover the number seven jersey by moving Jonathan Thomas to openside flanker and including Dafydd Jones in the squad."

Williams is joined on the sidelines by fellow Grand Slam winners Gavin Henson, Lee Byrne, Dwayne Peel and Mike Phillips. "This is a great chance for some of the younger guys," Gatland added. "And for a number of the players chosen it is about what I've heard about them and Bradley Davies and Andrew Bishop are thought of very highly."