WALES senior men’s rugby coach Waren Gatland has confirmed the 34-player squad that will travel to Australia on Wednesday (June 26) following Saturday's plucky 41-13 loss to world champions South Africa at Twickenham.

Dewi Lake will captain the 597-cap squad for the tour, which will see Wales play two Tests against the Wallabies in Sydney and Melbourne, and a fixture against Queensland Reds in Brisbane.

Three uncapped players are among the 19 forwards and 15 backs: hooker Efan Daniel (Cardiff) plus wingers Regan Grace (Bath) and Josh Hathaway (Gloucester).

Keiron Assiratti and Elliot Dee have been ruled out of the trip Down Under, Assiratti due to a back injury and Dee after failing to recover from an ankle injury.

Gatland said: “We’re expecting two fiercely contested Test matches down under and are also pleased to be able to play a third fixture against the Queensland Reds.

“I’m excited about this Wales squad. We know Australia is a tough place to go and play rugby, but we are relishing the challenge.

“We are focusing on getting better as a group. This is a young squad that’s still learning at this level.

"There are lots of positives and good things that we can build on from the weekend and there are also areas that we will be working hard to address over the next few weeks.”

Against the Boks, Wales hauled themselves back to 14-13 down at half-time after the early loss of two men to the bin, Lake powering over for a try

But the second half was all green as the Springboks kept Wales scoreless as they added three tries after the break, with Gatland's depleted side - owing to injuries and Test window unavailability – falling to a seventh straight loss

Gatland said: "I understand how important results are and I'm quite happy for that pressure to come on me rather than the players.

"But we're not focusing on just that [winning] because it can be just another added external pressure.

"We just want players to get better as individuals at this level and making better decisions in this intensity.”

The Wales squad for Australia is:

Forwards (19) –

Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby – 10 caps)

Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets – 3 caps)

Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 31 caps)

Efan Daniel (Cardiff Rugby – uncapped)

Dewi Lake (Ospreys – 13 caps) captain

Evan Lloyd (Cardiff Rugby – 3 caps)

Archie Griffin (Bath Rugby – 1 cap)

Dillon Lewis (Harlequins – 57 caps)

Harri O’Connor (Scarlets – 2 caps)

Ben Carter (Dragons – 12 caps)

Cory Hill (Secom Rugguts – 32 caps)

Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs – 17 caps)

Matthew Screech (Dragons – 2 caps)

Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs – 10 caps)

James Botham (Cardiff Rugby – 11 caps)

Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby – 4 caps)

Taine Plumtree (Scarlets – 3 caps)

Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers – 18 caps)

Aaron Wainwright (Dragons – 49 caps)

Backs (15) –

Ellis Bevan (Cardiff Rugby – 1 cap)

Gareth Davies (Scarlets – 77 caps)

Kieran Hardy (Scarlets – 21 caps)

Sam Costelow (Scarlets – 13 caps)

Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby – 12 caps)

Eddie James (Scarlets – 1 cap)

Ben Thomas (Cardiff Rugby – 2 caps)

Nick Tompkins (Saracens – 36 caps)

Owen Watkin (Ospreys – 39 caps)

Rio Dyer (Dragons – 20 caps)

Regan Grace (Bath Rugby – uncapped)

Josh Hathaway (Gloucester Rugby – uncapped)

Liam Williams (Kubota Spears – 90 caps)

Jacob Beetham (Cardiff Rugby – 1 cap)

Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby – 6 caps)