Jones backs Morgan to pick up Wales captaincy baton

Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan were Wales co-captains during the 2023 Rugby World Cup

Ospreys head coach Mark Jones has backed Jac Morgan to pick up the baton of the Wales captaincy for the 2025 Six Nations.

Morgan's Ospreys team mate Dewi Lake led Wales during the summer tour of Australia and autumn internationals but will miss the start - and possibly all - of this championship after bicep surgery.

Exeter's Dafydd Jenkins is also a contender for the captain's armband after leading Wales during the 2024 Six Nations and returning to fitness.

Head coach Warren Gatland will announce his squad on Monday, 13 January.

Asked if Morgan could lead Wales once again, Jones said: "Without a doubt. He did a phenomenal job of leading Wales before.

"Dewi has picked the baton up in Jac's absence and made it his own while Jac has been coming back into the squad.

"We're really fortunate here [at Ospreys] to have two recent Welsh captains sitting in our midst. They are quality, whichever player is chosen at anytime will do a fantastic job, the boys are incredible."

Wales are still hopeful of getting Lake back to play some part of the tournament.

The worse case diagnosis was 12-weeks out from December, which could still see him return for the last two games.

"My understanding is that it [Lake's rehabilitation] is going really well," added Jones.

"He's working hard and the feedback from the Welsh Rugby Union and our own camp is that he's progressing well and we're just playing that be ear now.

"It's all positive at the moment."

Jones is also keeping a close eye on second row Rhys Davies who he tipped to have a breakthrough year in 2025 after overcoming a serious knee injury.

Davies made his comeback after nine months out with an impressive display on New Year's Day but appears to have potentially aggravated the knee injury.

He has been ruled out of Saturday's European tie against Newcastle Falcons.

And with uncertainty over the scale of the issue, his Wales place could now be at risk just days before selection.

"Rhys had swelling on his knee from the Cardiff game and we made a decision to pull him out of contention this week," said Jones.

"He's been out a long time and the last thing we want to do is force him into a situation where we're compromising him. So he's getting treatment and we're assessing that.

"We're hoping it's not going to be too long, but we're waiting to hear what the source of that swelling is."