GWENT will well represented at this year's under-21 World Cup as seven of the region's stars are in Chris Davey's squad.

Davey yesterday named six Newport players and one Ebbw Vale player in his 26-man squad.

Vale hooker Keiron Crawford will join Newport players Scott Williams (centre), Nathan Brew (wing/centre), Mike Hook (outside half), Rhys Thomas (prop), Thomas Rhys Thomas (hooker) and Luke Charteris (lock).

Last year Wales finished fourth in the world after losing to New Zealand in the third/ place play-off fixture.

As a result, the Principality are seeded fourth for this year's tournament,which starts a week today in England, and Wales coach Chris Davey has admitted that he would be very disappointed if his side didn't improve on that.

"I would be very upset if we didn't improve on last year," said Davey.

"But saying that the preparations for the tournament haven't been plain sailing. We've obviously lost a few players to the senior squad which is never easy.

"I'm disappointed that I haven't got my strongest squad but we must remember that the under-21 set-up is a development squad and is designed to prepared players for the senior squad.

"But the loss of players such as Gareth Delve, Jonathan Thomas, Mike Phillips and Gavin Henson has opened the door for other people and it's up to then to take their chance."

Wales Under-21s will be captained by Neath youngster Paul James and the prop forward feels the Principality will be better prepared than last time.

"The mood in the camp is good and we've had a good Six Nations campaign so everyone is on a high," admitted James.

"We've been keeping up the hard work and after losing to New Zealand last year we know what to expect from the Southern Hemisphere sides.

"We came fourth last year and obviously this year we'll be wanting to improve on that."

Wales' first game is against Scotland on Friday at Henley-on-Thames and Davey sees that game as vitally important to his side's tournament chances.

He said: "Whether we qualify could well come down to points difference, so it's essential we get off to a good start."

LAST year Wales finished fourth in the world after losing to New Zealand in the third place play-off.

That made them fourth seeds for this year's tournament and gave them a place in Pool D alongside Ireland and Canada.

The teams in Pool D will play the teams drawn in Pool A and the top two sides from the six nations will progress into the semi-finals where they will face the top two teams from the combined results of Pools B and C.

The full draw is as follows: Pool A: South Africa (1), Argentina (8), Scotland (9). Pool B: Australia (2), France (7), Japan (10). Pool C: New Zealand (3), England (6), Italy (11). Pool D: Wales (4), Ireland (5), Canada (12).

The Welsh fixtures in the Pool stages will be as follows: Friday, June 13; Wales v Scotland at Henley RFC (kick-off 3pm). Tuesday, June 17: Wales v Argentina at Iffley Road, Oxford (kick-off 5pm). Saturday June 21: Wales v South Africa at Newbury RFC (kick-off 2pm).

Squad: C Stamatakis (Cardiff), J Malpas (Cardiff), R Sowden-Taylor (Cardiff), J Goode (Cardiff), N Robinson (Cardiff), K Crawford (Ebbw Vale), D Bishop (Bridgend), A Lake (Bridgend), D Maddox (Llanelli), B Griffiths (Llanelli), I Cunningham (Llanelli), R Richards (Neath), P James (captain) (Neath), S Williams (Newport), N Brew (Newport), M Hook (Newport), R Thomas (Newport) T R Thomas (Newport), L Charteris (Newport), M Nuthall (Pontypridd), M Lewis (Pontypridd), G Swales (Swansea), J Vaughton (Swansea), L May (Swansea), R Pugh (Swansea), R Gomer-Davies (Loughborough).