Wales take close look at Francis

Shaun Edwards says that Wales see 'a lot of potential' in uncapped Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis.

The York-born tighthead qualifies for Wales through his grandmother Eirlys Walters, who was from Abercrave, in the Swansea valley, and has proved an important part of Exeter's ongoing push for Aviva Premiership play-off status this season.

And the 22-year-old has now been invited to train with the Wales squad by head coach Warren Gatland as they go into the final stages of their RBS 6 Nations campaign.

"His scrummaging is outstanding, but he is also a skilful player as well,' Wales assistant coach and defence specialist Edwards said.

"Francis is a big kid, and I have seen him play. The scrum at Exeter has been going excellently recently, so we have brought him in.

"He is a young man who is coming from a great environment at Exeter which prides itself on hard work, and we would like to think we are a similar sort of environment.

"It's a case of trying to get the best players playing for us, and we see a lot of potential in this lad."

Francis, who weighs in at more than 21 stone, played Championship rugby for Doncaster and London Scottish before he was snapped up by Exeter, and he could easily push for a World Cup squad place with Wales later this year if he continues to impress.

Experienced Scarlets hooker Ken Owens, meanwhile, has been called into the Six Nations squad and reported for duty at Wales' training base today.

The 28-year-old, capped 26 times, missed the autumn internationals after suffering a neck injury in September, but returned to action in January in the LV= Cup clash against London Irish after a 14-week absence.

The Scarlets skipper has been returning to form and fitness with his region over the last couple of weeks and was outstanding in the victory over Leinster last Saturday.

Wales, despite losing their opening Six Nations game to England, have given themselves a fighting chance of landing a third title in four years following successive away victories over Scotland and France.

Reigning champions and unbeaten title favourites Ireland are next up in five days' time, and Edwards is under no illusion how big a task will be presented by Joe Schmidt's team.

"We have looked at our opponents, and we are coming up against the best team in Europe, the form team in Europe," Edwards added.