Ringer goes for gold with Welsh Sevens! (From Penarth Times)

Ringer goes for gold with Welsh Sevens!

PENARTH rugby player Jamie Ringer will take part in this year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of the Wales Sevens rugby team.

Former St Cyres pupil Ringer, who has a professional contract with the Newport Gwent Dragons, will fly down under as part of a 12-man squad.

The squad, announced by the Welsh Rugby Union last week, also includes captain Richie Pugh (Ospreys), Rhys Williams (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri McCatee (Pen-zance), James Hook (Osp-reys), James Merriman (Gloucester Rugby), Jon-athan Edwards (Llanelli Scarlets), Robin Sowden-Taylor (Blues), Wayne Evans (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Wyatt (Newport Gwent Dragons), Tal Selley (Llanelli Scarlets), and Jonathan Vaughton (Ospreys).

The Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games take place between March 15 and 26.

Cardiff Blues captain Rhys Williams has been recruited to the Team Wales Sevens pack, and the 44-times capped international wing adds significant experience to a squad drawn against New Zealand, Kenya and Namibia in the Pool stages of the tournament.

And Gareth Baber - a regular in Welsh squads over the last seven years - will travel Down Under as assistant coach to national Sevens coach Dai Rees.

The competition takes place in Melbourne's Telstra Dome on March 16-17.

The newly-reformed Welsh Sevens set-up has been pitched into Pool A with New Zealand - the defending Common-wealth champions, who won their sixth IRB Sevens title last season.

Kenya and Namibia make up the remaining spaces in the pool.

Coach Gareth Baber said: "New Zealand always have a strong Sevens squad and we most certainly will not be under-estimating Kenya and Namibia.

"They regularly play in world-class tournaments and will be tough to beat - we are going to have to battle hard to get a quarter-final spot."

Wales re-appeared on the world Sevens stage for the first time in three years when the squad helped to kick-off the IRB World Series in Dubai in November 2005.