BARRY boy Mason Grady will represent Wales at the Rugby World Cup - eight years after his brother scored a hat-trick of tries on his tournament debut.

Grady, 21, impressed in his first Wales cap - a home defeat to England in this year's Six Nations - and has evidently done enough in the eyes of head coach Warren Gatland to merit a place in his 33-man squad for France.

The Cardiff starlet, who used to be a pupil at Ysgol Bro Morgannwg, has overcome a knee injury suffered in March 2021 to offer Gatland options both as a powerful centre and also on the wing.

Grady’s six-times capped brother Cory Allen, now 30, marked his World Cup debut in 2015 with a hat-trick of tries as Wales trounced Uruguay 54-9 in front of a jubilant Millenium Stadium crowd.

Allen joined the Dragons in summer 2021 and paid tribute to the club's physio team for helping him overcome a serious knee injury as he retired a year later.

Barry And District News: Cory Allen retired in December 2022Cory Allen retired in December 2022

Grady is one of 16 players in Gatland’s final squad without prior World Cup experience, a list that also includes Louis Rees-Zammit, 22, and Exeter lock Dafydd Jenkins, 20, who is the youngest in the group.

"The toughest part of the job is always selection and this is particularly the case when it comes to picking a Rugby World Cup squad," Gatland said.

"Over the past three months the whole group of 48 players in the wider training squad has been outstanding in terms of attitude and effort, so having to reduce the squad down to the final 33 has been really hard and there have been some close final decisions in the last 36 hours.

"But we can only take 33 players and those we have selected we think offer a good combination in terms of talent and experience.

Wales kick-off their World Cup campaign against Fiji on September 10, with other group games against Portugal, Australia and Georgia.