Wales Coach Jenkins left eighteen players at home on conditioning programmes with the opening match of the finals less than four months away.
Jenkins’s  tour squad went down to a second defeat to Australia in Brisbane, 31-0, after rocking the Wallabies in Sydney in the first Test, but he believes the tour party have put major pressure on the star names back home with their performances, particularly those of Michael Owen and Colin Charvis.
Jenkins said: “I’m very pleased with their contributions. This tour was always about giving players like Colin and Michael an opportunity to make a statement that they didn’t have during the RBS Six Nations. They’ve done that in great fashion and shown they have an appetite to be part of the Rugby World Cup.
“All the players have given me the headache that every coach wants. We’ve shown we have strength in depth with players who have the quality and ambition to play at the Rugby World Cup. The last result does not undermine my belief in that.”
