Martyn Williams also returns having missed Wales’ summer tour to New Zealand while George North and Scott Andrews are two uncapped players to be names by Gatland.

Wales begin their autumn campaign against Australia on November 6 with Gatland revealing that he won’t be naming his skipper – usually Ryan Jones – until then.

“We will assess form and pick our team and then name the captain, it has to be in that order, but there is little to suggest to us that it will not be Ryan again,” said Gatland.

“He needs a little more game time, but we are more than happy with what he offers in a leadership capacity.

“It has been good to see some of our senior players who we missed out on the summer tour back and fully fit for their regions who have acquitted themselves reasonably well in Europe.

“And to be able to select a fully fit Shane Williams, James Hook or Gethin Jenkins is a big lift for us. Scott Andrews has been doing well technically, physically he is in good shape, we have had our eye on him and he has been in and around the squad for a while.

“George North is only young but really set the start of the season on fire with his form. He is a big, physical player, last time I saw a pair of thighs like that was on some of the Samoans back in New Zealand.

“He’s carrying an injury at the moment but hopefully he’ll be back in the next few weeks and will benefit from the experience of being around the national squad.”

Wales’ 33-man squad

Forwards: Gethin Jenkins (Blues), Paul James (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), John Yapp (Blues), Scott Andrews (Blues), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Blues), Deiniol Jones (Blues), Ian Gough (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Dragons), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Blues), Martyn Williams (Blues), Rob McCusker (Scarlets)

Backs: Michael Phillips (Ospreys), Richard Rees (Blues), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), James Hook (Ospreys), Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Tom Shanklin (Blues), Shane Williams (Ospreys), Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Will Harries (Dragons), George North (Scarlets), Lee Byrne (Ospreys), Tom Prydie (Ospreys)