Wales captain Dewi Lake is in danger of missing the Nations Championship fixture against South Africa on Saturday because of a groin injury.

Ryan Elias would be line to start at hooker for Wales with Dragons’ Elliot Dee flying to Durban as cover, alongside Gloucester lock Freddie Thomas who has been called in because Taine Plumtree is carrying an injury.

Lake is not going home with the squad being extended to 35 players for the week in South Africa.

Wales have not yet ruled Lake out of facing the Springboks with the Gloucester-bound hooker having been in “light training today”.

“That’s a real positive,” said Wales assistant coach Danny Wilson.

“That’s ruled him more in than out at the moment.

“But we’ve got to see how the next 24 hours go, how he recovers from the light training session today and how he pulls up.

“We’ll do that and make the relevant decisions off the back of it.”

If Lake is ruled out, Jac Morgan would be expected to lead Wales for the final game of the season at Kings Park, having taken over the captaincy when Lake was forced off in the 35-21 defeat by Argentina.

Morgan would be the obvious choice as captain against the world champions unless Tandy opts to rest the open-side flanker.

It would be the first time Steve Tandy is without Lake, having picked the hooker to start all 11 Tests since taking charge last year.

Elias could make his first Test start since the opening round of the 2024 Six Nations against Scotland.

Cardiff’s Evan Lloyd is the other hooker in the squad and could make his first international appearance for more than a year, with Dee’s arrival in South Africa providing extra cover and experience.

Wales slipped to 12th in the world rankings with their loss to Argentina and suffered a record 73-0 defeat by the Springboks in their last meeting in November.