WALES coach Mike Ruddock left for North America yesterday with his squad minus 10 British Lions hoping for a repeat Six Nations Championship performance.

Not just the way Wales roared to their first Grand Slam for 27 years, but the way players came in when more established ones fell by the wayside.

There was Kevin Morgan for Gareth Thomas, Martyn Williams for Colin Charvis, John Yapp for Duncan Jones and Mark Taylor for Rhys Williams.

He's looking to unearth more talent capable of performing at international level, especially with an arduous year ahead - all three Southern Hemisphere super powers in the autumn, the Six Nations and then Argentina next summer.

"The great thing about the Six Nations was that every time we lost a player someone else came in and stood up to the mark, fitting in magnificently," said Ruddock.

"The strength of the team was the spirit and the inter-changeability, so much as we want to win both games on tour I need to see a few other people as well.

"We've got to be brave and introduce a few new players. It's not the time when the points are on the table in the heat of the battle, but we are expecting a few players to put their hands up.

"There are a lot of new young players on the tour and we need to start bringing them through soon, so there is a lot of motivation.

"But the USA and Canada won't roll over, they are no pushovers. They've had two games under their belts in a tournament out in Japan where they also played one another.

"France had trouble against them over there a couple of years ago and we haven't won by much away, while we're also trying to bed new combinations in.

"They'll both be up for it, they are far more organised than they have been, they've got some very good players and they won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

"We saw how difficult it was for the Lions to bed in on Monday night, so we've got to hit the ground running. "I wouldn't expect us to have any difficulty, we are wearing the Welsh jersey, we're very proud and a lot is expected of our international players. We expect to win but it won't be easy."

* Ruddock revealed he had given former Wales captain Colin Charvis the opportunity to miss the tour after being out for the second half of last season with a badly damaged ankle injury suffered playing for Newcastle.

"I gave Colin the option of whether he wanted to go or take part in a full pre-season," said Ruddock. "But he said he wanted to get the jersey back on and put his hand up for selection again."