DAN Lydiate has been chosen for the full Wales squad – two years almost to the day after the young Newport Gwent Dragons blindside flanker was lying on a rugby field in France with a broken neck.

His career appeared in ruins almost before it started when, as a 19-year-old, he had to be gingerly lifted on to a stretcher and taken to a Perpignan hospital, where he spent a week before being flown home by air ambulance.

From there he made the first tentative steps towards recovery just as a human being, never mind as a full-blown senior rugby player.

But with remarkable dedication he has played his way back in, not just to the Dragons team, but now to the very fringe of the Welsh team as the only uncapped player in Warren Gatland’s 29-man squad for the autumn series against New Zealand, Samoa, Argentina and Australia.

Dragons coach Paul Turner pays tribute to Lydiate – from farming stock in Llandrindod Wells and sharing a house in Newport with fellow back-row forward Lewis Evans.

“Dan is one of the new breed and the sooner he gets a cap the better,” said Turner. “It’s amazing to think that he broke his neck almost two years ago.

“This is great for Dan and his family and it’s a real tribute to the way he has got through his rehab and then back on to the field.

“It was difficult for him last year, and when he went on against the Blues he was treading water and it took him some time to get back on the training field, but now he’s one of the first names on the sheet.

“Now he needs to play in one of these internationals, he’s a quiet bloke on and off the pitch and he’s certainly doing it on the field.”

Dragons captain Tom Willis predicted back in August that it was a question of when, not if, Lydiate was chosen for Wales, while Turner has often called him their white Samoan – ironic when it is considered their second game next month is against Samoa, when he should win his first cap.

Lydiate, a strapping 6ft 4in and 15st 13lb, is just the type of player Gatland appreciates – a big, hard-driving type of back-row forward, strong in the collision and powerful going forward, as well as being an able defender.

Gatland said: “Dan Lydiate is a good example of someone who has let his form do the talking and he deserves his chance.”

The more senior Luke Charteris is the other Dragons player in the squad, the 6ft 9in, 19st 9lb lock now right in line to face the All Blacks in the first game on November 7, especially as the experienced Ian Gough has been left out.

The 26-year-old lock has won 14 caps without ever being a regular member of the side, now this is his chance after a series of impressive performances when he has added real power to his already athletic performances and natural line-out ability.

“Luke is the form lock in Wales and has come of age in the last 12 months,” said Turner. “He came off the bench last year, now this gives him a chance to establish himself as a regular member of the Welsh team.”

Turner believes No 8 Joe Bearman would have made the squad had it not been for his groin injury, though adding significantly about other players, “You’ve got to be really consistent and players have got to show that to the national selectors, then they’ll have a chance.”

It looks as though former Dragon Gareth Cooper will play at scrum-half against the All Blacks with Mike Phillips one of a number of players ruled out by injury, while Dwayne Peel won’t be able to play because he is required by Sale, and as the match is outside the international window his English club are not obliged to release him.

But evergreen, 88-times-capped Martyn Williams gave Gatland and Wales a big boost with a successful earlier-than-expected return from a shoulder operation for the Blues against the Ospreys on Saturday night, while Gethin Jenkins is also back after a similar operation.

Clearly there are problems at tight head prop and full back, with Adam Jones and Lee Byrne sidelined as well as at scrum-half, but Gatland says he has gone on form, which is why Sam Warburton, another promising back-row forward, has been included, as has prop Craig Mitchell, while the Scarlets’ Deacon Manu, who had been heralded as a possibility, is left out.

Wales squad: Backs: J Hook (Ospreys), L Halfpenny (Blues), M Jones, J Davies (Scarlets), J Roberts, T Shanklin, T James (Blues), S Williams, D Biggar (Ospreys), S Jones, M Roberts (Scarlets), G Cooper (Blues), D Peel (Sale).

Forwards: Duncan Jones, P James, H Bennett (Ospreys) G Jenkins (Blues), M Rees (Scarlets), C Mitchell (Ospreys), L Charteris (Dragons), B Davies (Blues), A W Jones, J Thomas, R Jones, captain (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Dragons), Dafydd Jones (Scarlets), S Warburton, A Powell, M Williams (Blues).