Wales players in Prem doing nation proud - Smith

Sale prop Nicky Smith says the Wales players in the English Prem are making the Welsh nation proud.

Smith swapped Leicester for Sale in the summer as English clubs strengthened their Welsh stock.

Skipper Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan left Ospreys for Gloucester with their impact at Kingsholm matched by Aaron Wainwright, who has played a key role in Leicester's rise to the top of the Prem following his Dragons departure.

In all, Wales have 14 England-based players in Steve Tandy's Nations Championship squad, as well as Montpellier lock forward Adam Beard.

"The Welsh boys are doing Wales proud [in England]," said Smith.

The English contingent includes Leicester duo Gabriel Hamer-Webb and Wainwright, Sale pair Smith and Tomas Francis and Gloucester trio Morgan, Lake and Max Llewellyn.

They are joined by Bath's Archie Griffin and Louie Hennessey, Exeter pair Dafydd Jenkins and Kane James, Bristol wing Louis Rees-Zammit and Saracens prop Rhys Carre, while lock Adam Beard plays for Montpellier.

"A lot of boys who haven't played in the Prem before have stepped up and you'd swear they've been there for years," said Smith.

"But I doubt anyone is surprised when you look at the talent. Dewi, Jac and Aaron are world-class players and playing for good teams.

"So it's a recipe for them to play on a big stage and play big games, and they've been brilliant so credit to all of them."

Wales have an injury concern about Exeter captain Jenkins when they resume their Nations Championship campaign against Japan on Saturday (16.40 GMT).

Lock Jenkins missed the 31-28 defeat on Saturday against Harlequins because of a knee problem with Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter providing an injury update.

“He has gone into camp, and now the medical care and assessment hands over to their international teams,” said Baxter.

"He had a check-up on the Thursday before we got into training to see where he was, and he was a little way off from playing then, but scans weren't showing massive problems.

”He had some bone bruising in his knee and a little bit of swelling on a bit of cartilage.

“But the scan was as good as you could hope considering the pain that Daf was feeling so the scan probably came back about as good as we could have expected.

"We're not anticipating it being a long-term issue."

Jenkins missed Wales’ summer programme because of injury.

Ben Carter, Teddy Williams, Beard and Seb Davies are the other specialist locks in the Wales squad for November.

Meanwhile, Smith believes preparations for Wales' 2027 World Cup campaign starts against Japan.

The 32-year-old, who was part of Wales' 2019 World Cup squad that reached the semi-finals under Warren Gatland, is set to win his 67th cap this weekend.

But Smith is looking further ahead than four autumn Tests, with Wales' World Cup opener against Zimbabwe in Adelaide just 11 months away.

"In this group we're expected to win all the home games," said Smith.

"I think that's the expectation of the team now. We understand the challenges of that and we've got Japan, New Zealand and Australia, all tough games in their own right.

"We want to win as many home games as possible and we know the bigger picture stuff in that it's World Cup year.

"We want to go into that World Cup with great momentum, and the autumn is a brilliant starting point for that."