Peel's omission is the major surprise in a 28-man squad which sees the return of 2005 Lion Gavin Henson and fellow Grand Slam winners Phillips, Huw Bennett, and Jonathan Thomas.

Richard Hibbard, Dan Biggar, Martin Roberts, Morgan Stoddart and Eifion Roberts join Peel in dropping out of the set up from the autumn Test series, with Blues lock Bradley Davies the only uncapped player in the squad.

Duncan Jones, Ian Evans and Gareth Delve were not considered due to long-term injuries but Jamie Roberts is included after suffering a fractured skull against Australia in Wales' last outing, while Lee Byrne and Mark Jones are both named in the squad despite ankle and appendix concerns respectively.

"We've tried to keep the squad relatively similar to the last Six Nations campaign," said Wales coach Warren Gatland, who will travel to South Africa as the Lions forwards coach later this year.

"Part of that philosophy is to keep everything nice and tight and everyone in the squad feeling there is an opportunity to play for Wales and also make it difficult for people to come into the squad - make players really earn the right."

Having led Wales to Grand Slam glory in his first season in charge, Gatland remains in confident mood ahead of his side's defence of their Six Nations crown which begins against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 8.

"Huw Bennett is back with us and the likes of Mike Phillips, Gavin Henson and Jonathan Thomas have been unavailable to us for some time now so we think they are going to really to strengthen the squad."

Peel's absence was the major talking point, with Gatland admitting that the decision to exclude the 64-cap scrum-half was a difficult one to make.

"The scrum-half position is a decision that we debated long and hard," explained Gatland.

"We had a very hard decision to make, but were impressed by the performances of Mike Phillips and Gareth Cooper.

"It probably boiled down to the fact that Mike Phillips has played more rugby than Dwayne Peel since the autumn, but it doesn't mean that the door is always going to be shut for him or anyone."

Gatland is expected to name his matchday 22 for the clash with Scotland on Wednesday, February 4 at approximately 1pm.

Wales squad for the 2009 Six Nations

Forwards (16): Gethin Jenkins, John Yapp, Adam Jones, Rhys Thomas, Matthew Rees, Huw Bennett, Ian Gough, Alun Wyn Jones, Luke Charteris, Bradley Davies, Ryan Jones (capt), Jonathan Thomas, Dafydd Jones, Andy Powell, Martyn Williams, Robin Sowden-Taylor

Backs (12): Mike Phillips, Gareth Cooper, Stephen Jones, James Hook, Gavin Henson, Andrew Bishop, Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Shane Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Mark Jones, Lee Byrne