Wales U20 tweak team for Poms
Comments
0
The Wales Under-20 side have made two changes from the side that lost to France in their opening game of the World Rugby U20 Championship for their Round Two encounter against England.
Pontypridd and Blues pair Jarrod Evans and Liam Belcher come into the starting line-up at flyhalf and hooker respectively.
Coach co-ordinator Allan Lewis said he is able to give the two players a start because of the depth at his disposal.
“We have strength in depth in these positions which gives us a chance to give these players a start in what is another huge game.
“It is obvious that we made too many fundamental errors against France which you can’t afford to do at this level. Even though we got back into the game, we weren’t able to build any continuity to our performance and that cost us.
“England have a powerful pack, we know their strengths and weaknesses and although they are champions at this level, teams change every year at this age and we beat them in the Six Nations so we know we can win if we perform as we did in Colwyn Bay.
“We have trained well, but our priority is to play as we’ve trained. If we do that, and are accurate and clinical, as we know we can be from some of our Six Nations performances, then the result will take care of itself.”
Wales Under-20: 15 Dafydd Howells, 14 Lloyd Lewis, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Joshua Adams, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Tom Phillips, 5 Rory Thornton (captain), 4 Adam Beard, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Liam Belcher, Luke Garrett.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias (Scarlets), 17 Keagan Bale, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Jon Fox, 20 Seb Davies, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Daniel Jones, 23 Barney Nightingale.
Date: Saturday, June 6
Venue: Stadio San Michele, Calvisano
Kick-off: 20.30 (18.30 GMT)
Referee: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Gary Conway (Ireland), Filippo Bertelli (Italy)
ADVERTISEMENT
