Welsh juniors at full strength
Wales Under-20 head coach Byron Hayward has selected his 'strongest team' for the side's opening clash of the Junior World Championship against Fiji on Monday.
There are four changes from the side that beat Scotland 43-15 in the final game of the U20 Six Nations in March.
Wales wing Dafydd Howells returns in place of Joshua Adams, Ethan Lewis gets the nod at hooker, Rory Thornton comes into the second row instead of Ben Roach and Scott Matthews starts in the back row over Will Boyde, with James Benjamin moving back to his more usual position of No 8.
Scrumhalf Luc Jones, and flanker Olly Cracknell, who got their first Wales U20 starts in that win over Scotland, have retained their jerseys for this game.
Hayward said, "We believe this is our strongest team at the moment. Training has gone particularly well in the last month, with conditioning playing a key part and the warm-up game against Scotland before we left Wales was very useful.
"Luc played and trained well while Tom Williams was out injured and has taken his chances, while Olly brings a physical presence that could help us against Fiji. Rory Thornton has also impressed in training, especially with his line-out presence. The hooking decision was arguably the most difficult one to make with three very strong candidates and Ethan just edging it.
"It's crucial we deliver a disciplined, tactical performance on Monday in order to build momentum for the rest of the tournament.”
Wales reached the final of last season's tournament and the last four in South Africa two years ago, so expectations are understandably high but Hayward is realistic about his squad's targets for the competition.
"We have three physically demanding games in nine days. After the challenge of Fiji, we have Ireland and then Grand Slam champions France but if we can win those games and get through to the semifinals, we showed last year in beating South Africa that anything can happen.”
Wales U20: 15 Ashley Evans, 14 Tyler Morgan, 13 Steffan Hughes (captain), 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Dafydd Howells, 10 Angus O'Brien, 9 Luc Jones, 8 Nicky Smith, 7 Ethan Lewis, 6 Nicky Thomas, 5 Joe Davies, 4 Rory Thornton, 3 Olly Cracknell, 2 Scott Matthews, 1 James Benjamin.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Callum Lewis, 18 Benjamin Leung, 19 Ben Roach, 20 Will Boyde, 21 Tom Williams, 22 Ethan Davies, 23 Joshua Adams.
Date: Monday, June 2
Venue: ECOLight Stadium, Pukekohe
Kick-off: 15.35, 04.35 GMT
Referee: TBC
