Wales U20s

Wales Under 20 Six Nations squad:
Forwards:
Luke Garrett (Dragons), Harrison Walsh (Ospreys), Dillon Lewis (Blues), Alex Jeffries (Dragons), Joe Jones (Blues), Ryan Elias (Scarlets), Liam Belcher (Blues), Torin Myhill (Scarlets), Joe Davies (Dragons), Rory Thornton (Ospreys), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Seb Davies (Blues), Tom Phillips (Scarlets), Ollie Griffiths (Dragons), Harrison Keddie (Dragons), Jordan Viggers (Blues), Rory Bartle (Gloucester)

Backs:
Tom Williams (Blues), Kieran Hardy (Scarlets), Owen Davies (Dragons), Daniel Jones (Scarlets), Callum Sheedy (Bristol), Garyn Smith (Blues), Tyler Morgan (Dragons), Owen Watkin (Ospreys), Danny Cross (RGC), Barney Nightingale (Dragons), Joshua Adams (Scarlets), Rhys Williams (Leicester), Elis-Wyn Benham (Blues), James Whittingham (Blues), Dafydd Howells (Ospreys)

Wales U20 home Six Nations fixtures:

Wales v England Sat 7th Feb 2015 7.30pm (S4C)

Wales v Ireland Fri 13th March 2015 7.45pm (BBC Wales)

I don't know that much about this squad, there are only a few players names I recognise. No mention of Byron Hayward (who I don't rate at all), it seems national academy coaching manager Allan Lewis is taking charge. Interesting that there are some players that are playing in England selected, whether they moved there for rugby or it is an eligibility ruling I don't know.

There seems to be some omissions, Jack Dixon and Angus O'Brien. I don't think AOB will be missed at all, but Dixon would have been handy.

Byron Hayward has left to join the Scarlets hasn't he???

Not many well known names you are right, though often this is becausee the coaches use the six nations to try lads out, as their seasons emphasis is on the JWC.

I guess dual contractor Tyler Morgan won't be in the Welsh Squad next week.

Is Dixon still eligible, and Dee?

Hayward had a dual role I think? Perhaps the decision-makers in the WRU also don't rate him. Can't say I blame them, our defence went from one of the best to one of the worst under this guy.

Dixon is eligible, I don't think Dee is as he turns 21 soon. Morgan shouldn't be in the Welsh squad just yet either.

Good to see a few lads in north wales there, both Rhys and Danny are great players, If you go on the Leicester thread they rate rhys really highly!

weird seeing their names on there having played with them both and knowing them reasonably well.

Tough for the Scarlets, their first three choice hookers injured and now their 4th choice and another back up in Myhill junior likely to be unavailable due to under 20s call ups.

Do you think that Elias and Myhill would learn more playing for the Scarlets in LV and Pro 12 than under 20s?

Seagultaf wrote:Tough for the Scarlets, their first three choice hookers injured and now their 4th choice and another back up in Myhill junior likely to be unavailable due to under 20s call ups.

Do you think that Elias and Myhill would learn more playing for the Scarlets in LV and Pro 12 than under 20s?

Im sure they will be released if the Scarlets want them to start a pro12 game

Seagultaf wrote:Tough for the Scarlets, their first three choice hookers injured and now their 4th choice and another back up in Myhill junior likely to be unavailable due to under 20s call ups.

Do you think that Elias and Myhill would learn more playing for the Scarlets in LV and Pro 12 than under 20s?

Not in the LV.

welshy824 (new) wrote:Good to see a few lads in north wales there, both Rhys and Danny are great players, If you go on the Leicester thread they rate rhys really highly!

weird seeing their names on there having played with them both and knowing them reasonably well.

Why is he at Leicester, did RGC not pick him up?

Rhys has been a Leicester for a long, long time now. Since he was about 14/15, if memory serves me correct. Presume this was before RGC's senior side had anything like the organisation they do now. How he ended up there, I'm not quite sure of the ins and outs.

Not sure of the eligibility ruling... But I believe Dixon turned 20 in December, so it's likely I'm wrong about him still being eligible.

They may be elidhable for the six nations but not the JWC. So therefor are not seen as necessary to the U20s squad

The Saint wrote:

welshy824 (new) wrote:Good to see a few lads in north wales there, both Rhys and Danny are great players, If you go on the Leicester thread they rate rhys really highly!

weird seeing their names on there having played with them both and knowing them reasonably well.

Why is he at Leicester, did RGC not pick him up?

He was with RGC from about u12's till he actually moved to Leicester, I think he and certainly his dad felt that with Leicester having such a strong history and RGC being relatively new set up, Leicester would provide the best opportunity.
I know he had offer from Rydal as part of the RGC academy, but I guess Leicester had more potential.

At my age group it was a bit of a problem with the top players getting offers from English clubs such as sale Worcester and also Leicester, although thankfully now that seems to have stopped, the rest of us had offers from llandrillo and llandovey so RGC were losing a lot of players.

But yeah Rhys and another lad moved to Leicester after year 11, so when he was 16 and been there ever since.

Great for Rhys Williams real potential. Proper winger.

He scored 2 tries against Wales U18 when they played against Leicester Tigers academy last year in March.

Williams has a nice step and is very abrasive in contact but his positioning has been suspect. Noticeably in pre season against Nottingham. David Williams is also in the academy and might be coming through to play for your under 20s next season.

How are they all in Leicester?! You must have a big set-up at age group levels to be drawing in all these players and getting good results.

The Saint wrote:How are they all in Leicester?! You must have a big set-up at age group levels to be drawing in all these players and getting good results.

Better make sure they all play under 20s for Wales and are then ineligible for anyone else via residency.

I think we have only got two Welsh lads in the academy. Given that our head scout has a knack for spotting young talent (see the two Italian under 20s we acquired from nowhere) and he is now head of the academy as well we may see a more varied non school based selection of entrance.

Hopefully if he impresses, the Welsh regions will not come sniffing.

The Welsh regions have never struggled to find quality wingers. Now if he was a prop of great prospect I'd be more concerned.

There's a fair few guff welsh wingers down in Scarlets country at the moment, so don't be surprised if they come lurking.

Great start and I'm pretty surprised at this team of unknowns. This turnaround from what was served up last year by that muppet Hayward and some of the players is nothing short of remarkable. There is no weak point in this team. Stronger, faster, better skilled, better drilled. There is a very good half-back combo who attacked and controlled the game very well, they're almost a hundred times better than last year. The centre's aren't what we've had in recent year and we look much better for it, also Tyler Morgan coming back in should have a positive impact. We have decent locks for once and some good hookers. The props aren't as good as the last 4 year's pair but I guess we can't have it all. Howells was solid at full-back. Players seem to be played in their best positions, which again is unlike last year. The back row is also another combo that look almost a hundred times better than last year's - the blindside (Phillips) looks like he could have a big future in rugby. So yeah pretty pleased, especially when considering a few are 18 years old. I hope we can go on and win the championship, need a slam just to be on the safe side and not risk 2nd place!

Any highlights for this?

On s4c now Coleman!

Tomas Williams showed up well at SH, been hearing good things about him at the Blues

Two changes for the Scotland game. One in the centre (Owen Watkins comes in) and Thornton is playing for the Ospreys now that they have a lock crisis. Adam Beard replaces him.

Anyone know when Tyler Morgan will be playing?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/31626790 - still no Tyler Morgan, it's like he's vanished into thin air.

The Saint wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/31626790 - still no Tyler Morgan, it's like he's vanished into thin air.

Dodgered isn't he? Doing a Tavis maybe ie tackle bagging?

He's still injured as far as the South Wales Argus are aware. No more information seems to be coming from the Welsh camp though.

SWA wrote:It leaves the Dragons down to their last two specialist centres in Ashley Smith and Jack Dixon for Sunday's trip to bottom club Zebre.

Ross Wardle is out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, Tyler Morgan is in Wales camp and has seen a specialist about a knee injury while Ebbw Vale's South African centre Carl Meyer, an unused replacement against Connacht, does not have a visa for a fixture in Italy.

Okay then, be a bit crap if he was holding tackle bags as he has so much potential. Shame Tom Phillips is injured for this one, I think he's another players from Wales U20 with a bright future. I wonder if France are any good, they just got a good beating from Ireland so will be up for this.

So what's the verdict on your u20 team this year,the Welsh set up has been pretty impressive the last few years although you've tended to field weak sides in the 6N and struggle your world cup results have been excellent.I thought after beating England that you must have a really strong side so losing to the Scots has confused me a bit.

How do Welsh fans who know the players view the side this year?

asoreleftshoulder wrote:So what's the verdict on your u20 team this year,the Welsh set up has been pretty impressive the last few years although you've tended to field weak sides in the 6N and struggle your world cup results have been excellent.I thought after beating England that you must have a really strong side so losing to the Scots has confused me a bit.

How do Welsh fans who know the players view the side this year?

We once had a good crop, containing the likes of Warburton, Halfpenny, Biggar, Davies, etc. They were alright, but the Baby Blacks were a few levels above everyone else back then. Since that vintage era we've had some pretty poor teams. In more recent seasons, we've had better teams, the ones built up by Danny Wilson were pretty good - yet they've still had mixed results. Because of restrictions (due to age, club commitments, and injury) we have had mixed results in the 6 Nations where we are usually rebuilding in some areas of the team. Highest finish is still 2nd place, as it is in the JWC (that team had Ospreys boys at prop, Smith, Thomas - with Dragons hooker Dee which was an awesome front row; that team had a fair few other players that have gone on to regional duty like Dixon, Amos, J.Williams). Smith is the only other capped player though (LH) and I think he got injured in that game.

After a good win over England I thought this team might be better. They looked good all over the field and played a different style of rugby (previous U20 teams were emulating the national team). They had a decent first half against Scotland running in 4 tries and must have assumed the game was in the bag, Scotland made an impressive comeback and won it. So I'm not sure what to think of this time, we're missing a few good players which would have come in handy against France. This tournament might unintentionally be another stepping stone to the JWC.

The Saint wrote:

We once had a good crop, containing the likes of Warburton, Halfpenny, Biggar, Davies, etc. They were alright, but the Baby Blacks were a few levels above everyone else back then. Since that vintage era we've had some pretty poor teams. In more recent seasons, we've had better teams, the ones built up by Danny Wilson were pretty good - yet they've still had mixed results. Because of restrictions (due to age, club commitments, and injury) we have had mixed results in the 6 Nations where we are usually rebuilding in some areas of the team. Highest finish is still 2nd place, as it is in the JWC (that team had Ospreys boys at prop, Smith, Thomas - with Dragons hooker Dee which was an awesome front row; that team had a fair few other players that have gone on to regional duty like Dixon, Amos, J.Williams). Smith is the only other capped player though (LH) and I think he got injured in that game.

After a good win over England I thought this team might be better. They looked good all over the field and played a different style of rugby (previous U20 teams were emulating the national team). They had a decent first half against Scotland running in 4 tries and must have assumed the game was in the bag, Scotland made an impressive comeback and won it. So I'm not sure what to think of this time, we're missing a few good players which would have come in handy against France. This tournament might unintentionally be another stepping stone to the JWC.

Ah right so just how good they are is still a bit unknown,this week will tell a bit more,the French looked pretty good against Ireland in a really high quality game.They are very strong in the scrum and if their coach hadn't made some baffling substitutions I think that match would have been a lot closer.

Yes pretty unknown at the moment, but some outstanding individuals. Nice to see some smaller running backs again as well! Ireland have had two good results so far.

France U20 v Wales U20 KO 19:55

Coverage starts at 19:30 on S4C

Which day though Pete?

Saturday - https://www.606v2.com/t6249-penfro-s-live-tv-guide-updated-friday-27-02-15-1422

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

The Saint wrote:

We once had a good crop, containing the likes of Warburton, Halfpenny, Biggar, Davies, etc. They were alright, but the Baby Blacks were a few levels above everyone else back then. Since that vintage era we've had some pretty poor teams. In more recent seasons, we've had better teams, the ones built up by Danny Wilson were pretty good - yet they've still had mixed results. Because of restrictions (due to age, club commitments, and injury) we have had mixed results in the 6 Nations where we are usually rebuilding in some areas of the team. Highest finish is still 2nd place, as it is in the JWC (that team had Ospreys boys at prop, Smith, Thomas - with Dragons hooker Dee which was an awesome front row; that team had a fair few other players that have gone on to regional duty like Dixon, Amos, J.Williams). Smith is the only other capped player though (LH) and I think he got injured in that game.

After a good win over England I thought this team might be better. They looked good all over the field and played a different style of rugby (previous U20 teams were emulating the national team). They had a decent first half against Scotland running in 4 tries and must have assumed the game was in the bag, Scotland made an impressive comeback and won it. So I'm not sure what to think of this time, we're missing a few good players which would have come in handy against France. This tournament might unintentionally be another stepping stone to the JWC.

Ah right so just how good they are is still a bit unknown,this week will tell a bit more,the French looked pretty good against Ireland in a really high quality game.They are very strong in the scrum and if their coach hadn't made some baffling substitutions I think that match would have been a lot closer.

They all use the 6 nations away rainy excercise for the JWC

maestegmafia wrote:

They all use the 6 nations away rainy excercise for the JWC

Eh ?

Anyone watching the game against France U20s? I've only watched the last 10 minutes, this stand-in fly-half isn't too good.

Not really pleased with Thornton's loser comments after the match, because in contrast to his comments there was no evidence showing 'effort'.

Wow Ollie Griffiths is some player. He was actually everywhere last night. Rory Thornton is a massive unit as well. Suprised how dominant we were in the scrum. a lot of those boys have another year left at this level as well.

Dragons have some competition at 7.

Decent enough win last night. Fantastic try too.

Wow - that was a hell of a try last night!

Coleman wrote:Wow Ollie Griffiths is some player. He was actually everywhere last night. Rory Thornton is a massive unit as well. Suprised how dominant we were in the scrum. a lot of those boys have another year left at this level as well.

Agree, I've alluded to how good these guys are in the past few weeks. Griffiths looks just like Navidi, an outstanding 7 who ticks all the right boxes but doesn't get picked. Thornton is a big unit, his team mate Beard is a bigger unit; I also think Dragons lock Joe Davies looks pretty good. It's about time we produce some good locks, that's the area where past U20 teams have been lacking.

Also, we've had scrum dominance against most teams in the past few years, that's been a real area of strength. The results haven't been great though, we need to improve in attack. I think this current group are a bit better an attacking team than previous ones.