Wales have named their side for Friday night’s U20 clash against Scotland.
Head Coach Jason Strange has handed out five probable debuts for the game at Broadwood Stadium at 8.30pm on Friday evening as his side seek to build on a win against Italy and a promising, if ultimately disappointing, defeat to England.
Sedbergh leaver James Botham comes in at blindside flanker, the young Cardiff Blue back rower played for Wales 7s earlier this month and makes his U20 debut on Friday alongside another new cap in the back row, Aled Ward. That leavers Hartpury College’s Morgan Morris on the bench.
Scarlets’ Corey Baldwin is the third starter making his debut, he starts on the right wing. On the ben Owen Hughes and Arwel Robson could also make their debuts.
The big news comes in the return of two of last year’s Grand Slam winners, Reuben Morgan-Williams, who will cover scrum half from the bench, and Rhun Williams, who starts at full back in place of Solihull School leaver, Will Talbot-Davies.
Speaking ahead of the game, Strange said to Wales Rugby:
“The pressure for places in the squad has increased the competitive feeling amongst the squad, and after capping eight new players against England, it’s good to be able to blood some more this week, that’s exactly what we need travelling to Scotland, who boast some really good individuals and a big pack of forwards.”
“We may have a smaller pool of players to choose from than other nations, but we more than make up for that in talent, we’ve played some very good rugby in our past two games, and the job for the team this Friday is to build on that.”
Scotland U20 v Wales U20 – Friday, 20.30, Broadwood Stadium – Live on BBC 2 Wales (red button)
Wales U20 XV
15 Rhun Williams (Cardiff Blues), 14 Corey Baldwin (Scarlets), 13 Cameron Lewis (Cardiff Blues), 12 Keiran Williams (Ospreys), 11 Ryan Conbeer (Scarlets), 10 Ben Jones (Cardiff Blues), 9 Dane Blacker (Cardiff Blues), 1 Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues), 2 Corrie Tarrant (Cardiff Blues), 3 Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Blues), 4 Sean Moore (Pontypridd), 5 Alex Dombrandt (Cardiff Met), 6 James Botham (Cardiff Blues), 7 Will Jones (c) (Ospreys), 8 Aled Ward (Cardiff Blues).
Replacements: 16 Owen Hughes (Dragons), 17 Steff Thomas (Scarlets), 18 Chris Coleman (Dragons), 19 Max Williams (Dragons), 20 Morgan Morris (Hartpury), 21 Reuben Morgan-Williams (Ospreys), 22 Arwel Robson (Dragons), 23 Phil Jones (Ospreys).
