Wales have named their 26-man squad for the forthcoming U18 6 Nations Festival.

Wales are the tournament hosts for the Festival, which commences on Saturday 31^st March, with fixtures on the 31^st, Wednesday 4^th April, and Sunday 8^th April.

Wales campaign begins against France U18 at 2.30pm on Saturday, which is then followed by Ireland U18 on the Wednesday and Italy U18 on the Sunday. All three of Wales’ games will kick off at that 2.30pm slot, with the first in Ystrad Mynach’s Centre for Sporting Excellent and the second two at Cardiff Arms Park.

Wales have already been in action twice this season, beating Scotland 32-30 with a dramatic late try before losing 42-14 to England last weekend. Those two games mean that Wales will actually have faced every tea in the U18 6 Nations Festival by the end of the tournament, the only side that will have done so.

Of the 26-man squad, there are six players from the Welsh Exiles programme who play their rugby at English schools.

Up front Archie Griffin will represent Marlborough College, while Carwyn Tuipulotu becomes the fourth Sedbergh player named in a squad for the tournament, Bevan Rodd, Rob Farrar, and Josh Hodge will be representing the Daily Mail Trophy, Rosslyn Park HSBC National School 7s, and Sedbergh Super 10s champions in the England squad.

In the backline Bryanston scrum half Ellis Bevan is selected, along with Oakham fly half Sam Costelow, while Clifton College’s Ioan Lloyd will also star. Louis Rees-Zammit, the Harpurty College winger, becomes the fourth member of the AASE winners to be selected for one of the U18 6 Nations Festival squads after JJ Tonks, Jacob Morris, and Jack Reeves were selected for England.

Speaking to Welsh Rugby at the squad announcement, Wales U18 Head Coach Chris Horsman said of his squad:

“Every match will expose the players to different styles of play and test the players but our big focus will be on ourselves, we want to provide an environment to enable the players to improve in the long-term by giving them the tools and skills to work out how to do this for themselves.”

“It’s always disappointing to lose as we did last weekend against England but every match is a learning process, ofour last six matches against England we have won three each and the key thing is to have matches like that to learn from.’

“The support was fantastic in Pontypridd and hopefully the players will be well supported in Ystrad Mynach and Cardiff Arms Park, because it’s so important for them on their journey.”

Wales U18 Squad for U18 Six Nations Festival (31^st March – 8^th April):

Forwards

Robert Brookson (Coleg Gwent/Dragons)

Ben Carter (Caldicot/Dragons)

Ioan Rhys Davies (Coleg y Cymoedd/Cardiff Blues)

Archie Griffin (Marlborough College/Exiles)

Will Griffiths (Coleg Gwent/Dragons)

Cameron Lewis (Coleg Sir Gar/Ospreys)

Jac Morgan (Coleg Sir Gar/Ospreys)

Jac Price (Coleg Sir Gar/Ospreys)

William Sanderson (Coleg Llandrillo/RGC)

Carwyn Tuipulotu (Sedbergh/Exiles)

Olly White (Llandovery College/RGC)

Callum Williams (Ysgol Maes Y Gwendraeth/Scarlets)

Teddy Williams (Ysgol Gantaf/Cardiff Blues

Luke Yendle (Newport High/Dragons)

Backs

Ellis Bevan (Bryanston/Exiles)

Dafydd Buckland (Newport High/Dragons)

Sam Costelow (Oakham/Exiles)

Harri Doel (Coleg Sir Gar/Scarlets)

Frankie Jones (Neath-Port Talbot College/Ospreys)

Osian Knott (Coleg Sir Gar/Scarlets)

Evan Lloyd (Coleg Gwent/Dragons)

Ioan Lloyd (Clifton College/Exiles)

Aneurin Owen (Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw/Dragons)

Louis Rees-Zammit (Hartpury College/Exiles)

Joe Roberts (Coleg Sir Gar/Scarlets)

Josh Thomas (Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr/Ospreys)

U18 6 Nations Festival Schedule: Saturday 31^st March to Sunday 8^th April

Matchday 1 – Saturday 31^st March, Ystrad Mynach (Centre of Sporting Excellence)

Scotland U18 v England U18 – 12pm

Wales U18 v France U18 – 2.30pm

Ireland U18 v Italy U18 – 5pm

Matchday 2 – Wednesday 4^th April, Cardiff Arms Park

Italy U18 v England U18 – 12pm

Ireland U18 v Wales U18 – 2.30pm

France U18 v Scotland U18 – 5pm

Matchday 3 – Sunday 8^th April, Cardiff Arms Park

Ireland U18 v Scotland U18 – 12pm

Italy U18 v Wales U18 – 2.30pm

France U18 v England U18 – 5pm