Wales welcome back young giant Jonny Green for their U20s Six Nations encounter against England at Colwyn Bay on Friday evening (7.15pm kick-off).
The Harlequins second row missed the game with Scotland last time out after picking up a bump in the campaign opener against Ireland.
But the 6ft 7in, 17st 5lb lock is highly rated, having been picked for Quins U18s at the age of just 15 and earning a spot in a NextGen World U18 dream team selection last year. At just 18, he has already started for Quins in the Premiership Cup and is felt to be a player worth tracking.
Coach Byron Hayward makes four changes all told, two of them positional, from the side that lost 18-17 at Scotstoun, with Harri Houston coming in for Llien Morgan on the right wing and Luca Giannini starting at openside flanker to replace the injured Morgan Morse, the schoolboy tipped to be a massive player for Wales. Skipper Ryan Woodman reverts from lock to blindside, while Mackenzie Martin moves from No. 6 to No. 8 in the absence of Huw Davies, who is also on the casualty list. Cam Winnett, impressive for Wales in the opening two rounds, continues at full-back.
“England will come with a big driving game against us,” predicted Hayward. “That is one area we have had to work on and put a bit of work into this week because our defence of driving mauls needs to be better than what it has been. England, along with Italy and France, will be the same, coming at us with a driving mentality so we need to make sure we stop that legally at source.
“I think if we can do that and get parity possession-wise I’m confident we can beat England. I’ve been impressed with the way the boys have trained and applied themselves and played so far. We’ve showed some real good glimpses of what we are capable of and keeping 15 players on the field will be our chief focus for 80 minutes.
“If you look at our record over the two games, we have conceded 32 penalties and five yellow cards. So we need to get our house in order in certain areas and we have addressed those.”
Despite the defeat to Scotland last time out, Hayward praised his side’s effort.
“I was really proud of the boys,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, we made a lot of errors against Scotland. In terms of effort, commitment and pride they showed for the jersey, to keep them out just before half-time with 13 men was excellent work.
“We had a chat at half-time about a few tactical things and the execution 10 minutes after half-time was of the highest standard. They delivered exactly what we had spoken about. We scored two tries and ended up getting ahead in the second half. The game was there to be won but we just didn’t take our chance at the end.”
The two sides have endured mixed fortunes so far this campaign, with Wales losing both their games and England unbeaten in their matches. Wales U20s v England will be broadcast live on S4C.
Wales U20: Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby); Harri Houston (Ospreys), Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby), Harri Ackerman (Dragons), Oli Andrew (Dragons); Dan Edwards (Ospreys), Archie Hughes (Scarlets); Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (Dragons), Sam Scarfe (Dragons), Ellis Fackrell (Ospreys), Liam Edwards (Ospreys), Jonny Green (Harlequins), Ryan Woodman (capt, Dragons), Luca Giannini (Scarlets), Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby).
Replacements: Lewis Morgan (Scarlets), Josh Morse (Scarlets), Tomas Pritchard (Scarlets), Owain Evans (RGC), Lucas De La Rua (Cardiff Rugby), Harri Williams (Scarlets), Iwan Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), Bryn Bradley (Harlequins).
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