Chiefs trio in Welsh Under-20s squad

By Mark Stevens
16/6/22

Three Exeter Chiefs players have been named in Byron Hayward’s Wales squad for the U20 Six Nations Summer Series being staged in Treviso and Verona between 24 June and 12 July.

Locks Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza return to the squad having missed the 2022 Six Nations - and they will be joined in the ranks by club-mate Oli Burrows.

The squad consists of 17 forwards and 13 backs and contains five uncapped players – Scarlets second/back row Caleb Salmon, Cardiff Rugby back row Mackenzie Martin and Aberavon flanker Ben Williams join Ospreys scrum half Rhodri Lewis and Dragons scrum half Che Hope as newcomers.

Ospreys centre Joe Hawkins takes over the captaincy from Alex Mann who is unavailable due to injury. Hayward said the strong running Hawkins was an automatic choice to replace Mann as captain. Hawkins made his Ospreys debut against Zebre in November 2020 and has gone on to play 17 times for the Welsh region, impressing in the heart of midfield for Toby Booth’s side.

Wales will face Scotland, Georgia and Italy in Pool B before a play-off match to determine their final placing, but Hayward said the squad’s sole focus is the first game against Scotland at Stadio Di Monigo on Saturday 25 June.

"If you get a good win under your belts then you are then up and running," explained Hayward. "It will be imperative for us to get that first win and that is all we are focussing on at the moment. We’ve got two games after that, but we won’t even think about them until the Scotland game.

"They play an open attractive brand of rugby so it will be a challenge for us defensively which is a big area we have to pick up from the Six Nations and we’ve highlighted that.

"So I think if we can get our house in order there when and we do have the ball we could cause some damage. Saying that, we have full respect for Scotland as we were 10-0 down in the second half against them in the Six Nations before coming away with a victory."

Wales U20 squad for Summer Series in Italy

Forwards:

Rhys Barratt (Cardiff Rugby)

Cameron Jones (Ospreys)

Efan Daniel (Cardiff Rugby)

Oli Burrows (Exeter Chiefs)

Morgan Veness (Ealing Trailfinders)

Adam Williams Dragons)

Nathan Evans (Cardiff Rugby)

Ellis Fackrell (Ospreys)

Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs)

Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs)