Head coach Richard Whiffin has confirmed his Wales U20 men’s matchday squad to face England in the final round of the 2025 U20 Six Nations at Cardiff Arms Park this Friday. (KO 7.30pm, S4C).
Whiffin has made four changes to the starting line-up, two enforced due to suspensions, in a side looking to deny England the Grand Slam.
Dan Gemine returns to the second row in place of the suspended Tom Cottle as the only change in the engine room.
Osian Roberts replaces Elijah Evans at outside centre while Sion Davies earns a first start of the campaign, replacing the suspended Logan Franklin. Harri Wilde returns to start at fly-half in place of Harri Ford who suffered an ankle injury against Scotland last weekend.
“Whether it is through injury or suspension the opportunites and chances opens up for someone else and we hope those guys grab it,” said Whiffin.
“We’ve reviewed pretty heavy and looked around the opportunities around the chances we left out there against Scotland.
“The first 15 minutes was some of the best ball movement that we have produced in the tournament. We created three clean line-breaks off our phase play – the challenge and learnings for us is being able to take those chances and build a solid lead in the first 15.
“Fair play to Scotland they held us out and took their chances when they had them when we were obviously numbers down.”
England will arrive seeking a coveted Grand Slam and tags of favourites for the match after sweeping Italy aside 33-24 at The Recreation Ground in round four.
“We’re focussing on ourselves this week. England have performed very well during the tournament – they are current world champions as well, so it is going to be a hell of a game,” said Whiffin.
“We had such a good performance last time out against Ireland at Rodney Parade at home and we are hoping for the same intent and endeavour against what will be a really good England team.
“The boys have worked so hard for this period, it’s a tough tournament, every game is tough, lots of tight turnarounds, lots of travel but for us to finish at home in front of a home crowd I think it would be a really nice send off for the boys to finish the tournament well with a really good performance and hopefully a victory.”
Wales U20 v England U20, Cardiff Arms Park, Fri 14 March, 7.30pm
15 Tom Bowen (Cardiff Rugby)
14 Harry Rees-Weldon (Dragons)
13 Osian Roberts (Sale Sharks)
12 Steffan Emanuel (Cardiff Rugby)
11 Aidan Boshoff (Bristol Bears)
10 Harri Wilde (Cardiff Rugby)
9 Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby)
1 Ioan Emanuel (Bath Rugby)
2 Harry Thomas (Scarlets)
3 Sam Scott (Bristol Bears)
4 Kenzie Jenkins (Bristol Bears)
5 Dan Gemine (Ospreys)
6 Deian Gwynne (Gloucester)
7 Harry Beddall (Leicester Tigers) (c)
8 Evan Minto (Dragons)
Replacements
16 Evan Wood (Cardiff Met)
17 Louie Trevett (Bristol Bears)
18 Owain James (Dragons)
19 Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs)
20 Caio James (Gloucester)
21 Carwyn Edwards (Cardiff Met)
22 Elis Price (Scarlets)
23 Jack Woods (Bath Rugby)
Dove Dolce
The term ‘tries’ in rugby has an intriguing origin story. Initially, there were no points awarded for tries, and the term referred to the attempt made by a player to kick the ball for a goal. This action was eventually renamed as a ‘conversion,’ but the original term ‘tries’ has persisted as a crucial part of rugby terminology.
Stealth
Sport Trivia: Who was the first black player to represent South Africa in rugby? Answer: Errol Tobias made his debut for South Africa on 30th May 1981, against Ireland at Newlands. South Africa won the match 23-15. He went on to win six caps between 1981 and 1984.