Blindside Ben Fry, inside centre Scott Lloyd, tighthead Kemsley Mathias, scrum-half Callum Morris and wing Joe Roberts will all start on the grounds of the rugby school which nurtured iconic Springboks such as Schalk Burger and Jean De Villiers.
The youngsters in red carved out an historic win against their hosts three days ago in Stellenbosch, surviving a late fightback by SA Schools to take the spoils by a two-point margin.
Wales will be aware that the challenges get no easier on this tour – which is being streamed live on S4C’s website and Chwaraeon Facebook page – with England also winning their opening match 24-8 in a clinical display against France in Stellenbosch’s Paul Roos Gymnasium.
That performance was made all the more impressive by the fact that most of the Wales U18 squad hadn’t played since April, whilst SA Schools were coming in off the back of Craven Week – the famous South African schoolboy tournament.
The Welsh coaches have stated from the outset that they intend to give game opportunities to every player in the squad in the first two fixtures, and the five new caps against England are in keeping with that intention. After last week’s victory, they laid much of the credit at the door of the colleges, schools and regions for their players’ preparedness.
With results a secondary priority at this level (at the final whistle against England, over 40 players will have started an international match this season), Wales’ focus tomorrow will be on putting in a similarly robust performance. Anything more – against arguably the best U18 team in the world – will be a bonus.
Wales U18 team to face England
15 Tomi Lewis (Scarlets)
14 Tom Rogers (Scarlets)
13 Callum Carson (Ospreys)
12 Scott Lloyd (Scarlets)
11 Joe Roberts (Scarlets)
10 Ben Thomas (Blues)
9 Callum Morris (Scarlets)
1 Jordan Walters (Ospreys)
2 Morgan Nelson (Gloucester)
3 Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets)
4 Lewis Ellis-Jones (Scarlets)
5 Morgan Jones (Scarlets)
6 Ben Fry (Hartpurty College)
7 Tom Reffell (c) (Leicester)
8 Taine Basham (Dragons)
Replacements
16 Will Griffiths (Dragons)
17 Joshua Reynolds (Dragons)
18 Ben Warren (Blues)
19 Joe Miles (Blues)
20 Lennon Greggains (Dragons)
21 Daniel Davis (Scarlets)
22 Harri Morgan (Ospreys)
23 Cai Evans (Ospreys)
Five new caps to face England U18
Wales U18 have named five new caps in their squad for their second International Series match against England U18 tomorrow in Paarl Gimnasium (13:15 BST).
