Coach Simon King’s side made it three from three at the festival when they added a 25-3 win over France U18 to earlier victories over hosts Ireland U18 (25-6) and Italy U18 (43-10), with only a last minute defeat to England U18 back in February preventing them from emulating the senior side’s Grand Slam achievements. King says he is incredibly proud of a Wales U18 side he predicts will break through to make up many of the international stars of the future.
“The achievements of Warren Gatland’s side at senior level have been an inspiration to everyone in the game in Wales U18 and the Grand Slam had a direct influence on our squad,” said King. “We were privileged to be able to train with the senior squad throughout the season and you can’t help but be inspired by that kind of experience.
“The squad put together a string of performances to be proud of in Cork. We have been together for around four months now and improved game by game throughout the season. So much so that we were itching for a re-match with England U18 once the tournament had finished, as we met them first up back in February and ran them pretty close at Kingsholm.”
The U18 Six Nations Festival, that comprised of nine games, completed the U18 Championship that began with two matches in February and King expects the spine of his team to be impressing at international level for some time to come.
“Rhys Jenkins, the Dragons back-row, was probably our player of the tournament and we presented him with the Six Nations plaque awarded to the team at the end of the competition,” added Jenkins. “But we have an array of talent throughout the side, ably led by Rhys Williams who plies his trade in the Premiership at hooker with Pontypridd.
“We’ve got two big props in Simon Gardiner and Daniel Watchurst who are names to watch out for in the future while No.8 James Thomas has had a formidable season. Matthew Jarvis kicked an incredible 55-metre penalty for us against France U18 which set us up to win the game.
“There is plenty of talent throughout the back-line with players like Ashley Beck – who has already turned out for the Ospreys – Scott Williams and James Loxton. The spine of this team will go on to do great things and it would be easy to go through the whole squad and detail an impressive amount of rugby ability that will keep our game at the top level for many years to come if they keep up all the hard work.”
The WRU head of rugby development Nigel Davies added: “The success of the U18 side is fantastic news for Welsh rugby, our task now is to ensure that we continue to produce players of the obvious quality of Simon King’s squad.
“The likes of James Hook, Alun-Wyn Jones and Jamie Roberts are the highest profile players to have been developed by the academy system to show themselves at senior level and we need to continue to work hard to ensure many more follow.”
