That would show an improvement of one place on last year’s showing at the U19 event in Belfast – and go some way to easing the pain of losing to New Zealand in the semi-finals at Rodney Parade.
The young All Blacks scored four tries in their 31-6 win over the host nation – their fifth successive victory at global age-grade championships against Wales – and will now meet the Six Nations U20 champions England in the final on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Wales will have to face South Africa in the third place play-off match at the Liberty Stadium. Last year they lost by four points to Australia in the same game.
Wales might be without inspirational skipper Sam Warburton for that clash after he failed to appear for the second half because of a left shoulder injury. Other than that, Horgan has a pretty full complement to choose from.
“We’ve played nine games this year and lost two – to the two finalists this weekend. What we want to do now is end the season with an 80% record by winning our final game,” said Horgan.
“The All Blacks are a wonderful side – so powerful. We had hoped to play into the wind and rain and try to contain them in the first-half. But they won the toss and gave us the elements.
“We battled really well to contain them to a 10-6 lead, but they were too strong for us in the second half. The crowd were magnificent and really got behind us and now we will have to repay them with a win at the weekend.”
The Welsh defensive effort against a team hoping to make it successive world titles having won the Under 19 crown in Belfast last year was magnificent and restricted the All Blacks to two tries in each half.
“That was one of the most intense games I have ever played. You have to win the battle up front, but they had players who were half-a-stone heavier than us,” said Warburton.
“I think we showed an improvement on the two games we played against this group in last year’s U19 tournament and we can only benefit from playing matches at this level.”
