Byron Hayward’s men were beaten 67-7 by England at Kingston Park, Newcastle on Friday evening as 10 tries from the men in white sealed a comfortable victory. Wales got on the board in the final minute with a penalty try, converted by replacement Luke Price, but it was the red rose brigade who ran out deserved winners.
It was a shock and disappointing defeat for Wales but Hughes reckons his side have the perfect opportunity to bounce back in five days’ time.
“It’s a positive this isn’t our last game of the campaign,” said the Llanelli centre. “We have a game next week against Scotland which will be an opportunity for us to get some pride and respect back.
“We said after the game we have to be honest with each other and it’s a big week of training now leading into a big game.”
Reflecting on a tough day at the office in the north of England, he added: “It’s very disappointing and I think we were dealt some harsh lessons in terms of how to play international rugby. We weren’t there at all and not taking anything away from England, I thought they played very well. At times, their play was something we couldn’t handle.”
Wales head coach Hayward said: “It’s very tough to take, we never saw this coming. A number of those boys played in a Junior World Championship final but we have to be honest and look at ourselves now, both as players and coaches.
“It’s the first time we’ve played in decent conditions but we dropped almost every ball, our basic skill level was very poor. We’ve got to go back to the level we were at when we reached the Junior World Championship final. We have to salvage something from the Scotland game – that’s going to be a real tough battle next Friday night and it’s vital we get the win.”
Mark Taylor, Wales Under 20 team manager, added: “We failed to catch the kick off and it went from there. The scrum went well but apart from that it was a tough day at the office.
“It’s very difficult for us to put our finger on why it happened but we lost the physical battle and just weren’t at the races. We have to look at this and realise some of these boys are 18 or 19 years of age but we have the Junior World Championship coming up and we have to look at that quite quickly.
“We wanted to come here this evening and get a win but it hasn’t happened. We have Scotland to finish now and we need to rebuild. We have to start again, build the game from the basics and get some continuity. We have to try and respond and get a win over Scotland in the final game.”
