Posted by This weekend sees the long awaited return of the World Rugby U20 Championship after four years away thanks to covid-19 and it’s accompanying restrictions.
For Wales it’s yet another fresh start at the top of the age grade pyramid after a tough U20 Six Nations campaign as former Welsh winger Mark Jones replaced Byron Hayward in the Head Coach spot, following the latter resigning in May. Former Crusaders and Worcester assistant coach Jones is only in position on an interim basis as things stand.
The tournament back in February and March saw the young Welshmen pick up the wooden spoon following five straight defeats amid questions around how the player development pathway is preparing those who follow it for this level of rugby and then on into the professional level.
Some, who choose not to follow Welsh rugby particularly closely but opt still to comment from a position of ignorance, continue to trot out the line that the players involved in the pathway simply need to play more. This conveniently ignores the fact that those in the U20 squad are playing more than ever in the URC, Europe or Welsh Premiership, if they are based in this country.
Instead they should be focusing on why Wales U20 sides continue to be physically dominated by particularly English, Irish and French counterparts, and increasingly Scottish and Italian counterparts, with the sheer size and physicality levels being well off the required level and opening up the young Welshmen to being bullied up front week-in, week-out.
Looking through the stats from the U20 Six Nations and, leaving aside the loss to Scotland in tough weather at Scotstoun, Wales were even with their opponents in a lot of key areas; possession, territory, time in opposition 22, while in certain areas of strength the men in red were dominant; line breaks, defenders beaten, turnovers won.
Unfortunately though, particularly against Ireland and England, it was the set piece and the forward power that did for the Welsh as we made too many handling errors, had a weaker scrum and maul, and in no games did we make more dominant tackles than the opposition. Turning territory into points was tough, and preventing adversaries achieving the same target was virtually impossible.
There was plenty of eye-catching rugby from Wales; some of the tries scored against Ireland were particularly high quality, but the ability to display that skill level consistently is stunted when opponents can just tighten up and turn the screw through their pack.
Heading to South Africa for the next few weeks, and specifically to the Western Cape in the middle of winter where rain is likely to be a factor in games, it means Wales U20 will have to lean heavily on their kicking game and transitions in order to dominate territory against pool stage opposition France and New Zealand in particular.
Kicking well, chasing well and thriving on turnover ball is where the Welsh difference can be found in order to exert the pressure required to keep the scoreboard ticking over and grind down teams that have the ability to dominate proceedings with their forward power.
Beating France and New Zealand will still be hugely challenging, meaning that beating Japan and qualifying for the 9th-12th place play-off will still be a good result for Wales, but the hope is that Mark Jones’ side can at least be competitive throughout the tournament and avoid any heavy defeats that were seen in the years pre-covid.
Ultimately though the long-term outlook for Welsh age grade teams is not a positive one while the Welsh Rugby Union continues to under-fund the development pathway and needlessly re-shuffle aspects such as the Dewar Shield, when the focus has to be on getting professional coaching and strength & conditioning training to the players earlier in their journey.
Cardiff Rugby Life 