Posted by It can be dangerous to try and gauge the health of Welsh rugby on the results of the Cymru D20 side alone. Too often whether the young men win one or three games in the U20 Six Nations, or finish fifth or eighth in the Junior World Championship, is seen as the difference between excitement or despair for the future.
In reality though a few wins either way is not going to have a massive impact on the future development of the team. This season’s young Welshmen, for example, have had a slightly mixed campaign with just the one win in the Six Nations before three wins and a sixth-place finish in the JWC that finished last week.
The Six Nations was seen as a disappointment although losses came with a three-point margin against England, a 10-point margin against France and a seven-point margin against Italy, before a more successful stint in Georgia flipped that on it’s head with a one-point win over the hosts and a two-point win over Australia.
That’s not to take anything away from the performance at the JWC though. The 10 points gained in the pool stages was the best return for a Cymru D20 side at the tournament since 2013, while the sixth-place finish is an improvement on two eighth-place finishes in the previous two editions.
What particularly piques the interest in this year’s squad though is the amount of individual quality within the squad. Look beyond the results and the team performance, and the solo appraisals of players are some of the best that this writer has produced in a decade or so of closely following the Welsh development pathway.
There are the headline grabbers in the likes of Deian Gwynne, Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, Steff Emanuel and Tom Bowen who have had exposure at the senior professional level with their clubs, and each is in a great position to kick on again next season. They are reminiscent of the top of the crop in 2022 where names such as Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Dan Edwards, Joe Hawkins and Mason Grady quickly progressed to full international caps after graduating the U20 setup.
Underneath that though there are a number of players who could also make a name at the senior professional level relatively quickly if granted the opportunity. Tom Howe, despite being one of the youngest in the squad and still available to Richard Whiffin next season, is a major talent at hooker, while Tom Cottle and Will Evans at second row seem very close to being comfortable in their respective first teams.
Evan Minto at number eight has plenty of attributes that could help add to his Dragons appearances, Sion Davies had an excellent campaign and has the raw skills to be a success at scrum-half, while Osian Darwin-Lewis continues on a huge upward curve in his trajectory after a superb season at outside centre for Cardiff in Super Rygbi Cymru.
In the back three Lewis Edwards has all the materials needed to be a high level full-back for Ospreys coming straight out of the U20s to knock on the door of the first team, while Rhys Cummings’ stock rose exponentially after some eye-catching performances in Georgia.
While props and some of the other locks will take a little longer to mature into professional club rugby, there is clearly talent in George Tuckley at loosehead prop, Jac Pritchard and Yestyn Cook on the tighthead, and Luke Evans and Osian Williams just behind Cottle and Evans in the second row stocks.
The key for some of those players now is ensuring they do kick on and find a way to get the minutes needed at a suitable level for them to develop further. Over the last two-to-three seasons of Cymru D20 showcasing some talented individuals the frustration has been the lack of progression players have struggled with in the 20-23 age range.
Taking last season’s squad as an example and we have not seen much, if any, of the likes of Sam Scott, Kenzie Jenkins, Harri Wilde, Harri Ford, Osian Roberts or Elijah Evans despite some standout showings in red before heading back to their clubs.
They still have time, of course, as do the players graduating the set up this summer, but the warning should be there from the Welsh Rugby Union – specifically to those plying their trade over the Severn Bridge – that if they are not getting the opportunities they require then they should be seriously considering a switch back to Wales where the chances can arise.
The loan move of the aforementioned Wilde from Cardiff to Ospreys in a bid to get him the desired minutes in the United Rugby Championship and European Challenge Cup can be a great example of exactly that.
All in all though, despite the back drop of Welsh rugby in crisis, the WRU trying it’s best to tamper with and hinder player development, and the general under-performances of the sport at elite level in the country, the people on the ground in the junior game and development pathways continue to produce talented players.
This season’s Cymru D20 team is a great example of that and hopefully they will continue to help rebuild rugby in Wales in the years to come.
Cardiff Rugby Life 