There were mixed fortunes for the two Wales U18 teams at the weekend as the women came up trumps against Scotland at home and the men went down 15-7 against Italy in a rain-soaked L’Aquila.
It was the last warm-up outing for head coaches Siwan Lillicrap and Richie Pugh before they announce their squads for this month’s Six Nations Festival. The men will be playing in Vichy, while the women head to Wellington College, with both tournaments running from 10-19 April.
The men’s event will this year feature Georgia and Spain as part of the ongoing commitment to use the festival platform to support emerging nations and foster development across the game.
For the women’s festival at Wellington College, each team will play a total of five matches. Matchdays 1 and 2 will feature 35-minute matches, with 12 matches taking place across these days, while on Matchday 3 each team will play one 70-minute match.
“We had three 25-minute sessions against the Scots at the Arms Park and won all three. We scored 10 tries in all and it proved to be another really good and valuable experience for the players and coaches,” said Lillicrap.
“We’ve now seen 37 players in action in the games against Italy and Scotland and their performances have certainly given us a few headaches for when we sit down to choose our final 28 for the Six Nations Festival.
“There were plenty of learnings that came out of the game in Italy and from what we saw against the Scots those lessons were taken on board. We have eight players in contention who played in last year’s Festival in Colwyn Bay, and we feel the standard is rising.
“We managed to score a lot of tries against the Scots, but there are still plenty of things for us to address in our game. We play France and Scotland on Day 1 in the Festival, England and Italy on Day 2 and then meet Ireland in our 70-minute match on the Saturday, 19 April.”
Saran Jones (2), Taufa Tuipulotu, Evie Hill, Cara Mercier, Seren Lockwood, Freya Perry, Sienna McCormack, Lilly Foscolo and Megan Jones were the Welsh try scorers against the Scots. Lockwood was one of four players from the U18 squad who have been training with the senior Wales squad and actually joined them in the dressing room and the warm-up ahead of the Six Nations clash with England at Principality Stadium.
“It’s important we expose these players to the senior environment because that will be the next step for them. All the players went to the game on Saturday and were suitably inspired by what was a pretty special celebration of Welsh women’s rugby and women’s sport as a whole,” said Lillicrap.
“The scoreline was pretty tough to take but it showed the girls the standards they need to aspire to over the next couple of years. They loved every minute of the weekend and I’m sure we will be seeing a number of them battling for senior honours in the future.”
Wales conceded two tries in the opening five minutes in the men’s U18 game against Italy as the home side made a fast start. Luca De Novellis grabbed the first and then David Luisato saw his score wiped out by the referee for an offside decision.
There was no stopping David Sette, the Italian captain playing on his home pitch, as he crossed for a try that stood to make it 10-0 in the eighth minute. That’s how the score stayed up until the break.
In the second half, Wales cut the gap with a try by flanker Alfie Prygodzycz that replacement outside half Lloyd Lucas converted. That made it 1-7 with all to play for in the ever increasing muddy conditions.
Speedy wing Luisato then raced away for his second try to make it a two score lead for the home side and victory went to the Italians.
“It was a good learning experience for the boys. We encountered a different challenge to what we expected,” said Pugh.
“It was a physical Italian team, and the conditions were pretty atrocious. The pitch was a bit of a mud bath throughout, and our game management wasn’t great – they were the better team in the conditions.
“It helped us to understand where we are at going into the Six Nations Festival. It was a different challenge for our boys in those conditions, but we will be better for it.
“We will finalise our 26-man squad this week and we will have a training camp at the weekend. We leave on Tuesday and play on Thursday 10 April against an Irish side that beat England at the weekend.”
