Cardiff Rugby U18 coach Saul Nelson will take a familiar route to north Wales this weekend when he leads his WRU Academies Championship table-topping team to Colwyn Bay to face RGC.
Nelson became a popular at RGC during a near four-year spell in charge of their academy before heading south to the Arms Park. Having seen his side resume their title tilt with a 34-12 win over reigning champions the Ospreys last weekend, he will be looking to extend the winning streak.
Having picked up four bonus-point wins in the first block at fixtures at the start of the season there were six tries to savour on home soil against the Ospreys to make it five wins out of five.
“Having been born and raised in north Wales it will be nice to head home to see a number of my family members and also to see many of the players I used to work with at RGC,” said Nelson.
“Everyone connected with RGC is so proud to represent their club and region. They are always incredibly committed and competitive on the field.
“It will be a different sort of test for us compared to what we faced against the Ospreys. We have developed real strength in depth in our programme and there is good competition for places across the squad.
“There is plenty of talent in our region and the pathway is working very well for us. We will have a number of players featuring in the Cardiff RFC side against Wales U20 on Friday night, which is great for their development.”
Ben Coomer, Sonny McCabe, Harry Turner, Arthur Garfield and Ioan Leyshon are in line to feature in the games against Wales U20, while hooker Tom Howe is in the Wales U20 squad even though he has only just turned 18.
Star of the show in the win that completed the double over the Ospreys, who pipped Cardiff in last year’s final, was Coleg y Cymoedd wing Calen Edwards. He scored a first half hat-trick before Evan Hughes secured the bonus-point try.
Will Adams and Harry Kinsey added the other tries and outside half Isaac Manning-Burke kicked two conversions. Dylan Quinn scored a try for the Ospreys
The Scarlets also had a big home win on their return to action, beating RGC 40-7 at Llandovery. There were six tries for the home side, one of them coming from new full back Rhys Wyatt.
The son of former Wales’ international wing Gareth Wyatt, he has switched from Cardiff to Scarlets mid-season. He featured in the WSC Rugby U18 final at Principality Stadium with Coleg y Cymoedd.
As well as Wyatt, other tries came from Ollie Tucker, Harvey Thomas, Ceian Lewis, Alfie Luger and Austin Sandford. Outside half Madoc Evans kicked five conversions to complete the first win of the campaign for the Scarlets.
They stand down in Round 6 while the Dragons, second in the table behind Cardiff, head to The Gnoll to meet the Ospreys.