Head coach Richard Whiffin has named his Wales U19 side to take on Ireland U19 at Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday (KO 1pm).
Dragons RFC back row Cerrig Smith has been named as captain in a Wales side which has six squad members who featured in the U20 Six Nations campaign and offers players a chance to stake a claim for Whiffin’s world cup squad in the summer.
“Cerrig led the 19s really well pre-Christmas and led the 18s last year at the Six Nations festival so he is someone who we know has some very good leadership qualities,” said Whiffin.
“In the 20s camp it was obviously a very strong back row, probably one of strongest areas on the field so it was tough for him to get selected but he worked hard and prepped the team and to be fair it was always a two year campaign for him and he has learned a lot in the 20s camp and hopefully he takes that learning into this 19s week.”
There are some fresh faces in the squad named and Whiffin is keen to see how they cope with the demands of international rugby.
“I’m excited as we have a couple of guys in camp that we haven’t seen before – Cai Gealy and Nick Jones are two young halfbacks that get their chance to push their claims for world cup selection and then it’s good to see someone like Noah Willaims who had such a good u18s last year and he’s back from injury to push his claims for world cup selection too.”
Wales U19 v Ireland U19, Cardiff Arms Park, Sun 29 March, 1pm
15 Harry Turner (Cardiff Rugby)
14 Noah Morgan (Dragons RFC)
13 Bailey Cutts (Cardiff Rugby)
12 Jack Hoskins (Ospreys)
11 Rhys Cole (Dragons RFC)
10 Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff Rugby)
9 Cai Gealy (Bristol Bears);
1 George Leyland (Bristol Bears)
2 James Talamai (Dragons RFC)
3 Nathan Davies (Dragons RFC)
4 Sonny McCabe (Cardiff Rugby)
5 Gabe Williams (Cardiff Rugby)
6 Cerrig Smith (c) (Dragons RFC)
7 Sam Morgan (Ospreys)
8 Noah Williams (Bristol Bears)
Replacements
16 Keanu Evans (Scarlets)
17 Hudson Nevin (Scarlets)
18 Dylan James (Ospreys)
19 Cody Rae David (Ospreys)
20 Kai Jones (Scarlets)
21 Nick Jones (Ospreys)
22 Steff Jac Jones (Scarlets)
23 Ioan Leyshan (Cardiff Rugby)
24 Morgan Carter (Dragons RFC)
25 Brogan Leary (Dragons RFC)
26 Tomos Evans (Gloucester)