After the disappointment of losing in the 5th place play-off match to Scotland in the World Rugby Junior Championships, Wales Under 20 head coach Richard Whiffin has already switched his thoughts to next year’s tournament.
The 28-21 defeat in Tbilisi meant Wales finished with a record of three wins from five games as the young Scots equalled their best ever finish in the competition. It was not the ending Whiffin had hoped for a number of his senior players.
“It was a disappointing result from a very bitty game in which there wasn’t a lot of flow. There were a lot of errors, and you could tell it was the fifth game in 23 days for both sides,” said Whiffin.
“But rather than focus on the result, we need to look at the service given by players like Steff Emanuel, Tom Bowen and Deian Gwynne. They have put blood sweat and tears into the jersey for the past two and three years.
“There are plenty of others as well who have been involved for the past two tournaments. Now they need to move into full-time senior rugby and push for first team places at their clubs and regions.
“We’ve got a number of players who will be eligible for next year, such as scrum half Cai Gealy, outside halves Carwyn Leggatt-Jones and Lloyd Lucas and wing Rhys Cummings in the back division. Up front, hooker Tom Howe, lock Osian Williams and back row man Sam Morgan have all had a taste.
“I was pleased we won a knock-out game for the first time since 2023 and that we took a southern hemisphere scalp for the first time since 2019. We also won three games for the first time since 2018.”
Two yellow cards made life difficult for Wales against a much-improved Scottish outfit. On both occasions the Scots took full advantage almost immediately to score tries.
“The lesson to be learned from the game is how can you execute when you are tired, and things aren’t going your way – how can you swing momentum? We were a little bit off our skill set,” added Whiffin.
“Both teams ended up with two yellows but for us defending for a quarter of the game with 14 was always going to put us under pressure because yellow cards always hurt you. Tom Bowen went for an intercept and just got it wrong, but had he caught the ball it would have been a try at the other end, and we would have been screaming about it.
“Carwyn Leggatt-Jones went into the game a little bit bashed up, but he gave us a good 40-45 minutes before Lloyd Lucas came on. Until you’ve actually experienced this tournament you don’t realise how tough it is to turn around from game to game so quickly.
“In the games we won we did well, and we also did well against South Africa, who went on to win it again.”