Josh Thomas Wales U20

Four Ospreys in to face Ireland U20

Four Ospreys have been named in the Wales U20's squad to face Ireland in the U20 Six Nations at Cork's Irish Independent Park on Friday evening (KO 7.15pm)

Morgan Strong starts at Number 8, with James Fender, Bradley Roderick and Josh Thomas selected on the bench. Wales head coach Gareth Williams has made three changes to the starting line-up to face Ireland.

Bristol Bear's Ioan Lloyd gets his first taste of action with Wales U20, while loose-head prop Theo Bevacqua and hooker Will Griffiths replace Callum Williams and Dom Booth respectively.

Gareth Williams, Wales coach
"These are the type of environments we want to expose our young players to."

Defending champions Ireland sit top of the points table courtesy of a healthier points difference than England and will scent Welsh blood after an impressive 38-26 victory against Scotland, while Wales will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing 7-17 defeat to Italy in the opening round in Colwyn Bay last Friday evening.

"Naturally we are disappointed with the result and elements of our performance against Italy, but this week is about dealing with that and moving forward," said Williams.

"We still have four internationals left that act as great opportunities to move players forward in their development. Ireland will be a big challenge, and the atmosphere will be electric. These are the type of environments we want to expose our young players to.

"There are some areas we have worked hard to tighten up on this week, and challenged ourselves to execute better to keep Ireland under pressure which was something we didn't do to Italy, although I thought Italy were excellent in their performance."


Wales U20 v Ireland U20, Irish Independent Park, Friday 7 February, KO 7.15pm (Live, BBC2 Wales)

15 Ioan Lloyd (Bristol Bears)
14 Daniel John (Millfield School)
13 Osian Knott (Scarlets)
12 Aneurin Owen (Dragons)
11 Ewan Rosser (Dragons)
10 Sam Costelow (Leicester Tigers)
9 Dafydd Buckland (Dragons);
1 Theo Bevacqua (Cardiff Blues)
2 Will Griffiths (Dragons)
3 Ben Warren (Cardiff Blues)
4 Jac Price (Scarlets)
5 Ben Carter (Dragons)
6 Ioan Davies (Cardiff Blues)
7 Jac Morgan (Scarlets - CAPT)
8 Morgan Strong (Ospreys)

Replacements
16 Dom Booth  (Scarlets)
17 Callum Williams (Scarlets)
18 Archie Griffin (Bath Rugby)
19 James Fender (Ospreys)
20 Gwilym Bradley (Cardiff Blues)
21 Ellis Bevan (Cardiff Met)
22 Bradley Roderick (Ospreys)
23 Josh Thomas (Ospreys)