In September 2017, Smith was playing for Wales U18 Sevens in the team’s maiden outing in Germany, and earned his first Wales U20 cap in the Six Nations victory against Ireland in February this year. Now he is set to enjoy the challenge of Hong Kong, one of the jewels in the sevens crown.
A large proportion of Gareth Williams’s players are already in Australia preparing for the Commonwealth Games, allowing the head coach to further enhance his player pool in Hong Kong – and also providing valuable game time to some key players returning to fitness.
“Hong Kong offers a great opportunity to us as a squad,” said Williams. “We play against two form teams in Argentina and USA, as well as France – all of whom can focus solely on this tournament with no Commonwealth Games commitment.
“There’s no better place for a young player to go out and express themselves than Hong Kong. We have prepared well for this group, now we get to go out and challenge ourselves to put the performance in.”
Ethan Davies, Luke Treharne, Morgan Williams and Tom Williams will join up with Team Wales on the Gold Coast post-Hong Kong.
In Wales’ pool on Friday they will come up against Argentina (11:00 BST) in the opening match of the tournament, whilst on Saturday they will compete with USA (04:38) – tournament winners last time out in Las Vegas – and France (08:16).
Wales Sevens squad for Hong Kong: Cai Devine (Durham University), Joe Jenkins, Harri Millard (Cardiff Blues), Lloyd Evans, Afon Bagshaw (RGC), Luke Treharne (c), Jacob Flynn (Aberavon), Ethan Davies, Morgan Williams (Scarlets), Dafydd Smith (Cardiff Blues), Tomi Lewis (Scarlets), Tom Williams (Ospreys). Travelling Reserve: Phil Jones.
Debut for Smith in Hong Kong
Cardiff Blues’ Dafydd Smith will make his World Rugby Sevens Series debut as part of a youthful Wales side in Hong Kong this weekend.
