The former Newport High scrum half began the 2019 Six Nations campaign uncapped and as third choice scrum-half in Gareth Williams’ Wales U20 squad but, by the end of the tournament, he had five caps to his name.
Granted, he was aided and abetted when Harri Morgan pulled up prior to the season-opener against France. Jamie Hill was elevated from the replacements bench to start, and Buckland was added to the subs list having not initially made the match-day squad.
From there he went from strength to strength and starred at the World Rugby U20 Championship, again stepping into the breach when Morgan suffered illness after the opening game against hosts Argentina.
Buckland went above and beyond the call of duty against defending champions France, Fiji and former champions New Zealand to become a pivotal member of the squad and finished his first year at U20 level with nine caps.
Standing at 1.75m tall and tipping the scales at just 74kgs he is not the biggest scrum-half to have passed the ball, but inside beats the heart of a lion and, not once, did he take a backwards step for his team in his debut season with Wales’ young guns.
“I don’t even think about being the smallest on the field,” he says before adding. “I try and use my size to my advantage and try and outsmart the opposition.”
Buckland looks back on his first campaign as a rookie with fondness.
“Last season I went into the Six Nations knowing there was a lot of competition for places for the number nine shirt. I simply wanted to get as much game time as possible so to get nine caps was something I was very proud of achieving, but surprised with at the same time.
“The highlight for me was the win against New Zealand at the World Cup. It was an awful day, thunder and lightning called the game off for an hour. We had to warm up again before re-starting the game and the boys held on to win. It is probably something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Two New Zealand heavyweights have to contain Dafydd Buckland as he surges through
Typically, Buckland plays down his own personal performance against the Junior All Blacks. Illness had cruelly ruled Morgan out of the equation, so the Dragons scrum-half manfully went toe to toe with the Kiwis’ back row throughout a physical encounter. It was just reward to receive the plaudits of his peers when he was named the Players’ Player of the match.
With only eight players returning to the Wales squad from last year for the 2020 Six Nations campaign, Buckland relished having the opportunity of being one of the ‘senior’ members of the squad.
Wales’ performances were a mixed bag, losing to Italy, Ireland and Scotland but claiming stunning wins against France and England.
“There were a lot of positives and a couple of negatives to the campaign,” recalls the 19-yearold. “To bounce back with two wins after two losses in the first two games was pretty good but then not going out on a high [against Scotland] was a bitter pill to swallow.
“We could have put our heads down after the first two games but we bounced back really well from that. We kept improving and kicked on to England from the France game which led on to a big high in the camp at the time.
“Then going into the Scotland game with everything that was going on around the coronavirus outbreak, there was no crowd there in North Wales. There was still a match to play at the end of the day, but Scotland were a really good outfit and outplayed us.
“Three wins and two losses would have been nice to finish the Six Nations with, but that wasn’t to be.”
Buckland began the campaign with starts against Italy and Ireland with Cardiff Met’s Ellis Bevan getting the nod for the remaining games, but coming on as a replacement against England and Scotland took his tally of Wales U20 caps to 13.
“It’s always to have good competition for places,” admits Buckland, before adding, “It’s healthy in any sport because it pushes you to train harder so you then can play at your best.
“Ellis is a bit taller than and broader than me but it’s good to have more than one type of player in the squad so it gives the coaches options.
“Even though it was my second season with the boys I still learned a lot about controlling the controllables – control what you can do, do your role as best as possible, and don’t worry with what is going on around you.”
The cancellation of this year’s World Rugby U20 Championship in Italy was a hammer blow for Buckland as he was hoping to replicate last year’s achievements and claim another famous scalp with New Zealand, Australia and Georgia grouped with Wales.
“I think it is a big blow for everyone at my age at U20s because it is a big shop window for everyone to show what they can do,” he says.
“I thought it was an unreal experience last year, going out to Argentina, experiencing a different culture. You’re going away for a month with your teammates having a good time, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
“It also helped I got a lot of game time last year. It was a massive experience playing with some of the boys in that squad, I learned a hell of a lot in my first year. It led to massive highs in the camp when beating sides like New Zealand and it was a great feeling to be in a squad like that at the end of the day.”
Dafydd Buckland (headband) and his Wales U20 teammates celebrate a famous victory over New Zealand U20 at full time
For now, Buckland is setting short-term targets in lockdown. At last year’s Junior World Cup, he was the lightest player at the tournament, tipping the scales at just 70kgs.
Twice a week he is doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT) which he describes as ‘savage sessions.’
“It’s really good, I love the leg work, my legs are on fire today, I’ve put on two kilos over this period so hopefully I’ll start working up to 80kg. I’m 76/77 kilos at the moment.”
With the Dragons well stocked with scrum-halves with Welsh internationals Rhodri Williams and Tavis Knoyle alongside former Wales U20’s Dan Babos contesting the number nine jersey, Buckland is aware he has a fight on his hands to get game time at the region when action returns.
“This year I would like to get a lot more rugby than I have had in previous years so basically I just want to try and get my game time as high as possible.
“Last season I spent a lot of time on development blocks – I was on a development block from the end of Celtic Cup to the start of the Six Nations basically – so only played one game in that time.”
When he does return to action, one thing is guaranteed – he won’t hold back – just like he never did in his Wales U20s days.
