“It’s been 10 weeks since we played our last game in the Six Nations against Italy,” said Hayward.
“Obviously results-wise it wasn’t a good campaign for us. We had a number of different challenges but there was a number of reasons for that, particularly a lack of playing time for the players due to covid and the restrictions they were under, going into that tournament.
“But there are no excuses this time. The boys have played plenty of rugby. We’ve had two good weeks of preparation where the boys have worked tremendously hard in the gym on their fitness testing and the group we have in now are in a totally different place to January.”
Having suffered defeats to Ireland, England, France and Italy in this year’s U20 Six Nations, Hayward is unyielding when it comes to next month’s Summer Series where Wales will face Scotland, Italy and Georgia before playing their last game against opposition from Pool A consisting of France, Ireland, England and South Africa.
“For me, if I had to use a word on how important this series is, then it is ‘critical’ for us to go out there and perform and get some results because we haven’t covered ourselves in glory.
“But we’ve all been struggling – the regions, the national team, ourselves – but I’m confident that the group of players we have and the preparation we’ve had in comparison to the Six Nations, then we will be competitive whoever we play and that is regardless of quality teams like England, Ireland and France, I’ve got no fear of playing them.”
An added boost for Hayward is the fact players who were unavailable for the Six Nations, will now come into the equation for selection.
“We have boys who have been playing regional rugby and Premiership rugby in England who are now available to us because seasons are finishing up.
“The Premiership’s last game is this Saturday and then play-offs are after that so players will be available the week following which is great news for us because they are such quality high level players and already have so much experience at senior level rugby – they’ll only add a massive amount of value to the group.”
Six Nations Rugby Under 20 Summer Series Pools and Fixtures:
Pool A: France, Ireland, England, South Africa
Pool B: Scotland, Wales, Italy, Georgia
Pool B Fixtures
Round 1 – Sat June 26: Scotland v Wales, Stadio Di Monigo – 5pm
Round 2 – Thurs June 30: Wales v Georgia, Stadio Di Monigo – 5pm
Round 3 – Wed 6 July: Wales v Italy, Stadio Di Monigo – 8pm
Play-offs – Tues 12 July, Stadio Di Monigo
