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Wales U18 chasing another victory to cherish

Wales U18 chasing another victory to cherish

Wales Under 18 head coach Geraint Lewis insists his side has moved on from their famous 30-28 triumph over South African Schools and will be firmly focused on England when they clash with the auld enemy in the second game in the international series in Cape Town.

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Lewis has made five changes to the side that beat the young Springboks last Friday as he goes in search of a double over England this year following the 29-19 victory at Ebbw Vale. There are 10 players in the Welsh matchday squad who played at Eugene Cross Park on 27 March.

Watch Wales face England LIVE on Tuesday, 15 August (1.15pm BST – on S4C’s Facebook page)

“We were all delighted with the performance as much as the result last Friday. It is something this group of players will be able to cherish for the rest of their lives,” said Lewis. “Many, many fine players haven’t achieved in their careers what these boys did in beating a South African national team last week.

“The result was just reward for the players, but for the coaching group the real reward was the outstanding effort and maturity in the performance as a whole. The next two games (against England and France) are all about building on last week’s success.

“Getting a performance of that magnitude without having played for two or three months was magnificent, but what we need to find now is consistency at this level. That why we had to move on quickly on focus on England.

“They were very disappointed to lose at Ebbw Vale and will be looking for revenge. This series was always going to be about giving players a chance and that’s why we’ve made changes to the team.

“But we know that if we perform to the level we are capable of then we have every chance of winning the game. We know we can improve and we’ve had two good training sessions since the game on Friday and the good thing is that we can approach the next two games with a degree of confidence.”

England beat the French 24-8 in their opening game last week and have followed the Welsh lead in making a number of changes for the game against Wales. Head coach John Fletcher has handed the captaincy to Tom Willis, who takes over from Sam Moore, son of former Wales lock Steve Moore, at No 8.

Cadan Murley, who came in as a late replacement to score twice against the French, keeps his place and partners Cameron Redpath, son of former Scotland skipper Bryan Redpath, in midfield. Tom de Glanville, son of former Bath and England skipper Phil de Glanville, gets a first start at U18 level for England on the wing.

“Wales is always a game full of physicality. We played them earlier in the year and know we need to up our game from that performance,” said England forwards coach Peter Walton. “I want to us to go out there and play with passion, creativity and perform as I know we can do.”
 
Outside of training the squad visited a game reserve and Walton believes it is important for the players to spend time with each other outside of a rugby environment.
 
“We have had a good few days since we played France, we went out on safari which gave the lads a chance to connect off the pitch,” he said.
 
“It was great to see what South Africa has to offer outside of a rugby environment and that’s important for the players – they loved it, had loads of fun, the camaraderie was great to see and that’s another reason why we come out here. It’s not all about rugby, we challenge them off the pitch and that helps develop them. They are really coming together on and off the pitch.”

Wales U18: Tomi Lewis (Scarlets); Tom Rogers (Scarlets), Callum Carson (Ospreys), Scott Lloyd (Scarlets), Joe Roberts (Scarlets); Ben Thomas (Blues), Callum Morris (Scarlets); Jordan Walters (Ospreys), Morgan Nelson (Gloucester), Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets), Lewis Ellis-Jones (Scarlets), Morgan Jones (Scarlets), Ben Fry (Hartpurty College), Tom Reffell (Leicester Tigers, captain), Taine Basham (Dragons)
Reps: Will Griffiths (Dragons), Joshua Reynolds (Dragons), Ben Warren (Blues), Joe Miles (Blues), Lennon Greggains (Dragons), Daniel Davis (Scarlets), Harri Morgan (Ospreys), Cai Evans (Ospreys)

England U18: Ollie Hassell-Collins (London Irish); Tom Seabrook (Gloucester), Cadan Murley (Harlequins), Cameron Redpath (Sale Sharks), Tom de Glanville  (Bath); Kieran Wilkinson  (Sale Sharks), Ollie Fox (Yorkshire Carnegie); George Head  (Harlequins), Beck Cutting (Worcester Warriors), Nick Rigby (Worcester Warriors), Josh Basham London Irish), Alex Coles Northampton Saints), Richard Capstick (Exeter Chiefs), Aaron Hinkley (Gloucester), Tom Willis (Wasps, captain)
Reps: Tom Rowland  (Bristol Rugby), Will Capon (Bristol Rugby), Joe Heyes  (Leicester Tigers), James Scott (Worcester Warriors), Sam Moore  (Sale Sharks), Will Porter  (Wasps), Sam Spink (Wasps), Nick David Worcester Warriors)

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