While a four try, 11 point victory on the road in Dublin would normally have captured the headline son the opening weekend of the Under 20 Six Nations championship, the Scots’ famous win at Cumbernauld over the team that has won the title in four of the last five seasons left the Welsh head coach to plenty to ponder.
“We lost to Scotland last year and if ever we thought it was going to be easy to get revenge at Parc Eirias next weekend, their win over England has reminded us just how tough it is going to be,” admitted Strange.
“We knew they were going to be strong this year with 12 players back from last season’s side, but beating England by such a big margin, 24-6, will only make them tougher to play against.”
But Strange and his players can’t wait to get to Colwyn Bay next week and launch what will be a three-match campaign at the now traditional home of the Wales Under 20. They have won seven of their 10 games in north Wales and Wales have not been beaten by Scotland on home soil at Under 20 level.
Friday night’s clash will be the third in Colwyn Bay against the Scots and the previous two have ended in big Welsh wins – 43-15 (7 tries to 2) and 28-15 (3-2). The other two games in Wales ended with home wins by 20-12 (2-1) and 27-10 (4-1).
If Sean Lineen’s Scottish side will arrive buoyed by their win over the auld enemy, Strange saw plenty to please him in his team’s triumph – especially after they had conceded eight points in five minutes at the start of the game.
“I was really please with the result and with large parts of the performance. The good thing is that we will only get better from here,” said Strange.
“Our real objective throughout the Six Nations is to strengthen the squad ahead of the Junior World Championship this summer, when we will have to meet Ireland again in our opening game. We’ve got a lot of players out injured at the moment, but everyone played their part in this victory.
“The scrum was strong, the players worked hard for each other and the team spirit and commitment were superb. The senior players really kept their composure when the pressure was on and we didn’t panic.
“Ireland were very good in parts and their offloading worked really well for them. We can’t read too much into this result ahead of the JWC in Manchester in June, but it is a good start to the year for us.”
Wales Under 20 skipper Tom Phillips was delighted with the win and pointed to the power produce by his fellow forwards at the game’s first scrum as a key moment in the game. From the penalty they secured at that phase the first try followed.
“That first scrum was a real game changer. We expected the first 10 minutes to be a dog fight and the Irish certainly didn’t let us down,” said Phillips. “They made it really difficult for us and it was a good performance from us in the end to turn things around.”
