The Ospreys openside was man of the match in Wales’ opening under 20s Six Nations victory over Italy last weekend. Tomorrow Ioan Cunningham’s side will face a strong Ireland side which beat Scotland 38-8 in their opener.
But the 20-year-old is unfazed by what’s to come. “The main focus is on ourselves, getting ourselves right and applying ourselves to the best of our ability,” he said.
“We have the same mentality for every game we go into. We drive standards ourselves and don’t worry too much about the opposition. Obviously we look to them, but we’re all about ourselves really.
“Whoever’s playing six, seven or eight, we all drive the same standards, pushing ourselves to get better. Any back row we chuck out there, we’re all comfortable with each other.”
Deaves has his sights set on becoming a top class openside, but things could have turned out very differently as he started off in the backs. “I was a winger/full-back/centre up until U16s,” he said.
“I changed to a seven two years ago. I always had the intention of playing seven, but I was never a seven back then
“I went to college with the intention of playing seven, but the captain also played there, so I played a lot at centre in my first year. Midway through my first year I changed to openside and got the jersey there.”
