By Gareth James
Mark Jones intends for Wales to reveal a Welsh rugby version of “Bazball” when they start their World Rugby U20 Championship campaign against New Zealand on Saturday.
It may not draw quite as much attention as the ultra-attacking form of cricket England have adopted under coach Brendon McCullum (nicknamed “Baz”), but it could be eye-catching stuff from the Welsh youngsters.
As temporary head coach, having taken over from the departed Byron Hayward, Jones wants Wales’ youngsters to play with the same spirit of thrill-seeking adventure with which Ben Stokes and his English cricket stars are challenging convention.
“Counterattack is definitely an area of the game from which I think we can produce more points,” says Jones.
“We’re hoping that the conditions will be decent enough to allow us to move the ball around a little bit.
“I think there’s an opportunity for us to improve from the unstructured side of the game. The boys have shown a great appetite to try and get stuck into that.
“They were pretty dangerous off set piece during the Six Nations and there are areas of the game we can grow and build upon. My philosophy around the game is it’s a ball in hand game.”
New Wales Under-20s head coach Mark Jones makes six changes for their World U20 Championship opener against New Zealand on 24 June #BBCRugby
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) June 22, 2023
Parachuted in at late notice when Hayward decided to stand down, Jones couldn’t have asked for a tougher start with an opening game against the Kiwis.
New Zealand are six-times previous winners, but have not won this annual tournament since 2017.
The Baby Blacks won their first 21 matches in a row on the U20 Championship stage, but it was Wales who ended their run with a 9-6 victory in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 2012.
Jones has called up five uncapped players to his 30-strong squad as Wales look to bounce back from disappointment in the U20 Six Nations, when they lost all five matches.
Skipper Ryan Woodman and his men went through a tough time, as they were whitewashed for the first time.
But they put themselves in a position to win a couple of the games and now find themselves facing New Zealand, France and Japan in their pool in South Africa.
Media duties done and dusted for Wales U20 captain Ryan Woodman at Cape Town’s City Hall ahead of the U20 World Rugby Championship which kicks off on Saturday where Wales face @AllBlacks U20s#WelshRugby #CymruU20 pic.twitter.com/R9dUunjFEA
— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) June 21, 2023
Seeded sixth for the Championship, Wales captain Woodman insists: “We’ve looked back at the Six Nations and there were things that went well, and other bits that we need to improve on. We’ve gone after those pretty hard for the last three and a half weeks.
“You can’t fix everything all at once, but I’m confident that this group of players will be able to put the Six Nations behind them and treat this tournament as a one-off.
“They all want to put their best game out on the field and really try and show that they’ve improved in a short space of time.”
Ospreys’ hooker Lewis Lloyd has forced his way into the starting squad for the first time to earn his second cap while Evan Hill, Seb Driscoll and Harri Wilde will make their debuts if they get on the pitch from the replacements bench.
“It’s an exciting side which I think has a lot of potential,” said Jones.
“It’s a case of if that team can click and we can get the cohesion we want, it is a good-looking team.
“The attitude of the boys has been excellent; they have really committed to the stuff we’ve been working on and they have shown quality a lot of the time but we know we have ground to make up.”
Wales U20 v New Zealand U20, Paarl Gymnasium, Sat 24 June, KO 3pm (S4C)
15 Cameron Winnett (Cardiff Rugby)
14 Llien Morgan (Ospreys)
13 Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby)
12 Bryn Bradley (Harlequins)
11 Harri Houston (Ospreys)
10 Dan Edwards (Ospreys)
9 Archie Hughes (Scarlets);
1 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (Dragons)
2 Lewis Lloyd (Ospreys)
3 Ellis Fackrell (Ospreys)
4 Liam Edwards (Ospreys)
5 Jonny Green (Harlequins)
6 Ryan Woodman (Dragons – Capt)
7 Lucas De La Rua (Cardiff Rugby)
8 Morgan Morse (Ospreys)
Replacements:
16 Sam Scarfe (Dragons)
17 Josh Morse (Scarlets)
18 Louis Fletcher (Ospreys)
19 Evan Hill (Ospreys)
20 Seb Driscoll (Harlequins)
21 Tom Florence (Ospreys)
22 Harri Wilde (Cardiff Rugby)
23 Harri Williams
World Rugby U20 Championship
Pool A – Wales v New Zealand
Saturday, June 23 – 3.00pm (UK)
The men’s U20 side set to face New Zealand
Amdani bois! #WelshRugby | #CymruU20 pic.twitter.com/yblvRvC2s0
— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) June 22, 2023
