Wales’ campaign at the World Rugby U20 Championship reaches its conclusion in South Africa on Friday when they face Australia in Cape Town in the fifth/sixth place playoff following the battling victory over Georgia. Mark Jones’ side must look to us the power game against the Wallabies as they look for their best finish in the competition since 2013 according to Welsh rugby coach, analyst, and consultant, Tomas Marks.
Over the last six Junior RWC they have finished in 6th or 7th, so it’s an opportunity for these players to go one better than previous Welsh teams.
Wales beat Georgia in the last RWC fixture by 40-21 in an attritional battle on a cabbage patch of a pitch.
This was a close encounter up until 50 minutes until Wales pulled away with five second half tries from centres Louie Hennessey and Joe Westwood, full back Harri Houston and sub flanker Lucas De La Rua.
Harri Houston was the pick of the backs in this match as he scored a try, carried a dozen times and made three line breaks from fullback.
Houston’s try showed a touch of class as he left the miss pass from Archie Hughes to drift across his body and allow him to beat the oncoming defender and accelerate into the corner for the try.
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Fly half Dan Edwards played very well in the second half as he used the wind with four excellent kicks to mount territorial pressure on the Georgians.
In the pack the two standout players were hooker Lewis Lloyd and number eight Morgan Morse. Hooker Lloyd scored a try from a maul, made eight carries and made the most tackles in the team with 13.
Number eight Morse carried 12 times, made nine tackles and made a big jackal turnover that led to the final Joe Westwood try. Despite scoring six tries in the match the area that impressed against the Georgians was the defence and the post tackle efforts.
Their defence was accurate with less than 10 missed tackles and they created slow ball by causing carnage after the tackle. Post tackle chaos is synonymous with defence guru Shaun Edwards and this was an excellent strategy used by Wales U20s defence coach Craig Everett.
During the match players like prop Kian Hire and captain Ryan Woodman created slow ball for the Georgians, which allowed the Welsh defence to be physical and win the collisions.
In this match their set piece functioned slightly better than their previous match with the scrum up to 80% and 72% from lineouts. They conceded 11 penalties, with three penalties and a free kick from scrums so this is an ongoing area of development for this young group of forwards.
Final opponents Australia have won two matches against New Zealand and Fiji, drawn against semi finalists England and lost in the rain to finalists Ireland. Australia U20s are coached by former international centre Nathan Grey and they are an exciting attacking and athletic team.
They are very organised in attack and they can score from multi-phase and counter attack possession and have scored a lineout maul try in each fixture in South Africa.
The Welsh team can expose Australia with their power game as Ireland and Fiji scored six tries with the pick and go tactic. Head coach Mark Jones has used some innovative lineout moves in this tournament and he can use these strike plays to manipulate this vulnerable lineout defence.
Australia is a team that defends by focussing on the ball, which was a tactic used by Ronan O’Gara when he was an assistant coach at the Crusaders. This is an interesting defensive tactic but it can be exposed by clever playmakers like Archie Hughes and Dan Edwards with flat passes on the gain line for strike runners.
This will be another great learning experience for this young Welsh squad as they look to finish in fifth.
Wales U20 v Australia U20, Friday 14 July, Athlone Stadium, KO 1pm (UK), S4C live
15 Harri Houston (Ospreys)
14 Tom Florence (Ospreys)
13 Louie Hennessey (Bath Rugby)
12 Bryn Bradley (Harlequins)
11 Llien Morgan (Ospreys)
10 Dan Edwards (Ospreys)
9 Archie Hughes (Scarlets);
1 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (Dragons RFC)
2 Lewis Lloyd (Ospreys)
3 Kian Hire (Ospreys)
4 Evan Hill (Ospreys)
5 Jonny Green (Harlequins)
6 Ryan Woodman (Dragons RFC – Capt)
7 Lucas De La Rua (Cardiff Rugby)
8 Morgan Morse (Ospreys)|
Replacements
16 Lewis Morgan (Scarlets)
17 Louis Fletcher (Ospreys)
18 Tom Pritchard (Cardiff Met)
19 Mackenzie Martin (Cardiff Rugby)
20 Gwilym Evans (Cardiff Rugby)
21 Joe Westwood (Dragons RFC)
22 Harri Wilde (Cardiff Rugby)
23 Harri Williams (Ampthill)
