It will be an emotional night for Scarlets prop Yestyn Cook, who is set to make his Wales U20s debut against Scotland at the Arms Park on Friday (19:15 ko).
Yestyn is named among the replacements for the round three clash against the Scots, with fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones and prop Jac Pritchard starting for the third successive match of the tournament.
Tight-head Yestyn only made his return from injury in November after 22 months sidelined following a serious knee injury suffered playing for Scarlets U18s at the same Arms Park venue back in January 2024.
He has featured for Ammanford and Llangennech in the national leagues before his squad call-up last month.
In all, head coach Richard Whiffin has made four changes and a positional switch to the Welsh starting line-up with two alterations apiece in the pack and the backline. Ospreys loose-head Dylan James replaces George Tuckley who drops down to the bench, while Wales co-captain Deian Gwynne switches to blindside flanker to allow Evan Minto a start at No. 8.
In the backs, Bailey Cutts will make his debut, replacing his Cardiff team-mate Osian Darwin-Lewis at outside centre, while Cardiff Met winger Dylan Scott will also earn his first cap, coming in for Bristol’s Evan Morris.
Whiffin said: “We think we have played really well and produced two good performances against two of the top teams in the competition where we could have come away with two wins. We’re pleased with the performance, but disappointed with the results. We’re not really looking too much at the table, we’re looking at our next opponent.
“We know Scotland have had a couple of good performances themselves, winning out in Italy and took England all the way. We know it is going to be a tough encounter this weekend at Cardiff, but we feel if we put in a similar performance like last Friday, we will be in the hunt to pick up a result.”
Wales U20 v Scotland U20, Cardiff Arms Park, Friday 20 Feb, KO 7.15pm
15 Rhys Cummings (Cardiff Rugby); 14 Dylan Scott (Cardiff Met), 13 Bailey Cutts (Cardiff Rugby), 12 Steff Emanuel (Cardiff Rugby – co-Capt), 11 Tom Bowen (Cardiff Rugby); 10 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets), 9 Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby); 1 Dylan James (Ospreys), 2 Tom Howe (Cardiff Rugby), 3 Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), 4 Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs), 5 Osian Williams (Bristol Bears), 6 Deian Gwynne (Gloucester – co-Capt), 7 Caio James (Gloucester), 8 Evan Minto (Dragons RFC).
Replacements: 16 James Talamai (Dragons RFC), 17 George Tuckley (Dragons RFC), 18 Yestyn Cook (Scarlets), 19 Oscar Rees (Gloucester), 20 Alex Ridgway (Bath Rugby). 21 Luca Woodyatt (Gloucester), 22 Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff Rugby), 23 Luc Anfield (Bath University).