Scarlets fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones was one of the players to impress head coach Richard Whiffin in Wales U19s’ friendly clash with France in Club Massy Essonne on Saturday.
Wales went down to a 26-19 defeat in the Parisian suburbs, with Leggatt-Jones a standout performer for the visitors.
Kai Jones and Joe Denman also started the match for Wales and both put in strong performances in the back row.
Afterwards, Whiffin said: “I was really pleased and proud of the performance. Our half-backs managed the game incredibly well and I thought Carwyn was very impressive in getting us in the right areas of the field.
“There were some real positive individual performances but actually the collective was really good too.
“Some individuals we wanted to challenge stepping up from schoolboy rugby and they really acquitted themselves well, Carywn, Tom Howe, Baily Cutts – those guys are still at school and they did incredibly well against what are full-time pros in that French team.”
On home soil, there was a welcome return from injury for Academy duo Sion Jones and Yestyn Cook, who featured for Ammanford in their WRU Championship West win over high-flying Tondu.
For front-rower Yestyn – who had 25 minutes off the bench – it was his first appearance in 22 months following a serious knee injury suffered playing for Scarlets U18s at the Arms Park back in January 2024. Sion started the match at full-back.
In the WRU Premiership, lock Sam Williams and prop Tom Phillips were part of the Llanelli Wanderers squad that were beaten 23-17 at home by Cross Keys.
Elsewhere, centre Gryff Watkins came off the bench in Cardiff University’s away win over leaders Exeter in the BUCS Championship.