New Senior Academy prop Hudson Nevin has been drafted into the Wales U20s squad ahead of Friday’s fifth-place play-off against Scotland in the World Rugby Junior World Championship at Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi (KO 5.30pm).
Nevin was one of five players recently announced as new recruits to the Academy and after starting pre-season training with the Scarlets senior squad, has been flown in as injury cover for the tournament finale in Georgia.
The 18-year-old loose-head is one of five Scarlets in the match-day 23 and set to earn his first cap for Wales U20s from the bench.
Once again, fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, prop Jac Pritchard and lock Will Evans are named in the run-on side, with Yestyn Cook joining Nevin among the replacements.
Head coach Richard Whiffin has made two changes and a positional switch – co-captain Deian Gwynne moves from the blindside flank to No. 8 with Cardiff Rugby’s Tom Cottle slotting into the number six jersey while Bristol Bears loose-head prop George Leyland replaces Dylan James.
Wales go into the match buoyed by their nail-biting semi-final against Australia where the two teams shared 11 tries in a 38-36 thriller.
“It was a good game, but we were a bit frustrated we nearly coughed it up,” admitted Whiffin.
“We didn’t make it easy for ourselves. We had some flashes of brilliance and some things the boys will have to learn to be better at.
“But that is probably the nature of age-grade rugby, isn’t it? But, it was the first time we have beaten a southern hemisphere team since 2019 so this group of lads are getting used to competing and beating big teams.
“We are a dangerous team with ball in hand, we have some really good individuals that really make the team click so it’s a pleasure to watch our team with the ball.”
A win against Scotland would secure Wales’ best finish since 2013 when Ellis Jenkins led his side to second spot. Being regular foes in the Six Nations, both sides know each other inside out so a real battle of wits could be on offer.
“We played them in a warm-up before we came out here so we know each other well, coaches know each other well and the players know each other pretty well,” said Whiffin.
“They have had a great tournament as well to get themselves into the 5th place final. We’ll know a lot about each other but that makes it even more exciting – there will be a few extra things we’ll have to come up with to try and hurt them,
“If we beat Scotland it will be four wins from five games in the tournament – the loss being to South Africa who are in the final. Just looking at the calibre of teams here our results have been a big fillip for us. We want to finish four from five and send those boys off who are finishing their U20 careers in really strong fashion.”
Wales U20 v Scotland U20, 5th place play-off – Friday 17 July 2026, Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi, KO 5.30pm
15 Lewis Edwards (Ospreys); 14 Rhys Cummings (Cardiff Rugby), 13 Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), 12 Steff Emanuel (Co-capt) (Cardiff Rugby), 11 Tom Bowen (Cardiff Rugby); 10 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets); 9 Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby); 1 George Leyland (Bristol Bears), 2 Tom Howe (Cardiff Rugby), 3 Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), 4 Will Evans (Scarlets), 5 Osian Williams (Bristol Bears), 6 Tom Cottle (Cardiff Rugby), 7 Caio James (Gloucester Rugby), 8 Deian Gwynne (Co-Capt) (Gloucester Rugby)
Replacements: 16 Oscar Thomas (Bath Rugby), 17 Hudson Nevin (Scarlets), 18 Yestyn Cook (Scarlets), 19 Alex Ridgway (Bath Rugby), 20 Sam Morgan (Ospreys), 21 Cai Gealy (Bristol Bears), 22 Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff Rugby), 23 Bailey Cutts (Bath Rugby).