Scarlets prop Jac Pritchard produced another strong performance as Wales U20s came close to claiming a shock Six Nations win over France at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday night.
Just like the previous week against England, Wales stormed into an early lead, but mistakes at crucial times allowed the French to come back in the second half and secure a 34-24 victory.
Once again, there were a number of impressive performances from Richard Whiffin’s team, Pritchard among them with a powerful display at scrum-time and in the loose; Scarlets team-mates Carwyn Leggatt Jones – who kicked nine points – and flanker Osian Williams also played their part.
After the game, Pritchard said: “We got out the blocks well, just like last week (against England), we built a good lead, but we let them back into the game at key times, we need to focus on the full 80.
“We have gone up against two top teams, two big packs, we have confidence in ourselves as a team and it is about building now or the rest of the tournament with another tough challenge here next week against Scotland.
“Scotland will offer different challenges, we have to keep confidence in our process, we won’t look to change much, just some tweaks here and there.
“Personally, it was my first game in front of a home crowd for the 20s, it was a great atmosphere and it showed how much it means to the boys.
“I don’t think the final score did us justice, there is plenty of character in our team and hopefully we can turn these performances into wins and bring some joy to Welsh rugby.”
Elsewhere over the weekend, Academy players, scrum-half Rhodri Lewis and wing Thomas Williams were on the score sheet in Carmarthen Quins’ 15-7 win over Cardiff in the Super Rygbi Cup. Lewis’s try came from a smart off-load from centre Gabe McDonald, who also kicked a late penalty to secure the win. Hooker Keanu Evans also featured off the bench.
In the WRU Premiership derby, loose-head prop Tom Phillips and second row Kai Jones packed down for Llanelli Wanderers, who were well beaten 45-12 at Llangennech.