The Scarlets trio of Carwyn Leggatt-Jones, Will Evans and Jac Pritchard have been recalled to the Wales U20s starting XV for the crunch match against defending champions South Africa in round three of the World Rugby Junior World Championship on Tuesday (3pm ko).
For the Pool A showdown at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi, Leggatt-Jones is handed the No. 10 jersey, Evans returns at lock and Pritchard gets the nod at tight-head prop – fellow Scarlet Yestyn Cook drops to the bench.
Both unbeaten sides go into the crunch encounter with a top-four spot on the line. The Junior Springboks have an extra bonus point which means Richard Whiffin’s side have to win to secure top billing in the group.
Buoyed by an excellent victory over Uruguay, Wales enter the contest on the back of two wins on the bounce, the first time since 2013 a Welsh team has completed consecutive pool victories at the tournament.
“A lot of guys have put their hands up for selection after the opening two games but we felt we wanted to keep some of the team from Georgia in terms of starting crew as they probably deserve to have a go again,” said head coach Whiffin.
“We’ve changed some options on the bench to give us more coverage up front which will allow us to be a bit more flexible later in the game around how we might want to get after South Africa.
“They obviously have had two good first games themselves, they are big and physical, and they want it to be a collision dominant based game – we know we have to front up.
“We spoke around what it needs to look like from us but we are excited for the challenge. There is opportunity against them and we know if we execute our best game we are a match for anyone.”
Wales U20 v South Africa, Tuesday 7 July, Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi, KO 3pm
15 Lewis Edwards (Ospreys); 14 Rhys Cummings (Cardiff Rugby), 13 Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), 12 Steffan Emanuel (Cardiff Rugby), 11 Tom Bowen (Cardiff Rugby); 10 Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets). 9 Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby); 1 George Tuckley (Dragons RFC), 2 Tom Howe (Cardiff Rugby), 3 Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), 4 Will Evans (Scarlets), 5 Tom Cottle (Cardiff Rugby), 6 Deian Gwynne (Capt) (Gloucester Rugby), 7 Caio James (Gloucester Rugby), 8 Evan Minto (Dragons RFC)
Reps: 16 Oscar Thomas (Bath Rugby), 17 Dylan James (Ospreys), 18 Yestyn Cook (Scarlets), 19 Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs), 20 Osian Williams (Bristol Bears), 21 Alex Ridgway (Bath Rugby), 22 Cai Gealy (Bristol Bears), 23 Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff Rugby)