Wales U18s head coach Richie Pugh has named a 30-man squad for next week’s summer camp which culminates in a festival of rugby at Cardiff Arms Park with Ireland, Scotland and Italy - and names four players from Dragons RFC in his plans.
Congratulations to Evan Minto, George Tuckley, Jack Woods and Ryan Jones who are all selected.
The summer camp is the first identification for the U18s group for next season and begins in earnest on Saturday when all teams gather at Cardiff University where they will be based for the week before playing each other the following Friday.
“The whole idea is we train together, bounce some ideas around as coaches and players, and get to go up against the best of what the other countries have to offer before finishing off with a festival style game-day where we all play each other in half hour games on the Friday at the Arms Park,” explained Pugh.
“This is purely a development week – we’ve only been able to pick 30 boys – it’s early identification, we’ve got some boys coming back from last season plus players who have been identified through the Exiles programme, through the U17s regional age grade programmes and from players in last year’s Schools and Colleges programme a year early.
“It’s very much early stages and there’s boys who are probably out there and haven’t been included yet but it is the first touch point with these players in what is the U18 season for next year,” added Pugh.
With all teams based at Cardiff Uni living and training together for the week, each day will see teams linked with a different country to share training experiences and go up against the opposition in a training environment.
“it’s the first opportunity of getting that taste of international rugby and exposure to another level,” said Pugh.
“It’s the first time to get to know the boys, for them to get to know each other and to get to know us as coaches before the real season starts with the regional programme and the schools and colleges programme,” he added.
“It’s an opportunity for a bit of team building amongst the boys, competition amongst themselves to know what they’re up against and a chance to get our principles in play as well early – that’s something probably we haven’t done well in the past.”
Pugh is hoping his young squad will respond to an exciting coaching panel at his disposal.
“Gareth Wyatt will continue as attack and backs coach with us, while we’re bringing in Saul Nelson from RGC. Sam Hobbs did a great job for us as forwards coach last year so it’s good to have someone of Saul’s experience to replace him. He heads up the U18 Academy programme in RGC and then we’ve also brought into this camp Matt Jess who will be skills coach and provide an opportunity to pass on his experience and expertise so it’s an great for the boys to learn off some of the best young coaches around,” said Pugh.
Wales U18 Summer camp selection
Dylan James (Ospreys)
Ruban Cummings (Cardiff Rugby)
Eli Cowan (Ospreys)
Will Evans (Scarlets)
Ryan Jones (Dragons RFC)
Keanu Evans (Scarlets)
Evan Minto (Dragons RFC)
George Tuckley (Dragons RFC)
Robert Jones (RGC)
Jac Pritchard (Scarlets)
Dylan Alford (RGC)
Dylan Hodkinson (Sale Sharks)
Tom Cottell (RGC)
Dom Kossuth (Scarlets)
Alex Ridgway (Scarlets)
Backs
Ellis Lewis (Ospreys)
Tom Hughes (Cardiff RFC)
Harrison Nixon (Bristol Bears)
Luc Anfield (London Irish)
David Petrescu (Midlands West Academy)
Oliver Das (Welsh Exiles)
Jac Wyn Roberts (RGC)
Owain Paskell (Bristol Bears)
Stef Jac Jones (Scarlets)
Tom Bowen (Bristol Bears)
Steffan Emanuel (Bath Rugby)
Ben Evans (Ospreys)
Jack Woods (Dragons RFC)
