Dragons RFC and Wales Under 20 centre Hari Ackerman has urged the team to build on the rich potential shown against Six Nations champions Ireland.
The defending champions began their defence of the Six Nations crown with a 27-44 victory at Stadiwm CSM on Friday evening - but not before they had to overcome a halftime 15-14 deficit to Wales.
Ackerman’s partnership with fellow centre Louie Hennessey caught the eye on the night as the midfield duo made 116 metres between them in attack, while sharing 20 carries in an action packed game.
The pair are no strangers - they played for Wales at Under-18 level.
And Ackerman, just 18 himself, is eager for the partnership to continue to flourish and Wales to stay on the attack.
“I play with Louie through the U18s Six Nations and I think we are developing something really good,” said Ackerman.
“I’m looking forward to trying to play off him a bit more. He’s a really good player, and runs lovely lines.
“Our attacking game is coming on. Byron [Hayward] always says play through even in training, play through and try and get an off-load and I think that showed throughout the game and showed with two or three off-loads in our second try.
“Everyone showed pride against Ireland, even when the game was over, we still tried hard.
“It felt like we were a lot nearer than the final score-line. When we were down to 14 men and scored that really gave us a boost so there is plenty to be proud of.”
Ackerman also paid tribute to his inexperienced pack after the seven new caps went toe to toe with the champions.
“I thought the forwards put in a hell of a shift,” said the Dragons centre, who was joined in the team by regional team-mates Ryan Woodman, Sam Scarfe and Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths.
“The driving maul five metres out, quite often teams score from there, but our forwards really dug in and played for the badge.
“I think we showed what we can do in some parts, going into halftime with a lead, you can’t ask for more than that but at Under-20s rugby you want to keep it up for 80 minutes.
“We need to go into Monday and look at key shifts of momentum and try and capitalise on them against Scotland.”
It felt like we were a lot nearer than the final score-line... When we were down to 14 men and scored that really gave us a boost so there is plenty to be proud of...
