Wales Under-20s centre Joe Westwood has urged his team-mates to keep playing with confidence - as they bid for one more crucial win at the World Rugby U20 Championship.
An impressive 40-21 win over Georgia – a second victory in four games at the tournament in South Africa – has set up a huge final clash with Australia on Friday (July 14).
A win for Wales would secure fifth spot and make it their best finish since 2013.
It would complete a massive turnround for a team who suffered a whitewash at the Six Nations just a few months ago.
Leading the way is Dragons RFC centre Westwood who was a key figure against the Georgians and who is determined to finish the competition on a real high note.
“It’s exciting to face Australia - a team we haven’t played yet,” said Westwood.
“They beat New Zealand, who we lost to, but we are going to continue to grow and that is what we will look to do in this last game.
“I personally wasn’t involved in the Six Nations, but I know how much that hurt the group and that performance (to beat Georgia) shows how hard we have worked.
“With all then prep we have put into this competition, that is what we deserve, to be going for fifth place.
“We had a tough group, but our performances have got better and better, and that last result is the product of that work over the last eight weeks.”
Westwood has impressed in recent games in the competition in South Africa as he looks to build on an impressive family legacy in the sport.
His grandfather, Keith Westwood, was a fine player for Ebbw Vale and Newbridge – and even lined up against the All Blacks for the Combined Abertillery & Ebbw Vale side in 1963 at Abertillery Park.
Joe’s father, Jonathan Westwood – now Commercial Director at Dragons RFC - played for Wales U19 and U21, earned a call-up to the Wales National Squad and also faced the world champion Wallabies for Monmouthshire on their 1992 tour.
And his grandfather on his mother’s side is none other than Allan Lewis, who played for Abertillery and Newport, was capped six times by Wales and famously was part of the 1966 British & Irish Lions squad that toured Australia and New Zealand.
Not that family history weighs heavy on Joe who is determined to make his own way in the game and remains modest when asked about his try-scoring impact against Georgia.
“It was good to get the try, but it was more a case of being at the end of good move,” he smiled.
“As a team, we showed not only our confidence but also our ambition in that game.
“We’re here to play as much rugby as we can. Even at the end, when we could have gone for the posts, we wanted to build the lead and go for the corners.
“In the first half they were very tight defensively, but we knew we were getting shoulders and penalties when we kept hold of the ball,” he added.
“We knew they would break at some point. To be fair to them, they took some time to do that, but they did and we got the result we needed.”
We had a tough group, but our performances have got better and better, and that last result is the product of that work over the last eight weeks...
