Five young Dragons have been named by Wales U20s head coach Richard Whiffin in his side to face Scotland on Friday.
George Tuckley is named at loosehead with Ryan Jones and Evan Minto in the back row, while James Talamai and Cerrig Smith are both named on the bench.
Minto, who made his Dragons senior debut against Newcastle last season and Jones were part of Wales U20s’ squads for last years’ Six Nations and World Championship and are joined by new signing Talamai along with Tuckley and Smith who have represented Pontypool and Newport respectively in the SRC this season.
The game at Merthyr RFC’s The Wern stadium has a kick off of 12:30 and will be key preparation ahead of next years’ Six Nations.
The side is captained by Tom Cottle who is one of seven returning players from last years’ programme.
“We’ve got a lot of boys coming back in from last year that we want to gain more experience then there is a few new guys who will get their first experience at U20s rugby leading into the Six Nations,” said Whiffin.
“Over the course of the U19s game against France, the U20s game against Scotland and next week’s U19 game against England we’ll probably have 50-60 players play.
“That is without a handful of players that are playing Champions Cup rugby like Deian Gwynn and Challenge Cup rugby like Tom Bowen and Steffan Emanuel that will come back into the set-up post-Christmas.”
Wales U20 v Scotland U20, The Wern, Merthyr RFC, Fri 12 Dec, KO 12.30
Lewis Edwards (Ospreys); Evan Morris (Bristol Bears), Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), Luc Anfield (Bath University), Rhys Cummings (Cardiff Rugby); Carwyn Leggat-Jones (Scarlets), Sion Davies (Cardiff Rugby); George Tuckley (Dragons), Tom Howe (Cardiff Rugby), Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), Oscar Rees (Gloucester), Tom Cottle (Cardiff Rugby – Capt), Osian Williams (Scarlets), Ryan Jones (Dragons), Evan Minto (Dragons).
Replacements: James Talamai (Dragons), George Leyland (Bristol Bears), Callum Donaghue-Proud (Cardiff Rugby), Osian Williams (Bristol Bears), Joe Denman (Scarlets), Cerrig Smith (Dragons), Ellis Lewis (Swansea RFC), Steff Jac Jones (Scarlets), Tom Williams (Scarlets), Jack Hoskins (Ospreys), Joseff Jones (Cardiff Rugby).
