Wales hardly change for France
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:54
Wales Under-20 coach Patrick Horgan has urged his players to use every scoring chance they get against France in their winner-takes-all final Pool D match at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Wales must beat France to win the Pool and qualify for the IRB Junior World Championships' semifinals at Rodney Parade, Newport, on Wednesday, 18 June.
Horgan has reverted to the majority of the side that beat Italy 29-10 in Wales' opening match for the showdown with France.
The only changes from that side are in the centre, where Rhys Williams replaces Gareth Owen who picked up a knee injury after coming on as a replacement against Japan on Tuesday, and on the left wing where Jason Tovey has earned a place in the starting line-up ahead of fellow Dragon Jimmy Norris.
Horgan said: "Wales and France are two evenly matched sides and tomorrow's Pool decider should be a cracker of a match.
"We have missed a number of scoring opportunities in our opening two matches which we know can't happen if we are to beat France tomorrow and progress to the semi-final stage of this tournament.
"We have felt the pressure of being the home side but I believe that experience will stand us in good stead in the latter stages of the tournament if we can overcome the French on Saturday."
Wales Under-20 team: Wales: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Rhys Williams, 11 Jason Tovey, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Sam Warburton (captain), 7 Dan Franks, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Jevon Groves, 4 Haydn Pugh, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Rhys Lawrence, 1 Ryan Bevington
Replacements: 16 Ryan Prosser, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Patrick Palmer, 19 Lloyd Phillips, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Gareth Williams, 22 Luke Ford
Referee: James Leckie (Australia)
Touch judges: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), David Wilkinson (Ireland)
Assessor: Steve Hilditch (Ireland)/Jim Bailey (Wales)
