U20: Wales for the Grand Slam?

Beat Italy in Colwyn Bay and Wales will have achieved their first Under-20 Six Nations Grand Slam. It's just about spring, just about time for the daffodils  to burst into glory, just about time for Wales to do some rugby rejoicing.

Italy have not won a match and Alessandro Troncon's side look unlikely to win one.

Results after Four Rounds

Results Round 1

Scotland vs England, 24-6

Wales vs Ireland, 35-24

France vs Italy, 40-3

Results Round 2

Wales vs Scotland, 18-15

France vs Ireland, 34-13

England vs Italy, 42-7

Results, Round 3

Wales vs France, 16-10

Ireland vs England, 26-20

Scotland vs Italy, 24-14

Results Round 4

Wales vs England, 42-16

France vs Scotland, 36-21

Ireland vs Italy, 19-13

France vs England at Stade du Hameau, Pau on Friday, 18 March 2016, Kick-off 17.45.

France are the second strongest side in the competition. It was only heroic defence by the Welsh that kept them from the championship title.  England on the other hand have beaten only Italy and look set to end second last. The match is in France.

France are reinforced buy the return of Gabriel N'Gandebe from suspension and Pierre Mignot from the bench. Romuald Seguy is at flyhalf as Anthony Belleau moves to inside centre. Alexandre Roumat is injured and so Anthony Jelonch comes in at No.8.  Mickaël Simutoga returns at tighthead.

England have made two changes to the starting team – Jack Willis starting in place of injured Sam Smith and Dominic Morris making his Under-20 debut at outside centre. Sam Aspland-Robinson and Jake Pope replace the injured Paolo Odogwu and Billy Keast.

Teams

France: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Atila Septar, 12 Anthony Belleau, 11 Pierre Mignot, 10 Romuald Seguy, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Judicaël Cancoriet, 6 Matthieu Voisin, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Florian Verhaegue, 3  Mickaël Simutoga, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Clément Castets (captain)

Replacements: 16 Quentin Walcker, 17 Beato Mauvaka, 18 Emerick Setiano, 19 Mickaël Capelli, 20 Baptiste Pesenti, 21 Arthur Retière, 22 Atila Septar, 23 Alexandre Pilati  

England: 15 Max Malins, 14 George Perkins, 13 Dom Morris, 12 George Worth, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Mathew Protheroe, 9 Max Green, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Jack Willis, 6 George Nott, 5 Andrew Kitchen, 4 Huw Taylor, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Lewis Boyce

Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom West, 18 Jake Pope, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Cameron Cowell, 22 Charlie Thacker, 23 Sam Aspland-Robinson

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

Assistant referees: Simon Rees (Wales), Martyn Lewis (Wales)

Television match official: Jon Mason (Wales)

Ireland vs Scotland at Donnybrook Stadium, Dublin on Friday, 18 March 2016. Kick-off 19.35.

This could just be the closest contested match of the final round.

Scotland, who started the competition so well, have a new captain in Tom Galbraith who takes over from Scott Cummings, who has been recalled by the Glasgow Warriors. Galbraith moves from centre to fullback and George Taylor comes from the bench to inside centre.

In the pack, Stephen Ainslie comes off the bench to make his first start in the place of Cummings. Scott Burnside will make his second start in this year’s championship on the flank in the place of  Andrew Davidson who was concussed against France. In a change to the front row Callum Sheldon returns at tighthead.

Ireland have two changes in their starting pack as James Bollard and Sean O'Connor start for the first time. In the backline, Stephen Kerins is back from his knee injury.

Teams

Ireland: 15 Brett Connon, 14 Hugo Keenan, 13 Shane Daly, 12 Conor O'Brien, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 Stephen Kerins, 8 Greg Jones, 7 Will Connors,  6 Cillian Gallagher, 5 James Ryan (captain), 4 Sean O'Connor, 3 Conán O'Donnell, 2 Adam McBurney, 1 James Bollard

Replacements: 16 Hugo Kean, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Adam Coyle, 19 Peter Claffey, 20 Max Deegan, 21 John Poland, 22 Paul Kiernan, 23 Matthew Byrne

Scotland: 15 Tom Galbraith (captain), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 George Taylor, 11 ,Ben Robbins  10  Adam Hastings, 9 Hugh Fraser, 8  Ally Miller, 7 Matt Smith, 6 Scott Burnside, 5 Stephen Ainslie, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Callum Sheldon, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Murray McCallum

Replacements: 16 Lewis Anderson, 17 George Thornton, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Hamish Bain, 20 Lee Scott, 21 Ruaridh Dawson, 22  Robbie Nairn 23 Ruairi Howarth

Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)

Assistant referees: Wayne Davies (Wales), Greg Morgan (Wales)

Television match official: Derek Bevan (Wales)

Wales vs Italy at Eirias Parc, Colwyn Bay on Friday, 18 March 2016. Kick-off 19.05

This could be a red letter day for the Welsh side that has performed so heroically well this season. They have the Triple Crown – now for the Grand Slam.

Wales have made just one enforced changed. Wing George Gasson is ruled out with a hamstring injury and replaced in the starting line-up by Joe Thomas. Joe Gage comes onto the bench.

Teams

Wales: 15 Rhun Williams, 14 Joe Thomas, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Daniel Jones, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Shaun Evans, 6 Tom Phillips (captain), 5 Adam Beard, 4 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Dafydd Hughes, 1 Corey Domachowski

Replacements: 16 Ifan Phillips, 17 Rhys Fawcett, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Bryce Morgan, 20 Morgan Sieniawski, 21 Declan Smith, 22 Billy McBryde, 23 Joe Gage

Italy: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Roberto Dal Zilio, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Lorenzo Masato, 10 Matteo Minozzi, 9 Vincenzo Charly Ernest Trussardi, 8 Giovanni Pettinelli, 7 Davide Ciotoli, 6 Lorenzo Robin Masselli, 5 Samuele Ortis, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Marco Riccioni (captain), 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Daniele Rimpelli

Replacements: 16 Nicolò Broglia, 17 Damiano Borean, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 Vittorio Alberto Mantegazza, 20 Michael De Marco, 21 Giovanni Lucchin, 22 Marcello Angelini, 23 Leonardo Mantelli

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Barry Kieran (Ireland), Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Television match official: Kevin Beggs (Ireland)