Latest news with #RichardWhiffin
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Wales U20s play for World places in England warm-up
Wales Under-20s head coach Richard Whiffin says places in his World Championship squad will be up for grabs when they take on England in a warm-up game on Friday, 6 Minto captains the side which features a number of changes from the team which beat England in the final game of the Under-20 Six Nations. Number eight Minto forms a new-look back row which includes Dragons team-mate Ryan Jones and Gloucester flanker Caio James. Former skipper Harry Beddall is among the replacements. Friday's game at Pontypool Park is the first of two warm-ups with the other a week later at Cardiff Arms Park against World Championships take place in Italy, with Wales drawn against Argentina in the opening match on 29 June. "We've had guys in camp for three weeks working super hard and they deserve an opportunity," said Wales Under-20s head coach Richard Whiffin."We said to the group at the start of the campaign we were going to use it as a selection game in terms of whittling the squad down from 45 down to 30 so there will be guys playing on Friday night putting their hands up for the plane ticket to Italy."So pressure goes onto those guys but ultimately if they can perform on Friday in a big game against England then it sets them up well for the World Cup."Speaking of handing Minto the captaincy, Whiffin added: "He is a local Pontypool guy plus we wanted to see a slightly different back row. "From the performances he put in during the Six Nations, he has certainly put his hand up for the captaincy role."
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wales Under-20s set up England World Cup warm-up
Wales Under-20s will face England in Pontypool in a World Rugby Championship warm-up match on 6 defeated the current world champions on a memorable night in Cardiff on the final weekend of the Six Nations in March with the 23-13 victory wrecking England's Grand Slam Pontypool match is one of two preparation matches with Wales hosting Italy at the Arms Park in Cardiff on 13 Rugby's Under-20 tournament takes place in Italy from 29 June to 19 July with Wales facing pool matches against Argentina, France and coach Richard Whiffin has named a 45-player training squad which will be whittled down to 30 for the tournament. "Our preparation is going to be important and those two games against England and Italy will give us a great indication of where we are," said Whiffin."We're playing against the world champions in one prep and it'll be a tough game against Italy as well."The extended squad does not include Ospreys number eight Morgan Morse who missed out on a place on the Wales senior tour to Japan in July. Wales Under-20s training squad Forwards (25): Dylan Alford (Scarlets/RGC), Harry Beddall (Dragons), Jake Bowen (Scarlets), Tom Cottle (RGC), Ioan Emanuel (Bath), Keanu Evans (Scarlets), Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs), Will Evans (Scarlets), Dan Gemine (Ospreys), Deian Gwynne (Gloucester), Saul Hurley (Aberavon), Caio James (Gloucester), Owain James (Dragons), Kenzie Jenkins (Bristol), Ryan Jones (Dragons), Evan Minto (Dragons), Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), Sam Scott (Bristol Bears), Cerrig Smith (Dragons), Harry Thomas (Scarlets), Nick Thomas (Dragons), Louie Trevett (Bristol), George Tuckley (Dragons), Cameron Tyler-Grocott (Cardiff), Evan Wood (Pontypool/Cardiff Met).Backs (20): Aidan Boshoff (Bristol), Tom Bowen (Cardiff), Rhys Cummings (Cardiff), Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff), Sion Davies (Cardiff), Ioan Duggan (Dragons), Lewis Edwards (Ospreys), Steff Emanuel (Cardiff), Elijah Evans (Cardiff), Harri Ford (Dragons), Logan Franklin (Dragons), Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets), Ellis Lewis (Neath), Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff), Elis Price (Scarlets), Harry Rees-Weldon (Dragons), Osian Roberts (Sale Sharks), Dylan Scott (Cardiff MET), Harri Wilde (Cardiff), Jack Woods (Bath).
BBC News
31-01-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wales chase landmark Under-20 Six Nations win
Venue: Stade de la Rabine Date: Saturday 1 February Kick-off: 20:10 GMTCoverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Head coach Richard Whiffin says Wales' players are targeting a landmark win in the 2025 U20 Six Nations side won two games in last year's tournament - at home against Scotland and Italy - and he says a successful 2025 would see them "pick up more wins" than in the 2024 open their campaign away to France in Vannes on Saturday, 1 February (20:10 GMT) looking to improve on fifth place 12 months ago."We understand when we're in a battle, how to come out on the right side of those results and ultimately we want a scalp against one of the perceived bigger three teams," said Whiffin, who also understands where they can improve."We kept making similar mistakes around our discipline and giving easy outs to the opposition and those are things that we focused on in camp," he added. The last time the U20s encountered the French side was in the July World Championships where Wales were beaten 29-11 to crush their hopes of reaching the Whiffin is confident for their opening Six Nations fixture in Brittany after a positive training camp."We've had a really good preparation week, in terms of getting the boys together in camp and building that cohesiveness and getting a good couple of games preparation under our belt against the Welsh Academies," Whiffin said."The story of last year was we got close, but we did not seal those wins. We spoke about it as a group being able to learn, how to win those closer games."The French side has had their longest pre-match camp for an U20 Six Nations, underlining the threat they pose with some of their squad playing in France's elite Top 14 league each week."They're going to be dangerous whether they've got a week's prep or 100 days prep," Whiffin added."They've got a deep player base. We know whatever team they put out will be a challenge." Leicester Tigers' flanker Harry Beddall captains the Welsh side this year and after a training match against Warren Gatland's senior side last week, he says the U20s are also looking to improve on their passing skills."For us to be able to train against them and see the levels they're at is great, and as well expose us to a similar sort of way that France are going to play," said Beddall."The speed of the ball was probably a lot higher than we're used to but that's what we're going to experience against France."Beddall recently made his debut for Leicester Tigers in the Premier Cup and said captaining the Welsh side is 'a massive honour.'He also beleives the World Championship loss against France in the summer will motivate the squad for their opening match of their U20 Six Nations campaign."We talk about mindset, we've got to go there, going for a result and that's where we are at the moment," he said."We know we have to throw everything at them, and it's got to be a full 80-minute performance to get a result out in France."
