a day ago
Wales' rugby league youngsters have been making their mark
The U16s, U18s and Students teams all enjoyed success.
Clive Griffiths made a welcome return to where it all started for him as a head coach, with Wales Students, coaching them to a 34-10 win over Scotland in the opening match of the Student Four Nations at the University of Nottingham.
It was Wales Students' first international win since they returned after the pandemic in 2023, and after losing the last five matches, one with their heaviest ever defeat and two more in the top ten losses, this win, orchestrated almost perfectly from start to finish, was a welcome sight.
The win set the standard for what will be a tough week for Wales, which concludes against Ireland on Saturday.
Wales scored seven tries in their win, as did England as they beat Ireland 40-18.
Lewis Ingram and Thomas Moore grabbed two tries apiece with Finlay Northrop, Lewis Howells and Leo Jones also crossing the whitewash.
Wales Students lost out 42-0 to England Students in the Four Nations tournament.
Jamie O'Keeffe opened the scoring for England at Nottingham and that was to be the first of nine tries on the day.
Leon Stewart soon finished off a sweeping passing move, before Wales enjoyed a brief spell of possession in the England half for the first time in the game.
When England re-entered the Welsh half, Ben Bell-Thorn grabbed the next try, converted by Oli Winterbottom.
Winterbottom added to his and England's points tally with a try direct from a scrum just five minutes before the interval. Bell-Thorn then powered his way over the line for what turned out to be the last play of a one-sided first half.
Wales attacked well at the start of the second half and were unlucky not to score, Lewis Ingram getting close as he was held just short of the line.
Ben O'Donnell, Teddy Davidson, Charlie Yeomans and Dan Perry added further England scores.
North Wales Crusaders' teenager Evan Rowlands and Salford's Ralf Roberts, who hails from Wrexham, were in the U18s side that beat Scotland 34-20.
That means Wales go into a winner-takes-all match against England next month in the final round in a thriller at Grangemouth RUFC.
There were less than ten minutes on the clock when Alex Richardson scored a try to give Wales the lead and Kyson Rees added the conversion.
Scotland hit back on 15 minutes thanks to a Harrison Goldthorpe try. Shaun Callan converted to level the scores.
It wasn't long before Wales regained the lead through an unconverted Rowlands try, but Scotland went into the break 14-10 to the good due to tries from Harry Woodard and Max Erasmus.
Unfortunately for Wales, errors were costing them and Scotland capitalised. They increased their lead 10 minutes into the second half through an Isaac Maclean try that Callan converted.
But then two back-to-back tries from Wales turned the game around. Firstly from Dan Wilds with Jack Wilcox converting, before he scored a try of his own from kick-off. Gabrielson kicked the goal and Wales were 22-20 up.
Then with eight minutes to go, an Ethan Williams try increased Wales' lead to 26-20. Gabrielson couldn't convert so Wales were just one score ahead in the dying stages of the match.
Wales sealed the game thanks to an excellent try from Oscar Jones just three minutes from the end, quickly followed up by Richardson's second and Wales' seventh as the final whistle blew.
Wales, coached by Paul Berry, are top of the U16 Four Nations table after a 40-18 success over the Scots.
Following England's draw with Ireland, a draw against the English in a fortnight will be enough to give Wales their third successive Four Nations title.
Elis Thomas (2), Matthew Clatworthy, Evan Williams, Harry Wrigglesworth, Tyler Mills and Charlie Eatly got the tries for Wales.
