U20s call-up for Scarlets in Italy trip
WALES head coach Byron Hayward has named two Scarlets in his squad for the U20 Six Nations Summer Series.
Fly-half Josh Phillips and back-five forward Caleb Salmon are included in a squad of 30 for the tournament which is being staged in Treviso and Verona between June 24 and July 12.
The squad has been boosted with the return of Cardiff centre Mason Grady and Exeter Chiefs locks Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza after the trio missed the 2022 Six Nations.
Salmon, a product of Fishguard RFC, will be hoping to win his first U20 cap during the tournament.
Scarlets Academy skills coach Emyr Phillips said last year: “Caleb is a very exciting prospect with the ability to play second row or back row.
“He has a very good set-piece skill-set, is aggressive with and without the ball and has a very good offload game.”
Ospreys centre Joe Hawkins takes over the captaincy from Alex Mann, who is unavailable due to injury.
Wales will face Scotland, Georgia and Italy in Pool B before a play-off match to determine their final placing, but Hayward said the squad’s sole focus is the first game against Scotland at Stadio Di Monigo on Saturday.
“If you get a good win under your belts then you are then up and running,” he said.
“It will be imperative for us to get that first win and that is all we are focusing on at the moment.
“We’ve got two games after that, but we won’t even think about them until the Scotland game.
“They play an open attractive brand of rugby so it will be a challenge for us defensively which is a big area we have to pick up from the Six Nations and we’ve highlighted that.”
“So I think if we can get our house in order there when and we do have the ball we could cause some damage. Saying that, we have full respect for Scotland as we were 10-0 down in the second half against them in the Six Nations before coming away with a victory.”
Wales then face Georgia on June 30 before taking on host country Italy on July 6.
The play-off game is on July 12.