Wales hit Ireland for six in Festival try-fest

LOUIS Rees-Zammit and Cameron Lewis each bagged two tries as Wales hit Ireland for six in an Under-18 Six Nations Festival thriller at Cardiff Arms Park.

Hooker Lewis was on the end of driving line-outs – skipper Zac Morgan scored from another late-on – but highly-rated left-wing Rees-Zammit scored from two lovely handling movements.

Lock Teddy Williams, the son of former Bridgend and Cardiff back-row favourtie Owain Williams and the nephew of ex-Wales forward Gareth Williams, got the other five-pointer with outside-half Josh Thomas (two) and Sam Costelow adding conversions.

“We came out of the blocks hard but Ireland stayed in it so we said at halftime to be ruthless and efficient, and not concede any more scores,” said Rees-Zammit.

“It was great playing in front of a large crowd. When you look up and see people cheering it gives you an extra boost.

“We have got Italy at the Arms Park in our final game on Sunday. They look a strong side, having beaten England, and we’re going to have to work hard again.”

Centre Angus Adair and replacements Alex Kendellen, Nathan Doak and McKee touched down for Ireland with outside-half Dylan Prendergast putting over a conversion and two penalties. Doak also kicked a conversion.

Wales coach Chris Horsman had made 13 changes from the side beaten 22-14 by France at Ystrad Mynach but they went three points behind against Ireland after being guilty of illegally sealing off at a ruck.

The stocky Prendergast nailed difficult penalty in the swirling wind but Wales took the lead with a try in the ninth minute after putting a penalty into the corner.

Williams leapt high to claim the ball at the line-out and they got a rumble on with Lewis being at the rear of the unstoppable maul to dot the ball down for Thomas to splendidly convert from a wide angle.

Ireland edged back in front after sucking the Welsh defence in before scrum-half Ben Murphy, Prendergast and full-back Chris Cosgrave combined to send Adair over for an unconverted try.

Wales went left from a scrum with impressive centre Osian Knott whipping a long pass for Rees-Zammit to force his way over in the corner despite the attention of a couple of defenders.

Thomas was wide with the conversion but Wales were four points to the good. Ireland reduced it to a point just before half-time with Prendergast bagging his second penalty from closerange.

It had been an absorbing first half and there wouldn’t have been any complaints from Wales had Ireland been in front.

Wales had reached the Irish 22 twice and been clinical, crossing the whitewash on each occasion. Ireland may have had more of the game but had only got one touchdown with their other points coming from the boot.

Wales moved the ball early in the second half with centre Joe Roberts running down the narrow-side before putting Rees-Zammit over unopposed for his second try.

They had clearly gone up a couple of gears with Williams finishing a sustained attack for Thomas to successfully convert.

Their next try was a carbon-copy of their first with Lewis on the tail of another driving line-out to open an 18-point gap.

Ireland didn’t throw in the towel with Kendellen ploughing over for Premdergast to convert to reduce the deficit to 11 points.

Wales again used their line-out as a weapon with Morgan the beneficiary this time to score their sixth try, substitute Costelow adding the extras to ensure victory.

Ireland did make it interesting when Doak was in support of centre Ben Power to touch down and convert but time ran out on them when McKee scored. ANEURIN Donald is relishing the chance to work with Glamorgan batting legend Matthew Maynard following his appointment to Robert Croft’s coaching staff for the 2018 season.

The former England Under-19s batsman from Swansea is one of the Welsh youngsters around whom the club are determined to build – with the appointment of Maynard, after three years as director of cricket at Somerset, a key part of that policy.

He will spend 100 days a year working with the batsmen, and Donald says his influence is clear to see already.

“It was probably the right time for a batting consultant to join the group,” said the 21-year-old, who will be looking to improve on a record of 487 runs from 11 Championship appearances last season.

“Having his guidance and experience both as a player and coach, and especially as a fellow Welshman, is just a treat and something we’re very fortunate to have.

“We’re doing our best to tap into his knowledge of the county game and how to be successful. Hopefully, he’ll play his part in taking us, especially the batting group, onto higher honours.”

Donald says the batsmen’s focus this season will be on taking more responsibility.

“It’s mainly about giving ourselves a little bit more chance up top, trying to face more balls, even though we’re a group of youngsters,” he added.

“And making match-winning contributions and scores, which tends to be big hundreds in red-ball cricket.

“We probably haven’t done enough of that in recent times.”

There will be fresh competition for places in the higher order and Donald, fresh from a half-century against Surrey on the club’s preseason trip to Dubai, says there are youngsters who are ready to put their hands up to fill the voids left by Jacques Rudolph’s retirement, and Colin Ingram’s focus on oneday cricket.

“We needed to push the squad to the next level and having guys fit and raring to go and putting performances in on the pitch, not just in the nets, gives our selectors a bit more of a headache,” he said.

The early signs were promising in Dubai – a fresh approach to the county’s pre-season preparations.

“I’m not sure we can look back and say we’ve had the greatest of starts, especially in Championship cricket,” Donald admitted.

“I think this pre-season tour was designed to give us no excuses and to cover all bases coming in to perform on that first morning.”