Wales to face Georgia at World Rugby U20 Championship

Mark Jones’ side headed into their group stage finale with a chance of making it to the semi-finals but failed to cause a major upset against France.

Les Bleuets romped to a 43-19 triumph in Cape Town despite an early red card for Barnabe Massa for a dangerous ruck clear-out.

The French ran in six tries to set up a last-four encounter with England while Wales, who went over three times, slipped beneath New Zealand into third in Group A.

They now face the Georgians (kick-off 3pm), who will probably start as favourites after beating Argentina and Italy in the pool stages only to be pipped by hosts South Africa for a spot in the semis.

The winners of that tie will take on either New Zealand or Australia for fifth place while the losers hunt seventh.

Wales beat Georgia 30-24 in the 2022 Six Nations U20 Summer Series in Italy last year in a game in which the lead changed hands four times and both sides scored three tries. They also beat them 10-9 at the 2016 World Rugby U20 Championships.

Wales are safe from relegation thanks to picking up two consolation bonuses against the New Zealanders then beating Japan Head coach Mark Jones wants to see more progress over the next two games after falling short against the French.

Harri Houston of Wales U20s is tackled against France (Image: World Rugby)

“France are a great side and they put a lot of pressure on us but some of our skill-sets and some of our set-piece work was well below where we needed it to be if we were going to be really competitive in that game,” said the head coach.

France won 67-17 when condemning Wales to a Six Nations wooden spoon and were always in command.

The Welsh youngsters did score three tries through Seb Driscoll, Tom Florence and Harri Houston but Jones felt it was an opportunity missed to show the results of their graft.

“Certainly, since I have been coaching the team over the past six weeks there has been massive growth in the team,” he said.

“Perhaps we didn’t show everybody back home how much growth there has been in the team but the players know and the coaches know that this team has come a long way.

“They are a lot better for this experience and we are still excited for the last two games.”

Captain Ryan Woodman knows that Wales can ill afford to give the best sides in the world a sniff.

“They had an early interception that set the tone. We were in their 22 and attacking quite well. We threw one bad pass and they scored,” said the Dragons flanker.

“That was the story of the game really. We were attacking, they got the ball from our mistake and scored.”

Woodman, hooker Sam Scarfe and loosehead Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths featured in all three group games while their Dragons teammate and centre Joe Westwood came off the bench against the French.