Newport Gwent Dragons’ Jack Dixon and new recruit Tom Prydie have been named in the starting line-up for today’s Junior World Championship pool game against New Zealand.
Wilson has made five changes and one positional from the side that started against Fiji. Tom Prydie was unable to take his place in the starting line-up on Monday due to a stomach upset, but returns for this game ahead of Luke Morgan. Dragons’ Jonathan Evans, who started at scrum half in the win over Fiji, is replaced in the starting line-up by Tom Habberfield but takes his place on the substitutes bench.
Wales beat Fiji 44-18 In their opening Pool game on Monday in Cape Town, but Wilson stresses that New Zealand will be a different proposition altogether.
"New Zealand are undefeated in the five years of this competition," he said. "They are certainly a massive force at this level, setting the tone as a team and as individuals. They were excellent against Samoa on Monday, and brought on a very big, powerful set of replacements from the bench, most of whom are starting against us.
"The boys are really excited and looking forward to playing against the world champions. It's always great to play the best sides in the world, it really sets a marker as to where you are. Our players know they will need to dramatically up their game in order to improve on last year's result.
"We were pleased with our performance and result against Fiji. We knew Fiji were a threat and that we had to stick to our game plan which we did for most of the game, although we did try and play too much rugby too early in the game. We scored four tries from driving line-outs which was especially pleasing, with captain Cory Hill leading by example, and we scored two good tries from our resulting pressure once the game had broken up.
"The front row play was also very good with a number of penalties gained in the scrum."
Wales Under 20 team v New Zealand - IRB Junior World Championship - Friday, 8 June 3.45pm UK time (live on Sky Sports 2)
Ross Jones (Ospreys); Tom Prydie (Dragons), Cory Allen (Blues), Jack Dixon (Dragons), Eli Walker (Ospreys); Matthew Morgan (Ospreys), Tom Habberfield (Ospreys); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Kirby Myhill (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Cory Hill (capt, Blues), Matthew Screech (Blues), Luke Hamilton (Blues), Ellis Jenkins (Blues), Dan Baker (Ospreys)
Replacements: Darran Harris (Blues), Gareth Thomas (Scarlets), Willgriff John (Blues), Rhodri Hughes (Ospreys), Daniel Thomas (Scarlets), Jonathan Evans (Dragons), Sam Davies (Ospreys), Thomas Pascoe (Blues)
