Wales team during the Six Nations U20 Championship match between France and Wales at Stade Charles Mathon on March 19, 2023 in Oyonnax, France. (Photo by Romain Biard/Icon Sport via Getty Images)

Mark Jones Insists Wales Kids Should Have Beaten New Zealand . . . As He Demands Higher Standards

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By Gareth James

You can often judge a team by how they react to a narrow defeat, so look out for a positive reaction from the Wales U20s in South Africa on Thursday.

At 1.00pm UK time, the Wales youngsters take on Japan in the World Rugby U20 Championship and they have not spent the last few days celebrating losing.

Having been edged out by only a single point against New Zealand, there might have been a temptation to fall back on hard luck stories or pat each on the back for a strong performance.

Instead, coach Mark Jones has told his players that losing – even to the brilliant Baby Blacks – is nothing to be happy about.

“Although it was a positive performance in lots of areas, we didn’t win,” said the former Wales and Scarlets wing.

“And it wasn’t as good a performance as we expected from ourselves. Looking at the scoreline, had we performed to the level we expected we probably would have got over the line.

“We’re all about the performance and usually winning takes care of itself.”

Japan were hammered 75-12 by France in their opening pool game, with Les Bleus going on to score 11 tries.

So, Wales will be very hopeful of dishing out similar pain, although whether they can get to the try tally achieved by one of the tournament favourites remains to be seen.

Wales are massive favourites with DragonBet – 1/100, with Japan rank outsiders at 14/1 and the draw at 49/1.

France, winners of the two most recent U20 Championships in 2018 and 2019, currently lead Pool A following that commanding win on Saturday.

They are strongly fancied to beat New Zealand, at 1/5 with the Baby Blacks at 4/1 and the draw at 1/8.

“We’ve spent a lot of our time fixing up our own game – we have not looked at Japan,” added Jones.

“It’s clear their scoreline against France isn’t flattering but it wasn’t very flattering when we played France [in the Six Nations]. We’re certainly not taking them lightly but our focus is to improve as a group.

“In terms of the context of the tournament it is very important to try and get as many points as possible as we can.

“If we can get maximum points, then that would be terrific but first of all we have to win the game and that is not going to be easy.

Jones has made two changes, both in the pack, as prop Louis Fletcher and second-row Evan Hill are selected.

Fletcher comes in at tighthead for Ellis Fackrell while Ospreys second row Hill earns his first start after coming on as a second half replacement against New Zealand.

His Japan counterpart Rob Penney has made eight changes to his match-day squad as he attempts to guide the team to what would be a famous win.

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