RGC have 17 players in the Wales U18s Squads as both the Men's and Women’s Age Grade sides start their preparations of the upcoming Six Nations tournaments.
The selection is a testament to the hard work and commitment of players and coaching staff with the RGC Age Grade Squads, and the increased international representation is one of the key objectives of the pathway in North Wales.
After the successful completion of the Woman’s U18s Regional Age Grade campaign in which RGC had 2 sides competing against the regions, 12 players have been selected for the Wales U18s Extended training squad.
Poppy Hughes - Ceirw Nant
Elan Jones - Ceirw Nant
Alaw Pyrs - Ceirw Nant
Begw Francis - Mon Stars
Efa Jones - Gwylliaid Merionnydd
Branwen Metcalfe - Ceirw Nant
Gwenllian Hughes - Ceirw Nant
Carys Whitfield - Crewe & Nantwich RFC
Hanna Tudor - Ravens
Leah Stewart - Mon Stars
Hannah Lane - CR Caernarfon
Saran Jones - Gwylliaid Merionnydd
Lucy Brown - Player Development Centre Lead “It's a credit to all the work going on in the North to have this amount of girls invited into the wider Wales U18s training squad.
Over the last few months, the players have shown their skillset within the RAG programme, and to then be given this opportunity to put themselves forward, and hopefully go on to represent Wales in the U18s Six Nations is an exciting prospect.
Here at RGC are extremely proud of all the players, and will be supporting them in this next step of their journey”
Wales Men’s U18s Head Coach Richie Pugh has named 5 RGC players in an extended squad in preparation for the upcoming Six Nations Festival being staged in Parma, Italy between March 27th – April 7th where Wales will face England, Portugal and France.
Before that tournament, there will be plenty of opportunities for players to stake a claim as Wales U18 host Scotland at Ystrad Mynach on March 3 while a Wales Development side will also face a Scottish Development squad in a curtain-raiser.
Wales U18 then play Ireland on March 10 for the players to have one final chance to impress Pugh as he trims the squad for Italy.
Greg Thomas - Wrexham RFC
Tom Cottle - Mold RFC
Dylan Alford - CR Bethesda
Tudur Jones - CR Llangefni
Jac Wyn Roberts - CR Bethesda
RGC U18s Head Coach Saul Nelson "It's amazing for the players to be selected and get the recognition but it’s also brilliant for the clubs and the parents, who have provided that support to them over the years.
The whole U18 group can celebrate, because without the efforts that they've put in and the hard work in training, bringing those levels up then the players who have been selected wouldn't be able to achieve this.
When we played Scarlets away a couple of weeks ago we had Sam Wainwright come in and present the jerseys to the team. It was great for them to hear about the experience of a player who has gone through the pathway, onto professional and international rugby.
Players coming into the pathway can see what is in front of them and the opportunities. We want to see the progression, see the programme get stronger, and see more players from RGC representing Wales.
For the coaches, it's also great to see the work that is done on the training pitch and then be rewarded with the players getting the call-ups, and we have 5 in the squad but we could have had another 2 or 3 as well. That goes to show how we have progressed as a group.”
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